Illuminating Our True Nature: Yogic Practices for Personal & Collective Healing
A guide for turning towards instead of moving away from our suffering, not only to better understand why we suffer but also to also open up pathways to freedom.
In yoga philosophy, these patterns are known as the five kleshas. In this wise, practical guide, Michelle Cassandra Johnson offers us a path toward developing a deeper understanding of them and practices for personal and collective healing and transformation.
We all get stuck in hurtful patterns that continue to create more suffering in our lives and the collective.
Each klesha leads us to create tendencies and karma that move us away from realizing and remembering our true nature and seeing ourselves as separate from one another and the planet.
In yogic terms, this perpetuates a constant cycle of pain for us all.
Readers of Illuminating Our True Nature will learn to:
deepen their connection with self and others
Look at their relationship and attachment to pleasure and aversion to discomfort
Notice more fully how their actions affect others
Meet each moment as it arises and ride the waves of life as they come
In Illuminating Our True Nature, you will receive:
Spiritual teachings
An explanation of five kleshas or afflictions
Reflection questions
Powerful and practical meditations, mantras, asanas, reflection questions, and more, to reduce our suffering—and the suffering of others
What people are saying
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I am continually grateful for Michelle's ability to share critical insights and offer necessary guidance in her books. Through her deep philosophical study and sharing of vulnerable lived experiences, Michelle offers meaningful tools for understanding and navigating the kleshas, afflictions that cause suffering, while steering the reader back to the path towards liberation.
Tejal Patel, Yoga Teacher, Podcaster, Community Organizer
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This book is far from a mere theoretical exploration; it serves as a pragmatic roadmap for self-discovery and growth. Within its pages, Michelle extends an invitation for us to delve into the depths of our own habits, thoughts, and actions, encouraging us to understand the ingrained patterns that contribute to our suffering.
Seane Corn, author of Revolution of the Soul
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The demand for healing tools has never been greater in these critical times. Illuminating Our True Nature provides a comprehensive framework for connecting with ourselves through yoga. This profound work guides us toward personal healing and illuminates a path toward healing on a collective level, making it an essential resource for our current moment.
Dianne Bondy, co-author of Yoga Where You Are
Order
When you order Illuminating Our True Nature, you’ll receive five dharma talks—one on each klesha, and a practice video which includes five practices from the book.
Simply order your copy, then return to this page to submit your order information. You’ll receive instant access to these special offerings.
Instead of bypassing the relative truth playing out and the truth of who yoga understands us to be, we can commit to a path of study and devotion that will allow us to move into closer alignment with values, principles, and actions that will lead us to samadhi, and to collective liberation.
Michelle Cassandra Johnson