Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #25 – Relationships on the Spiritual Path – Yoga in Israel with Pazit and Kobi

Welcome to Episode #25 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! This week, I welcome Pazit Barak and Kobi Tov onto the show. They are yoga teachers from Israel who own a retreat center in Cambodia, called Vagabond Temple. 

My conversation with Pazit and Kobi was so powerful as we took a deep dive into the spiritual understanding of yoga and the world of modern yoga. I hope that this conversation made you want to take a deeper look into the the role yoga plays in modern life and in your life. We talked about their yoga retreat center in Kep, and about the yoga scene in Israel as well. 

We also talked about how we, as people, have different forces that take us in different directions and how bringing the different aspects of ourselves in alignment allows us to really connect ourselves with who we truly are. I also loved how we talked about sharing the spiritual path with your partner and how this effects and strengthens your relationships.

If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode that is all about the spiritual aspects and the elements of yoga then this is the conversation for you.

Tell me more about Pazit Barak and Kobi Tov

Pazit and Kobi Tov are yoga teachers from Israel are co-founders and owners of Vagabond Temple Yoga, Meditation, and Healing School in Kep, Cambodia. They opened the doors to Vagabond Temple 8 years ago on the southern coast of Cambodia in Kep, with the intention to create a space and place where people could connect with the divinity inside of themselves. In case you were wondering, yes, they are a married couple and they both teach Iyengar yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Meditation, and Healing. They have both studied extensively from renowned teachers like the Taoist Master Mantak Chia, Prashnat Iyengar, and more.

What to expect in the Yoga In Israel episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast

Pazit Barak and Kobi Tov and I kicked off the conversation talking about how they first connected over a trip to India and about recognizing how “life does’t have to be like this.” What do they mean? There are a lot of expectations, a lot of demands on each person in everyday life and the fast-paced busyness of it all can make it feel difficult to operate in the world. We have different forces that take us into different directions, and by bringing the different aspects of ourselves in alignment to work together as one, allows us to really connect ourselves with who we truly are. In our conversation, Pazit and Kobi continued to illuminate this more and more. 

We also talked about the role of modern yoga in the world today, as well as the challenges that face the global yoga community. They defined yoga through expanding upon the sutra: Yoga Chitta Vritta Nirodha. Kobi beautifully explained this the sutra through using metaphors like rice fields and oceans. 

We continued our conversation talking about the importance of personal practice, and the role that authenticity needs to play in yoga. We briefly even touched on the word “yogi” itself and whether or not it was appropriate or ethical to use it!

Of course, we also talked about yoga in Israel. Yoga in Israel is flourishing, and is very, very popular. Israelis travel to India, usually after their time in service in the army, and dive into spirituality there and take back what they learned to Israel. As Kobi said, “By understanding yoga, I was able to understand Judaism better.”

Curious? Tune into the Yoga in Israel episode to hear all the beautiful details of our conversation.

For the skimmers – What’s in the Israel episode?

• The most vital elements that a person needs to see, experience, or feel to connect with the divinity within themselves
• Bringing the different aspects of ourselves in alignment to work together as one to allow us to really connect ourselves with who we are
• The role of modern yoga in the world today
• Yoga as a big tool or reconnecting ourselves to the every day life
• The importance of authenticity in yoga classes
• Strengthened relationship with your partner, as you both walk the spiritual path
• What yoga is like in Israel

Thank you so much for taking a look at— and hopefully tuning in to— the Yoga in Israel episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast with Pazit Barak and Kobi Tov.

Favorite Quote From Pazit Barak and Kobi Tov

“When you bring these three aspects, body, mind, and speech into alignment, you really have the opportunity to experience harmony, balance, and peace. And with that you can Manifest yourself or express yourself in the world in a much better way as well. So you both develop yourself spiritually, but also on the practical level, on the earthly physical everyday life matter, you can operate from a much more peaceful and calm and clear place within yourself.”

Connect with Pazit and Kobi

vagabondtemple.com

https://www.instagram.com/vagabondtemple/

https://www.facebook.com/VagabondTemple/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHFXBlWOJE_VF5ZWFEp6orw

Want more?

https://wildyogatribe.com/thepodcast/

Everything you need is just one click away! Check out all the resources here: https://linktr.ee/wildyogatribe

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Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #25 – Relationships on the Spiritual Path – Yoga in Israel with Pazit and Kobi 

[00:00:00] Lily Allen-Duenas: Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. I’m your host, Lily Allen-Duenas. Together we’ll talk about the world of yoga and we’ll talk to people from around the world. Join us for authentic conversations about the global yoga ecosystem and we’ll cover yoga philosophies and methodologies along the way.

[00:00:28] Inhale. Exhale. We’re about to dive in.

