#37 - Keen on Yoga Podcast with Dena Kingsberg

Dena Kingsberg has been studying and practicing traditional
Ashtanga yoga for over 30 years.  She is a devoted long-term
student of the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois
and is among the most respected and senior
practitioners and teachers in the world.


Dena has a disciplined, yet lyrical style of teaching. Her
holistic approach looks beyond external form to inspire a passion
for self-discovery and reflection.  She lives with her
husband Jack, in the forest in the hinterland, beyond Byron Bay
Australia in a stone and recycled timber home that they built
with their own hands, over a few decades.


Her ashtanga journey began at the age of 21 while she was
spending from three to six months of each year in Mysore. 
Transformation through the practice was her primary focus. Dena
went from primary to intermediate, then all of advanced A with
Guruji adding asanas one by one of advanced B until it was
completed.  By this time she was the age of 33. Her practice
took about 4 ½ hours.


After 15 years practice she was blessed with the birth of her
first child, Zoli and three years later followed by her brother
Izac.


Dena believes that the quality of breath relates to quality of
life and that to breathe in leads to inspiration, creativity,
illumination and awakening.  And that the development
of breath capacity and control not only enhances respiratory
function but sits at the heart of emotional well being and
spiritual connectivity.


Chanting is another important element to Dena, one which she has
cultivated as a means to connect with divinity beyond and within
as a spiritual practice unto itself.  Dena remains
committed, deeply inspired and continuously amazed by the vast
healing potential of Ashtanga as a life changing practice.


She feels that yoga does not promise a life without hardship,
sorrow, or pain, but it gives us tools to keep the mind
steady through success and failure.