"Essentially I think of yoga as creating space. We're space creators. Physically, mentally, emotionally."
Kate Kendall has been teaching yoga in Australia for over two decades. She co-founded Flow Athletic in Sydney with her business partner Ben, which they sold last year, and now teaches, writes and mentors as Active Yogi. She joined Lee and me on episode 16 of The Lee & Irene Show.
Kate walked into her first yoga class at the Dharmashala in North Bondi straight from her job at a digital agency in the city. "I fumbled my way through it and I felt like a baby elephant on a yoga mat." Then came savasana. "I remember lying down in Shavasana and just being totally present, like a feeling that I just hadn't experienced since childhood, like at peace." She went for the long, lean limbs, "but I stayed for the mental stuff."
Kate wrote her book, Life in Flow, on her Sundays off while she was pregnant with her daughter. It's about living your yoga off the mat. She says the four corners of a rubber mat are "just a tiny little sliver" of what yoga is, so the book looks at "how can we take the philosophies and apply it to our contemporary and modern lifestyles."
You can listen to the full episode here:
Here are the 3 things I learned from our chat with Kate
1. A yogi practises presence
I've got the mat, the Lululemon and the Oura Ring. Kate says the gear isn't what makes you a yogi. "We can have all the stuff and all the gear and then we can be having all the green smoothies, but we're missing the point."
"For me, a yogi is someone who endeavours to practise presence. I know yogis who have never stepped on a yoga mat before, but they're a yogi to me because they're so present with you."
That's what Active Yogi means to Kate, "that presence that we're taking with us" off the mat. For her, that includes being of service. Before she does anything, even our podcast, she checks in with herself: "How can I be of service with it?"
2. Feeling bored in meditation is normal
Kate resists meditation some days too. Her meditation teacher Jackie, from The Broad Place, would tell her own teacher her meditation had been blissful, and he'd say "good". The next time she'd say her mind was choppy and horrible, and he'd say "good" again. "The point is that you're willing to sit with whatever's going on for you."
Even after more than 20 years, Kate hits a wall about 15 or 20 minutes in. "I want to give up. I'm like, this is boring." She calls this the threshold. She sits with it, "mantra, mantra, mantra", and then drops in. "It's not necessarily a blissful experience all the time."
I told Kate that yoga classes bore me, and that the thought of a class with no phone makes me want to run. Kate's answer changed how I see it. What feels like boredom often isn't. "It wasn't boredom, it was withdrawals." So she turned it on me. "I wonder if when you're in class, are you withdrawing from stimulation?" I think she's right.
There's no shortcut. "I wish there was a blue pill. But... I always say that discipline creates freedom." And she never regrets it. "I never regret sitting. I never regret doing a meditation."
3. Make space between your breaths, and your day
The space between is the idea Kate has built her teaching around, and it starts with your breath. At the end of each out breath, there's a short pause before the next breath comes in. Kate noticed it in her early classes, in a seated forward fold.
"The space between breaths, I could widen that place. And two things would happen. One, I would physically find more space in the posture. And two, my mind would go almost blank." The space between breaths became the space between thoughts. "Essentially it's presence. It all comes back to presence."
Then she takes that pause into the rest of her day, so she isn't rushing from one thing straight into the next. "I'll finish work and before I do anything I need that space between. So I'll go and have a shower... and wash off the day."
Kate's easy ways to start
For anyone like me who finds it hard to sit still, Kate gave us a few ways in.
Yoga nidra: Kate says it has been rebranded as NSDR, non-sleep deep rest, "but it's essentially yoga nidra." You lie down for "20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes" and "let someone's voice guide you" through the body. "The idea is your body gets so relaxed so your brainwaves slow right down. The trick is not to fall asleep." Kate does it every night on Insight Timer.
Cat cow: Kate's pick for beginners. "Get on to all fours, hands under shoulders, knees under hips and just move through flexion and extension of the spine." Like your cat does when she arches her back.
Moving meditation: Each chapter of Life in Flow ends with a short sequence of postures you repeat "for as long as you have, say you've got five minutes". Kate says, "every time we come to the same posture, it's going to feel a little different", so you stay with the breath and notice what you feel. "Essentially I think of yoga as creating space. We're space creators. Physically, mentally, emotionally." You can find Kate's book, classes and writing at Active Yogi.
Listen to the full episode
We also talked about whether reformer Pilates has taken over yoga, Kate's favourite poses, pigeon and wheel, and Justin's question about GLP-1s. You can listen to episode 16 on Spotify.
About the Author
Irene Falcone is the founder of Clean Nectarine and co-host of The Lee & Irene Show. She started her first clean beauty business in 2011 with $100 in her garage and grew it to $20m in four years. She has spent over 15 years reading the backs of beauty and wellness labels, is a Telstra Business Women's Awards winner and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, and has been featured on A Current Affair, The Project, Sunrise, Channel Nine Mornings and Sky News.
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