Yoga After Dark

Invited to this episode is Anne Taylor, a IAYT with experience in mental health education and development. Our talk covers personal experiences, difficulties, and humorous stories. And we don't shy away from the name drop.

This episode runs in several directions at once. Ian is joining me from Panama, where he is an author, transformational life coach, and host of the Fenix podcast. Always excited to be thrust into new topics by this guy, enjoy the mayhem.

Humorous, serious, light, and heavy - Rich Ray brings it all in this not to be missed interview. Rich teaches ashtanga and meditation up in my home state of Maine where winter is quickly closing in. Find him at www.ashtangaportlandme.com

Author of the Everyday Ayurveda series of books Kate O'Donnell joins me, Zooming in from my ancestral home, the great state of Maine. A woman of incredible knowledge, Kate serves to reinforce - in a more professional and intelligent way - some things I've been telling my students for years. Much of our discussion centers around what you can do for your own health, everyday, from the comfort of your own home. Find Kate at www.kateodennell.yoga

Our stories make us who we are and Darren C. and Donnie S. share their stories of sobriety with me in this episode. We discuss rock bottom and not so rock bottom, yoga as helpful and enabling, along with our own lives and experiences.

I'm Ok, Your'e Ok says the New York Times Bestseller in 1972. But how do we become Ok with ourselves. Tony Lupinacci joins me to discuss just that.

Joined by Monty Stilson we see how a student can become a teacher in such a beautiful and authentic way. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

The interviewer becomes the interviewee as Milica Paranosic asks me questions that have surfaced from this very podcast. I hope our little back and forth will bring up questions of your own and that you'll seek the answers.

Shakira Williams and I reunite in the virtual world in our typical tangential style. We hit on several hot topics of the here and now. My feeling is that this was just the beginning of the conversation between me and Kira and I hope she'll be back on the podcast soon.

Kimberly Mengshoel zooms in from Norway to give her perspective on quality yoga instruction. We also talk about yoga for the more mature practitioner and we touch on the perennially precarious subject of Yoga Alliance.

Live well, die well, forgive well. Patricia Amado, ashtanga teacher at Miami Life Center, gives me some prescriptive advice for riding the roller coaster we call life.

Vasu Varadhan, my constantly surprising saree wearing senior student, joins the podcast to reminisce about the past and give advice for the future. Vasu is a woman who has led a full life and you can share in part of her experience by reading her vibrant memoire, On My Own Terms: A Journey Between Two Worlds.

Louise Ellis, a woman I've had the pleasure to call teacher for many years, joins me for a fair amount of criticism and a great deal of hope. With over 40 years of yoga practice and a life that has seen more far off vistas than most, Louise offers salient advice to us all.

I am joined by Rodrigo Munoz Valencia, founder of Andes Materials and Chair of the graphic design dept. at USFQ in Ecuador. He is also my graphic designer and has been my biggest supporter in getting my work out there. We talk extensively about culture and community - how they work and what keeps them going. You can find out more about Rodrigo's projects at www.andesmaterials.com

Britt - Yoga After Dark's first "non-ashtangi" guest gives us the inside look on the challenges a yoga studio faces, which is not without its silver linings. We talk about intimidation, accessibility, health care, and money money money. Namaste.

Kind and generous craft beer enjoyer Mel Perret joins to me talk about her history with ashtanga yoga including what is really important about a yoga practice.

This episode dives into difference and sameness, exploring the challenges faced by yoga studios in small towns vs large cities and what a yoga practice can bring to the world of martial arts.

Morgan Lee, authorized ashtanga teacher, nurse, and soon to be acupuncturist, joins me to talk how the yoga works. We discuss Why Yoga Works, which is also the title of his book, with special emphasis on rest and the female reproductive cycle. Morgan brings up the sticking points between western scientific method and easter traditional knowledge systems.

Why do we use mantra to begin a yoga practice? What is so special about the sound Om? Discover the meaning of the opening and closing mantras of the Ashtanga Yoga lineage. Chant along and learn them yourself.

This episode explores the difficulties and rewards of doing your yoga practice at home.