The Heart of Yoga

In this episode of the Heart of Yoga podcast, Raul Petraglia, a former high-flying corporate executive, shares his incredible journey from the high-stress world of luxury hospitality to finding profound peace through the practice of Yoga. Raul opens up about his past life of excess and stress, the physical and emotional toll it took on him, and how a serious health crisis led him to discover Yoga. This transformative experience not only saved his life but also inspired him to dedicate himself to sharing the healing power of Yoga with others, including the corporate world he once inhabited.

They discuss:

Raul’s early life in Argentina and his rise in the luxury hotel industry, leading to a lifestyle of excess and eventual burnout.

The pivotal moment when Raul realized his lifestyle was unsustainable, leading him to seek a different path through Yoga.

How Raul’s journey into Yoga began as a necessity for physical rehabilitation and evolved into a profound personal practice.

The unique challenges of teaching Yoga within a corporate environment and the impact it has on stressed executives.

The importance of adapting Yoga practices to individual needs, as Raul did for his own mother.

Favorite phrases:

"I used to party till sunrise. Now I wake up to see the sunrise and do my practice."

"There is a special feeling there, Mark. It’s like this is my goal, my dharma."

"Yoga is participation in reality via the breath."

Resources:

Books: The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56303.The_Heart_of_Yoga

Websites: Heart of Yoga Studio 

 https://www.heartofyoga.com/studio

Timestamps:

[00:00] Introduction: Raul’s background and entry into Yoga.

[07:00] Corporate Burnout: Transition from a high-stress career to discovering Yoga.

[16:00] Yoga’s Impact: How Yoga transformed Raul’s life.

[26:00] Teaching Yoga: Bringing Yoga into corporate settings.

[40:00] Personalizing Yoga: Adapting practices for individual needs.

[52:00] Reflection: Raul’s ongoing journey and mission with Yoga.

Teaching at Liliana Lakshmi's teaching training, this question arises.. hear the response. 

In this episode, Mark explores how Yoga can provide a sense of unity and belonging amidst conflict and division in the world. He emphasizes that Yoga is not about seeking or trying to get somewhere, but recognizing and participating in the beauty, power and extraordinary intelligence that is always there, the wholeness and the harmony. 

Mark argues that religious seeking and presumption of separation are the root of conflict, and Yoga dissolve this illusion. He shares the principles from Krishnamacharya on adapting Yoga to each person’s needs, and the recognition of the Tantras of life’s inherent unity.

His position is that teaching Yoga is the necessary, cultural shift required to end conflict in separation, to end trauma, destructive tribalism and disconnection.

They discuss: 

- Why Yoga is needed as the response to divisiveness and terror. 

- Krishnamacharya’s emphasis on Yoga as embracing ‘what is’ rather than seeking some future state  - How religious doctrine has been used to create division, but true religion needs Yoga as its practical means - The end of spiritual seeking and ideas of a perfect future state - wholeness is already here - The tantric recognition and response - Adapting Yoga to each person’s body, age, health and cultural background  - Teaching Yoga as a stand against trauma and disconnection in the world Favorite phrases:   “The yogas of participation in the given reality.”  “Your body is in a profound unity with the total cosmos.” “Yoga is the practical means by which individuals actualize the great ideals of their culture, of their religion.”  “Trying to come into union implies the two are separate.” “Your body is the extraordinary intelligence that is the cosmos happening as you.”

Bali teacher training www.heartofyoga.com/bali-ytt

Timestamps:

[00:00:00] Introduction

[00:02:00] Krishnamacharya's emphasis on adapting Yoga to the individual 

[00:05:00] Already being the beauty - no need to get somewhere   

[00:10:00] Yoga as actualizing the ideals of religion and culture

[00:15:00] Division created by religious doctrine and seeking   

[00:20:00] The body as already in unity with the cosmos

[00:25:00] Yoga as participation versus seeking 

[00:30:00] Personal examples of transformative effects of simple Yoga

[00:35:00] Science, religion and Yoga as three stabilizing forces 

[00:40:00] Consciousness and objects as a unity

[00:45:00] No separate self or other

[00:50:00] Being beyond gender identification   

[00:55:00] Introducing principles of Krishnamacharya's Yoga

In this episode, Rosalind and Domagoj have an enlightening discussion demystifying Tantra. They explore how Tantra is a path to freedom that teaches you to fall in love with life. Tantra aims to help one realize everything is infinite and discover naturalness, spontaneity and openness to the mystery of life.

Rituals in Tantra go hand in hand with meditation and realization of the teachings within oneself. The goal is freedom and absolute independence. They talk about transcending duality between matter and spirit, external rituals and internal experiences, embracing life and relationships as they are.   

They discuss:

- The importance of modernizing and adapting tantric rituals and practices to suit the practitioners rather than just following fixed external instructions. 

- How Tantric philosophy sees matter and spirit as one, both being divine. 

- The interplay and correlation between external tantric rituals and internal meditations and realizations.

- How intimacy, relationships and embracing life and others enables easy ascent of energy compared to forced individual practices. Loving presence effortlessly moves energy.

- How Tantra teaches one to fall in love with life just as it is - overwhelming, enormous and mysterious. 

- The role of a Tantric guru and how the teacher principal always exists within and guides one's own direct experience. 

Favorite phrases:

"The teachings are like gold jewelry, you receive a lump of gold and you must hammer it into a jewelry for yourself."

"If the doors of perception were cleansed, then everything would appear to men as it is - infinite."

Timestamps:

[00:00] Introducing the topics of discussion

[00:39] The essence of tantric rituals being inner experience vs outer form 

[02:28] Correlating external rituals and internal realizations in tantra

[05:19] Embracing life effortlessly moves energy compared to forced practices   

[09:10] William Blake on seeing matter and spirit as one  

[14:50] Falling in love with life as the essence of tantra

[18:45] The role of a tantric teacher and physical vs inner gurus

[21:20] Domagoj shares about his tantric guru

[28:04] Closing chant

In part one of this two part episode, Rosalind is joined by Domagoj Orlić to demystify tantra, a profoundly misunderstood spiritual tradition.

As both a scholar and practitioner of Tantra, Domagoj sheds light on what Tantra actually is, its key principles and aims, and how it differs from the "Neo-Tantra" appropriated in the West. They explore Tantra's emphasis on liberation through feeling unity with the divine feminine, why ritual and initiation by a guru matters, and how Tantra can help overcome conditioning to realize inherent power.

Domagoj clarifies Tantra's nuanced relationship with sexuality and why it has been misportrayed. Far from just exotic techniques, traditional Tantra offers potent tools for those called to dive deep into self-realization and awakening through embodied practice.   

They discuss:

- What is Tantra? Defining the principles, aims and practices of traditional Tantra vs Neo-Tantra  

- Why guru, lineage and transmission matters in Tantra    

- Tantra as a monistic spiritual path emphasizing unity with the divine feminine    

- Ritual, puja and worship of deities to receive empowerment  

- Tantra's goal of deconditioning the mind and realizing power     

- Clarifying Tantra's nuanced relationship with sexuality     

- Tantra's influence on Yoga - integrating mantra, yantra, embodied ritual  

- Adapting traditional Tantra wisdom for the modern world and individual need  

Favorite phrases:  

"Tantra teaches us that we actually are very powerful and we have the power of Shakti to change reality, to change whatever we want to change and live our full human potential. That's the basic premise of Tantra."  

"The idea of the Tantric practice is to viscerally feel that I am one with the divine feminine...this can be called motherly love, which is the same as compassion, which is love generally, our ability to actually love life and love ourselves and love other people and love all creation."

Timestamps:

[1:00] Domagoj introduces his background in Tantra as a scholar, practitioner and teacher   

[3:00] What is Tantra? Domagoj reads his definition  

[5:00] Explaining the core elements: guru, lineage, student effort    

[7:00] How traditional Tantra differs from modern and Neo-Tantra   

[12:00] Clarifying Tantra's nuanced relationship with sexuality   

[15:00] Discussing themes from Passage to India that reveal Western misunderstandings of Tantra  

[17:00] Krishnamacharya's veiled tantric influences   

[21:00] Tantra's influence on Yoga - integrating ritual, mantra, deity   

[25:00] Yoga as a means to directly experience the ideals of religion  

[27:00] Tantra's monistic view of unity with the divine feminine as heretical  

[32:00] Tantra's emphasis on deconditioning to uncover power   

[34:00] Bringing tantra wisdom into the modern world  

[36:00] End of part 1 

This episode features Kathrin, a Yoga practitioner and mother of two living in Germany. She shares how she came to Yoga to relieve suffering during the pandemic, and through her daily practice discovered a profound intimacy with her own body and breath. Kathrin describes how Yoga helped her shift from feelings of "not being enough" to simply receiving and participating in each moment just as it is.

She and Mark discuss how Yoga connects us to the miracle of life, and talk about translating this experience into everyday life and language. Key topics include releasing shame, rebuilding society through education, participating in wholeness already here, and rediscovering the beauty in one's own culture and tradition.

They discuss:

- How the pandemic and suffering led Kathrin to deeper Yoga practice  

- Moving from self-judgment to receiving and intimacy with the body   

- Letting go of "becoming" and future salvation, participating in life now  

- Translating Yoga wisdom into everyday German life and language

- Educating our children in wholeness beyond knowledge and thought   

- Rediscovering beauty in her Catholic upbringing through Yoga

- Releasing cultural shame and rebuilding society through education 

- Sex and eros as mutual participation versus transaction

Favorite phrases:

"Everything that lives is holy." - William Blake

Resources:  

- The Art of Yoga online course

- Hridaya Yoga Sutras (German translation) 

- Writings and podcasts by Mark Whitwell (German translations)

Timestamps:  

[00:00:00] Introduction

[00:02:00] How Kathrin came to deeper Yoga practice

[00:05:00] Discovering intimacy with body and breath 

[00:10:00] Yoga for everybody

[00:15:00] Participating in life now, beyond self-improvement

[00:20:00] Rediscovering beauty within her Catholic upbringing 

[00:30:00] Rebuilding society through education

[00:35:00] Shifting views on sex and intimacy 

[00:45:00] Translating Yoga wisdom into German  

[00:50:00] Releasing cultural shame

This episode features Paul Hoffman, a devoted Christian who discovered yoga and has found it deeply enriches his religious life and spiritual connection. He shares how yoga complements Christian teachings and practices, helping him integrate breath, movement and prayer.

