“There are some things that can’t be rushed.” I’m sure you’ve heard your yoga teacher say that more than once, but it’s true. If yoga teaches us anything, it is that most things in life - the best things - take time. The accumulation of wisdom is one of those things. No matter your age, you bring your experience to your yoga mat with every practice. My guest today on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast is of this wiser generation whose inspiring life experiences are leading her on her own unique yoga j...
Sep 10, 2020•32 min
So many yoga students I talk to start their yoga practice because of a romantic interest. And it's one of the best ways to share yoga, to be honest. To be inspired by friends and loved ones is the best fuel for the fire. A passionate inspiration like that keeps you on the mat -- it might even inspire you to tell others about yoga! That’s how it happened for my guest Tracy, and he’s sharing what inspires him to come back to the yoga mat even as relationships evolve and fade. Tracy, like so many y...
Sep 03, 2020•49 min
It only takes a few moments to break out of this pattern of craving and clinging we find ourselves trapped in. This metta meditation will bring you a few moments of mindfulness to achieve this. Sit with me now in a comfortable position or lay down, but don’t get so comfortable you fall asleep! Because this metta practice is important. We’re going to tap into the three points of mindfulness I discussed in my earlier podcast, but I’m also discussing the two levels of your mind that make practicing...
Aug 27, 2020•51 min
Find a comfortable spot and grab a comfy blanket if you need, because this episode of Yoga Inspiration is a metta meditation practice designed to help you cultivate love, peace, and kindness, both within yourself and in the energy around you. I hear too often from my yoga students and other yogis out in the world that they are intimidated by metta practice. How can we be intimidated by this loving, warm, and kind energy? Because life is hard, and living as a human being is very overwhelming. We ...
Aug 20, 2020•44 min
We practice yoga to heal. We practice yoga to make ourselves stronger - physically, mentally, and spiritually. I know that I first came to the yoga mat in search of something that would make me a better person. So it can be very hard for a yoga student to process the all-too-true reality that yoga is not the perfect path we intend it to be. We practice yoga to be resilient, to be enlightened, and to be kinder to ourselves and to others - yet we don’t always see those same practices in the larger...
Aug 13, 2020•1 hr 13 min
We all start yoga practice for selfish reasons. Our minds are in pain, our bodies are in pain, and we are looking for something to escape our suffering. Conventional happiness doesn’t always cut it. We want a way to truly heal ourselves that isn’t through prescription drugs or any of our other vices. I’m here to tell you today that there is no conventional path to happiness. In fact, there is no “right” way to happiness either, and practicing yoga can break this cycle you’re in of finding - and ...
Aug 06, 2020•54 min
Grief is such a profound subject that impacts so many of us. Yet it is still one of the hardest emotions to talk about, even with our closest friends. This episode of The Yoga Inspiration is very important because Cynthia, a new yoga student, is opening up to me about her own journey through grief, pain, and healing by practicing yoga. Who do you turn to when you’re grieving? Being vulnerable and opening up to someone is one of the only ways to truly allow yourself to heal. Vulnerability breeds ...
Jul 30, 2020•31 min
We all come to the yoga mat for so many different reasons. We may crave a healthier lifestyle, or we believe we’re ready to take on the spiritual journey of yoga practice. But this yoga journey takes us through more than meditation and asanas. And one of the greatest gifts of this journey is truly meeting our bodies for the first time. Meeting your body - more importantly, loving your body and being comfortable in your own skin - is the biggest blessing that comes from yoga practice. We spend so...
Jul 23, 2020•58 min
Welcome to a new paradigm of thinking! This episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast is all about Spiritual Bypassing - an important term I want every yoga student to get familiar with. Understanding this concept is integral to your yoga journey as it can be what’s possibly holding you back from your spiritual growth through yoga. Spiritual Bypassing was originally introduced by John Welwood in the 1980s to describe the process when certain concepts of the yogi’s spiritual path are co-opted and u...
Jul 16, 2020•29 min
This episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast is important for every yoga student, teacher, and yoga studio owner to hear. I’m very excited about the energy Davina Davidson brings with her to the yoga mat, and the perspective she shares with us today is something the yoga community needs to hear. Davina is the founder of The Melanin Yoga Project in Houston, a project that focuses on creating a space where people of color can learn, ask questions about, and ultimately practice the benefits and tea...
Jul 09, 2020•59 min
Welcome to yoga class! As we navigate our new post-COVID world, I’m bringing you new opportunities to practice yoga online. This two hour class will give you the opportunity to meet me as a yoga teacher and follow me through one of my favorite ashtanga yoga flows. Are you ready to transcend your mind and meet your true self? The goal of yoga practice is to help you realize that you exist beyond your thoughts and your physical form. For this reason, your yoga journey is important now more than ev...
Jul 02, 2020•1 hr 53 min
Our relationship with ourselves greatly influences our yoga practice. And some of us might think of ourselves as our thoughts, or maybe we think of ourselves as our physical bodies. On this episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast, I’m going to tell you that your sense of self is neither. Your life is more than this material structure. It’s hard to detach our self-identity from our thoughts, but the goal of your yoga practice is to help you realize that you exist beyond your thoughts and physical...
Jul 02, 2020•1 hr 12 min
Ashtanga yoga doesn’t have a reputation for being accessible, and I’ve spent my career trying to change this. Because if you don’t see yourself in this yoga space, how will you ever feel a part of our community? That’s why I invited yoga teacher Angelica Wilson onto the Yoga Inspiration Podcast. Angelica’s spent 8 years using her background as a dance instructor to create a more accessible space in the yoga community. As a dancer, she learned to teach classes for all ages, body types, and skin c...
