Yoga Room

The idea of practicing or teaching yoga and meditation through digital devices can seem contrary to yoga as a living practice. We might think that human-machine-machine-human is far from the realm of the senses, of human connection, and can only disturb its purity or power. We want the real thing. Then came Covid. From the caves of our homes, we became grateful to have some semblance of visual connection with other people in a...

Racism, Incarceration, and Yoga with Ayla Benjamin

Racism is deeply embedded in the histories of yoga even as it offers visions and practices of liberation. From delimiting caste systems in ancient-to-modern societies to contemporary racist ideologies and social and cultural forces, race matters, is a source of profound harm predicated upon fundamental lies about the nature of human beings. It is also highly correlated with...

Tune in here for a conversation between Mark and Bernie Clark on science, myth, anatomy, fascia and yin yoga. Highlights of the conversation include:

• Mark's 5-minute teaser, setting the table for thinking about science and myth.
• Bernie Clark's yoga journey to Yin Yoga.
• The contrast between the yoga of outer appearance and the yoga of inner experience, what Bernie calls functional yoga.
• How teachers and students engage in a danc...

Sexuality and communication are as common as they are complex. While ancient-to-modern yoga texts and teachings provide various views on sex and morals, matters of sexual desire, power, transference, trauma, and communication are often as problematic in yoga classes as the are in the larger world. A generation of young people have grown up in confused cultures where "no means no" is all too often ignored, "yes means yes" can lead t...

The breath is essential for life and at the heart of yoga practice. Yet breathing is often difficult or disturbed, and in yoga it more refined techniques are often said to be dangerous and kept secret unless one is "blessed" to receive the teachings. In this episode, Mark first discusses breathing and pranayama (for about 15 minutes), offering some historical and philosophical perspective. He then gives a guided practice – basicall...

We all experience yoga in ways that are unique to our individual nature, while at the same time we are all human common physiological conditions, such as brains, hearts, muscles, bones and other tissues, organs and systems. We also all live on planet Earth, even as our living conditions vary. Our unique experiences thus occur through and within a shared universe and environment. And as unique as our experience are in yoga, includin...

Practicing yoga since the early 1970s, internationally respected teacher Sally Durgananda Kempton is a master at transmitting meditation and at applying spiritual, yogic and tantric teachings to daily life situations. Sally spent 20 years as a swami in a Vedic tradition. A deep practitioner with profound knowledge of both the traditional and the contemporary aspects of inner life, she is the author of The Heart of Meditation, Awake...

Episode highlights:

• How the fundamental yogic principles of non-harming (ahimsa) and truth (satya) are critical in written, spoken, and lived discourses;
• The tendency among yoga many influencers – authors, teachers, and speakers – to say whatever they wish without regard for accuracy or truth;
• What “knowing” (both jnana and vidya) mean in yoga and life;
• The problem with “alternative facts” in yoga and its relationship to standa...