Jivana Heyman
Hello and welcome. This is the yoga revolution podcast. My name is Jivana Heyman, my pronouns are here. This podcast is an exploration of how we can live yoga right now, and how we can apply the yoga teachings in our lives. We'll discuss the intersection of yoga and social justice, as well as how to build a practice that supports our activism. All my guests are contributors to my new book, yoga revolution, building a practice of courage and compassion. Thanks so much for joining me. Let's get started.
Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the yoga revolution podcast. Thanks for joining me today. I'm very excited to have our special guest today. Amina Naru. Hi, Amina.
Amina Naru
Hi, Jivana. Thank you for having me.
Jivana Heyman
Yeah. Thanks so much for being here. I wanted to introduce you though, I want to read your bio, which I know it's kind of boring when people do that embarrassing. You can fill in the gaps. All right, I just say Okay, so let's see your I mean, in our E-RYT and YACEP, the owner of Posh Yoga in Wilmington, Delaware, co founder of retreat to spirit active member of the board of directors for Accessible Yoga Association, yay. And works as a trauma sensitive yoga teacher, wellness educator and workshop facilitator, her professional. What does that say today? Right. That is, her expertise is in the field of community of yoga service for communities, juvenile detention centers and adult prisons. She's the first black woman to implement curriculum based yoga and mindfulness programs for juvenile detention centers in the state of Delaware. And Amina is a contributor to the best practices book series for the yoga service Council, and omega Institute. She also served as project manager and contributor for yoga and resilience, empowering practices for survivors of sexual assault, sexual trauma, Ameen as a co creator of yoga journal online course yoga for self care, and has been featured in publications like yoga therapy today and yoga journal. You can find her at posh-yoga.com, and actually we'll put a link in the show notes to your website and anything else we talked about today. So how did I do? That's pretty funny. How having someone read that?
Amina Naru
You did great. You did. Great. Thank you.
Jivana Heyman
Yeah, that's a lot of exciting things. So I'm excited to talk to you about all that today. You know, around this, especially around issues of trauma and yoga in that relationship. I wonder if we could start with you with mind reading your contribution to my book, because I feel like that's a great way to launch this conversation.
Amina Naru
Sure. Okay. My yoga practice has excavated internal space and knowledge that has allowed me to show up for others who have suffered and live with adverse patterns and behaviors, I will begin to peel back the layers of emotional, physical and psychological debris that were haunting my relationships, and stunting spiritual growth. Once I was able to see my own struggles, resistances and patterns, I was able to do the work in my life off the mat, I discovered a deep well of passion to serve and compassion for people. As my rigid and limited mental programming became more flexible, and expansive, with empathy, understanding, patience, and oneness. It is from this well, and my self practice self care practices that I'm continually supported in my work for humanity.
Jivana Heyman
Wow, that's so beautiful. He really touched on so many of the themes in the book actually, there. How does that make you feel reading it back.
Amina Naru
You know, when I wrote that, I remember feeling like taken back to the first day of my, you know, stepping on my bed and the, you know, the, the journey that I went through, you know, with my practice, so reading it and reading it now. It's like, Wow, I've come come a long way. from, you know, from from that, from that time and how far Yoga has taken me like as a career just from doing the internal work, like there's a career that actually came out of it, you know, so that's super impressive to me because The hard work was my own internal work, you know, so when I step out the door every day and step into the juvenile detention center, or if I'm going into adult prison, like, that's kind of the easy part, because I already did the internal work. And I continue, you know, doing the internal work to self study, so I can be able to show up authentically, and help other people hold space actually just holding space.
