Yoga Inspiration

Join Kino MacGregor, one of the world’s master yoga teachers, as she shares her yoga life hacks to translate the wisdom of yoga into a happier, more peaceful, more loving life. Listen to authentic, raw conversations and talks from Kino on her own and with real students about what yoga is really all about. Ignite or rekindle your inner spark to get on your mat and keep practicing.

#210 Living Legacy: Sri Shubha on Krishnamacharya, Yoga, and Teaching from the Heart 08/29/2025

Bonus Episode: The Spiritual Hustle: Build Your Authentic Yoga Business Without Losing Your Soul 08/22/2025

#209 Roots & Branches: Writing, Teaching, and Living Yoga with David Swenson 08/15/2025

#208 The Many Shades of Devotion in Yoga 08/01/2025

#208 The Many Shades of Devotion in Yoga 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 refuses to settle for surface answers. It is the pull of the soul toward something it remembers but has not yet fully touched. This longing—this burning yearning—is not a problem. It is a sign of awakening. Many of us come to yoga not because life is perfect, but because it hurts. We come to the mat with broken hearts, old questions, unseen grief. And often, we feel that unless we are calm or wise, we cannot be truly devotional. Longing is already devotion. When you show up to practice with no guarantees, that is devotion. When you breathe through uncertainty and stay anyway, that is devotion. When your practice becomes the place where you cry, or break, or ask life’s hardest questions—that is holy. It is not the polish of your practice that sanctifies it. It is the depth of your yearning. As students, let your questions live inside you. Don’t rush to fix them. Let them ripen you. Ask not only “What can I master?” but “What do I truly seek?” As teachers, honor the longing in your students. Know that behind every posture, there is a heart that is yearning—not just to stretch—but to understand. Teach not just to instruct—but to witness, to serve that fire. We are not here to douse that fire. We are here to tend it. Practice LIVE with me exclusively on Omstars! Start your journey today with a 7-day trial at . Limited time Offer: Sign up for an Omstars+ membership and Get my FREE course: Ashtanga Mechanics. ! Stay connected with us on social @omstarsofficial and @kinoyoga Practice with me in person for workshops, classes, retreats, trainings and Mysore seasons. Find out more about where I’m teaching at and sign up for our Mysore season in Miami at . /episode/index/show/kinoyoga/id/37611985

#207 How Yoga Teaches Us to Stand Up for Justice Without Losing Our Peace 07/18/2025

#206: Dharma Talk: Why We Think It's Important to Keep Practicing Ashtanga Yoga with Kino and Tim 07/04/2025

