#166: When Life Gets Hard: Finding Guidance in Spiritual Endurance

Without a doubt, yoga is an invitation for introspection and growth. It holds a mirror to who we truly are and generously serves as our unwavering support throughout the trials of life. But as we move through this journey, how often do we consider our contribution to the yoga community? Much like the unwavering support of our own practices guiding us through arduous human experiences, community parallels as the backbone of yoga’s presence in society. It’s truly in the embrace of a supportive community that the true essence of yoga blossoms.  And in this moment, who do we consider responsible for togetherness in yoga? It's not solely the teacher's guidance or the student's perseverance that fosters connection, but the intersection of both that forms a sense of belonging, a sense of sangha.  So next time we dive into our asanas with devotion, let’s extend that outwards to the yogi on the mat next door, open up the space for deeper connection - for more togetherness - and consider community a loving duty for us all.   Start the journey now with your free 30-day membership on Omstars.com. Use code: PODCAST. Keep up with us online @omstarsofficial or follow me on Instagram @kinoyoga. Visit my blog at Kinoyoga.com to learn more. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]. If you want to share what you’ve learned on your yoga journey, you could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast.

Yoga does change your life if you tend to the practice every day. But is it compassionate enough to show up on the mat when your body is begging you for a break?  You get to choose: you could show up to your Ashtanga practice once a week giving your everything or you could show up every day with just 50% - even 10% - of what you’ve got. With this decision, you get the invitation to reflect upon what brought you to Ashtanga in the first place. Because if spiritual transformation is what you seek, you must release the shackles of perfectionism and validation. So let’s talk about this road to consistency and explore how samadhi greets you when you return every day with humility. After all, when we live in a world that’s conditioned us to want more, why not release the chase for applause for our impressive string of asanas? Why not allow Ashtanga to bring us back down to earth - not just from the busyness of modern life, but to settle the ego?   Start the journey now with your free 30-day membership on Omstars.com. Use code: PODCAST. Keep up with us online @omstarsofficial or follow me on Instagram @kinoyoga. Visit my blog at Kinoyoga.com to learn more. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]. If you want to share what you’ve learned on your yoga journey, you could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast.  

The belief that one metaphorical door closing is the chance for another one to open couldn’t speak to Katy Scherer’s story more. When pregnancy placed a sudden limitation on her running career, a redirection emerged that she never expected; she traded laces for bare feet and the gravel beneath them for a yoga mat. But this isn’t a conversation about life’s surprises, this is in fact an exploration of Katy’s wisdom of the breath.  Her initiation into yoga offered incredible gifts of community and well-being, but it profoundly guided Katy towards a deeper connection to oneness and, ultimately, her journey of guiding others along the path of pranayama. Through candid discussions on body awareness and the recognition of bodily limitations, this conversation explores the profound potential for self-discovery that lies within the practice of pranayama and breathwork. So join us - but not before taking a nourishingly deep inhale-exhale.   Start the journey now with your free 30-day membership on Omstars.com. Use code: PODCAST. Keep up with us online @omstarsofficial or follow me on Instagram @kinoyoga. Visit my blog at Kinoyoga.com to learn more. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]. If you want to share what you’ve learned on your yoga journey, you could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast.

From summer camp serendipity to university days solace, yoga can meet us in the most unsuspecting times. It plants tiny seeds of inspiration into our awareness so that our yogic journeys can fully bloom when the time is right. And it’s in these moments - where many of us find yoga’s healing qualities as a soothing balm to insomnia or back pain - that we meet the real essence of yoga. The deeper dimensions offer opportunities for self-compassion, introspection, and connection with the breath, with oneness. It’s the devotion to this essence of yoga that nurtures teachers with not just the connection to oneness but the vision of that nature too. Isn’t yoga for everyone? And do we really need to categorize our practices to achieve that? Tune in to this episode and immerse yourself in thoughts of diversity, ashtanga versus vinyasa and audience Q&A.   Start the journey now with your free 30-day membership on Omstars.com. Use code: PODCAST. Keep up with us online @omstarsofficial or follow me on Instagram @kinoyoga. Visit my blog at Kinoyoga.com to learn more. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]. If you want to share what you’ve learned on your yoga journey, you could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast.  

Limitlessness and opportunity – the inertia of pacy modern life can serve as fuel for realising our purpose in this lifetime. But much like this two-month immersion in Mysore that serves as a grounding balance to our proactive compulsions, finding the right teacher will surely keep us all on the right track. At the very least, it will help us avoid complete burnout. Yet while living in a world of endless possibilities, this can also be a tricky endeavour in itself. When there are many gurus in arms reach - whether digitally or a plane ride away - it inevitably raises the questions: How do you find your teacher? How do you know they’re right for you? Everyone has teachers along their path, but not all of us are willing to acknowledge them. Whether that’s perfectionism rearing its head or a case of warped expectations, the only thing that matters is ensuring they meet our needs, our values.  So teachers and life-long students, settle into this dharma talk that arose after two months in Mysore - the truth that arose when the desire for action was extinguished. Start the journey now with your free 30-day membership on Omstars.com. Use code: PODCAST. Keep up with us online @omstarsofficial or follow me on Instagram @kinoyoga. Visit my blog at Kinoyoga.com to learn more. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]. If you want to share what you’ve learned on your yoga journey, you could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast.  

