CHITHEADS with Jacob Kyle (Embodied Philosophy)

Ian Whicher is a Professor and Head of the Department of Religion at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. He specializes in Hinduism and the Yoga tradition and is the author of scholarly books and numerous articles including, The Integrity of the Yoga Darśana (SUNY Press), and coeditor of Yoga: The Indian Tradition (Routledge Curzon). Dr. Whicher has a new book coming out soon, titled Essays on the Yoga Sutra: Engaging the World in Freedom and is currently writing a book on The Yoga of Intelligence.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Swami Umesh Yogi is a personal disciple of Shri Baba Ji Maharaj and Maharashi Mahesh Yogi. He was born in a Brahman family in Central India. He began his pursuit from a young age and started his Sadhana with his Sat-Guru Shri Baba Ji Maharaj. 100,000 students have come through his doors to study Yogic concepts in Rishikesh. Swami Ji has taught across India and Europe, sharing the teachings passed to him from his masters through classes, workshops, meditation, Satsang and social work. (to read more about Swami Umesh Yogi Ji's lineage and work, go to: www.swamiumeshyogi.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rev. Deborah L. Johnson is the founding minister and president of Inner Light Ministries, an Omnifaith outreach ministry dedicated to teaching the practical application of Universal Spiritual Principles to all of life’s circumstances.  She is also the founder and president of The Motivational Institute, an organizational development consulting firm specializing in cultural diversity serving the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Her clients range from Fortune 500 companies to community based organizations. She is a dynamic public speaker, known for her ability to bring clarity to complex and emotionally charged issues. A life-long social justice activist, Rev. Deborah is the successful co-litigant in two landmark cases in California – one set precedent for the inclusion of sexual orientation in the state’s Civil Rights Bill, the other defeated the challenge to legalizing domestic partnerships.  A voice for compassion, equality, and reconciliation, her primary focus has been on coalition building, conflict resolution, public policy development, and cultural sensitivity awareness. She holds a vision of Oneness, beyond creed and doctrine, and feels particularly called to heal the sense of separation between those adhering to conservative and progressive ideologies. Her groundbreaking work has been featured in numerous books, magazines, radio, and television programs including Conversations with Neale (Neale Donald Walsch) radio show, Shambhala Sun magazine, Showtime TV’s Black Filmmaker Showcase production Jumpin’ the Broom, the film God and Gays: Bridging the Gap, and ABC Nightline. Rev. Deborah is the author of the The Sacred Yes and Your Deepest Intent of the Letters from the Infinite series, as well as Living the Sacred Yes: Affirmations for Action.  She is co-writer of several songs on Singing the Sacred Yes by Valerie Joi. Wherever she goes, her message is always one of possibility, inclusion, empowerment and transformation. Rev. Deborah is an inductee into the Board of Preachers of the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel at Morehouse College which honors clergy for their lifetime work in social justice. She is a leadership development trainer for the Network of Spiritual Progressives, founded by Rabbi Michael Lerner and the Tikkun Community, Cornel West, and Sister Joan Chittister. Rev. Deborah is a member of the Advisory Council of the Association for Global New Thought. She is also an original vision core member of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles founded by her spiritual mentor, Michael Beckwith. As an advocate for continual and lifelong learning, Rev. Deborah is a faculty member at several institutes of higher learning: UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Business Executive Leadership Diversity Training Institute; Pacific School of Religion; Holmes Institute of Consciousness Studies; and the Agape University of Transformational Studies and Leadership. She is also an Advisory Council member in the Women’s Studies Department at Brandeis University. She holds a BA in economics from USC, an MBA from UCLA, and a ministerial degree from the Holmes Institute.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tias’s unique and skillful approach enables students to find greater depth of understanding and awareness in their practice, both on and off the mat. His approach to the practice is inter-disciplinary, passionate, intelligent, innovative and full of insight. Tias synthesizes years of study in classical yoga, Sanskrit, Buddhist studies, anatomy, massage and trauma healing. Tias began studyingthe work of B.K.S Iyengar in 1984 and lived in Mysore, India in 1989 studying Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga with Pattabhi Jois. Thus his teaching brings together precision of alignment, anatomical detail and a profound meditative experience.Tias is a licensed massage therapist and his somatic studies include in-depth training in cranial-sacral therapy. His practice and teaching is influenced by the work of Ida Rolf, Moshe Feldenkrais and Thomas Hanna. Tias is a long time student of the meditative arts and Buddhist studies beginning with Vipassana and continuing in Tibetan Buddhism and Zen. His teaching style is unique in beingable to weave together poetic metaphor with clear instruction filled with compassion and humor. Tias earned a Master’s degree in Eastern Philosophy from St. John’s College Santa Fe in 1998. Tias is the author of three books, The Thread of Breath, Meditations on a Dewdrop and Yoga of the Subtle Body.