Ashtanga Dispatch Podcast

I remember how I came to hear of Cathy Louise Broda of Purple Yoga in Hawaii. First, a listener from Chicago wrote me an email asking me to interview Cathy. She said she’d just gotten back from one of her retreats and was just really inspired. I didn’t know Cathy but I let the student know I’d certainly try. And I would’ve too if Cathy herself didn’t reach out to me before I even had a chance. Apparently she read a blog I wrote on my struggle with menopause and was so moved, she called Christine Hoar to get my information and next thing I know, I have an email from Cathy - just a few weeks after being asked to track her down. The universe is funny like that, right? Like just in case I didn’t get the message the first time …. Talking with Cathy helped. As did talking with other women, like Christine Hoar. And I hope this chats as helpful for many of you too!

A special gift from Harmony Slater and Ashtanga Dispatch: A Loving Kindness Meditation to begin the new year.

Synchronicity. It’s not luck that puts us in a place and with people we need … at just the right time. No, there was nothing random finding myself spending really needed time with Certified teacher, John Scott last month at the EcoYoga Centre in Scotland. Just how needed I’d come to find out this week in the aftermath of an incredibly emotional election here in the states. In fact, I found myself turning to this discussion again and again for both comfort and guidance. Because in this podcast, John shares the four codes of relationship he learned from Guruji, keys in building meaningful connections in the yoga room - but also in our families, in our neighborhoods, and, yes - right here in our country. Scott Johnson of Stillpoint Yoga joins us halfway in and shares a story of great loss his community suffered, and how John stepped in, modeling for Scott and his students, how to move on using this very method of practice we’ve been handed down. The same way Guruji modeled in the days following 9/11. Truth

For the next hour, be a fly on the wall as David Keil and I cover the gamut of topics including how we both have changed in the ways we practice and how we look at practice. David calls himself lazy, and me, hippy-dippy. But his laziness is actually efficiency and my more laid back approach these days is simply inviting more ease. In other words, we’re growing and changing. Towards the end of our talk, David and I did touch upon a pretty serious subject: yoga and injuries. In fact, David is right now working on some cutting-edge research into the long-term effects of yoga. With over 2400 participants, David hopes this project will help bring about more meaningful inquiry, both statistically and experientially. You can follow this ongoing project - and if still available - participate yourself, by visiting www.yoganatomy.com/survey Also as a reminder, if you liked this podcast please consider supporting it at www.patreon.com/ashtangadispatch - where, for the price of a cup of coffee, you can help us make th

Olivia Hsu is a longtime dedicated student of Richard and Mary Freeman, and taught with them in Boulder, CO for years. She is also a PrAna ambassador and these days, she teaches all over the world - but not just Ashtanga yoga. In fact, you could say this girl is pretty hard to keep up with! You see, Olivia has another passion that rocks her world, and that's climbing. This sort of blows my mind because up until I met Olivia, I would’ve believed yoga and rock climbing did NOT go together. Of course, now I realize how messed up that was. Because as you'll hear Olivia explain: that would all depends on how you measure practice and what you value in life. And why I knew I wanted Olivia to be the feature model for Third Series in the next Ashtanga Dispatch Magazine. Not because she has a strong asana practice - but because her yoga asana practice is only such a small part of what makes her such an inspiration. Don't let the third series reference fool you. Because the next magazine is not really about 'yoga'

We have a new interview with Saraswathi Jois from her home in Mysore, India, plus Peg shares about reclaiming the passion of your practice.

Ashtanga yoga Authorization. A controversial topic I'd avoided - until now. Meet Authorized teacher, Zoë Ward, and listen to our rather spirited discussion on how yoga teachers become teachers, in Ashtanga.

To set the stage for you, our conversation takes place at the Green Hotel in Mysore, India. It's probably the quietest place we could find to record and they serve the most amazing cakes - just ask Jeff and my daughter, Meghan who were enjoying theirs during the broadcast! You don't see Jeff and Harmony out in the usual hangout near the Shala. And that's because when they are not practicing in the morning, they are busy being parents to Jediah, their 5 year-old son. That means, while many are hanging out at coconut stands, getting chai and massages, or taking some exotic lessons - they are home, taking care of their son (who had a fever the whole week leading up to this interview), making play dates with the other families here in Mysore, and just trying to keep their family life as normal as possible - considering where we all are. Actually, hanging with them and also Taylor Hunt and his wife Jess and family, it makes this whole Mysore thing seem very reasonable for young families. Sharath makes it very ea

The tables are turned and now PEG is the one answering the questions! Special thanks to Bryan Sims for video and audio recording as well as CITYOGA in Indianapolis for sponsoring today's episode. What's super cool is Bryan is the son of Dave Sims, owner of CITYOGA - I love the father/son team and being a part of that! So thanks guys! Visit CITYOGA's website at www.cityoga.biz and check Bryan out at http://www.bryanthesims.com

Peg clearly has a girl crush! Meet Jessica Walden in Episode 13 of the Ashtanga Dispatch Podcast and find out why!