Paul recounts his journey to incorporating yoga into his church community and daily spiritual rituals. He provides insights into how yoga can allow Christians and people of all backgrounds to more fully embody sacred teachings. 

They discuss...

- How yoga created a framework for Paul's daily devotional practice and connection to the divine presence. 

- Adapting yoga for Christians using biblical language and Christian concepts.

- Teaching yoga and breathwork before Sunday services at his Episcopal church.

- Experiencing yoga as a form of whole body prayer and spirit baptism.

- Integrating sacred sexuality, intimacy and union as yoga.

- Releasing grief, trauma and obstructions through asana to receive grace.  

- Participating through yoga in the grace and blessings already present.

Favorite phrases:

"Yoga has urged me, forced me, urged me to take seriously what it is that I'm doing in church." 

"The kingdom is, inside you or, you know, the, the divine is like, yeast and bread. it's just part of the deal."

"What I'm starting to feel is that, well, no, actually that's, that might be where it is for me. it's a lot of conditioning, a lot of programming to, to break through, isn't it? This notion that you get to God by giving up sex."

Resources:

Paul Hoffman's website: www.breathemovepray.org

Timestamps:

[00:00] Introduction  

[00:01] How Paul was first introduced to yoga by his wife

[00:03] His beginner's yoga retreat with Mark at Esalen

[00:07] Finding yoga provided what was missing from only attending Sunday church  

[00:10] Using Christian concepts and chanting in yoga class

[00:15] Adapting yoga language and teachings to the Christian context

[00:22] Yoga helps actualize the essence of Christianity  

[00:26] The continued impact of realized beings like Jesus

[00:31] Participating through yoga in the living divinity 

[00:35] Teaching yoga at his church on Saturdays  

[00:43] A dying friend urging him to start a daily prayer practice 

[00:48] Yoga as receptivity to Christ's baptism, releasing obstructions

[00:54] Introducing yoga at church through video 

[01:00] Yoga practice as participating in ever-present grace   

[01:10] Conclusion and close

This episode features yogini Akia Merritt who shares her life journey growing up in Miami and discovering her capital S Self through yoga sadhana. Akiya recounts the journey from aspiring fashion designer in New York City to becoming a capital-Y Yoga teacher, and the pitfalls of the industry along the way. Relatable to everyone whose journey has taken them far from where they started, and then back home with compassion. 

Mark and Akia discuss: 

- Akia’s childhood in poverty, family struggles with addiction, and dangerous neighborhood in Miami

- Her drive to get out of that environment and pursuit of fashion career in NYC

- A psychic telling her she would be a teacher… which she dismissed!

- Discovering through yoga practice 'you are what you're looking for'

- Anger, then compassion arising, seeing her family clearly

- Embodying freedom allowing her to be a mirror and bridge  

- Sharing with friends and family and helping create shifts in their lives

- Her continued shedding and settling into being a teacher

Favorite phrases:

- "Language is limiting, and you, you transmit to your family and friends, just by you being you."

- "You are, you are what you're looking for. You are what you're searching for." 

- "I'll give my life over to be able to hold someone's hand to that gate, to that door."

Timestamps:

[00:00:00] Introduction  

[00:01:00] Akia shares her challenging upbringing in Miami

[00:08:00] Her drive to get out and pursuit of fashion career

[00:12:00] A psychic tells Akia she will be a teacher

[00:19:00] Getting in touch with anger, then compassion for her family

[00:24:00] Finding clarity through yoga

[00:28:00] Now teaching yoga, starting with friends and family

[00:33:00] Akia describes discovering 'you are what you seek'

[00:38:00] Mark affirms Akia as an exemplary yoga teacher  

[00:43:00] Conclusion

This episode features a powerful and insightful conversation between Mark and a Yogini living in Iran, who we refer to as Sarah for her safety.

They discuss the ongoing revolution and protests in Iran, along with the government brutality and oppression people, especially women, face daily. Sarah shares her personal experiences surviving the turmoil, finding refuge through community, and taking action for freedom through sharing yoga's teachings.

This episode offers an inside look at Iran's struggle, the universal need for connection, and the hope that comes from within through truly knowing oneself. 

Key Topics: 

- Living under an oppressive regime in Iran 

- Government use of fear and financial struggle for control

- Intergenerational trauma and the younger generation's desire for freedom

- Taking action through spreading yoga's teachings and building community  

- The importance of knowing and expressing your authentic self

- Universal issues across cultures and religions that suppress life and intimacy

- Iran's deep culture and history of ancient wisdom now lost  

Insights:

- 80% of Iran's population is dissatisfied with the current regime

- Younger Iranians are questioning the system and motivated from within for change

- The Southeast province with high suppression has the brightest fire for revolution 

- Islam's rituals contain yogic principles of movement and breath that connect to the divine within 

Quotes:

- "They've been traumatizing people for as long as they've been in the country, for the past 40 years, 45 years, it's...they've started their authority with fear and killing people."

- "I really believe that more people, my quest is to open people's heart a little bit more. So build intimacy for every person for themselves so they can find their own way of conquering their fears." 

- "I was a kid...wearing shorts and a tank top. I was four years old, eating ice cream. And a woman with veil and everything comes and she's like, You have to cover up, you know, you're going to go to hell."

Takeaways:  

- Oppressive power structures that deny life create dysfunction across humanity 

- Revolution requires intimate self-knowledge and courage to take wise action  

- Fostering community and spreading empowering teachings is key for change

- We can all offer support to those fighting for freedom in Iran and beyond

Resources:

- Mark's essay "Iran: Root Causes and Root Solutions"

- YES - Yoga Education in Schools program

Timestamps

[00:00] Introduction  

[00:45] Living under an oppressive regime in Iran

[02:30] Government use of fear and financial struggle for control  

[04:15] Intergenerational trauma and desire for freedom

[07:00] Taking action by spreading yoga's teachings

[12:00] Universal issues across cultures and religions 

[17:00] Iran's deep culture and history of ancient wisdom

[22:00] Insights into the revolutionary movement

[27:00] Islam contains yogic principles  

[32:00] Effects of suppressing life and intimacy

[37:00] Iran's need for connection to its ancient wisdom

[44:00] Beauty of Iran and loss of wisdom traditions

[49:00] Conclusion and Call to Action

Rosalind and Andrew meet again to lay out the vision for the Heart of Yoga ‘YES’ programme: Yoga Education in Schools. 

Andrew shares the vision behind it: for every young person to leave school with a basic yoga education including the ability to practice connection with body and breath at home by themselves. 

We discuss how the project was born from Andrew's experience teaching yoga at a high school in New Zealand, where he saw firsthand how it benefited both students and teachers. And we discuss the 8-week teen yoga course that is at the heart of the YES program.  

Key Topics:  

- The mental health crisis among teens and the need for new solutions

- How the YES project started at Andrew's high school in New Zealand

- The vision for bringing yoga education to every student globally   

- The 8-week teen yoga course and how it's structured

- Teaching yoga breathing and asana to younger kids

- Stories of how teens benefit from yoga classes at school

- Training people to deliver the YES teen program in schools internationally

- Creating positive experiences for young people through yoga

Insights:

- Young people intuitively understand and feel the benefits of yoga for themselves. When they experience it, they don't need convincing to keep practicing.

- Yoga can create contexts for authentic human connection between teens and teachers. It's not about assessment or filling them with knowledge.   

- Teens appreciate having a space to rest, be quiet, and tap into inner peace amidst the stresses of school. The yoga "cleans the pot" so they can focus again.

- Teens provide profound and sensitive feedback on how yoga helps their mental health, grounding, sleep, and ability to engage life.

- Yoga is a positive cultural intervention, offering kids tools to transform their relationship with themselves, others and nature.

Quotes: 

"Yoga is prior to intellectual subjects and learning about life. It's to be connected to your actual life."

"After doing this, I feel like nothing can knock me off my balance." — teenage practitioner

"The breath made me feel all tingly and calm. Afterwards I feel like I can sleep for an eternity because I'm so connected to the earth." — 13 year old student 

Resources: 

Heart of Yoga: heartofyoga.org/YES

YES New Zealand Project Website: yogainschools.org.nz

Train to be a facilitator: October–November 2024, online

Timestamps:

2:00 - Introducing the YES project and its vision 

4:00 - How the project started organically at Andrew's New Zealand high school

6:00 - Taking yoga into schools globally, training facilitators 

10:00 - The mental health crisis and need for yoga in schools

15:00 - Creating the 8-week teen yoga program 

20:00 - On the profound wisdom and experiences of teens

25:00 - Powerful stories of teens benefiting from yoga   

30:00 - Using yoga for relational intelligence and autonomy

35:00 - Training people internationally to share the program

45:00 - Teaching yoga breathing to younger kids

50:00 - Allowing teens to experience all facets of life in yoga

55:00 - Yoga as a positive intervention in society and culture

This episode is a recording of a talk Mark Whitwell gave at the Omega Institute in New York in 2008. He speaks of Reality itself as an intelligent nurturing force, like a mother. Yoga is our direct participation in this nurturing reality, not an effort to achieve some future spiritual goal. 

This episode is a dharmic reset-reminder of yoga as participation in union, merging strength and receptivity just as we came into being ourselves through the union of our parents. Mark encourages listeners to see that any pain or difficult circumstance in life is ultimately healing and rebalancing when embraced fully. The practice of yoga reconnects us to the fact that we are cared for, no matter what arises.

Quotes:

- "Looking for God implies God is absent."

- "The more charming or logical a teacher is, the more they'll delude you into thinking you are less and have to get somewhere." 

- "Spiritual language implies you're not already there and have to attain something."

- "Relate to the life in people rather than labeling something as evil."

- "Mother is here. You are utterly cared for."

- "This pain is healing. My pain is nurturing."

- "On the mat is my complete intimacy with reality. I can now go off the mat and do it."

