Shannon Sahaja
Living Embodiment
Through somatic practices, self love, and a healthy dose of curiosity we learn how we are Being Danced by life itself.
Join me for Classes, Workshops, and Coaching!
As an embodiment alchemist, and meditation guide, I am here to support you to upgrade your body temple to realize freedom, joy and empowerment.
I host Oakland Ecstatic Dance every Wednesday and Sunday!
1933 Broadway @Sweets Ballroom
Shannon's Class Schedule
April 7: CI 10-11 am
April 10: Yoga 7-8 pm
April 17: CI 7-8 pm
April 28: Yoga 10-11 am
May 1: CI 7-8 pm
May 8: Yoga 7-8 pm
May 12: CI 10-11 am
May 22: CI 7-8 pm
May 26: Yoga 10-11 am
June 2: Yoga 10-11 am
June 5: CI 7-8 pm
June 9: CI 10-11 am
Do you desire to develop more ease and authenticy in your dance floor relationships?
Reach out to book a session!
"Deliciously decentralized, collaborative, individualistic, yet playfully structured with purpose."
Abram Clark
"Shannon is playful, honest, joyful, passionate and gentle. An experienced guide who facilitates a love opening for all her students."
Jeff
Venus Lieu Scheurich
"The class really allowed me the space to breathe, slow down, and be silly without fear of being judged. It really helped me to open up my heart. I feel lighter and uplifted."
Time is TBDReach out to book a sessionTime is TBDReach out to book a session, near you
Workshops focus on the fundamentals of Contact Improvisation:
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Floor work—Knowing how to create safety and strength in the body through spirals and rolls.
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Understanding the architecture of the body and how to safely hold and support weight.
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Working with physics to safely support the momentum, and risk taking in your dancing.
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Learn to modulate your body’s tone, density, texture, levity, extension, and flavor to enhance the dynamic range in your duets.
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Exploring being off balance, off the vertical axis, and off your rocker! Lol!
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Getting clear on how to initiate movement from your eyes, top of head, finger tips, and toes.
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Owning your core and periphery to work together to develop greater listening skills.
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All these workshops will leave you feeling massaged, met, touched, curious, and energized
Experience
I am an embodiment alchemist who loves to play, teach, and perform in the improvisational arts. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from one of the top dance conservatories in the country, I spent the last two decades developing a skill set as a movement arts teacher that will delight you. I have a unique ability to create safety for my students while spicing things up with humor and spontaneity.
In 2010, I founded: Being Danced. Experiments in Communal Play!
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A body of work designed bring you embodied presence seaoned with playfulness.
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A safe place to revel in your inner child's creative genius!
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An improvisational playground for collaborating in community through movement, theater, and humor.
As the Creative Director of Ecstatic Dance Oakland from 2015 to 2021, I witnessed how Ecstatic Dance brought Contact Improvisation to a massive amount of dancers new to the art form, yet wasn't grounded in the principals of true weight sharing.
I am committed to bringing the art and technique of Contact Improvisation for those wanting and willing to learn this martial art, dance, sport as a way of life.
I had the good fortune to have studied extensively with many of the most influential practitioners of CI: Nancy Stark Smith, Chris Aiken, Andrew Harwood, Karen Nelson, Ray Chung, Kristie Simpson, Scott Wells, and Kathleen Hermesdorf.
"I really enjoy Shannon’s classes. Very restorative and deep style of practice. She allows space for each of us to check in with ourselves and explore what is happening in our bodies. This creates an environment where we are able to deeply connect with our essence. I feel amazing after a class with Shannon!"
Emily
"Shannon has helped me move some major energy that I have stored for over 20 years, she helped me to heal in a few months traumas that have affected me for years.
Sheldon Cobb
Anna Dennor
"Shannon is an amazing teacher, receptive to what shows up, and has an infectious joy. It is almost like she approaches her classes both from her expertise and with beginners mind."
Testimonials
"Each Improv session is different given the tenor of Shannon's facilitation, the tempo of the gathered players, and the 'third body' wisdom that emerges moment to moment.
All experiences of Shannon's classes contain some magic."
~Susan McKearnan
"Shannon provides an inspiring, safe, and joyful container for play, in which she accepts and encourages creative ideas from all participants. The Live music that supports the group is brilliantly inspired and varied."
~Zorg Ztocouc
What stood out for me is the communal feeling that arose from participating in the exercises and games offered. There was a surprising and delightful creative expression evoked from the participants. I left with a feeling of deep relaxation as well as a sense of new and now easily-accessed creative potentials.
~Shawn King
"The landscapes created were always rich and stimulating. Individual creativity and group synergy constantly weaving and dissolving patterns. The platform offered void of judgements and pretenses allowed us to tap into our own unique creativity and style and soar higher and higher till we fell into deep silence."
~Shanti Ragnoli
"In her Being Danced classes, Shannon does a fabulous job creating a safe and fun space for participants to play, relax, dance, sing, express themselves, and heal. Rather than just letting people dance on their own, Shannon leads playful dance improvisations and games much of the time. She knows when to lead playfully or seriously, when to let others lead, and when & how to defuse a potentially awkward situation that is forming in the group. She is kind to everyone, without judgment."