[00:00:41] Namaste family. Welcome back to the Wild Yoga Tribe today. I am so excited. We are doing something extra special. Today, I have two guests on the show together, Pazit and Kobi. They are husband and wife, and they are the founders of Vagabond Temple in Kep, Cambodia. They’re also from Israel and I’m just so excited to have them on the show today while I never visited Vagabond Temple myself.

[00:01:08] When I was in Cambodia, I didn’t have the opportunity because I was teaching on a small island a little farther away, but I’m just thrilled. I know a friend, a good friend of mine who went and spent time with them and can’t speak highly enough about Pazit and Kobi. So their yoga and meditation teachers from uttering yoga school.

[00:01:28] In Cambodia called Vagabond Temple. And they’ve had that for about eight years and they had this intention to create a space and a place where people could connect with the divinity inside of themselves. Pazit and Kobi teach Ayga yoga, Kundalini yoga, and meditation and healing. And they’ve studied extensively with renowned teachers like the Taoist master, Mantak Chia and.

[00:01:51] Pushnat Aguar and more so let’s dive in. Let’s hear their stories. I’m so excited. Thank you so much, Pazit and Kobi for being on the show today.

[00:02:01] Kobi Tov: Thank you. Thank you Lily.

[00:02:04] Lily Allen-Duenas: So why don’t you introduce yourself so everyone can get a better feel for who you are in your stories?

Introduction about Pazit and Kobi

[00:02:11] Kobi Tov: Hello everyone. I’m Kobi.

[00:02:13] Pazit Barak: Yes, and I am Pazit. And then, like you said, we are a couple from Israel and we actually decided over 10 years ago to leave our jobs and our work and our families and go on. Like a long trip, a long journey to connect with ourselves and to learn all kinds of ancient traditions, yoga and meditation, Buddhism as well.

[00:02:38] Yeah. As we studied ourselves, we also started to share what we learned with other people. And this is how we established the Vagabond Temple. And since then we have been teaching both here in the Kep, Cambodia, and both onlines, that should be now. And we just love it. Yeah. It’s become a complete lifestyle for us.

[00:03:01] We are living it and we are breathing it and we are teaching it and yeah, our life is surrounded with spirituality. 

[00:03:11] Kobi Tov: When we met each other after being on a retreat in India, separately. Each one of us was separately in India. And then when we came back to Israel, but at least we met each other and we just couldn’t stop speaking about India and about the experience that we had there.

[00:03:28] And both of us had this understanding that life doesn’t have to be like that. It doesn’t have to be restricted. Without the feeling of connection to something bigger and higher and to each other as well. And like well all of our relationships since the beginning were speaking about going back to India and living in a life in a way that we want to live with and now we’re doing it.

[00:03:56] So it’s really a dream come true. And it’s a great and amazing journey that we are experiencing. 

[00:04:02] Lily Allen-Duenas: So happy to hear that I agree. Life doesn’t have to be like that. It’s awesome that you connected over that sentiment and then built your lives the way you have or what made you choose for your location?

What made you choose your location?

[00:04:17] Pazit Barak: Yeah. So as Kobi said, when we left Israel, we really thought we were going to be in India because for us, India was like the country of spirituality. But then actually life took us into, we there streamed with the things that were happening and we reached a Cambodian. We just fell in love in Cambodia with the people, with the quiet, with the view.

[00:04:40] And Kep is just the perfect place because it’s such a small and quiet and peaceful beach town. That it’s just perfect for a retreat. It’s just perfect to connect to nature here. There is the Kep national park, which is just amazing just to walk there. There is the beach. And so you are in nature and it’s very peaceful here.

[00:05:05] Not a lot of people. It’s not a very high tourist place. Very quiet and relaxed in that matter. 

[00:05:13] Lily Allen-Duenas: I’ve just visited Kep for, I think, a day or two very quickly. And it was beautiful, just, tropical, great nature, the calm, the beaches. I think it has a lot of everything. 

[00:05:24] Pazit Barak: Yes, it has the blue of the sea and the green of the mountains and a beautiful sunset.

[00:05:32] And just very relaxed people as well. It’s not just the atmosphere, the people themselves are very relaxed here. Everything is very chilled, laid back, with a very different rhythm. Yeah, to life. 

[00:05:46] Lily Allen-Duenas: Absolutely. So I’d love to dive in a little deeper to get into the juice here, elements that I’m so excited to talk to you both about.

[00:05:55] I would love it, since we talked about, or I mentioned that you opened Vagabond, a temple to help people connect with their inner divinity. I’d love to hear a little bit about what do you think are the most vital elements that a person needs to see or feel or experience to connect with the divinity within themselves?

