Yoga Inspiration

In this episode of the Yoga Inspiration Podcast, we explore what it really means to practice yoga beyond the physical postures.
Āsana may be where many of us begin, but it is only one part of the larger Ashtanga Yoga method. Kino looks at the tendency to measure progress through increasingly difficult postures and explains why more āsanas do not necessarily mean deeper practice. Instead, the eight limbs of yoga work together, shaping the way we breathe, pay attention, respond to sensation, and relate to ourselves on the mat.
We also explore pratyāhāra, the practice of turning attention inward, and how observing sensation without immediately reacting can change both our physical practice and our relationship to the mind. Rather than forcing the body or judging what appears, yoga asks us to become more attentive to what is actually happening.
The episode also considers a question that can remain with us throughout a lifetime of yoga: What actually constitutes practice? As the body, circumstances, and āsanas change, the deeper work is learning how to keep returning with honesty, awareness, and an internal desire to practice.
In this episode:
• Why āsana is only one part of yoga
• The difference between practice and performance
• Why more advanced postures do not equal greater spiritual growth
• How the eight limbs of yoga work together
• Understanding pratyāhāra and turning the senses inward
• Learning to observe sensation instead of immediately reacting
• Allowing the physical practice to change over time
• What it means to ask, "Was that practice?"
• Finding the internal motivation to keep coming back to the mat
• Why consistency matters more than perfect conditions
Practice with us on Omstars.

In this episode of the Yoga Inspiration Podcast, Tim Feldmann explores what it means to live yoga beyond the mat through the Bhagavad Gītā's teachings on yajña, dāna, and tapas.
Yoga is sometimes interpreted as a withdrawal from thought, action, and the responsibilities of ordinary life. Tim looks at why the Gītā offers a different perspective: living a yogic life does not mean stepping away from the world, but learning how to participate in it with greater awareness, responsibility, generosity, and discipline.
Through everyday examples, Tim breaks down yajña as selfless action or offering, dāna as generosity and giving, and tapas as the discipline and inner effort required to cultivate positive change. These practices are not limited to formal spiritual rituals. They can be expressed through doing our work well, caring for others, sharing our time and knowledge, practicing kindness, and developing the steadiness to respond more skillfully when life challenges us.
At the heart of the episode is a simple shift from selfish behavior toward selfless awareness. Tim explores how yajña, dāna, and tapas can reduce inner and outer conflict while helping us live in greater harmony with dharma, bringing the philosophical teachings of yoga directly into daily life.
Join Tim every Wednesday for live Pranayama practice on Omstars.

In this episode, we explore what it really means to be ready for Ashtanga Yoga's Intermediate Series.
Second Series is often approached through its physical landmarks: deeper backbends, leg-behind-the-head postures, arm balances, inversions, and demanding strength transitions. But the deeper preparation for Nadi Shodhana is not only physical. It is the development of a mind that is steady enough to meet intensity without becoming overwhelmed.
We look at the difference between being able to perform an asana and truly integrating it into daily sādhana, why Primary Series and Intermediate Series have different energetic intentions, and how nervous system regulation, mental steadiness, and consistent practice become essential as the work deepens.
The episode also explores readiness for Second Series beyond rigid physical benchmarks, the role of Kapotasana, leg-behind-the-head postures, Karandavasana, the seven headstands, and why the closing sequence is such an important part of integrating the intensity of Nadi Shodhana.
Ultimately, the question is not simply whether the body can perform the postures, but whether the practitioner can maintain the thread of practice with patience, consistency, steadiness, and compassion.
Join us September 1 to 21 for the Ashtanga Yoga Intermediate Series Challenge on Omstars. Explore Second Series through step-by-step tutorials, targeted drills, counted vinyāsa classes, and guided practices designed to help you understand the method behind the postures.
Enter your email on the challenge page to receive a free downloadable Second Series practice chart, get the first three days of the challenge free if you are not already an Omstars member, and enter for a chance to win a one-year Omstars membership.
You can also join the challenge on Instagram. Follow @omstarsofficial, @kinoyoga, @lottasebzdayoga, @chandanabhowmickyoga, and @heidikayoga. Share your daily practice, tag the hosts, and use #theworkofsecondseries.

From Gross to Subtle: The Journey of Ashtanga Yoga Practice


In this episode, Kino MacGregor and Tim Feldmann explore the two ends of the yoga spectrum: the gross and the subtle, the dynamic and the still, the effortful and the refined. Ashtanga Yoga asks us to inhabit both worlds, jumping through, sweating, moving the body with strong discipline, and then turning inward, softening into breath, subtle sensation, and the quietude of mind.
Drawing from Sanskrit roots and classical teachings, Kino and Tim explain how sthūla, gross or dense practice, and sūkṣma, subtle or refined practice, are not opposites but complementary gateways into yoga. They discuss how the foundational tools of the practice, āsana, prāṇāyāma, and dṛṣṭi, can carry practitioners from surface-level sensation toward deeper layers of awareness.
The conversation unfolds around Patañjali's timeless definition of yoga, yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ, the stilling of the mind's movements. Kino and Tim share stories, personal reflections, and practical lessons on balancing abhyāsa, steady practice, with vairāgya, letting go. Along the way, they remind us that contentment, santoṣa, is not resignation but a doorway into clarity, and that every choice plants seeds in the soil of karma.
Whether through strong postures, subtle meditation, or the quiet discipline of daily practice, this talk invites us to see yoga as both gross and subtle, both active and still, always guiding us toward the inner horizon of awareness.
Practice with Kino, Tim, and our global community on Omstars. Explore thousands of yoga classes, in-depth courses, live practices, meditation, prāṇāyāma, and more at Omstars.com.

In this episode we explore one of yoga's most essential lessons: patience.
Drawing from Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras 3.6 and 1.12, we reflect on why everything in yoga unfolds in stages and why true progress comes through the twin practices of steady effort, abhyāsa, and non-attachment, vairāgya.
Through personal stories, including my struggle with Pincha Mayūrāsana and unexpected ease in Mayūrāsana, we learn how forcing or rushing can lead to harm, while patience and surrender create the conditions for real growth.
Yoga, is like tending a garden. Each posture is a seed, and with care, time, and trust, it will bloom in its own season.
Tune in for a reflection on why transformation cannot be rushed, on the mat or in life, and how patience itself becomes one of yoga's greatest teachers.
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