Mysore Yoga Paris – Closer Together

Mettā Bhāvanā - the Cultivation of Loving Kindness, sometimes simply translated as Friendliness - is one of the oldest and most powerful practices in the Buddhist tradition. It is not an aspiration to feel differently than you do. It is a training in compassion: a deliberate, gradual strengthening of the heart's capacity to stay open - to oneself first, and then outward, into the world.  This...

This body scan is an invitation to establish inner reference before āsana practice, or daily life begins – so that we can better attune whatever follows to our inner climate.  Lying in a neutral śavāsana , we’re guided to feel our body as it is, its weight, structure, and relationship to gravity. Attention moves through bones and joint spaces, pelvis and spine, inviting a felt sense of support and...

As we open the new year, this meditation invites us to cast our anchor in our Belly Centre (Hara). Across both Eastern and Western wisdom traditions this domain is recognised as our main spring of embodied wisdom. Without a clear connection to this home-ground, our Heart-Mind can feel fragile, scattered, and ill equipped to steward the world it inhabits. From this inner ground of body intelligence...

The Breath Space began as a live recording during Kia’s in-depth training in Paris and has since evolved into a full album with the same name, now available on all platforms. This original recording opens with Kia guiding a brief breath-awareness practice, helping us notice the subtle currents that shape our body with each in- and out-breath. From there, we gather in Samastitihi, aligning body, br...

Loss—whether fresh or long woven into your life, whether it’s a person, a relationship, or something less tangible—lives within us all. It shapes our days in quiet ways. This meditation is an invitation to meet grief gently, and only as you feel ready. As we hold space for our personal sorrow, it can become a doorway into a collective journey of healing and compassion that holds all beings. (Medit...

Recited daily in Mahayana temples throughout the world, The Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra or The Sutra of the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge is one of the most well known Buddhist teachings and is said to be the view that leads to complete liberation. In this episode, Kia shares her personal experience and reflections around this sacred text, as well as the creation of hers and Yotam's latest...

This meditation explores bringing our Swara - the flow through our right solar and left lunar streams of consciousness - into balance.  In yoga this is traditionally done through harmonising the flow through our left and right nostril where these subtle breath channels, nadis terminate. There are many practices devoted to this end in classical Hatha Yoga texts. This episode offers a beautifully cr...

An embodied approach to yoga requires us to learn our body's subtle language so we can attune what and how to practice to care for its changing nature.  Opening and closing with a  Body Scan is a powerful way to strengthen our capacity to use own inner reference system for growing somatic intelligence. Without initiating our practice from this place of deep listening, our practice is likely t...

Resonance frequency breathing   is a very simple, yet powerful practice for restoring balance in our body, breath, heart and mind. The word resonance is defined as synchronicity or harmony between elements. It’s a way of breathing where we consciously slow down our breath cycle in a way that brings our autonomic nervous system into balance. In only a few quiet minutes, this practice allows us to d...

Kia opens our meditation by sharing a quote from electronic music composer Pauline Olivero's work Quantum Listening . It's an invitation to listen with care and attention. Listening deeply in this way sheds light on the invisible forces that transpires around, within and between us - our inner and outer resonance. Following these subtle vibratory threads, we experience our existence as w...

We invite you for a Savasana-Journey: A divine relaxation that takes us to Mother India, the homeland of yogic practices & ancient wisdom teachings. We travel deep into a protected rain forest in Karnataka. In the lush soundscape of the jungle, we find a clearing where we lie down. In this sanctuary, we allow our body to find complete rest and our mind complete presence. Savasana is usually ta...

Shamatha means Calm Abiding or Peacefully Remaining and is the foundation of Buddhist Mindfulness Practice. Taking our seat and placing our attention on an anchor such as the breath,  offers us a home ground, a safe but transient sensation that allows us to return to our embodiment in the present moment. When we pause from the momentum of life in this way, we begin to breed an inner sanctuary, a c...

In this episode we are taking you on a sound journey to one of my retreats in the Spanish mountains where you find our Mountain Shala. We go here to retreat and to practice deeply. But also to simply be together, enjoy and explore. Most practitioners return year after year, and over time many friendships have flourished here. This is not so much a journey away from, as it is a journey towards each...

