Finding Harmony Podcast Episodes

In this episode, we speak with an exceptional Brazilian. He’s a Professor of Philosophy and an Ashtanga yoga practitioner. We catch up with Marcos Silva, who is the chief organizing force behind a beautiful initiative to help the forgotten mothers within the Brazilian favelas. Marcos explains how a majority of the Brazilian population is of African Ancestry predestined to live out their lives within the confines of these slums, with little hope for a way out. These mothers, Maes de Favelas, ar...

If you have sensitive ears around please use earphones! The beauty of this episode is that Greg loves to go a little meta! He enjoys questioning and looking at our Ashtanga yoga practice, culture, shared history, and all the accompanying assumptions from a slightly higher perspective, being self-reflective, rather than continuing to perpetuate unhealthy patterns and unhelpful belief systems. We’re sure you will enjoy coming along this journey of inner exploration as we share our unique perspect...

We had a delightful morning interviewing Lisa Marie about her new book: The Goddess Solution: Practical Wisdom for Everyday Life. As it turns out, Lisa Marie is a Goddess, named after the King’s daughter, Miss. Presley. We discovered through our conversation that you are a Goddess too… And that even Russell could use this book (if so inclined). You’ll want to hear at what point Lisa Marie finally broke down and said “To hell with it, I’m changing my life and burning it all down. Then I’m gonna ...

Laura Miguel is founder of Casa Leela and AYPOA, and is a teacher of ashtanga vinyasa yoga, one of the few authorized to teach the method in Brazil by the institution KPAYI, in Mysore - India. Ayurvedic therapist graduated from Suddha Dharma, in Uberlândia - MG, and with a specialization in nutrition from the International Ayurveda Institute in Puna - India. She teaches the ashtanga vinyasa yoga method in Porto Alegre and also teaches in workshops throughout Brazil. We caught up with her in Por...

Obviously, Mark Robberds isn’t actually the ancient Norse God of Thunder. He is actually quite soft spoken and has a gentle moderate spirit. This deep heartbeat of a vagal tone is derived from his pitta-kapha nature, which has allowed him to pursue great Athletic feats. Mark spoke to us about his anger issues as a child and what continues to drive him to succeed in everything he sets his mind to… as well as all the stuff in between. We explored themes around his naturally inquisitive and existe...

It’s been said that if you can’t explain something to a 5 year old, you don’t really understand it. Perhaps apocryphally that quote refers to quantum mechanics and general relativity theory. Albert Einstein was doing his level best to explain these concepts to a nervous public. Equally as difficult to understand is the prism of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and yet our guest today, Sonja Radvila, explains it effortlessly in her Yoga Sutra book written especially for children. We had the pleasure to ...

There is something about John that strikes a person as wholesome. In a different age, we might've described him as an "All American." Of course, that’s before some of us were awakened to nativism and privilege. Still, watch Captain America and you can understand what allows him to hold Mjölnir. He has something pure and true about him that allows him to wield Thor’s hammer. He is selfless and leads through example. He brings all of us in the room together, which is essentially beautiful. John w...

You know it’s often possible to get the wrong impression about things. Our minds do this to us constantly. The citta emotionally setting objects into their respective categories of understanding to “help us.” There is a sutra for this of course, just like there is a sutra for everything! Yogasutra 1.8 विपर्ययो मिथ्याज्ञानमतद्रूप प्रतिष्ठम् viparyayo mithyā-jñānam-atadrūpa pratiṣṭham False understanding is mistaking something for something else. This Patanjali verse speaks about the habit of m...

Our guest today has her own story. She, like her absolutely gorgeous mother, is a being suffused with Love. In the midst of Portugal’s insane epoch changing civil war: one that transformed the nation from an autocratic dictatorship to a freedom loving Democracy, Isa Guitana was born to naturalists on the Ocean. Almost as if Aphrodite arose out of her Shell right there on the beach in Lisbon, our beautiful Isa came into being. Isa’s story is shaped by her affection for depth, song, movement, w...

Today we have a delightful conversation for you with one of the few Certified teachers of Ashtanga yoga, Luke Jordan. We learn about his on-going journey, which has taken him all around the world seeking out experts, gurus and teachers in the field of Yoga and spirituality. We speak about things like the value of learning to surrender, freewill verses determinism, and the relationship between Sankhya and Yoga. Discover whether the nature of the Self is a Full-Emptiness or an Empty-Fullness. Lu...

Despite her extravagant appearance, party-girl reputation, and naturally rebellious nature, Deepika Mehta is deeply devoted and one of the most sincere practitioners we know. In 1997, Deepika Mehta’s life was forever changed by a near-death rock climbing accident. Doctors told her she would never walk again. As someone with a love for dance and movement, she also had a deep trust in a higher power. While bedridden, she somehow found the book an Autobiography of a Yogi, which sparked her interes...

Our guest today is the American Aristocrat, Robbie Cavallero. There is something ineffable but unmistakable in the effect he has on people directly in his sphere of reach. He’s a bit like Lord Krishna really, attracting Gopies with his sweetness. And the ardent admirers of this gentleman will notice that even the rocks melt, ever so slightly, in his presence. Robbie is a strange American archetype: The Aristocrat. He is the scion of an Italian Noble Family (his uncle was the Field Marshall for ...

