The Yogic Studies Podcast

In this first-ever Yogic Studies Podcast episode, we speak with Dr. Finnian Gerety (Brown University) about his background as a musician, his journey to Indology and Sanskrit studies at Harvard University, his fieldwork among Nambudiri Brahmins in the south-Indian state of Kerala, the Sāma Veda performative tradition, his short film "Mantras 2 the Max", the origins of sacred sound and the syllable OṂ, the practice of OṂ at the time of death, OṂ in the Yogasūtras of Patañjali, and the practice of "Embodied Philology."Speaker BioDr. Finnian M.M. Gerety is a historian of Indian religions focusing on sound and mantra. After earning a PhD. in South Asian Studies from Harvard University, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music. Finn is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, the Contemplative Studies Program, and the Center for Contemporary South Asia at Brown University, where he teaches courses on mantra, yoga, ritual, and the senses.Integrating the study of premodern texts with insights from fieldwork in contemporary south India, Finn’s research explores how sound has shaped religious doctrines and practices on the subcontinent from the late Bronze Age up through today. His current book project for Oxford University Press, This Whole World is OM: A History of the Sacred Syllable in India, is the first-ever monograph on OM, the preeminent mantra and ubiquitous sacred syllable of Indian religions.LinksYS 104 | The Story of OṂ: Sacred Sound and the Vedic Roots of Yoga "Mantras 2 the Max" https://brown.academia.edu/FinnianGeretyhttps://www.instagram.com/thiswholeworld_is_om

In this brief introduction, Seth introduces listeners to the Yogic Studies Podcast. He shares his story of how yoga led him to academia, to the PhD at Harvard University, the study of Sanskrit, the world of yoga research, and the birth of Yogic Studies. BioSeth Powell is a longtime practitioner of yoga and a scholar of Indian religions, Sanskrit, and yoga traditions. He is currently a PhD Candidate in South Asian Religions at Harvard University. His research focuses on the history, theory, and practice of medieval and early modern Sanskrit yoga texts and traditions, as well as their intersections with the culture and practice of modern transnational yoga. Seth also holds degrees in the study of religion from the University of Washington (MA) and Humboldt State University (BA).His doctoral dissertation at Harvard consists of a critical edition and study of a 15th-century Sanskrit yoga text from south India, known as the Śivayogapradīpikā (Lamp on Śiva's Yoga). Seth founded Yogic Studies in 2018 to provide continued educational services for the broader yoga community. Yogic Studies aims to bridge the gap between the yoga studio and the academy—seeking to make accessible the highest quality and most cutting-edge research on yoga for teachers and students. We offer a comprehensive online curriculum in yoga history, philosophy, and Sanskrit studies.Linkshttps://www.yogicstudies.comhttps://harvard.academia.edu/SethPowell