Timestamps:

4:00 - Discussing reality as nurturing force

8:00 - Pain as healing 

15:00 - Promising a daily yoga practice 

27:00 - Relating to pain and healing

38:00 - Reality appearing as you 

58:00 - Closing discussion

Welcome back to “God and Sex” book club part 3.

Mark and Rosalind argue about themes of the book around relationship, love and intimacy. 

Mark goes to the root of things as usual, connecting up the separate self to how relationship chaos plays out, and how yoga intervenes.

We discuss the longing for a “soulmate” and whether this idea is useful, reflect on the China teacher training, and a few more controversial subjects relating to intimacy. 

Be aware some of these subjects may be connected with painful emotions in ourselves & feel free to reach out any time if you need to. 

Key Topics Covered

- The presumption of being a separate self as the root of human suffering

- How religions tend to devalue the body and sexuality  

- Ramanuja's teaching that we need yoga to actualise oneness

- Participating in the union of opposites through yoga 

- Merging with your experience to understand yourself and life  

- Letting go of ideas like "soulmate" that create impossible expectations

- How vulgarity and abuse can also be expressions of denying sex

- Sharing yoga as a way to increase intimacy and improve relationships

Key quotes:

- "The hostility and disturbance in the world arises because people are not loving their life."

- "If the man could learn to love bodily, sexually, then there would be peace." 

- "Consciousness perceiving an object is a single movement — there is no separation."

- "Once you've tasted actual intimacy, the common patterns of sex finish."

- "There must be yoga, and there must be the polarity of opposites within and without."

- "The presumption of being a separate self with problems is an illusion."

- "You can't use anybody to make you happy."  

Resources

- God and Sex: Now We Get Both by Mark Whitwell  

- Yoga of Heart by Mark Whitwell

 Timestamps

[00:00:00] Introduction  

[00:01:00] The problem of separation as the root of suffering  

[00:06:00] Ramanuja's teaching about needing yoga   

[00:11:00] How religion devalues the body and sex

[00:16:00] Krishnamacharya's example of yoga and family life  

[00:21:00] How modern society still denies sex 

[00:26:00] Merging with your experience through yoga

[00:31:00] Letting go of the myth of "soulmates"   

[00:36:00] The misery caused by unrealistic expectations  

[00:41:00] The problem with techniques and sacred sexuality 

[00:46:00] The motivation to share these teachings  

[00:51:00] Being cautious about rushing into relationships

This episode explores rekindling our innate connection to nature through yoga and sensing practices. Rosalind has an insightful conversation with her friend Henriette Geber, a yogini with a deep love of the mountains, plants and animals.

They discuss how yoga helps us become more sensitive, intuit nature's aliveness, and dissolve harmful ways of relating that assume separation. Henriette shares how yoga empowers her natural affinities, from studying art history to living with the German Alps.

We discuss removing overlays of ideology to intuitively relate directly with the living world.

Key Topics 

- How yoga cultivates sensitivity to ourselves as nature 

- Dissolving the illusion of separateness from nature ingrained by society   

- Honoring the aliveness and subjectivity of all creatures and systems

- Henriette’s countercultural move from the mountains to the city and back again

- Following our natural talents and relationships that emerge through yoga

Insights

- Assumptions of nature as passive or dead prevent us from sensing its aliveness

- Rituals trying to "connect" can reinforce separation if that belief is still there    

- Our bodies intuitively know which plants are healing if we relax our seeking mind

Quotes

"Yoga has given me this, that I trust what comes out of me. I think I was very outward oriented, like, how do you do certain things? How am I perceived? Always thinking like, oh, my perception might be really wrong or not even feeling how do I relate from the inside to this and giving me the sensitivity to actually feel how is my relationship to this, how is my sensing of this and then the strength to also act upon it and not be afraid."

"If you cannot feel your body, you cannot feel the natural world because ultimately it's the same thing. It's totally the same thing." 

“It’s always there. It's there. You just need to listen.”

Resources

- Franz von Stuck's painting "Sin" that Henriette wrote her thesis on

- The Correction by Amy Mindell, a book referenced

Timestamps

[00:00:00] Introduction  

[00:01:00] Henriette's background in the mountains and move to Berlin

[00:05:00] How yoga enabled tuning into her needs

[00:10:00] Studies in art history and disconnect from life   

[00:15:00] Henriette's return to the mountains from the city

[00:20:00] Painting of a woman and snake Henrietta was drawn to 

[00:25:00] Positive symbolism of the snake across cultures

[00:30:00] Henriette's relationship with animals and plants

[00:35:00] Accessing intuitive knowledge about medicinal plants

[00:40:00] Story illustrating the ever-present relationship between humans and nature  

[00:45:00] Rituals reinforcing separation versus assuming connection   

[00:50:00] Being in relationship versus demanding feelings from nature

[00:55:00] Living creatures acknowledging Henriette 

[01:00:00] Moving to farm not being the happily ever after

[01:03:00] Closing

In this week's episode of the Heart of Yoga Podcast, Mark and Andy Raba explore the world of psychics, seers, shamans and sages. As director of the Yoga Education in Schools Charitable Trust in New Zealand, Andy leads initiatives to bring yoga-based health programs to young people in NZ and abroad.With a Master's degree and over a decade of experience fostering literacy in NZ schools, Andrew has extensively published on yoga and meditation and is dedicated to bringing yoga's benefits to students' wellbeing.

They discuss how to discern truth from charlatanry, the ethics around predicting the future, and why embodiment through yoga is key.

Mark emphasizes the importance of maintaining autonomy through daily yoga practice rather than seeking escape or solutions from spiritual leaders. He shares perspective on how psychics and seers should serve the community without claiming special powers.

Mark and Andy also talk about relating to the subtle realm, trauma healing, and keeping ourselves safe from disempowerment on the spiritual path. Tune in for an insightful discussion about navigating the mystical with open eyes and an empowered heart.

Key Points: 

There are genuine psychics and seers who have special abilities to perceive realms beyond normal perception. However, there are many more charlatans who falsely claim such abilities.

To discern truth from falsehood, it's important to have your own direct participation and intimacy with reality through yoga practice. This gives you autonomy and empowerment.

Making predictions about the future is unethical. It implies you don't have access now to deeper knowledge about your life.

Psychics and seers should be ordinary, humble people, not claiming to be special or different. Their abilities should be used to serve the community, not for ego or profit.

For people with trauma, the subtle realm can seem an escape. But yoga brings embodiment and healing, not escape. Wake down into the body, don't go up into the subtle.

The gross tangible world and the subtle intangible world are one, not separate. Through embodiment and intimacy with the tangible, we access the intangible.

Keep yourself safe from disempowerment by spiritual leaders. With yoga practice for autonomy, you can discern who to learn from without losing yourself.

Connect with Any Raba :

Instagram: @_andyraba_

www.yogainschools.org.nz

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In this episode, Mark interviews Eva about her journey discovering Yoga and music. Eva shares how she was classically trained in cello as a child but hated the competitive pressure. She dropped music for 18 years until finding Yoga, which helped her rediscover enjoyment and presence. A few years into Yoga, Eva spontaneously picked up guitar and started playing purely for pleasure, posting videos online.

Mark and Eva explore how yoga catalyzed Eva's musical reawakening. Yoga helped Eva let go of striving for perfection and future attainment, and instead play music for the joy of each moment. Eva discusses how Yoga taught her to receive support and gave her courage to be vulnerable sharing imperfect musical videos. She also describes realizing Yoga isn't about achieving a thoughtless state, but being fully immersed in each experience.

Eva offers an inspirational example of how Yoga provided the foundation to rediscover her musical self by cultivating presence, receptivity and relationship.

Keypoints: 

Memorable Quotes 

"Yoga as a system should adapt to the individual, not the other way around."

"It's not to get to the end, to the grand crescendo of the great symphony. It's every note along the way in harmony with every other note."

"There's no state like that, that I should be striving towards. What I have right now and what I'm doing right now is it."

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In this episode of the Heart of Yoga podcast, Mark has an insightful conversation with his student Irina Esposito about her journey with Yoga. 

The cosmos and everything in the cosmos is obviously a pure intelligence, energy and an intrinsic harmony. In religious language of ancient India it is Shiva Shakti… or all that is, and there are no problems. This was Irina’s sudden realization. It hit her “like a done of bricks”. This is the realization of an ordinary life of anybody when the Hatha Yoga Tantras are practiced daily, actually, naturally and non obsessively.

Life is unity, an indivisible condition of no separation, no difference, unique individuation in the context of utter singularity. Thank you Irina for your Yôga realization and sharing this, your self with the world Here. 

Irina shares how the simple daily yoga practice Mark taught her is transformative. She began to feel more connected to herself and worry less. The conversation explores pivotal moments of recognition Irina experienced through her practice, as well as how yoga shifted her perspective on body image and food.

An illuminating part of the talk is when old family patterns came up after a vacation with a parent, showing there are still habitual conditionings even after deep insights. Overall, the episode offers a beautiful glimpse into the power of dedicated yoga practice.  

Timestamps:

3:55 - They discuss Irina's experience in yoga teacher training with Mark and how she started a daily practice. 

12:55 - Irina talks about how yoga helped her feel more connected to herself and her body. 

28:35 - Irina describes a moment of recognition where she deeply felt that the whole universe is female and male energy. 

38:50 - Irina shares how yoga changed her relationship to food and body image.

55:15 - Irina talks about going on vacation with her mother after her recognition and how old patterns came up again.

Quotes:

"You gave us the simple practice and I just tried to do it every day. And this is so different to the practice I did before." "I don't overthink that much. The crown is open and receiving."

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In this episode, I'm joined by Joseph Lauricella. We dive into Joseph's journey on The Yoga Bus, making yoga accessible to everyone. It is truly inspiring.

We talk about the power of yoga for newcomers and the limitations of the popular styles. Joseph shares his motivation behind his book, "Miracle of Body Wisdom," and his vision for authentic yoga education for all.

We discuss the discipline of writing a book. Also the function of yoga in dealing with anxiety in tough times. We explore how whole body breathing can boost our well-being and making yoga suitable for everyone, regardless of beliefs or body type. We discus the YES program, Yôga Education in Schools. How Yoga isn't just an exercise; it's vital for our future, a subject as vital as any other subject taught in schools, such as mathematics or physics! 