The elements a person needs to connect with the divinity within themselves 

[00:06:17] Kobi Tov: This is a really interesting life. We go right away to yoga. And we see that the way that we understand, we always very much interlinked with Buddhism. And it’s also very true, historically yoga and Buddhism, more kind of sisters, they were taking from each other and I know, always in dialogue within each other.

[00:06:42] And we have these three layers that we see, but tangibly and also in the Buddhist teachings and other spiritual methods as well, these layers of a body, speech and mind. So body is the physical understanding of life, the physical world, the matter, speech, which also represents a breath and energy basically, and mind, which represent 

[00:07:18] The whole thinking or then the, some of the emotions that we have, 

[00:07:24] Pazit Barak: The way we see it is more holistic. We need to take care of the conflict ourselves as a whole. And Kobi says bringing ourselves the different aspects of ourselves into alignment and to get a lot of focus and direction, both with our body, both with our mind, both with our energy, with all of them together, working together as one, allowing us to really connect ourselves to who we are.

[00:07:50] Rather than, what happens to us usually is that we have different forces inside of us that take us into different directions and not operate in balance with each other. When you bring these three aspects, body, mind, and speech into alignment, you really have the opportunity to experience harmony, balance, and peace.

[00:08:13] And with that, you, you can. Manifest yourself or express yourself in the world in a much better way as well. So you both develop yourself spiritually, but also on the practical level, on the earthly physical everyday life matter, you can operate from a much more peaceful and calm and clear place within yourself.

[00:08:39] Kobi Tov: When there is not a time when there is no alignment between these three forces, like what happens is that, we are. There is the Atman or like the higher self as the yogis call it, or the Buddha nature is the Buddhist qualities like covered. And what we do in this journey of yoga is to discover taking these words apart, like this cover like this, and then cover.

[00:09:08] And when we discover, when we take the cover away, we can reveal our Buddha-nature, our higher self. And this is very much difficult these days. I think even more than the ancient times in some regards. Because we have such, such busy life and the atmosphere that we have is not necessarily helping us to be relaxed and peaceful and to reveal these aspects in ourselves.

[00:09:40] And there is no, not so much encouragement. And it is also very difficult. I think it’s really important to mention that it’s difficult to have your life together. To operate in this world, it’s rough. It’s not that easy, modern life is a very difficult task. We have so many things to juggle.

[00:10:02] And then when we have that and we don’t take care of ourselves, we don’t take care of our body. We don’t take care of our energy and definitely not take care of our mind. And we can be in a state of being covered as opposed to being discovered. 

[00:10:21] Lily Allen-Duenas: No, that’s absolutely beautiful and I couldn’t agree more. It is difficult to operate in this world.

[00:10:26] It’s rough. As you said, I think that there’s so much internal conflict and external conflict because of the pace at which we live or the competition or the conveniency. There’s so many elements that I think create a perfect storm in our modern world for this chaos inside. 

[00:10:47] Kobi Tov: So it’s like this chaos that is outside and it’s like also definitely internally as well is something that we have faced with.

[00:10:56] And this is what the yogis and Buddhists call themselves, it’s their life. And there is always an example that I give. It’s not my example of estates, the Vyasa example, Vyasa is one of the commenters of yoga sutra. And he says it’s Samsara life. As we know them is like a dog that vomits it and eats his own vomit.

[00:11:22] And if it’s too rough of an example, you can take it out in the editing. But I think it’s just brilliant because there is something so repetitive about this life about doing the same thing over and over again, and having making the same mistakes, having the same issue. Having the same samskaras, which are the imprinted memories that we have each one each and every one of us, and also the collective ones that makes life very difficult.

[00:11:53] So then we need an extreme solution and extreme measures. To get out of this, Samsara, get out of black also cope with the external Keros and definitely work on the internal world. And then we can change the game. We can get into a new space where life is a much more bearable, bit more space to, to enjoy and to see, to being grateful for what we have and taking advantage of this life.

[00:12:26] And right away, it’s really important to say as well. To fulfill ourselves in this life. And it’s very clear from the yogi teaching that to fulfill ourselves in this life is to be a vessel to be able, not only to live a healthy and happy life for ourselves, but to be someone, to be a beam of light and to radiate light to others, to help others to be there for others and not just selfishly living life.

[00:12:59] Lily Allen-Duenas: That definitely resonates with me as well. And that example was not too rough. I think there, it is an amazing example of that repetitive nature of just we’re doing things always that isn’t healthy for us or isn’t, it’s, we can make toxic choices every day. And that can be that cyclical pattern that we have fallen into.

[00:13:19] And we did, I did mention, or we’re almost touching modern yoga, so I would love to pose the question to you too. What is the role of modern yoga in the world today? 

The role of modern yoga in the world today

[00:13:30] Pazit Barak: I think today because we have so many challenges and also because there are a lot of expectations and a lot of, kind of, we need to be multitasking and very talented, and there are a lot of demands.

