Keen on Yoga Podcast

Marque Garaux Yoga as a Lifestyle ( http://www.greatlakesashtangayoga.com/ | @yogamarque) Connection with nature | Spending time outside | Moderation in all things | 2 basic principles of decisions | Connecting to oneself, others or nature | Protecting to avoid toxins of the world | Moderation is important | Asana is only one piece of the puzzle | Quiet time to quiet the mind | Paying attention to food choices | Making small changes a priority | Shift from what's good for me to what's good for all | Do your best | Cold baths | Outdoor practice | Sleep | Incorporating pleasure This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we use and highly recommend. Momence facilitates online, in-person and hybrid classes and events, and there are packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: for more information click on the link https://www.keenonyoga.com/momence/ or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" ***************************************************************************************************** Support Us Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf Become a Patron: https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet-ups & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time. Connect With Keen On Yoga Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/

Shandor Remete (www.shadowyoga.com/ | @shdow_yoga) Series of seven full moon discourses: https://shadowyoga.com/product/light-upon-taranyali-tridha-dhyanam All courses: https://shadowyoga.com/courses Book: Taraṇyali Tridhā Dhyānam: The Threefold Meditations of the Thunder Dragon Pashupatis | Tantra | Mula bandha | Sadhana | Mastery vs Ability & availability | Asana is for preparatory steps | Bringing the blind spots into focus | Becoming conscious of programming and free from them | The pranic force | Developing the sensitivity of the mind | The penny drops | Asanas become mudras | Angaharas | Mantra sadhana | Real ujjayi breath | Use of mantra | What is behind the mind | Soma chakra | 5 Human Gurus _________________________________________________________________ This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we use and highly recommend. Momence facilitates online, in-person and hybrid classes and events, and there are packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: for more information click on the link https://www.keenonyoga.com/momence/ or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" _________________________________________ Support Us Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf Become a Patron: https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet-ups & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time. CONNECT WITH KEEN ON YOGA Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ KEEN ON YOGA PODCAST Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keen-on-yoga-podcast/id1509303411 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5iM9lcw52JskHUZ2eFvVxN Full Guest List: https://keenonyoga.com/podcast-guests/ Please remember to Subscribe, Follow & Share ______________________________ Sundernath (Shandor Remete) was fortunate to be born into a household at the southeastern tip of the great Hungarian plain where the art of yoga was a daily presence. From this seed, his destiny on the path of yoga unfolded. He is an initiate of the Kanpatha Hatha Yogins of Nepal, descendants of Sri Gorakhnath, and his Guru Sri Matsyendranath. These great Yogins were the forefathers of Tantrik Hatha Yoga, the heart of which is Hatha Yoga – the science bestowed upon humanity by Adinatha (Lord Shiva). Shadow Yoga Shadow Yoga is a modern term that encompasses the ancient practices originating with the Pashupata tantrika yogins. These practises preceded and gave rise to Hatha Yoga. The Pashupata tantrika yogins are the oldest known ascetic yogins, even pre-dating Patanjali. The name Shadow Yoga is derived from the sixth chapter (entitled 'Yoga of the Shadow Man') of the ancient tantrika treatise or writings titled 'The Shiva-svarodaya' (the birth of the breath of life revealed by the god Shiva). The teaching of the Shadow School is based upon the ancient Hatha Yogic texts which state that 'all fixed forms should be designed to develop the practice of freestyle'. Freestyle is a necessary step in the cultivation of longevity and enlightenment. The required tools are the Shadow Yoga prelude forms, Nrtta (pure dance of Shiva), Asana (posture), Pranayama (inner breath control) and the mental practices through the concentrated power of will termed Samyama (even restraint). The basis for all is Nrtta which in its light form is the legacy of the Pashupata tantrika yogins. Through this pure form, devoid of any gymnastic or theatrical embellishments, the sadhaka (aspirant) rediscovers the natural rhythmic currents hidden within the body. Most of the asanas used in contemporary Hatha Yoga schools are adaptations of the standing and squatting karanas. The important difference is that in the original practice the placement of the legs was achieved through the energy of the legs whereas nowadays the legs are manipulated with the hands to achieve the same shapes. Through Samyama the essence of these activities are drawn into a single point that acts as the gateway into the immensity better described as 'the unknown'. The Shadow Yoga teachings encompass different stages of learning. There are various paths from which to choose as one ascends to the heights of knowledge and experience. Each individual will choose the path that they feel most drawn towards. Preparatory forms (Introduction to Shadow Yoga) 2. Nrtta Sadhana– pure dance of shiva 3. Shadanga Yoga– six limbs (

David Swenson (www.ashtanga.net | @davidswensonashtanga) David is teaching his first ever workshop on yoga short forms over Zoom with Keen on Yoga, details of the workshop are here: https://www.keenonyoga.com/events/david-swenson-ashtanga-short-forms/ In this podcast David talks about Pattabhi Jois short form | Western students driving for more | All or nothing mentality | Permission to shorten practice | 10-minute practice can be enough | What time is accessible? | Asana families | Intelligence behind sequences | Something is better than nothing | Being Doctors of our own body | What is happening today? | Feel good about yoga ***************************************************************************************** This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we use and highly recommend. Momence facilitates online, in-person and hybrid classes and events, and there are packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: for more information click on the link https://www.keenonyoga.com/momence/ or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" ****************************************************************************************** Support Us Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf Become a Patron: https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet-ups & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time. CONNECT WITH KEEN ON YOGA Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/

Ty Landrum (https://www.tylandrum.com/ @tylandrumyoga) The impact of the awareness of yoga | Yoga for struggles with depression | Bringing awareness to the body | Awareness of the breath | Yoga opens doors to hidden emotions | Stiff beginnings | Acceptance of pushing in yoga | Being present with whatever is arising | Wanting to feel like Richard Freeman | Following the questions | Prana and Apana impact on asana | Energetic based alignment | Roles of inhale and exhale | Varying the Ashtanga sequence | Qualities a good teacher This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we use and highly recommend. Momence facilitates online, in-person and hybrid classes and events, and there are packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale Best of all, with live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: for more information click on the link https://www.keenonyoga.com/momence/ or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" ******************************************************************************************************************************** Support Us Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf Become a Patron: https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet-ups & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time. Connect with us: Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ ***************************************************************************************************************************** Ty is running Intensives in Europe and in Goa, for bookings and info see here: https://www.tylandrum.com/events Ty has an unwavering love for this unique somatic discipline, which he began practicing back in 2005. Drawing on his formal background in philosophy (PhD University of Virginia), Ty has an unusual power for illuminating the internal dynamics of yoga. He sees yoga as conscious participation in archetypal patterns of human development, which he is ever drawn to explore. Many inspiring people taught Ty about yoga, but the deepest and most lasting imprints have been made by Jennifer Eliot (his first teacher), David Garrigues (his second), Mary Taylor and Richard Freeman (his most recent), to all of whom he is forever grateful. These teachers all did something remarkable, which is to disappear, and allow the spirit of yoga to stand forth from within. Ty now shares his love of yoga in studios and retreat centers around the world. His passion is to share the brilliance of yoga with anyone who wants to learn. learned yoga from pain and heartache, loss and confusion, old books, lost tapes, full moons, long bouts of silence, cold winds, simplicity, forgiveness, surrender, and the caring words of a few good friends. He draws inspiration from children, saffron, sage, carob, almonds, chocolate, wise women, gnarled old men, olive trees, deep rivers, steep mountains, quaking aspen, honeybees, love songs, sunrises, laughter and deep breath.

Kino MacGregor (https://kinoyoga.com/ | @kinoyoga) Changes to practice in Mysore over the years | Sharathji in Mysore now | Use of consent cards | Relationship with Guruji and Sharathji | The intention of teaching | Being an innovator on YouTube | Consent violations | Trauma survivor | Evolution of the Ashtanga community teaching | Softening after dogma | Social justice and teaching | Integrating practice of Vipassana | E-how yoga | Morning routine & personal practice | Spirituality of the practice | New book Act of Love | Travel tips (bio below) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we use and highly recommend. Momence facilitates online, in-person and hybrid classes and events, and there are packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: for more information click on the link https://www.keenonyoga.com/momence/ or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" ********************************************************* SUPPORT US Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf CONNECT WITH KEEN ON YOGA Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ MEMBERSHIP: https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet-ups & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I first met Kino in Crete in 2004 at one of her first international workshops where she taught a small group of students along with life coaching sessions in the afternoon. She has done a lot since then but remains the inspiring and highly energetic presence I first met almost 20 years ago. A unique and household name in Ashtanga yoga, Kino has a wealth of experience to share, not least her own personal journey - which she speaks about most candidly in this podcast as well as her new book 'Act of Love'. A Miami native, Kino relentlessly travels the world sharing her knowledge as well as having released several books prior to her new one as well as many popular practice videos. With over 1 million followers on Instagram and over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube and Facebook, Kino's message of spiritual strength reaches people all over the world. Sought after as an expert in yoga worldwide, is an international yoga teacher, inspirational speaker, author of four books, producer of six Ashtanga Yoga DVDs, writer, vlogger, world traveller, co-founder of Miami Life Center and the founder of Omstars—the world's first yoga TV network

Prasad Rangnekar (www.prasadrangnekar.com IG: @yogaprasad_institute YouTube: Yogaprasad Institute) What is our project as yogis? Unyoga yourself | Asana practice v following yogic principles | Going into silence practices | Bodybuilding as an entry to the mind | Importance of devotion | Namaskar = Hindu push-up | Asana is not purely physical | Yoga of the west vs India | The role of a teacher v guru | 7 layers of teacher | Importance of finding 'your' teacher | Guru is similar to therapist | Teaching focused on simplification, deepening of faith, creation of patience | Silence & surrender | Faith matures into surrender | Grateful for the positives, humbled by the negatives | Life is simple but the mind is complicated | Let your breath be the guide Prasad Rangnekar, E-RYT500, is a Yoga Educator based in India who teaches in over 15 countries for the past 27 years. He has been a student practitioner of Yoga for the last 37 years, studying both in traditional lineages and academically, with a master's degree in Philosophy. As a transformation guide using Yogic methods he is regularly invited to speak at Indian Embassies, The European Commission, Yoga conventions, Schools, Corporate bodies, and Charity organizations. He has established multiple close-knit student communities globally and is engaged in various social initiatives, especially through his 'Women Yogis of India' seminars that raise funds for women-focused charities. Prasad has been conducting 200- & 300-Hour Teacher Training for over a decade and also runs a free student resource YouTube channel that has over 350 videos with hundreds of hours of content.

