Sianna Sherman: Honor the Feminine Essence

SHOP SIANNA'S MALAS

SHOP THE GODDESS COLLECTION

Sianna Sherman is an internationally celebrated yoga teacher who shares the depth of her practice with passion, devotion, and soulfulness. She is known as an inspired storyteller and community activator, bringing people together through conscious, collective gatherings. Her initiation into the fires of yoga occurred in 1989, and she has been immersed in the practices ever since.Weaving alignment, therapeutics, potent sequencing, mythology, Tantra and the power of the practices with accessibility for everyday transformation, Sianna's Mythic Yoga Flow offerings have garnered a global following where she pours mythic consciousness into the embodied art of yoga with unbridled creativity and love.

Coinciding with the launch of her Goddess Project, Sianna is now collaborating with two other goddesses in creation of the the most beautiful malas we've ever laid eyes on. It was such an honor to spend the afternoon with Sianna and photographing these beautiful pieces of art. We had a few spare minutes to ask her some questions, and as always, Sianna is nothing short of magical.

KiraGrace: We would love to hear more about these beautiful malas? What inspired you to carry them and what makes them so special?

Sianna: One of the main parts of my practice is chanting mantras, and it has been since my early 20s. The way that you chant mantras are on these prayer bead necklaces. I have so many of them at home, and I love them and I pick them up on my travels all over the world. I was coming into teaching with very specific sadanas and mantras and certain deities and practices. I started to feel like I wanted to have my own line of them, so that I could match the crystal energy and the stones with the magic of the mantra and with what is being invoked and called in through the prayer and the practice of mantra. Then my friends Beryl, Jeanne, and I matched up energies of the crystals, the stones, essences of the mantra, and also color goes into this because the goddesses are associated with different colors, so we chose colors that bring out the qualities and the empowerments of the goddesses. Then it’s all joined together and made with prayer and with love. So it’s our project together for Beryl and me and this beautiful designer Jeanne Verger.

KiraGrace: Do you relate to one of the goddesses more than another? Or do you go to a different one each day depending on what you need?

Sianna: I actually do relate to all of them quite a lot and I’ve practiced with all of them over the last twenty-five years. I’ve gone to their temples, I’ve spent so much time in the practices with each of the goddesses which is why I did such an in-depth course, and then I wanted to have her mala with it. In the yoga tradition there is what’s called your Ishta-devata, which means the chosen one of your heart’s desire, one that you’re always connected to. And mine is Durga. She’s the empowerment of bravery and courage of heart and protection and rising up in the face of adversity. She is about being the eye in the middle of the storm and finding that calm yet dynamic center, and being able to be fully activated but in total authentic presence from within. She’s sovereignty. She’s the real power of sovereignty… All the goddesses are my anchors, and I turn to the practices at different times in my life. But Durga is steady steady steady all the way through. I started the course with Durga as well.

KiraGrace: So I know you just came back from your big tour through Europe -

Sianna: I’ve been on my big tour since like 1999! (laughs)

KiraGrace: You poor thing! I was going to ask what you’re big takeaway was! 

Sianna: I’m on like a perma-tour… (laughs) But it was great. I will tell you what was really special about this tour though. The root of my lineage is a place in England called Glastonbury, a couple hours outside of London. It’s mythic and mystical name is Avalon. I was in Avalon for the first eighteen days of the tour, and I led a pilgrimage with Ashley Turner, who I’m in creation of Urban Priestess with. We created the Avalon Pilgrimage and we had about forty-five women from all over the world… The first two and a half weeks of this particular tour was in Avalon, and it’s such deep magic and so essential for my soul. We were deeply immersed in ritual, ceremony, healing prayers, and invocations, calling in with all these beautiful women healing for our lives, our communities, and our loved ones. And we really worked with sexual energy as well, healing the woundedness around that, and calling for women to remember their womb intelligence… For a woman, her energetic center is in the sexual area of the womb. It’s her creative essence and power, so we did many connecting practices bringing women in relationship with their bodies in a holy way to honor the body temple fully and to honor the feminine essence and power and to be powerful in the world without becoming overly masculine. We want to be the embodiment of that power to activate our lives, live our truth, and yet be the feminine grace and way that we are and integrate the masculine and feminine within us. It’s very tantric… And the last thing I’ll say - because I will sit here and talk about this forever - is my life is really a fusion of Christian mysticism, tantric yogini, and Celtic priestess. And this trip, more than ever, fused the three of them… it literally fused my worlds. The old Christian mysticism of what I knew was real and why I would get so mad as a kid from the Catholic Church because they hide all that stuff, but you can feel the truth… In the esoteric, mystical Christ, the female, the divine feminine, is the equal, the consort energy, and the two are needed together. So the first few weeks were all about the fusion of my three devoted streams, and this tour was actually deeply powerful. Every year now I’m going to be going on this pilgrimage; it will be an annual pilgrimage. It was so cool to see all of these women unleashing themselves… I had taught a yoga retreat in Avalon before, but I had never gone for the specific purpose of women as priestesses and women holding that space… It was magnificent.