We discuss unity, authenticity, and the healing journey after loss. Joseph shares his personal story of loss and healing, and the positive impact of recent gatherings and upcoming retreats in Mexico. We're all in this together.

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In this episode, we dive deep into Mark's transformative journey to India. Mark shares his personal experiences and first impressions upon arriving in this vibrant and diverse country. He discusses how The Beatles' presence in Rishikesh influenced his interest in Indian wisdom traditions, making it a global phenomenon.

Mark reflects on the powerful impact of rock music from England and the U.S. on his life, particularly highlighting the musical genius of Ray Davies from The Kinks. He opens up about his initial moments in India, painting a vivid picture of the sights, sounds, and emotions that overwhelmed him.

We explore the challenges and insights of being a white minority in India, contrasting it with Mark's observations as a part of the white majority in New Zealand. Mark shares his candid thoughts on India's lack of a social welfare system and how survival takes on a unique meaning in this bustling country.

Throughout our conversation, Mark takes us on a spiritual journey, recounting his encounters with Bhakti Vedanta Swami and the worldwide temple movement initiated through chanting in Hyde Park. We delve into the essence of India's holy cities, bringing to light the blend of spirituality and commerce that characterizes them.

Mark's trip to India serves as the central narrative, intertwining with various topics such as colonialism and the preservation of authenticity in a rapidly changing world. Mark's personal experiences and insights offer a captivating window into his adventure and the profound impact it had on his life. Follow this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML

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Our guest today is our wonderful collaborator in Japan, Minami Takashima. Minami is a yogini and heart of Yôga teacher, teaching in the traditions of the hathayoga non dual Tantra. She has written the introduction to the Japanese second edition of Mark Whitwell’s Yôga Heart and teaches throughout Japan and the world. 

Born in Sapporo, Japan, she found that early life spiritual awakenings were not really helping with the pain of corporate life and socialization, but were rather making society’s misalignment with nature’s flow even more obvious and miserable. One day, she came across Mark’s book Yoga of Heart, and says “this changed my life completely.” “There’s no steps to be taken”. “Everything you are seeking to become, you already are.” “You are the power of the cosmos”— the book was a great statement of your life’s actual worth. 

Minami has had victory over the oppressive misogyny of society that restricts women, and men, and all of life. In this victory she understands the difficulties of the usual life, so can be extremely helpful to others going through what she has had to go through herself. In Yôga such a person is called the “Acharya”, one who can teach. 

Minami found that traditional heart of Yoga, Hathayoga practice bridges spirituality and tangible reality, allowing our masculine and feminine aspects to find their natural harmony. Knowing herself and her students to be Reality itself (“divine existence” itsel.) Minami teaches from the authority of her own experience and power. She lives in Japan and New Zealand with her yogi-musician husband Rey.  Teaching mainly one on one in an intimate, traditional way, Minami serves others to find their innate power, intelligence and beauty. 

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Clayton Joseph Scott is a singer, songwriter and master Yoga Teacher. Born in Los Angeles, California, he attended Santa Monica High School. Clayton lived most of his life as a street hustling native of Venice Ca. He was raised in the culture of musicians and pioneers of the counter culture.

Clayton speaks clearly about over coming addiction of every kind. He was in his own words, a gourmet addict, masterful at keeping addictions finely counteracting each so as to hold them in all in place. Until…. ? 

As a Yôga enthusiast (one of his addictions) for many years Clayton mastered all the popular styles of the yoga industry. In this context he discovered the principles of the modern founder of Yôga, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and was then able to make sense of it all. 

Clayton’s own music career is highlighted by his touring band Brightside. He has a number of notable albums of poetic depth and beauty. 

Albums and EPs include Heavy Rest, More Love, West of Lincoln, Let Go and View from the Moon.

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Liliana Lakshmi and her husband Satya are renowned yoga teachers, whose influence extends from India to the Americas, and from Berlin to Bali. Liliana, born into tribal culture of indigenous shamans of Colombia was quickly able to understand the shamanic cultures of ancient India, their yogas of participation and the profound realization of their ancient cultures, both of India and the Americas. Liliana is the hope of humanity, and she will not be exploited by any mere belief systems or point of view. She embraces all life and all cultures in the samyama of truth, the spotlight of absolute reality. Liliana is a bridge for humanity of cultures, ethnicities, of East and West, and of ancient to modern. Mark shares some time with Liliana discussing their time together over the years and their mutual purpose to bring the Yoga of intimacy to the entire world.  They discussed the lost teaching of the Tantras that flourished for a thousand years prior to the 14th C. Liliana shares her early life in shamanic culture, and her eventual pilgrimages to India and Europe.

In this episode you will hear...

''... I went to to see a doctor and ... I was asking ... how does it look if I want to remove these implants? And I remember ... he would tell me ''but you're a very young woman. You don't want to look like a man''...''

''...There is a beautiful tribe in the north and I feel my ancestors land coming from there...they're quite famous because they have the ability to connect through space and time with all the tribes in another parts of the world...''

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Ernessa Bergman is a world-travelling Yogini, Mother and Biosynthesis / Somatic Body Psychotherapist who is currently living and working in Tel Aviv, Israel. She reflects on her long friendship with Mark at trainings around the world and her life as a mother and yoga teacher.

In this episode you will hear...

'' ...you torture yourself with the insanity of trying to get enlightened or something, or the insanity of trying to get to God. It is completely insane. It creates the separate self that is seeking.''

''...In the heart, that's where it says you break your heart, you start to cry because you realize that everything you've been doing up until now, at least mentally ...consciously, has not been putting your attention in the place that can give you more joy..."

"...This yoga of participation in the given reality, the power of the cosmos that is factually their condit. Just like it happened to you and you pass it on to every kind of person there, and you do it without drama, without theater. You just do it consistently and you just stood your ground. You bloom in your own garden..."

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Mark Whitwell interviews Rosalind Atkinson about her life with yoga and realisations. In particular, Mark asks about her academic studies of english literature, especially the mystic poet William Blake, and the relevance of these studies to her life in yoga.

This episode will be of interest to anyone with a mixed experience in academia or poetry, who is interested in the yogic process of making inspiration relevant to our lives right now.

We also discuss the last two years of teaching around the world through zoom, and end with a little teaser about a new project, called "Wardrobe Dharma".

In this episode you will hear...

''And I got to the end of this research project ... and I was trying to write a conclusion that summed up what I had learned in the process. And I came across a line by Blake that said something like ... the true faculty of knowledge is experience... And it was a very unsettling phrase to me because I realized in that moment that of everything I'd written about passionately, it wasn't my experience I was writing about Blake's experience.''

''I fell straight into the spiritual seekers trap of hungrily seeking experience...for myself...''

''It's like if my mind was the king and the body was the peasants of the kingdom. Even if the king ignores the peasants, they're still there. And they're still feeding him. But he's just not acknowledging them... Abusing them, mistreating them, not appreciating their work. ''

"Blake's poetry speaks in and as that force of life that is beyond the mind. And that's why obviously people from different cultures resonate with it. If it was just culturally constructed, then the English would love Blake the best. But they didn't, they thought he belonged in a straight jacket."

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What is natural movement for a human being?   In this episode we are graced with the presence of Anne-Tyler, yogini of the Americas and her profound story of evolving movement patterns from the strictures of ballet into the natural forms for a human body.    Mark and Anne-Tyler discuss learning to dance from a young age in the UK and developing her skills when moved back to the US, and how it wasn't obvious that ballet is a very unnatural way of movement. They discuss abuse of power in the world of ballet and the feeling of being replaceable at any minute.   Tapping into pure beingness sheds a light while still being in the trap. Learning how to breathe. Getting through the stranglehold of thought, seeking and performance. Returning to the truth, returning to the heart, returning to the breath and to nature. Real yoga for real people, not performance, not gymnastics.   ''I came here to disrupt patterns''. The breath enables the shedding of layers of old patterns and reveals one's true being. There is no denial or suppression in Yoga. Teaching people how to help themselves. Yoga as an empowerment and embodyment practise.

Anne-Tyler's teachings and online gatherings are here at www.bloss-om.com or on social media @theecstaticblossom

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Mark and his dear friend Patrick collude at the beach in Australia to discuss Patrick's life of Yoga and insight. They unpack the lie of "trying to get there" through Yoga. Get where? We are already here!

Patrick breaks down the regular Australian conditioning of beer and sport, and relates how one sentence from a partner inspired a quest for change.

They chart the murky waters of addiction to asana, and transforming it to participation in reality.

Patrick teaches Yoga and Tai Chi in Australia, Sri Lanka and Fiji, and has been the heart and soul of Fiji teacher trainings for nearly a decade. His teaching is characterised by wisdom, humour and the unexpected.

Explore Patrick's website at https://www.bodyawareness.com.au

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This podcast tells the story of Maja’s transition from social activism to Yoga revelation. How Yoga becomes the means to enacting the change we want to see. As Gandhi said.. “be the change you want to see.”

In this conversation we hear once again the process to become an actual Yoga teacher in real life and community. From Sloviana Maja’s background and society has had its own traumas and horrific trials. Life has been difficult.

Maja speaks of her personal victory in the midst of societal patterning, hostility and despair. As a government public health professional working in the struggles of social policy Maja has been conscientious and ambitious to improve the difficult conditions of the world. She speaks of how her Yoga has enabled her to do this, while transcending conflict with society and in herself. 

Maja speaks of the various vehicles in which she has learned to teach Yoga effectively. At her work in very large groups of colleagues, in smaller intimate circles of friends, and in one-on-one private tuition. 

Maja is the hope of humanity.

In this episode we are graced by world-friend & yogini without borders Manisha Lebel. Yoga Teacher, Naturopath, Herbalist & Wisdom Holder.

Manisha and Rosalind discuss how Manisha's extensive yoga practice, teaching and academic research backgrounds resonated straightaway with the breath principles Mark was passing on.

We talk about being an outsider, New Zealand colonial patterning, people pleasing (especially as women), and how we can cut through indoctrination and authoritarianism of all kinds and stand in our own ground. 

We cut through the illusions of generational barriers to express our heartfelt gratitude for the friendship of each other.

