Conversations about Yoga... Ayurveda... Life!
Hi! We're Maria & Chara...
Modern yogis (and yoga teachers) with lots of questions about how to live, age, parent, and just be more vibrantly engaged in the process. Join us for conversations and interviews dedicated to uncovering what it takes to “grow up” in a way that feels balanced, authentic, graceful and juicy!
Episode 23: The Path to owning your yoga with Libby Hinsley
What does the process of owning your yoga look like? What is the role of a yoga teacher in helping you to get there? And what is the ultimate value (or the point) to doing the work to create yoga that is uniquely yours? These are some of the things we talked about in this juicy conversation with yoga therapist and physiotherapist, Libby Hinsley. We go deep into the heart of teaching and practicing yoga guided by Libby’s wide-ranging wisdom, experience and passion. A fabulous discussion about many concepts that are dear to our hearts and our practice!
We talked about...
- Cultivating an internal practice rather seeking to master external alignment cues - the yoga of knowing yourself
- Interoceptive cues and the overlap of hyper mobility and aging
- Should we teach our students anatomy?
- Is it up to us as teachers to set the goal for the practice?
- Why having the perspective of anatomical variability will put a lot of people at ease.
- What messages we send with the language that we use
- Working with chronic pain
- How yoga can help you answer the question, ‘what matters to me?’
- How yoga creates a vital space for community that is key to “heart happiness.”
- Anatomy bites: http://www.anatomybites.com/cues
Resources & Mentions:
- Libby Hinsley: https://www.libbyhinsley.com/
- Paul Grilley’s bone gallery: https://paulgrilley.com/bone-photos/
- Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram:
- Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
Episode 22: Holding space for change with Kelley Palmer
How does it feel to hold space while moving through a powerful change? So many of us are working through this as teachers, parents, siblings, partners and friends. What is the role of yoga in helping us not just to weather the storm, but to be fully present and learn through it? We explore these questions and so much more with our guest Kelley Palmer, yoga teacher, activist, coach and creator of Race & Equity in Yoga: Disruption As a Practice, an online training course for yogis and yoga teachers in the principles and practices of dismantling white supremacy in yoga and the world.
Episode highlights...
- Kelley shares how feeling hopeful and deeply sad coexist in Kelley’s life and work.
- The history of Kelley’s activism and work in over turning racism
- How different generations agree and differ on the issues of black lives matter
- Kelley’s work to make sure other people, people of colour have access to yoga practice
- Why yoga and social justice go together
- Kelly’s dismantling racism course: https://www.accessibleyogatraining.com/race-equity
- The complexity of integration in America.
- What black people should be doing right now
- Perceptions of safety and of the police for black mothers and white mothers
Resources & Mentions...
- Kelley’s website
- Instagram: @peacefilledmama
- Kelley’s Dismantling Racism course
- The story of Mansa Musa, the 14th Century West African ruler who was so rich his generous handouts wrecked an entire country's economy.
- Sanctuary in the City; the history of creating a yoga space for black and brown people outside of white gaze. Daily online classes, meditation and panel discussions.
- Dr. Gail Parker - inspired Kelley and guided the set up of Sanctuary in the City
- Jivana Heyman
- Our podcast episode with Jivana Heyman
- Accessible Yoga Training
- Coretta Scott King: “Every generation has a responsibility to liberty and liberation.” https://www.bustle.com/p/8-coretta-scott-king-quotes-the-resistance-needs-to-read-54043
- Reverend angel Kyodo Williams
- Michelle Cassandra Johnson
- Our podcast episode with Michelle Cassandra Johnson
- Octavia Raheem
- Ilya Parker Decolonising Fitness
- Maria’s Yoga for Mental Health Course
Episode 21: Invoking the inner fire with Emma Balnaves
What is yoga and how does it support our dharmic path? These are some of the questions that Emma Balnaves from Shadow Yoga set out to answer in the process of bringing her first ever film, AgniYogana to the screen. Maria and Chara talked with Emma about the journey and meaning of the film and its impact on her life, her yoga and her understanding of who we are… and can be!
Highlights from the episode include...
- The key requirements for practicing Hatha Yoga according to the Shiva Samhita
- Should we teach yoga in a secular way?
- How to teach and access the universal aspects of yoga without losing the essence.
