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

Lightworker Alignment Call: https://harmonyslater.as.me/quick-clarity

FIND Harmony online: https://harmonyslater.com/ Harmony on IG: https://www.instagram.com/harmonyslaterofficial/ Finding Harmony Podcast on IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingharmonypodcast/ FREE Manifestation Activation: https://harmonyslater.kit.com/manifestation-activation