Jivana Heyman
Mm hmm. Can you talk about that more? So it does seem like there's a really important relationship between our internal practice and the way we show up in the world. And that's, that's actually the theme of the book, to be honest, that that really summarizes it right there. It's like how our internal spiritual practices, reflect in our actions, and then our service. And I feel like you're really getting to that clearly. So could you say more? Like, what is it that? Can you give an example? Like, what happens if you haven't done the work? Or what it like? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Amina Naru
what it looks like when you haven't done the work is, say, you're a yoga teacher, you show up in the space to do a class, and you don't have a connection with your students. Or you are teaching from a piece of paper, in your hand, you're falling, I mean, how many classes have you been to where you've seen the teacher, they're looking at their nose, right? But, but not teaching to who was in the room, you know, that there's this definite disconnect that your students can pick up on, when you are not present or in your body, or have done the internal work to peel back some of your own issues with trauma, it could look like not having not been able to communicate well, well as in authentically, you know, like, speaking how you feel, or picking up on the energy that's happening inside of the room that may need your attention, or to be able to address something, how about when, which happens in my line of work, almost on a regular basis, there is a disturbance in the room, you're, you're going through your class, everything's moving along, you know, and all of a sudden, you know, someone has a any emotional breakthrough, or a trauma breakdown, breakthrough breakdown, you know, and it shows up as, maybe that person being loud or disruptive, or distracting the room, the rest of the class in a certain way, someone who has done the work or had trauma trained, will be able to navigate those types of situations, in the safest possible manner, for that person, and for the rest of the room. So it can look can show up in many different ways. When you're not doing the work, you're not having empathy and compassion for other folks. So maybe something comes up, and you're, you're not able to hold space for that person. Like, maybe something emotional is shared within the class. And you, you just jump right over it and go to the next pose or sitting next thing, you know, without making space or time to, to address the needs of that person.
Jivana Heyman
Yeah, I appreciate that. And I,
Amina Naru
in the real world, like when I say war world, I mean, like, out in, you know, like, we see it all the time, right? You know, we have our practice or a contemplative practice. And, you know, sometimes you can tell when you're like, well, this person, maybe at this stage of their practice, if they are practicing, right, where, you know, they, I listen for the eye, the eye, you know, in in conversations, I this I that I, you know, that that is a indicator to me where people are in their practice, or if they ever practice at all, you know, but we all go through the same types of emotions and, you know, we're having similar experiences, right? And it's through our practice, which will determine how we show up for those experiences.
Jivana Heyman
I just want to go back to something you just said about the I how the ego shows up Because I feel like that's such an important point and you said it, and then you kind of laughed because I think you realized how important it is or something like it seemed like it kind of got you too, like, to me, I think it's complicated or feels complicated because we do need to care for ourselves. And that's what our practices, right our practice is a form of self care. But it sometimes gets confusing because it feels like it's about the ego, it's about me. And so I feel like when I see I don't know how to say this, what I see sometimes get lost in the conversation out there in the world around yoga and self care and wellness, is really trying to clarify how, like what self care really is authentic self care, that will allow you to make a deep internal connection so you can be of service versus egotistical part of self care, you don't I mean, like the part that's just making it about me, like, like he said, like that, you get my ego like self care, too, you know what I mean?
Amina Naru
Right, yeah, our egos like to be stroked. And we want to, you know, there's nothing wrong with because of love, throw it in there, because we're always talking about getting a massage, or, you know, you're getting a pedicure, and you get your nails done, or I'm getting my hair done, you know, in some sense, that's, that's an ego stroke, right? As well as it does feel good. But for me, it's not lasting self care, you know, so we're talking about self care practices that are lasting and are making an impact in who you are, right on on a, on a on a higher level, higher level, meaning like, I'm doing my self study work, right? We're going through our yoga, the yamas and niyamas. And, and through meditation, I'm determining what my body needs for my self care. Okay, so meditation for me is sitting still and focusing on breath. Sometimes I throw a mantra in there, I do a transcendental transcendental meditation practice. I also have been trained in the passion. So it's like determining so now I got these tools in my box, right? You know, when I first started, I only knew one way to meditate. And now I have these other different versions where I'm like, Okay, now I need to focus more on this about pull that tool out and do a complete body scan, I'm just doing the passionate so what comes up for me is how to navigate my next move which is my self care practice like okay, I have determined through this meditation I'm dehydrated I need more to drink more water and that's self that's what self care can look like for me on any given day, I can determine that I am super sleepy or I'm tired like you know and we were going going going sometimes we don't even realize how tired we are right and you just go to bed at night and wake up and do it all over again. But it's in the meditation practice when we have to sit still and actually focus on our internal well being that you know, you'll notice like oh, I'm like dozing off through my meditation. The body is going to take and ask for what it needs you know when we can get still and quiet but a lot of us don't have that time or space or don't take that time or space. Okay, that's part of the self care for me.
