About the Guest Bihani Sarkar is a Calcutta-born, Oxford-educated, scholar of classical Sanskrit literature and pre-modern Indian history and religious traditions. Bihani is a historian of early Indian politics, religions, and literature (poetry and drama) between the 2nd and the 15th centuries CE. She is lecturer in Comparative Non-Western Thought at Lancaster University and formerly a departmental lecturer in Sanskrit at Oriental Institute, University of Oxford. Bihani has researched and taught in universities in the UK and in Europe. Her teaching goal is to enable everyone access to early Indian Sanskrit texts and traditions in the original language, regardless of ability or prior knowledge, and to think about them in critical, modern, and exciting ways. Bihani’s publications span the history of the Śākta (goddess-centric) traditions, their metaphysics, their relationship to power, their role in the growth of the state and kingship and, most recently, on Śākta epigraphy as well as on histories of classical Indian literary genres, aesthetics, and emotions. Her most recent book is Classical Sanskrit Tragedy: The Concept of Suffering and Pathos in Medieval India.   In this episode, we discuss:  Marginalized voices in the study of Sanskrit. Wild women and goddesses in ancient Sanskrit poetry in mythology. Shaktism as a stand-alone tradition. Shakta as a homegrown feminist tradition inspiring and emancipating Indian women. Does one need to be from a culture to understand a culture? The importance of valuing the place where something comes from. Being an accidental academic.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

About the GuestsHari-kirtana das is a yoga teacher, spiritual mentor, and author. He's been practicing devotional yoga and various other yogic disciplines for the better part of the last 50 years, has lived in yoga ashrams and intentional spiritual communities, and has a talent for making complex ideas about spiritual philosophy easy to understand.  Kenneth Rose, Ph.D., is an author, speaker, and professor of philosophy and religion. As a scholar-practitioner, he specializes in comparative religion, comparative mysticism, and spirituality. Trish Tillman is a history professor and yoga teacher in the Washington, DC area. She holds a Ph.D. in History from the Catholic University of America and teaches at the University of Maryland - Global Campus. Trish has been steadily involved in the study and practice of Bhakti yoga, via her teacher, Hari-kirtana das.  Stephanie Corigliano is the editor for Tarka at Embodied Philosophy. She works as a lecturer in the Religious Studies department at Cal Poly, Humboldt. Stephanie holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Theology from Boston College University and an MA in Theology from Loyola Marymount University.   In this episode, we discuss: The concept and role of the guru in present-day spheres of yoga and academia. The overlaps and differences between guru and teacher. What the yogic tradition has to say about the qualifications of a guru and misconceptions about the role. The emergence of scholar-practitioners in academic religious studies and its impact. Why the guru role is still relevant.  The debate over female gurus within the Hare Krishnas in the West as a microcosm of the larger debate over female gurus and spiritual authorities. How the guru role may evolve in our unbounded, modern time. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

About the Guest Tracee Stanley is the author of the bestselling book Radiant Rest: Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation and Awakened Clarity and the founder of Empowered Life Circle, a sacred community and portal of practices, rituals, and Tantric teachings inspired by more than twenty-five years of studentship in SriVidya Tantra and the teachings of the Himalayan Masters. As a post-lineage teacher, Tracee is devoted to sharing the wisdom of yoga nidra, rest, meditation, self-inquiry, nature as a teacher, and ancestor reverence. Tracee is gifted in illuminating the magic and power found in liminal space and weaving devotion and practice into daily life. She lives with her husband and two dogs in northern New Mexico. Chitheads listeners can use receive 30% off the price of Tracee’s new book The Luminous Self when you order from Shambhala.com and use coupon code LUM30. Website: https://www.traceestanley.com/luminous-self Facebook: Tracee Stanley - Empowered Life Instagram: @tracee_stanley   In this episode, we discuss: Our true nature and what gets in the way of accessing that. The extractive nature of the spiritual marketplace. How saṃskāra shapes a life. The kleśas (obstacles) that stand in the way of realizing our true nature.  Spiritual and professional recommendations for yoga teachers in the wake of the pandemic. Creating your own rituals to honor transitions. Sādhana as a source of creativity, clarity, and wisdom.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

