Ancient Futures

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com What helps someone heal from traumatic experiences? How important is community support? Why might it be unhelpful to say “it wasn’t your fault”? Can a “bruise on the soul” be more difficult to treat than a physical wound? Dean Yates is the author of Line in the Sand , a courageous account of “a life-changing...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com How far can yoga heal “a deeply troubled society”? When Carol Horton published these words in 2012, she was optimistic, becoming immersed in “yoga service”. But her experiences have left her more sceptical. As we explore in this wide-ranging chat, yoga can still be a helpful resource, but the extent to which...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com It’s now six months since I launched Ancient Futures . Back then, I didn’t have a podcast, so the first conversation with Richard Rosen wound up on YouTube. I'm therefore sharing it again for those who missed it – it's in any case well worth revisiting. We discuss his new book , Yoga by the Numbers , and expl...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com Instead of an interview, this week I'm sharing a talk I gave on whether yoga is really a “path to holistic health”. It was part of a conference at the University of Wales, hosted jointly with the College of Medicine (whose chair is head of King Charles’ “Royal Medical Household”). I went first and set the sce...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com Can anything be yoga? Or does everything crumble to dust if it’s analysed hard enough? I recently discussed this – and much else besides – with Anya Foxen and Christa Kuberry , who co-wrote a book titled Is This Yoga? There are no simple answers, but asking the question can still be insightful – particularly...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com What does it take to keep a podcast going, year after year? J. Brown has been hosting Yoga Talks since 2015, so I thought I’d inquire! As J. admits, he likes stirring things up. His blog bills him as: “outspoken and sometimes controversial", and notes that his approach "has sparked broad discussions". This on...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com Laura von Ostrowski is a scholar, and also a yoga teacher. As she explains in her book , there’s a fundamental mismatch between the Yoga Sūtra’s emphasis on physical transcendence and modern postural practice. Focusing in depth on Ashtanga Vinyasa, she investigates how boundaries get blurred. We discuss the i...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com Eddie Stern teaches yoga at the Broome Street Ganesha Temple in New York. Among other topics, we explore the connections – and some of the disparities – between yogic knowledge, scientific findings and academic study. Building on his book One Simple Thing , Eddie has been working on a master's of science degr...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com What does it mean to practise yoga authentically when so much has changed? If we don’t know how much we don’t know in historical terms, where does that leave us? Which narratives predominate? Who defines what's yoga and what isn't? I discuss these topics with VikramJeet Singh, who shares thought-provoking pos...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com Which ideas keep traditions alive in the 21st century? Modern mindfulness removes Buddhist framing, but says most of its wisdom is part of the practice. Yoga is often taught similarly. Are there pitfalls to reinventing teachings? I recently discussed this with Frank Jude Boccio , the author of Mindfulness Yog...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com It’s often said that yoga is timeless, but many modern methods are recent inventions. What keeps them anchored in earlier traditions? I recently explored this with Mike De Masi , who runs a discussion group devoted to the yoga of T. Krishnamacharya and his students – from B.K.S. Iyengar and K. Pattabhi Jois t...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com Traditionally, physical yoga aims to raise vital energy. This is often described as a serpent-like power that dissolves the mind. However, one influential teacher saw Kuṇḍalinī differently. T. Krishnamacharya, who taught B.K.S. Iyengar and K. Pattabhi Jois, said it was a blockage that had to be burned, not a...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com What happens if we think for ourselves, instead of taking things on faith from ancient texts? Peter Blackaby teaches what he calls “humanistic yoga”, based on “modern understandings of neurology, psychology and biomechanics.” This includes "stripping away the culturally specific aspects of yoga that might not...