The Heart of Yoga

Kelsey Barrett is a modern-day witch. She is a practicing herbalist and Yogini. Mark says: "In previous centuries she would have been burnt at the stake for her strange powers that threatened the knowledge authority of orthodoxy. She would have been shunned to the outskirts of the town, a forest dweller with twigs and moss in her hair and strange garb. These days the public realize she has useful healing powers, so allow her to enter the town or village." Kelsey combines medicinal herbs, Yoga and intimacy arts to help her friends navigate the tricky waters of our time. Mark and Kelsey discuss her craft and realization. Dialogue includes sexuality, intimacy and the necessity for a personal hathayoga to actualize sublime intimacy. Otherwise sacred sexuality seems to be confined to the poetry and iconography of forgotten cultures. Yet obviously remains the potential of every person today. Actual Yoga makes sacred intimacy real and no longer just fanciful unfulfilled desires. The mind of the modern West is like a closed box of lidded thought that cannot be pierced or access the obvious mystery dimensions above the crown or go deep into the roots of Mother Earth. Kelsey recalls her crown opening up to higher dimensions and the state of the Yogini… a flow of life synchronistically ascending and descending, mysteriously became her experience. In the ancient world after death a Yogi's crown was ceremonially pierced, symbolizing the ascent of the life force infinitely above, in death as in life. Such sublimity arises as everyone's potential through Yoga. Intimacy with all aspects of life, for example Kelsey talks about the power of rose for the heart, and the power of realising illness as visitation of the Goddess. Follow Kelsey on Instagram here: @heavynettlegathering Follow this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML 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 the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Yoga IS Relationship. What does that mean? I thought it was doing the splits on the beach and posting it on Instagram? I thought it was living alone in a cave for twenty years until you could live on just air? Mark and Rosalind explore just exactly HOW yoga transforms our relationships, and lift the lid on some of the challenges and dysfunctions in relationships that make yoga sorely needed. Some previous relationship dysfunctions get aired as examples of the usual mess and how it can change. We discuss what "connection" really means and whether it comes from another person, how to stop evading emotions, and the urgent need for a transformed approach to relating with the ones we love. More themes: Guidance and direction vs dysfunctional social dynamics Hierarchy within relationships - is it inevitable God and Sex, Now We Get Both Everybody is blooming in their own garden Follow this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML 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 the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

In this special episode, we share (with permission) edited extracts from a May weekly "Teacher's Gathering" in the Heart of Yoga Studio. Mark is speaking about who can teach Yoga, about what is required to teach Yoga, and about being your authentic self. Teachers around the world share their experience, discussing what the role of the teacher really is, how to cope with teaching on zoom, and whether you can even decide to be a yoga teacher. A capital-R Reality check and sense of communal support for all teachers out there. This teachers' gathering happens weekly. It's open to all supporting members of the Online Studio. You can join at: www.heartofyoga.com/studio Follow this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML 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 the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

In this week's episode, Mark and Rosalind talk about the expansion of consciousness that happened in the 60s and beyond, "on wings of song." It was the Beatles going to Rishikesh that first took Mark to India, and we tease out these connections between the two "freedom systems" of Yoga and rock and roll. We listen to the Kinks with the first use of sitar-like drone on a western pop song ("See My Friends") and talk about Little Richard's riotous performances as group therapy for a repressed society. Can rock and roll be legitimately seen as having some spiritual effect or purpose, or is it "just" entertainment? Is it a legitimate form of inspiration? How should we respond? Why did so many talented artists die so young, and is it avoidable? Was this when God and Sex really came together in public consciousness for the first time? We go free range ruminating on the remarkable gifts given to us all by our musical luminaries, and discuss practices to really receive these transmissions and make the most of them. This episode features short musical clips replicated only for commentary and criticism under 'Fair use' (legal doctrine that allows a user to use portions of copyrighted materials for the purpose of commentary, criticism, reporting, teaching, and research). Follow this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML 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 the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

As yoga studios shut down across the world, yoga teacher Joseph Lauricella came untethered from his Chicago teaching space, yet he wanted to find a safe way to be in Nature and continue to share practices of breath and intimacy with yourself with people. The 'The Yoga Bus' project was born. Continuing public education into Yoga as spiritual practice, so much more than fitness. Joseph Lauricella is the author of 3am Bull Rider, a memoir about living on the road across the United States in 1995, Codi and the Maple Tree, a children's book based on his experiences rescuing a wolf cub and living with him and 42 other wolves for a year. In addition to being an author, Joseph is a master yoga teacher and bodyworker, which inspired him to write and publish: Postures, Prayers, and Poems: A Yoga Journey Through Earth Body and Soul, which he reads us a poem from in this podcast. Joseph currently lives on the Yoga Bus with his two Chihuahua Yoga dogs and is working on his next book. He has a degree in Sociology and Native American Studies and is deeply influenced by mentorship within Lakota traditions, as well as his own Roman Catholic Italian immigrant family background. Mark and Joseph discuss teaching in a natural, non-patterned way, just sharing, how to adapt to changing circumstances and where the motivation to do so comes from. As well as Yoga as a reminder of the state of unconditional love, handling overwhelm of worldly patterning, and being on the road with the Grateful Dead as a template for the Yoga Bus. Joseph and Mark talk about Roman Catholic Italian origins and how this mixes with Yoga, and discovering Yoga as a Catholic — do Christians need Yoga? And finally Joseph reads us the poem 'Breath' from his book Postures, Prayers and Poems. Links Postures, Prayers and Poems Joseph's Website Joseph's Instagram Follow this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML 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 the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Mark sits down again with his friend Andrew Raba to talk about education, cultishness, ambition, choosing a career path, the mess that is our early twenties, psychedelics, and learning Yoga. What is self-understanding? Where do we find it? Is ambition a positive or negative quality? How do we know what to do with our lives? What is Yoga exactly and how can it help? How do I find my natural directions? Mark and Andy discuss these questions and others, under the overarching theme of Yoga and the empowerment of self-responsibility, making the choice to love and to quit blaming others for our emotional state. "Yoga is not information gathering." Follow this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML 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 the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