KiraGrace: Because you’ve taught all over the world, do people’s motivations for doing yoga differ from place to place?

Sianna: It changes. I’m in my 26th year of this and it’s changed so much during that time. And in different places it is different, it just depends on the country. There is no way to generalize this to be quite honest. What I find is that a lot of places feel like, oh it’s all about the physical and all this, but it’s sort of like a story that’s perpetuated. I find that everywhere I go, everyone is interested in the truth and the deeper meanings of things, and if you don’t venture to share those things you can never touch the heart in that way. So I really feel like everywhere I go, all of humanity that shows up for yoga, even if it seems very very surface and that’s what got them there, there’s a deeper call. The fulfillment, meaning, happiness, co-creation, compassion, love, this is universal. These are universal longings. Someone might show up just to look better or feel better, that’s great! I think that’s awesome actually. It’s the body temple. We are in a body. We want to feel good and look the best that we can. It’s beautiful. I think that’s an honoring of the body temple.

KiraGrace: We've become such a jet-setting generation these days and that can take such a toll on personal relationships. You're traveling so much, so do you have any tips for maintaining healthy relationships with your family, your husband, your friends?

Sianna: Honestly I don’t think that’s my strong point. If I’m totally honest, it’s difficult. Beryl’s here with me, and she’s essentially been one of my very best friends for the past couple decades and she’s really witnessed that. I put forth my very best, whole self as much as I can. I make a lot of mistakes along the way but then I try to work on them and just keep showing up. It is difficult. I think what it comes down to in the relationship is really what each person wants in the way of a lifestyle. The love can be massive and everything is there, but if two people want to live in a really different way, that’s a real conversation to be had. Like in the jet-setting days, there has to be a real acceptance of that and each person has to be willing. Especially for the person that is jet-setting, like me, I have to stay very cognizant and aware of my own inner work to make sure that I’m not using it as an escape or an addiction to the adventure of my life or a running away from intimacy in some way. So I need to be very present with these things because the lifestyle is addictive. It’s not an easy lifestyle but it can become like an addiction. There’s so much that has to be attended to in any relationship, and each person has to be very willing to undergo the depth of their inner soul work and be willing to be fully present with the other person when the circumstances are not what the other wants. And then to listen and see, howcan I show up in a way that serves this relationship and serves the needs of my partner and at the same time honors my passion and calling? I do not have the answers, all I can tell you is that it’s a continual unfolding. It’s perhaps the deepest yoga of all, and one that I am really in a deep discovery with.

KiraGrace: Your husband travels with you sometimes right?

Sianna: He does, but it’s not his preference. He would very much prefer for me to be with him and by his side and at home. He’s more wired that way. He’s beautiful… we’ve been together for five years now. Married for three, together for five.

KiraGrace: Why do you wear KiraGrace? What do you love most about KiraGrace? And what is your favorite piece right now?

Sianna: From the first moment I met Kira, I was wildly in love with her. She’s such an extraordinary woman. Then she started showing me her clothes, and they have so much style and elegance and comfort. And they're so easy to wear and flattering and they look beautiful! There is a very feminine grace held in her designs. I love the colors, I love the way I can put things together, I love the styles she comes up with. They just really work for me, and I wear them all over the world pretty much on a daily bases. Her designs are in tune to feminine grace… I love them. And the favorite, well it switches. So one, I’m a big cat person, like the big cats, so I like everything to do with tigers and lions and cheetahs and panthers. They are major spirit guardians for me. So my favorite ones right now are the leopard print Flirt Skinny Yoga Tights. I love the way that they go all the way down and under the heel of the foot because I wear them like that a lot. That’s a big favorite for me. For tops, I like the Romance mesh ones - they’re so sexy. And my single favorite top is the Goddess One Shoulder. I have every color. I wear those continuously. If I have to choose my Durga outfit, then it’s going to be those long leopard tights and the ruby Goddess One Shoulder. 

Registration is still open for Sianna's Goddess Yoga Project! Classes begin October 21st. Follow this link to find out more: Goddess Yoga Project

Shop Sianna's malas at: http://www.kiragrace.com/jewelry

If you liked this blog, check out our other blogs like: "The Feminine Intuition: Interview With Candace McKim", "The Art of Aging Gracefully: Issue 2", "The Art of Aging Gracefully: Issue 1," and "Resources for Your Well-Being."