~Cassandra Duggan, LCSW
"Shannon is the most wonderful surprise for me. Her flower of knowledge, and kindness continued to open for me in ways that made me respect her as a human. She was just so present. So open. So accessable. But also, so so talented."
~ Trevor Morre
"Shannon will free your spirit and open your creative channels! ~Michael Kersten
"So many of my wants and needs were met today in the best Being Danced I have been to. Shannon is masterful with creating a container that is safe and judgment free, where we can all express ourselves however it comes out of us. We danced, giggled, played, smiled, meditated, co-created and shared ourselves in this amazing art space with beautiful souls and ended with few moments of sound healing."
~Laura Schneider
"Shannon’s class is a totally free space to play, to explore, and to find whatever is true in that moment for me and for my body. I’ve been able to reconnect to parts of myself that I have lost touch with for years because of her facilitating."
~ Ashae, Sebastopol, CA
"I’ve never seen a yoga instructor spend so much time and energy on connecting with everyone in the room individually and then as a group. It’s amazing to watch her take it all in and then create the experience based on whatever is in front of her; she is literally a maestro of movement in the yoga studio."
~ Baron, Berkeley, CA
"I adore Shannon's yoga teaching. She has great presence, her classes flow and build smoothly from start to finish, she grounds everything in the breath, she makes it fun by bringing in sound and she holds the practice in a sacred container with zero pretension. As a teacher Shannon radiates an inner confidence and experience which creates great space holding for the students. I have experienced many yoga teachers both personally and as employees at my center BodhGaia. Shannon is one of the very best I have come across. She is the sort of teacher who very quickly will establish a devoted following."
~Rupert Davis, Former owner BodhGaia Center, San Francisco Bay Area
"Shannon is a teacher who has embodied her work. Intellectually, spiritually, and physically. This is a sign of a true master. The gift that Shannon has given me, that i needed so tremendously, is acceptance. Accepting that my body is perfect exactly as it is. Shannon gives just the right information and images that helps the body expand effortlessly. Thats the key, for a guy that likes to try hard, is to do it effortlessly. Knowing that my body has the innate wisdom within to expand. And thats the gift that Shannon is offering.
~Steve Carter, co-Founder of Ecstatic Living Institute
"I was first intrigued by Shannon encouraging a group class to experiment and wiggle around finding the yoga pose variation that our bodies wanted to be in. I loved this. It was the first time I felt permission to not be in some kind of ideal alignment and my personal practice really changed having been freed to explore. Whenever I want to deepen my practice I schedule a private lesson with Shannon and what amazes me is that I can talk to her about any interest I have or what about my body has my attention and she will create an experience that is exactly perfect for what I am going through. It’s unbelievable how she can sense into exactly where I am and lead me through a personal practice that is at my level, but still has profound impact."
~ Dave Thesis
About Me
First and foremost, I am an artist. I have spent most of my life exploring authentic expression as an artist. Through dancing, singing, photography, performance art, poetry, yoga, and gardening, I found connection with something beyond myself. A living embodiment of Source. In my soul journey over the past 20 years, I realized that the inner work of spiritual awakening is indeed an art form in and of itself.
Dance: A deep love and study of dance was my focus from a very young age, and I eventually graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.F.A. in Dance and Movement Studies from S.U.N.Y. Purchase, an art conservatory in New York. I then performed, taught, and traveled with modern dance companies in New York and San Francisco. Near the end of my dance career, I found that there was something missing in how I felt while performing these choreographed pieces. I remember being at a cast party and witnessing the joy on peoples faces as they spontaneously danced to the music a D.J. was playing. At that moment, everything inside me knew that dance is for everyone! Dance is a powerful vehicle that has the potential to wake people up to the hidden treasures inside themselves, and a platform to connect on a soul level. A place were we are supported to let go of inhibitions, and to ride the wave into the unknown. I began to search for a way to work with dance in this new light of awareness. This search led me to Australia where I trained in Kundalini Dance with founder Leyolah Antara. This began my journey of facilitating conscious dance practice, inspiring me to extensively study contact improvisation, Soul Motion, 5 Rhythms dance, and Ecstatic Dance.
Yoga: My study of yoga and mysticism began as a young girl while out in nature with my father. He would gently remind me to listen to the sound of the wind...to listen to the earth and the plants calling out to me...remember...remember...who you are! Years later, my first introduction to yoga as movement happened during my rigorous years of dance training in New York. I remember being blown away by how much the class challenged me physically and at the same time left me with a sense of peace and calm that I was unaccustomed to. This new-found center of serenity launched me into 20 years of gathering and studying the ancient art of yoga. Most influential to me have been my trainings with Angela Farmer, Victor van Kooten, Rodney Yee, Richard Rosen, Rod Styker, James Higgins, Dana Flynn, and Anusara yoga.