Jivana Heyman
But what about if it's real trauma like you mentioned in your in that quote you read the work started with myself first on my own demons the practices of yoga began to peel back the layers of emotional physical and psychological debris. They were hunting my relationships incenting spiritual growth so I think it's more than so I think you're talking about self care. That was maintenance that was me Yeah. Okay, so how this deeper work how does that happen for you? Like how did that happen
Amina Naru
for you? Well, it gets a little like on a personal level, right? Because and I had to take a break. Like we're gonna get I'm gonna get vulnerable
Jivana Heyman
but if you want only if you want only if you know that I you know, this is
Amina Naru
this is my story. And you know, we go through things, to heal from them and to be able to come out and share with other folks so they can also find liberation. So in my relationships, which have been brought to me before with that I didn't see like, oh, you're very controlling, you have control issues. And I feel like, I don't think so like no, it has to always go your way. And if it doesn't go your way, then you don't want to participate or, you know, you won't do it and I'm like, I don't think so. Well, when I started doing go, that's just one thing. This is one, I started doing yoga, you know, the physical asana practice, those things were showing up on the mat, you know, like, I'm in a challenging pose, maybe warrior two. And, you know, it's not going well, for me, my first reaction is I stopped, I back off, you know, and that's how I was showing up in life. And, you know, when I started to, can connect the Dharma from the teacher, with my practice, I was able to connect the dots and see, you know, where I was showing how I was showing up in life, that it was also mirroring how I was showing up on my mat. So after, you know, I realized this control thing, I was like, Okay, let me see how I can work with that, the more I showed up on the mat, the more layers got peeled back, and I began to soften. I didn't even know I was rigid, you know, you know, I didn't know I was rigid, until the layers are to peel away and I felt more open. softer, I could communicate better on emotional levels as far as like, having real meaningful conversations with family members, without wanting to run away or, or, or hide or not be vulnerable. My mom, my mother was a heroin addict for over 20 years. So I grew up, you know, in household experiencing complex traumas. And I realized that the control issue was a trauma response, you know, and going back to tell my mother about it, and, you know, her apologizing and saying, you she had been she had been clean for a while. But when I made this, like discovery, like oh my gosh, like, all these traumas, this is what's showing up, this is why I act this way, and why I can't, you know, so often and allow people to be who they are, without trying to control them. You know, and yeah, sorry, I digress.
Jivana Heyman
That's okay. That was that. That wasn't digressing. I actually think what you just revealed was very powerful. You talked about, you know, some childhood issues, the trauma you had, and how that impacted your behavior now. And I think it's, it's hard to see those connections often, you know, it's funny how relationships show them often, you know, it's like, yeah, my husband is usually the one showing me. But that's actually what this chapter is about, of my of the book of yoga revolution, is called honest reflection. And I am basically trying to address somebody's idea or a self study, but in a really very Matter of fact, way, which is to look at this part of the practice of how do you how do you look at yourself, honestly, without a critical eye, actually, not not for criticism, but honestly, with actually with loving kindness, to see, you know, how you've how you've had trauma, we've all had it, have all had some trauma, and how we've responded, like, wow, exactly what you just said. And then to start to realize that, that's how we can grow is like when we do fall, that we can learn from that, and we get back up. And I share a lot of like, my vulnerable, most vulnerable part of the book is here, this section too. So I appreciate what you just shared, because this is a chapter where I talk about coming out of the closet as a gay man, you know, when I was 17, and I talk about my anxiety attack, which is just a few years ago, which was really, you know, landed me in the ER, right after being a yoga practitioner for over 30 years. And I was just like, and the story I tell is, like, I got to the emergency room, and I thought I was having a heart attack, actually, I mean, I can't I couldn't believe it wasn't something physical. And when the doctor told me, he came back, he said, we've done all the tests and you know, I think we think you had an anxiety attack. And I laughed at him. I'm a yoga teacher, I can't became it, just laugh. They can believe that. And I thought, wow, you know, I have more work to do, which is what this book really came out of, like that experience literally was the beginning of this book. Where I felt like I I needed to start again. You know what I mean? It was like starting over and my mom had just died, which had a huge impact on me. I just turned 50, my daughter was really struggling with her mental health, and that just had a major impact on my life. And I don't talk about her very much to protect her privacy. And I'll just say that, you know, it was overwhelming. It was an overwhelming time. But it really made me reflect on the way I was practicing, which wasn't really supporting me. My practice wasn't, so I had to kind of just start start again. I feel like I love that's why I put your quote here, because I just felt like you really got to it. So clearly, like you just did again, with your sharing. I mean, you're so honest, and straightforward. It's amazing. But you immediately made that connection, which I appreciate. Yeah, but which is also, Yeah, go ahead.
