The ability to discern between what is true and not true is the ultimate goal of the Ashtanga yoga practice. Continual practice of the full eight limbs of Ashtanga will create a permanent state of “discernable discernment” — but that is so much easier said than done. As we well know, walking the path of yoga can take many, many lifetimes. We may not burn through all of our negative patterns in this life. But, as we continue to get on our mats every day, it’s important to not burn out our own pas...
Mar 17, 2022•1 hr
Anusha Moore, a fellow Ashtanga yoga teacher, reached out to me after attending one of my Mysore classes. She has been practicing yoga for nearly 15 years and loves the accountability that the Ashtanga practice brings to her life. But she's also holding me accountable. When Anusha reached out to me, it wasn't to discuss postures and poses or philosophy. She's studied with me many times, and she brought to my attention something she's experienced in many yoga classes taught by Western teachers — ...
Mar 10, 2022•39 min
One moral and ethical principle unites all yogis on their path — ahimsa . Ahimsa is the practice of non-violence, a hopeful note of inspiration amid the conflict on the European continent. We are all experiencing the Russian invasion of Ukraine in real-time. Many of us live in Europe and have friends and family who live in the cities we see on the news. I am not an expert in international policy or relations, and I am not here to discuss any political motivations. Instead, I want to invite every...
Mar 03, 2022•26 min
Being a yoga teacher, I get to see so many different bodies doing the practice. Yoga is for everyone, regardless of what you may see on Instagram or YouTube. The balance and harmony of your yoga practice are not meant to be uniform -- your asanas will not look like everyone else’s, and that’s okay. It’s very important to recognize the idea that balance and harmony do not mean uniformity on this journey. Your yoga practice is intended to inspire a better relationship with your body and teach you ...
Feb 24, 2022•1 hr 12 min
Yoga practice is wonderful. It’s wonderful for the body, it’s wonderful for the soul, but yoga is a challenge. No one ever said it would be easy to retrain the mind and the body. But that is exactly what this practice does -- yoga retrains our minds to create more authentic experiences of reality. Before yoga, your reality existed within a tiny box of possibility. You may have assumed your box of possibility was limited. Perhaps you thought you could never do a handstand, or maybe you thought yo...
Feb 17, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Prachi Patankar was born and raised in rural India. She comes from a working-class and lower-caste family. Her parents and grandparents fought for worker’s rights, women’s rights, gender justice, and more. You may know Prachi for her writing and activism, and she’s here to discuss the spiritual and political history of India and its relationship with yoga. Many different spiritual and religious traditions existed in India for centuries. What we know today as Hinduism was known as Brahmanism in t...
Feb 10, 2022•58 min
Sometimes, we have to take it upon ourselves to seek out the instruction we need on this spiritual journey. When it comes to practicing meditation, I was never taught an official technique. The most technical instruction I received was “go ahead!” And, yes, we should all go ahead and practice sitting and meditating. However, it’s much easier said than done. We sit with distractions all day that can make it hard to meditate, especially with that small and convenient distraction device in your poc...
Feb 03, 2022•2 hr 1 min
Join me as I share some time with Peg and Megan from The Ashtanga Dispatch Yoga Podcast . They attended my first-ever class at the Miami Yoga Garage, and we’re discussing all the steps it took to make the Miami Yoga Garage a reality. The pandemic has changed a lot of things about the way we work, how we share time with friends, and even how we practice yoga. At first, the yoga community was very much against video classes. But it came to the point of necessity during global lockdowns for yoga te...
Jan 27, 2022•51 min
Join me for a metta practice in gratitude. Giving thanks on your spiritual journey is important. It’s important to recognize your yoga teachers (and their teachers before them) for helping you uncover these gifts, and it’s important to be gracious to the path itself for offering these gifts to us. So, get into a comfortable position and relax. Notice your breath and allow it to overwhelm your senses. Pay attention to where your breath makes contact with your body and follow it through your body ...
Jan 20, 2022•50 min
Ro Averin, founder of the UNLRN PRJCT , will be moderating our Ashtanga Intersections Panel — hear from them now on this special episode of the Yoga Inspiration Podcast! Ro has always been drawn to the deeper purpose of teaching and healing, and she discovered yoga at a young age. But you never know where your path can lead you. Ro’s path has taken her on many journeys through academia and across the globe — from Turtle Island in Canada, to graduate school in the United States, to her current po...