Daniel Simpson ( www.danielsimpson.info | IG @danielcsimpson | The Roots Of Modern Yoga Online Course) History of modern yoga | What is yoga? | First modern yoga class 1918 | The East / West exchange | Swami Vivekananda | Yogendra | Kuvalayananda | The role of direct experience | Hinduism and yoga | The umbrella of oneness | Impact of Krishnamacharya, Iyengar, Jois, Desikachar | Indian bodybuilding cross over | Mark Singleton's Yoga Body | Using the physical to reach the subtle levels | Harmonic gymnastics and breathwork | Yoga and politics | Hatha Yoga Pradipika | The business of yoga | Are tapas necessary? This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we use and highly recommend. Momence facilitates online, in-person and hybrid classes and events, and there are packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: for more information click on the link https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" ********************************************************* SUPPORT US Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf CONNECT WITH KEEN ON YOGA Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ MEMBERSHIP https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet-ups & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time. Daniel presents ancient texts for modern times. He is the author of The Truth of Yoga, a comprehensive guide to the history of practice. His approach combines scholarly knowledge with humour and insight, making yoga philosophy accessible and relevant to practitioners today. Daniel teaches courses online, at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, at triyoga in London, around the UK and internationally. He also offers private tutoring. Drawing on a master's degree from SOAS (University of London), and two decades of experience, he aims to help students explore their own path. He supplements his teaching with work as an editor. His latest offering is The Roots Of Modern Yoga Online Course

Lara Land (www.laraland.us IG: @laralandyoga) Trauma therapy and yoga | Losing our agency | Trauma stored in the body | Yoga releases it | How to create a safer space | Addiction to stress | Trauma can feel normal | It can drive you forward | The truth wants to come out | Signs of suppression | Using yoga to work through trauma | Yoga as a tool of self-discovery |Teaching students with trauma | Use of tristana | Importance of closing sequence | Phraseology | Physical adjustments *********************************************************************************************************************** This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we use and highly recommend. Use Momence for online, in-person and hybrid classes and events, there are packages to suit all from self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: for more information click on the link https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" ********************************************************* SUPPORT US Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf CONNECT WITH KEEN ON YOGA Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ MEMBERSHIP: https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet-ups & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time. ********************************************************************************************************* Lara Land is a deeply compassionate life coach, consultant and yoga teacher trainer specializing in trauma sensitivity. Her work is in helping to heal trauma both subtle and significant and train others using trauma-sensitive yoga, meditation, mindfulness and breathing practices. She has spent the last 25 years studying Ashtanga yoga and sharing yoga asana, chanting, meditation, and philosophy directly from her teachers in India. Her commitment is to honor the traditions of yoga by responding to the needs of each individual, using a unique combination of practices and techniques that are appropriate for their personal growth. Some of her many certifications include: trauma-informed mindfulness, life coaching, therapeutic fasting, and mindfulness in nature. Lara has been featured in and contributed to New York Magazine, Huffington Post, Yoga Journal, Apartment Therapy and on Fox5, CBS, NY1 and SiriusRadioXM. Lara's book The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga is coming out in the new year.

Cathy-Louise Broda (purpleyoga.com | @cathy.louise.broda ) An honest talk about menopause and practice through it. As well as loving the colour purple. Learning with John Scott in 2000 | 7 years of primary series | The original Ashtanga community in the UK | Practice with joy | Moving into the middle and older phases of the body | Body recovery after giving birth | Change in cycles | Hot flashes & talking yourself out of them | Hormonal changes in the body | Going crazy before neutral | Flexible then stiff | The importance for male teachers to understand | Practising during menstruation | Effects of nutrition on the body | Craving quiet space | Changes in diet | Celebrate being a woman This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we've been using for the last year and highly recommend. Momence is a booking system for online, in-person and hybrid classes and events with packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: for more information click on the link https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" ********************************************************* Support us: Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf Connect with Keen on Yoga Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ Membership: https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet-ups & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time. Cathy Louise has been teaching Ashtanga Yoga for 31 years. Her first teacher was Beryl Bender Birch, who she did a two-year apprenticeship with in New York in the late 1980s. Cathy Louise's early studies with Beryl still inform her teaching today. Cathy Louise met Pattabhi Jois during his first visit to New York and received his blessing to teach Ashtanga in 2000. Known for her transformative hands-on adjustments, Cathy Louise's teaching style also owes much to John Scott. In the late 1990s, she assisted John in his Mysore classes in London and then inherited her own Mysore style classes at Astanga Yoga London. While in London she taught vinyasa yoga at Triyoga, did a year-long apprenticeship in Pregnancy Yoga with Lynne Pinette, and met Nancy Gilgoff who was pivotal in empowering Cathy Louise as a female Ashtanga teacher. Cathy Louise's Pregnancy and Mom & Baby classes draw on her experience as a mother of three. In her Ashtanga classes too, she openly shares her journey as a woman so students may learn how best to adjust the practice of yoga in all stages of their lives. Perimenopause is the time before menopause. A woman's hormone levels start to change causing symptoms like: Irregular menstrual cycles – ovulation becomes less regular. Flow can be lighter or heavier Hot flashes – hormone changes can start to create hot flashes. Sleep problems – due to hot flashes or "night sweats". Mood changes – hormone levels change meaning some women have more mood swings, irritable. Decreased fertility – ovulation becomes less regular so it's harder to conceive. Changes in sexual feeling – less interested in sex. Loss of bone density – with lower oestrogen bones lose density faster than you can replace bone. Changes in cholesterol levels – lower oestrogen levels can make you start to have "high cholesterol". Other symptoms can be vaginal dryness, weight gain, slow metabolism, thinning hair, and dry skin. Menopause is when you have not had a menstrual cycle for at least a 12-month period. Menopause can happen in your 40s to 50s. The average age in the US of menopause is 51 years old. Symptoms can continue as with "perimenopausal" symptoms, and you can also experience: Fatigue, difficulty concentrating or memory loss, dizziness, weight gain, incontinence, bloating, changes in body odour, depression and anxiety, breast pain, headaches, joint pain, burning tongue, muscle tension, dry itchy skin, osteoporosis, gum problems, anxiety, brittle nails, tingling in the legs/arms. Early Menopause or Premature Menopausecan happen any time before the usual age of 40s-50s. Early menopause can come with having a hysterectomy (removal of ovaries), chemotherapy (cancer treatment) or stress. It's important if you have early menopause that you have a balanced diet and take medical advice to make sure you remain healthy.

Andrew McGonigle aka Doctor Yogi (www.doctor-yogi.com / @doctoryogi) Andrew McGonigle is a medically trained yoga anatomy teacher empowering yoga teachers to teach from a more science-informed perspective. He talks to Adam about: The Physiology of Yoga | Evidence-based thinking/research | Where is our information coming from? | What is anecdotal information? | What is expert opinion? | Systematic reviews/meta-analysis | Does yoga cause injuries? | Critical thinking | Muscle fascia & yin yoga | Does muscle shorten or lengthen over time? | Stretch tolerance | Role of the nervous system | Can you have short hamstrings? | Importance of hypermobility | Micromanaging teachers | The use of teaching language | Movement is medicine | Not moving is worse than moving | Lower back issues | Yoga for stress | Menstruation and shame in yoga | Parasympathetic system | Role of the diaphragm | Is yoga all you need? | What is bandha? | Detoxification, diet and yoga | When to step away from the rules This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we've been using for the last year and highly recommend. Momence is a booking system for online, in-person and hybrid classes and events with packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · • Manage your class and workshop schedule • Organize your appointment types and availability • Create marketing and win-back campaigns • Organize your on-demand videos and courses • See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. • Have customers self-check-in via kiosks • Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: for more information click on this link https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga"

Gregor Maehle (www.8limbs.com | @gregor.maehle) Yoga is for the mind, not the body | Yoga is the Vedic system of psychology | Treating trauma via breath and body | A healing modality | Importance of yoga philosophy | Using yoga to prove your validity | Include self-love and self-esteem in yoga | Spiritual bypassing | Acknowledging your own shadow | Making your mind sattvic | Pranayama | Being in service of the divine This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we've been using for the last year and highly recommend. Momence is a booking system for online, in-person and hybrid classes and events with packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: click on the link for more information https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" ********************************************************* Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ MEMBERSHIP: https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet-ups & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time. Gregor is the international author of eight textbooks covering all eight limbs of yoga. His latest publication is How to Find Your Life's Divine Purpose – Brain Software For a New Civilization. He is a mystic and a profuse blog writer covering topics on yoga and beyond. He travels the globe educating with passion, humour, insight and wisdom. Today he teaches an anatomically sophisticated interpretation of traditional vinyasa yoga, integrated into the practice of the higher limbs in the spirit of Patanjali and T. Krishnamacharya. His zany sense of humour, his manifold personal experiences, and his vast knowledge of scripture, Indian philosophies and yogic techniques combine to make his teachings applicable, relevant and easily accessible to all his students. Apart from offering Teacher Trainings online and face-to-face in Byron Bay, Bali Europe and Mexico, Gregor also teaches workshops in various locations around the world.

