#211 A Supported Practice: Finding Balance Between Yoga and Strength Training with Kino MacGregor and Wade Oakley
Release Date: 09/12/2025
#216 The Importance of a Teacher, the Meaning of Being a Student and the Power of Transmission.
Yoga Inspiration
In a world where information is always within reach, it’s tempting to believe we no longer need teachers. With a few clicks, we can access ancient texts, videos, and tutorials on nearly any aspect of yoga. But there’s something that the internet cannot give you: transmission. Yoga is not simply learned; it is received. And it is only in relationship that this sacred transmission occurs. Our role as yoga teachers is not to entertain or perform. We are not here to serve up a random collection of poses or stories. Our job is to teach yoga to you, to help you understand the significance of...
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#215 Dialogue and Discipline, Rethinking Authority in Ashtanga Yoga
Yoga Inspiration
In this deeply honest and sometimes difficult conversation, Melissa Matt, Kino MacGregor, Peg Mulqueen, Sarah Nelson, and Greg Nardi take a courageous step into the heart of Ashtanga Yoga’s ongoing reckoning. This episode asks some of the most pressing and uncomfortable questions facing our community today: Who decides what practice looks like? How are poses given, and what happens when power, hierarchy, and silence intertwine? Drawing from recent events and decades of shared experience, the teachers reflect on accountability, lineage, and the urgent need for new models of integrity. The...
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#214 The Quiet Turning: Meditation, Yoga, and the Truth of Impermanence
Yoga Inspiration
Podcast notes The Quiet Turning: Meditation, Yoga, and the Truth of Impermanence One of the most frustrating instructions I ever received in a meditation class was deceptively simple: Close your eyes and quiet the mind. I remember thinking, if I could do that, I wouldn’t be here learning how to meditate. Like so many others, I was searching for peace amidst the chaos of my own thoughts. Fortunately, I stumbled upon an ancient method that didn’t demand silence from the start. It welcomed me exactly as I was. And over the years, daily meditation has become a cornerstone of my...
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#213 Abhyāsa: The Sacred Art of Returning, Practice, Repetition, and Inner Cultivation
Yoga Inspiration
What does it really mean to practice yoga not just once in a while, but again and again, across years, through resistance, joy, boredom, and transformation? In this episode, Kino and Tim explore the deeper meaning of abhyāsa, the Sanskrit word often translated as “practice,” but whose roots reveal something far more enduring: the committed, intentional act of returning. They weave this with the concept of bhāvanā, the inner cultivation of the heart and mind, drawn from early Buddhist teachings. Through stories from the Ashtanga method and personal reflections on the power of...
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#212 Understanding the Ashtanga Yoga Opening Invocation: Etymology, Meaning & Inner Alchemy
Yoga Inspiration
The yoga community is like one big family, not united by fancy poses but by a shared love for this ancient practice. It doesn’t matter what shapes your body can or can’t make; what matters is that you keep showing up and giving your best effort. What binds us is presence, not perfection. The practice calls forth a quiet courage and insight within us and it weaves us into a community of fellow seekers. One of yoga’s subtle gifts is clear seeing, not just of the body but of the mind and heart. Its promise is not mere physical skill, but an inner transformation that dissolves...
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#211 A Supported Practice: Finding Balance Between Yoga and Strength Training with Kino MacGregor and Wade Oakley
Yoga Inspiration
In this insightful episode of the Yoga Inspiration Podcast, Kino MacGregor sits down with longtime Ashtanga practitioner and teacher Wade Oakley to explore the intersection of traditional yoga practice and modern strength training. Wade shares how an early shoulder injury led him to Ashtanga Yoga at the University of Virginia, and how his journey quickly took him to India to study with Sharath Jois. He reflects on practicing in Mysore, balancing academic research with daily sadhana, and what it means to approach yoga with both a beginner’s heart and a scholar’s mind. The conversation...