Amina Naru
I was gonna say that, because something you said struck me because when you were in the hospital, and they told you, you had an anxiety attack, and you were like, No, I'm a yoga teacher, I can't be, you know, how I also felt like, I should never be angry, you know, I'm not allowed to be angry, you know, you know, because I'm, I have this practice, I'm peace, I'm loving light, I, you know, these things, you know, I do this work, you know, and then there would be anger comes up. And I would, I think I'm dealing with it. And this is, when I first came out teaching, I think I'm dealing with it, but really, I was this bypass and I was putting it away, putting it to the side and doing something spiritual, you know, to make up for it. So when my mom cast my I had to put the whole practice to the side because I would have bypassed my, you know, all of the emotions that I was feeling and and, you know, the all of that was the word I'm looking for. Not guilt, but it's
Jivana Heyman
Yeah,
Amina Naru
everything. Yeah, yeah, all of it. Because when, when our parents pass, it's like, the whole world come tumbling down on you, and all of the emotions that pop up. And so I didn't want to because that's what I found I was trying to do was to use my yoga practice to get through it. But that's not what was happening. Right? I was going around all of that emotion and that loss
Jivana Heyman
well, but when you say that, that's okay to like that. We're only able to do what we're what we're able to deal with at any given moment. Like, it's not like we're able to go all the way to the center of it right away. Like it's like you said, in the quote again, you talked about peeling back the layers. I think that's it, like maybe over the years you continue to do the work, but it's easy to get complacent. So I guess that's the point I'm trying to make in the book too, is like it keeps going,
Amina Naru
it has to keep going. It has to keep going. And then you know, new people, new relationships come into our life, new friends to continue to sharpen, sharpen us, because iron sharpens iron, right? And then you know, I don't think we are here to be complacent, we're not here to be comfortable, you know, especially as like householders to you know, I didn't take the vow of the monastery and to live away from society. So I'm here to do the work and I need to show up to help others right but I got to help myself first. And you know, that's what it's all
Jivana Heyman
say that again, like I mean to say that again, like you didn't take a vow you are in the world and like, I don't know about all the people listening but I'm imagining 99% of them are also in the world and not monks. And I feel like a lot of the ways we're teaching and practicing yoga is monastic we're looking at a monastic tradition and applying it directly to our lives when that's not our experience. That
Amina Naru
is not our experience. And then what that does is it causes us to be in this box right and then you'll just continue to be disappointed with yourself
Unknown Speaker
because you cannot put can't apply that to every day
Amina Naru
living in society. You know, we are going to be upset we are going to you know, have disappointment. People are still going to hurt us we're still you know, we're still going to feel those things. I just think that I have my practice to kind of soften the blow I know how to recover, I can, I can come back I can stand on my feet, you know, and and do the work, do the work to be able to show back up again.
