Thursday, April 7, 2011

Interview with Kino MacGregor in Richmond, Virginia, April 2nd 2011

At Kino's Richmond workshop this past weekend, I had the great pleasure of sitting down with her and chatting with her about the yoga practice. Specifically, I asked her some questions about the yamas (ethical precepts) and how they relate to our lives and practice. Here's the link to the interview:

http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embed/106862

There are a couple of things you should know about before you watch the interview:

(1) The interview is almost 40 minutes long (because I just can't stop asking questions :-)). So unless you plan on watching the interview over a few blocks of time, you might want to make sure you have 40 minutes to spare.

(2) The interviewer in the video (that Asian guy with glasses) is me. You may already know this, but just in case :-).

Last but not least, many thanks to Kino for giving so generously of her time. Enjoy!

13 comments:

  1. Thanks Nobel! Very Enjoyable. Some new ways to think about things. It can be hard to discuss the yamas & niyamas in fresh, original ways. You both sounded like you were having a very satisfying conversation.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, s.f. I'm doing one of the things that I both happen to do well and also enjoy doing (asking questions). It's nice to know that I can use this to somehow advance our understanding and get a new perspective on things :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you so much for making this timely video Nobel! I found this discussion that goes further beyond the surface meaning of the translations extremely helpful. I'm definitely guilty of sometimes verbally hurting people when trying to defend my personal truth. The clarifications of the yamas really help give me new directions to work on in the path of yoga. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yyogini, I'm happy you found the video helpful. I just re-watched the video again, and picked up some new things that I didn't catch when I was actually speaking with Kino during the interview itself. It's so cool that something as seemingly straightforward as the yamas can lend itself to so many rich and rewarding interpretations on so many levels :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. is it ok if I post this to my Facebook? Great interview. I get to see Kino tomorrow!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello Laura, yes, feel free to post it to your Facebook. Have fun with Kino in Vegas!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I posted before I got your approval. I was too excited to wait. Kino was awesome today! Tim was awesome too. Sadly we only got them for one day but the turnout was pretty good so maybe they will come back again.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey Laura,
    I'm really happy you enjoyed your time with Kino and Tim, even though it was so short. It's pretty unusual for them to just do a one-day workshop, isn't it? I wonder why...

    I hope many people get to see the interview on your Facebook :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kino and Tim had a weekend workshop in Flagstaff already planned so they added Las Vegas into their trip. They flew into Vegas and then my friend Maria who setup the Vegas workshop with them drove them to Flagstaff.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks Nobel, another great interview.Some really interesting ways of looking at the Yamas. Its rare for a teacher to talk beyond the asana practice in such incisive detail

    Kino is a wonderful teacher, I had a weekend with her in Edinburgh last month.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Laura, yes, I figured that's probably what's going on, after looking at Kino's teaching schedule online. It's very generous of them to make time for an extra teaching slot.

    Globie, yes, I honestly did not expect to get as much out of the interview as I did. I restricted the topic to the yamas this time around because I felt that the last interview was just too all-over-the-place. And I'm really happy that it turned out so well.

    I'm also happy that you are in much better shape. Take care!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks Nobel, I am starting to feel like I am getting better, just a case of knowing when to take a rest day.

    Next time you interview Kino can you ask her what she thinks students get from going to Mysore for months at a time, as opposed to practising in a western environment with teachers like Kino.

    ReplyDelete
  13. That's a very interesting question, Globie. Being somebody who has yet to go to Mysore, I have this same question at the back of my mind too. I don't know when the next time is that I'm going to get to interview her, but I'll definitely ask her for her opinion on this question. I'm already starting to come up with a tentative list of possible questions that I can ask her in the future :-)

    ReplyDelete