Rachel Scott (www.rachelyoga.com | @ rachelscottyoga) Teaching yoga teachers | Physical assists | Mixing Ashtanga & Iyengar | Inner breath experience | The role of the teacher | Sage on the stage v guide on the side | Facilitating yoga v creating a show | Skeletal variations | Injuries | Moving in a pain-free motion | Trusting practical wisdom This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we've been using for the last year and highly recommend. Momence is a booking system for online, in-person and hybrid classes and events with packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: click on the link below for more information or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga Rachel Scott took her first yoga class and was hooked. She enjoyed the practice that got her out of her head and into her body. Yoga became a safe space to feel, challenge myself, and reconnect. Since 2003, she's immersed herself in education and the yoga business: managing studios and teachers. Rachel creates and leads teacher trainings, hires and coaching faculty, auditioning and mentoring teachers. In addition, she creates new programs and workshops, supporting the growth of two multi-location, national yoga companies (Yoga Works and YYoga). Her mission is to share what she knows – about education, yoga, and business – to help teachers and studios elevate their offerings, share their passion, and bring more yoga into the world. ********************************************************* SUPPORT US Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf CONNECT WITH KEEN ON YOGA Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ MEMBERSHIP https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet-ups & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time.

Magnus Fridh (www.magnusfridh.com @magnus_fridh @ about_yoga) Tibetan Buddhism What does meditation do? |Expansiveness of mind | Direct benefits of calm and space | Space between stimuli and response | The mind watching the mind | Focused concentration | Welcome stress and worries | Experience nirvana now | The muscle of awareness | Handling suffering This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we've been using for the last year and highly recommend. Momence is a booking system for online, in-person and hybrid classes and events with packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: click on the link below for more information or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga Magnus Fridh, author of The Art of Stillness in a Noisy World , grew up in southern Sweden. He discovered meditation in his teenage years, and through academic studies in Indology, specialising in Tibetan language and culture, he gained an in-depth knowledge of the subject. He regularly teaches group Ashtanga yoga, mindfulness and meditation classes. Magnus is also one of the founders of the Mindfulness app. The app has become wildly popular around the world, having been translated into 13 languages and involved in a number of ongoing research projects.

Michael Baidoo (@bay_jitsu @ashtanga_breakfast_club) The Beauty of Waking up at 5 am | Learning Ashtanga Online | Social Media Networking | Humour in Dynamics |Jujitsu to Ashtanga | Making Guy Donahaye Smile | Ashtanga for Mental Health via Self-discipline | Leaving a Sheltered Family | The Personification of a Man This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we've been using for the last year and highly recommend. Momence is a booking system for online, in-person and hybrid classes and events with packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · • Manage your class and workshop schedule • Organize your appointment types and availability • Create marketing and win-back campaigns • Organize your on-demand videos and courses • See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. • Have customers self-check-in via kiosks • Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: click on the link below for more information or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga Michael is a purple belt Jiu Jitsu practitioner who began practising Ashtanga yoga during the pandemic lockdown as he lost his job. His sensei was his inspiration and motivation to get up each day at 5 am. He began as self-taught through books and videos. Soon afterwards, Michael took to social media to share his experience in the most hilarious way and found connections with other practitioners. As they got in touch with their experiences, Michael became king of the Ashtanga memes as he brought light and laughter to students around the globe. His sheltered upbringing gives Michael a unique insight and appreciation for discipline which served him well. ********************************************************* SUPPORT US Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf CONNECT WITH KEEN ON YOGA Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ MEMBERSHIP https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet ups with Adam & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time.

Matt Ryan @mattryanyoga | www.yoga-manchester.co.uk | DJ to Yogi | Panic Attacks | Depersonalisation | Kissing the Guru's Feet | Advaita Experiences | Tradition or Trend? | Hard Core Zen | The Love of Helping People | New Beginnings in Manchester | Always Maintaining a Practice This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we've been using for the last year and highly recommend. Momence is a booking system for online, in-person and hybrid classes and events with packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. With Momence, you can: · Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale With live support by chat, phone and email Momence is easy to use for yourself and your customers. 2 MONTHS FREE TRAIL: click on the link below for more information or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga Matt Ryan traded in the life of a DJ, including a stint at Manchester's famous nightclub The Hacienda, for the life of yoga. He was introduced to Ashtanga yoga to deal with anxiety and depersonalisation disorder, and it helped him immensely. Soon afterwards made the trip to Mysore at the Laxmipurum shala with Pattabhi Jois. He was granted Level 2 authorisation from the AYRI, as it was known at the time. That was over 23 years ago, and he's remained immersed in yoga. Matt complements his Ashtanga practice with Zen Buddhism and the daily sitting practice of Zazen. He finds in this combination an immediate effect resulting in a steadier, more focused mind whilst moving through the asana sequences. The result is a sense of in-the-moment presence coupled with a solid flexible mind & body. In 2015 Matt created the 'Nee-Ji', safe knee support for yoga & meditation. (nee-ji.com). He is also the father of 4 children. Matt has taught internationally and has established yoga studios in Manchester, London and Los Angeles. In 2023 he is looking forward to new beginnings for Yoga Manchester, and we look forward to seeing him thrive. SUPPORT US Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf CONNECT WITH KEEN ON YOGA Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ MEMBERSHIP https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet ups with Adam & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time.

Damien de Bastier (https://www.ubuntubali.com/ @ubuntu_bali). Ashtanga With Knee Injuries | Teaching to Student's Individual Needs | Ashtanga in France | Importance of Meditation | The 20% Rule | Yoga As a Therapy | Myofascial Release | Chitta Vritti Nirodaha This episode is sponsored by Momence, the booking system we've been using for the last year and highly recommend. Momence is a booking system for online, in-person and hybrid classes and events with packages to fit self-employed teachers to multi-site studios. To try Momence for two months at no cost click on the link below for more information or book a demo and quote "Keen on Yoga" https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga With Momence, you can: Manage your class and workshop schedule Organize your appointment types and availability · Create marketing and win-back campaigns Organize your on-demand videos and courses See exactly how your business is doing through insightful reporting. Have customers self-check-in via kiosks Sell products and services with a fully integrated point of sale It's easy to use for yourself and your customers and you can manage everything in one place. ************************************************************* Damien has been practising and studying yoga for over 30 years. As a struggling teenager, he was introduced to transcendental meditation and has followed the path of yogic wisdom ever since. On his journey to more balance, joy and understanding, Damien gained degrees in clinical psychology, Ashtanga yoga, yoga therapy and various forms of bodywork that he integrates into his teachings. After teaching all these years, what inspires Damien the most is watching people use yoga to transform themselves and grow into their fullness. It's an honour to be a part of that process and guide them. Ubuntu, his yoga centre in Bali, was born from that inspiration. It's a haven where people can find the tools to work on themselves and go deeper into their unfolding. Ubuntu provides yoga practice and courses in philosophy, anatomy, breathwork, meditation, permaculture and creative arts, all in a beautiful garden setting in Canggu. *********************************************************** SUPPORT US Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf CONNECT WITH KEEN ON YOGA Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ Workshops: https://keenonyoga.com/workshops/ MEMBERSHIP https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet ups with Adam & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time. KEEN ON YOGA PODCAST Full Guest List: https://keenonyoga.com/podcast-guests/

Our sponsor for this episode is Momence, the booking system we use for yoga classes, workshops, events, etc. From independent teachers wanting to take bookings and payments online to multi-site studios wanting to replace outdated and expensive systems, Momence is easy to use for you and your customers. It reduces hours of admin and offers live chat help. For a 2-month free trial, click the link: https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga James Mallinson is Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit and Classical and Indian Studies at SOAS, University of London. His interest in yoga grew out of a fascination for India and Indian asceticism – he spent several years living with Indian ascetics and yogis, in particular Rāmānandī Tyāgīs. His MA thesis, part of a major in ethnography, was on Indian asceticism. He became frustrated, however, with (to quote Sheldon Pollock) the "hypertrophy of method" that afflicts much of the humanities, and anthropology in particular, so sought to ground his future research in philology. The one aspect of ascetic practice that is well represented in Sanskrit texts is yoga, so for his doctoral thesis he chose to edit an early text on haṭhayoga, the Khecarīvidyā, which teaches in detail khecarīmudrā, one of traditional haṭhayoga's most important practices, and he used fieldwork among traditional yogis in India to shed light on the text's teachings. As he worked on his thesis he became more and more unsure that the received wisdom on the origins of haṭhayoga (whose practices form the basis of much of modern yoga) was correct, in particular its blanket attribution to the Nāth sect, based as that wisdom was on a very small selection of the available texts and modern oral history (which is rarely a reliable source in India). But it was clear that to put his work in the broader context was going to be impossible while working on his thesis. When he was revising it for publication a few years after completing it, he was asked to contribute to a volume on the Nāths and their literature. He agreed and decided to concentrate on the corpus of texts of haṭhayoga. It soon became apparent that this was going to be too big a task for a single chapter of a book and he apologised to the volume's editor but continued with his research. Four years on he has identified a corpus of eight works that teach early haṭhayoga and about a dozen more that contribute to its classical formulation in the Haṭhapradīpikā. With this philological basis established it has been possible at last to put all of haṭhayoga's aspects into context, which is what he is doing in the monograph on which he is currently working, Yoga and Yogis: The Texts, Techniques and Practitioners of Early Haṭhayoga. Many of the conclusions that can be drawn from the corpus and the other sources he uses (from Mughal miniatures to his fieldwork amongst traditional yogis) overturn what was previously thought about yoga's formative period. Although he has decided to present the bulk of the findings in a single monograph (because its parts are all so interdependent), in the course of working on it he has written various spin-off articles and reviews on specific aspects of haṭhayoga. Between September 2015-2020, Mallinson was the Principle Investigator of The Haṭha Yoga Project (HYP), a five-year research project funded by the European Research Council and based at SOAS, University of London which aims to chart the history of physical yoga practice by means of philology, i.e. the study of texts on yoga, and ethnography, i.e. fieldwork among practitioners of yoga. From January 2021, Mallison has been the lead on three year project entitled "Light on Hatha Yoga: A critical edition and translation of the Haṭhapradīpikā, the most important premodern text on physical yoga" funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the German Research Foundation Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). He has been interviewed on yoga for BBC Radio on Beyond Belief and for the Secret History of Yoga. More information about Dr Mallinson's work, his CV and publications, many of them downloadable, can be found here, and on his website: www.khecari.com ************************************************************************ SUPPORT US Donate: https://keenonyoga.com/donate/ Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoRf CONNECT WITH KEEN ON YOGA Instagram Keen on Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/keen_on_yoga/ Instagram Adam Keen: https://www.instagram.com/adam_keen_ashtanga/ Website: https://keenonyoga.com/ Workshops: https://keenonyoga.com/workshops/ MEMBERSHIP https://keenonyoga.com/membership/ Exclusive content, yoga & lifestyle tips, live Zoom meet ups with Adam & more. €10 per month, cancel at any time.