This talk on Saṁkalpa is a live recording from our Borderless Online Shala , held only days after the passing of zen master Thich Nhath Hahn . The talk was followed by a meditation on the same theme which you find in the next episode of our Podcast. Saṁkalpa is a very particular word in the Sanskrit language. The most common, but somewhat simplified English translation is " An Intention Forme...

In our previous episode, we shared a talk on Saṁkalpa recorded live  in our Borderless Online Shala . The Meditation you are about to hear was recorded during the same session. So we invite you to listen to the talk first, to lay a foundation for the meditation. Saṁkalpa is a very particular word in the Sanskrit language. The most common, but somewhat simplified English translation is " An In...

The tendency of our distracted mind is to be scattered and cut off from the direct, physical sensations of our body. When we are caught in thinking of the future or past, we leave the nowness of our breathing body. Our body and mind separate from one another. The division between body, heart and mind is first healed by the breath.  We anchor our awareness in our breath to yoke body, heart and mind...

The Breath Space opens with Kia taking us through a short breath awareness practice where we awaken to the Pranic & Apanic patterns that cause the shape and pulse of our body to change with each breath. With fluidity and spaciousness arising from within, we bring ourselves to Samastitihi where we align body, breath and mind – before moving into 80 mins of Soundscapes designed to carry us throu...

The most direct portal to presence comes through being awake in our body. Many people think of meditation as a practice solely for the mind, reaching some alternative, transcendent state. But mindfulness meditation is above all a fully embodied practice.   In this meditation we let our awareness drop down into the belly and rest deep within our body. We try not to manipulate or control the breath...

It´s time to take rest. We prepare our Savasana as if for our most beloved in life. Offering this gift of care and kindness to ourselves. The practice of Savasana is passive, receptive. We allow ourselves to be held unconditionally. Our nest, a divine resting place.  Now lie down, close your eyes and feel yourself lying on the earth. This is not the time to practice. This is the time to surrender....

Perhaps the most accessible gateway to begin a meditation practice is through Mindfulness of Sound. Sounds are always happening in the present moment, they arise, change and dissolve.  We  cultivate a sense of spaciousness for sounds to arise without clinging, rejecting, or being distracted by them.   Mindful Listening is an Embodied Listening. We don´t just hear with our ears, but we listen with...

This is a live recording from March 29th 2021, one year since we moved our community to our Borderless Online Shala . ”Personally I feel the Shala and its community have never been more important than this last year. As a refuge, a sanctuary – not in a sense of hiding away from the world, on the contrary: as an active process of placing our practice in the midst of our life as it is right now. Hol...

The biggest illusion about the Path of Refuge is that we have to journey somewhere else to find this sacred space. Ultimately our refuge is not outside ourselves or somewhere else, but it is always and already here. We are taking refuge in the truth of who we are - our Inner Shala. This practice soundscape is meant to help open up this sanctuary within. To cultivate an inner experience of wholenes...

This is a live recording of a Meditation on Pratyahara the 5th limb of Yoga, following a talk given in our previous episode with the same name. It was held in our Borderless Online Shala in December 2020.  We begin by dropping into the body by anchoring down into earth. From a place of groundedness, we become aware of the Midline waking up at the very centre of our body. We connect earth to heaven...

This recording is a talk given before one of our Pranayama classes in our Borderless Online Shala 2020. Pranayama , the Yogic breathing practices is the 4th of Patanjali´s 8 limbs of Yoga. It is said to lead the practitioner towards Pratyahara the 5th limb. Pratyahara is commonly translated as  ”sense withdrawal”. However, I find this translation quite problematic. Can you really withdraw your sen...

In this episode we want to share with you a Prayer for all of the Essential Workers written by zen priest Ando Jaune Evans, gently adapted by Kia. With this prayer we place our practice in the midst of the world we are living in, and we acknowledge all of the essential Bodhistattvas that are at work amongst us every day, carrying us through these pandemic times.  The Prayer is followed by a guided...