Yoga Uncensored

The Yoga Uncensored podcast is a series of candid and irreverent conversations between two maverick yoga teachers and their occasional guests. Imagine Patanjali and Arjuna having a beer down at the local pub. Cain Carroll and Mark Tanaka take a critical look at the world of modern yoga, exposing assumptions, trends and biases that too often hinder the transformative potential of yogic practices. What you'll hear is an unrehearsed barrage of insights, tangents, rants, alternatives, and occasional moments of lucid clarity. Yoga Uncensored is a voice for free-thinkers, urban mystics, rogue yogis, spiritual heretics, and nonconformists.

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Episodes

Yoga Asana Myths

Is yoga making you hypermobile? Is the physical practice of yoga actually wrecking your body? Is it even good for you? That depends on what you are looking to achieve through the practice of yoga asana. Functional movement. Structural integration. Connective tissue restructuring. Sexy abs. Get ready for some uncensored yoga myth busting.

Dec 08, 2016•1 hr 1 min

The Spiritual Warrior

The Spiritual Warrior by Yoga Uncensored

Nov 11, 2016•40 min

Yoga Studio Conduct

In traditional contexts, the place where we practiced yoga was treated as a sacred space. There was an emphasis on how we conceptualized and treated the spaces we practiced in. There was a reason for this: it transformed the inner experience of the practitioner profoundly. How do we approach the modern yoga studio, the teacher student relationship, and the learning process in such a way that maximizes our growth experience? Our practice begins as soon as we walk into the temple/studio/dojo. The ...

Oct 28, 2016•1 hr

Yoga of Emotions - Anger

Cain and Mark tackle a challenging exploration of how to relate to anger from a yogic perspective. Anger is a powerful and potentially destructive emotion. Many of us don't know what to do with anger. Some of us express it recklessly. Some of us repress it or deny its existence completely. When we approach yoga and meditation from a self-reflective angle, we cannot avoid directly encountering our emotions. Our human emotions are powerful and can be intimidating to face at times. In this talk, we...

Oct 07, 2016•1 hr 22 min

Yoga 2.0: Future of Yoga

We think yoga needs a software update and a serious reboot. Collectively, we are in desperate need of deeper education and maturity around all things yoga. How can we think differently about the future of yoga? How can we develop a culturally relevant context for the further development of yoga without losing yoga’s rich history or succumbing to the faults of consumer culture. What might we do better to ensure that yoga doesn’t become a shallow expression of post-modern narcissism?

Sep 14, 2016•1 hr 1 min

Yoga and the Spiritual Ego

Historically, Yoga has brought peace to the land of the self through making friends with the dictator: our ego. Yet Yoga in the context of modern consumer culture is at risk of feeding and growing some of our destructive ego tendencies. Are we creating better and more improved, rigid and fragile egos through our yoga practice? If we are not careful, our practice of yoga can end up strengthening the subtle habit of ego-clinging and body glorification. How can yoga and other spiritual technologies...

Sep 01, 2016•52 min

WTF is Asana?

WTF is Asana? What the heck is the point of practicing yoga poses? Is the physical practice of yoga just gymnastics with spiritual bling? Does standing on your head make you more enlightened? Does doing the splits make you a happier person? In this episode we discuss the cultural lens through which we come to understand the application of yoga postures, and talk about the role of sensation, feeling, and gentleness in our physical practice.

Aug 18, 2016•41 min

Yoga and Body Image

“I’m not flexible enough to do yoga.” "I'm not young enough.“I don't feel sexy in yoga pants." “I don’t have six pack abs like those other yoga dudes.” As yoga teachers, we hear these heartbreaking statements from would be yoga students all too often. As sad as it is to admit, yoga has become highly influenced by the impossible ideals of the fashion industry and consumer culture in general. Open any yoga magazine and look at the ass . . .oops, typo. . .we mean ads. The effect of this is not only...

Aug 05, 2016•53 min

WTF is Karma?

Karma is a word that is thrown around loosely in spiritual circles, but the topic rarely explored in depth. The concept of karma has a variety of subtle definitions and distinctions, depending on the tradition or vantage point you're approaching it from. The idea of karma goes well beyond just the notion of having "good karma" or "bad karma." Contemplation of cause and effect is not meant to lead to a nihilistic worldview, rather to inspire us to be active participants in life and yogic practice...

Jul 19, 2016•59 min

WTF is Yoga?

Mark and Cain launch into a candid talk about the state of yoga in the modern day. These are the topics we hit: How do most people view yoga? Where is yoga going? Where do we want it to go? How is capitalism influencing yoga? What are we losing in the modernization of yoga? What's the benefit of this western yoga renaissance? What's the impact? As modern practitioners of yoga, what is our role and responsibility to yoga and future generation of practitioners ? What is the role of yoga in social ...

Jun 02, 2016•1 hr 4 min

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