Jivana Heyman
Well and and also I think our practice for householders someone who's living in the world actually looks different than monk. And the main way that is different is around service, which is one thing you talk about a lot. And you say it clearly. Also again, going back to this quote, which by the way, this quote to me is just incredible. I mean, I don't know if you realize how amazing you are. I mean, you just touch on so many of the topics that I cover, and a whole book like this quote, really like to me, just kind of sings you know, the whole thing comes to, but you talk about how, at the end of the quote, you say, I discovered a deep well of passion to serve and compassion for people as my rigid and limited mental programming became more flexible, and expansive with empathy, understanding, patience, and oneness. Well, it goes on both just up there, because I feel like that is so amazing and important, where you're saying that, basically, as you did that work, right, like you did the work, and you connected more with compassion, you know, for others, through that, by working on yourself like that, that relationship, I guess, is what I'm trying to get at as a householder practicing yoga. Or work isn't simply only inside, it's not all interior. It's also about how it shows up in the world, how do we serve others? How do we love them, you know, and that's what compassion is for great.
Amina Naru
But you know, Jivana that love had to be for myself first, you know, and through conditioning, whether it was what I saw on TV, or her friends. But my view was, no, love is something external, it's like what you, you know, give to someone else is what you're giving to someone else, or what you want someone to give back to you. That internal love, or the love for yourself, was not, you know, a priority. Maybe I maybe I didn't even know how to do it. I had never seen any examples of it. Right? in my household, or, you know, in my family. So the actual physical practice of yoga was like a breaking into me, like I had to like, chop through the different layers of concrete, to get to the ooey, gooey inside. That felt so good, but it hurts so bad, as well. Yeah. Yeah, it was like, Oh, my gosh, this is like, so amazing. It's so warm in here, it's so and that was the love that had been under all of the layers of debris and trauma. And when I finally got in, it was like, This is what I've been looking for, this is what I've been waiting for it who knew it was always here, it was always here underneath all of the layers that I didn't know, I even had,
Jivana Heyman
I just I also wanted to step back and say that I think it can be really helpful to have support. So like if if people are going through that if people feel like they're blocked in some way, and they have these issues, and they don't know what to do, it probably is not enough just to go to yoga, you got to find a therapist, or a yoga therapist, or someone who can really give you some professional guidance. So I don't want to, I guess I just want to say that people really need to reach out and get support if they are trying to do that work right now, because that's a lot.
Amina Naru
I agree. Because it's a lot, it's a lot. And at the time, it was just me. Honestly, at the time, it was just me discovering all these things about myself. And you know, I even in, you know, my yoga journey looking out for people of color, like people who look like me who were doing the same work, I was just looking around, I had one other black woman in my teacher training, and we just seem to be on different paths. You know, that I would say the same path, a path, the healing path, the journey, but we were at different places on it. So way I was internalizing, and, and understanding things was different for her. So our conversation could only go so far was limited, so I had to continue doing the work. And that just goes to speak to people of color who are practicing yoga and need support. Like, Hello, I'm here.
Jivana Heyman
Yeah, you're here. People can reach out to you. Well, I'm
Amina Naru
doing that's why I made myself open and available and put myself out there because when I was doing the work 11 years ago, it was just me, right. And it was hard. It was it was hard, and it was tough. And at the end of that, I realized, you know, I'm in a broken marriage. You know, you start looking around like, wow, all of this stuff I've been putting up with or dealing with or, you know, thinking that no, this is how it is when my practice gave me more self assurance, self love, self confidence that I could turn and say, I want to be treated better, I deserve this, I feel like you know, I am worthy of something more, I have a new vision of how I want to live and be treated and things like that. So needless to say, I got divorced. And, yeah, the rest is history, I had to learn how to live all over again, it just gave me a whole different perspective on life, and on how I felt for myself, and began to show up in ways that demanded respect, and, you know, show my word, order the mess.