About the Guest Jill Miller, C-IAYT, ERYT, YA-CEP is a fascia and movement expert that forges links between the worlds of yoga, massage, athletics, and pain management. Her programs, Yoga Tune Up® and The Roll Model® are found at gyms, yoga studios, hospitals, athletic training facilities and corporations worldwide. She is the former anatomy columnist for Yoga Journal and has been featured in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Shape, Women’s Health, O, Today Show, and Oprah Winfrey Network. She is the author of The Roll Model: A Step-by-Step Guide to Erase Pain, Improve Mobility, and Live Better in Your Body, and a contributing author on self-myofascial release in Fascia, Function and Medical Applications. She is the creator of dozens of instructional DVDs, with movement luminaries Tom Myers, Katy Bowman, Kelly Starrett DPT and Jen Fraboni DPT. Her newest book is Body by Breath: The Science and Practice of Physical and Emotional Resilience. She lives in LA with her husband, 2 kids and rescue dog.  Website: www.tuneupfitness.com Instagram: @TuneUpFitness, @thejillmiller   In this episode, we discuss: Innovation in the yoga classroom. Being a disrupter in the yoga space. How fascia makes you whole. Breath-induced altered states. Breath as a tool to reduce stress and promote relaxation. Accessing the parasympathetic dominant state for healing, recovery, and growth. An embodied breath approach to yoga therapy.   *UPCOMING MASTERCLASS - September 26, 7:30 pm ETVoyage to Vagus: How to Arouse Physiological Relaxation w/ Jill Miller    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

About the Guest Sally Kempton was a master of meditation, yoga philosophy, and practical tantric philosophy. Her retreats and workshops were known for creating breakthroughs, born of her ability to help people turn sublime truths into lived, and life-shifting, experience. Sally spent 20 years as a swami in a Vedic order and studied and taught spiritual wisdom for more than 40 years. She is the author of Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga and Meditation for the Love of It, a seminal book on basic meditation practice, and wrote the popular Yoga Journal column, Wisdom.  Website: sallykempton.com Instagram: @sallykemptonofficial   In this episode, we discuss: The difference between “presencing reality as feminine” and “presencing as masculine.” The incarnations of Shakti. Deity yoga. A pragmatic approach to spirituality. The essence and spirit of tantra.   Note: This episode was originally published in 2016 and is being republished as a tribute to Sally.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

About the Guest Ava Taylor, Founder of YAMA Talent, is a tenacious entrepreneur & avid yogi. Committed to running an ethics-based business, her personal mission is to be a Catalyst for Better Living, bringing the tools of wellness to communities of all kinds. Ava has pioneered the development of the booking, management, & consulting business in the yoga space and is a sought-out media contributor known for having her finger on the pulse of this rapidly expanding industry. She’s the creator of The Catalyst: Online Business School for Yogis and author of the forthcoming Yoga Business with Human Kinetics. Website: https://yamatalent.com/ IG: @yamatalent ,  @avantaylor   In this episode, we discuss: The future of yoga business. The yoga industry climate pre-pandemic and how it’s transforming today.  The link between grief and creativity. Business lessons from COVID. Considerations for yoga teachers from a yoga business perspective.  Reimagining yoga.  Opportunities, innovations, and possibilities for a sustainable future of yoga.   NOTE: This episode was previously recorded as part of the Future of the Yoga Teacher Summit and is being republished for its depth and relevance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

About the Guest Daniel Simpson is the author of The Truth of Yoga, an accessible guide to yoga history and philosophy. His approach combines scholarly knowledge with humor and insight, informed by more than 20 years of practical experience. He holds a master's degree in yoga studies (from SOAS at the University of London) and teaches courses at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, on yoga teacher trainings and via his website, truthofyoga.com. In a previous career, he was a foreign correspondent, working for Reuters and the New York Times. In this episode, we discuss: The relationship between intellectual knowledge and embodied experience. How the evolution of yoga scholarship has impacted the space of modern yoga. Reconciling ourselves to a more accurate representation of yoga history. The re-enchantment of yoga. Having an authentic relationship on our own terms with yoga here and now, and also with yoga tradition. What does an ideal yoga teacher-to-yoga learner relationship look like today? Faith, fidelity, and authenticity in our yoga practice. NOTE: This episode was previously recorded as part of the Future of the Yoga Teacher Summit and is being republished for its depth and relevance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

