The Yoga Lunchbox

Nourishing the Yoga Community since 2008

  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
    • Advertising
  • Yoga Articles
    • Starting
      • Foundations
      • Styles
      • Going to Class
      • Practices
      • Home Practice
      • Resources & Reviews
    • Deepening
      • Yoga & Parenting
      • Yoga & Relationships
      • Yoga & Life
      • Yoga & Healing
    • Teaching
      • Insights
      • Interviews
      • Training
      • Business
    • Awakening
      • Activism
      • The Process of Kundalini
      • The Process of Waking Up
      • KL’s Musings from the Mat
  • Yoga Videos
  • NZ Teacher Training
    • RSS
    • Youtube
    • Facebook
You are here: Home / Yoga Articles / Teaching • The Business of Yoga / Teacher Interviews / Wellington Hot Yoga Teacher: Manu Moana

Wellington Hot Yoga Teacher: Manu Moana

October 28, 2009 by Kara-Leah Grant 1 Comment

Wellington Hot Yoga Teacher Manu Moana

Wellington Hot Yoga Teacher Manu Moana

The Wellington yoga community is so blessed with a rich variety of yoga teachers – and Manu is another one of those teachers.

He brings a youthful vigour into any room, and thinks nothing of breaking out into a few dances moves post-kirtan.

It’s that kind of joyful expression of life that’s the best possible advertising for yoga.

Manu just exudes that “life is fun, let’s have a blast” kinda of feeling that is contagious, uplifting and inspiring.

1. What style of yoga do you practice and where do you teach?
I teach Hot yoga ( Barkan Method variation and Lou Cassella inspired) and Yin yoga, at Hot Yoga of New Zealand, Wellington.

2. How did you come to yoga?
It started as a kid, with my mother telling me about people staying vibrant and healthy into their old age from practicing yoga.

I started going to some classes with her in my teens, but only practiced sporadically until my early twenties.

Advertisement

3. When did the yoga bug really get you?
A couple of years back while in Boulder Colorado, USA, participating in a dance workshop, and then staying at an ashram in Crestone, Co, I had the opportunity to practice with some really inspiring teachers, including some one on one sessions.

I was blown away by the profound effect practicing yoga had on me, the vibrant, peaceful energy and clear state of mind it left me with, the way it enhanced my meditation practice, and the way it left me feeling more comfortable and at home in my body.

4. How has yoga transformed your life?
In so many ways…

That vibrant, peaceful energy and clear state of mind leaks out of my practice into the rest of my life, allowing me to be more present and content.

The yogic philosophy and wisdom from other teachers and from books is constantly opening me to be more real and compassionate, and the balancing, strengthening, harmonizing effect it has on my body lets me enjoy being alive even more.

5. What is your home practice like?
Great!

I think it is a very valuable counterbalance to being led by a teacher and practicing in the group energy. I find it emphasises certain qualities more, such as being able to focus deeper on my internal experience and listening to what my body needs, and self discipline of course.

I do find it challenging to set aside a time and place to practice every day though.

6. When people ask you, “What is Yoga?”, what do you say?
It depends who they are, I try to modify my answer so it is most understandable for that person.

So it could be; a set of exercises to make your body strong, flexible and balanced and calm the mind, or it could be; a practice to open the mind and body to your true divine nature.

7. What can people expect from one of your classes?
Ideally nothing!

Then they’re completely open to the present moment and all the magic possible there. If they do expect something, then a fun, challenging, inspiring, sweaty mind/body experience that will leave them feeling much better than if they hadn’t come.

8. What do you love most about teaching yoga?
Being part of helping individual lives become more healthy and joyful, which then ripples out into the world.

It’s also awesome to be part of a great team, working in a positive atmosphere, and having the support of Lou, Claire and my fellow teachers.

9. What do you wish everybody knew about yoga?
What it could do for them.

10. What role do you see yoga playing in our world?
I see yoga as being a part of the physical, mental, spiritual transformation necessary to bring our society into a state of health and harmony.

11. Anything else you’d like to say?
Thank you for this opportunity to share, and I wish you all ever increasing love, health and connection in your lives, whether that is through yoga or any other path or practice.

And thank you to my teachers, students, friands and family, and all those who make it possible for me to do what I do.

12. And finally, how do people find you?
Keep an eye out in tall trees, sunny beaches and fun social gatherings, or you could come down to Hot Yoga of NZ, Wellington.

Namaste!

Similar Articles You May Enjoy

  • Wellington Hot Yoga Teacher: Andrea Tutt

    The profiles I publish from Hot Yoga's two studios (Nelson & Wellington), the more I realise how blessed we are in New Zealand with a diverse range of yoga teachers. Teachers have come from all different walks of life, and most emphasize that yoga is about far more than asana.…

  • Nelson Yoga Teacher: Chaitanya Deva, Hot Yoga

    There is something so exuberant about Chaitanya's profile photo that it makes me want to take a special trip down to Nelson's Hot Yoga studio just to take one of his yoga classes. That and to quizz him on the special technique he learned in order to be able to…

  • Wellington Yoga Teacher: Megan Collier

    Want arms like Megan Collier? Then you need to get start get to one of her Astanga classes. She's another of Wellington's passionate yoga teachers, fitting in her teaching around a busy life of work, family and friends. But Megan still finds time to dedicate to her own astanga practice,…

Filed Under: Teacher Interviews Tagged With: hot yoga

About Kara-Leah Grant

Kara-Leah is an internationally-renowned writer, teacher and retreat leader. Millions of people have been impacted by the articles, books and videos she has published over the last ten years. Her passion is liberation in this lifetime through an every day path of dissolving layers of tension into greater and greater freedom and joy. You can find out more about her, including when her next retreats are, on her website. Kara-Leah is the visionary and creator of The Yoga Lunchbox.

Comments

  1. william smith says

    January 11, 2010 at 10:11 pm

    Everyday people are reporting their wonderful experiences on health benefits of Yoga, the transformation of being, taking you beyond the here and now. In one wonderful session of Yoga, people get to practice a number of things, some Yoga poses (asanas) breathing exercises (pranayama), meditation and chanting. In Yoga you get to learn basic terms like Mudras, Bandhas and Chakras. Best of all, Yoga is fun and relaxing while, at the same time, being delectably challenging to beginners.Derived from the Sanskrit root “Yujir Yogey” meaning to unite, to yoke, to join, to put together, Yoga is not about mind over body. On the other hand, Yoga is about developing harmony between them. In Yoga, you use your mind to perceive (diagnose) and guide (heal) your body. Never control, let alone force it!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Copyright © 2021 · News Pro Theme Ham on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in