007. Dealing with duality and working with our emotions

“I’m not going into my practice to look for a way out of life, but a way in...to experience the fullness of my life.”
-Jivana Heyman

In episode 7 of the Accessible Yoga Podcast, Amber Karnes and Jivana Heyman talk about duality—the up and down, light and dark, "both/and" nature of life. We talk about how attachment to outcomes and the stories we tell ourselves keep us in a place of suffering, and the antidote to that (spoiler alert, it’s non-attachment and acceptance). We discuss personal experiences and practical ways that we each work with our emotions and grief in our yoga practice. We also talk about the danger of spiritual bypass and how embracing the fullness of our human experience honors the yoga teachings and helps us accept ourselves as we are.

In episode 7, Amber & Jivana discuss: 

• How we are holding opposing truths at the same time and why accepting reality as it is helps us suffer less
• How social media gets us stuck in comparison and the tricks our brain does to try to protect us
• Jivana talks about how his mom’s death led to exploring his emotions as part of his yoga practice 
• Amber talks about how being grounded in non-attachment helped her cope with the huge grief and changes to her life and business post-COVID
• How to use your yoga practice to make friends with your mind, rather than trying to control or discipline your mind
• How Jivana’s journey of fatherhood and parenting his children helped him learn to give himself the tender compassion he gave his children
• Amber talks about a step-by-step way that she processes big emotions like anger
• Jivana discusses how he works with emotions in his meditation practice
• How spiritual bypass and “good vibes only” ignore the reality of life and stop us from
• When we use our yoga practice only for self, we miss a huge opportunity to realize our interconnectedness and honor the depth of the practice and our humanity

Today’s inquiry

Each week we’ll leave you with a powerful question. We encourage you to sit in inquiry with this question, write about it, discuss it with another community member on this path. Today, we invite you to reflect on this question:

Are you willing to accept all aspects of yourself? And if not, why? 

Get a transcript, links to resources, and show notes at accessibleyogatraining.com/podcast.