About the Guest An accomplished speaker, teacher, and practitioner, Nikki Myers is an MBA, C-IAYT Yoga Therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Addictions Recovery Specialist, and Certified Health Coach. Born from her personal struggle with addiction, Nikki is the founder of Y12SR, The Yoga of 12-Step Recovery. Based in its theme, “the issues live in the tissues,” Y12SR is a relapse prevention program that weaves the art & science of yoga with the practical tools of 12-step programs. Y12SR meetings are now available throughout the world and the curriculum is rapidly becoming a feature of addiction recovery treatment centers. Nikki’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Black Enterprise, The Huffington Post, Origin Magazine, and CBSnews.com.  She is honored to be a co-founder of the annual Yoga, Meditation, and Recovery Conferences at Esalen Institute and Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. Nikki has been featured as a keynote speaker at the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) conference and the International Conference on Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She was named a Yoga Journal Game Changer and is an honored recipient of the esteemed NUVO Cultural Visionary Award. For more information visit: www.y12sr.com In this episode, we discuss: Nikki’s journey with addiction, relapse, yoga, and the 12-step program. Y12SR (Yoga of 12-Step Recovery) and how it integrates the wisdom of yoga, the practical tools of 12-step programs, and the latest research on trauma healing and neurobiology. The distinction between healing and curing. Connecting the cognitive and somatic for sustainable addiction recovery. The importance of choice in recovery. The spiritual crisis of opioid addiction. Only by owning our experience as an addict (of alcohol and drugs, yes, but also PHONES, food, clothes, or our projections about how reality is supposed to be), we are able to transcend them and not be defined by them.   NOTE: This episode was previously published as episode #83 and is being republished for its depth and relevance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode of Chitheads is a talk from Joe Loizzo republished from Embodied Philosophy’s Yoga Seminar.  It's a taste of a deeper dive with Dr. Joe Loizzo in our upcoming 30-hr Certificate Program, “Buddhist Psychology in the Nalanda Tradition,” co-presented with the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science. To learn more or to take advantage of the Early Bird pricing (before May 19), go here. About the Guest Joseph (Joe) Loizzo, MD, Ph.D., is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and Columbia-trained Buddhist scholar with over forty years of experience studying the beneficial effects of contemplative practices on healing, learning, and development. Joe is the Founder & Academic Director of the Nalanda Institute. He is Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in Integrative Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, where he researches and teaches contemplative self-healing and optimal health. He has taught the philosophy of science and religion, the scientific study of contemplative states, and the Indo-Tibetan mind and health sciences at Columbia University, where he is Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Columbia Center for Buddhist Studies. In this episode, we discuss: The philosophy of science from a Western point of view and practice. The history and context of the mind-body split in Western science. Research on stress and neuroplasticity that shed light on the mind-body connection.  Buddhist and scientific definitions of the mind and consciousness.  The question of where do I find my mind? A multi-disciplinary paradigm of mind-brain integration. Yoga as the science of integrating the human nervous system, mind, and body with awareness.   Select slides from Joe's Talk here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This talk is being republished from the Radial Practice Conference in 2018. If you have a Gītā handy you might want to grab it while you listen. About the Guest Edwin Bryant received his Ph.D. in Indic Languages and Cultures from Columbia University. He taught Hinduism at Harvard University for three years and is presently the professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University where he teaches courses on Hindu philosophy and religion. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, published eight books, and authored a number of articles on the earliest origins of the Vedic culture, yoga philosophy, and the Krishna tradition. As a personal practitioner of bhakti yoga for over 45 years, a number of them spent in India studying with traditional teachers, where he returns yearly, Edwin strives to combine academic scholarship and rigor with appreciation towards traditional knowledge systems. His teaching method is to allow the ancient texts to speak in their own voice and through their own terms and categories. Website: https://sites.rutgers.edu/edwin-bryant/   In this episode, we discuss: Patañjali’s citta-vṛitti-nirodhaḥ type practice in the Gītā. The difference between karma and karma yoga. A new definition of yoga, skill in action. The 3 definitions of yoga in the Gītā. Ashtanga-type practice in the Gītā in comparison with verses in Patañjali.  The mind of a yogi. Bhakti, the highest expression of yoga. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.