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#210 Living Legacy: Sri Shubha on Krishnamacharya, Yoga, and Teaching from the Heart
Yoga Inspiration
In this rare and heartfelt conversation, Kino MacGregor sits down with Sri Shubha, daughter of the legendary T. Krishnamacharya, to share stories and insights from the man often called the father of modern yoga. offers a deeply personal glimpse into her upbringing in a household where yoga was not just a practice, but a way of life. She reflects on her father’s presence, rituals, and teaching style, along with the subtle ways his guidance shifted between students. She also honors her mother’s quiet but profound contributions to yoga, revealing how both parents shaped her own path as a...
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Bonus Episode: The Spiritual Hustle: Build Your Authentic Yoga Business Without Losing Your Soul
Yoga Inspiration
This bonus episode is a gateway into The Spiritual Hustle, an honest, practical, and soul-centered approach to building a yoga or wellness business. The conversation traces the roots of practice, the call to teach, and the leap of faith it takes to create an online presence that stays true to authentic voice. You’ll hear about: • The real challenges (and gifts) of shifting from student to teacher • How to overcome fear and show up authentically online • The power of collaboration and how The Spiritual Hustle was born • What makes this program different from other yoga biz trainings,...
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#209 Roots & Branches: Writing, Teaching, and Living Yoga with David Swenson
Yoga Inspiration
In this warm and inspiring episode, Kino MacGregor welcomes her dear friend and legendary Ashtanga Yoga teacher David Swenson for a conversation about his new book, Only Dead Fish Go With the Flow. David shares what sparked the idea for the book — a collection of stories, reflections, and wisdom from decades of living yoga on and off the mat. He offers an inside look at the writing journey: the surprises, the challenges of editing, and why he chose the self-publishing route to keep his voice true and unfiltered. David shares a few anecdotes straight out of the book! Kino and...
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#208 The Many Shades of Devotion in Yoga
Yoga Inspiration
Join Kino MacGregor, Tim Feldmann, Wade Oakley and Chandana Bhowmick as they discuss what devotion means for each of them. Finding the fuel of devotion in their practice is more sustainable than the fuel of ambition. Hear how they each found the student’s heart of love in their relationship with their teachers and how they carry the flame of the practice forward today. In the yogic path, we often associate devotion with sweetness—offering flowers, singing mantras, lighting candles. But true devotion is forged in longing. Longing is love stretched out across time. It is the ache that...
info_outlineIn this insightful episode of the Yoga Inspiration Podcast, Kino MacGregor sits down with longtime Ashtanga practitioner and teacher Wade Oakley to explore the intersection of traditional yoga practice and modern strength training.
Wade shares how an early shoulder injury led him to Ashtanga Yoga at the University of Virginia, and how his journey quickly took him to India to study with Sharath Jois. He reflects on practicing in Mysore, balancing academic research with daily sadhana, and what it means to approach yoga with both a beginner’s heart and a scholar’s mind.
The conversation dives into Wade’s personal evolution, from golf and weightlifting to yoga, from serious injury and reconstructive surgery to rehabilitation and “prehab” strategies that sustain long term practice. Together, Kino and Wade discuss the sometimes controversial topic of cross training, highlighting how mobility, strength, and yoga can complement each other for healthier movement and more sustainable teaching.
Listeners will gain practical insights on the difference between flexibility and mobility, the physical demands of assisting in Mysore style classes, and how weight training can protect hypermobile bodies while deepening the yoga journey.
Whether you are an Ashtanga student, a yoga teacher navigating injuries, or a practitioner curious about integrating gym training with yoga, this episode offers inspiration and practical wisdom for building a supported practice.
Highlights from the episode
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Wade’s first encounter with Ashtanga Yoga and his early teachers
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Stories from his first trips to Mysore and practicing with Sharath Jois
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Recovering from major knee surgery through physical therapy and yoga
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The difference between flexibility and mobility
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How gym training can support safe assists and prevent injury
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Strategies for bridging yoga, strength training, and long term practice
Practice with Kino and Wade on Omstars.com
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Join Wade on Omstars for his upcoming Ashtanga Prehab Masterclass October 24th.
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