Live Like You Love Yourself

Yoga is a practice that nearly everyone buys into. It’s promise of flexibility and adaptability are a powerful and enticing invitation to engage in the uncomfortable for a greater good. But what does it mean to LIVE your yoga? And how can yoga be a tool for changing not just our bodies but our world? Maria and Chara explore these ideas with Kristine Weber and Kiesha Battles, two courageous yoga te...

How does who we are and where we come from live in our bodies and in our yoga? What does the story of how and where we move tell us about who we can be? Maria and Chara speak with cultural anthropologist and yoga and meditation instructor Alma Duran to explore the landscape of the intersection of yoga and cultures and how they uniquely inform the way we carry our past, present and future in the mo...

Chara and Maria reconnect with Maria’s former student Shonali Sabherwal, now a nutritionist who’s been leading the macrobiotic eating charge in India with three books and a long list of Bollywood star clients. Shonali talks about what it took to get there as a single woman in India, what her work means to her and what the future holds for her work and the health of her country! Resources & Men...

Description: What is the role of conscious communication in our living and healing? What is the value of communication to the vital responsibility we have as teachers of yoga to hold space for our students? How can we as individuals become more aware and effective at knowing and sharing what’s in our hearts for the good of our relationships and the world? We explore these questions and more in thi...

What does the process of owning your yoga look like? What is the role of a yoga teacher in helping you to get there? And what is the ultimate value (or the point) to doing the work to create yoga that is uniquely yours? These are some of the things we talked about in this juicy conversation with yoga therapist and physiotherapist, Libby Hinsley. We go deep into the heart of teaching and practicing...

How does it feel to hold space while moving through a powerful change? So many of us are working through this as teachers, parents, siblings, partners and friends. What is the role of yoga in helping us not just to weather the storm, but to be fully present and learn through it? We explore these questions and so much more with our guest Kelley Palmer, yoga teacher, activist, coach and creator of R...

What is yoga and how does it support our dharmic path? These are some of the questions that Emma Balnaves from Shadow Yoga set out to answer in the process of bringing her first ever film, AgniYogana to the screen. Maria and Chara talked with Emma about the journey and meaning of the film and its impact on her life, her yoga and her understanding of who we are... and who we can be! Highlights from...

If you’ve ever thought that accessible yoga was all about tailoring the practice for older or less “able bodied” folks, you’re gonna wanna listen to this one. Maria and Chara talk with Jivana Heyman, teacher, activist and founder of Accessible Yoga. And in this conversation we learn why all yoga teachers have a responsibility to make yoga accessible and what that means we need to do both on the ma...

They say that the subtle aspects of yoga are the most powerful and transformative. Our guest this week knows all about this… and more. Chara and Maria talk with Kristine Kaoverri Weber, a dear friend of Maria’s who knew her as a fledgling self-care evangelist back in graduate school. It was a wonderful and very wide-ranging conversation about everything from self care and social justice, to market...

We decided to take a deeper look at the process of digesting experiences that challenge our beliefs and what we know about ourselves. Neither of us could stop thinking about the conversation we had with Michelle Johnson on the subject of social justice, racism, yoga and politics. It brought up so many new feels and inspired lots of talks, and the beginnings of new beliefs. So we decided to sit tog...

Social justice is ultimately everyone’s responsibility. Yoga philosophy and practice can be a foundation for seeing and advocating for a more just world. Chara and Maria talk with Michelle C. Johnson, a yoga teacher, clinical social worker and dismantling racism educator about the unique challenges for people of color in the current global uprising related to the Black Lives Matter movement. We un...

Maria and Chara sit down with yoga teacher and podcaster J. Brown to talk about his work, motivations and what he’s managed to learn in his time on the planet, thus far. We talk about how yoga informs J’s politics and parenting, why he started a podcast, and the not so silent influence that provides the balance he needs to engage in the business of yoga.