[00:13:43] On, on our assessment of everyday life, that yoga becomes a big tool of reconnecting ourselves into something deeper than that. And more, authentic and allows us, like we said, to turn a little bit, our perception from the Samsara into gratefulness. And I think really this is maybe one of the biggest fall in modern life.

[00:14:07] And also another big role is to allow us to have the space inside for compassion. Because, beyond the obvious thing that yoga helps us to face the challenges and it makes us strong, not just physically, but also it helps us to be emotionally stronger and with our mind to be stronger and to have a stronger vessel for.

[00:14:31] For expression in the world and to face the challenges and to face all the tasks that we need. I think much more than that. The role of spirituality and yoga and so on is to remember that in the end. And this is what we believe. Like our purpose here in this world is to do good. Is to do good for ourselves is to do good for others, is to do good for the environment, is to be a good person and to be a person with gratefulness and compassion.

[00:15:04] And I think this is the role of yoga in modern life, much more than anything else. 

[00:15:11] Kobi Tov: We can always think about a spiritual practice in materialistic terms. And this is a Jargon Butah teacher was a Thermi coining and it’s a spiritual materialism where we take the spiritual teachings and make out of them something very materialistic.

[00:15:32] We see that all over today in all the different spiritual teachings and the point Pazit was making. I think if we cannot stress it enough, how important it is. To do the practice, not for yourself alone. Instead we don’t think that this is the idea of yoga and start thinking about the idea of yoga is like making our body feed is completely going against the original teachings.

[00:16:06] We do yoga in order to be more compassionate. We do yoga to be more, to help others. We don’t do yoga just for the view on the beach or something like that. And this is the most important part. I think that is the role of yoga life as it is to make us people that can give in this world can make an impact in this world.

[00:16:31] And there will be someone who influenced reality to create reality and then bring kindness and love. Which is the first forced teachings in the Ashtanga yoga, the eight limbs of yoga is a non harming and basically non harming is being compassionate is being actively. It’s not, it’s like sometimes can be mistaken to be a passive role being non-violent not being violent, but actually done.

[00:17:00] We were also teaching that in a very beautiful way, but it’s not passive role, it’s an active or it’s someone who is actually doing good in this world. 

[00:17:10] Lily Allen-Duenas: Amazing. Amazing. I love how you guys both mentioned the role of yoga in the world. And I was hoping you, if you could define yoga for our listeners?

Kobi’s definition of yoga

[00:17:21] Kobi Tov: It’s for me, at least I don’t have a person on one because there is someone who wrote so beautifully.

[00:17:28] And it’s a, and it’s a yoga citta vrtti nirodhah, which is the second verse in the yoga Sutra. And then it will take a couple of moments to explain. I hope that you will bear with me. And we have yoga is, as many of us already know, yoga is to unite and to bring together coming from the.

[00:17:52] Word union and citta is consciousness. Is awareness like the field of experiences that we are aware of? Vrtti is the movement within this consciousness. So there is a distinction between citta and vrtti. Citta is consciousness, but vrtti is the movement within the consciousness.

[00:18:19] So if we have a thought, this is not the consciousness itself, it is just happening within consciousness. If we have an experience in life, this is something that happens within the consciousness, but it’s not the consciousness itself. And nirodhah is to stop, but also in many other ways or to restrict, but in many other ways, there is a beautiful teaching about nirodhah in the polycom actually, it says that nirodhah is like a rice field.

[00:18:53] Basically it’s holding everything together. It’s like the padding of the rice field. The wars of the rice field are holding the water inside like a slave. That the rice can really grow within this water, but it will not be flooded. It won’t be too much. It will be exactly enough. So basically if we’ll take all of these together. Yoga to unite, citta is the consciousness.

[00:19:22] Vrtti is that a movement within the consciousness, the different experiences that we have, the movement that we have there, will be contained in the stillness of consciousness. And this is your, when the, when we have the experiences of life are actually contained with our consciousness, then we have yoga. So if we have an experience and we start like becoming really.

[00:19:53] You identify completely with this experience. We actually identify with the movement. So if let’s say let’s bring him down to earth a bit. If I think I don’t love myself or I’m not good enough or something like that, then I actually contract myself to be identified completely with this thought, with this movement.

[00:20:16] But then I forget the citta. I forget consciousness, which is like the bigger aspect of who I am. It’s that infinity and many times the yolk is given examples of waves in the ocean. So you have the whole ocean, which is the citta. We have the wave, which is the, which is a movement within the consciousness, which is a thought.

[00:20:37] So if I have a thought, I love myself or I don’t love myself or whatever, it’s just a way within this ocean. In yoga is basically to go back to this ocean and to contain all the thoughts and all the movement within this ocean. And this is yoga citta vrtti nirodhah yoga. 