#206: Dharma Talk: Why We Think It's Important to Keep Practicing Ashtanga Yoga with Kino and Tim Why We Think It's Important to Keep Practicing Ashtanga Yoga and Why We Hope You Keep Practicing Too Dedicated Ashtanga Yoga practice is a powerful journey worth pursuing, even decades after your first class. Reflecting on more than 25 years of practice, we've discovered profound reasons to stay committed, which we captured in a recent series on why we are still practicing Ashtanga Yoga. Ashtanga Yoga is a lifelong commitment. Practicing Ashtanga Yoga for over 25 years has taught us patience, humility, and dedication. It’s not just about achieving the poses but about continual inner transformation. Each practice is a conversation between breath, body, and mind, an honest reflection, and an act of devotion to the lineage. Yoga is a sacred thread that connects us deeply, beyond the physical practice. Yes, the practice is intense. It asks everything of you and sometimes more than you’re ready to give. It is understandable why people question it. Injury and struggle are real. But maybe the story of Ashtanga Yoga begins when the struggle shows up, not when it’s avoided. Discipline doesn’t mean dogma. Ashtanga Yoga can help us learn the difference between discipline and rigidity. There’s room for softness inside structure. There’s compassion inside tradition. It’s not about forcing your body, it’s about meeting yourself over and over again and being willing to adapt and evolve. The practice is a mirror, not a performance. The practice has never been about what the body looks like. It’s about the inner mirror it holds up every single day; thoughts, ego, avoidance, learning, resilience, loss, and sometimes, quiet strength and joy. Injury can teach us how to listen, not quit. Injury sometimes comes both in practice and in teaching. But injury doesn't mean the practice failed. It means we need to learn biomechanics, breath, patience, humility. Ashtanga can also teach us how to heal. To practice Ashtanga Yoga means embracing a lineage, a timeless tradition passed down from teacher to student. Continuing this practice is our way of honoring their legacy and ensuring the teachings live on authentically and respectfully. Lineage is not just a hierarchy, but a sacred thread. It connects teacher to student, breath to breath. It holds memory, presence, devotion. When the teacher is gone, the practice becomes the prayer that keeps them alive. One significant reason to continue is the incredible community. Practicing Ashtanga Yoga fosters deep relationships built on shared experience, empathy, and understanding. Each practitioner is part of a global family that supports and uplifts one another through the trials and triumphs of daily practice. What Keeps Us Here: The breath that expands The sweat that purifies The silence that clarifies The posture that humbles The surrender that opens the heart It’s not about flexibility or form, it’s about returning home. Every session on the mat is a reminder of my inner strength and resilience. Ashtanga Yoga cultivates mental fortitude and personal empowerment, teaching me to meet challenges with grace and equanimity. It’s not about conquering the practice but embracing the journey. We are still practicing because this path continues to transform us, not into someone "better," but into someone more honest, more grounded, and more alive. For us, this is not a trend. It’s a life path. We hope you join us, as friends and colleagues, on the path so we can walk together. Lastly, if you’ve left the practice, we honor your reasons. There’s no one right way. But if you ever want to return, know that this breath, this mat, this practice is still here, waiting, quiet, ready, without judgment. Yoga Sutras as a Guide for Continued Practice Our teachers often referenced the Yoga Sutras as guidance for encouragement to keep practicing. We share three of the key Sutras that they shared with us to help stay on the path of practice. Three key Yoga Sutras offer powerful encouragement to persist and deepen our Ashtanga practice: Yoga Sutra 1.14: sa tu dīrgha-kāla-nairantarya-satkārāsevito dṛḍha-bhūmiḥ Translation: Practice becomes firmly grounded when continued for a long time, without interruption, and with sincere devotion. This Sutra reminds us that persistence and consistency, practiced with genuine respect, lay the foundation for true mastery and personal growth. Yoga Sutra 2.43: kāyendriya-siddhir aśuddhi-kṣayāt tapasaḥ Translation: Through disciplined practice (tapas), impurities diminish, leading to mastery over body and senses. Ashtanga Yoga is a practice of purification. The discipline required each day refines our body, senses, and ultimately our spirit, granting us clarity and vitality. Yoga Sutra 2.44: svādhyāyād iṣṭa-devatā-samprayogaḥ Translation: Through self-study (svādhyāya), one attains union with the chosen deity or guiding principle. Continuous self-inquiry, central to Ashtanga, fosters deeper connection to one's inner wisdom and guiding truths, enriching our spiritual journey. The Journey Forward Our encouragement to every student—whether you're just starting or have practiced for decades—is to keep showing up on the mat. Embrace the challenges, celebrate the growth, and remember that each step forward is a step toward greater clarity, strength, and spiritual awakening. We practice because it continually transforms us, grounding our lives in meaning, tradition, and profound connection. We invite you to explore your own reasons, keep practicing, and remain inspired by the timeless wisdom of the Yoga Sutras. Practice LIVE with me exclusively on Omstars! Start your journey today with a 7-day trial at . Limited time Offer: Sign up for an Omstars+ membership and Get my FREE course: Ashtanga Mechanics. ! Stay connected with us on social @omstarsofficial and @kinoyoga Practice with me in person for workshops, classes, retreats, trainings and Mysore seasons. Find out more about where I’m teaching at and sign up for our Mysore season in Miami at . /episode/index/show/kinoyoga/id/37279875

#205: Dharma Talk: The Discerning Eye of the Yogin — Becoming Connoisseurs of Spiritual Knowledge 06/20/2025

#205: Dharma Talk: The Discerning Eye of the Yogin — Becoming Connoisseurs of Spiritual Knowledge We are, by nature, discriminating beings. We develop taste — for art, food, fashion, architecture. We learn to tell what is real from what is imitation, what is durable from what is fleeting. We become connoisseurs of culture, cuisine, aesthetics. So what happens when that same discriminating capacity is turned inward? This is what yogic philosophy demands. It says: if you can be discerning with worldly things, how much more precious — how much more urgent — is it to become a connoisseur of consciousness? Instead of savoring flavors, we savor states of mind. Instead of curating experiences, we curate clarity. Instead of acquiring possessions, we acquire purity — śuddhi. And instead of merely enjoying the world, we seek to understand the enjoyer — the bhoktā — and realize its unity with the impeller, preritā. The Yoga Sūtras speak of viveka-khyāti — the dawning of discriminative wisdom — as the final stage before liberation (YS 2.26–2.28). This viveka is not cynicism, nor cold analysis. It is the ability to discern puruṣa from prakṛti, the eternal from the transient, the seer from the seen. Haṭha Yoga trains the body and prāṇa to become instruments of precision. But the real fruit of yogic effort is the flowering of this inner viveka: the clear, unmistakable knowledge of who we are and what we are not. And this is where the teachings of the Upaniṣads and the Gītā converge: in showing us how to become refined enjoyers — not those trapped by the senses, but those who, through purification, become capable of tasting the divine in everything. The yogin becomes, in this light, not a renouncer of life, but its most discerning participant — one who recognizes the unity of all three and acts accordingly, with wisdom, love, and purpose. So let us ask ourselves: in the vast buffet of worldly things, we often become sophisticated. Can we become as refined, as nuanced, as discerning in the domain of the sacred? Let us become connoisseurs of the spirit — cultivating taste not only for truth, but for the way it reveals itself subtly, mysteriously, intimately — in the breath, in silence, in scripture, and in selfless action. To know Brahman, the Upaniṣad says, is to know everything worth knowing. That knowledge is not collected. It is tasted. And the one who tastes it, becomes — śuddhir bhoktā — the purified enjoyer of the eternal. Practice LIVE with me exclusively on Omstars! Start your journey today with a 7-day free trial at . Limited time Offer: Sign up for an Omstars+ membership and Get my FREE course: Ashtanga Mechanics. ! Stay connected with us on social @omstarsofficial and @kinoyoga Practice with me in person for workshops, classes, retreats, trainings and Mysore seasons. Find out more about where I’m teaching at and sign up for our Mysore season in Miami at www.miamilifecenter.com /episode/index/show/kinoyoga/id/36853515

