Practice Notes: Miami 2025

Sarah and I had a great time in Miami. We spent the week practicing with Kino and Tim — and goofing around making ridiculous Instagram content.

Most of our stories were simply daily check-ins: little dispatches about how we were feeling heading into or coming out of practice. Always filmed against a punchy backdrop of graffiti-style street art in the Wynwood neighborhood.

If you want to map our energetic trajectory: Day 1 was all excitement and sunshine. By Day 5, we had no words left. Just a cautiously optimistic shrug before clocking in for another round of really hard Ashtanga antics.

Beyond the 5-star content creation, we enjoyed connecting with other practitioners, receiving hands-on support, and soaking up thoughtful advice from both Kino and Tim.

At the moment, I do all of the second series (also called intermediate series or Nadi Shodhana) and then tack on postures from the third series (aka advanced series A or Sthira Bhaga). At the end of second series, there are seven headstands — each with a different arm position.

Tim encouraged me to do all seven every day. He feels the shoulder work — keeping the serratus anterior and lats engaged while depressing the shoulder blades through each arm variation — is essential and carries directly into the arm balances that show up in third series.

Meanwhile, Kino advised me to save the headstands for the one day a week I devote solely to second series — because energy conservation is crucial when you’re trying to add new postures to your repertoire.

Those are both good pieces of advice! And they’re contradictory.

So, I modified my approach based on whichever teacher I sensed was standing closest. For instance, I skipped the seven headstands when Kino was nearby. Maybe it’s a weird leap to make, but this kind of omission reminded me of being a kid of divorced parents. It felt a lot like not mentioning my stepdad at my dad’s house. Same diplomatic energy.

But more importantly, practicing like this was an exercise in temperamental flexibility — a chance to explore the practice without being too precious about it. To invite multiple perspectives and understand that there is no One True Way.

A teacher’s input is simply an option — hopefully a well-considered option, backed by a sound explanation—but still just one option among others.

And at a good studio, you’re welcome to consider the data, and then take it or leave it, depending on the direction you want to take your practice.

Because ultimately, the practice is a vehicle for discovering the true essence of the Self. And self-discovery is accelerated when you’re given the space to make your own decisions about how you want to proceed.

I know this because I’m a mom. If I over-direct 8-year-old Brynn while she’s baking her first cake, she’ll keep looking to me for constant cues. But if I let her go to the recipe book when she’s unsure about the next step, she’ll start to realize she has the tools to figure it out herself.

Whether or not that cake was edible is beside the point. Side note: it did photograph beautifully.

And maybe that’s not the perfect example of stepping into your power as a responsible agent of asana — but you get the idea: you’re always at the helm. A teacher’s word isn’t gospel — just a contribution to consider.

This week of practice at Miami Life Center reminded me how important it is to invite multiple perspectives, and remain open — while never forgetting who’s the Big Cheese.

Hint: it’s you. Always.