The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast - The Five Kleshas with Michelle Cassandra Johnson

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.