Aiyana is a lover of the wilderness, drawn to untamed places both within and outside.

Aiyana Athenian

E-RYT 500, RPYT, LMT, CAy

Aiyana has always been drawn to the ancient movement arts, starting with years of dance as a child and then studying holistic martial arts intensively through her teenage and young adult years. Aiyana fell in love with yoga in her early 20’s and studied various styles and lineages of yoga for more than 15 years. She has trained extensively in Sivananda Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Vinyasa, Prenatal Yoga and Ayurvedic Yoga, to name a few. Her yoga studies have drawn her to India numerous times, where the culture and spirituality have kneaded and shaped her being. Aiyana is currently furthering her studies in Qigong with Master Peng and other teachers. In the union of movement, breath, and stillness, she finds joy in exploring the expression of the soul through the human body. 

Meditation has been a constant companion for Aiyana since she was young and she has long considered meditation her foremost spiritual practice. She has studied in yogic, buddhist and taoist meditation traditions and attended many retreats, maintaining a daily meditation practice over the past 20 years. She continually finds inspiration and calm, insight and pause, and an opportunity to witness waves of emotions and thoughts, as well as the absence of them when she returns to her cushion daily. Aiyana finds that making time to sit in the midst of this dance of life, embracing both her humanness and her ultimate nature simultaneously, keeps her honest with herself and others and continually develops her capacity to show up with love and compassion for this world. 

Aiyana has been teaching yoga and meditation and offering healing arts services for over 17 years. She founded the ShivaShakti School of Yoga & Healing Arts with her late husband, Krishna, in 2007. Through ShivaShakti, Aiyana and Krishna led 200-hr and 500-hr yoga teacher trainings for over a dozen years. In addition to trainings, they also co-led meditation and yoga retreats in various locations around the globe. Seeking a more sustainable lifestyle for both the Earth and her being, Aiyana has taken a hiatus since 2020 from travel teaching. She continues to offer online speciality yoga, meditation and breathwork trainings through ShivaShakti. In the healing arts, Aiyana has studied and practiced massage/bodywork, Ayurveda and various other modalities for many years. She currently offers integrative healing sessions online and in-person, which draw from Shamanic healing practices, spiritual life coaching/mentorship, energy/bodywork and Ayurveda.

Aiyana considers being a mother her main “work” these days - work,” in the sense that it requires ample time, focus and energy. Truly, it feels like play and meditation in motion. She finds that to fully embrace mothering, cultivating presence, love and support is the greatest spiritual practice she’s ever encountered. Nothing else has ever tested her or filled her with more love than this daily sadhana does. Aiyana also loves to hike and backpack, dance, garden and drink tea. She currently resides with her sweet daughter in the Blue Ridge Mountains just outside Asheville, North Carolina.