Hiyala Indiga is the owner of Body Prayers Yoga & Massage Studio. I feel so blessed to be able to serve my clients with yoga, massage, and artwork (primarily portraits of pets, people and homes).
I initially learned Shiatsu massage at Harbin Hot Springs in California. I subsequently studied Integrated and Deep tissue Massage Therapy with Diana Lonsdale, also at Harbin. I worked at a spa in Calistoga for several years before moving back to Minnesota. I continue to study and learn new techniques, mostly thru Northwestern in Bloomington.
After years of traveling to various sites I am happy to have found my current studio in Circle Pines. I was trained through Integrative yoga therapy in California and has since studied Structural Yoga Therapy with Makunda Stiles, and Yoga for Specific Health Problems with Jeff Migdow, MD at Kripalu. She continues her training by studying with master teachers throughout the year. "Body Prayers" originated from a prayer called "The Earth Dance" that Hiyala memorized by setting it to movement. She taught the finished piece to others as a movement meditation. A group of women formed to perform and teach these meditations. This Twin Cities based group called themselves "Body Prayers", and consisted of Hiyala, Amy Barankovich, Luann Kintree, Maryann Meyers, and Bonnie Berquam. Body Prayers is available to perform/teach at your event!
Hiyala has been teaching yoga since her initial training in 1996. Many know her from the classes she taught at Pathways in Uptown, the Emma B Howe YMCA, Unity Hospital, Mercy Hospital, Shoreview Community Center, Anoka Community Ed, and the Women & Spirituality workshops in Mankato.
My classes blend a variety of different styles. Since studying Positional Release Therapy at Kripalu Yoga Institute in Ma., I infuse these movements into my classes. What I learned is that "trigger points" form from overworking muscles. These are like "snags" in a nylon, and they squeeze a muscle tight. Trigger points can cause pain that is sometimes diagnosed as "tennis elbow", arthritis, carpal tunnel, sciatica, etc. Stretching can make them worse, not better. So, it's important to address them first, by doing some poses that release them - before stretching. Having studied with William Protengeier and various other visiting master teachers at the St Paul Yoga Center, my teaching is influenced by the Iyengar method. Also, Pilates is infused throughout my classes for abdominal strength. Pranayama (breath work) is very important to the opening of the body, and Ayurveda, yoga's sister science of health is taught is "tidbits" throughout the session. Sometimes, we will be studying single poses in detail, holding the pose a long time, some days, we will "flow" in and out of the poses. What we do is determined by the individual ability levels within each class.