31
Jul
2019
Blog
Instagram vs. Reality: How I Learned to be Authentic in a Picture-Perfect World
Youth is often full of boundless optimism and unbridled idealism. Innocence is trusting and jubilant and full of life. Experience often breaks hearts and shatters dreams, bursting bubbles of positivity with cold hard reality. Age can bring disillusionment and a feeling of learned helplessness can take over. It can feel like the machinery of existence…
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11
Jul
2019
Blog
Why Ashtanga Yoga Still Matters (At Least to Me) by Kino Macgregor
It has taken me nearly two years (way too long by many standards) to write this blog. I have needed all this time to come to the staggering conclusion that K. Pattabhi Jois, who was one of my yoga teachers, sexually assaulted women under the guise of adjustments. This realization has shaken me to the…
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21
May
2019
Blog
Would you still love me if I don’t handstand anymore? By Kino MacGregor
So much of the contemporary yoga world is tied to ableism. Young students born with natural physical talent or those with years of dance, gymnastic or other training excel to soaring heights and are lauded as champion teachers. Students of yoga give these yogis talk time and elevate them to a high status based on…
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31
May
2018
Blog
It’s Over Now: Lessons Learned from Yoga Activism Gone Awry in the Cody/Alo Drama by Kino MacGregor
“Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking…
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4
Mar
2018
Blog
Yogi Assignment: Facing Failure
We need look no further than ourselves to recognize that we live in a fallen world. There is not one human being who is perfect, living in absolute Divine harmony. We all stumble and fall. Our mistakes and our failures have the potential to teach us or to destroy us. If devolve into self-denigration you…
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25
Feb
2018
Blog
Yogi Assignment: Empathy
For the last two weeks I’ve been in the Fiji islands. To say it has been a paradise merely scratches the surface of how magical these islands truly are. The weather is sublimely tropical, the water crystal clear and the nature pristine. We traveled by boat, sea plane, helicopter, car and foot. We swam with…
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15
Feb
2018
Blog
Yogi Assignment: Flexibility
Every day I get at least a few messages from students at all levels of their practice who want to learn how to be more flexible. It’s frustrating to feel like your body is stuck. Whether you’re a long term practitioner who meets a difficult pose or a beginner who doesn’t understand how the body…
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8
Feb
2018
Blog
Yogi Assignment: Presence
Have you ever felt caught in the midst of paralyzing fear or panic? I have and it’s not fun. Sometimes the world suddenly starts closing in on me and I lose the ability to breathe, think clearly or even move. I have been trapped on my kitchen floor for minutes (if not hours) in the…
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30
Jan
2018
Blog
Yogi Assignment: Self-Love
Let’s talk about beauty and self-love. Maybe I’m sensitive about this topic, but why does it always seem like messages to love yourself and see yourself as beautiful come from tall skinny people with the perfect body and the perfect life? It’s like “they” sit on some perch of infinite possibility and “we” sit down…
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28
Jan
2018
Blog
Yogi Assignment: Study
In Sanskrit, study is called svadyaya and includes the paradigm of spiritual self-inquiry as well as the devotional study of sacred texts. Svadyaya is a crucial part of the spiritual path because it not only denotes an in-depth study of key philosophical foundations but it implies a particular mindset in the heart of the student….
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