“Everything that I have been seeking is where I am”. Manisha describes experiencing the breath as the central feature in the Heart of Yoga practice, everything else falls away and loses significance. Not a rejection of life’s roles, but a releasing of projections on one’s self, and an acceptance of reality as it is.

We discuss the falseness of the mind/body split and how the breath provides the doorway to realization that there is no such split between the heart, mind and body.

“What an opportunity to live before we die”. A discussion about the pain that the body goes through during life and how this often makes us disassociate the mind from the body to avoid feeling pain.

Manisha teaches both private and group sessions in her communities in rural NZ, and she talks about making relationship and breath the centre of every teaching occasion, and how this changes our relationships. And how, exactly?

We talk about moving away from the commercial Yoga industrial complex, and learning to deal in diverse forms of exchange. Beyond the money economy.

Manisha also tells the story of how she met Mark for the first time, and the profound effect that meeting had on her.

We also touch on the resonance of the yoga wisdom with Māori culture.

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How do we make the shift from practitioner to teacher? Who should become a teacher? How do we make sure we don't become "One more monkey" in the yoga industrial complex? How to keep the heart in yoga?

Mark interviews Andrew about his experience of this process and emergence from the middle-class massage into a life of meaning, play, & subversive subtlety as a practitioner & teacher.

Andrew talks about his current project offering yoga in high schools for both students and teachers, drawing on his own experience as a disillusioned teenager chafing against the restrictions of school and family. 

They discuss getting free of the search for an intangible distant realm of happiness, or a distant god, and instead coming home to the local and our immediate environment in time and space.

Mark and Andrew talk about the natural movement to wish to share yoga after feeling the doors it has opened in one's own life, and how this gradually becomes the most important thing in one's life.

How do we find teaching opportunities? When shoudl we teach? What if no-one is interested? What if they just want stimulating gymnastics?

Mark and Andy also discuss the resonance between aspects of yoga and of the indigenous Māori culture of Aotearoa / New Zealand. 

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''How to find a good yoga teacher?  How do you find a teacher that you trust, and can generate a connection with? Not only that, but find a teacher that does not see themselves in a position of power and does not have your monetary value as student in their ’business’ as a priority?" 

In this episode Mark and Rosalind talk about this most basic of questions, along with the even more basic questions of why we would even want a yoga teacher, and what that is anyway. 

Some aspects we cover:

- The origins of yoga as a practice of mutual respect and care for others and the community, without authority and power.

- the change in student-teacher relationships to power dynamics and business interest as the norm

- The three qualifications of a good yoga teacher according to Krishnamacharya.

- Cultism in spiritual practice; how to sense someone who is driven by social hierarchy, power and money. 

- The use of knowledge as a means to create seniority and power in the modern world of spiritual practice. And the contrasting experience had by Mark with his teachers Krishnamacharya and Desikachar.

- “Yoga is not a salvation cult”. A good teacher should not be promising any method or secret knowledge that will get you to where you think you want to go. Any promises of this nature should be treated with caution as the promise is most likely more of a product to be sold than a spiritual practice.

- A conversation about the ironic inflexibility of modern yoga, how it pushes people into predefined patterns regardless of the differences between individuals, and how this is a reflection of the patterning seen in modern society.

- What to look for: the breath as THE central element of asana practice. The unity of body, mind and breath must be present from the first moment of the yoga lesson, yet is often not given precise or any attention in modern yoga teaching.

- “You don’t do yoga, yoga does you”. Participating in the flow of life and being in the moment, as opposed to using spiritual practice to try and get somewhere you think you need to go, and how a good teacher can help thwart the latter tendency.

- Yoga as a method to release the mind from habitual thought. A symptom of modern living that affects most people in negative ways. Yoga can be a way to free yourself of unnecessary thought and be in the world's beauty.

To find out if we know a good teacher near you, please email studio@heartofyoga.com

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A conversation between Rosalind and Alesha Keen, yogini & important teacher of the UK. Alesha is breaking new ground in England, drawing upon her decades of experience across yoga, psychotherapy, and numerous other modalities from West and East to help individuals "bloom in their own garden." 

In our wide-ranging discussion, she offers us her first-hand yogic perspective on the initiations into embodied wisdom through our life, including the profound gateway into eldership of the menopause.

Some of the other things we discussed:

- The need for Yoga to be adapted to our bodies and lives as we ourselves and our needs change 

- Benefits of Yoga one-on-one as opposed to group classes 

- The barriers to Yoga created by its confusion with fashion, gymnastics and exercise, and how it can intersect with our already-pressured body image. 

- The journey with yoga and menopause and how the latter has demanded a refinement in asana and breath

- How both Yoga and the initiation into wisdom of peri-menopause and menopause call us to slow down and listen to the body... 

- Ageism and loss of intergenerational relationships... looking at some examples of reverence for the "wisdom of years" in non-western cultures.

- we discuss the unfortunate public perception of yoga as reflected in Ricky Gervais' new show 'Afterlife' and the painful yoga parody in it, and how to work with this

- The initiation that is motherhood is also woven into our discussion! 

You can find more information about Alesha's work and teaching at www.aleshakeen.com and www.aleshakeenconsciousliving.uk

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Ryan Stanley is the Heart of Yoga in San Diego. He teaches from the heart to the heart of everybody. The message from UG Krishnamurti that "there is nothing to be liberated from" hit him like a tonne of bricks, and since then he has been restructuring his practice, yoga studio and teaching around this whole-body realisation.    Here he talks with Mark about the transition from 'yoga sales' to yoga instructor to an actual Yoga Teacher, sincerely caring about self and others. He has managed to bring all the other styles and put them into the context of the breath principles that Krishnamacharya, grandfather of modern yoga, actually taught. They discuss this and survival during the pandemic, and yoga in the midst of family life.    Follow this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML If you feel moved to submit a voice question for a future episode, you can do so here:

https://www.heartofyoga.com/podcast

From the banks of the holy Ganga to the East Village, Manhattan, Jeremiah Brimlow and Mark’s friendship has flourished. Jeremiah is a bridge of the ancient world to the modern times, of east and west, but also of the early days of yoga arriving in New York City to the current situation. Mark and Jeremiah reflect on the shifts they have seen, on the legacy of the US counterculture, and staying in the pure essence of spirituality in a confused world of spiritual business. Jeremiah is the Urban Angel because he does just that.     In this episode you will hear...   03:00 Jeremiah and Mark talk of New York, Lineage and staying pure and true to the vision of truth.   11:00 Giving others opportunity to become greater, and to disappoint. Knowing and following your true path. A Hippie heritage.   21:00 Finding ways to work together, and change the paradigm of living. Getting caught in nonsensical systems, and the systems are down. Hope.   36:00 There was always Yoga, and a culture that could be. Being downwardly mobile, and relating to every human with openness.   50:00 Feeding only one third of the belly. The posture of gluttony. One arm up.   64:00 Teaching, shared energy and finding a new perspective on the practice.   Follow this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML

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Malika Warda is a mystic Yogini poet currently residing in the land of ancient light, Western Australia, and co-founder of the extraordinary yoga, meditation and sound healing studio Cntrspace in Perth. She is the author of a book of poetry by the same name, a photographer, and a deep explorer of the human experience, drawing on her Yogic, Palestinian and Australian Indigenous heritage. Malika and Mark speak about her journey to find the real depth Yoga offers, the impact of finding it on her relationships with self and others, the unfolding of a profound yogic sexuality, and healing the mass social repression of the feminine.

You will hear how relatively quickly when a person receives yoga, transmission into local community can occur. Malika is a wonderful example of a yoga teacher of these recent times. 

You can find Malika on IG @malika.abuwarda___ and in person teaching at her studio in north Perth at Cntrespace.

In this episode you will hear...

03.30 How, where and why Mark & Malika met. A pivotal time in Malika's life. Finding more to Yoga.

08:00 Actual Yoga happening in and around Malika and her practice. Results and friendships.

12:00 Finding strength, beauty and form as the feminine. A process shown and shared. A feminine force repressed.

17:00 Empowered utterances of Yogic realizations. Sexual intimacy and freedom from patterning.

25:00 Spiritual wisdom was packaged as a mechanism of male authority. Adding value and actualization of a real Yoga practice.

If you feel moved to submit a question for a future episode, you can do so here:

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You can find more from the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

What is the relationship between Yoga and religion? Following on from last week’s episode with Janet Marshall talking about Yoga and Catholicism, this week we are honoured to be joined by Devaraj from Chennai, speaking from his perspective about the relationship between religion and Yoga. 

Is Yoga Hinduism? How do the two intersect? Devaraj was born and lives in the city where Krishnamacharya and his son TKV Desikachar taught for many years, and where they established the Krishanamacharya Yoga Mandiram, there to this day. He holds a fascinating perspective on Yoga and how it has empowered his devotional life.

Mark and Devaraj discuss what happened once he started practicing yoga. In Krishnamacharya’s scholarly view, the entire Hindu world should be given yoga as the most vital part of their devotional life. They discuss the lineage from Ramanuja Acharya to Krishnamacharya and the temple in Chennai.

04:00 What got a man from Krishnamacharya's home town involved with The Heart of Yoga. Discovering the practice of the unitary movement.

In this episode you will hear...

13:00 ''The whole of Hindu India should be given Yoga as the most vital part of devotional life''. From a life of seeking to a life of being present. How subtle changes affected home and work life.

28:00 Mark and Devaraj discuss stories of how aspects of Hindu society combined with Yogic ideas affect life and family relations.

39:00 Devaraj takes Krishnamacharya and Desikachar's book to the ancient temple of Ramanujar for blessing, as a Yoga participant and not a seeker.

If you feel moved to submit a question for a future episode, you can do so here:

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Mark Whitwell discusses with Yoga Teacher Janet Marshall of California the process of becoming a Yogini and Transmitter of Yoga. Janet talks about how Yoga helped her to actually understand for herself what was being talked about in the sacred text of her religious culture.

They discuss going beyond the restrictions of the usual life, and surviving getting lost in the sea of Yoga knowledge and coming back to the simplicity of the heart.Janet Marshall is a mother of three and Yoga Teacher in Southern California, and is deeply versed in Yoga philosophy and the Yoga therapy traditions that grew from Krishnamacharya and Desikachar’s work.