Jivana Heyman
That's awesome. It's so amazing to me the way that spiritual practices can support us, I think if we find the right practice, and in the right balance of practice, and the right support, like the right teachers, and therapists and stuff, but I think it can be like, if you feel like you're, I don't know, if you've withdrawn from the world, if you feel really protected, protective and kind of shut down, I think the teachings can really expand the world. On the other hand, if you feel like you're giving too much, if you're overly like, overly I don't know, what's the word is too generous, like you don't have boundaries. I think the practice can show us that right? It can show us boundaries. But I'm just saying I think it's balancing like to me, to me, a successful yoga or spiritual practice is balancing us out. You know, it's not one or the other. It really depends on us individually, and what we need. And especially if you have trauma, if you have a marginalized identity, like a person of color, or queer person, or trans person, or whatever it is, like you then have a special situation and you need to find support, like you said, like that can be so amazing. And like, unlike traditional spiritual practice might not be it you might have to find like a special community.
Amina Naru
Absolutely. Yeah. And you know, and I also agree with the therapeutic side of it as well, it's good to get professional help as far as some way counseling therapy and things like that. Because I am a person who will vacillate like, Oh, I'm in therapy again and you know, and then I'm out and living this like, okay, yeah, let's let's go back and get some therapy. So these are things that these are my tools. These are my tools in my toolbox and especially now at this change of season. You know, I have been diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder. I also have suffered with anxiety attacks and things like that, where the doctor wanted to put me on medication and there was a time that I was on medication anytime the season changed into fall, I would have something right um, but my practice gave me more tools where I could you know, go without having to take a medication because my practice stepped in in certain ways that was able to you know, keep me uplifted as far as you know, emotional
Jivana Heyman
medications, okay, too. I just want to say there's a lot of medication shaming within the yoga world. And it's like, No, you know, what I mean, whatever, whatever works, like whatever can get you through, use all the tools you got. So after my anxiety attack, actually, now it's been about four years. I started going to... Well, I was in family therapy already. And then I started going to yoga therapist, my friend Cheri Clampett who lives here in town, and it was transformative because I had I thought I was this great expert teacher, right? I thought I was so amazing. Until like, basically be a student again, it was just like, starting over. It was incredible. I learned so much from her. Like I said, even though I've been doing yoga for almost my whole life, it was just like, I didn't know what I was doing you know what I mean, I was stuck in a way. And it's like, I needed to just like soften. And she just showed me this other way to practice we did mostly restorative, which is not a practice that I am drawn to at all. Like I'm a very active person. So restorative to me was like my, like, worst nightmare. And it was incredible. She's just she's really powerful, amazing teacher. So
Amina Naru
Isn't it funny how, you know, different stages of life. Different parts of the practice, you know, are more upfront and that one that you were doing for 510 Yours kind of steps to the back foreground. And one steps up. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's, that's the beauty of it. And I'm really excited. Because this is a life long learning, you know, it's not a, you take a course you read a book and you got it, and that's the thing and you do it and you work it, no, it's like, okay, I met this level in, in my life, and I've been working these particular tools. And now maybe those tools no longer provide what is needed. So we reach out, and we go back to our practice, and we get new tools, you know, whether it's resources, like your book, you know, friends, new friends, we look for a teacher, and we take those new tools, and we care about the next version of ourselves, you know, which is getting to the true essence of who we really are. Because really, that's all I'm trying to do, which just mean you to be my authentic self, right?
Jivana Heyman
And then you say, so that you can be of service to humanity. And maybe you could talk about that, like, what is your service look like, these days? Or how does it feel?
