The Imagine Podcast · Episode 16
The Willingness to Live
Opening to life doesn't mean having certainty. It means choosing to remain present — even when the outcome is unknown.
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Every new year arrives with a familiar pressure — to do things differently, to be better, to finally get it right. Daniela proposes something else entirely: not a new goal, but a different stance toward life. The Willingness to Live isn't enthusiasm or forced optimism. It's a quiet, daily choice to stay open to what's actually happening — to put your heart in, even knowing it might hurt.
Yoga philosophy has a precise term for what Daniela describes: abhyasa and vairagya — constant practice and non-attachment to the outcome. Not a promise that things will go well, but a commitment to keep showing up regardless. Over years of accompanying students at Imagine, Daniela has seen the same pattern repeat: the people who transform aren't the ones who arrived strongest. They're the ones who stayed. The Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training in Geneva at Imagine Yoga Academy is built on this understanding — that consistency, not intensity, is what actually changes us.
Kundalini Yoga works with this through the body first. The practice isn't designed to make us feel better. It trains the nervous system to remain open under pressure — to feel without getting lost, to move through difficulty without shutting down. When we practice defensively, protecting ourselves from failure or pain, something inside slowly dims. We keep functioning, but we stop feeling fully alive. The Willingness to Live is the antidote: not closing off, but learning to stay.
This is why Imagine begins every year with a free 40-day practice — offered as an invitation, not a challenge. Forty days to be there for yourself, every day. Not to do it perfectly. Just to show up. What Daniela has seen, year after year, is that this simple commitment changes something deep: a new confidence emerges, not that everything will be fine, but that you can be present with whatever comes.
3 Key Takeaways From This Episode
- 01 The Willingness to Live is a stance, not a feeling. It doesn't require enthusiasm or certainty — just the daily choice to remain open to what's happening. This is different from optimism. It's a practice of showing up, especially when the outcome isn't guaranteed, and especially when you're tired.
- 02 Defensiveness is exhausting in ways we don't always notice. When we're constantly protecting ourselves from failure, pain, or feeling too much, something inside slowly shuts down. The nervous system, trained through consistent practice, learns a different rhythm — staying present without collapsing, feeling without getting swept away.
- 03 Forty days changes the relationship with yourself. The 40-day practice Imagine offers each year isn't about discipline for its own sake. It teaches the system a new pattern — one where self-care becomes part of the day, not an optional add-on. The True Self, in yogic terms, is what we reconnect with through that daily return.
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Hi there, I'm Daniela Troconis.
I'm the co-founder of Imagine Yoga Academy and a Kundalini Yoga teacher trainer. For more than 14 years I've guided people toward reconnecting with their own truth through practice, breath, and honest conversation.
Since 2012, Pedro Misle and I have trained more than 900 teachers across Switzerland, Spain, India, and online.
The Imagine Podcast brings the conversations that happen inside our Kundalini Yoga Teacher Trainings out into the world — grounded, practical, and real. Just real practice for real life.
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Episode Transcript
Full transcript · Ep. 16 · The Willingness to Live
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Episode Transcript
Full transcript · Ep. 16 · The Willingness to Live
A Different Beginning
I want to welcome you to this new year here at Imagine. And before saying anything else, I want to remind you of something we'll be working on in depth this year: we don't need to focus on being better. We need to focus on living with presence.
Every new year brings a particular energy. A mixture of excitement, weariness from what's already happened, hope — and sometimes, if we're honest, a little pressure too. The pressure to do things differently. To do them well. To not feel like we've failed again.
And perhaps that's why I want to propose something different to start with. Not a goal. Not a plan. But a stance toward life. I call it the Willingness to Live. Not as a fleeting enthusiasm. Not as forced optimism. But rather as a profound choice: to remain open to life even when we have no guarantees.
The Yogic Foundation
The yoga philosophy doesn't teach us to rely on luck or on something that happens to us from the outside. It teaches us to align ourselves with our inner guidance. Abhyasa and Vairagya — constant practice and detachment from the outcome. Committing to the path without demanding guarantees from life. That is the Willingness to Live, and it requires constant practice.
And I want to share something with you from experience, not from theory. Over the years, accompanying so many people at Imagine, and observing my own process, I've seen the same pattern time and again: it's not that we lack strength, discipline, or desire. It's that living defensively is exhausting. When we're too busy protecting ourselves, avoiding failure, avoiding feeling, something inside slowly shuts down. We keep functioning, but we stop feeling truly alive.
Cultivating the Willingness to Live
Kundalini Yoga reminds us of something essential: the Willingness to Live isn't something we can decide solely from the mind. It's cultivated in our body. In our nervous system. In our breath. In observation and presence. Because opening up to life without a solid inner foundation isn't freedom — it's dispersion. And closing ourselves off to avoid suffering isn't care — it's disconnection.
That's why the important thing isn't starting the year with grand resolutions. But with practice. At Imagine, every year we begin with a free 40-day practice. We offer it as a gift of reconnection — with ourselves and with the community. Not as a challenge. Not as a test of willpower. But as an invitation to come home. Forty days not to do it perfectly. But to be there for yourself, every day.
What Happens in 40 Days
The first few days are usually easy. Then resistance appears. Tiredness. The mind that says, "Not today." And if we persevere, something changes. Not outside. Inside. A new confidence emerges. Not that everything will be alright. But that you can be present with whatever comes. That trains the connection to our inner compass. In Kundalini Yoga, we call it our True Self — that part of you that knows how to orient itself even when there are no certainties.
Practicing for 40 days teaches the nervous system something very profound: you can open up without collapsing. You can feel without getting lost. You can live without closing yourself off. From the yogic perspective, our well-being doesn't consist of avoiding risk, but in trusting that you possess an intelligence within you capable of guiding you, even without guarantees.
That's why this episode opens the year. Not to tell you what to do. But to remind you of where to live from. Sat Nam.
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