#204: Dharma Talk: The Grace of the Guru 06/06/2025

#204: Dharma Talk: The Grace of the Guru In the sacred journey of yoga, the figure of the guru—the teacher, the revealer—is not merely someone who instructs us in techniques. The guru is the light that removes darkness, the presence that dispels confusion, and the voice that calls us back to the Self. The Sanskrit word guru itself is formed from gu, meaning darkness, and ru, meaning remover. The guru is not the source of light—but the one who points us toward it, until we recognize it within. Grace, or kṛpā, is not a transaction. It’s not earned. It flows freely, when the heart becomes soft enough to receive it. The final verse of the Guru Stotram offers this reflection: dhyānamūlaṁ guror mūrtiḥ pūjāmūlaṁ guror padam mantramūlaṁ guror vākyam mokṣamūlaṁ guror kṛpā The root of meditation is the Guru’s form. The root of worship is the Guru’s feet. The root of mantra is the Guru’s words. And the root of mokṣa, liberation itself—is the Guru’s grace. This grace isn’t limited to moments of instruction or dramatic realization. It flows in silence. It is in the way the teacher holds space. It is in the presence that awakens something long forgotten. It is in the unspoken transmission of śakti—spiritual energy—that begins to shift the very axis of the student’s life. This is the dance of grace and effort. The student bows, asks, serves—and the guru, moved by love, offers the truth that sets us free. So what is our work as students, as seekers on this path? It is to recognize grace, to receive it with reverence, and to never forget that the true guru is not limited to any form. The ultimate guru-tattva lives in the heart of all beings—as śraddhā (faith), as viveka (discernment), as that subtle inner pull toward the light. In honoring the guru, we honor the light of wisdom itself—formless, eternal, and infinitely compassionate. Tasmai śrī gurave namaḥ — Salutations to that glorious Guru. Practice LIVE with me exclusively on Omstars! Start your journey today with a 7-day free trial at . Limited time Offer: Sign up for an Omstars+ membership and Get my FREE course: Ashtanga Mechanics. ! Stay connected with us on social @omstarsofficial and @kinoyoga Practice with me in person for workshops, classes, retreats, trainings and Mysore seasons. Find out more about where I’m teaching at and sign up for our Mysore season in Miami at www.miamilifecenter.com /episode/index/show/kinoyoga/id/36617565

#203: An Ocean of Grace, Saumanasya - The Cheerful Disposition of the Yogi's Mind 05/16/2025

#203: An Ocean of Grace, Saumanasya - The Cheerful Disposition of the Yogi's Mind Many of us come to yoga seeking relief. Relief from pain, from restlessness, from uncertainty. And sometimes we find it. But over time, what we discover is more lasting than relief. We discover presence. We discover steadiness. We discover a kind of joy that doesn’t have to shout. It only has to be. So we practice. Not to get rid of pain, but to know it. To meet it with clarity and care. And in that meeting, we find something remarkable: joy is still possible. It is a joy that knows sorrow. A happiness that is not threatened by difficulty. This is the depth of saumanasya. Saumanasya is defined by Patañjali as cheerfulness—it could also be translated as “mental clarity,” “gentle gladness,” or even “spiritual contentment.” But this is not about putting on a smile or chasing a feeling. It’s the natural radiance of a mind that has become unentangled. In Pāli, the same word appears as saumanassa, and it’s spoken of as a kind of mental vedanā—a feeling tone that arises not from external stimulation, but from deep, internal stillness. It’s not the kind of joy that explodes in celebration or depends on everything going our way. It’s the joy that arises when the striving quiets down. When the noise fades. When the heart is unburdened. And perhaps most beautifully, it’s a joy that does not replace suffering, but includes it. Practice LIVE with me exclusively on Omstars! Start your journey today with a 7-day free trial at . Limited time Offer: Sign up for an Omstars+ membership and Get my FREE course: Ashtanga Mechanics. ! Stay connected with us on social @omstarsofficial and @kinoyoga Practice with me in person for workshops, classes, retreats, trainings and Mysore seasons. Find out more about where I’m teaching at and sign up for our Mysore season in Miami at www.miamilifecenter.com /episode/index/show/kinoyoga/id/36538115