[00:20:58] Lily Allen-Duenas: Beautiful. How about you, Pazit? Do you want to weigh in?

Pazit weighs in the definition of yoga following Kobi

[00:21:02] Pazit Barak: Yeah, I agree with Kobi very much. I think, if you take the word union, just, on the very kind of maybe practical level, if we take the word union and we go back to what we started with, union has so many levels of meaning, it can be union within myself, but the mind speech that we talked before, about this alignment within ourselves is the union between me and somebody else.

[00:21:26] Which again, leads us, seems to this theme of compassion is union between me and my environment. There’s a lot of levels of union that we can work on. And of course it’s for us as people, we start first of all with ourselves and then we go out there and to create that union with other people or the environment.

[00:21:44] And so on. But I feel that those who practice yoga really seriously and really go this path and practice, with intention and not just doing the movements they really start to feel this union. Even if they don’t read this, this very inspiring and desirable place of enlightenment, whatever that means we are already experiencing, or we have the opportunity to practice union.

[00:22:10] And through, through the practice of yoga. And I dunno if you already noticed, but we are very big on personal practice. And we really think that one of the ways to benefit from, the spiritual path, any spiritual path, yoga, Buddhism, meditation, whatever, the practices or the traditional.

[00:22:31] Is to take it and practice it on an everyday, everyday by yourself and go deeper into that union. Yeah. Go deeper into the real meaning of yoga into this connection. 

[00:22:46] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, I couldn’t agree more. I think personal practices are so valuable and vital for our own journeys, because so much of my practice has to do with self-understanding.

[00:22:56] Self-awareness, recognizing the mental habits and formations and everything that is arising in me. And if I’m just simply reading about it or intellectualizing, which is totally part of my practices while I love reading the text. And more the spiritual teachings, but I, it’s me nourishing the seeds in my mind by doing those active steps.

[00:23:20] Pazit Barak: Yeah, exactly. Because you not reading the scriptures and so on. It’s a very important thing because they give us the guidelines, of what to do and how to do. Give us a little bit of light in the path, you know. Why do it ourselves when we have masters and we have bright teachers who did that before us, and we can learn from them.

[00:23:41] But in the end we have to take this philosophy. We have to take the knowledge of the scripture, the wisdom, and start to practice it on an everyday level. So we can really embody it and start living it. So we have to start on the mat in order to really be able overtime to take all this wisdom and apply it off the mat.

[00:24:04] Lily Allen-Duenas: Absolutely. 

[00:24:06] Pazit Barak: And I think this is something very crucial that makes a difference between the practices that might help us a little bit to a long-term practice, which actually really create change within ourselves and in our lives and so on. 

[00:24:21] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah. It’s where the transformation really occurs. So Pazit and Kobi, what in your opinion, what do you think is one of the most crucial issues facing the global yoga community today?

Most crucial issues facing the global yoga community today

[00:24:33] Pazit Barak: First of all, I think auth… Help me with a word in English.

[00:24:36] Kobi Tov: Authenticity? 

[00:24:38] Pazit Barak: Authenticity. I think the first thing is authenticity. I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding of the teaching or taking it into a very actually non-spiritual place or a place that is very far from the original meaning.

[00:24:54] So I believe that any tradition needs to evolve in time. And I think yoga has evolved beautifully over the years and expanded and became available to everybody, to anybody you don’t need today. You’re not to do much to have a lot of money to practice yoga. You can do it really anywhere and with any budget.

[00:25:15] So that is wonderful. But on the other hand, this expansion became the Tioga, like Kobi mentioned before materialism, where we are only focused on the, maybe on the posture on the body, only on the body, only on the outside stuff of yoga. And although I don’t think there’s something terribly wrong with that.

[00:25:38] And still, I think people in practice like that. Get a lot of benefits, but I feel that they don’t really get the full deep meaning of what yoga is. It is still very superficial and very far from the intention of yoga. So I think this is one thing that all of us as yoga teachers need to pay attention to and to make sure that we bring these extra aspects or depth into our classes.

[00:26:07] And not leaving the classes just with body instructions or breathing structures without giving the deeper meaning of why we are doing it and what is the higher purpose of it. So I think this is something really for all of us, yoga teacher to pay attention to. 

[00:26:24] Kobi Tov: I think there is another thing that comes up for me is I heard someone like in the last years saying something about leadership.

[00:26:34] And especially now with the pandemic and everything and how globally, we failed the challenge that we had because, and in crisis, what leaders are supposed to do is to bring people together to unite people rather than to create more segregation and separation. And it seems like in each country, some lessons, some more.

[00:26:58] A big issue with that. And also globally, we had definitely a lot of segregation and division in people and leaders actually created that. And I think as yogis, this is like on our shoulders to take this leadership and to bring people together. I think this is the main thing that we can do right now.

