Yoga Stories with Matt and Monica

BONUS MATERIAL! 4 years later... As Part of Matt's Masters Degree in Yoga Studies he was required to produce a podcast about the place of sound in yoga. What better occasion for a reunion with long time dear friend and teacher, Monica.  This episode will be less conversational than you may be used to from us, and looks at one very small aspect of mantras in the studio from an academic perspec...

OK, so January is almost over, but that doesn't mean we cannot still develop some new habits and work on those resolutions we made at the beginning of the year! Monica tells us it only takes 21 days to develop a new habit - so why not use that power to achieve something wonderful? Our idea (and we don't claim it's original!) is to encourage you to start a personal (yoga) practice. S...

How quickly and dramatically can things change? In a global pandemic, the answer is "VERY"! In the last episode Monica was looking forward to Christmas in Slovakia and her birthday (and New Year) in Sicily. However, Monica is now in splendid isolation at home after testing positive before trying to take the flight to Sicily. Matt was busy preparing for a Christmas for seven family member...

We decided to celebrate the end of the year by listening back to the guests we had over the last year; to share the impressions we had, the lessons we learned, the beautiful stories  shared. However, we were really only half way through when time was up (a booster vaccination appointment was calling!). So this is just part 1. We will talk about everyone before the year is out... (hopefully!) What...

Born in the US Pacific Northwest, Michael was a bookish child, not so comfortable in his body. He grew up in a loving family, but one that had no specific religious or spiritual practice. Realising he was good at school work, he decided to be really good at school. This eventually led to a full ride scholarship to University. It was while at college that he discovered dance, and took his first yog...

Born in South Africa, Shannon had an idyllic childhood including time at a catholic boarding school. Sensing the world was bigger than what she saw of it in her home country, she moved to London and enjoyed all the big city can offer. Along the way she became acquainted with yoga and meditation, but it wasn't until she went on a month long Buddhist meditation retreat that her life turned a co...

Tessa is half-Belgian, half-American and is a teacher at Yyoga in Brussels. Monica and Matt chat to Tessa about when and how she discovered yoga - as a student in Florida. Tessa seems to have taken a very different course through life after her introduction to yoga than the one she had envisaged when she went to the USA to complete post-graduate studies. Tessa found yoga (or yoga found Tessa) afte...

This episode introduces us to Tara - who studied with Monica in Mysore. Tara is based in India but has also lived in Europe. She is a student and teacher of yoga, as well as an artist and mindful cook. Tara's introduction to yoga came from two sources - a grandmother (who instilled the Yamas and Niyamas in her), and later family friends. That introduction was significant - not only did Tara s...

Summer is almost over - but you wouldn’t know that from Monica’s regular comment on the weather! This summer has been one of growth for both Matt and Monica. With yoga studios in Belgium allowed to reopen, and with Matt having completed a teacher training course, things have, inevitably, changed. Have we been able to embrace this change, as yogis do? As the young people would say “it’s complicated...

In a recording made during the heady days of summer, Monica and Matt talk to Klara and Sigrid, teacher and student at Reykjavik Yoga in Iceland. Why Iceland? We noticed that after Brussels, Reykjavik is the city in which we had the most listeners. So we wanted to meet some of them! Klara was born in the Czech Republic but has traveled the world since then. Yoga was seeping into her life from an ea...

Shilpi is originally from India but now lives in New Jersey, USA, with her husband, daughter, son and enormous dog (Cosmo). Shilpi was introduced to yoga by her Dad when she was a youngster. It was a very physical practice with very little theory but she continued to practise up until moving to the USA. She has recently taken up yoga again, but perhaps this time with more emphasis on yoga's p...

In this second episode on the Kleshas, we look at Asmita - ego, and Avidya, the mother and father of all Kleshas. We spend quite some time examining our own lives to see how much we have identified with different roles - professional, family, social. Identifying too much with any of these roles - motherhood included - is going to involve some suffering at some point. We also look at the idea that...