- The roles that yoga and Ayurveda play in a balanced life
- Classical practices of Hatha yoga that you don’t typically see in yoga classes
- The significance of Agni
- The four times a day to do sadhana
- The importance of the seasons to yoga
- Cleansing practices in yoga and ayurveda
Resources and Mentions:
Episode 20: Jivana Heyman - Shaking the world in a gentle way
If you’ve ever thought that accessible yoga was all about tailoring the practice for older or less “able bodied” folks, you’re gonna wanna listen to this one. Maria and Chara talk with Jivana Heyman, teacher, activist and founder of Accessible Yoga. And in this conversation we learn why all yoga teachers have a responsibility to make yoga accessible and what that means we need to do both on the mat and off. Jivana shares what decades as an activist have taught him about people and pandemics and he leaves us with some deep questions that have changed how we think about and share the practice of yoga.
In this episode we talked about
- How online teaching supports accessibility.
- The overlap of epidemics, accessibility and social justice movements
- How can we take the philosophical teachings of yoga out of the academic realm and make them more practical and accessible.
- When social justice feels overwhelming, how yoga helps us identify what we can do.
- What is the practice of service?
- How yoga teachers can help their students to come into a place of safety and belonging to access the practices of yoga
- What it means to create safety and accessibility as yoga teachers
- Why svadhyaya is how we make anything into yoga
- How you can tell you are doing your practice.
- Why self care is service to yourself
RESOURCES
- The first online version of the Accessible Yoga Training: https://www.accessibleyogatraining.com/courses
- Jivana’s book Accessible Yoga
- Embodying the Yoga Sutras Book by David Charlton and Ranju Roy Here's the podcast we did with them
- Michelle Cassandra Johnson. Her book Skill in Action. The podcast we did with her.
- Elements of Yoga: Ayurveda for Yoga Teachers & Students w/Chara Caruthers
Episode 19: Slowing down and waking up with Kristine Kaoverii Weber
They say that the subtle aspects of yoga are the most powerful and transformative. Our guest this week knows all about this… and more. Chara and Maria talk with Kristine Kaoverii Weber, a dear friend of Maria’s who knew her as a fledgling self-care evangelist back in graduate school. It was a wonderful and very wide-ranging conversation about everything from self care and social justice, to marketing and weight loss with a touch of neuroscience and generous sprinkling of yogic wisdom for good measure!
Highlights from our chat include:
- How Kristine has been coping with these strange times
- The importance of creating safe communities online - “watch parties”
- The reason Kristine teaches yoga to behavioural health professionals
- How subtle yoga can address the crisis of self loathing in the world
- How the systems of racism are toxically intertwined with the systems of trauma.
- How self care for clinicians will create a foundation for offering trauma informed care
- Self care beyond Netflix, wine and a mani-pedi.
- What is the actual work of yoga?
- How subtle is different from gentle.
- Why active relaxation is more effective for losing weight than exercise
- How do we make yoga more accessible?
- Kristine defines the challenge of public health.
Kristine's Bio:
Kristine Weber, MA, C-IAYT, eRYT500 is a leading world authority on the neuroscientific benefits of slow, mindful movement and an advocate for the use of these practices as a solution to the healthcare crisis. She is leading the charge to get slow, mindful practices to people who desperately need them through her Subtle® Yoga Revolution series of online courses and trainings for yoga teachers – which have been praised by thousands all over the world.
In March 2019 she was invited to speak to staff and members of the U.S. Congress at Capitol Hill about the potential benefits of yoga therapy in the healthcare system.
Kristine has been studying yoga and holistic healing for nearly 30 years, teaching yoga since 1995, and training teachers since 2003. Her organization provides holistic mind-body trainings and clinical services, including yoga teacher trainings at the RYT200 and RYT500 levels and trainings for behavioral health professionals, with the mission of enhancing community health infrastructure.
Kristine presents workshops and trainings internationally and is frequently invited to speak about yoga at conferences. She has published a book and a number of and articles. She lives in Asheville, North Carolina with her New Zealander husband Brett, son Bhaerava and neuroprotective cat, Jerry. Find out more at www.subtleyoga.com.