[00:27:20] And it doesn’t matter, like. Where the, what walk of life the person had like really accepted everyone. And we’ll have a union between people and to show, to be a role model to other communities and to inspire them to be as such as. 

[00:27:36] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yes. You mentioned Kobi right there that as yogis, that this is part of our responsibility, even the word Yogi, I was reading yesterday on some Facebook group, how people are very against, saying we’re yogis because we really aren’t, the, in the truest sense, way back in the Upanishads and that we aren’t, we’re not like a Rishi’s or sages, or we’re not sacrificing everything that a Yogi would have to sacrifice or be on a certain path.

[00:28:03] There just seems like there’s so much resistance even to the word Namaste. How do you, what are you guys’ views on those types of hot topics? 

Hot topics about people against others saying they are yogis

[00:28:11] Pazit Barak: I’m a person, you know how we use words. Like I’m a person who practices yoga. I’m very much inspired to be a Yogi, but like you say, to really be a yogis is very advanced and requires some kind of a lifestyle.

[00:28:26] Yeah. In a way or more to be in a state of mind, much more maybe than a lifestyle to be in a certain state of mind in order to be considered. A real, traditional Yogi. So I think yeah we need to, again, it’s just to pay attention, how we use words. I think also a lot of it comes from people who are maybe exaggerating their experiences. And then.

[00:28:50] Kobi Tov: I think it’s really important, like to keep the standard really high. And so it’s, it ties into other things that we spoke of already the standard, like there is a beautiful teachings in the Buddhist teachings that speaks about the standard that each and every person in certain traditions need to aspire completely to be a Buddha, not to be just a practitioner or to be even like less than a Buddha, like a bodhisattva or something like that.

[00:29:23] It’s like everyone should aspire completely to be the Buddha and even to commit to be the Buddha in this lifetime and to help everyone else in this lifetime and not to make any kind of a compromise on that. And I think it’s a really beautiful understanding, but it can all, obviously. It can touch like a matter of pride when we say, I am something that I’m not really.

[00:29:53] And being convinced that I’m at a level that I’m not really in, and this is a, this is where the mistake is. But if we see really deep in the yogic tradition, if we commit to it and we have the divinity within ourselves anyway, It’s like every one, every individual in this world has the Atma or the higher self or the divine self.

[00:30:22] And it’s not like we can achieve it somehow. It’s already available for us. And like we mentioned before, we just need to discover it and to make it apparent and to operate from, and this would be a really important aspiration. And this is a really important focus for us as yogis on one hand, like to be humble, but on the other hand, to embrace our strength and to celebrate our virtue.

[00:30:55] And it’s a really important balance. 

[00:30:58] Lily Allen-Duenas: You said that so eloquently Kobi. Thank you. I appreciate that you are shining a light on that, on how well having this balance and finding how it really aligns and resonates with your aspirations personally. I think that’s beautiful. So I would also love to ask since every week I interview a yoga teacher or two in this case from a different country around the world.

[00:31:25] I also like to talk a little bit about the countries that you’re from. Have either of you two in Israel been a part of the yoga scene there and can talk about how yoga, what yoga is like there in Israel?

The yoga scene in Israel

[00:31:37] Pazit Barak: Why yoga is very big in Israel. There’s a lot of people. First of all, there’s a lot of Israelis who have traveled to India.

[00:31:43] It’s like something that you do after the army. You go on a big trip to India. So many people go to India and get exposed to yoga there and then bring it back to Israel. And the yoga scene is very big in Israel. So you have a lot of yoga studios, you have yoga from all traditions. Yeah.

[00:32:02] People love you yoga. 

[00:32:04] Kobi Tov: So also as Jewish people, we are very much attracted to spirituality. Anyway, it’s like very much in our roots to find, to ask questions, to go on the spiritual path and to understand the meaning of life. And I think the Jewish people were doing as well all over history, and it’s really interesting that like everyone in Israel, searching to one extent or another.

[00:32:30] And many find their home in Judaism and many others find it actually in India. It’s a very big thing in Israel to go and travel to Mumbai and to study from the sources of India, lots of yogis and a lot of Buddhist, in Israel. And it’s really beautiful to see actually. For me by understanding yoga and understanding Buddhism, I was able to understand today’s and much better.

[00:33:00] And I know many friends that have explored yoga and Buddhism and actually understand, understood Christianity much better. And even some friends that understood Islam, but much better then by knowing the traditions of India pizza, it’s a beautiful way to connect all the past and to bring the past into the present in a beautiful way.

[00:33:27] Lily Allen-Duenas: That’s amazing. I didn’t know that it was such a, had such a thriving scene for yoga in Israel. Cause I, I have met in India and when I was traveling, a lot of people who are from Israel and they mentioned that is something that kind of a circuit, like a year long trip and definitely on that list.