Jenna Longoria – The Period Guru – Women's Cycles, Ashtanga Yoga Practice & Time Off For Periods, Period Pain Is Not Inherent, Time Your Practice with Your Cycles Our sponsor for this episode is Momence, the booking system we use for yoga classes, workshops, events, etc. From independent teachers wanting to take bookings and payments online to multi-site studios wanting to replace outdated and expensive systems, Momence is easy to use for you and your customers. It reduces hours of admin and offers live chat help. For a 2-month free trial, click the link: https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga Jenna Longoria, "The Period Guru" (@theperiodguru), is a Board Certified Functional Nutrition Practitioner (FDN-P) passionate about women's hormonal health. She is also an authorised Ashtanga yoga teacher. Growing up, she struggled with weight gain, painful and irregular periods, PMS, digestive discomfort, and intense mood swings. At the time, she didn't realise that all these symptoms were part of PCOS and Endometriosis. The only "solution" doctors gave her was to take the birth control pill, but she wasn't keen on the host of horrible side effects. Jenna returned to school to study functional medicine, nutrition, and women's health. She ran the right labs, changed her diet and lifestyle to support her body and started taking targeted supplements. Today, she's 20 pounds lighter, has regular periods, and her mood swings and sugar cravings no longer get the best of her. Her mission is to empower all women with the knowledge to be their best health advocates to achieve pain-free periods, abundant energy, healthy digestion, and optimum fertility.

Paul, a Master of breath-mind-body, scholar & entrepreneur, talks to Adam about his life of yoga. Paul has devoted the last three decades to developing expertise in the breath-mind-body lifestyle. He has received a PhD from one of the leading universities in the US, covering both the tradition and science of yoga and breath practices. He has been uniquely acknowledged in the Yoga tradition by "Master Yogi-Prānācharya (breath expert)". He has been a dedicated teacher for 25 years and a pioneering entrepreneur establishing the first sustainably-based yoga-breath-meditation retreat centre in Asia, Samahita Retreat, in 2003. As a teacher, researcher, and presenter, Paul's continuous effort is to help people improve their mental and physical health. He is a highly natural and gifted speaker who has taught and spoken at events worldwide. CONNECT WITH PAUL Website: https://samahitaretreat.com/teachers/paul-dallaghan/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/samahitaretreat/

Rod Stryker is a world-renowned meditation teacher, yoga educator, and thought leader. One of the world's leading yoga and meditation teachers, Rod Stryker, has dedicated the last 40 years of his life to improving the lives of others through his teaching, lectures, writing, leadership, and service. Rod is the founder of ParaYoga®, and the author of two books—his first, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity and Freedom, and his second, Enlightened Sleep, soon to be released. He is the creator of one of the world's most comprehensive online yoga training programs and, most recently, Sanctuary with Rod Stryker: the meditation & yoga nidra app with deep sleep, yoga, and pranayama (breathing) practices. Rod has also written numerous articles on yoga and meditation, has been featured in countless interviews, and has been a keynote speaker and presenter at a multitude of conferences internationally. Rod Stryker is renowned for making ancient wisdom and practices accessible to modern audiences. He continues to share the gifts of his practice, discipleship, and life with diverse audiences beyond the yoga world––which is to say, anyone wanting to experience the tools (such as meditation and deep relaxation) that help them successfully navigate an ever-changing world, or those simply looking to improve their quality of life and well-being. Raised in Los Angeles, California, Rod attended Beverly Hills High School and the University of Denver, in addition to studying abroad. He was 19 years old when he began his study of yoga. He taught his first class in 1980 and led his first teacher training seven years later. In addition to mentoring hundreds of teachers and thousands of students worldwide, Rod Stryker also serves on the board of Give Back Yoga Foundation and is a featured faculty member of Yoga International. Rod is father to four amazing souls and currently lives in Boise, Idaho. https://www.instagram.com/rodstrykerofficial/

Dr Mikel (Mik) Burley is an Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy Philosophy of religion; religious ethics; comparative and cross-cultural philosophy and religion; South Asian religious and philosophical traditions (esp. Hindu and Buddhist). BA (Essex) MA (Nottingham) PhD, MA (Leeds) PhD (Bristol) Research Interests Philosophy of religion Religious ethics Comparative and cross-cultural philosophy and religion South Asian religious and philosophical traditions (esp. Hindu and Buddhist) Philosophical and interdisciplinary research methods Death, illness and emotion Conceptions of immortality and eternal life Rebirth and reincarnation Wittgenstein and Wittgensteinian approaches

Dr Stacie CC Graham (pronoun: she) is a management consultant, executive coach, founder, speaker and writer. Finding herself often as the only person of colour at yoga retreats led Stacie to create her to create her holistic wellness brand, OYA: Body-Mind-Spirit Retreats. OYA is dedicated to underrepresented communities typically underserved by the mainstream wellness industry. OYA Retreats creates holistic wellness experiences for Black women and women of colour to support on mental-emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing levels. OYA seeks to co-create spaces in which shared practices are steeped in diverse cultural and wisdom traditions. Yoga as Resistance Stacie is the author of the book Yoga as Resistance Equity and Inclusion On and Off the Mat. The book outlines a dynamic programme of social justice reform within the yoga industry. The majority of teachers in North America and Europe are white, able-bodied and cisgender. What does that signal to people differently identified about their place in yoga? This book will inspire and welcome all to take part in questioning the status quo and learn how to move toward equity, and why it matters. Diversity and inclusion within the wellness industry has been increasingly under the spotlight. The book responds to the appetite for guidance on how we actively create change. The mission of Yoga as Resistance is to educate and empower yoga practitioners and professionals to take action in aligning their practice on the mat with their lives off the mat. Stacie is also the founder of Colour Balance Images, a digital media platform empowering local creative communities to tell their own stories by delivering images and footage to media and advertising. In her first profession as a management consultant, Stacie supports companies, teams and individuals in reaching their fullest potential with the help of practices and tools such as mindful leadership, intersectional attunement as well as emotional and social intelligence. Stacie holds an MS in economics and a PhD in psychology as well as experience living and working in different parts of the world. She continues to cultivate a nuanced understanding of underlying drivers of human motivation and behavior in true Scorpio fashion. Her work has been featured in countless digital and print publications including BBC, Essence, Huff Post, i-D, and Refinery 29. Find Stacie: https://www.oyaretreats.com/ https://www.instagram.com/oyaretreats/ https://stacieccgraham.com/index.html

Andrew Eppler has been practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga for over 3 decades and is the director of Ashtanga Yoga Studio where he offers a variety of courses, classes and trainings both online and in person. He has grown up with the practice and witnessed its evolution into world culture first hand. Andrew has spent many years studying the philosophy of the Nathamuni Sampradaya tradition that Sri Krishnamacharya belonged to. Andrew is also the producer and director of the film Mysore Yoga Traditions. If you are interested in the history and culture that Ashtanga Yoga has come from Mysore Yoga Traditions film will be a beautiful experience! You can listen to the elders, scholars, spiritual leaders and even the Queen of Mysore herself telling the story of the yoga of Mysore. With the help and support of senior Sanskrit professors in Mysore Andrew has developed an approach to teaching physical postures that fits the modern paradigm. While staying grounded in traditional ideas about philosophy and the sequences of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, Andrew believes that there is inevitable evolution in yoga practice and uses a "global fusion" of techniques. Connect with Andrew Website: https://www.ashtangayogastudio.com/ Instagram: @andrew_eppler_yoga https://www.instagram.com/p/CgT9776FDfk/

Luke Jordan is a Certified Teacher in the Ashtanga Yoga tradition and holds a Masters in Indian Religions. He is a writer, story-teller, vedic-chanter, sanskritist and consummate student of yogic and spiritual culture. Always feeling that there was something more to life, Luke first began formal study of Eastern mysticism in the 1990s while at University and plunged headlong into the practice of Ashtanga Yoga in the year 2000. This began an on-going journey that would take him around the world seeking out experts, gurus and teachers in the field of Yoga and spirituality. Luke first made his way to Mysore, India in 2001 to study with Sri Pattabhi Jois and his grandson Sharath and is one of a very small number of teachers worldwide to have been granted the honour of Certification within the Ashtanga tradition. Drawn to the deeper philosophical dimensions of Yoga, Luke loves to share the inquiry that springs from the chants, myths and conceptual underpinnings which form Yoga's wider tradition. He now lives in Portugal where he is the founder of the Colares Yoga Club and each year gives the intensive Ashtanga Yoga Summer School. In this episode Luke talks to Adam about: Samkhya & yoga Yoga as a form of experiential enquiry Moving from gross level of experience to subtle levels of experience Spiritual seeking Tattvas Karma Purusha Do we have freewill? Connect with Luke: Website: https://lukejordanyoga.com/luke-jordan Instagram: @lukejordanyoga

Norman E. Sjoman is the author of the 1996 book The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace. The book contains an English translation of the yoga section of Sritattvanidhi, a 19th-century treatise by the Maharaja of Mysore. It contributes an original view on the history and development of the teaching traditions behind modern asanas. According to Sjoman, a majority of the tradition of teaching yoga as exercise spread primarily through the teachings of BKS Iyenger and his students. He claims this "appears to be distinct from the philosophical or textual tradition of hatha yoga. In addition, it does not appear to have any basis as a genuine tradition as there is no textual support for the asanas taught and no lineage of teachers." Sjoman studied at the University of British Columbia and Stockholm University before obtaining a PhD from the Centre of Advanced Studies in Sanskirt at Pune University. In addition, he holds a pandit degree from the Mysore Maharaja's Mahapathasala. Sjoman spent 14 years in India studying four different shastras n Sanskrit, with several pandits. In the mid 1980s, while doing research at the Mysore Palace, Sjoman made copies of the yoga section of the Sritattvanidhi. This was a "colossal" illustrated compendium, authored in the 19th century by the then Maharaja. The book included diagrams of 122 yoga asanas. Unlike the few other known historical yoga treatises, the emphasis was solely on the physical activity. Some appeared based on Indian wrestling and other gymnastic exercises. In that aspect more closely resembling modern yoga as exercise forms such as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Both B. K. S. Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois, who are major influences on modern yoga forms, themselves studied under teacher Tirumalai Krishnamacharya at the Mysore Palace in the 1930s. Sjoman discovered that the royal family, in the early 1900s, had employed a British gymnast to train the young princes. When Krishnamacharya arrived in the 1920s to start a yoga school, his schoolroom was the former gymnasium complete with ropes. Sjoman argues that several exercises detailed in a purposely written western gymnastics manual were incorporated into Krishnamacharya's syllabus, resulting in his vinyasa style, and further passed on to Iyengar and Jois. The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace was published in 1996 including the 122 asana illustrations and extracts from the gymnastics manual. Naturally, the radical, perhaps heretical, idea that some of the practice of modern yoga as exercise is based on something as mundane as British gymnastics caused a stir in the yoga world.

