Keen on Yoga Podcast

Jenna Longoria – The Period Guru – Women’s Cycles, Ashtanga Yoga Practice & Time Off For Periods,  Period Pain Is Not Inherent, Time Your Practice with Your Cycles Our sponsor for this episode is Momence, the booking system we use for yoga classes, workshops, events, etc.  From independent teachers wanting to take bookings and payments online to multi-site studios wanting to replace outdated and expensive systems, Momence is easy to use for you and your customers.  It reduces hours of admin and offers live chat help.  For a 2-month free trial, click the link:  https://momence.com/lp/keen-on-yoga  Jenna Longoria, “The Period Guru” (@theperiodguru), is a Board Certified Functional Nutrition Practitioner (FDN-P) passionate about women’s hormonal health.  She is also an authorised Ashtanga yoga teacher. Growing up, she struggled with weight gain, painful and irregular periods, PMS, digestive discomfort, and intense mood swings. At the time, she didn’t realise that all these symptoms were part of PCOS and Endometriosis. The only “solution” doctors gave her was to take the birth control pill, but she wasn’t keen on the host of horrible side effects. Jenna returned to school to study functional medicine, nutrition, and women’s health. She ran the right labs, changed her diet and lifestyle to support her body and started taking targeted supplements. Today, she’s 20 pounds lighter, has regular periods, and her mood swings and sugar cravings no longer get the best of her. Her mission is to empower all women with the knowledge to be their best health advocates to achieve pain-free periods, abundant energy, healthy digestion, and optimum fertility.

Paul, a Master of breath-mind-body, scholar & entrepreneur, talks to Adam about his life of yoga. Paul has devoted the last three decades to developing expertise in the breath-mind-body lifestyle. He has received a PhD from one of the leading universities in the US, covering both the tradition and science of yoga and breath practices. He has been uniquely acknowledged in the Yoga tradition by “Master Yogi-Prānācharya (breath expert)”. He has been a dedicated teacher for 25 years and a pioneering entrepreneur establishing the first sustainably-based yoga-breath-meditation retreat centre in Asia, Samahita Retreat, in 2003. As a teacher, researcher, and presenter, Paul’s continuous effort is to help people improve their mental and physical health. He is a highly natural and gifted speaker who has taught and spoken at events worldwide. CONNECT WITH PAUL Website: https://samahitaretreat.com/teachers/paul-dallaghan/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/samahitaretreat/    

Rod Stryker is a world-renowned meditation teacher, yoga educator, and thought leader. One of the world’s leading yoga and meditation teachers, Rod Stryker, has dedicated the last 40 years of his life to improving the lives of others through his teaching, lectures, writing, leadership, and service.  Rod is the founder of ParaYoga®, and the author of two books—his first, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity and Freedom, and his second, Enlightened Sleep, soon to be released. He is the creator of one of the world’s most comprehensive online yoga training programs and, most recently, Sanctuary with Rod Stryker: the meditation & yoga nidra app with deep sleep, yoga, and pranayama (breathing) practices.  Rod has also written numerous articles on yoga and meditation, has been featured in countless interviews, and has been a keynote speaker and presenter at a multitude of conferences internationally. Rod Stryker is renowned for making ancient wisdom and practices accessible to modern audiences. He continues to share the gifts of his practice, discipleship, and life with diverse audiences beyond the yoga world––which is to say, anyone wanting to experience the tools (such as meditation and deep relaxation) that help them successfully navigate an ever-changing world, or those simply looking to improve their quality of life and well-being.  Raised in Los Angeles, California, Rod attended Beverly Hills High School and the University of Denver, in addition to studying abroad. He was 19 years old when he began his study of yoga. He taught his first class in 1980 and led his first teacher training seven years later. In addition to mentoring hundreds of teachers and thousands of students worldwide, Rod Stryker also serves on the board of Give Back Yoga Foundation and is a featured faculty member of Yoga International. Rod is father to four amazing souls and currently lives in Boise, Idaho.     https://www.instagram.com/rodstrykerofficial/

Dr Mikel (Mik) Burley is an Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy Philosophy of religion; religious ethics; comparative and cross-cultural philosophy and religion; South Asian religious and philosophical traditions (esp. Hindu and Buddhist). BA (Essex) MA (Nottingham) PhD, MA (Leeds) PhD (Bristol) Research Interests Philosophy of religion Religious ethics Comparative and cross-cultural philosophy and religion South Asian religious and philosophical traditions (esp. Hindu and Buddhist) Philosophical and interdisciplinary research methods Death, illness and emotion Conceptions of immortality and eternal life Rebirth and reincarnation Wittgenstein and Wittgensteinian approaches  

