Yoga celebrity Kino MacGregor talks to Yogahood Online about her yoga journey, what led her to Mysore, and her love for Singapore’s Durian.
By Kavita Chandran
January 2, 2023
The first thing that struck me when I attended Kino MacGregor’s class at Pure Yoga studios in Singapore last month was how petite she was – a smaller and gentler frame than one had perceived from Instagram (@kinoyoga). Her flowing tresses were pinned back delicately as strands of hair teased her face, her voice was kinder and softer than many yoga teachers on the island; she needed occasional sips of warm water to soothe her throat as her body fought fatigue and jet lag. Yet, her polite request and elegantly assertive “no photos please” exuded the hallmark of a true yogini – disciplined and true to her cause, quite oblivious to the stargazers in the room.
Singapore is a small and modern island in South East Asia with nearly 5.5 million people where more than half of the population practices yoga in some form or the other. Many have been star struck by Kino for years.
Kino is a yoga teacher who has authored four books. She is the co-founder of Miami Life Center and Omstars, and a Lululemon Ambassador.
When I first published Yoga Journal’s Singapore edition few years ago, readers wanted to know if the magazine could bring her to the island nation for an event.
Years later, as I sat in the room listening to her explain mind-body connection during a restorative yoga class, I couldn’t help but marvel at her simplicity and dedication to the traditional practice she learned from Mysore under the tutelage of Ashtanga guru K. Pattabhi Jois.
Wrapped in a shawl, as she led the class through mindful stretches using blocks and bolsters, she noticed that I lacked the props and gently placed her own by my side. She wandered gracefully around the room while conducting her session, eagerly seeking more props for a few others, opening shelves, finding bolsters and placing them next to practitioners.
“I found them in the closet behind,” she whispered to me with a smile as she took new-found props back to her own mat, leaving hers behind with compassion for me.
With that, I became a fan.
These are gestures that speak volumes about a person who doesn’t just practice yoga but gratefully lives and breathes it as a lifestyle.
Yogahood got the rare opportunity to interview Kino during her trip to Singapore before we all bid goodbye to 2022. What a great way to bring in the new year with inspiration and advice from a true yogini who has spread the love of true yoga from Mysore to Miami. Pictures below are courtesy Pure Yoga studios and Lululemon in Singapore.
YH: What prompted you to start yoga and stay with it lifelong?
Kino: I started yoga out of a sincere desire to learn how to live a more peaceful life. There was something that stuck from my very first class that clued me into the true depths of spiritual learning, available in the teaching of yoga. After years of studying the traditional method with my teachers in India, my husband and I opened our yoga center in Miami nearly 20 years ago.
Not many people know this, but Lululemon reached out to me to be a local ambassador at that time. And our partnership helped the studio really reach the local community. We are forever grateful to Lululemon for standing with us at that time. The way that they do them and lift up teachers is a really important value in the company. It shows that they value the true leaders of the yoga community.
YH: Why and how did you end up in the Pattabhi Jois Institute in Mysore?
Kino: When I was 22 years old, I made the decision to travel to meet Pattabhi Jois. I have been practicing the method of Ashtanga Yoga for less than a year, but I had a dream about him, and I knew I had to meet him. I wrote a book about my first journey, an experience of being immersed in the lineage. This meeting is a time that forever changed the direction of my life.
One of the things that I like to say is that I am who I am because my teachers believed in me. I never thought I could be strong enough, I never thought I was good enough. But they always believed in me and continued to see the goodness that was within me. Whenever I thought I’d reach the limit of strength and flexibility, my teachers lifted me up. I continue to practice with my teacher’s grandson Sharath. In fact, I am on the way to India now. I will be there for the whole month of December just focusing on being a student and I’m so looking forward to that.
YH: Having done traditional yoga from India, what are your thoughts about variations, or distortions, such as beer yoga, goat yoga, dog yoga etc?
Kino: Well, to be honest with you, I have never tried, beer yoga, goat yoga, or dog yoga. So, I don’t have any direct experience with these more whimsical forms of yoga. But what I always say is – whatever it takes to get students through the door. As long as they’re sent an invitation to the deeper elements of the tradition, then they have a chance, and those who are ready to accept the invitation will fill the pool in their hearts. What is most important about respecting the integrity of the lineage is that there is always an invitation presented about how to go deeper into the practice. We, as teachers, have the responsibility to communicate to the students that yoga is more than just poses but represents a full spiritual discipline of transformation and awakening.
YH: You have an effortless smile on your face when you do yoga (as seen in your pics too!). What is your state of mind during the asana practice?
Kino: The traditional teaching says that asana practice should be a direct reflection of your interstate. I wasn’t always so smiley during my asana practice. As I have tapped into a feeling of wholeness and peace within myself, that naturally bubbles over during my yoga pose (asana) practice. I would say that in general, that feeling of peace and happiness starts to infuse every aspect of my life. The balance of the heart is really the essence of what well-being means.
YH: How can yoga and meditation help the youth in today’s world – as they face an onslaught of challenges about their future, triggered by climate issues, post-Covid isolation, gadget addiction, depression, loneliness etc.?
Kino: Yoga offers an opportunity to everyone to use any difficulty and struggle they are facing as the foundation of their own liberation. So, yoga is a wonderful practice for the whole world, but especially for the youth who have struggled in the onslaught of challenges in the world today. Yoga and meditation offer a unique opportunity for everyone to unplug, top in, and tune their minds, and hearts to the truth if they’re in a world. Whether I teach in-person, and online on my channel Omstars, I can see how yoga really makes a transformative difference in the hearts and minds of students all over the world.
YH: What do you think of Singapore?
Kino: I am really excited to be returning to Singapore. I was teaching in Singapore in March 2020, and it felt really intense to be teaching while the initial stages of the pandemic were spiralling. It gave me great hope to return to Singapore in the “post-Covid era”. While there are still many concerns, and the world is still facing so much uncertainty, I think that it is very meaningful to return to Singapore and share about yoga.
Also, on a lighter note, I absolutely love durian and Singapore has some of the best durian in the world! I haven’t had fresh durian since before the pandemic, because we cannot get it in the United States. I plan to make time to go over to the markets and eat as much as I can!
(Kavita Chandran is the former editor-in-chief of Yoga Journal Singapore, and founder of Yogahood Online. The above interview with Kino was conducted via email when she visited Singapore in Nov/Dec 2022.)