We’re talking to yoga teacher and yoga business mentor Mado Hesselink! She’s the host of the Yoga Teacher’s Resource podcast, but also a mother, and holder of space. She’s built a growing community of yoga teachers online who are looking to connect and better understand how to live your yoga while making a living from it! Mado is a master of life and business wisdom, and in this conversation we ge...

This week we are talking with Shannon Crow, the host of The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast and Facebook group about the connections between yoga and politics and the challenge of how to support communities of color and ALL communities through these challenging times. A fantastic conversation with heartfelt vulnerabilities and heartwarming openness.

Change is in the air… can you feel it? As the world slowly begins to come to grips with reopening, a lot is coming up! Chara and Maria chat about what this NEW transition looks like for them right now and what they’ve learned from yoga and Ayurveda that is helping to support them through the precarious process of figuring out what’s next! We talk about: Chara’s upcoming Solstice Retreat: https://b...

Maria and Chara speak with Ranju Roy and David Charlton, yoga teachers, creators of Sahana Mala Yoga training and and authors of the new book Embodying the Yoga Sutras: Support, direction, Space. They talk about a wide range of subjects mostly centering around the value, beauty and approaches to integrating ancient yogic wisdom into our everyday lives! For details of their upcoming courses check o...

Maria and Chara talk about the challenges of embracing technology as a yoga teacher and how they are tackling tech fear. They also dive into a discussion about their experience of the yoga sutras and why they are suddenly relevant in their lives now, in preparation for an upcoming discussion with Ranju Roy and Dave Charlton, yoga teachers and authors of the new book “Embodying the Sutras”.

Chara & Maria chat about what's happening in their lives and their yoga as they live through the social distancing situation. Maria shares details of a recent health scare and the impact it has had on her thoughts about her own tools for loving herself in the midst of real challenges.

Maria and Chara sit down with Yoga therapist, yoga teacher trainer and author Leila Stuart, who uses the principles of embodied anatomy in her therapy and teaching work. Leila shares details of her long, varied and unconventional history with the practice of yoga and how that inner work created the foundation for what she now shares with the world. Her most recent book is “Pathways to a Centered B...

We’ve been getting questions from students and clients about the coronavirus. What’s the best thing to do? What should be avoided or embraced? So we decided to sit down and talk about what we know, what we don’t know, and what we’re doing to navigate the choppy water of this pandemic as it ripples through our lives and our communities.

Relationships and sex therapist Isiah McKimmie is out to help people see the deeper side of sex and themselves. On a journey of self discovery herself, we talk about what makes sex healthy, why ageing can actually improve your sex life and how Ayurveda’s third pillar of health contributes to our ultimate desire to live in alignment with our true nature. Also Chara finds out what a sexologist is! D...

Maria and Chara talk about the Ayurvedic approach to healthy eating along with Chara's book on the subject. We explore: Why Chara wrote her book after initially resisting the pull to focus her Ayurvedic teaching around food How organising the book in seasons allowed Chara to address both the Ayurvedic approach to food and the application of ayurvedic Principles to people’s daily life How the siste...

Chara has a conversation with Deacon Carpenter a Clinical Ayurveda specialist, entrepreneur and author who’s road to becoming a modern healer has been anything but ordinary! From his awkward overweight beginnings as a teenage immigrant from the UK to the USA, to healing himself at an early age with the help of Ayurveda and yoga to a lifetime rollercoaster ride through the healthy and not so health...

In this episode Chara and Maria talk about what it takes to make sure your practice continues to serve you as you age. What are the signs when your practice needs to adapt and change to serve you better, as you age, or anytime? Why is there so much resistance to changing and adapting practice to aging, and what teachers can do to help their students overcome that resistance? Once we do acknowledge...

Maria and Chara engage in a juicy conversation about Ayurveda, diving into the basics of what it REALLY is, what’s important to know about it, how to use it in your life and why you should. Chara talks about why Ayurveda is such an important tool for yoga teachers (or anyone who teaches anything) and shares her experiences with applying the ancient science of living in her yoga classes and in her...