She is a full-time teacher of Yoga,  cares deeply for all her students and is a profound force of nurturing in her community. She co-founded the Heart of Yoga non-profit in the US back in the 2000s and has worked tirelessly to help make Yoga accessible to all. Thank you Janet.

In this episode you will hear...

04:00 Discovering Yoga from the position of a ''faithful'' person. Conflict with the church.

16:00 Truth is not a point of view.

25:00 No longer being attracted to the promise of salvation. Spirit baptism.

40:00 Innocently born into a very restricted world. Leaving a marriage of 20 years.

55:00 The importance of repetition. ''Pain is healing.''

60:05 Working with advanced aging people. Be who you are and teach what you know. Yoga therapy.

If you feel moved to submit a question for a future episode, you can do so here:

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You can find more from the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Ilil is the Heart behind Tali Tali collective, a social enterprise to nurture indigenous weaving traditions (tali tali means weaving) and create income for rural women, including here on Taveuni island, Fiji.

Rosalind speaks with her about Tali Tali, the extraordinary hand made Yoga mats they are helping bring to the world, and the "Woven Village" program just completed, which included teaching yoga in the rural indigenous villages of Taveuni Island. Ilil talks about the joys and challenges of adapting Yoga to the needs of the women, being sensitive to Christian culture and traditional village culture. 

We also talk about the new (ancient) way of being of service, beyond the "do-gooders high" or imposing anything on communities, and how instead it can be about learning together, sharing tools. 

This will be a fascinating listen for anyone working with communities new to Yoga or suspicious to Yoga, as well as anyone suspicious of the plastic commodity known as the "yoga mat" and wondering what to do about that. And just inspiring in general as a story of having a positive dream, and making it happen despite all obstacles (like no planes going to Fiji). 

Please go to www.talitali.org to see/order the beautiful mats, read more about the project, and donate if you have the means! You can also follow on Instagram @talitali_tribe.

In this episode you will hear...

02:00 Ilil Lunkry's background, weaving, living and being. The birth of Tali Collective. Creating an empowerment program.

11:00 Working around the suspicion of Yoga as witchcraft, Christian sides of the community, putting the program together starting with Yoga.

29:00 Tantra, to weave and to bring things together, sacred gestures. What is weaving? How to weave Yoga mats from plants.

40:00 The community response to the program. Bringing the sexes together. Empowered women speaking their minds, and bring the program to the rest of the world.

If you feel moved to submit a question for a future episode, you can do so here:

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You can find more from the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Ronan Tang and Xi Zhu are a bridge for humanity between East and West, master translators and facilitators of the Heart of Yoga in China. Together they facilitate the unity of ancient wisdom traditions. What is the relationship between Daoism and Veda, between Yoga and Chinese Traditional Wisdom practices? What is the relationship of ha-tha yoga to the yin and yang of the Dao? How does Tai Chi relate to Yoga? Ronan and Xi are the living examples of the answers to these questions in China, dear friends bringing together the wisdom traditions of their culture with those of their neighbour/sister country India. Together they speak with Mark and Rosalind about their process of "whole body translation", the story of working together for the last 15 years, why Chinese students adapt to "Yoga of participation" so easily, and their experience of how these teachings can bypass all techniques and bring harmony to relationship. They also discuss how Chinese characters such as 放松 (fàngsōng, relax) and 樂 (lè, yuè – joy, music) reveal insights especially relevant for Yoga practitioners.   If you are a Mandarin speaker/reader and would like more information on the community in China, online gatherings etc, get in touch with rosalind@heartofyoga.com.   In this episode you will hear...

02:30 Let go of the idea of relaxation. The Dao is precious.

06.00 What is the meaning of Yin and Yang.

11.00 Cutting through the panic for knowledge. Passing on the teachings in China.

19:00 Doubt, the power of the cosmos and realizations.

26:00 Working with B. K. S. Iyengar. Tools of needles, herbs and Yoga.

34:00 Yin, Yang and wisdom are deeply engrained in the DNA of the Chinese.

40:00 Ronan and Xi speak of Yoga and relationship(s). The Flower doesn't advertise it's own perfume.

48:00 Cultivating the best medicine from within, the intelligence of the body, and the students.

If you feel moved to submit a question for a future episode, you can do so here:

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You can find more from the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Jessica Patterson is the founder and director of Root Centre for Yoga and Sacred Studies, which she offers to the world from her home in Colorado Springs, USA. Jessica is someone who has managed to successfully keep the heart in Yoga. She escaped the "Yoga Industrial Complex," and continues to teach purely as the force of nurturing in local community — and beyond.   Jessica speaks with Mark about keeping the Centre going through the pandemic, whilst always acknowledging that "Yoga is Not Commercial Activity". This episode will be heart-food for all practitioners and teachers "swimming against the stream" of commercialism and hegemonic co-optation of the sacred traditions, and navigating the demands of students with warped expectations of what yoga is. She also explains her ground-breaking "Untrainings," and how Yoga functions for students as an unlearning process, rather than the hoarding of more knowledge.     Online educational programs and more information at https://www.rootdownandgrow.com/root-teachers/jessica-patterson/   In this episode you will hear...  

01:00 The introduction.

05:00 Ancient arrowheads, wandering the ancient worlds. Trespassers and relationship.

12:00 A white trespasser v's indigenous wisdom. Traceable lines of trauma. The opposite of memory.

25:00 Pain is a function of mother nature. Don't meditate or meditate your way out of it. Un-training.

40:00 We should be falling on or knees on the mere sight of each other. Our bodies are not franchises. Yoga is not about the teacher. It's about the student.

50:00 The transition from instructor to teacher with a capitol T. Being here and being hair. When you're full you're a terrible consumer. Confronting patents.

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Yoga is not seeking for a future idealism. Yoga is participation in the given Reality (capital R). The beauty, the wonder, the power, the harmony that is intrinsic to your life. Yoga is not to use the body or the mind to seek. Yoga is to give the body and all ordinary conditions over to the capital-R Reality, which is its context. The collaboration of great luminaries has freed yoga from the unnecessary struggle that leaves so many people injured or disappointed. Mark and Rosalind discuss the implications of Yoga without struggle. 

In this episode you will hear...

01:20 Fish don't know what water is. What is reality? What is Yoga without struggle?

09:00 Yoga is giving over to life as it actually is.

16:00 Wandering around India. Finding authenticity.

24:00 Every movement taught by that system is like an expression, like a dance.

33:00 The body is for giving over to its actual condition...the cosmos.

44:00 Negative associations of sacred texts.

57:00 Yoga should be actual, natural and non obsessive.

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Since psychedelics first escaped the research environment and sparked the counter-culture in the mid twentieth century, they have been aligned with the traditions of the East. But how do Yoga and psychedelics relate to each other? Are they complementary? Or antagonistic? Mark and Andy discuss the original counterculture, the current "psychedelic renaissance" and latest applications to mental health, as well as their own experiences.

In this episode you will hear...

01.32 High school Yoga catching on. The Divine is not located elsewhere. The colonization of spirit based cultures.

08:00 Screwy mainstream cultures, systems and radical Yoga. Capitalism without a product.

12:00 Spiritual change of states and that thing we all wanna hear more about : psychedelic experiences

23:00 Feeling like there's way to get to absent truths. Heroic quests. The problem is the ego. The solution is to destroy the ego.

28:00 You don't have to untie the knot. The knot never happened. Finding your way back. Psychedelics and prescription drugs. Yoga is a tool.

37:00 No more psychedelics, sex or weed until your practice is established. Yoga and Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation. There's a difference.

46:30 Is the a Yogic framework for the use of psychedelics? A call to stop interfering. Higher defilements.

56:00 Current culture doesn't have the capacity to enjoy mystical experiences without it turning into a problem.

1:04:00 The sublime and the ordinary are one. The secrets of the universe are already given. Putting Yoga in the drinking water.

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Mark and Simone discuss the roots of addiction, its cause and its cure. Simone relates her journey through her husband's early death and being mother to three little boys through to adulthood. Simone holds a PhD in nursing and works in the field of chronic pain. She is the author of Yoga Rx for the 12 Steps, and working on a new book on helping friends and family deal with addiction in their loved ones.    Simone's story is a reminder that Motherhood is yoga. Our teacher Krishnamacharya would say that mothers are the nurturers of the community, therefore they must be nurtured too, and given their yoga and space to practice every day.    "I find Simone's story particularly helpful for all people struggling with pain, grief, and addiction of all kinds. So, everyone, really. Most pertinent is that after a long academic career in chronic pain management, it turns out that the skill Simone holds as a yoga teacher proves the most useful healing methodology. It's a story of hope and triumph over circumstances." — Mark   In this episode you will hear...   01.30 Seeing a friend in despair, in the grips of alcoholism. How did it happen ?

08.10 Mothers ''get'' Yoga first. Please the mother and everybody is happy.

16.00 Pain and isolation. Tapping into something outside of one's self.

22.25 The birth of feeling loved, cared for and nurtured. Recovery.

26.00 The motivation and inspiration behind the book.

35:00 How the boys are doing in the modern world and their Yoga.

44.30 Four years of western medical education, Simon's journey and revelations.

57.00 The loss of a home. Everything up in flames.

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Minami Takashima was a successful business woman in corporate Japan, and here she tells her story of stepping out of exploitation and corporate hierarchy and stepping into her own power. Minami and Rosalind talk about the role of Yoga in this journey and how it has inspired her to teach across different countries and languages. The key theme is finding the authority of our experience and power. Minami offers private sessions in person in Nelson, New Zealand, and over Zoom in English and Japanese. You can find her on Instagram here :  @yogawithminami

In this episode you will hear...

01.53 The Belly Of The Beast : Corporate Japan.

05.00 ''Being a woman you are second class...''