Show Notes:
Subtle Yoga Website: https://subtleyoga.com/
Subtle Yoga Resilience society: https://go.subtleyoga.com/society-1
Weathering the storm E-book: https://go.subtleyoga.com/resilience-1
From her blog: Why I don’t take my yoga hot and sweaty
The work of Kristin Neff on self compassion
30 Day Challenge: The Subtle Secrets of Pranayama
Tips for working with anxiety from Kristine
The Yoga and Neuroscience Connection
A Case for Public Health Yoga: 7 Key Trends to Consider
Episode 18: Digesting Discomfort - The aftermath of our conversation with Michelle Johnson
We decided to take a deeper look at the process of digesting experiences that challenge our beliefs and what we know about ourselves. Neither of us could stop thinking about the conversation we had with Michelle Johnson on the subject of social justice, racism, yoga and politics. It brought up so many new feels and inspired lots of talks, and the beginnings of new beliefs. So we decided to sit together (as we do) to talk about the impact of that conversation and how we’re each carrying it in our bodies, minds and yoga!
You can find more information about Michelle here:
https://www.michellecjohnson.com/
Resources:
Episode 17: Michelle C. Johnson - Uncomfortable conversations about racism and yoga
Social justice is ultimately everyone’s responsibility. Yoga philosophy and practice can be a foundation for seeing and advocating for a more just world. Chara and Maria talk with Michelle C. Johnson, a yoga teacher, clinical social worker and dismantling racism educator about the unique challenges for people of color in the current global uprising related to the Black Lives Matter movement. We unpack terms like “spiritual bypassing” and “cultural appropriation” and talk about the personal and collective tools we’ll need to keep this vital conversation moving in the direction of change.
In this conversation we talk about:
- How Michelle is holding hope and heartbreak in this moment
- How to make sure the work to dismantle racism is sustainable.
- How the term BIPOC directly speaks to racial hierarchy
- What is social justice and how does it apply to yoga?
- What is spiritual bypassing?
- How bodies are political and what it means to be embodied.
- How reflecting on our social location can be a tool for reflection on both our experience of oppression and assigned privilege.
- And more...
You can find Michelle here:
https://www.michellecjohnson.com/
In this episode we talked about...
- How Michelle is holding hope and heartbreak in this moment
- How to make sure the work to dismantle racism is sustainable.
- How the term BIPOC directly speaks to racial hierarchy
- What is social justice and how does it apply to yoga?
- What is spiritual bypassing?
- How bodies are political and what it means to be embodied.
- How reflecting on our social location can be a tool for reflection on both our experience of oppression and assigned privilege.
- What do people of colour need to do in this monent? And what to white folks need to do?
- How do we keep this conversation going?
- How yoga teaches distress tolerance - a key skill for doing the work of dismantling racism.
- What is cultural appropriation?
- Why saying, “I don’t see colour” doesn’t work.
- Tokenism
Resources:
Episode 16: Life, Yoga and being okay with J. Brown
Maria and Chara sit down with yoga teacher and podcaster J. Brown to talk about his work, motivations and what he’s managed to learn in his time on the planet, thus far. We talk about how yoga informs J’s politics and parenting, why he started a podcast, and the not so silent influence that provides the balance he needs to engage in the business of yoga.
In this episode we talked about...
J's weekly yoga teachers class
You can find more info about J including his writings and details about his workshops at: https://www.jbrownyoga.com
Episode 15: The business of living your yoga w/ Mado Hesselink
This week we’re talking to yoga teacher and yoga business mentor Mado Hesselink! She’s the host of the Yoga Teacher’s Resource podcast, but also a mother, and holder of space. She’s built a growing community of yoga teachers online who are looking to connect and better understand how to live your yoga while making a living from it! Mado is a master of life and business wisdom, and in this conversation we get to hear where she’s come from, what she’s passionate about and what she believes yoga has to teach us... especially now!
Episode 14: The Yoga of Politics - A Conversation with Shannon Crow
This week we are talking with Shannon Crow, the host of The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast and Facebook group about the connections between yoga and politics and the challenge of how to support communities of color and ALL communities through these challenging times. A fantastic conversation with heartfelt vulnerabilities and heartwarming openness.
Episode 13: What's next? Exploring life beyond Covid
Change is in the air… can you feel it? As the world slowly begins to come to grips with reopening a lot is coming up! Chara and Maria chat about what this NEW transition looks like for them right now and what they’ve learned from yoga and Ayurveda that is helping to support them through the destabilizing process of figuring out what’s next!