[00:33:46] Have either of you guys practiced yoga in Israel or were you first introduced to yoga there? I know before you took your tenure trip.

First introduction to yoga

[00:33:53] Pazit Barak: I was practicing yoga in Israel, mainly Kundalini yoga. There is a very nice scene and the community of Kundalini is there in Israel. So yeah, I was practicing.

[00:34:05] Kobi Tov: For me, actually, I started my yoga journey in the university, because I took some classes on Eastern philosophy and this is where I first met yoga. So it’s from the academic side. And then took me to some Kundalini yoga practices and it was the first encounter with that full on practice of yoga.

[00:34:28] And it was 

[00:34:28] Pazit Barak: A white tantra. I don’t know if you’re familiar with it. In Kundalini yoga, it’s an event where you sit and you do meditation in, in, in pairs. Very long meditation. Usually they push you a little bit over your boundary. They stretch your boundaries really well.

[00:34:44] Very intense you’d reach with a lot of people. And this was the first year you chanted a lot of mantras as well. It was the first thing that Kobi came to do.

[00:34:54] Kobi Tov: I was really intense and beautiful at the end of the day. If I ran a marathon or something, I was completely exhausted, but I was so proud of myself.

[00:35:06] For holding on and it’s created something really beautiful that allowed our relationship. I think that yoga in general, since we started practicing, really practicing yoga. It allowed our relationship could be a spiritual relationship, which is like really upgraded our relationship. 

[00:35:24] Lily Allen-Duenas: Beautiful. I agree that having that kind of spiritual element in a partnership and in a relationship, it only strengthens it, the conversations that you’re able to have, how you’re able to hold each other accountable or hold up mirrors when the other person needs to see something, a metaphorical mirror.

[00:35:42] I think it’s really special to connect with someone on that level as well.

[00:35:45] Pazit Barak: Yeah, I think our life is really very upgraded in a way, because both of us doing a lot of self reflection and a lot of inner work and really help each other with this we really give each other, feedback and we are very open also for the feedback.

[00:36:03] We, as a couple, our communication, we feel that thanks to the spiritual path, thanks to all the practices that we do. Our communication between us is so open, so honest, that it really allows our relationship to be a very peaceful one. And it frees a lot of energy to do other things in life where your relationship is such a place, which is spiritual, which is home, which is supportive and just giving you the ground.

[00:36:35] You don’t have to go and just be in the world with the safety net. Which is very nice for us like that. And I also think our students enjoy the fact that we are a couple, because we are very different in our teaching. And we are very different in our approaches. Although, we share the spiritual path and following the same spiritual path our way to teach it is very different.

[00:37:00] So I think the students really enjoy these bits of Shiva Shakti. We can say they do not knowing that we have. 

[00:37:07] Lily Allen-Duenas: That’s awesome. It made me immediately think of what Kobi said in the beginning of our conversation about discover versus covered. And I think that also when you have that, have that kind of alignment and the path and in the spiritual side, it, it removes all those covers, all the layers that can create confusion and conflict and chaos and relationships.

[00:37:32] I think it just helps it be more authentic and transparent. 

[00:37:36] Pazit Barak: What we are really trying to embody as much as we can and practice as much as we can, all the wisdom into our everyday life. So if we talked even here today about compassion and gratefulness and so on, so these practices, they come first with your partner, really, is the person who is the closest to you.

[00:37:56] He is your opportunity for growth. Your partner is your opportunity to grow. So we practice that all the time with a lot of small actions during the day of gratefulness, compassion, and kindness to each other. And I think one of the reasons that we really don’t fight with each other is because our communication is that if something goes wrong, we straightaway talk about it.

[00:38:19] We straight away, share and tell what we need or what we see. And this is how we don’t allow, actually things to escalate into fights and so on. And I think this is what the practice allows you to do. This is exactly what we said, that the practice gives you a space within yourself to really express yourself at your best, in your best way to the fullest of your potential.

[00:38:45] Kobi Tov: It’s going back to yoga citta vrtti nirodhah like the movement, not like if something happens in the relationship, some oh, is something bothering you, not be contracted into this thing and forget the ocean, forget the bigger picture, forget the, then citta the consciousness itself.

[00:39:03] So then it’s and knowing that like all the time, this is also something that is really helping in the relationship. It’s like not being attached to the whatever like little thing that happened. And then therefore not being identified with the lack of drama, I’m like acting on opponent, rather being more spacious.

[00:39:28] It. 

[00:39:30] Lily Allen-Duenas: Amazing. And I know we’re coming close to our finish here. So I just have one quick question. I would like to ask, how would you describe Israel to someone who had never heard of it?