Jan 13, 2022•50 min
I am discussing the deeper dimensions of yoga practice with one of my yoga students, Shakira Bouwer. Shakira is a fellow yoga teacher who has been practicing Ashtanga yoga for 13 years. For both of us, what keeps our own practices fresh and fun after all these years is creating a more accessible practice for our students. Yoga is a mirror that all of us need in order to take a good, long look at ourselves — not just as individuals but as a society and a community. Unfortunately, the yoga practic...
Jan 06, 2022•56 min
The practice of yoga has less to do with your ability to do a headstand and more to do with your personal experience on this journey. After working with so many yoga students, I’m bringing their questions to the Yoga Inspiration Podcast and answering them here. It’s a new style of episode, and I think it will be a great way to bring the yoga community even closer together. I have been practicing and teaching yoga for over 20 years, and I see so many yoga students who think they cannot practice A...
Dec 30, 2021•24 min
If you live in the Florida area or plan on visiting, stop by and take a class at Pineapple Yoga. I had the pleasure of teaching and having a talk with the yoga students there about Ashtanga yoga, and I share some of the lessons I’ve learned that are real for me and other students practicing Ashtanga. The uniqueness of the Ashtanga practice is not the asanas, which are the same every time you step onto the mat. But it’s your unique, individual practice that turns yoga into one of the best mirrors...
Dec 23, 2021•1 hr 19 min
Kim Weeks and I are back. If you missed our chat on Instagram Live, catch up here on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast. I spoke with Kim earlier about Yoga Alliance. We continue our discussion of the Ashtanga practice, the intersection of spiritual practice and social justice, and how the dynamics of the yoga teacher and the practice are changing. The Ashtanga practice provides us with the eight full limbs that create the moral and ethical guidelines we need to live a full life. Your spiritual practi...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr
This special installment of Meditations for Manifesting is all about the body. More importantly, it’s about loving our bodies and accepting ourselves for who we are, flaws and all. It takes practice to become comfortable in your own skin again, and meditations in mindfulness can bring us a step closer with each breath. Your breath will be your anchor today. Let it bring you back when your mind wanders. The breath will steady your thoughts and bring your focus away from the external world and bac...
Dec 09, 2021•26 min
My husband, Tim Feldman, and I share some very exciting news for the yoga community and your weekend plans if you’re in the Miami area. This Saturday, December 4th, will be the official grand opening of our brand new space — The Miami Yoga Garage. We have events planned all day, and everyone is welcome to attend — online and in person. Even if you’ve never taken a yoga class before, this is your moment to get acquainted. Meet with me and other yoga teachers and take free classes. The event lasts...
Dec 02, 2021•39 min
I’ve always been vocal about my goals of making Ashtanga yoga more accessible, but I go even deeper at this Q&A with Yoga Alliance. I answer questions from yogis from all over who want to find out more about the Ashtanga lineage and what classes are like on OmStars and at the Miami Life Center. The practice of Ashtanga is hard, gritty, and anything but easy. So my focus is on inspiring students to keep getting on the mat every day, even when they feel physically (and sometimes emotionally) d...
Nov 25, 2021•1 hr 13 min
I’m excited to introduce you to my guest because he is one of my biggest yoga inspirations. Jivana Heyman, author of Accessible Yoga and his latest Yoga Revolution , encourages yogis to bring their practice out into the world. Compassion is empathy combined with action, and Jivana is one of the yoga teachers who inspired me to follow this path. He started by teaching accessible yoga classes for the LGBTQ community and those fighting HIV and AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s. His personal mission is to...
Nov 18, 2021•56 min
In this episode of Yoga Inspiration, I want to answer one of the most common questions and biggest worries yoga students have at all levels of practice: “How can I stay consistent in my practice?” The truth is, the yoga practice will end up changing your whole lifestyle. Not overnight, but the practice will slowly become a part of your daily ritual, just like brushing your teeth. Yoga requires six days of asana practice and seven days of meditative practice. That is intimidating, to say the leas...
Nov 11, 2021•56 min
You probably recognize Lotta Sebzda from Instagram. Her posts and poses inspire yogis to continue their practice every day , but there’s more to this yogi than you see on social media. Lotta has been practicing yoga for over two decades, and she’s seen so many changes reverberate through our community. Over her 23 years of practice — 15 of which she has spent teaching — she’s seen how social media and the internet make yoga more accessible. Both she and I remember what it was like seeing the thi...
