Dec. 16, 2025

Sacred Rage: Using Anger as a Catalyst for Spiritual Growth

Sacred Rage: Using Anger as a Catalyst for Spiritual Growth
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Sacred Rage: Using Anger as a Catalyst for Spiritual Growth

What happens when you love a practice but recognize the harm within its structures? In this raw and revelatory conversation, Harmony sits down with Zoe Ward—long-time Ashtanga practitioner, authorized teacher, and the voice behind @unrulyascetic—to explore what it means to dismantle a tradition from within.

Zoe spent years immersed in Mysore, studying with lineage teachers, and fully embodying the discipline that defines Ashtanga yoga. But somewhere along the way, she began to see the cracks: the privilege required to practice this way, the power dynamics that mutate devotion into dogma, the loss of autonomy when teachers dictate who you are and what's good for you.

This conversation doesn't shy away from the uncomfortable truths—the hierarchy, the gatekeeping, the ways we've normalized abuse while failing to normalize talking about it. But it also offers something essential: a path forward. Zoe shares how she's rebuilding her relationship with practice, helping others reclaim their agency, and creating space for people to trust themselves again.

Whether you're a devoted practitioner, a disillusioned teacher, or someone who's quietly stepped away from the mat, this episode offers permission to question, evolve, and find your own unruly path to freedom.

Topics Discussed:

  • • The privilege required to practice traditional Ashtanga yoga
  • • Power dynamics and hierarchy in yoga communities
  • • When devotion becomes dogma and disconnection
  • • Confronting harm and accountability in spiritual communities
  • • Reclaiming autonomy and trusting yourself in practice
  • • Finding the intelligence in the system without rigid adherence
  • • Building community that doesn't gatekeep or sort practitioners

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00:00 - Introduction to Ashtanga Yoga Criticisms

01:11 - Meet Zoe Ward: A Voice of Change

02:35 - The Unruly Aesthetic: Challenging Privilege and Power Dynamics

03:56 - The Importance of This Conversation

06:11 - Welcome to the Finding Harmony Podcast

06:20 - Reconnecting with Zoe Ward

07:08 - Zoe's Journey in Ashtanga Yoga

09:26 - The Energy of Different Practice Sessions

13:31 - Zoe's Background and Family

18:19 - Discovering Yoga and the Path to India

23:31 - First Encounter with Ashtanga Yoga

28:15 - Transition to Ashtanga Yoga Practice

37:19 - Privilege and Support in Pursuing Yoga

38:18 - \#

40:09 - First Trip to Mysore

41:33 - Misunderstandings and Realizations

42:11 - Challenges in Mysore

43:05 - Confronting Issues in the Yoga Community

50:56 - Teaching Philosophy and Approach

54:01 - Navigating the Yoga Community

59:24 - Future Plans and Projects