The Heart of Yoga Discovering Wholeness and Beauty Amidst Suffering
This episode features Kathrin, a Yoga practitioner and mother of two living in Germany. She shares how she came to Yoga to relieve suffering during the pandemic, and through her daily practice discovered a profound intimacy with her own body and breath. Kathrin describes how Yoga helped her shift from feelings of "not being enough" to simply receiving and participating in each moment just as it is.
She and Mark discuss how Yoga connects us to the miracle of life, and talk about translating this experience into everyday life and language. Key topics include releasing shame, rebuilding society through education, participating in wholeness already here, and rediscovering the beauty in one's own culture and tradition.
They discuss:
- How the pandemic and suffering led Kathrin to deeper Yoga practice
- Moving from self-judgment to receiving and intimacy with the body
- Letting go of "becoming" and future salvation, participating in life now
- Translating Yoga wisdom into everyday German life and language
- Educating our children in wholeness beyond knowledge and thought
- Rediscovering beauty in her Catholic upbringing through Yoga
- Releasing cultural shame and rebuilding society through education
- Sex and eros as mutual participation versus transaction
Favorite phrases:
"Everything that lives is holy." - William Blake
Resources:
- The Art of Yoga online course
- Hridaya Yoga Sutras (German translation)
- Writings and podcasts by Mark Whitwell (German translations)
Timestamps:
[00:00:00] Introduction
[00:02:00] How Kathrin came to deeper Yoga practice
[00:05:00] Discovering intimacy with body and breath
[00:10:00] Yoga for everybody
[00:15:00] Participating in life now, beyond self-improvement
[00:20:00] Rediscovering beauty within her Catholic upbringing
[00:30:00] Rebuilding society through education
[00:35:00] Shifting views on sex and intimacy
[00:45:00] Translating Yoga wisdom into German
[00:50:00] Releasing cultural shame