The Odyssey of Kristina Karitinou
If you ever wondered how gods are made, our guest today will tell you they start out as heroes. They become big enough to thrust out at Brad Pitt and decide the fate of thousands of women and children. Hector must have been like that… a giant like Priapus or Goliath standing in the way of Achilles.
Probably a good sized lad. Maybe even 6 foot 4 and full of muscles.
Our guest today is very much like this. She is larger than life and it makes sense that she married a Golden God like Derek Ireland and bore him two children. They used to make statues of people like them (think Venus de Milo). These two took a heroes journey that the rest of us just read about or gaze at in museums.
Kristina Karitinou sits with us today and talks about her epic life story, including her true romance with Derek Ireland, nursing him through cancer, and her subsequent depression upon his death. The pain of this event along with their two small children, shaped the rest of her journey.
Is there one of us in the Ashtanga Yoga culture more wrapped into the fabric of this legendary tapestry?
Derek looms larger than life. He who practiced in Mysore, India wearing body, ankle, and wrist weights; he who ran up and down Chamundi Hill every morning like Lester Dent’s “Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze!” (Russell’s wouldn’t have been surprised at all to find Doc Savage practicing Ashtanga Yoga next to Derek and Kristina in a cave on the island of Crete, recovering from some epic adventure).
The Ashtanga yoga practice is a method that brings the maximum beauty to both the male and female body. - Kristina Karitinou
Kristina is an Ashtanga Yoga teacher and Zen practitioner from Athens, Greece, who’s been teaching in the tradition of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois since 1991. She was qualified as an Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga teacher by her late husband Derek Ireland, authorized by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and Certified by his son, Manju Pattabhi Jois in 2012.
After many years of assisting Derek Ireland around the world, Kristina became one of the first Ashtanga yoga teachers in Europe.
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
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Opening and closing music compliments of my dear friend teaching Ashtanga yoga in Eindhoven, Nick Evans, with his band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.” Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.
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