Whole Life Yoga Podcast

Italo Calvino’s Il Barone Rampante / Baron in the Trees is one of my favourite ever books. It was one of the texts/aesthetic experiences/works of art that gave me an undeniable experience of what is known in Sanskṛt as rasa - the flavour that art can invoke and evoke.  When I first read it, in my second year of studying Italian, I also read the English translation. Curiously, my favourite episodes...

So do you have a yoga practice?  This episode includes: What does sādhana mean?  Is your practice helping keep your life orienting in the direction of your soul’s deeper and authentic longing?  The potency of allowing some time for deep silence and meditation every day.  The Medi-state as the foundation for yoga practice.  Meditation and silence allowing us to connect to source, disconnect from th...

What is special about a whole life yoga retreat at Casa Cuadrau in the Spanish Pyrenees?  From 2012-2019 I enjoyed the great boon of sharing retreats every year at beautiful Casa Cuadrau. Between the travel restrictions and Brexit complications of recent years there has been a painfully prolonged hiatus in my visits to this wonderfully nourishing part of the world.  This year, 20-27 June 2026 I am...

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai in una selva oscura perchè la dritta via mi era smarrità In the middle of the journey of our life, having lost my way - not seeing the clear way forward, in a dark forest, I came to myself... So begins Dante's Inferno, in a way that bears a striking resemblance to the beginning of the Bhagavad Gītā - in which the protagonist, Arjuna comes to rea...

Centralised control and domination? That's an outdated story. Past its use by date. Thinking we are smarter than Life? No, that story of hubris never sustains. The new world is one of deeper harmony and cooperation, in which we remember our innate capacity to collaborate with all of life. NEW ONLINE COURSE on the Bhagavad Gītā starts next Monday 23rd February. One of the key teachings in the...

The battlefield setting of the Bhagavad Gītā coming in the midst of a vast epic centred around a war of powerful men fighting amongst themselves sometimes puts people off. However, disregarding the Gītā's extraordinarily pragmatic teachings because we object to the setting is a tragic case of throwing baby out with bathwater. Besides, have you not sometimes fought against yourself? Experience...

Gaṇeśa, famed as the ‘remover of obstacles’ is so much more! Along with Śiva, Śakti/Mā/Mother Divine, Viṣṇu/Nārāyaṇa, Skanda/Subrahmaṇya/Kārtikeya/Murugan and Sūrya/Sun, Gaṇeśa is one of the six foremost ways of representing that which is beyond representation, totality/the source/ultimate reality in the Indic tradition. Literally Gaṇeśa or Gaṇapati is the Lord/leader/the one who can bring togethe...

The Rāmāyaṇa is one of the most treasured stories in the history of humanity. It was my privilege to soak in the teachings of this great epic of the yoga tradition during an autumn 2025 online course. This was also part of a yoga education program at ashtangayogavevey.  During the 12 hour course, we explored the extraordinarily rich story of Rāmāyaṇa and gave speical attention to some key episodes...

Ahead of the October 17-19 weekend workshop, Moving with Integrity - A Yogic Perspective for the Dance of Life, facilitators Šuka and James sat down to discuss the motivations and perspectives behind their distinct and complementary work. Here Šuka asks James about how his approach to yoga and yogic education is perhaps different from what many people might experience in 'yoga classes',...

Ahead of this October's Moving with Integrity Weekend Workshop in Leipzig, Šuka and I sat down to share a little about our perspectives and approach to work. Šuka is a movement educator, who has integrated his passions for movement and music in the exploration and discipline of dance.  A former professional dancer, Šuka now devotes himself to sharing and teaching his ongoing research into mov...

I am not ONLY this body In certain circles,  one sometimes hears repeated pronouncements like ‘I am not this body’, ‘I am not this mind’, ‘I am not this ego’.  These phrases are often derived from much more precise teachings encoded in the Sanskrit language. Phrases like ‘I am not this body’ can be useful in helping us to open up or reconsider our perspetive, but they can also be misinterpreted. ...

Sacred Stories, Timeless Teachings - Myth, Mantra & Self-Inquiry in the Yogic Tradition  In Conversation with Nadine Szumilas:  - Why is story such a central and potent part of the yoga teaching tradition?  - Why is Sanskrit so powerful, and what's different about reciting in Sanskṛt?  - What is special about yogic mythology?  And: what will we do in the Sacred stories - Timeless Teaching...