Sixteen years ago Russell called Hamish from Brighton and asked for his much needed help... “What I am doing wrong, Hamish? I’ve only got 6 students. I don’t know if I can do this.” Hamish answered with his usual affable enthusiasm, “You’re doing great! 6 students is great!” That he even took the time to take the call is an example of Hamish’s heart. He really, truly cares for people. A year later Hamish went to Russell’s wedding in Essex and read this poem there from the Isha Upanishad: “Th...

This week we have a really good story for you. Most folks we talk to on the Finding Harmony Podcast seem hell bent on making an interesting life for themselves. Perhaps anytime you sit down with a friend and carefully examine why they are the way they are, their story and life becomes scintillating, effortlessly so, as they are just quite simply unique when being themselves. Sarah Miles, a Hypno-Therapist, an Ashtanga yoga teacher, a Celebrant, and Mortician. She was also Russell’s apprentice ...

Today’s episode is a lovely heartfelt conversation with an old friend in our Community Treasure, the ever elusive Dr. John Campbell. John did us a valuable kindness in opening the program with a Tibetan prayer for the Dead. It is with a deep sadness that a mentor to Russell and dear friend Eugene Ruffin passed away of CoVid, shortly before this podcast was recorded. Valentine’s Day is Gene’s Birthday. So we honor him with this prayer. John, Russell, and Gene founded the Jois Foundation togethe...

On today’s podcast we are extremely delighted to welcome back Bibi Lorenzeti. Bibi came to us with an interesting topic that we were intrigued to explore: What happens to your self of self when you, as a new mother, become two people instead of one? Becoming a mother is often a difficult transition. Especially for women who are dedicated Ashtanga yoga practitioners before becoming pregnant. We gain a beautiful baby, but our bodies go through a very intense process, not only from the nine months...

Very often our podcasts are a coming together of old friends, conversations which sometimes unravel into talking about something funny, strange, a little bit weird, or “culty,” just like we would be sitting at a chai-stand in Mysore, India. Sometimes though, we call on a person who looms much larger in our minds, a giant in our industry, whose life experience, we know, has fundamentally altered ours; just by the sheer courage of the choices made in their era. Beryl Bender Birch is one of those ...

If there is one thing we have learned this year it’s that no matter how uncomfortable we are, it’s always better to try and engage in conversation whereby we can learn our neighbor’s perspective. We should, whether it be our Trans or Trumpist family members, attempt to reach deeply into the wound that’s created a particular pattern and find compassion and understanding for hearts, that like our own, experience fear, grief, and pain. To that end, we’ve asked the ebullient Shanna Small onto our ...

In our 43rd episode we sit down with Spiros and Erica. On the surface this is an unlikely pair. What is perversely intriguing however, on speaking with these two, is how uniquely suited they are to each other. What shines through their every interaction is intelligence and insight. With every topic we brought up whether it was Los Angeles, the criminal justice system, the State of Ohio, the Tarot, or the Trumpist identity, they brought a profound sense of layered self-aware contextual discernme...

Every once in a while on this show we like to pull the blinds down (or the pull the curtain away) and show you what it really sounds like at the Chai Stand gossiping on Gokulum High Street in India. Tim Feldmann is hilarious (unfortunately for him not quite Jewish) and shares a very similar sense of humor to Russell. The two of them create their own little giggling world together and we are delighted to share this hour exploring Tim’s life with you! Tim appears to be a Dane. He comes from a ni...

For the New Year and for the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius that it seems we’ve now fully entered… We have done the impossible for you! We’ve nailed down the spinning melodic kites that are Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor. What is truly incredible about these two is their enormous sense of self-awareness to the fishbowl world in which we all live. They know themselves and they see you, seeing them, and within this awareness Love comes to light. They become (as one of Richard’s books suggests...

David Swenson is someone in the Ashtanga yoga circle who needs no introduction. He began his journey of Yoga in 1969 when he and his brother Doug were arrested for stretching in a small park at the end of their street in Houston, Texas. There were few sources for yoga at that time so they practiced from whatever books they could find. He tells us about how he met David Williams and Nancy Gilgoff in Encinitas, CA in 1973 following in brother’s spiritual yoga-surf journey. This naturally flowed i...

In the decades that followed the Korean War, over 250,000 Korean children were sent abroad, to be adopted by foreigners, for many reasons, but most prominently was the incredible weight of economic hardship facing these parents, and all of South Korea during those years. It is referred to as the Han Diaspora. Born in Daegu, South Korea to Korean parents, Hojung was given up for adoption at a very young age. She was adopted and raised by Flemish-Belgian parents in Europe, who, shortly after her ...

We sat down with our close friend Loreto Cortés recently. Russell asked her what it was like living in Chile during Pinochet and fascism. (Something that has been on his mind recently). Loreto said of that time in her childhood that: “In that time everything lacked colour. After Pinochet our world became brighter and filled with light.” We probed Loreto and her experience as an activist, artist, and yogi. We were fascinated by her universe. Loreto is an actor and as such she can reach her emoti...