101: Comfort, Challenge & Compassion: Community Conversations with Aisha Fakhro

In the yoga world, as elsewhere, opinions seem more polarized than ever. Today we’re making space to explore one popular all-or-nothing topic in the wellness sphere: whether our practice is intended to create comfort or offer challenge.

Host Rachel explores the delicate balance yoga teachers seek between challenge and comfort and the compassion required to do so with returning guest Aisha Fakhro LAPHP, LNRPC, a licensed psychotherapist and yoga teacher who specializes in working with anxiety, trauma, grief, relationships, stress management and personal growth.

Listen in as we compare, and perhaps reconcile, the case for the comfort of safe and welcoming practice spaces with the growth we might experience from venturing outside our comfort zones.

“We take on this pressure to need to know what students need and feel like we need to be the ones to deliver that like it is a burden that we have to carry to decide should we be challenging students right now or should we be offering comfort.” – Aisha Fakhro

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“We’ve got to have done the work before we come into the room, so that we can do less work when we’re in the room.” – Rachel Land

Show Notes:

• Do we even need to know what students need? [3:58]
• The case for comfort: who we become in welcoming & inclusive spaces [5:53]
• The case for courage: challenging our comfort zones [12:15]
• The need for safety with the challenge [16:19]
• Empowering students to choose what they need: it starts with us [20:33]
• Compassion as the thread drawing extremes toward each other [25:46]

Links Mentioned:

• Watch this episode on YouTube
• Yoga Medicine Online Guest Teacher
• Connect with Aisha Fakhro:

Instagram | Soft Strength Podcast | Aisha Fakhro

“Challenges requires a safe space for you to come home to, to repair from, to step forward from when you’re ready for that next layer of difficulty. ” – Rachel Land