Chara’s ONLINE Classes: https://www.blissbodyandsoul.com/yoga/
Kate Pell on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz4UVYlaPw5avbFkHn_ehxw/videos
Maria’s teacher Judy Krupp in Sydney on Zoom: https://www.theyogaroom.com.au/timetable.html
Maria’s Online Yoga for Mental Health Teacher Training: https://www.yogaforgrownups.com/online-yoga-for-mental-health-training.html
Maria’s online classes: https://www.yogaforgrownups.com/online-classes.html
Episode 12: Yoga philosophy in real life - Embodying the Yoga Sutras with Ranju Roy & David Charlton
Chara and Maria speak with Ranju Roy and David Charlton, yoga teachers, creators of Sahana Mala Yoga training and and authors of the new book Embodying the Yoga Sutras: Support, direction, Space. They talk about a wide range of subjects mostly centering around the value, beauty and approaches to integrating ancient yogic wisdom into our everyday lives!
Episode 11: Facing tech fears and embracing the yoga sutras
Maria and Chara talk about the challenges of embracing technology as a yoga teacher and how they are tackling tech fear. They also dive into a discussion about their experience of the yoga sutras and why they are suddenly relevant in their lives now, in preparation for an upcoming discussion with Ranju Roy and Dave Charlton, yoga teachers and authors of the new book “Embodying the Sutras”.
Inside the Yoga Sutras: A comprehensive sourcebook for the study and practice of Patanjali's yoga sutras- Reverend Jaganath Carrera
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Sri Swami Satchidananda
The Secret Power of Yoga: A woman’s guide to the heart and spirit of the yoga sutras - Nischala Joy Devi
Episode 10: Living life in the time of Corona... A Catch up Conversation
Chara & Maria chat about what's happening in their lives and their yoga as they live through the social distancing situation. Maria shares details of a recent health scare and the impact it has had on her thoughts about her own tools for loving herself in the midst of real challenges.
Episode 9: Embodied Anatomy with Leila Stuart
Maria and Chara sit down with Yoga therapist, yoga teacher trainer and author Leila Stuart, who uses the principles of embodied anatomy in her therapy and teaching work. Leila shares details of her long, varied and unconventional history with the practice of yoga and how that inner work created the foundation for what she now shares with the world. Her most recent book is “Pathways to a Centered Body” and she’s currently at work on a new book! Enjoy this deep and joyful chat between three passionate and engaged teachers.
Episode 8: Navigating coronavirus fears and realities
We’ve been getting questions from students and clients about the coronavirus. What’s the best thing to do? What should be avoided or embraced? So we decided to sit down and talk about what we know, what we don’t know, and what we’re doing to navigate the choppy water of this pandemic as it ripples through our lives and our communities.
Episode 7: A chat with Isiah McKimmie - The Yoga of Sex
Relationships and sex therapist Isiah McKimmie is out to help people see the deeper side of sex and themselves. On a journey of self discovery herself, we talk about what makes sex healthy, why ageing can actually improve your sex life and how Ayurveda’s third pillar of health contributes to our ultimate desire to live in alignment with our true nature. Also Chara finds out what a sexologist is! Don’t miss this beautiful and wide ranging discussion!
One of the most qualified Sex and Relationship Experts in Australia, Isiah holds a Masters degree in Relational Psychotherapy, a Master degree in Science in Medicine (Sexual Counselling/Psychosexual Therapy), a Post-Graduate Diploma of Sexology and a Certificate from the prestigious Institute for the Advanced Studies of Human Sexuality.
Isiah is compassionate, understanding and absolutely non-judgemental. She’s built her reputation on getting results and helping her clients live happier lives.
- Ashram where Isiah is currently living: https://www.sripuram.org/
- OMG YES Website: https://www.omgyes.com
- Isiah's Courses: https://www.isiah-mckimmie.com/courses/
Episode 6: Eating like you love yourself: The ancient approach to a healthy diet
- Why Chara wrote her book after initially resisting the pull to focus her Ayurvedic teaching around food
- How organising the book in seasons allowed Chara to address both the Ayurvedic approach to food and the application of ayurvedic Principles to people’s daily life
- How the sister sciences of ayurveda and yoga differ in their intentions and approaches to eating.
- How the oversimplification, “eat for your type” or “eating for your dosha” doesn’t give people enough information to be really useful and apply ayurveda to daily living life.
- The central theme of Chara’s application of Ayurvedic principles is the emphasis on intuitive non-restrictive eating, but how do we develop the ability to trust ourselves to individualise our diets
- We review how every person and everything has certain qualities, and that we want to use the things and foods in our life to bring our qualities into balance. See episode 3 on Ayurveda for more detail https://www.blissbodyandsoul.
com/podcast/.
