Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is my home. Since I was 13 years old I’ve been fascinated by eastern philosophy. Yoga and arts are my two passions and my background is in theatre and dance. I started teaching Hatha yoga in Brazil in 1999. In 2003 I earned a Bikram Yoga Teacher Certification. In 2005 I studied with Dharma Mitra and in 2006 I studied with Ana Forrest .
Brazil is famous for colorful exotic bikinis and in 1999 I started Gold Rio Swimwear, a bikini company, in the USA. For about 4 years I sold bikinis to surf shops on the east and west coast. But that wasn’t my passion. I always follow my heart so in the spring of 2003 I registered for the Bikram Yoga Teacher Training in Los Angeles.
The next nine weeks were going to be spent in a hot, sweaty room and I needed to wear something in between a bathing suit and an aerobic fitness outfit. So I came up with several colorful little side string shorts and tops. Since the first day of training my colleagues complimented my outfits. Some asked, knowing about Gold Rio Swimwear, if they could buy some outfits from me. That inspired me to consider a yoga clothing line as most people at that time were still wearing long dark pants in a 100 degree yoga room. I looked around everyday and thought; “this room would look much better if people were wearing more colorful and comfortable outfits”.
That September was the first Yoga Expo and Bishnu Gosh Yoga Competition and there were exhibitor booths available. I decided to set up a booth at the expo for my Gold Rio swimwear and with my new yoga clothing line.
I had to come up with a name for the yoga clothes as Gold Rio was better for the swim suits. I recalled back to 1992 when the first Earth Summit took place in Brazil, leaders from different religions and philosophies from all over the world were there. A group of teenagers from Rio de Janeiro including myself volunteered to work with some charitable groups. I took part in a program that taught meditation and yoga in the slums of Rio.
One of the program leaders was a female monk from India and by the end of the three month event she asked if I would like to receive a personal mantra for meditation and a spiritual name. I accepted so she gave me the mantra, which I should keep secret and a spiritual name that I could use if I liked. The name was Shakti. I loved it and looking into the meaning of it and I liked it even more because of its meaning — female energy, female power.
I know that other companies have been inspired to make similar outfits (some are making exactly the same designs and even present themselves as a line similar to Shakti). What a compliment! I’m proud to say that if you buy Shakti Activewear you are buying the original. I promise that I will always try to come up with new ideas, designs, styles and fun colors so you can bend, stretch, sweat, live and most of all grow in your yoga path. Please enjoy our site and thank you for your business!!
-Ana Bugarim Santos