MAYA MOVERMAN

WHAT DREW YOU TO KATONAH YOGA?

The adjustments seduced me from the start. They offered a freedom I hadn’t yet known—that of losing my personal investment in holding myself together. The theory had a similar effect; the dialogue provided a reliable framework for seeing the world so as to enrich my perception of it and engagement with it. Once I witnessed the way the adjustments and material were woven into and through a real community, I was sold.

HOW HAS KATONAH CHANGED YOUR PRACTICE & TEACHING?

As a student, Katonah Yoga has helped me excavate my patterns, giving me insight into my propensities. It’s a constant process of making more of my life conscious. I’ve spent so much time both divorced from and resentful of my body, but the material continues to round out those sharp edges. At times it’s agitating and uncomfortable to go beyond the confines of what’s familiar, but it’s through this practice that I’m learning to occupy this body with more joy. As a teacher, Katonah Yoga has sharpened my vision and taught me to set up better conditions for my students. Conditions that are conducive to more ease within students’ bodies and their lives, conditions that lend themselves to transformation.

HOW HAVE YOU SEEN KATONAH CHANGE STUDENTS?

That moment where you watch a student really land in their body as a result of an adjustment is a powerful one—the transmission of transformative information. You watch the imagination spark, the breath fills in and the pose becomes so much more than just a series of angles. And then the moment passes. The adjusters disperse and everyone moves on, but that information carries through. The small instances add up. They all give birth to a more competent, empowered and resilient practitioner.