- We use the example of Kale to explore how a person’s qualities meet a food’s qualities, and how, if the rough dry qualities of kale don’t agree with you, you can prepare it is a way that will yield its nourishment in a way that work for you.
- We explore some of the mistakes and myths around ayurvedic and healthy eating:
- What does it mean to eat someone else’s diet?
- What does it mean to neglect the fire inside?
- Agni: want to read more?
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- How do you cultivate the fire inside?
- When should we eat?
- What is “eating in a minefield?”
- Why we eat? And how that affects the fire inside.
- What we eat and how it affects the digestive fire
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- Tuning into the strength of our digestive fire when making choices about what and when to eat.
- Juicy hungry versus “hangry”
- Chara’s thoughts on meal planning.
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- What does ayurveda say about snacking?
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- Three rules for eating like you love yourself:
- Eat seasonally
- Keep your fire burning
- Choose balance
- Three rules for eating like you love yourself:
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- We talk about weight: how thinking about losing weight or being a right weight is not helpful and constructive. How our cultural messages about what healthy is are not useful for most people to eat like they love themselves.
- How harmonising the when, what, how and why we eat helps.
- How the messages from the world around us can interfere with tuning into how to eat and be in a body in a way that is right for you as an individual?
- How the goal for healthy is about connecting to and coming back to your true nature.
- How to find what is truly nourishing for you?
- How the accessible yoga movement and the body positive movement has broadened available images of what healthy and well can look like.
- How Chara is trying to change the paradigm of what healthy looks and feels like with the concept of eating like you love yourself.
Episode 5: A chat with Deacon Carpenter - A Modern Ayurveda Story...
Chara has a conversation with a Deacon Carpenter a Clinical Ayurveda specialist, entrepreneur and author who’s road to becoming a modern healer has been anything but ordinary! From his awkward overweight beginnings as a teenage immigrant from the UK to the USA, to healing himself at an early age with the help of Ayurveda and yoga to a lifetime rollercoaster ride through the healthy and not so healthy worlds of fashion, media & advertising, technology, pharmaceuticals and the military industrial complex. He’s learned first hand the secret to what holds us together, tears us apart and ultimately heals the mind, body and soul… and it might not be what you think! Definitely have a listen!
Episode 4: Evolving your yoga as you "Grow Up"
J Brown Yoga Talks Podcast: J interviews Chara: https://www.jbrownyoga.
Episode 3: A simpler look at Ayurveda
Maria and Chara engage in a juicy conversation about Ayurveda, diving into the basics of what it REALLY is, what’s important to know about it, how to use it in your life and why you should. Chara talks about why Ayurveda is such an important tool for yoga teachers (or anyone who teaches anything) and shares her experiences with applying the ancient science of living in her yoga classes and in her life.
What every yoga teacher should know...
- First and foremost it's important to know YOUR intention as a teacher and how that intention aligns with your true nature (natural tendencies). Do you want to:
- Just practice yoga (and teaching keeps you doing that)
- Share what you know (about yourself and yoga)
- Support students in some way
- Transform students in some way
Whatever your intention it's vitally important to be honest with yourself about what it is, because it informs what and how you teach!
- Every student in your class needs something different
- The class you're teaching could just as easily be creating imbalance as contributing someone's state of balance.
Our role as teachers is to…
- Connect - Make the effort to understand who the people in your class are?
- Be aware - What imbalances are showing up in the space? What is the potential impact of the environment? What’s the potential impact of the practice?
- Inform - What is the process of knowing yourself, What are the signposts of self awareness, how much is too much?
- Empower - Invite your students to take flight, own their practice (without cutting them loose, which can be anxiety forming)
Episode 2: Tools for living
Chara and Maria talk about their “tools” for living a good life! Influenced by yoga, ayurveda and many bright and beautiful teachers, the two discuss the values and emotional qualities that have helped them navigte the bumps in the road to becoming their best selves.
Episode 1: Who we are and why we're doing this...
In this inaugural episode we talk about what brought us together and why we were compelled to do this podcast. What are the questions that infuence our daily experiences, what are the issues that we find ourselves trying to unravel and what we want to talk about and share with you on this glorious adventure.
You can find more information about Maria at: http://www.yogaforgrownups.com
Looking for Maria...?
You can find her on her website (www.yogaforgrownups.com). Or just CLICK HERE