The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast

387: The Five Kleshas with Michelle Cassandra Johnson

 

Description:

What lies at the root of all human suffering? How can we relieve our suffering and that of others? According to the yoga sutras, our suffering comes from five root causes, the five kelshas, and there are practices we can do to alleviate suffering. Michelle Cassandra Johnson has studied this topic in-depth and shares her insights.

 

Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author and activist. She has been a racial equity educator for 25 years and is also a yoga teacher, spiritual teacher, and practitioner. Michelle works with people 1:1 and in group settings to help them connect to their intuitive abilities and supports them within intuitive healing practices. Her latest book, Illuminating Our True Nature: Yogic Practices for Personal and Collective Healing, was released in July 2024 and focuses on the kleshas.

 

Michelle explains what the five kleshas are, and how we see them showing up in our lives with examples. She shares her reflections on our interconnectedness with each other, nature, and the earth as well as why we have become so disconnected. Michelle offers some practices to help us lessen suffering individually and collectively, and how we can avoid contributing to suffering through our actions.

 

Key Takeaways:

[4:01] Shannon gives a shout-out to the sponsors, OfferingTree, and her own 20-hour Yoga for Pelvic Health Teacher Training.

[4:01] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Michelle Cassandra Johnson.

[7:12] What does Michelle do and who does she do it for?

[10:54] How does Michelle define the kleshas?

[13:41] Michelle introduces the five different kleshas.

[18:11] Can all human suffering be distilled into the five kleshas?

[23:50] Shannon and Michelle discuss how interconnected we are, not just to each other but to nature and the earth as well.

[28:34] Shannon pops in to share about a workshop that Billie Smith is running, hosted by sponsor, OfferingTree.

[30:38] Is avoiding suffering contributing to suffering?

[37:52] Shannon and Michelle reflect on their connection to the earth and being in relationship with nature.

[44:26] Some people are unable to see the disconnect in between different areas of their lives. How can we navigate that?

[50:16] What are the ways that we can reduce or relieve suffering?

[56:19] Which of the kleshas is the most challenging to address and what is a practice that can help? 

[62:02] Learn more from Michelle via her website, where you can get access to her books, workshops, and other resources.

[64:52] Shannon shares her biggest takeaways from this conversation with Michelle.

 

Links:

• Michelle Cassandra Johnson

• Illuminating Our True Nature, by Michelle Cassandra Johnson

• The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode BONUS: Anti-Racism & Yoga with Michelle Johnson

• OfferingTree Webinar: Queer Inclusive Teaching with Billie Smith and Shannon Crow

• The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast 5 Koshas Series: Annamaya Kosha

• The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 073: 8 Limbs of Yoga [Part 1] with Shannon Crow

• The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 074: 8 Limbs of Yoga [Part 2] with Jennie Lee

• The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 385: When the Yoga Teacher Stumbles with Jivana Heyman

• Yoga for Pelvic Health  3-Hour On Demand Workshop with Shannon Crow

• The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Team

• Shannon Crow on Instagram

 

Gratitude to our Sponsors, OfferingTree, and Yoga for Pelvic Health 20-hr Online Training with Shannon Crow.

 

Quotes from this episode:

"This is illuminating our true nature which speaks to the fact that we are nature and that so many of us have been conditioned to be divorced from nature as if it doesn't exist within us." - Michelle

 

" This path calls us to study the root causes of suffering so that we suffer less. And ultimately,... become liberated, but it's not just about my liberation, it's about everyone's liberation." - Michelle

 

"Am I also contributing to suffering by thinking, I'll just avoid this." - Shannon

 

"If we're going to take action, we need to do it from a steady and a grounded place." - Michelle

 

"The path of yoga in so many ways is about us shedding our conditioning and at a minimum, interrogating our conditioning and then shedding what is not aligned with nature." - Michelle

 

"We have to understand why we suffer and how we suffer. ... It's an ongoing practice and study and it's a muscle to build."