Sravana Borkataky-Varma is a historian, educator, and social entrepreneur. As a historian, she studies Indian religions focusing on esoteric rituals and gender, particularly in Hinduism (Śākta Tantra). As an educator, she is currently a lecturer at Harvard Divinity School and at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. In the past she has taught at the University of Houston, the University of Montana, Rice University, and DaLian Neusoft University, China. Sravana's current project includes a co-edited volume titled Living Folk Religions (under contract with Routledge, 2022), Digital Tantra, a co-edited special issue journal by International Journal of Hindu Studies (under contract with Springer, 2022), and her monograph titled Spotlight and Shadow: Superwomen, Women, and Hijṛās (2023). In addition, book chapters such as "Taming Hindu Śakta Tantra on the Internet: Online Pūjās for the Goddess Tripurasundarī," in Digital Hinduism (Routledge, 2020), "The Yogic Body in Global Transmission," in The Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies (Routledge, 2021), and "WhatsApp Bagalāmukhī:! The Social Life and Experiences of a Tantric Goddess" in The Ethnography of Tantra: Textures and Contexts of Living Tantric Traditions (State University of New York Press, 2022). Also, sample titles of her published articles are: "Red: An Ethnographic Study of Cross-Pollination Between the Vedic and the Tantric" (2019), "The Dead Speak: A Case Study from the Tiwa Tribe Highlighting the Hybrid World of Śākta Tantra in Assam" (2018). In a previous non-academic avatar, Sravana worked in customer service in the financial and IT industries. As a social entrepreneur, she is the co-founder of a nonprofit, Lumen Tree Portal. Sravana invests in building communities with individuals from various faith backgrounds who believe in kindness, compassion, and fulfillment. Find Sravana on her website: https://hds.harvard.edu/people/sravana-borkataky-varma

Jason Birch (DPhil, Oxon) is a senior research fellow for the 'Light on Hatha Yoga' project, hosted at SOAS University of London and the University of Marburg. Jason is also a visiting researcher on the Suśruta Project at the University of Alberta. He is well known for his important paper on the meaning of haṭha in early Haṭhayoga, which has reshaped our understanding of the origins of this term by locating it within Buddhist literature. His dissertation focused on a seminal Rājayoga text called the Amanaska. Through extensive fieldwork in India and the reconstruction of primary sources, Birch has identified the earliest text to teach a system of Haṭhayoga and Rājayoga, namely the twelfth-century Amaraugha. His most recent publication has defined a corpus of Sanskrit and vernacular texts that emerged during Haṭhayoga's floruit, the period in which it thrived on the eve of colonialism. Jason has published articles in academic journals and critically edited and translated six texts on Haṭhayoga for the Hatha Yoga Project 2015–2020; taught Masters courses and Sanskrit reading classes at SOAS and given seminars on the history of yoga for MA programs at the Università Ca' Foscari in Venice, Won Kwang University in South Korea and Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. He is a founding member of the Centre of Yoga Studies SOAS and the Journal of Yoga Studies, and combines his practical experience of yoga with academic knowledge of its history to teach online courses with Jacqueline Hargreaves on The Luminescent.

Daniel presents ancient texts for modern times. He is the author of The Truth of Yoga, a comprehensive guide to the history of practice. His approach combines scholarly knowledge with humour and insight, making yoga philosophy accessible and relevant to practitioners today. Daniel teaches courses online, at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, around the UK and internationally. He also offers private tutoring. Drawing on a master's degree from SOAS (University of London), and two decades of experience, he aims to help students explore their own path. He supplements his teaching with work as an editor. In this episode Daniel talks to Adam about: Sanatarma Dharma The Vedas Upanishads Shruti Family Vedas Rig veda The quest for satisfaction in the outside world Origins of Hinduism Aryans Brahma and Brahmins Advaita vedanta Darshanas Sadhus Vaishnavism Shivaism The ultimate oneness Dualism Patanjali's yoga sutras Ashtanga yoga where did it come from The eight limbs as a way to remove suffering One pointed focus Yamas and niyamas Use of asana Find Daniel: Website: https://www.danielsimpson.info/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielcsimpson/ If you enjoy the Keen on Yoga Podcast and would like to support us you can share this post, give us a review on Apple or Spotify or make a donation . We appreciate your help to us keep creating free content for all.

Kate O'Donnell is the author of three Ayurvedic Cookbooks, including The Everyday Ayurveda Guide to Self-Care, The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook: A Seasonal Guide to Eating and Living Well and Everyday Ayurvedic Cooking for a Calm, Clear Mind: 100 Sattvic Recipes. She is a nationally certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and the founder of the Ayurvedic Living Institute. An authorized Ashtanga yoga instructor, she teaches yoga in Boston and Portland, Maine, and still travels to India annually for study. Kate began yoga by accident in South India at age 20. More than a dozen extended trips to India and twenty years studying the wisdom traditions of the sub-continent support Kate's understanding of Ayurveda and Yoga. After years of dedication to the Ashtanga system, Kate has experienced great benefit from this practice and was authorized by her teacher Sharath Jois to teach the Primary and Intermediate series of Ashtanga yoga. She teaches week-long mysore immersions annually in Portland ME, Boston, and abroad. Kate also specializes in Ayurvedic education, cooking skills, and cleansing programs, offering on-line programs, residential immersions and trainings, and individual consultations. Her Ayurveda and yoga offerings aim to help others come closer to their true nature. Find Kate: Website: https://www.kateodonnell.yoga/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kateodonnell.ayurveda/

Gregor is the international author of eight textbooks covering all eight limbs of yoga. He is a mystic and a profuse blog writer covering topics on yoga and beyond. He travels the globe educating with passion, humour, insight and wisdom. Gregor Maehle began his practice of Raja Yoga in 1978 and added Hatha Yoga a few years later. In the mid-1980s he commenced annual travels to India, where he studied with various yogic and tantric masters, traditional Indian sadhus and ascetics. After practising with BKS Iyengar he spent fourteen months in Mysuru, and in 1997 was authorised to teach Ashtanga Yoga by K. Pattabhi Jois. In India Gregor also received eight months of mostly one-on-one instruction in scripture and the higher limbs of Yoga through B.N.S. Iyengar, a student of T. Krishnamacharya. He also studied Sanskrit under Professor Narayanachar and Dr Chandrasekhar. He lived for several years as a recluse, studying Sanskrit and yogic scripture and practising yogic techniques. This is the third time Gregor joins Adam, this time talking about his latest book How To Find Your Life's Diving Purpose. Including the talking points below. Human aspects of the divine Bhakti yoga within asana Surrendering to the diving through practice, asana, pranayama, meditation Is concentration devotion? Co-creating with the divine what aspect you were here to express Importance of your Swah dharma - your own dharma Pancha kosha - teaching of the 5 layers, cleansing of impact of past traumas on your body, breath and mind Objective and objectless samadhi Shiva pure consciousness, eternal awareness Shakti female aspect of the divine What is your role in the play & how far can you go with your gift? Life is the child of the divine The divine is here and now How you act in this world matters Everything you see is the crystallised body of God Indigenous practices, walkabouts Vijnanamaya kasha Your duty in society, giving to the world Self love as a pure spiritual state Accepting that state within you We are all children of the divine Find Gregor: Instagram: @gregor.maehle Website: https://8limbs.com/about/gregor-maehle/ If you enjoy the Keen on Yoga Podcast and would like to support us you can share this post, give us a review on Apple or Spotify or make a donation . We appreciate your help to us keep creating free content for all.

This is the second time Adam has hosted Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor on the Keen on Yoga Podcast. In this episode they focus the discussion on the Bhagavad Gita. Richard & Mary have been studying and practicing yoga since the early 1970s and were some of the very first students to discover the Ashtanga yoga method. Together they co-founded the Yoga Workshop in Boulder, Colorado, have produced several highly regarded yoga audio and video recordings, as well as authoring several books, both together and individually. Their latest title, When Love Comes to Light, is a guide to the Bhagavad Gita and interweaves insight into how these classic teachings are relevant for modern readers struggling with what it means to live responsibly in challenging times. In this talk with Adam they cover such topics from the book as Sounds of the battleground We're all in this together There is more to things than the conflict we feel Identification with the body Action gives information Ashtanga yoga giving the embodied experience of karma Tending to the mind Identification with the mind The question of Renunciation Using our practice for the good of the world Your responsibility Right attitude and duty What is our dharma Action without attachment to fruits Devotion Practice as sacrifice Expectations Children and practice Motivation You can find Richard and Mary on Instagram @ freemantayloryoga or on their website www.richardfreemanyoga.com If you enjoy the Keen on Yoga Podcast and would like to support us you can share this post, give us a review on Apple or Spotify or make a donation . We appreciate your help to us keep creating free content for all.