Dr Stacie CC Graham (pronoun: she) is a management consultant, executive coach, founder, speaker and writer. Finding herself often as the only person of colour at yoga retreats led Stacie to create her to create her holistic wellness brand, OYA: Body-Mind-Spirit Retreats. OYA is dedicated to underrepresented communities typically underserved by the mainstream wellness industry. OYA Retreats creates holistic wellness experiences for Black women and women of colour to support on mental-emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing levels. OYA seeks to co-create spaces in which shared practices are steeped in diverse cultural and wisdom traditions. Yoga as Resistance Stacie is the author of the book Yoga as Resistance Equity and Inclusion On and Off the Mat.  The book outlines a dynamic programme of social justice reform within the yoga industry. The majority of teachers in North America and Europe are white, able-bodied and cisgender. What does that signal to people differently identified about their place in yoga? This book will inspire and welcome all to take part in questioning the status quo and learn how to move toward equity, and why it matters. Diversity and inclusion within the wellness industry has been increasingly under the spotlight. The book responds to the appetite for guidance on how we actively create change. The mission of Yoga as Resistance is to educate and empower yoga practitioners and professionals to take action in aligning their practice on the mat with their lives off the mat. Stacie is also the founder of Colour Balance Images, a digital media platform empowering local creative communities to tell their own stories by delivering images and footage to media and advertising. In her first profession as a management consultant, Stacie supports companies, teams and individuals in reaching their fullest potential with the help of practices and tools such as mindful leadership, intersectional attunement as well as emotional and social intelligence. Stacie holds an MS in economics and a PhD in psychology as well as experience living and working in different parts of the world. She continues to cultivate a nuanced understanding of underlying drivers of human motivation and behavior in true Scorpio fashion. Her work has been featured in countless digital and print publications including BBC, Essence, Huff Post, i-D, and Refinery 29. Find Stacie: https://www.oyaretreats.com/ https://www.instagram.com/oyaretreats/ https://stacieccgraham.com/index.html

Andrew Eppler has been practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga for over 3 decades and is the director of Ashtanga Yoga Studio where he offers a variety of courses, classes and trainings both online and in person. He has grown up with the practice and witnessed its evolution into world culture first hand. Andrew has spent many years studying the philosophy of the Nathamuni Sampradaya tradition that Sri Krishnamacharya belonged to. Andrew is also the producer and director of the film Mysore Yoga Traditions.  If you are interested in the history and culture that Ashtanga Yoga has come from Mysore Yoga Traditions film will be a beautiful experience! You can listen to the elders, scholars, spiritual leaders and even the Queen of Mysore herself telling the story of the yoga of Mysore. With the help and support of senior Sanskrit professors in Mysore Andrew has developed an approach to teaching physical postures that fits the modern paradigm. While staying grounded in traditional ideas about philosophy and the sequences of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, Andrew believes that there is inevitable evolution in yoga practice and uses a "global fusion" of techniques. Connect with Andrew Website: https://www.ashtangayogastudio.com/ Instagram: @andrew_eppler_yoga   https://www.instagram.com/p/CgT9776FDfk/

Luke Jordan is a Certified Teacher in the Ashtanga Yoga tradition and holds a Masters in Indian Religions. He is a writer, story-teller, vedic-chanter, sanskritist and consummate student of yogic and spiritual culture. Always feeling that there was something more to life, Luke first began formal study of Eastern mysticism in the 1990s while at University and plunged headlong into the practice of Ashtanga Yoga in the year 2000. This began an on-going journey that would take him around the world seeking out experts, gurus and teachers in the field of Yoga and spirituality. Luke first made his way to Mysore, India in 2001 to study with Sri Pattabhi Jois and his grandson Sharath and is one of a very small number of teachers worldwide to have been granted the honour of Certification within the Ashtanga tradition. Drawn to the deeper philosophical dimensions of Yoga, Luke loves to share the inquiry that springs from the chants, myths and conceptual underpinnings which form Yoga’s wider tradition. He now lives in Portugal where he is the founder of the Colares Yoga Club and each year gives the intensive Ashtanga Yoga Summer School. In this episode Luke talks to Adam about: Samkhya & yoga Yoga as a form of experiential enquiry Moving from gross level of experience to subtle levels of experience Spiritual seeking Tattvas Karma Purusha Do we have freewill? Connect with Luke: Website: https://lukejordanyoga.com/luke-jordan Instagram: @lukejordanyoga  