07.00 Getting free from the internal and external structure.

11.15 A little shoot of yoga into corporate life. Mother being the first Guru.

17.40 The process of Yoga learning, synchronicity and Bali.

21.15 Awareness of invisible hierarchies, breaking points and gratitude.

30.00 Stuck in Oz during the pandemic and finding the motivation to keep sharing.

37.00 Bringing teachings back to Japan and meeting Japanese culture and suppressed sexuality.

45.00 Tantra, sex and taboo.

50.45 Finding confidence in teaching, where it comes from and the power of one's own experience. Not needing approval.

54.50 Yoga texts and different relationships with knowledge. Being the authority of your own experience.

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Mike Bucher is a musician in Los Angeles. His band, Iglu and Hartley have had hit singles around the world — great uplifting rock and roll. He now ventures forth as "Mike B and the Universe" with has solo album just released, 'Bloom Baby Bloom'.

Mike is a yogi and a teacher in the heart of yoga. Mike speaks candidly about staying real in the midst of celebrity and the life of a working musician, and speaks about how Yoga has been a catalyst for his life, music and relationship.

He teaches in Los Angeles and on his new album combines his great love of the American tradition of song and his yoga realization. Here we have a meeting of Woodie Guthrie, Bob Dylan and the Kinks. It is a very useful work in the world! Highly recommended. Stream or download it here!

In this episode you will hear....

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Kelsey Barrett is a modern-day witch. She is a practicing herbalist and Yogini.

Mark says:

“In previous centuries she would have been burnt at the stake for her strange powers that threatened the knowledge authority of orthodoxy. She would have been shunned to the outskirts of the town, a forest dweller with twigs and moss in her hair and strange garb. These days the public realize she has useful healing powers, so allow her to enter the town or village.”

Kelsey combines medicinal herbs, Yoga and intimacy arts to help her friends navigate the tricky waters of our time.

Mark and Kelsey discuss her craft and realization. Dialogue includes sexuality, intimacy and the necessity for a personal hathayoga to actualize sublime intimacy.

Otherwise sacred sexuality seems to be confined to the poetry and iconography of forgotten cultures. Yet obviously remains the potential of every person today. Actual Yoga makes sacred intimacy real and no longer just fanciful unfulfilled desires.

The mind of the modern West is like a closed box of lidded thought that cannot be pierced or access the obvious mystery dimensions above the crown or go deep into the roots of Mother Earth.

Kelsey recalls her crown opening up to higher dimensions and the state of the Yogini… a flow of life synchronistically ascending and descending, mysteriously became her experience.

In the ancient world after death a Yogi’s crown was ceremonially pierced, symbolizing the ascent of the life force infinitely above, in death as in life. Such sublimity arises as everyone’s potential through Yoga.

Intimacy with all aspects of life, for example Kelsey talks about the power of rose for the heart, and the power of realising illness as visitation of the Goddess.

Follow Kelsey on Instagram here: @heavynettlegathering

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Yoga IS Relationship. What does that mean?

I thought it was doing the splits on the beach and posting it on Instagram?

I thought it was living alone in a cave for twenty years until you could live on just air?

Mark and Rosalind explore just exactly HOW yoga transforms our relationships, and lift the lid on some of the challenges and dysfunctions in relationships that make yoga sorely needed.

Some previous relationship dysfunctions get aired as examples of the usual mess and how it can change.

We discuss what “connection” really means and whether it comes from another person, how to stop evading emotions, and the urgent need for a transformed approach to relating with the ones we love.

More themes:

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In this special episode, we share (with permission) edited extracts from a May weekly “Teacher’s Gathering” in the Heart of Yoga Studio.

Mark is speaking about who can teach Yoga, about what is required to teach Yoga, and about being your authentic self.

Teachers around the world share their experience, discussing what the role of the teacher really is, how to cope with teaching on zoom, and whether you can even decide to be a yoga teacher.

A capital-R Reality check and sense of communal support for all teachers out there.

This teachers’ gathering happens weekly. It’s open to all supporting members of the Online Studio.

You can join at:

www.heartofyoga.com/studio

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In this week’s episode, Mark and Rosalind talk about the expansion of consciousness that happened in the 60s and beyond, “on wings of song.”

It was the Beatles going to Rishikesh that first took Mark to India, and we tease out these connections between the two “freedom systems” of Yoga and rock and roll.

We listen to the Kinks with the first use of sitar-like drone on a western pop song (“See My Friends”) and talk about Little Richard’s riotous performances as group therapy for a repressed society.

We go free range ruminating on the remarkable gifts given to us all by our musical luminaries, and discuss practices to really receive these transmissions and make the most of them.

This episode features short musical clips replicated only for commentary and criticism under ‘Fair use’ (legal doctrine that allows a user to use portions of copyrighted materials for the purpose of commentary, criticism, reporting, teaching, and research).

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As yoga studios shut down across the world, yoga teacher Joseph Lauricella came untethered from his Chicago teaching space, yet he wanted to find a safe way to be in Nature and continue to share practices of breath and intimacy with yourself with people.

The ‘The Yoga Bus’ project was born.

Continuing public education into Yoga as spiritual practice, so much more than fitness.

Joseph Lauricella is the author of 3am Bull Rider, a memoir about living on the road across the United States in 1995, Codi and the Maple Tree, a children’s book based on his experiences rescuing a wolf cub and living with him and 42 other wolves for a year.

In addition to being an author, Joseph is a master yoga teacher and bodyworker, which inspired him to write and publish: Postures, Prayers, and Poems: A Yoga Journey Through Earth Body and Soul, which he reads us a poem from in this podcast.

Joseph currently lives on the Yoga Bus with his two Chihuahua Yoga dogs and is working on his next book. He has a degree in Sociology and Native American Studies and is deeply influenced by mentorship within Lakota traditions, as well as his own Roman Catholic Italian immigrant family background.

Mark and Joseph discuss teaching in a natural, non-patterned way, just sharing, how to adapt to changing circumstances and where the motivation to do so comes from.

As well as Yoga as a reminder of the state of unconditional love, handling overwhelm of worldly patterning, and being on the road with the Grateful Dead as a template for the Yoga Bus.

Joseph and Mark talk about Roman Catholic Italian origins and how this mixes with Yoga, and discovering Yoga as a Catholic — do Christians need Yoga?

And finally Joseph reads us the poem ‘Breath’ from his book Postures, Prayers and Poems.

Links

Postures, Prayers and Poems

Joseph's Website

Joseph's Instagram

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Mark sits down again with his friend Andrew Raba to talk about education, cultishness, ambition, choosing a career path, the mess that is our early twenties, psychedelics, and learning Yoga.

Mark and Andy discuss these questions and others, under the overarching theme of Yoga and the empowerment of self-responsibility, making the choice to love and to quit blaming others for our emotional state.

“Yoga is not information gathering.”

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In this week’s episode we are joined by the eternal warm love presence of Durga Julia Sánchez, musician, yogini, and inspiration. Durga speaks to us from her home country of Colombia of her extraordinary heart-connection with her beloved teacher and husband Ramgiri, and the immense process of courage that is calling us all to open our heart to one another.

And of the heart-wrenching process of grief that we must go through when that love transitions from in the body to the formless, as it will for us all. And the role of Yoga in all of this, in the life of a devotee.

Gratitude to you, Durga, for this gift of clarity and honesty from within that grieving process of ‘losing’ one’s Beloved and navigating that pain.

We feel and invoke the blessing presence of Baba Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji), guru to Ram Dass, Ram Giri, Krishna Das and so many others. Mark and Durga discuss how Yoga serves the devotees of such extraordinary beings, as the practical response to grace, and to conduct their gifts… which are always given, but are they being received?

And reflect on past times sharing Yoga with Ramgiri and Durga in the US and the connection with the work of Heartsourcing, the enduring project of Ram Giri’s work which is now continued by Durga.

Learn more about Ramgiri’s lifework in his book, “HeartSourcing”, foreword by Ram Das, which Durga is currently working on translating to make available in Spanish.

https://store.lamafoundation.org/products/heartsourcing-by-ramgiri-braun-ph-d

https://www.facebook.com/HeartSourcing/

“All conflict is in truth a burning away of conflict itself. Pain makes us tired of pain, and although the confused mind revels in its distortions, there is a fundamental sanity in everyone that bides its time, but will not be denied.” — Ramgiri, 2018

Private whole-body prayer yoga lessons via Zoom in Spanish — email juliamsanchez@gmail.com for availability.

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In this episode, Mark sits down (over Zoom) with his dear long-time friend Ana Berry: musician, media presenter, actress, Yoga teacher and mother.

Ana describes growing up in Oklahoma and the saving influence of jazz and gospel, and the imprint of culture upon her mother as a beauty queen and TV personality.

From Hollywood to New York, her search for Yoga that didn’t just exacerbate body self-hatred culminated in meeting Mark in a class in LA, followed by initiation into the ancient roots of Yoga with Mark at the Kumbh Mela in India.

Ana Berry Yoga Teacher, Singer, Mantrika and co-owner of the Bhakti House, Tulsa IG and FB: @wholebodyprayer

Video version on YouTube

Encounters at the Kumbha Mela with Mark Whitwell:

Bali moments

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A special edition of the Heart of Yoga podcast as Melissa Forbes speaks about her life as an artist and Yoga practitioner and her friendship with UG Krishnamurti.

How do we describe him?

It’s difficult, but with love and gratitude, delight and humour, Melissa and Mark reminisce about their unusual friend - Melissa travelled with UG for the last five years of his life as his companion and “balance.”

She speaks about the power of art to help people use their right brain instead of the dominant left-brain, her obsession with spirals as the form of the cosmos and UGs resolution of this, and how he changed her Yoga from strenuous Astanga style to fluid participation in the spirals.

Learn more about The Heart of Yoga Online Studio and join us here:

https://www.heartofyoga.com/studio

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These interviews are useful because they describe how many different kinds of people receive Yoga and make use of Yoga, and how Yoga is functioning in their personal and unique lives.

“Yogis are not made on assembly lines.”

In this episode, Mark speaks with Frederic Ballario, his long-time friend, on his process of discovering the breath and the Yoga of wine and Tea. Frederic describes moving from Champagne, France to California, USA, many years ago and searching for the truth in wine.

Frederic is a master of Tea and Wine, and he explains how these ancient arts have been purified and made useful in the context of Yoga understanding and practice.

What do our sacred substances look like when we remove the cultural habit of looking for stimulation?

What is the role of wine if we already have a quiet mind, and are not looking to calm or subdue ourselves?

What does shamanic use of alcohol look like?