Describing Israel 

[00:39:42] Pazit Barak: Amazing country. So first I want to say Israel is a really great place to travel and especially if you want spiritual travel, first of all, because there’s a lot of holy places in Israel and it doesn’t matter if you are Jewish or not Jewish just going into these places, you feel the energy.

[00:40:00] So it’s a very beautiful country to travel in and you have the mountains in the north and you have the desert in the south, you have beaches. So it’s an amazing country to travel. And I know many people think that it’s not safe to travel in Israel, but this is not true. You can travel in Israel. It’s safe to travel in Israel.

[00:40:21] It’s a Western country. It’s easy to travel in Israel as well. Like it’s really easy with transportation and public facilities and so on. So I wanted to say that and yeah, just, if somebody comes to Israel, they will have tons of opportunity for all kinds. There is, places and studios and retreats and everything is happening in Israel.

[00:40:43] Kobi Tov: And people are very nice. People are very nice and very welcoming, warm people, really embracing. I can assure that like people will be really embracing and loving from Israel. 

[00:40:57] Lily Allen-Duenas: Where can people find you online and in person, in Kep, of course, but what kind of offerings do you have online and in person now that things are starting to open up?

Kinds of offerings online and in person

[00:41:06] Pazit Barak: Yeah, first of all, everybody’s invited to connect with us online. So of course we have our website of vagabondtemple.com and we are offering a private session, life coaching session, where we help people to face their challenges and to connect with their divinity. So we have life coaching sessions. Kobi’s doing astrology reading and family constellations.

[00:41:33] Sessions that are all can be done online. I’m doing a vision kind of a vision, a writing workshop online. And of course also the spiritual life coaching and I teach Reiki online as well. And so this is all kinds of opportunities to connect with us. Online one-on-one sessions or groups we are also doing from time to time free classes online and people are very welcome to join.

[00:42:02] Even if they don’t know us from before. And do, you can connect with us by signing up to our newsletter and or connecting us through social media. 

[00:42:13] Lily Allen-Duenas: Wonderful. I will make sure to link everything that you mentioned on, and also your social media channels in our show notes. So wherever you’re listening to this podcast, whether it’s Spotify or on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, it’ll all be in the show notes below.

[00:42:28] So make sure you click through and get to know Pazit and Kobi a little better. And yeah, if they have a course that resonates with you, sign up. I’m sure it’s going to be amazing. And I can personally say through my friends that one-on-one coaching has changed her life and her perspective and everything, so definitely recommend their services and their offerings.

[00:42:51] So thank you so much, Pazit and Kobi for being on the show today. It has been a true joy to be with you. 

[00:42:58] Pazit Barak: Thank you Lily. Thank you very much. We are grateful to you for inviting us to be here. It was wonderful. 

[00:43:04] Kobi Tov: Thank you. You’re so kind. And your mission is really beautiful. You’re doing a good thing in the world. So keep on with it. Good luck.

Wild Yoga Tribe podcast outro

[00:43:16] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. My conversation with Pazit and Kobi was so powerful. As we took a deep dive into the spiritual understanding of yoga and the world of modern yoga. I hope that our conversation made you want to take a deeper look into the role yoga plays in modern life and in your life.

[00:43:40] We talked about their yoga retreat center in Kep and about the yoga scene in Israel as well. We also talked about how we, as people, have different forces that take us in different directions and how bringing the different aspects of ourselves into alignment allows us to really connect ourselves with who we truly are.

[00:44:03] I loved how we talked about sharing the spiritual path with your partner and about how that affects and strengthens your relationships. If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode that is all about the spiritual aspects and elements of the path of yoga, then this is the conversation for you.

[00:44:23] Thank you so much for being here, dear listener. Be well.

[00:44:32] Thank you for being on this journey with me, it has been a privilege to be with you. I know that your time is precious and I am both humbled and honored that you chose to spend your time with me here on the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. As you were on your own inner journey, remember that you are not alone. There are so many of us on this path to awakening this path of self discovery and expansion.

[00:44:59] And we are right here alongside you. Remember to hit subscribe so that you never miss an episode. And if you feel called, please share this episode with someone that you think could benefit from it. Leaving a review would also be so appreciated. If you’re on social media, I am there too. At the Wild Yoga Tribe, you can tap into all the amazing resources on my website, the wildyogatribe.com.

[00:45:28] And you can meditate with me on Insight Timer and get your flow on with me on my YouTube channel, where I’ve recorded free yoga. He says, if you would like to schedule a private yoga or meditation class with me or a coaching session, you can find the link to do so to book in the show notes or on my website.

[00:45:46] Again, the wildyogatribe.com. Thank you once again, dear listener for being with me, may your day be light and bright. May you be peaceful and happy and led on the right path, free of suffering and free of sorrow. Be well, dear one. Be well.

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