#202: How Yoga Grows a Heart of Unconditional Compassion 05/02/2025

#202: How Yoga Grows a Heart of Unconditional Compassion In the closing prayer of the Ashtanga practice, we chant: svasti prajābhyaḥ pari-pālayantāṁ, nyāyena mārgena mahīṁ mahīśāḥ, gobrāhmaṇebhyaḥ śubham astu nityaṁ, lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu. These ancient words are an offering — a prayer for all beings to be protected, for the rulers of the earth to walk the path of righteousness, for all sacred beings to be blessed, and for every living soul across all worlds to experience happiness and freedom. The final invocation, Oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ, repeats the call for peace three times — for peace in the outer world, peace within ourselves, and peace in the unseen cosmic realms. This spirit of universal love is the very heart of yoga. In Sanskrit, the word for this love is prema — drawn from the root pri, meaning “to love” or “to gladden.” Prema is not an ordinary affection tied to desires; it is a pure, selfless love that flows naturally into service — seva. In the Bhakti Sūtras, it is said: sa tu prema-rūpā — “True devotion takes the form of pure love.” When we step onto our mats each morning, struggling and surrendering through the rhythm of breath and movement, we are invited into this deeper practice: not merely to perfect poses, but to offer every breath, every effort, as an act of prema — love — and seva — service — to all life. Thus, Ashtanga yoga becomes more than personal discipline; it becomes a ritual of the heart. Every vinyāsa is an offering. Every challenge faced with patience is a prayer. Every fall and every rise is an act of love made visible. Through this spirit, we fulfill the timeless prayer: lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu — “May all beings everywhere be happy and free.” Practice LIVE with me exclusively on Omstars! Start your journey today with a 7-day free trial at . Limited time Offer: Sign up for an Omstars+ membership and Get my FREE course: Ashtanga Mechanics. ! Stay connected with us on social @omstarsofficial and @kinoyoga Practice with me in person for workshops, classes, retreats, trainings and Mysore seasons. Find out more about where I’m teaching at and sign up for our Mysore season in Miami at www.miamilifecenter.com /episode/index/show/kinoyoga/id/36329390

#201: Tears of the Path: Saṁvega and the Ocean Within — A Reflection on Feeling Deeply, Seeing Clearly, and Walking the Path with Urgency 04/25/2025

#201: Tears of the Path: Saṁvega and the Ocean Within — A Reflection on Feeling Deeply, Seeing Clearly, and Walking the Path with Urgency As we go deeper on the spiritual path—whether through yoga, meditation, or self-inquiry—we often discover a paradox: We feel more peace… but we also feel more pain. The highs become transcendent. The lows, unbearable. We start to feel everything more intensely. This intensity is not a mistake. It is the heart of the path. The Buddha says: you have felt more grief than the ocean holds water. This isn’t just poetry. It’s a spiritual earthquake. This is not to depress us, but to awaken us—to stir our hearts. This stirring is known in Buddhism as saṁvega. This feeling—though unsettling—is a sacred catalyst. It’s what Prince Siddhartha felt when he saw old age, sickness, and death. It’s what every sincere practitioner eventually encounters: not just the suffering of the world, but the raw truth of our entanglement in it. You begin to see the pain in pleasure—how even joy is tinged with impermanence. You see the subtle violence of craving, the ache beneath distraction. Your old ways of coping no longer work. This is grace, not failure. Because only when we see duḥkha clearly, can we begin to walk a path beyond it. These are cracks in the illusion. And through those cracks, truth pours in. The practice is not to patch them up, but to stay open. Yoga gives us a container: Asana: to ground the body as emotion rises Prāṇāyāma: to stabilize the nervous system as old energy releases Meditation: to witness pain without collapsing into it Bhakti: to open the heart in devotion rather than despair And ultimately, viveka—discernment—so that we can feel the pain of the world without losing our place in it. Practice LIVE with me exclusively on Omstars! Start your journey today with a 7-day free trial at . Limited time Offer: Sign up for an Omstars+ membership and Get my FREE course: Ashtanga Mechanics. ! Stay connected with us on social @omstarsofficial and @kinoyoga Practice with me in person for workshops, classes, retreats, trainings and Mysore seasons. Find out more about where I’m teaching at and sign up for our Mysore season in Miami at www.miamilifecenter.com /episode/index/show/kinoyoga/id/36008685