Amina Naru
Yeah, um, so now, I'm primarily just teaching in the juvenile detention centers, you know, post since COVID has happened. But my primary community of the service, that I, the people that I serve now are all juveniles who are incarcerated a level five, level four. So that's like maximum security. And these are primarily people of color. These are, you know, like, children of color, who are coming from communities that don't have the support as far as, like, in their household, maybe, you know, parents and things like that. So it's, it's, I connect with this community on so many levels, right. And I think that what is what allows me to be able to hold space for them. Because I know, I've been I've been there like I've had, I know why you just had that outbursts. When we were in, you know, a pigeon pose, I you're not, I mean, I know why. You can't keep still, when it's time to meditate, like I've been there, I, you know, I've had the experience. So, you know, I'm able to show up for them, and in ways that allow them to, to see, you know, these, these responses, and start to connect the dots for yourself. But also, I am able to show up in a way that I not attached to the outcome. Because that's extremely important. And when I first started teaching in the juvenile detention centers, I was a new teacher, I had not had trauma training yet I was in ytt. And for a year, after ytt, I was primarily teaching it. country clubs and the high end fitness gyms and, you know, in yoga studios. So when I was asked to volunteer at the juvenile detention center, it was right up my alley, because I wanted to be of service. That's why I became a teacher to come out and teach people who look like me who have been through similar experiences and traumas as me. So I showed up, but I had my curriculum, you know, my piece of paper, and, you know, and when, when things didn't go, according to the plan, I didn't know how to respond, I didn't know how to, you know, hold space and act so and have it go home feeling like well, that, you know, I don't feel like I was of service or what I did was meaningful or made any impact. But as I continue to learn, and went through more trainings, I was able to take that hands off approach, like, this is the work. This is what's happening. All of this is part of the work and the experience and the learning. And all I'm doing is planting seeds for these young people. If they choose to take yoga on as part of their daily practice, great. If not, it might show up five years from now it might show up 10 years from now. But what I tell these mostly young men is, God forbid you end up Going to another facility or maximum adult facility. Like, maybe you'll come back to this, like, there's something that lady told me about how to, you know, calm myself, you know and things like that. There I share with them often this story of I was teaching at an adult person. And there was a gentleman who had been coming to the class. And I didn't see him for a while, when he came back, he said that he was in the hole, which is 24 hours of no contact, you're in, you know, a very small cell in dark darkness, they send you your tray through a slot with your tray of food or whatever, he's that he was in there for three months. And he said, If I didn't have a yoga practice, if I didn't have these things that, you know, I've learned here, I would have committed suicide. And you know, he said it in front of the whole class. And it was, you know, yeah, it was very powerful. That's incredible. And yeah, these are the little things that just come up
Jivana Heyman
not a little thing. That's a huge thing. It's amazing what you've done.
Amina Naru
Right? But these are things that let you know, like, okay, there is impact there's there is effective, it is helping people, but you know, you got to have a hands off approach. Do your work, show up authentically, and let spirit do the rest.
Jivana Heyman
Wow, thanks for saying that. I mean, anything else? We should probably end here. I just, I wanted to. I wanted to say that you you know you do offer training with Pam Eggleston. Retreat to Spirit mentorship. Hopefully you'll do it again next year through the Accessible Yoga Training School. Yeah, yeah. And we'll put your website so people can find out more about your work. You know, they can learn more from you. Because that was incredible. What a great interview. Thanks so much for sharing all that. I really, really appreciate
Amina Naru
it. Thank you. I just I just hope it's helpful and impactful for others. I know that, you know, I haven't lived on this earth for this amount of time and been through the things that I've been through just for me, I know that now. And, you know, whenever I can share and allow my life to be, you know, an open book for someone else to learn from so maybe, you know, there can be liberation for others, I'm all for it. But yeah, thanks for mentioning my business partner, Pamela Stokes Eggleston, we have Retreat to Spirit, which is another arm of what I actually do for yoga teachers, people who are, you know, in health and wellness or just wanting to feel good, you know, and show up authentically for life because it's, it's not easy. And I think it was designed not to be easy. But we can keep on growing. So that's, that's another part of the work that I do.
Jivana Heyman
Awesome. All right. Thanks so much Amina. Thanks for having me. All right, thanks. Bye.
Thanks so much for listening and joining the conversation. Yoga is truly a revolutionary practice. Thanks for being here. If you haven't already, I would love for you to read my book, yoga revolution, building a practice of courage and compassion. It's available wherever books are sold. Also, you can check out my website JivanaHeyman.com. There's some free classes on there and a meditation and you can find out more about my upcoming trainings and other programs. Hope to see you next time. Thanks. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
