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Kino's Yogi Assignment Blog

Suffering and the Spiritual Journey of Post-Traumatic Growth

“Both the peaks and the valleys are immensely useful for our spiritual evolution.”

~Kino MacGregor

If you’re feeling anxious, yoga gives you the power to step outside of yourself and watch your emotions from a different perspective. There is a path to find happiness again through a lesson in post-traumatic growth.

Yoga never promises to be an easy spiritual journey. The practice of yoga is a hard and arduous one, and it’s the purpose of the yoga practice to prepare us for the cycle of suffering and growth we experience throughout our lives. What we learn from our practice is that these states of suffering – and our states of happiness – aren’t permanent.

But, would you believe me if I told you there is a state of happiness within us that transcends the highs and lows of our daily lives? I believe that this is what yoga practice is designed to do, and what I teach in my classes. Yoga is physically challenging so that you can exercise your mental strength and learn to continue to see the happiness throughout this spiritual journey.

Suffering is essential. Yoga teaches us that. Otherwise these poses would be so much easier, don’t you think! Remember it’s through the struggles of our practice where we learn that this state of discomfort isn’t permanent. We also learn that the state of euphoric zen we feel after practice isn’t permanent either, and learning to recognize this ever-changing cycle between our highest and lowest emotions is key to finding the untouchable happiness within us.

Trauma leaves scars, and it can manifest in bitterness, negativity, and stress. But there are ways to encourage post-traumatic growth by learning to prepare yourself for the overwhelming wave of negative emotions, experiencing them, and then letting them pass. This is a habit that cannot be learned overnight, but it’s important to realize that you deserve to experience happiness. Everyone needs a little inspiration to be happy sometimes, and it starts with being willing to let in joy, no matter how small. 

Tune in to this episode of my podcast for more inspiration and happiness today.

Listen Here