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Singleton gained his Ph.D in Divinity from the University of Cambridge. He has published extensively on the history of yoga, including the books Yoga in the Modern World, Contemporary Perspectives (ed., 2008); Yoga Body, the Origins of Modern Posture Practice (2010); and Gurus of Modern Yoga (ed., 2014), as well as many book chapters and articles. Most recent is the book Roots of Yoga (2017, with James Mallinson), a unique compendium of yoga practice texts translated from Sanskrit and several other languages. He taught for six years at St John’s College (Santa Fe, New Mexico), and was a Senior Long-Term Research Scholar at the American Institute of Indian Studies, based in Jodhpur (Rajasthan, India). He was a consultant and catalogue author for the Smithsonian exhibition ‘Yoga the Art of Transformation’ in 2013. He is currently Senior Research Fellow at SOAS, University of London, where he works on the European Research Council-funded Hatha Yoga Project (hyp.soas.ac.uk), which seeks to map the history of haṭha yoga from its origins to modern times. He is also a practitioner of yoga and holds several teaching qualifications. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew Harvey is an internationally renowned religious scholar, writer, and teacher, and the author of over 30 books, including the critically acclaimed Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi, as well as Journey to Ladakh, The Return of the Mother, Son of Man, and The Direct Path: Creating a Journey to the Divine Using the World’s Mystical Traditions. He is also coauthor of the best-selling The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. His work has been honored with the Benjamin Franklin Award and the Mind Body Spirit Award (both for Mary’s Vineyard: Daily Readings, Meditations, and Revelations, with photographs by Eryk Hanut), and the Christmas Humphries Award for A Journey in Ladakh. And recently, he co-authored “Savage Grace: Living Resiliently in the Dark Night of the Globe”. Born in south India in 1952, Harvey studied at Oxford University and became a Fellow of All Soul’s College in 1973. He is Founding Director of the Institute for Sacred Activism, which will be offering its first programs in 2008.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Riccardo Manzotti has a PhD in Robotics and degrees in The Philosophy of Mind and Computer Science. He teaches Psychology of Perception at IULM University, Milan (Italy), and has been a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at MIT. He has specialized in AI, artificial vision, perception, and, most of all, the issue of consciousness. After working in the field of artificial vision, he focused his research on the nature of phenomenal experience, how it emerges from physical processes and how it is related to objected perceived. His book The Spread Mind has just been published.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Jude Currivan is a cosmologist, planetary healer, futurist, author and previously one of the most senior business women in the UK. Having grown up as the daughter of a coal miner in the north of England, she has since journeyed to nearly seventy countries around the world and for the last nearly twenty years has lived in the sacred landscape of Avebury. She has experienced multidimensional realities since early childhood and worked with the wisdom keepers both incarnate and discarnate of many traditions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jacob Kyle sat down with Bob Thurman and Isa Gucciardi at the 2017 Science and Nonduality Conference in San Jose, California, after attending their workshop, "Shamans and Siddhas". Scroll down to listen to their wide-ranging conversation on peace and the Dalai Lama.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Founder, Executive Director and President of the Board of Directors Integrative Restoration Institute Richard Miller, PhD is a clinical psychologist, author, researcher, yogic scholar and spiritual teacher. For over 40 years, Richard Miller has devoted his life and work to integrating the nondual wisdom teachings of Yoga, Tantra, Advaita, Taoism and Buddhism with Western psychology. Among his mentors were Jean Klein, T.K.V. Desikachar and Stephen Chang. Richard is the founding president and CEO of the Integrative Restoration Institute, co-founder of The International Association of Yoga Therapy and founding editor of the professional Journal of IAYT. He is also a founding member and past president of the Institute for Spirituality and Psychology and a senior advisor for the Baumann Foundation for the study of Awareness and its impact on well-being. Author of Yoga Nidra: The Meditative Heart of Yoga, Richard serves as a research consultant studying the iRest Yoga Nidra protocol that he has developed (Integrative Restoration ~ iRest, a modern adaptation of the ancient nondual meditation practice of Yoga Nidra) researching its efficacy on health, healing and well-being with diverse populations including active-duty soldiers, veterans, college students, children, seniors, the homeless, the incarcerated, and people experiencing issues such as sleep disorders, PTSD, chemical dependency, chronic pain, and related disorders. In addition to his research and writing projects, Richard lectures and leads trainings and retreats internationally.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.