The Yogic Studies Podcast

In this episode, we speak with Anjali Rao, yoga educator, practitioner, and doctoral candidate at the California Institute of Integral Studies, about her recently published book, Yoga as Embodied Resistance: A Feminist Lens on Caste, Gender, and Sacred Resilience in Yoga History (North Atlantic Books, 2025).  The conversation ranges widely, exploring the entangled histories of yoga, caste, and gen...

In this episode, we speak with Anirudh Kanisetti, a public historian and award-winning author specializing in early medieval South India. We discuss his path from tech journalism and podcasting into serious historical scholarship, and explore the world of his latest book, Lords of Earth and Sea: A History of the Chola Empire (Juggernaut, 2025). Beginning with the origins of the Chola dynasty on th...

In this episode, we speak to Dr. Giacomella Orofino about her decades of research in Indo-Tibetan religious traditions, and the fieldwork she has conducted across Nepal, Bhutan, and the Himalayan regions of India. We then turn to the centerpiece of this conversation: her recently published monograph, The Dawn of Physical Yoga: Dispelling the Hindrances to Immortality ( Amṛtasaṃkaṭanibarhaṇa , Tib....

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Tamara Cohen about her background in Siddha Yoga, meditation, and how she came to pursue a PhD at the University of Toronto on the Yogavāsiṣṭha . We discuss the dream-like nature of the text and its unique nondualism, the textual history of the Yogavāsiṣṭha and its earlier recension known as the Mokṣopāya , the role of the term haṭhayoga within the text, and in w...

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Sunila Kale and Dr. Christian Novetzke from the University of Washington about their recent publication, The Yoga of Power: Yoga as Political Thought and Practice in India (Columbia 2025). We discuss the genesis of their book beginning with court cases in both the U.S. and India involving yoga and politics, an understanding of the term yoga not only as philosophy...

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Anya Golovkova about the world of Śrīvidyā and the Hindu tantric traditions. We learn about her background growing up in Russia and then discovering South Asian studies later in life in New York City, eventually going on to pursue a PhD on Śrīvidyā texts and traditions. We discuss the category of "tantra," the role of the Goddess within tantric traditio...

In this episode, we speak with return guest and teacher Dr. Daniela Bevilacqua to discuss the publication of her latest work, From Tapas to Modern Yoga: Sādhus’ Understanding of Embodied Practices (2024). We discuss the origins of the book as part of the research and output of the infamous SOAS Hatha Yoga Project (2015-2020), her methodology as an ethnographer working in India, the various samprad...

In this episode we speak with Briana Dana Akers, who is a publisher, editor, and translator, best known for his translation of the Haṭhapradīpikā . We discuss his background discovering yoga at a young age, learning Sanskrit in Michigan and in India, and how he first began publishing Sanskrit works on yoga when he founded YogaVidya at just 23 years old. Brian shares with us insights into the world...

In this episode we speak with Zoë Slatoff about her background as an Ashtanga Yoga practitioner and teacher turned academic and Sanskrit professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. We discuss how her experiences within the Ashtanga Yoga community led her to the study of Sanskrit, and the eventual writing of her textbook called Yogāvatāraṇam. She details how her love for the study of y...

In this episode we speak with Kunsang about her upcoming series of courses in Classical Tibetan. We learn about her fascinating journey growing up in Venezuela and Italy and first encountering Tibetan Buddhism in her youth, studying Buddhist philosophy in Italy, becoming ordained as a Buddhist nun, studying Tibetan language and joining a nunnery in Dharamsala, India. We discuss some of the details...

In this episode we speak with Lucy May Constantini about her fascinating research and practical experience studying the south-Indian martial art tradition of kaḷarippayaṟṟ ˘. We discuss Lucy's background of training in Kerala, the history of kaḷari, the role of the gurukkaḷ ("lineage-holder"), the tradition's Śākta Tantra context in Kerala, medieval ankam battles, the gendered...

In this episode we welcome back Kate Hartmann, former director of Buddhist Studies Online, to discuss all things pilgrimage and Buddhism. We discuss how Kate first got into pilgrimage studies as a grad student at Harvard, whether pilgrimage is a universal concept across cultures, and question what separates a pilgrim from a tourist? We then turn to the early history of the Buddhist pilgrimage trad...

