Susi Sweeney on Ashtanga's Sixth Series, Aging & Authenticity

In this episode of Escaping Samsara, Nathan Thompson sits down with Susi Sweeney—a lifelong yoga practitioner, teacher, mother, and now grandmother. Her path runs deep through 30 years of practice and cuts across the raw terrain of anxiety, eating disorders, motherhood, and aging. 

She trained with Pattabhi Jois. She now works through the sixth series. Every movement, she says, pulls something loose—grief, joy, memory. 

Susie explains how she raised children while maintaining her practice, how her mat held steady through births and breakdowns. Now a grandmother, she reflects on change—not as decline, but as deeper awareness.

We discuss how the mat can be altar, battlefield, and therapist’s chair. Susie reminds us that yoga doesn’t ask for perfection. Just honesty. And repetition.