In this episode we begin a discussion on the Kleshas - impediments, obstacles of inflictions that inhibit our spiritual growth. We decided to discuss them backwards - starting with  abhiniveśāḥ,  the fear of death. And after observing that we don't talk a lot about death in our cultures, we spend a considerable time talking about death... dveṣa  is aversion - or attachment to past pain. Not l...

We're back! In this week's episode, before talking about the last three limbs of yoga from Patanjali's sutras: Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. But before we get to concentration and meditation we have to confess that we're not going to be able to share much about Samadhi.  There's a very honest discussion about "Why do we do this?" "This" being yoga rather...

How do you talk about withdrawal of the senses? (Or indeed how do you present that in a photo?) That's how pratyahara is most often translated. The fifth limb of yoga is perhaps something that happens to you when you practice consistently, rather than a recognisable practice or tradition that you can follow. After our discussion about Prana, however, it makes more sense in that context: by ma...

This week, after a week off, Matt has baked diabetic cookies for Monica. They turn out to be not so bad in the end...  Our discussion focuses on Pranayama. More than breathing exercises, it's a way to expand and control Prana, the energy that animates not only us, our minds and bodies, but the whole Universe. Matt gets very excited about the reading he's been doing on Prana, from Vivekan...

This week Monica and Matt chat with Daša Lakner, founder of agniyoga studios in Ljubljana, Slovenia and the teacher with whom Monica completed her first teacher training. Recently a mother for the second time, Daša manages to have an in-depth conversation with us while pushing her new-born son to a local castle to help him sleep! (This does mean you will occasionally hear the joyful sounds of chil...

Monica and Matt examine the third limb of yoga: asanas. The discussion gets perhaps more serious than one would imagine for the topic... and Oréo can be heard begging for Monica's coconut cookies! There's not much to go on in Patanjali or the Gita... so Monica turns to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (HYP). A marvellous handbook for yoga but it only refers to sitting postures. So where do the s...

This week we continue our discussion of the Niyamas, the things yogis should be doing to bring their practice into every aspect of life. Tapas, a kind of self-discipline that helps build the fire inside that burns away impurities, is a concept familiar to many people of faith.  Svadhyaya is the study of the self - reflection on your actions, characteristics, the direction you are taking and the en...

In this episode Monica and Matt discuss the first two Niyamas - Saucha (or is it Shaucha?) and Santosha - purity and contentment. Saucha can also mean cleanliness and we discover that what comes out of people can be as "defiling" as what goes in - an idea we look at from the New Testament. We also talk about interdictions on certain foods for observant Jews as well as Muslims. Preparatio...

This week Monica and Matt speak with Ashoka Mody, an economics professor at Princeton. Born and raised in India, Ashoka's first asana practice began between graduating from High School and going to University. The Ashram providing the classes was just opposite his school. A great believer in chance/coincidence/conjuncture, his journey led him to begin transcendental meditation and then on to...

In the second part of our chat on the Yamas, we open with an observation on body positivity and gender identity which leads us to Brachmacharya. Often translated as some kind of sexual restraint, it can also mean balance. We tackle this topic carefully, indeed "careful" is the watchword of the episode! When history is littered with religion, institutions and society seeking to repress di...

The Yamas are a limb of the eight limbs of yoga according to Patanjali in the Yoga sutras. We talk about the eight limbs before moving onto the Yamas. Ahimsa - non-violence - is interpreted in many ways, we look at non-violence on social media and discuss vegetarianism. Has RuPaul mastered Ahimsa? Satya is truthfulness, or not lying. Should we tell the truth every time? No little white lies? And h...

Monica and Matt reflect on what they've learned from speaking to Colin and Robbie: yoga as a preparation for death and a lot of discussion about Savasana (including how to make it competitive, if that's your thing...). They discuss the commercialisation of yoga and reflect on the idea of purity in yoga practice. As we mature do we all become less certain about the important things in lif...

In this episode we talk to Robbie - the other co-owner of the studio where we practice and teach. He shares with us how his spiritual practice is more than yoga and how he contemplates that "something bigger" that inspires you, whether you call it God, the Universe or something else. He thinks yoga practice should be playful, but also have some discipline. We talk about having a calling,...