In this episode we speak with Christopher Miller about his recent monograph, Embodying Transnational Yoga: Eating, Singing, and Breathing in Transformation (Routledge 2023) and his upcoming online course at Yogic Studies. We begin by discussing his academic background and how he first got into critical Yoga and later Jain Studies, his experiences as a practitioner of yoga in Santa Monica, Californ...

In this episode we speak with Samuel Grimes about his research and experience with the tradition of Newar Buddhism in Nepal. We discuss the unique history of Buddhism in Nepal, the decline of Buddhism in India, and what it means to be the only living "Sanskritic Buddhist" tradition in South Asia. We then discuss the meaning and role of yoga within Buddhist traditions, previewing Grimes&a...

In this episode we welcome back Keith Cantú for a wide ranging conversation on the history of the Theosophical Society and in particular its unique relationship with the modern history of yoga. We discuss the influence of figures like Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, as well as lesser-known South Asian Theosophists and Theosophy-adjacent authors and scholars. We discuss the impact of Theos...

In this episode we speak with Caley Smith about the ancient and fascinating world of Vedic Sanskrit. We discuss some theories and debates about the origins of Sanskrit, its relationship with other Indo-European languages, the nature and scope of the Vedas, Vedic notions of authorship, comparisons between Classical Sanskrit and Vedic, the importance of orality, and much more.  We conclude the conve...

In this episode we speak with Lubomír Ondračka about his research on conceptions of the body within yogic and tantric traditions. We first discuss his background in chemical engineering and studying Indology in the Czech Republic, and how his interest in alchemy led him to India and the study of the Nāth yogis. We discuss the various scholarly categories of the 'yogic body', 'tantri...

In this episode we speak with Carl Ernst about his career of scholarship on Sufism—which he describes as the tradition of ethics and spirituality associated with Islam. In particular we discuss the unique history of Sufism's engagement with Hindu forms of yoga in northern India, which has been the subject of numerous important publications by Ernst.  We discuss the nature of Sufism, the fluid...

In this episode we welcome back Jim Mallinson for another update on his pioneering research into the earliest Sanskrit texts of Haṭha Yoga. We discuss the Light on Hatha Yoga Project (2021–2024) which will produce a critical edition of the Haṭhapradīpikā. We then dive into the Dattātreyayogaśāstra , the "Dattātreya's Discourse on Yoga," perhaps the first text to teach Haṭhayoga with...

In this episode, we speak with return guest Philip Deslippe about his research on the history of Early American Yoga. Philip shares with us his archive of knowledge and stories from the "Swami Circuit"—the network of forgotten South Asian yoga teachers who travelled and taught various forms of yoga throughout the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries. We discuss the nature of...

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Arti Dhand about her research, teaching, and podcasting on India's great epic, the Mahābhārata . We discuss her background and training in Religious Studies, comparing the Mahābhārata with Game of Thrones, the nature of an "epic," the textual history of the Mahābhārata , its major themes and narrative, gender and the role of women, the nature and t...

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Dagmar Wujastyk about her journey to Indology and the study of Sanskrit and Āyurveda, and her early travels in India studying and observing Āyurvedic physicians and centers. We discuss the research and findings from her recent ERC project Ayuryog, some of the alchemical mysteries of mercury and gold, and conclude with a preview her upcoming course, YS 122 | Ayurv...

In this episode, we welcome back Dr. Stuart Ray Sarbacker for a wide-ranging discussing about his upcoming course, YS 121 | 8 Limbs of Yoga: History, Theory, and Practice of Aṣṭāṅgayoga . We discuss the nature of Patañjali's "classical" model, some of its possible sources and influences, comparisons with Buddhist meditation and paths, Aṣṭāṅga beyond Patañjali including Purāṇic and o...

In this episode we welcome back to the Podcast, Sravana Borkataky-Varma. We catch up on her latest book projects, research, and teaching at Harvard Divinity School. We discuss the categories of so-called Classical Tantra vs. Neo Tantra, and some of the nuances of the scholar-practitioner. We discuss gender and transgender, particularly within the hijrā communities, and the recently formed Kinnar A...

In this episode we sit down with Rajiv Ranjan to discuss all things Hindi. We learn about Rajiv's remarkable journey from growing up in rural north-east India to MSU university professor, scholar, and author. We discuss the relationship between Hindi and Urdu, as well as Sanskrit and Hindi. We hear about the making of his textbook, Basic Hindi I, and the reasons for making it free and open-ac...