We had the good fortune of connecting with Aria Morgan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aria, what matters most to you?

I struggled between choosing this question and why I chose to pursue an artistic or creative career: the answer to both is Truth to Self.
I’m of the mindset that life is the journey, and truth to self is the key to unlocking paths fulfilling and unknown. Though I now teach yoga, offer birth coaching and write. I didn’t grow up with the possibility of ever having this as my job and my career. The process happened organically, by listening and following those inner urges.
When I enrolled in college at UCLA, I was a pre-law major. I changed mid-stream, and graduated with a double major in Russian and in Spanish. My first “real job” was teaching 2nd Grade Bilingual in Culver City, but that wasn’t the right fit for my heart.
I loved cinema and especially foreign films: my next foray was in the world of entertainment. I worked as an Executive Assistant for a prestigious boutique Agent and Producer, and moonlit in Production, but neither of those were right for me, either.
Throughout it all, I practiced mindful movement and exercise. At the same time, I began pitching ideas about the underground music scene in LA and writing about it for magazines: both of these activities nurtured my heart. Both functioned as markers of self expression and Joy.
All of this eventually led me exactly to where I am, today, and it all began with pursuing that inner feeling, those inner urges, my inner Truth.
Trusting The Call. Enjoy the Journey…
My path has hardly ever been linear. Instead, I follow the next step, as it unfolds. Sometimes, failure appears in the form of a closed door, but I always learn from it: I keep going. I’d rather make my own mistake than make someone else’s and live with regret.
The Lesson of Joy
I learned the lesson of Joy early in life. On my 14th birthday, while walking through a crosswalk, I was hit by a Suburban traveling over 45mph.
They say your life flashes in front of you just before you die. I don’t recall that moment, nor the actual impact, but I clearly recall the moments just before and afterwards.
I woke up in ICU a week later, having danced with death the entire time.
I woke up an extremely different person. I possessed an inexplicable inner knowing, a radically different view on life and everything about my life, including my name. My deeply held religious views shifted in the course of that week, and though I still believed in God, I had an inner knowing about what was True (for me) and what was not. My sense of Self, Identity and Purpose shifted one hundred eighty degrees. All of the sudden, I possessed a deep well of Joy, so much, that sometimes the nurses would come into my room and paint my nails while they talked to me, always proclaiming how much I’d “cheered them up.”
I also possessed a deep intuitive sense that my body was capable of healing far beyond what everyone, most especially the doctors, were telling me was possible.
Limited, or Limitless?
I admit that some may perceive my life as limited: if I don’t move my body daily in ways that are beneficial to it, I experience pain.
For some, this is a limitation. For me, however, this is an invitation to further self exploration.
I’d much rather commit to daily movement than succumb to another’s proclamation of what I am capable of, and eventually let the pain take over my life.
Mind-Body
I’ve learned to be Joyful, regardless of suffering or pain. The two are not interdependent.
I later learned how this gift intersects with the mind-body aspect of yoga, and this is the essence of what I infuse into my teaching and my coaching.  What is not possible is merely unknown: it has not been yet experienced by that person saying it. The mind and the heart are the keys to moving past limitation. 
Miracles happen all the time.
People recover miraculously from terminal conditions.
Women get pregnant who “aren’t supposed to.”
It’s rare, but it happens, and therefore, it IS possible.
I don’t teach or preach that you’re going to get healed miraculously. I’m limited in many physical expressions, but I choose to focus on what i can do and strengthen my body and my spirit based on what is currently possible for me. My structural limitations may be profound. And it is because of these profound limitations that I know how to teach the body to heal beyond what has been predicted.
“It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable” – Socrates
I love to work hard. I love feeling my body alive. Safe, challenging movements and a daily mind-body practice creates connection to Joy and Truth. These are the secrets of living a happy, healthy life.
Lila, or Divine Play
Yoga is divine play. I encourage my students to have fun, to try things that they might not normally try, to find the inner playful child inside.
My class is not a guru-reverant space. You are the guru. You are the wise one. Don’t ever let a teacher, doctor, or authority figure take that role away from you.
I believe in teaching an alignment-focused class because it garners safety within a posture and throughout the many transitions in and out of that posture. I break postures down by muscle and skeletal engagement. I know my strengths and I know what I’m good at. My method works!
I love teaching. I love coaching moms and partners approaching motherhood. I love helping women as they birth their baby into the world. It’s all connected for me: tools to help live a more empowered life.
 
How to create empowerment even out of what may be perceived as a negative situation? It all goes back to mind-body, to being connected to your inner truth and not someone else’s. 

