I just read Kino MacGregor’s post Confessions of a Loved and Hated Ashtangi. I actually read it twice. I think it’s incredibly rare to find someone who is truly entrepreneurial in spirit, driven, passionate about what they do, and eager to dive into opportunity, again and again and again, when it presents itself. Though I have never met Kino or taken a class or received any sort of personal instruction from her, I have learned a lot about improving my own practice from Kino’s videos. The way I see it, her post had me at the feminism tribute–sure Beauvoir would have had something juicy to say.
For those who aren’t sure what they think about the “commercialization” of yoga, what to make about Kino’s business savvy (or other “big name” yogis, for that matter) that has cleverly leveraged social media to grow a successful “brand,” or for yet another look at how the yogi community isn’t always peace, love and flowers, the post is worth a read.
Yoga has become a business. That’s just the way it is. I don’t see that going away anytime soon.
Yep, exactly. She’s always open, honest, intent on explaining the ashtanga she loves. She’s pretty (is that a crime) and looks fabulous – which we’d expect after daily ashtanga, right? I love that she works hard at what she does and it’s lovely how she’s a strong woman giving us a piece of herself so we can find ourselves. Ridiculous to not like her b/c she has a business. Thanks!
First of all, props to Kino for sharing her passion and knowledge of ashtanga yoga. She deserves a lot of credit and respect for what she’s doing. I understand there are lots of people who object to her image, but I don’t have a problem with that at all. My issue is more of her hypocritical manner when talking about “ahimsa” or the principle of “not harming.” She talks about this at length in her book and in interviews. But check out this Youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F80lyRHxNDg) where she totally contradicts herself. HelloYoga in Japan did an interview with Kino on September 29, 2011. Around the video’s 13:00 to 14:00 minute mark, she says she doesn’t consume meat bc she loves animals and abides by ahimsa, therefore she’s vegetarian. Then around the 16:42 mark, she talks about how she loves shopping and how many beautiful shoes she’s bought on her trip to Japan. I guess she has no problem with how the leftover skin of animals killed for food is used to make beautiful shoes…as long as she doesn’t actually consume the meat herself. Rather hypocritical, if you ask me. Or maybe all those shoes she bought are made of pleather. Somehow I doubt it.