Murti Hower, E-RYT 500hrs
Murti is a master teacher, well known and respected on the island, has been practicing Hatha Yoga since 1982 and teaching for well over 20 years. Many yoga teachers on Oahu were originally trained by Murti through teacher training programs he helped develop and now through his own teacher training program – Maha Yoga Institute. Murti is one of the most experienced on the island running teacher training programs, with over 10 years of experience facilitating these intensive programs.
He credits his main yoga mentor and friend Rodney Yee for his teaching of healing alignment principles for the past 17 years and continues to mentor and train with him whenever he has the opportunity.
Murti has also trained with well-known teachers such as:
• Shiva Rea – Shiva has taken Murti deeper into the flows of yoga for over 12 years, during his time practicing and training with her.
• David Swenson — for three years from 1995-1998.
• Peggy Kelly – From 1987-1988 Murti took an Iyengar teacher training program with her in Austin,Texas.
• Richard Freedman — Ten workshops during 2001-2005.
• B.K.S. Iyengar — 2005 in Estes Park, Colorado.
• Ramanand Patel — Worked with this Master Iyengar teacher who taught him the art and sciences of yoga Bandhas.
• Billy Porter — Murti’s first experience in yoga was in 1984 with Billy Porter in Hollywood California. He had his first yoga teacher training with him in 1985.
Through the years of personal study and healing a chronic back injury, Murti developed a vinyasa style of teaching that allows all levels of students to heal themselves through the practice of yoga. Murti ran his own yoga studio in Austin, Texas for 12 years called Healing in Yoga. Since living in Honolulu he has been teaching at numerous studios and is now Director of Maha Yoga Institute.
Larina Hawkins-Hower RYT-200hrs
Larina has found profound peace, healing and grounding through the practice of hatha yoga since her first experiences exploring asanas in the late 90’s at UCLA. She enjoys facilitating events in yoga and ecstatic dance. Conscious dance events are inspired by her exposure to many dance forms – from flamenco and latin dance to ecstatic dance – inspiring her to incorporate the energies of grace, passion and expansiveness into her programs with the eclectic playlists she creates.
Her first and most profound experiences of ecstatic dance were at Kalani, on the Big Island, where annual ecstatic dance retreats are now held. She has also participated in workshops in Soul Motion™ with Vinn Marti and Yoga Trance Dance with Shiva Rea which have informed her dance practice, opening up pathways to creativity, freedom and bliss. It is her intent to hold space for all to explore and discover their authentic movement, guided by their individual spirit within the framework of community.
She and Murti Hower have developed Tantra Partner Yoga For Couples® workshops and retreats which are a wonderful way for couples to connect, to see the divine in each other and to awaken the spark of connection.
Larina is 200HR certified through Yoga Alliance and also holds a certification in Yoga Trance Dance™ with Shiva Rea.