Yoga does not ask us to be anything we are not, but invites us on an unrelenting journey deeper into the heart of who we really are.  This journey takes courage, honesty and an ongoing interrogation of our presuppositions, a willingness to explore how our perspectives are tinted and veiled by our particular experiences.  When we gather with others in a confidential satsang - one in which we can ex...

Despite the common dictionary definitions of nature as something separate from or other than human, really we are never separate from nature. We are nature. Nature is our very nature! We are born, we will die, and in between those two great changes, we will experience constant change, just like everything else in nature. Yoga works with human nature to practically invite us into the recognition an...

Dharma - one of the most foundational principles in yoga and the broader Indic tradition. As a verb: that which supports, holds, sustains As a noun: the essential quality or property of a thing. For example, liquidity, the tendency to flow downwards and follow a path of least resistance, coolness and sweet taste are all dharma-s of water. Luminosity and warmth are dharma-s of fire. For humans: our...

I believe in miracles... I am reminded that I am a walking, breathing, pulsating miracle... This amazing vehicle of a human body is a miracle, and it demonstrates our remarkable capacity as human beings to reconcile and integrate things that might seem impossible to bring into harmony. The earth, water, fire and air of our bodily vehicles cohere in a space of beauty and sustained cohesion. Our cap...

On congruence and new year's resolutions On being impeccable with our word and cultivating śraddhā - self-trust.  Practising congruence between thoughts, speech and actions. How speech - standing at the threshold between thoughts and actions - offers a powerful focus to help cultivate greater congruence, confidence and self trust. With reference to the Sanskṛt subhāṣita 'wise saying&apos...

This episode considers some of the rich layers of meaning encoded in one of the Sanskṛt verses that is traditionally sung before study of the Bhagavad Gītā: Sarvo’paniṣado gāvaḥ dogdhā gopālanandanaḥ | Partho vatsaḥ sudhīrbhoktāḥ dugdhaṃ gītāmṛtaṃmahat || All the upanisad-s are like the cows, Kṛṣṇa, joy of the cowherders, is the milker. His dear friend Arjuna, son of Pṛtha is the calf. The skilful...

In this fifth conversation with William S Whorton, I ask him about his success in avoiding some of the ways human beings sabotage their own lives that he became keenly aware of as a teenager. I also asked Bill about his marriage. When I worked with Bill at Chulalongkorn University, I was aware how many of the students were so moved and inspired by the way he spoke of his beautiful wife, as I was....

In this first 'thanking the teachers/thoughts on the guru' episode, I give thanks to my third year junior school class teacher, Mrs Eggleston. During my schooling I was fortunate to have some wonderful teachers. I also encountered and survived others whom I would describe with different types of adjective. But I had enough great ones to help me learn at least to some degree how to learn....

In this fourth conversation with William S Whorton, I ask him about one of the formative experiences of his life that I have had the privilege of reading about, Bill's first encounter with the TRANSCENDENT through the music that came into his life as he walked past the Second Baptist Church one Sunday in his hometown as a teenager. Bill then went on to become the only white member of this chu...

I enjoyed this third conversation with William S Whorton, co-translator with Acharn Tassanee Sinsakul of The Bhagavad Gītā published last year by Uppsala Books: https://uppsalabooks.com/bg on the 65th anniversary of Bill's first day of training in the Marine Corps. It is a privilege to listen to Bill and receive some of the fruits of a lifetime of seeking and practice on the WAY of yoga and t...

Yoga practice is EVERY DAY As Rabindranath Tagore, translated by William Radice said it: Every day, the dawn  Brings a blessing To whatever is still growing Towards the Sun Rabindranath Tagore - Sparks/ Sphuliṅga, 31 Yoga practice is an every day affair. An all day, every day endeavour. A day and night, summer and winter ever new commitment. As Tagore’s words remind us, ‘every day, the dawn brings...

Sometimes people have the misperception that yoga is about 'chillaxing' or 'going with the flow'. Yoga is about balance. Sometimes of course, taking things easy and going with the flow is the optimal way of being, but if we just go with the flow, it won't be long before we are tipped over a waterfall, lacerated on razor rock or stranded in an oxbow lake... Yoga practice is...

A fairly freewheeling episode in which I share thoughts on mastery and apprenticeship. In recent weeks I have had the privilege and joy to share in person with several long term colleagues whom I had not seen for some time. More than once this topic came up. It seems in the world today that genuine mastery of a particular art, craft or discipline is perhaps rarer than only a short time ago. In a w...