Finding Harmony Podcast Episodes

You know her as Lee. We know her as 이성은 It is with great honor and joy that we introduce you to our very special friend, Lee (this is her last name of course). In the Korean language the last name is introduced first before the first name. Why would that be? What kind of culture believes that family is more important that the individual? The answer is a Confucian culture. Or Kong Ja Nim in Hangul which is of course Korean for the their Language and alphabet: 콩자님 한글 We discussed at length the ...

It’s our pleasure to introduce you to Ann Svärdfelt. Many of you know here as her the proprietor of the Santosha Cafe. Her experience of Mysore is unique. She came to Ashtanga Yoga later in life, already with small children, and as a responsible adult. She stepped into the practice from a very different space than many of us, who were in somewhat of a state of arrested development, bugged out drop outs, wannabe hippies, overgrown, and still living with our parents. Ann didn’t have these advant...

As you’re quickly becoming aware, We, in our little Ashtanga Yoga Land, have a culture. This word stems from the Latin meaning “to cultivate or to toil over.” And, this cultivation of the soil, slowly became a cultivation of the mind. This is were we get the word ‘cult’ from... which is to say, “cultivated, or inhabited.” In a way, our work in yoga, leads our mind to become inhabited. We become Self-possessed. Without really sitting down to talk with Casey Palmer before now, what we noticed i...

It is with great pleasure that we introduce you to our great friend Mariela Cruz. Mariela is one of those phenomenal human that you might find in an Alexandre Dumas classic like ‘The Count of Monte Christo’ or ‘The Man in the Iron Mask.’ Someone who’s heart-centered and gifted with supreme powers of intelligence, wit, and physical prowess! With 7 children, a lawyer, a gifted solo pianist, she also happened to finished Advanced A Series with Sharath Jois in Mysore, India. She was an ambassador t...

Today we’ve created a Venn diagram of interesting listening…. Here you’ll find the intersection of the dedicated The Last Kingdom fan (secretly in love with Uhtred of Uhtred; and Aethelfled her personal hero), mixing with a keen interest in True Crime Detective procedurals, along with a curiosity in what it might take to become a female weight lifter, or body building champion (and this may or may not have nosedived into an obsession with professional wrestling, who’s to say really). All this c...

"By the practice of the limbs of Yoga, the impurities dwindle away and there dawns the light of wisdom, leading to discriminative discernment." “Dukham evam sarvaam vivekinaha.” For a viveki, a person with discriminative knowledge, everything is painful and also, simultaneously, full and sweet. As epic poet, Leonard Cohen wrote, “Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That's how the light gets in.” When you allow yourself to...

It is our great pleasure to introduce you to our old friend (and living legend) Certified Ashtanga Yoga Teacher, Alex Medin. Unfortunately this sentence doesn’t do him justice! He’s an excellent and exceptional student in so many walks of life: a boxer, ballet dancer, a Sanskrit scholar, entrepreneur, and humanitarian to name but a few. In fact, if there is one allegory to describe Alex, it's that after our interview he immediately wanted to do it over so we could do it better the second time ar...

It is with great pleasure to introduce you to our dear friend Mark Stephen Pomianowski, known only as Sparky. He is a kind of Bay Area legend, infamous for his sense of humor, and his constant confrontations with wild (and quite literal) death defying situations. “Sparx” (for short) was Russell’s Ashtanga Yoga student in San Francisco, as well as a great master of Chinese Medicine who helped cure Russell’s sciatica. Later, he became Russell’s teacher in acupuncture. Sparky plays bass and class...

In Norse mythology, Freyja (from Old Norse meaning "the Lady" is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, and gold. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, is accompanied by the boar Hildisvíni, and possesses a cloak of falcon feathers. Today we interviewed a woman, who in our opinion, most embodies this Freya sex goddess energy. Longing for a life of adventure since a small girl this desire took her across the world and after man...

For a particular generation of Ashtangi, Dominic Corigliano represents that paternal “cool dad” who knows everything that’s going on in your family and is more than happy to tell you too much about it. He’s like that cool uncle who’s not condescending and knows about the dope hiding in your room. Dom may smoke it with you, but he’s also going to be real honest about the side effects. He’s the first guy you call when you need bail money… But he’s also going to reinforce, “You really need to tel...

Sista Shree, born Regina French, in the First Nation State of Sequoyah (what is now referred to as Oklahoma— okla humma) is an embodiment of the benevolent magic Earth-Mother figure that we all need in our lives. She is a kind of blue-skinned Krishna who vibrates peace and love and makes all beings in her vicinity feel friendship towards her. For us, we’ve always felt a kinship with her - an immediate friendship was formed - since we first met twenty years ago. Sista Shree came on the podcast...

Sitting with Adam is a bit like sitting with David Beckham — they are both from Essex you understand — and are whirlwinds of energy! When Adam isn’t practising yoga, he’s talking, recording his Keen On Yoga Podcast, writing his book, and after all that, asks “what else can I do today?” To which he cheerfully answers, “I know, I’ll cook for them!” Adam has a wonderful lightness to him. His nature is a living example of a powerful creative energy, he embodies the quality of vata (in Ayurvedic t...

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 ...