The Heart of Yoga EP 01 - What is the heart of yoga?
Mark Whitwell has been teaching yoga around the world ever since he first met his yoga teachers, T.K.V. Desikachar and his father T. Krishnamacharya, in Chennai in 1973.
He realised straight away that our body loves its breath, the inhale loves the exhale and vice versa, and that yoga is an immensely practical and useful tool for everyone to respond to inspiration and grace.
The Heart of Yoga is the result of these precious meetings.
In this opening podcast episode, Rosalind Atkinson interviews Mark about the origins and purpose of the heart of yoga:
- What is the heart and the philosophy behind the Heart of Yoga?
- What is Yoga all about? What is the purpose and background of yoga?
- Why Yoga is all about relationship, a practice of intimacy and love
- Mark’s relationship with his teachers and the story of Desikachar’s book, ‘The Heart of Yoga.’
- What went wrong in the translation of yoga to the west
- The benefits of Yoga practice and the risks of becoming a "bliss junkie"
- Krishnamacharya and what makes Yoga practice ‘Tantric’
- How Yoga helped one nun "stop arguing with the Pope"
- The Yoga teacher-student relationship as an intimate friendship, act of grace, and gift of life
If you feel moved to submit a question for a future episode, you can do so here:
https://www.heartofyoga.com/podcast
You can find more from Mark and the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.