If we expect somehow to only show up for our practice when things are feeling good and do a good job from the external standards, then we'll lack the kind of spiritual fortitude that’s really required. And, in this modern age, it’s all too easy to lose our grip of patience when immediacy permiates our every chance to make a decision. We may be fortunate to live in a world of advancements that better our lives but, if our desire for convenience takes precedence, we risk weakening our spiritual edurance. We risk hardening our hearts when faced with difficulty. We must also ask: if our default understanding of endurance is to bring presence and perspective to adversity, where does that leave us when things are going well?  Spiritual endurance goes beyond ‘pushing through’ and instead offers a chance to deepen our yoga journey, to enrich our lives way beyond the mat.   Start the journey now with your free 30-day membership on Omstars.com. Use code: PODCAST. Keep up with us online @omstarsofficial or follow me on Instagram @kinoyoga. Visit my blog at Kinoyoga.com to learn more. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]. If you want to share what you’ve learned on your yoga journey, you could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast.  

As we journey on the spiritual path, we seek answers for our ever questioning minds. What is the meaning of life? What is my purpose? Can I really be bothered to do primary series today? Healthy questioning offers us meaningful personal growth but it is indeed part of the practice to remain the observer of thoughts. Once we step into the rabbit hole questioning ourselves, our yogi paths, and even our teachers, it is during those moments we must decide whether we are truly cultivating fertile ground for faith. From dropping the notion of romanticism to the benefits of a dynamic practice - let’s dive in and explore the gifts available to us during challenging times. Start the journey now with your free 30-day membership on Omstars.com. Use code: PODCAST. Keep up with us online @omstarsofficial or follow me on Instagram @kinoyoga. Visit my blog at Kinoyoga.com to learn more. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]. If you want to share what you’ve learned on your yoga journey, you could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast.

What brought you to yoga? For many, the instant access to other people’s lives online fuels them to chase aspirational goals. But where does a path lit up by comparison lead? For instance, to be excitedly motivated by the idea of mastering a headstand or flexibility draws in so many people to yoga - this would be fine if our self-perception didn’t become so easily warped in the pursuit of perfection. The truth is, the perfect practice is the one where you show up. And the perfect body is the one you already have. So to remain in touch with the true essence of yoga, arrive with compassion for yourself and your students and be prepared to ask yourself: Why am I really on the mat today?   Start the journey now with your free 30-day membership on Omstars.com. Use code: PODCAST. Keep up with us online @omstarsofficial or follow me on Instagram @kinoyoga. Visit my blog at Kinoyoga.com to learn more. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]. If you want to share what you’ve learned on your yoga journey, you could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast.  

This conversation with Maya Gross will leave us not surprised at how transformative Ashtanga yoga has been in her life’s journey but enamoured with how she transmutes her own learnings into soothing offerings for the world.  When discussing the current turmoil in the Middle East, her compassionate outlook and advice are met with global support. And then there’s all of this compressed for social media - a space that requires careful considerations at this time, or any time for that matter. Lean into Maya’s spiritual tools for peace promotion and tap into the knowing that a plea for world peace is one for inner peace too. In fact, that’s where it begins.   Start the journey now with your free 30-day membership on Omstars.com. Use code: PODCAST. Keep up with us online @omstarsofficial or follow me on Instagram @kinoyoga. Visit my blog at Kinoyoga.com to learn more. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]. If you want to share what you’ve learned on your yoga journey, you could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast.  

Openly, vulnerably and courageously, Dina Ghandour shares her experience as a Palestinian Yogi throughout this conversation. Her journey began with practising asanas with a VHS tape in her bedroom at 15 to now, a Jivamukti Yoga certified yoga teacher and bodyworker based in Duba leading community classes and worldwide retreats. Tapping into her belief that yoga is a practice of liberation and that liberation is about the elevation and healing of all beings, Dina’s mission for women’s remembrance of their strength is needed now more than ever. To let in the very real, authentic details of her personal story and to inspire you to continue the work of yoga, enter this interview with an open heart and a curious mind. For further information and resources on the topics mentioned in the episode, please access them below.   Resources (books written by both Palestinian and Israeli acclaimed historians): The 100 Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine + The Biggest Prison on Earth by Ilan Pappe Gaza in Crisis by Naom Chomsky and Ilan Pappe Palestine Academy's Palestine 101 online course All Out for Palestine Digital Action Toolkit by the Palestine Feminist Collective Death toll raised to 21,000 Website for the SIM cards   Terms According to the UN Genocide Convention:  The current definition of Genocide is set out in Article II of the Genocide Convention: Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:  (a) Killing members of the group; already 15,200 have been killed in Gaza alone, 6,600 of which are children -- and violence and killing also happening also in the occupied West Bank, which is not ruled by Hamas (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; consistent images and videos coming out of Gaza prove this is true  (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; the blockade on Gaza and the control of its food, fuel, electricity, medication etc pertains to this clause accurately  (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;  (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group Reference (un.org)   Occupation: In international humanitarian law, a territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the adverse foreign armed forces. The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised. (From the International Red Cross)    For background:  Military Presence and Control: Israel maintains a significant military presence in the Palestinian territories, particularly in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) control checkpoints, strategic locations, and border crossings, restricting the movement of Palestinians and exerting authority over key areas. Settlement Construction: Israel has been involved in the construction and expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are considered illegal under international law. These settlements often result in the displacement of Palestinian communities, changing the demographic and geographic realities on the ground. Separation Wall: The construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier, also known as the separation barrier or the wall, has further separated Palestinian communities and hindered their access to agricultural land, education, healthcare, and economic opportunities. While Israel argues that it is a security measure, critics argue that it serves as a de facto border, annexing Palestinian territory. Restrictions on Movement: Palestinians face various restrictions on their movement, both within the territories and internationally. Checkpoints, roadblocks, and barriers limit the ability of Palestinians to travel freely, affecting daily life, economic activities, and access to essential services. East Jerusalem Annexation: Israel's control and annexation of East Jerusalem have been a contentious issue. The international community does not recognize Israel's sovereignty over East Jerusalem, which Palestinians consider the capital of their state. However, Israel has continued to expand its presence in East Jerusalem through settlement construction and policies that alter the demographic composition of the city.