Part Two of our conversation with Ashtanga Certified teacher John Scott, who imparts his knowledge and experience of the Ashtanga yoga practice it in a way that is almost poetic. This was not as much an interview as it was John doing what he loves - teaching, as he spent more than 90 minutes sharing his experience with Guruji, his passion for the breath and vinyasa, and the method of Tristhana, as I hung on every word - and you will too. And why we broke this podcast into two parts, so you could relax and take it all in. Here's Part Two of the Ashtanga Dispatch Podcast with John Scott. Today's episode was sponsored in part by Stillpoint Yoga London, a vibrant growing ashtanga yoga community and frequent host of John Scott's trainings. Visit their website at stillpointyogalondon.com. And also by Meghan Powell Photography, official photographer and creative director of the Ashtanga Dispatch Magazine and website. Find out more by visiting meghanpowellphotography.com. The Ashtanga Dispatch Podcast is brought t

Ashtanga Certified teacher, John Scott imparts his knowledge and experience of the Ashtanga yoga practice it in a way that is almost poetic. This was not as much an interview as it was John doing what he loves - teaching, as he spent more than 90 minutes sharing his experience with Guruji, his passion for the breath and vinyasa, and the method of Tristhana, as I hung on every word - and you will too. And why we broke this podcast into 2 parts, so you could relax and take it all in. Here's Part One of the Ashtanga Dispatch Podcast with John Scott: All is God. Today's episode was sponsored in part by Stillpoint Yoga London, a vibrant growing ashtanga yoga community and frequent host of John Scott's trainings. Visit their website at stillpointyogalondon.com. And also by Meghan Powell Photography, official photographer and creative director of the Ashtanga Dispatch Magazine and website. Find out more by visiting meghanpowellphotography.com. The Ashtanga Dispatch Podcast is brought to you by me, Peg Mulqueen a

Get ready because this is our longest episode yet as Greg Nardi and I covered a whole lot of territory. We talked about relationships, about pain, and of course, a lot about the Ashtanga yoga practice.

If you’re only familiar with David Keil through his Yoga Anatomy website … or through his Anatomy workshops and DVDs … or even his recently released book, Functional Anatomy of Yoga … then I’d say, you have only even barely scratched the surface. For example, did you know it was David who first lured me into a daily Mysore practice — or tricked me, depending on whose telling the story? It was also David who got me through intermediate series with my sanity still intact. (Though this also is debatable, depending on the story-teller!) How about this? David Keil was also the one who convinced me to begin a seated meditation practice and even introducing me to his meditation teacher, the same one I now call mine.

Christine Hoar, a woman with nearly 20 years of practice and teaching experience, is a direct student of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (Guruji). Though for years, he referred to her affectionately as “Nancy’s (Gilgoff) student,” her teacher to this day. Now, if you’re a woman in this practice, I don’t need to tell you how rare it is to find women with that kind of depth and experience in the practice.

As Ashtanga’s most familiar and easily recognizable couples, Tim Feldmann and Kino MacGregor couldn’t be any more different. While Kino has made it her personal mission to introduce as many students, on a global level, to the Ashtanga Yoga method as she possibly can, reaching millions of students a day through books, blogs, videos and Instagram challenges … Tim prefers a more personal connection, closer to home, teaching at Miami Life Center, the studio they founded together in 2006 and he now runs. Either way, whether on a screen viewed by millions or within intimacy of the yoga room, the two of them sure have a lot of yogic wisdom to share. But after listening today, you’ll also see why they also might have a thing or two to share about what makes relationships work as well. Get ready to meet one of Ashtanga’s coolest couples!

When I asked David Garrigues to sit down with me last week to talk a little about "Parampara", that student-teacher relationship and how, in yoga, information is transmitted, he really took me to the mat in more than one way! You see, I once (or twice) have said that David doesn’t teach me asana – which he disagreed with … strongly! So this became less the interview I had planned with David and more of a lesson I think he had planned for me. And the result is probably one of the liveliest, informative, and impassioned conversations we’ve had to date.

Welcome to Ashtanga Dispatch: The Podcast Episode 5 and meet Aliya Weise of Ashtanga San Diego and #ThePeoplesAshtangaYoga. Aliya is one of those impassioned people who speaks from the heart – straight to the heart. In fact, his essay, The Call To Mysore, featured in the first Ashtanga Dispatch, received more tearful notes of gratitude from readers than any other featured article. Students who had been feeling excluded, disenfranchised, not worthy – the very ones, I suspect, Aliya had hoped to reach. In this podcast, he does it again. And in under an hour we cover a lot of territory – from Aliya’s ardent stand for any/every student’s ability to be a practitioner of ashtanga yoga, all the way to a controversial online conversation thread had in a closed FB group about Parampara, the traditional teacher-student transmission of teaching, and … well — me. Spoiler alert: I cried. And get ready, because you might too. But don’t worry, it’s the happy kind.

Episode 4: David Robson by Ashtanga Dispatch

In this episode of Ashtanga Dispatch: The Podcast, Peg sits down for a one on one with her meditation teacher, John Churchill. John is a widely known teacher and psychologist and it only takes a few moments to find out why.