Deepika Mehta has been on the forefront of Yoga, fitness and wellness in India since 2001. She is a Level 2 Authorised Ashtanga Yoga Teacher and a mom to her daugther Devi Tara. Because Deepika used Yoga to heal herself from an accident she had several years ago, she believes deeply in the power of the healing process of the practice. Deepika is known for her motivational and inspirational style of teaching, believing that anyone can achieve what they want if they put their mind to it. It's hard to fit all her achievements into one write up. She has had several television shows of her own like Yoga City on NDTV Good Times, Tata Sky Active Fit and Biggest Loser. She has been featured in various publications in India including Vogue, India Today, Elle Magazine etc.Been on the cover of India Today. In addition, she was awarded Yoga Expert of the Year by Vogue India in 2018 and been in the Wellness Powerlist, 2021 in Hello Magazine, India. Some of India's top celebrities and actors including Priyanka Chopra, Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone have been taught by Deepika. She has given a Ted Talk at the UN Headquaters in NYC. Deepika loves to incorporate dance and various other forms of movement and healing practices into her teaching mix. She now lives in Bali with her husband Mark Robberds and daughter Devi. Instagram: @deepikamehtayoga Website deepikamehtayoga.com If you enjoy the Keen on Yoga Podcast and would like to support us you can share this post, give us a review on Apple or Spotify or make a donation . We appreciate your help to us keep creating free content for all.

Andrea Pennington is an integrative medicine doctor, acupuncturist, TEDx speaker and author of several books including I Love You, Me! and The Orgasm Prescription for Women. She specializes in self-love, mindfulness and authentic self-expression. She is nationally recognized as an expert in meditation, resilience and positive psychology with multiple appearances on Oprah, Dr. Oz, CNN, The Today Show and LUXE-TV. Andrea has also been a luxury lifestyle, beauty and wellbeing reporter and a proud TV host and producer, including her role as Medical Director and Spokesperson for Discovery Health Channel. She is the author and contributor to 10 books including #1 bestseller, The Orgasm Prescription for Women, Time to Rise, How to Liberate and Love Your Authentic Self, Daily Compassion Meditation, The Pennington Plan : 5 Simple Steps for Achieving Vibrant Health, Emotional Wellbeing and Spiritual Growth and the Pennington Plan For Weight Success. She helps people create and enjoy a life filled with passion, purpose and ageless vitality by eliminating the cause(s) of their 'dis-ease' and creating a personalized lifestyle plan that promotes health, prevents disease, increases happiness and slows aging. Her specialty is taking people from drowning in tragedy to fulfilling their destiny. Her goal is to get to the root cause of their condition and set them on the road toward living a full life which is in alignment with their values and ideals. www.AndreaPennington.com IG: @drandreapennington If you enjoy the Keen on Yoga Podcast and would like to support us you can share this post, give us a review on Apple or Spotify or make a donation . We appreciate your help to us keep creating free content for all.

Govinda Kai has studied and dedicated himself to martial arts, meditative disciplines and yoga for over 20 years. At the age of 30, Govinda discovered the practice of Ashtanga vinyasa yoga and immediately fell in love with the practice. He is one of the select individuals in the world who are certified to teach the Ashtanga Yoga Method by its founder, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. In 1995, Govinda made his first trip to Mysore, India to practice with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. From 1995 to 2015, Govinda made over 20 trips to Mysore to practice Ashtanga, with each trip lasting an average of 3-4 months. He is of Japanese-American descent, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. From a very young age, Govinda took a passionate interest in meditation, yoga and spiritual philosophy. Govinda's father, Edward Yamaguchi, was a highly respected practitioner and teacher of martial arts (he held a high ranking in both Judo and Aikido) and like Govinda, nurtured a strong attraction to spirituality and philosophy from a very young age. Govinda began the practice of martial arts while in high school and began yoga, meditation, and devotional chanting at age 18, studying with respected teachers such as Swami Muktananda and Sogyal Rimpoche. Govinda's father died of colon cancer at the age of 49 years old, when Govinda was only 16. The passing of his father affected Govinda deeply and inspired him to begin reading books on spirituality and meditation at the age of 16. After university, Govinda considered becoming a Buddhist monk, but was advised by his teacher Sogyal Rimpoche to enter into a more worldly career. Thus, Govinda became a practicing professional in the area of real estate, all the while still devoting much of his time to spiritual practice. He is currently teaching in Bellingham, Washington state and you can find him at @govindakai If you enjoy the Keen on Yoga Podcast and would like to support us you can share this post, give us a review on Apple or Spotify or make a donation . We appreciate your help to us keep creating free content for all.

The journey started in the late 60's, Krishna Das met spiritual seeker Ram Dass. He traveled across the country with Ram Dass as his student. And was captivated by the stories of his recent trip to India where he had met the legendary guru Neem Karoli Baba, known to most as Maharaj-ji. Finally, following his heart, in August 1970, Krishna Das left behind his dreams of being a rock star and made his way to meet this remarkable Being. Basking in the love of Maharaj-ji in the three years that followed, KD's heart was drawn to the practice of Bhakthi Yoga – the yoga of devotion and after two and a half years with Maharaj-ji, he returned to USA – alas, six months after his return, word came that Maharaj-ji had died. "I will sing for you in the west" he had promised his beloved Guru in his own heart. This did not come easily. If you listen to KD in one of his many workshops or read his book 'Chants of a Life Time' you will know that it took almost 20 years for KD to sing with groups of people around the USA. In his book Chants of a life time, KD writes about his journey over all the years. If you would like to know more straight from Krishna Das himself, we invite you to read his book. KD TODAY In 1994, he started leading chant at Jivamukti Yoga Center, NYC. Over the years, he continued chanting, developing his signature style, fusing traditional kirtan of the east with western harmonic and rhythmic sensibilities. The audiences have been ever growing. With a remarkably soulful voice that touches the deepest chord in even the most casual listener, Krishna Das – known to friends, family, and fans as simply KD, has been called yoga's "rock star." He has taken the call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon and the best-selling western chant artist of all time. KD now travels the world sharing his kirtan practice and wonderful stories of his life, of Maharaji-ji, of his life on the Path, and discusses bringing chanting into our lives through retreats and workshops. To date, KD has released 16 well received albums, including Live Ananda (released January 2012) that was nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Age album category. In February 2013, Krishna Das performed at the Grammy awards in Los Angeles, CA streamed online to millions of viewers. The award-winning film 'One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das' has been in over 100 US cities, over 10 countries worldwide and is available on DVD everywhere. In 2014 the Kirtan Wallah Foundation was formed. This 501c3 is dedicated to spreading the teachings of KD's guru and spiritual teacher, Neem Karoli Baba, Lovingly called Maharjji, his teachings can be summed up by his saying: 'Love Everyone. Serve Everyone. Remember God" To visit the website click here. IG: @krishnadasmusic YouTube: Krishna Das Music

From the very young age of 13, Doug Swenson began his study of yoga in 1964. He has studied and practiced with many amazing teachers including Ernest Wood, the highly respected British Yoga Master, theosophist, and Sanskrit scholar. Doug's other mentors include Pattabhi Jois, Ramanand Patel, BKS Iyengar and Swami Satchidananda. Many of Doug's students have become highly celebrated teachers, including his younger brother, David Swenson. Doug is a master yoga practitioner, philosopher, poet and dedicated health advocate. He has incorporated influences from several different yoga systems along with his passion for cross-training, elevated nutrition and healthy lifestyle. Over the years he has authored four books and 23 videos on Amazon. The book list includes: Yoga Helps, Power Yoga for Dummies, Mastering the Secrets of Yoga Flow, and Pioneering Vinyasa Yoga. His educational videos, for all levels of practice, include topics of Yoga practice and philosophy, enhanced nutrition, and cross-training between challenging and more restorative yoga styles. Doug's Sadhana Yoga Chi is a holistic balance between learning and teaching, power and softness, intellect and fitness. The goals of Sadhana Yoga are achieved by striving to create a body of enhanced health and fitness, a mind with pure clarity, true intellect and focus, all woven together with a heart filled with peace and harmony. Sadhana Yoga Chi does not restrict your intelligence, or put limits on expanding your knowledge. Instead, we encourage the freedom to study and practice positive aspects of other different holistic techniques. This includes other systems of yoga and alternate body and mind expansion concepts. Doug is one of the original yoga teachers in the West and has quietly been living as a yogi for decades. You can find him on his website

The Dalai Lama befriended Bob in 1964, ordained him as a Buddhist monk, then later forgave him for returning to lay life. Bob Thurman is known in the academic circles as Professor Robert A.F. Thurman. He is a talented popularizer of the Buddha's teachings. In addition, Bob is the first Westerner Tibetan Buddhist monk ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, He is a charismatic speaker and author of many books on Tibet, Buddhism, art, politics and culture. Bob was named by The New York Times as the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism. In 2020 he was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri Award for his help in recovering India's ancient Buddhist heritage. Time Magazine chose him as one of the 25 most influential Americans in 1997. They describe him as a "larger than life scholar-activist destined to convey the Dharma, the precious teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, from Asia to America." Bob served as the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University for 30 years, until 2020. A very popular professor, students always felt his classes were "life-changing". Tibet House Bob is the founder and active president of Tibet House US, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan culture. And of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, a non-profit affiliated with the Center for Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and dedicated to the publication of translations of important artistic and scientific Tibetan treatises. His own search for enlightenment began while he was a university student at Harvard. After an accident in which he lost the use of an eye, Bob left school on a spiritual quest throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He found his way to India, where he first saw His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1962. After learning Tibetan and studying Buddhism, Bob became a Tibetan Buddhist monk and the first Westerner to be ordained by the Dalai Lama. Some years later, however, he offered up his robes when he realized he could be more effective in the American equivalent of a monastery: the university, returning to Harvard to finish his PhD. Long-term Commitment As part of his long-term commitment to the Tibetan cause, at the request of H.H. the Dalai Lama, Bob co-founded Tibet House US in 1987 with Tenzin Tethong, Richard Gere, and Philip Glass, a non-profit organization based in New York City and dedicated to the preservation and renaissance of Tibetan culture. Inspired by his long-time good friend the Dalai Lama, Bob takes us along with him into an expanded vision of the world through the prisma of Tibetan Buddhism. He shares with us the sense of refuge in the Dharma, which unfailingly helps us clear away the shrouds of fear and confusion. He sustains us with the cheerfulness of an enriched gift, and opens a door to a path of realistic hope for a peaceful, kind, and wise future. Bob has a prolific podcast of 287 episodes to date, which you can find on his website Instagram @bob__thurman @tibethouse.us @menlaretreat