Norman E. Sjoman is the author of the 1996 book The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace. The book contains an English translation of the yoga section of Sritattvanidhi, a 19th-century treatise by the Maharaja of Mysore. It contributes an original view on the history and development of the teaching traditions behind modern asanas. According to Sjoman, a majority of the tradition of teaching yoga as exercise spread primarily through the teachings of BKS Iyenger and his students. He claims this “appears to be distinct from the philosophical or textual tradition of hatha yoga. In addition, it does not appear to have any basis as a genuine tradition as there is no textual support for the asanas taught and no lineage of teachers." Sjoman studied at the University of British Columbia and Stockholm University before obtaining a PhD from the Centre of Advanced Studies in Sanskirt at Pune University. In addition, he holds a pandit degree from the Mysore Maharaja's Mahapathasala. Sjoman spent 14 years in India studying four different shastras n Sanskrit, with several pandits. In the mid 1980s, while doing research at the Mysore Palace, Sjoman made copies of the yoga section of the Sritattvanidhi. This was a "colossal" illustrated compendium, authored in the 19th century by the then Maharaja. The book included diagrams of 122 yoga asanas. Unlike the few other known historical yoga treatises, the emphasis was solely on the physical activity. Some appeared based on Indian wrestling and other gymnastic exercises. In that aspect more closely resembling modern yoga as exercise forms such as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Both B. K. S. Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois, who are major influences on modern yoga forms, themselves studied under teacher Tirumalai Krishnamacharya at the Mysore Palace in the 1930s. Sjoman discovered that the royal family, in the early 1900s, had employed a British gymnast to train the young princes. When Krishnamacharya arrived in the 1920s to start a yoga school, his schoolroom was the former gymnasium complete with ropes. Sjoman argues that several exercises detailed in a purposely written western gymnastics manual were incorporated into Krishnamacharya's syllabus, resulting in his vinyasa style, and further passed on to Iyengar and Jois. The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace was published in 1996 including the 122 asana illustrations and extracts from the gymnastics manual. Naturally, the radical, perhaps heretical, idea that some of the practice of modern yoga as exercise is based on something as mundane as British gymnastics caused a stir in the yoga world.  

Sravana Borkataky-Varma is a historian, educator, and social entrepreneur. As a historian, she studies Indian religions focusing on esoteric rituals and gender, particularly in Hinduism (Śākta Tantra). As an educator, she is currently a lecturer at Harvard Divinity School and at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. In the past she has taught at the University of Houston, the University of Montana, Rice University, and DaLian Neusoft University, China. Sravana’s current project includes a co-edited volume titled Living Folk Religions (under contract with Routledge, 2022), Digital Tantra, a co-edited special issue journal by International Journal of Hindu Studies (under contract with Springer, 2022), and her monograph titled Spotlight and Shadow: Superwomen, Women, and Hijṛās (2023). In addition, book chapters such as “Taming Hindu Śakta Tantra on the Internet: Online Pūjās for the Goddess Tripurasundarī,” in Digital Hinduism (Routledge, 2020), “The Yogic Body in Global Transmission,” in The Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies (Routledge, 2021), and “WhatsApp Bagalāmukhī:! The Social Life and Experiences of a Tantric Goddess” in The Ethnography of Tantra: Textures and Contexts of Living Tantric Traditions (State University of New York Press, 2022). Also, sample titles of her published articles are: “Red: An Ethnographic Study of Cross-Pollination Between the Vedic and the Tantric” (2019), “The Dead Speak: A Case Study from the Tiwa Tribe Highlighting the Hybrid World of Śākta Tantra in Assam” (2018). In a previous non-academic avatar, Sravana worked in customer service in the financial and IT industries. As a social entrepreneur, she is the co-founder of a nonprofit, Lumen Tree Portal. Sravana invests in building communities with individuals from various faith backgrounds who believe in kindness, compassion, and fulfillment. Find Sravana on her website: https://hds.harvard.edu/people/sravana-borkataky-varma

Jason Birch (DPhil, Oxon) is a senior research fellow for the ‘Light on Hatha Yoga’ project, hosted at SOAS University of London and the University of Marburg. Jason is also a visiting researcher on the Suśruta Project at the University of Alberta. He is well known for his important paper on the meaning of haṭha in early Haṭhayoga, which has reshaped our understanding of the origins of this term by locating it within Buddhist literature. His dissertation focused on a seminal Rājayoga text called the Amanaska. Through extensive fieldwork in India and the reconstruction of primary sources, Birch has identified the earliest text to teach a system of Haṭhayoga and Rājayoga, namely the twelfth-century Amaraugha. His most recent publication has defined a corpus of Sanskrit and vernacular texts that emerged during Haṭhayoga’s floruit, the period in which it thrived on the eve of colonialism. Jason has published articles in academic journals and critically edited and translated six texts on Haṭhayoga for the Hatha Yoga Project 2015–2020; taught Masters courses and Sanskrit reading classes at SOAS and given seminars on the history of yoga for MA programs at the Università Ca’ Foscari in Venice, Won Kwang University in South Korea and Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. He is a founding member of the Centre of Yoga Studies SOAS and the Journal of Yoga Studies, and combines his practical experience of yoga with academic knowledge of its history to teach online courses with Jacqueline Hargreaves on The Luminescent.