How does a teacher encourage each person to become themselves, not duplicate the teacher?

Do we even need a teacher?

What is the role of Yoga in coping with deep grief?

How do we relate to these vast beautiful ancient traditions? Are they static? Are we part of them, or consumers of them? Reflections on the ability to receive and how it transforms our lives.

And finally Frederic reflects on offering silent Tea ceremonies over Zoom during the pandemic, followed by very human conversations and connections.

Join one of these ceremonies inside the Heart of Yoga studio https://www.heartofyoga.com/studio (launching Sunday 31st Jan 2021) or through Frederic’s IG: @liquidsungod

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In this episode, Susan Swan and Mark Whitwell talk about Susan’s experience as a Yoga teacher, including suffering a stroke and continuing to teach while rehabilitating.

Susan speaks about recovering language through breath, swearing and the sound of OM, coming face to face with the reality that we live one breath at a time, and teaching yoga in hospital to help other patients recover.

Together, long-time friends Mark and Susan discuss the inevitable decline of the body, finding contentment despite it all, the pain of facing judgement and abandonment, and some possible positive outcomes from the impact of the pandemic on yoga teaching.

They also discuss what kept Susan going as a teacher during the most difficult times, and meetings with UG Krishnamurti. We hope you enjoy the bhav of this friendship.

Links

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In this Part 2 (you don't need to listen to part 1 first!) of God and Sex discussion, Mark and Rosalind talk about:

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In this episode Rosalind grills Mark on the promises made by the Yoga tradition, Yogananda’s classic ‘Autobiography of a Yogi,’ the lust for superpowers and supernatural experience and how it affects everyone, and what Mark’s favourite superpower is.

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“Dear friends,

I was born in the spring of ‘54 to a farmer father and school teacher mother. Both of them children of homesteader parents. After grade 12 , in 72/‘73, I backpacked and worked through Europe and Northern Africa for nearly nine months.

Returning home I began farming and attending an agricultural college receiving a diploma in Ag Production. I bought my first land when I was 18, and have been making a living raising crops and cattle ever since.

I married well in ‘81 and together we have raised three children. I had the opportunity to volunteer in Africa for three winters in the last ten years. Leadership education in Uganda and water filters in Malawi.

I became concerned about small aches and tightness due to a lot of physical work. Yoga was mentioned and I first tried it in about 2006 to loosen up. At that time there were no classes up here in the north so when we were visiting Maui I took a stab at it.

I loved the feeling I got both physically and surprisingly mentally. I wanted to immerse and continue so I looked up a retreat and found the Feathered Pipe Ranch in Montana. I studied under very good teachers there. It expanded my connections and eventually I ended up in Ojai studying with more teachers, including Mark Whitwell who I returned to three more times, meeting at the Peppertree [J. Krishnamurti’s home in Ojai, now a retreat —ed.].

I am happy to now be on the board of directors at the Feathered Pipe foundation.

Yoga has definitely helped me and I can’t imagine not having a daily morning practice that was initially developed by Mark and I’ll weave in something different every day depending what feels right.

It allows me to keep farming in a sustainable nature both for myself and for the farm. We have to look after ourselves so we can look after the farm.”

More info here.

Highlights

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Sriram is my Gurubhai – brothers of the same teacher. He is particularly interesting to me in that he is indigenous to South India, born into the society and language of Krishnamacharya and Desikachar. Whereas I migrated into that culture and knew nothing of it in my early life.

As a modern man in the West, Sriram is an extremely informed Yoga teacher who is able to communicate the nuance of the culture of our teachers in modern and useful ways.

Sriram speaks of growing up in South India as a radical young explorer of life and his journey into Yoga — a riveting and a brilliant window into how radical Desikachar himself was, absolutely not a traditionally religious or conservative yoga school. And the inspiring story of his relationship with his German wife Anjali and move to Germany.

R. Sriram has been working as a yoga teacher in Germany since 1988. In 1977 he began to systematically learn yoga with Śri TKV Desikachar in Chennai, his hometown - he received private and group lessons from him. Sriram also took private Ayurveda lessons with Dr. V. Narayanaswami and attended group lessons with Śri T. Krishnamacharya. For several years, Sriram taught under the guidance of Śri TKV Desikachar at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai Yoga and contributed to the development of the then young institute.

The philosophical source texts of yoga, therapy with yoga, mantra yoga and yoga with children from mainstream and special schools were and are his focus.

Thanks to his language skills and the support of his German wife, the Indian dancer Anjali, he has become an important link between east and west for many yoga practitioners. Since the nineties he has taught at many yoga training centers and universities and has brought many people closer to yoga in all its aspects in private lessons.

With his therapeutic knowledge he was able to give many people the opportunity to find a new, healthy way of dealing with their complaints and illnesses. In this way, R. Sriram has been able to train many students to become well-founded yoga teachers over the years. These teachers offer yoga all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

You can learn more and connect with Sriram on his:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

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Litiana returns to the podcast for part two of this conversation on how yoga helped her throw out colonial and religious legacies from her body and embrace her own indigeneity, and truly feel at home in her body.

Mark and her discuss her experiences, her vision for teaching dissociated world leaders, and their shared relationship with the Indian High commissioner and her poetry honouring Fiji.

“You can't change anybody until you love them first.”

Connect with Litiana @yoganesian on Instagram or Facebook, or practice with her and Mark inside our “Yoga for Activists” online course.

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Producer, creator, model, Yoga and Qi Gong teacher, and advocate for empowered aging and beauty at all ages, Karen Williams joins Mark from New York City to talk yoga, healing, transforming attitudes to aging, embracing difference and emotionally surviving the US elections.

Karen Williams is equally at home in front of or behind the camera. She is on a mission to revitalise global attitudes toward aging and embodiment, sharing the obvious truth that each one of us is already the beauty of life.

A resident of New York City, Karen is leading the way to a society of love and compassion. Her most recent major project was the ‘I AM’ series, a digital project to celebrate and empower women over 40, have a look HERE.

Connect with Karen @ksewilliams on Instagram.

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From dark times in Europe through to personal victory.

Croatian yoga teacher Domagoj Orlić joins Mark and Rosalind to speak about his twenty-year friendship with Mark, his evolution from a gymnast to a yogi, the influence of J Krishnamurti, and the confluence of Sri Vidya and yoga in his life.

What a precious conversation with a dear friend and holder of yoga.

“Powerful peace and peaceful power of a life lived straight from the Heart, for the Heart.” - Domagoj Orlić

Domagoj Orlić first met Mark Whitwell in about 2000, following an interest in yoga since his teenage years.

He is a yoga teacher in the traditional mode of “no more than a friend, no less than a friend,” the author of multiple books on yoga and philosophy in Croatian and English, the translator into Croatian of ‘Yoga of Heart’, and ‘The Promise’, an artist of yantra, and an accomplished martial artist.

You can learn more about Domagoj on his Facebook.

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This week we are so very glad to welcome Richard Schechner, who is a director, pioneer and founder in the field of performance studies, author of innumerable books, Professor Emeritus at New York University, editor of The Drama Review, and… a dedicated practitioner of the yoga he learned from his teacher, T. Krishnamacharya, in Chennai (then Madras) in 1971-72.

What a blessing to talk life and India with this great thinker, who also happens to be a holder of the torch of yoga.

In this episode, Mark, Rosalind and Richard discuss:

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In this episode, Rosalind takes the position of the everywoman yoga teacher, interviewing Mark on a lot of the questions and concerns people have as yoga teachers in our modern yoga scene.

Rosalind and Mark discuss:

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In this episode of The Heart of Yoga podcast, Mark and Andrew discuss:

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God and Sex: Perhaps the two most powerful and loaded words in the English language.

This book is a serious, yet not humourless, stake in the ground for bringing the two words together in their intrinsic harmony as the creative force of life.

You can find this book on Amazon here.

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In today’s episode, Mark interviews Litiana Lagibalavu, a yoga teacher, entrepreneur, lawyer in training, Indigenous Fijian, and a fierce activist philosopher building essential bridges between the ancient traditions of yoga and modern people of all kinds.

She shares her story, her observations on teaching yoga in Fiji, and her journey into Yoga:

Connect with Litiana @yoganesian on Instagram or Facebook, or practice with her and Mark inside our “Yoga for Activists” online course.

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Breath is our direct participation in the power of the cosmos that you are. It is the central feature and even the purpose of asana, and yet is all but lost in much modern yoga.

Breath is given lip service rather than careful engagement. Yet public attention is now turning to the power and healing potential of that overlooked miracle, our own breath.

“If you can breathe, you can do Yoga!”

Breath is the link between body and mind. Our body loves its breath and the inhale loves the exhale and vice versa. In this episode, Rosalind and Mark explore the power of the breath in yoga:

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T.K.V. Desikachar left us a vast wealth of practical knowledge about life and yoga by passing the precious jewels of wisdom from his father, Krishnamacharya.

We continue to receive the gifts of Desikachar’s dedication to his father Krishnamacharya’s teachings and their friendships with Jiddu and UG Krishnamurti.

Mark Whitwell first met Desikachar and his father in 1973, following extensive travels in India. He had met many gurus and yogis, but was struck by the fact that Desikachar and his family had no pomp and ceremony, no business agenda, and no need for name or fame around their scholarship.

Desikachar became Mark’s yoga teacher, a friend, a true pioneer — a caring human being who attained ordinariness. Mark reflects on Desikachar as a very human friend and his relationships with the Krishnamurti in India, Saanen, and New Zealand.

In this episode, Rosalind interviews Mark on T.K.V. Desikachar and his influential friendships:

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You can find more from Mark and the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Mark Whitwell has been teaching yoga around the world ever since he first met his yoga teachers, T.K.V. Desikachar and his father T. Krishnamacharya, in Chennai in 1973.

He realised straight away that our body loves its breath, the inhale loves the exhale and vice versa, and that yoga is an immensely practical and useful tool for everyone to respond to inspiration and grace.

The Heart of Yoga is the result of these precious meetings.

In this opening podcast episode, Rosalind Atkinson interviews Mark about the origins and purpose of the heart of yoga:

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https://www.heartofyoga.com/podcast

You can find more from Mark and the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.