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

Most Proud Of: I am most proud of the fact that I have consistently surpassed limitations and boundaries. Time and time again.
Spleenectomy, Left Nephrectomy, Skeletal and Structural Damage
After my car accident, I was pronounced permanently immune-compromised, with the distinct possibility of living on a low dose antibiotic my entire life, doomed to a morbidly cautious life for fear of near-constant illness: I’ve had no such issues.
Losing my kidney was less of a concern since the human body has two, but nonetheless, I eat extremely healthy 95% of the time. So as not to stress my organs any further, I avoid all pharmaceuticals, including painkillers such as Tylenol, Advil and aspirin. Pain is not a concern for me. I know how to deal with it.
It was the skeletal injuries that have caused the most problems and over which I am the most proud of my accomplishments.
The impact of the accident cracked my pelvis and split my femur in half. “A clean break,” the doctor said.
My ribs, skull and knee joint fractured. My kneecap broke into several pieces. I also sustained multiple soft tissue and connective tissue injuries, especially in my knees and hips.
Six Months in a Body Cast
I lived in traction in the hospital for one month, followed by a wheelchair for two months. During that time, my femur was manually re-broken six times in a futile attempt to force my femur to “heal” correctly. This was followed by one more surgery to re-break the femur and place me into a full body cast for six months.
Body casts are as restrictive as it gets. I couldn’t move anything beyond my arms, shoulders and neck. Everything else was rigidly cast. Six months later, my femur had still not healed correctly: one leg was massively shorter than the other, curved outwards with a huge ball of bone that had formed on the side of my thigh, poking out like a round softball. The top of my left thigh was rotated internally: the bottom half of my left thigh was rotated externally. I walked oddly in an attempt to make up for this deformity.
Four years later, my femur would be re-broken again, this time with a steel rod inside where the bone marrow normally resides. More surgeries followed. More joint and bone injuries. Arthritis at an early age. The list goes on and on…
“You’ll Never Walk Normally Again.”
I realized at a very young age that all experts, doctors and practitioners are limited. Doctors are merely humans. Their words reflect a limited training in healing, one steeped in drugs and surgeries, and not in the power of the human body to overcome.
And unfortunately, doctors always give the worst possible scenario. I suspect it’s because they don’t want to be sued by promising something that isn’t guaranteed and which requires a ton of work, dedication, and perseverance.
I knew that more was possible because of my strong connection to my Inner Truth, and this has become my message in all that I do!
Your body is capable of healing, and it is always in the process of healing.
Every single day.
Everything is possible. Nothing is out of the question, unless we believe it to be.
I have healed far beyond anyone’s predictions. Had I listened to the doctors’ proclamation, I would be on painkillers, and walking with a walker by now. Instead, I looked up at those doctors and thought,
”Who are YOU to tell me what I am capable of?
You are just a human! You’re like me, nothing more.
How dare you decide this for me? You’re talking based on your limited understanding and past life experience as if that determines my reality. You know nothing about me and what I am capable of.”
But I didn’t say that out loud. I was raised to be polite.
Tenacity of Spirit
Time and time again, I have defied doctor’s predictions. Even as recently as six years ago, when I re-injured my compromised knee: I was sitting in Urgent care, and three different doctors came in, looked at me with eyes wide, looked back at my X-Rays, all shocked.
The first said, “I don’t know how you’re sitting there, like that.” “That shouldn’t be possible.” 
The second doctor looked at the X-Ray, looked back at me, and walked out of the room, calling in another doctor to “witness this.”
The third doctor shook her head and said, “I don’t understand how you can do that, with that knee.”
How do I do it? It takes believing in myself, following my Truth, confidence and dose of good ol’ fashioned chutzpah.
Strength and Resilience
During this process of healing. I have suffered tremendous, chronic pain, and years of learning how to shift my awareness beyond the pain so that I could strengthen my body.
I teach strength and resilience, especially for those who are injured. Sometimes injuries are permanent structural limitations. Other times, we face temporary physical limitations, such as the shifting of bones, muscles and organs due to pregnancy.
Years and years of personal experience inform my actions. You’ll learn a lot in my classes! I don’t just offer a flow. I teach how to access postures within the context of a flow and sometimes with props, such as blocks or the wall.
You may learn the mechanics behind certain postures such as downward facing dog, plank, and handstand – all the same mechanics. You’ll learn how postures connect, and how to train your body to go deeper into a posture by practicing complementary postures as well as counter-postures.
If I’m your private teacher, I give your body exactly what it needs, which can be different sometimes than what your mind thinks you need.
Was it easy for me?
That depends on how you define “easy.” If I were to define “easy” as having ease, following an inner flow, then yes – it was easy.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
San Diego is so beautiful! I lived in LA for almost 30 years, and just moved to SD in 2019. I’m still discovering the city, but already, I have so many favorite spots:

La Jolla Torrey Pines HIke – AMAZING ocean views. What a stunning, magical hike.

Downtown La Mesa – sweet and tiny, like a blast from the past, with a trolley station, a tea shoppe, several vintage clothing stores, boutiques, an amazing local sushi joint, and tons of great coffee!

Encinitas – The Self Realization Fellowship. Swami’s Beach. Hip, local boutiques and amazing restaurants!

Del Mar Beach – The most amazing, stunning, high cliffs and ocean walks. I love this beach. If you go “off season,” part of Del Mar Beach is a leash-free dog beach.

Coronado Island – a trip across the bridge and you’ve arrived at a magical space where it feels like everyone is on vacation. Take the free trolley, or rent bikes and explore the island on two wheels!

Gelati and Peccati – OMG. Roman-style pizza and the best gelato in all of San Diego. Can’t’ believe I’m letting this secret out… but they deserve to be known. So, so, soooo good!!!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Felicia Tomasko – my editor at LA Yoga Magazine. This woman is kind, generous, thoughtful, pushes her writers with love, and never gives up. I am grateful for her guidance and support over the last 17+ years that I’ve known her.

Website: www.yogawitharia.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yogawitharia/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yogawitharia/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/YogawithAria

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/layogawitharia

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/yoga-with-aria-la-mesa-2?osq=yoga+with+aria

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc9SvNy7URokkgdCY-s2dNw/videos

Image Credits
Julie Bayer Louis Fisher Julia Yang

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutSocal is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.