Tara has been a dedicated practitioner of yoga for over 18 years. She has been blessed to practice with some of the most dedicated ashtanga teachers in the world. Studying with Johnny Smith, Tim Miller (completing both his primary and intermediate series trainings), R. Sharath Jois & R. Saraswathi Jois. She has apprenticed with only certified teachers (6 years) with R. Saraswathi Jois for 4 of those years in her very busy Mysore shala where she assisted up to 200 students a month for nine months of the year. Tara has a special bond with Saraswathiji and is one of the few students authorised by her to teach. Tara is also a Certified Yoga Therapist in the tradition of T. Krishnamacharya & his son T.K.V. Desikachar in Chennai, India. Her interest in yoga therapy is a focus to help heal others from injury and imbalances within the body. She has helped many students learn to understand their bodies while bringing back health and stability through yoga therapy, diet and lifestyle changes. She has studied Pranayama with Sri O.P. Tiwari, Philosophy with Prof. Nagaraja Rao and Vedic chanting with Dr. Vigneshwar Bhat and Madhavi Kotha in the lineage of T. Krishnamacharya. Tara has been studying ritual, chanting and Vedic chanting for the last 7.5 years and is a long time Vipassana Meditator. Both R. Saraswathi Jois, Saraswathi Vasudevan & Vigneshwar Bhat have given her blessings to share the teachings as taught to her through parampara. Other interests Tara's curiosity for understanding the mind and body led her to study psychology (since 1993) and nutrition (since 1999). She is a trained Chef, has worked with many healing modalities, and has recently spent 5 years living in Mysore, India in order to seek and learn pure knowledge directly from the source and continues to visits India every 6 months to be with her teachers. Tara has also studied classical Carnatic music with two of Mysore's greatest teachers and she has and continues to study Ayurveda with Dr. R. Padmini. Tara believes that to be a good teacher one needs to be a good student. Therefore, she continually expands her knowledge on the subjects of yoga, health, nutrition and healing through sound and other methods. She teaches in a traditional yet playful manner incorporating the teachings of her teachers. Tara now lives in Sicily with her husband Dr. Rob Lamport of @morethananatomy You can find Tara on Instagram @taramitrayoga and on her website.

Yan Ong tested at the top 2% of worlds IQ at the age of 16. Joining the Mensa Society, sparked an interest to discover the purpose of intellect. She sought out to gain knowledge through university degrees in science graduating with honours in Biotechnology from the world's 5th ranked university. In attempt to balance both left and right brain function took a second university course in the arts. Although she found solving problems and creating ideas fun, there was still something that corporate life was not fulfilling. 6 years of working in business and I was over it, there had to be more to life. She hit the road for 2 years of backpacking on her own from South America, Africa and ending up in Bali. She discovered Ashtanga yoga in 2001 with a book and a class for 4 years. In 2008 everything fell into place and the Ashtanga Yoga became her life. In 2010 she found her teacher, Paramagruru Sharath Jois and moved to Mysore. Living in Mysore for 4 years Yan practicing under his guidance and privately studied sacred texts constituting the Upanishads and Yoga Sutras with renowned philosophy expert Professor Najarajao Rao. Yan and Mysore In 2012 she was authorised by Paramaguru Sharath Jois to teach Ashtanga Yoga and was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel and teach across the globe in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines & more. I'm blessed to be Malaysia's first Level 2 qualified Ashtanga Yoga teacher. In the 20 years since she found Ashtanga Yoga, she has learned to heal her own spinal, ankle and wrist injuries, manage stress and hypothyroidism within the practice. Thus having a more thoughtful, accepting and compassionate approach towards asana and its ability to be therapeutic. In conjunction with having dealt with both physical and health struggles during her journey, 10 years study of yoga philosophy scripture which the practice is built upon, has given her understanding of the practice from a deeper yet wider perspective. Yan is also largely influenced by non-denominational spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle. She has time with him on retreat and completed his 6-month advanced School of Awakening course. She teaches with her husband Manuel and now plans to spend time between their native countries, Malaysia and Portugal. You can find her at @yanyoga or on her website https://www.yanong.me/

Ross Stambaugh is an Ashtanga yoga teacher who is Authorized Level 2 by Saraswati Jois. He has made many annual trips to India to continue his studies and has assisted Saraswati on multiple occasions. Ross seeks to preserve the traditional Ashtanga method by maintaining a daily practice and teaching his students with the same integrity and patience that was taught to him by his teachers. Ross teaches Ashtanga yoga workshops internationally and welcomes a chance to work with you and your yoga practice. Ross is a 20+ year veteran of the Ashtanga lineage. Apart from having a daily Ashtanga yoga practice, Ross has been a collegiate swimmer, judoka, and mountain climber. He is a public school teacher and holds a post-master's degree in education. He enjoys walking his dogs, Kali and Brie and is an avid motorcyclist. You can find him on Instagram @ashtanga.yoga.ross

The "Yoga Doc" - Dr. Ronald Steiner is the founder of the AYI method. This method links traditional Ashtanga Yoga with innovative Yogatherapy. Body and mind connect with each other and together create a harmonious balance. Ronald is a sports physician, researcher with focus on prevention and rehabilitation as well as one of the most well-known practitioners of Ashtanga Yoga. Ronald Steiner is one of the very few yoga teachers authorized in the traditional way by both the Indian grand masters Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and BNS Iyengar. You can find more about Dr Steiner on his website https://www.ashtangayoga.info/ Listen to the Keen on Yoga Podcast via link in bio, all usual outlets & now on YouTube. If you enjoy our show and would like to support continued free content click Donate link in the Instagram bio or visit our website https://keenonyoga.com/donate/

Stephen W. Porges, Ph.D. is the author of The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation (Norton, 2011). In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior. This emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders. The theory is leading to innovative treatments based on insights into the mechanisms mediating symptoms observed in several behavioral, psychiatric, and physical disorders. Stephen is the creator of a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol ™ , which currently is used by more than 1400 therapists to improve spontaneous social engagement, to reduce hearing sensitivities, to improve language processing and state regulation. Also written by Stephen: The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe, (Norton, 2017) and co-editor of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies (Norton, 2018). Stephen is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. In addition, he is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. Your support of the Keen on Yoga Podcast is greatly appreciated. https://keenonyoga.com/donate/

David Jackson a Master Instructor with the Oxygen Advantage and a breathwork coach. He is a former professional rugby player, accredited UKSCA Strength & Conditioning coach, NASM performance enhancement & corrective exercise specialist. His mission is to make breathwork a normal part of our everyday lives. David retrained his own breathing after a brain injury in 2013 forced him to retire from professional rugby. He's passionate about helping others change the way they breathe to improve the way they feel, move and perform. He believes that there is something for everyone in breathwork. David has worked with professionals seeking better stress management or those suffering with anxiety to professional athletes looking to improve performance and everything in between. He knows how your breath can impact all areas of our body and mind. This is the reason he is so passionate about helping people use breathwork to fulfil their true potential. Having felt the benefits personally, he wants to share it with others. Find more about David: Website: https://www.rootedlife.co.uk/ YouTube: David Jackson Instagram: @ jackohumanflag

Ana Forrest is an inspiration and has been changing people's lives for over 45 years. She is an internationally recognized pioneer in yoga and emotional healing. She is the Creatrix of Forrest Yoga, a mystic, visionary, philanthropist, author, and Medicine Woman. Ana crafted Forrest Yoga while working through healing from her own life's traumas – abuse and addictions, the feeling of helplessness around the addictions, and the ongoing suffering from chronic injuries & illnesses. Ana took her first yoga class at age 14 and became a certified instructor in 1975. Ana used yoga and Native American ceremony to save her own life. It is her intent to pass that lifesaving ability forward. The process of healing herself inspired her to teach others to heal themselves physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Forrest Yoga is a powerfully physical, internally focused practice that emphasizes the integration of transformative experiences from the mat into purposeful daily life. Ana is at heart a woman of the wilderness. She has spent many years in the mountains and forests learning from the animals, trees, rocks, water, and the seasons. Prior to becoming a yoga teacher, Ana spent her early years training horses, dogs, cats, birds, and the occasional snake. She brings her deep understanding of the animal kingdom to her teaching with humans. Jose Calarco is Ana's co-director of Forrest Yoga. Jose comes from a long history of shamanism, the arts, music and healing, bringing his decades of experience as an artistic prodigy to Forrest Yoga. He is also Director of the legendary Australian Indigenous company Descendance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dance Theatre www.descendance.com.au. Descendance won the UNESCO (United Nations) competition as the world's best Indigenous live show. Jose Calarco is a bridge to the spirit world. As Ceremonial Leader for Forrest Yoga and co – teacher with Ana Forrest, he creates and teaches ceremonies, tells creation stories from the traditions of the First Peoples of Australia and other shamanic traditions and weaves these into the yoga practice His experience as a faith healer and Medicine Man spans over 30 years. He has collaborated with Indigenous wisdom keepers like Medicine Woman and Australian cultural treasure Kathy Marika of the Yirrikala People of central Northern Australia, and he co-created Descendance Aboriginal with Indigenous elder and Song Woman Imelda Willis of the Yidinji and Kandju tribes. Imelda is Jose's Spiritual Mother, and was a rare woman who had been fully initiated. She adopted him as an equal into her tribes in Far Northern Australia, sharing knowledge and hope with each other and with the world. Also available on YouTube