In this week's episode we are joined by the eternal warm love presence of Durga Julia Sánchez, musician, yogini, and inspiration. Durga speaks to us from her home country of Colombia of her extraordinary heart-connection with her beloved teacher and husband Ramgiri, and the immense process of courage that is calling us all to open our heart to one another. And of the heart-wrenching process of grief that we must go through when that love transitions from in the body to the formless, as it will for us all. And the role of Yoga in all of this, in the life of a devotee. Gratitude to you, Durga, for this gift of clarity and honesty from within that grieving process of 'losing' one's Beloved and navigating that pain. We feel and invoke the blessing presence of Baba Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji), guru to Ram Dass, Ram Giri, Krishna Das and so many others. Mark and Durga discuss how Yoga serves the devotees of such extraordinary beings, as the practical response to grace, and to conduct their gifts… which are always given, but are they being received? And reflect on past times sharing Yoga with Ramgiri and Durga in the US and the connection with the work of Heartsourcing, the enduring project of Ram Giri's work which is now continued by Durga. Learn more about Ramgiri's lifework in his book, "HeartSourcing", foreword by Ram Das, which Durga is currently working on translating to make available in Spanish. https://store.lamafoundation.org/products/heartsourcing-by-ramgiri-braun-ph-d https://www.facebook.com/HeartSourcing/ "All conflict is in truth a burning away of conflict itself. Pain makes us tired of pain, and although the confused mind revels in its distortions, there is a fundamental sanity in everyone that bides its time, but will not be denied." — Ramgiri, 2018 Private whole-body prayer yoga lessons via Zoom in Spanish — email juliamsanchez@gmail.com for availability. Subscribe to this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML 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 the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

In this episode, Mark sits down (over Zoom) with his dear long-time friend Ana Berry: musician, media presenter, actress, Yoga teacher and mother. Ana describes growing up in Oklahoma and the saving influence of jazz and gospel, and the imprint of culture upon her mother as a beauty queen and TV personality. From Hollywood to New York, her search for Yoga that didn't just exacerbate body self-hatred culminated in meeting Mark in a class in LA, followed by initiation into the ancient roots of Yoga with Mark at the Kumbh Mela in India. What does Yoga look like when taken out of these deep usual patterns of "I'm not good enough, I need to be skinnier / fitter / stronger / younger / smoother / more flexible / happier / better"? What is missing from the vast majority of Yoga classes in terms of NOT breaking these social patterns? Ana tells the story of becoming a mother and embracing the unexpected twists and turns of life — how when it doesn't go to plan, sometimes it goes better. Yogis are not made on assembly lines — what does it look like to be a genuine teacher and practitioner in Oklahoma? What does it look like to release the mind's plans, and embrace the unexpected? And the thing that everyone needs to know, how do we communicate Yoga to our partners, and why is that so important? Ana Berry Yoga Teacher, Singer, Mantrika and co-owner of the Bhakti House, Tulsa IG and FB: @wholebodyprayer Video version on YouTube Encounters at the Kumbha Mela with Mark Whitwell: Bali moments Subscribe to this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML 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 the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

A special edition of the Heart of Yoga podcast as Melissa Forbes speaks about her life as an artist and Yoga practitioner and her friendship with UG Krishnamurti. How do we describe him? It's difficult, but with love and gratitude, delight and humour, Melissa and Mark reminisce about their unusual friend - Melissa travelled with UG for the last five years of his life as his companion and "balance." She speaks about the power of art to help people use their right brain instead of the dominant left-brain, her obsession with spirals as the form of the cosmos and UGs resolution of this, and how he changed her Yoga from strenuous Astanga style to fluid participation in the spirals. Learn more about The Heart of Yoga Online Studio and join us here: https://www.heartofyoga.com/studio Subscribe to this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML 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 the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

These interviews are useful because they describe how many different kinds of people receive Yoga and make use of Yoga, and how Yoga is functioning in their personal and unique lives. "Yogis are not made on assembly lines." In this episode, Mark speaks with Frederic Ballario, his long-time friend, on his process of discovering the breath and the Yoga of wine and Tea. Frederic describes moving from Champagne, France to California, USA, many years ago and searching for the truth in wine. Frederic is a master of Tea and Wine, and he explains how these ancient arts have been purified and made useful in the context of Yoga understanding and practice. What do our sacred substances look like when we remove the cultural habit of looking for stimulation? What is the role of wine if we already have a quiet mind, and are not looking to calm or subdue ourselves? What does shamanic use of alcohol look like? How does a teacher encourage each person to become themselves, not duplicate the teacher? Do we even need a teacher? What is the role of Yoga in coping with deep grief? How do we relate to these vast beautiful ancient traditions? Are they static? Are we part of them, or consumers of them? Reflections on the ability to receive and how it transforms our lives. And finally Frederic reflects on offering silent Tea ceremonies over Zoom during the pandemic, followed by very human conversations and connections. Join one of these ceremonies inside the Heart of Yoga studio https://www.heartofyoga.com/studio (launching Sunday 31st Jan 2021) or through Frederic's IG: @liquidsungod Subscribe to this podcast for new episodes here: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS/XML 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 the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.