Nov 04, 2021•41 min
It’s been a pretty intense week, and I want to catch everyone up with the changes that are happening. Change is never easy, and I am now facing a lot of the grief and sadness that comes about when things are ending. We founded the Miami Life Center 15 years ago, and so many family members, friends, yoga students, and visitors put so much work into developing this space and this community. The reality of it all ending and everything changing hit me like a brick wall last week as we started to mov...
Oct 28, 2021•35 min
Yoga is more than a physical practice. The asanas can be made accessible for everyone, and yoga practitioners are responsible for creating a community that welcomes everyone to the yoga mat. But is yoga for everyone? The spiritual readiness of the student is very important when it comes to taking the first steps on this journey, and not everyone is willing to wake up early every morning to practice. Before you start your journey, you need to ask yourself - is yoga right for me? This isn’t a work...
Oct 21, 2021•48 min
Take a moment to appreciate your yoga practice. No matter where you are on your journey, take a moment now to appreciate how far you’ve come. The practice of yoga itself has come even farther, originating back thousands of years in a soulful intention of re-connecting with the universe and ourselves. Take this moment now to remember a yoga class you took or a teacher you studied with which inspired a sense of belonging and community. Yoga is a community, one we share with practitioners from cent...
Oct 14, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Now that I’m back home, I’m checking in with my listeners. I really appreciate you tuning in every week, and I am happy to inspire you to get on the mat. You inspire me to keep practicing, too, and it’s been so refreshing being a student again and practicing at Miami Yoga Garage. But with the latest Facebook and Instagram crash, I want to check-in and ask - what happened to you the day social media went down? Many of you have told me how refreshing it was to get away from your phones and let go ...
Oct 07, 2021•23 min
When it comes to yoga, fitness, and anatomy, Leslie Kaminoff has seen it all. Just don’t call him an expert. Because as any yoga student knows, the more you learn in this practice, the more you realize you just don’t know. Leslie started his yoga career down the street from Jane Fonda’s first fitness studios in L.A. He was working at the Sports Medicine Institute when one of the studio instructors started teaching therapeutic yoga to physical therapists at the Institute. Leslie shares what it wa...
Sep 30, 2021•1 hr 11 min
Take a moment to pause and think about the context through which you are practicing yoga. How long have you been practicing yoga? Do you remember where you were when you were first introduced to the practice? For many of us, myself included, we often first engage with yoga through a colonized lens. We signed up for a class at our gym or borrowed a few DVDs from a friend back in the day and never realized the spiritual experience that goes hand-and-hand with what has been marketed in the west as ...
Sep 16, 2021•50 min
I have often been criticized for making yoga political, but it is impossible to be a yoga teacher today and not be socially engaged. The definition of Ashtanga yoga is changing and being an Ashtanga yogi requires more from us than daily practice. I brought Wambui back on the show to discuss more of the indigenous wisdom of our practice and how the practice of ahimsa is playing out in the world beyond the yoga mat. The last time I talked to Wambui Njuguna-Räisänenin , we were discussing the cogni...
Sep 09, 2021•1 hr 10 min
I am happy to say I have been tested out of quarantine and I am no longer in the quarantine hotel in Norway. I have so many people to thank for their support and help during this time, especially my friends in Oslo, the Oslo City Commune, my host in Germany, and my fellow yogis at the Nøsen Yoga Retreat Center . I would have never been able to get my digital vaccination card or expedite my test results without their insight and advice. I also have so much gratitude for the support from you, my l...
Sep 02, 2021•25 min
What do you do when things don’t go your way? I’m supposed to be teaching yoga classes right now, but instead, I’m sitting in a quarantined hotel in Oslo, Norway waiting for a vaccine verification QR-code. It’s been nearly a week, but I’m optimistic and decided to present a new flavor of Yoga Inspiration for you. This pandemic has not been easy for any of us. No matter if you’re quarantined at home, in a luxury hotel, or going to work every day, nothing about this situation is normal or easy. Bu...
Aug 26, 2021•27 min
Ashtanga yoga is more than the asanas, and it’s important to understand the method of this practice as you take this step on your yoga journey. The traditional definition of the Ashtanga method comes from Patanjali’s yoga sutras, and I’m taking a deep dive into his definition and how it applies to our yoga practice in this special episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast. The method of Ashtanga yoga is not the perfect execution of the pose. Not all of our triangle poses need to look the same, and...
Aug 19, 2021•43 min