Sir James Mallinson, 5th Baronet of Walthamstow (born 22 April 1970) is a British Indologist, writer and translator. He is recognised as one of the world's leading experts on the history of medieval Hatha Yoga. Mallinson became interested in India by reading Rudyard Kipling's novel Kim as a teenager; the book describes an English boy travelling India with a holy man. Mallinson is described as "perhaps the only baronet to wear dreadlocks. He let his hair grow out from 1988 on his first visit to India during his gap year. He is the co-author with Mark Singleton of Roots of Yoga. Penguin Classics. (A commented collection of translations of yoga practice texts from the Sanskrit traditions). Currently Dr Mallinson is Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit and Classical and Indian Studies at SOAS, University of London. His interest in yoga grew out of a fascination for India and Indian asceticism. He spent several years living with Indian ascetics and yogis, in particular Rāmānandī Tyāgīs. Background He took his BA in Sanskrit and Old Iranian at the University of Oxford, followed by an MA in Area Studies (South Asia), with Ethnography as his main subject, at SOAS. His doctoral thesis, submitted to the University of Oxford, was a critical edition and annotated translation of the Khecarīvidyā, an early text of haṭhayoga. Dr Mallinson has published eight books. All of which are editions and translations of Sanskrit yoga texts, epic tales and poetry. His recent work has used philological study of Sanskrit texts, ethnography and art history to explore the history of yoga and yogis. Projects Between September 2015-2020, Mallinson was the Principle Investigator of The Haṭha Yoga Project (HYP), a five-year research project funded by the European Research Council and based at SOAS, University of London which aims to chart the history of physical yoga practice by means of philology, i.e. the study of texts on yoga, and ethnography, i.e. fieldwork among practitioners of yoga. From January 2021, Mallison has been the lead on three year project entitled "Light on Hatha Yoga: A critical edition and translation of the Haṭhapradīpikā, the most important premodern text on physical yoga" funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the German Research Foundation Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). He has been interviewed on yoga for BBC Radio on Beyond Belief and for the Secret History of Yoga. More information about Dr Mallinson's work, his CV and publications, many of them downloadable, can be found here, and on his website: www.khecari.com If you enjoy the Keen on Yoga Podcast and would like to support us you can share this post, subscribe and give us a review on Apple or Spotify or make a donation . We appreciate your help to keep this going.

Stephen Cope is a best-selling author and scholar who specializes in the relationship between the Eastern contemplative traditions and Western depth psychology. Among his seminal works in this area are: Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, The Wisdom of Yoga, and The Great Work of Your Life. His most recent work, Deep Human Connection, is an examination of the psychology, neurobiology, and spirituality of deep human connection, and the imperatives of human attachment—an issue of great importance to both the Eastern and Western traditions. For almost thirty years, Stephen has been Scholar-in-Residence at the renowned Kripalu Center—the largest center for the study and practice of yoga in the Western world. Kripalu hosts almost 50,000 guests a year in its many yoga, meditation, and personal growth programs. It is located on a sprawling 200 acre estate in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In addition to his role as Scholar-in-Residence, Stephen is the founder and former director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living—one of the world's most influential research institutes examining the effects and mechanisms of yoga and meditation, with a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School, University of Connecticut, University of Pennsylvania, and many more. Stephen is the recipient of both a Telly and an Apple award for his work. In its twenty-fifth anniversary edition, "Yoga Journal" named him one of the most influential thinkers, writers, and teachers on the current American yoga scene.

Bryan Kest has been practicing yoga since 1979 and has been teaching since 1985. He developed his unique, distinctive style of yoga, called Power Yoga, in 1979. Over the years, this style, an amazing workout for the body, mind and spirit, has made him a well-known, popular teacher across the country and around the world. His mainstream popularity is matched by an authentic foundation in the ancient practice of yoga and a long path of development as a yogi (a practitioner of yoga). At age 15, Bryan uprooted from his native Detroit home to make a life change in Hawaii. He moved to live with his father, a doctor, who understood the benefits of yoga. Like many of us, Bryan originally thought yoga was nothing more than strange contortions, but that changed when his father introduced him to a physical style of yoga called Ashtanga. This appealed to him immediately, and he soon observed great changes in himself, both physically and mentally. Yoga quickly became his passion, one that would take him to India for a year to study with one of the greatest yoga masters of the world, Pattabhi Jois. He has been continuing on his yoga path ever since. Bryan founded two studios in Santa Monica, CA. He also teaches at workshops and retreats around the world; provides an intensive Teacher Training program; and is featured in his own Warner Brothers video series from 1995, as well as a newer video series and audio CD series. His most recent endeavor is Power Yoga Online. This online tool features streaming videos of Bryan's classes, along with programs and series including a Teacher Training meant to help support and deepen one's yoga practice. These are usually recorded live and streamed to students around the world. For articles by Bryan and more information about Power Yoga, visit Power Yoga.

Edward Clark is the creator of Tripsichore, the London-based yoga performance group that has delighted audiences around the world. The performance company was created to explore the possibilities of a form of theater that would celebrate yoga philosophy and extraordinary physical prowess. Edward began studying yoga in 1978. Notable among his teachers are Narayani and Giris Rabinovitch, but he also admires Ashtanga vinyasa, Sivananda, Iyengar, and viniyoga practices. The Tripsichore group has practiced daily for the past 20 years. Constantly devising and refining its techniques for asana, pranayama, pratayahara, dharana, and dhyana. Edward fuses his keen artistic vision with a deep understanding of the essential pursuit of yoga practice. His classes are entertaining, demanding, and exhilarating. Vinyasa Applied to Yoga Philosophy Edward says, "The concept of vinyasa as applied to yoga philosophy could either be considered very ancient or radically new. In either case, vinyasa seems to be one of the great contributions to yoga of this particular generation of yogis. VINYASA in our definition, is the evenly metered flow of movement, breath and thought. This resulting in a smooth, uninflected state of being. The vinyasa techniques are pursued to bring about clarity and stability to one's thoughts and actions. Tripsichore endeavours to do this in class and onstage. Most yoga discipline has worked on refining one's self in the direction of greater stillness – an absence of movement in the mind and body. Superficially, vinyasa would seem to contradict this. However, the mental focus and physical technique needed to bring about continuous fluid movement can also bring one to a "seat" of great stability and clarity. The stability is not only in the posture. It is in addition in the transition between postures – to the point where there is no distinction between movement and stillness. Yoga Choreography Tripsichore began in 1979 as a company devoted to creating full length dance narratives. They explored a variety of stylistic forms including punk ballet, conventional modern dance and strict neo-classical technique. They used masks, performed with rock bands and did pop videos. While yoga was always a part of their training, it wasn't until 1992 that they realised the expressive potential and choreographic viability of yoga postures. Once they began to devise works using yoga asanas, their extraordinary artistic logic became evident. Surprisingly, it would seem that there has been no orthodox tradition for using yoga technique to create dances in the 5000 year history of the discipline. The postures are the ideal vehicle to express the themes of harmony, balance, spirituality, ecstasy, bliss and mysticism because they are exactly about these subjects in and of themselves. See more about Edward and Tripsichore on the website here.

Bessel van der Kolk MD is author of the seminal book The Body Keeps The Score. He spends his career studying how children and adults adapt to traumatic experiences, and has translated emerging findings from neuroscience and attachment research to develop and study a range of treatments for traumatic stress in children and adults. In 1984, he set up one of the first clinical / research centers in the US dedicated to study and treatment of traumatic stress in civilian populations, which has trained numerous researchers and clinicians specializing in the study and treatment of traumatic stress, and which has been continually funded to research the impact of traumatic stress and effective treatment interventions. He did the first studies on the effects of SSRIs on PTSD; was a member of the first neuroimaging team to investigate how trauma changes brain processes, and did the first research linking BPD and deliberate self-injury to trauma and neglect in early childhood. Much of his research has focused on how trauma has a different impact at different stages of development, and that disruptions in care-giving systems have additional deleterious effects that need to be addressed for effective intervention. In order to promote a deeper understanding of the impact of childhood trauma and to foster the development and execution of effective treatment interventions, he initiated the process that led to the establishment of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), a Congressionally mandated initiative that now funds approximately 150 centers specializing in developing effective treatment interventions, and implementing them in a wide array of settings, from juvenile detention centers to tribal agencies, nationwide. He has focused on studying treatments that stabilize physiology, increase executive functioning and help traumatized individuals to feel fully alert to the present. This has included an NIMH funded study on EMDR and NCCAM funded study of yoga, and, in recent years, the study of neurofeedback to investigate whether attentional and perceptual systems (and the neural tracks responsible for them) can be altered by changing EEG patterns. ​His efforts resulted in the establishment of Trauma Center (now the Trauma Research Foundation) that consisted of a well-trained clinical team specializing in the treatment of children and adults with histories of child maltreatment, that applied treatment models that are widely taught and implemented nationwide, a research lab that studied the effects of neurofeedback and MDMA on behavior, mood, and executive functioning, and numerous trainings nationwide to a variety of mental health professional, educators, parent groups, policy makers, and law enforcement personnel. You can find out more about him on his website here.

It actually strikes one as quite funny, that despite Zoe's reputation, she is hardly unruly. Actually, during this podcast she and Adam spend a good majority of their time praising Mysore and Sharathji's ability to make the general rule specific to individuals. In fact, neither of them are ultimately rebellious. They like the system, its traditional aspect (respecting the sequences); what they are both outspoken on is the kind of dogma and polarity Ashtanga yoga often enters into when it makes its way out of Mysore, which treats individuals as generalisations, to be fitted into ideal structures. When, instead, what they really require out of yoga is a practice that serves one's life and doesn't cause injury. One that respects the demands of your own circumstances. That is, real life, when we have jobs, families and health issues, as opposed to the idealised picture painted of how Ashtanga should be practiced and taught in Mysore. Adam and Zoe talk along these lines then. Having met many years ago in Mysore, they re-connected in the online world through their similar opinions Zoë is a US based cynical observer, writer, and comedian. After a decade of Ashtanga practice in Mysore and around the world, she now directs the sharpness of mind cultivated by the method toward critiquing the policies and politics of the community on her Instagram account, @unrulyascetic.