Jun 25, 2020•56 min
This is a special episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast. It’s shorter than you might expect, but I’m discussing the importance of ahimsa within our personal revolution. A cultural revolution is happening around us right now, and our yoga practice gives us the power to inspire change in not only ourselves, but in others. Yoga practice is designed to break the cycle of suffering. When you sit quietly on your yoga mat, you may feel anger, fear, or hatred towards others, maybe even towards yoursel...
Jun 18, 2020•1 hr 13 min
Over the past twenty years, we have seen the yoga world morph and evolve. Yet we are still so far from where we need to be. It’s a shame that it’s taken us this long to recognize the need to support and uplift the black and brown voices in our yoga community. I invited Shanna Small on this episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast to give us actionable steps we can take to make yoga more accessible amidst the Black Lives Matter movement and the powerful cultural shifts we are seeing today. Shanna ...
Jun 11, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Facing doubt is already hard, but imagine having to face it without your yoga practice. In this episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast, I’m discussing how doubt sometimes kicks us off our mat, and the key ways we can all push through that doubt and stay dedicated to our yoga journey. What does doubt look like to you? No one is immune to doubt, especially yogis. For us, yoga is not a clear or linear path. There is no steady upward progress like we see in traditional sports. Sure, it feels like a...
Jun 04, 2020•1 hr 44 min
As a yoga teacher, it’s been really wonderful to see students stay motivated and committed to their journey while practicing at home yoga. That’s why this episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast is a little bit different. Times like these require a different kind of inspiration. So I’m sharing one of my recent Zoom calls, including a brief meditation and a yoga Q&A session at the end of this episode. It’s so important right now to feel a sense of community within the yoga community itself. T...
May 28, 2020•2 hr 8 min
Yoga is hard. I’ve been practicing yoga for over 20 years, and I still think it’s challenging. But something worth doing is never easy, and I’m talking about one of the most difficult practices in yoga on this episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast - the Tapas. We all come to our first yoga practice for selfish reasons - and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! Wanting to strengthen your body, open your mind, and improve your health are all great reasons to seek out a yoga studio. But yo...
May 21, 2020•55 min
On the this episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast, I’m sharing with you the powerful life lessons I learned about failure from the yoga mat. If you remember back to my first episode, you know that I didn’t come from an athletic or particularly physically fit background when I took my first yoga class. I didn’t even know what any of these poses were when I started! But just because you can’t balance a pose doesn’t mean you aren’t worthy of practicing yoga. Yoga practice is anything but easy. Yo...
May 14, 2020•45 min
This episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast is especially inspiring for me because one of my very own mentors is here as my guest. Dianne Bondy is a disruptor in the yoga scene. She is a social justice activist who paved the way for more inclusive yoga studios and practices, and I sought out her mentorship when I wanted to make my classes more accessible to yoga students from all walks of life. Inclusive yoga is more important now than ever, even as we’re squinting through our computer screens ...
May 07, 2020•1 hr 2 min
I’m bringing a new kind of inspiration to this episode of the Yoga Inspiration Podcast! You may not realize it, but humor is so important to our spiritual journey - especially right now. We can walk the line between appropriate and inappropriate humor, or we can use humor to help us and our fellow yoga students to cope, understand, and bring some light to an otherwise dark and confusing time. My guest, conscious comedian JP Sears, is here to discuss how humor can be a yogis best motivator. What ...
Apr 30, 2020•56 min
This episode of the Yoga Inspiration Podcast is coming straight from my heart. I was inspired by my own yoga teacher this week when he reminded me how special and valuable life - all living things - truly is, including yourself. Do you know how hard it is to love and accept yourself? Especially during the times we live in now. The world is so different, and things are changing so quickly for so many of us that any sense of normalcy or acceptance is flying right out the window. With this episode,...
Apr 23, 2020•40 min
We are sitting with so much uncertainty these days. I know many of us have been impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic, and it’s put many of us in a difficult space. Even the most dedicated yoga practitioners are having a hard time, myself included. I’m turning to my yoga community for guidance right now, and I’m sharing their responses with you on this episode. Hearing real stories from fellow yogis can help us through this in-between stage of not-knowing. Uncertainty is a common trigger for many...
Apr 16, 2020•33 min
No matter where you are in your yoga journey, you are or you will soon start to practice yoga at home - and you don’t need to be a self-taught yogi to practice home yoga! All you need is a routine and a commitment to your yoga practice to start posing at home. A sacred space can help, too. On this episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast I’m unpacking the skills you’ll need to establish a home practice for yourself. No, I’m not talking about yoga skills. Home yoga is for everyone, even yoga begin...
Apr 09, 2020•27 min
The Yoga Inspiration Podcast is all about talking with real yoga students about practicing yoga in the real world. It doesn’t matter if you’re a yoga beginner or if you’ve been practicing for decades, everyone’s yoga journey is an inspiration. And this episode is a very inspiring interview with one of my own yoga students, Kelly. Kelly came to practice with me for a week after a very important moment in her own life. Just two months ago, Kelly had a hysterectomy. Her doctors told her not to prac...
Apr 09, 2020•32 min
Yoga is a journey, and at the heart of this journey is the student. This brand new lifestyle podcast is for every yoga student, beginners and experts both, because we never really stop being students, do we? Think now, back to your first yoga class...Do you remember it? On this first-ever episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast with Kino MacGregor, I’m dialing it all the way back to my very first class. I might be a yoga teacher now, but I will always be a student. I’m always looking for inspira...
Apr 09, 2020•25 min
