Marcy Braverman Goldstein, Ph.D., began teaching Sanskrit and the history and philosophies of yoga in the 1990s. To design her courses, she draws from her academic training and 20 years of yoga practice. At UNC Charlotte she teaches “Yoga Through the Ages.” Since creating Sanskrit Revolution, Marcy has taught at more than three dozen studios, teacher training programs, conferences, and festivals nationally. Her passion is to help people discover the history and fascinating linguistic foundation ...
May 20, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 150
In this episode, Jacob shares four trailers from free mini-trainings we've recently released on the Divine Feminine, Buddhist Meditation, the 4 Yogas, and Shamanic Healing Techniques – all of which can be found on Sādhaka, one of our new podcast series. In addition, the episode ends with a guided meditation on Nondual Tonglen with our dear friend Shambhavi Sarasvati. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 08, 2022•28 min•Ep. 149
Anya Foxen is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on the intersection of South Asian yogic and tantric traditions and Western esotericism and metaphysical spiritualities. Her current writing examines the transnational evolution and popularization of yoga in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She is a...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 148
Diane Dreher, Ph.D., is a bestselling author, researcher, and positive psychology coach. Her books, The Tao of Inner Peace, The Tao of Personal Leadership, The Tao of Womanhood, Inner Gardening, and Your Personal Renaissance, have been translated into ten languages and her work has been featured in media outlets including USA Today, Entrepreneur, Redbook, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Science of Mind, radio and TV talk shows, and websites on leadership and personal growth. Dreher has a Ph.D. in Renaiss...
Apr 12, 2022•46 min•Ep. 147
Gavin Flood is the Academic Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Professor of Hindu Studies and Comparative Religion at Oxford University, and Senior Research Fellow at Campion Hall. He is a Fellow of the British Academy. Gavin read Religious Studies and Social Anthropology at Lancaster University and taught at the universities of Wales (Lampeter) and Stirling before coming to Oxford in 2005. His research interests are in medieval Hindu texts (especially from the traditions of Shiva)...
Mar 30, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 146
In 1993, Theologian and activist Matthew Fox, Ph.D. , was expelled from the Dominican Order of the Catholic church after 34 years, by Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI). His mistake was reviving Creation Spirituality, which decries original sin (the doctrine that we’re all born sinners) in favor of Everyone Born is a Blessing (seeing all creation as divine). Creation Spirituality blends teachings from the Christian mystics with science, the arts, social justice, environmentalism, and i...
Mar 15, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 145
Jacoby Ballard is a social justice educator and yoga teacher who leads workshops and trainings around the country on diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a yoga teacher with 20 years of experience, he leads workshops, retreats, teacher trainings, teaches at conferences, and runs the Resonance mentorship program for certified yoga teachers to find their niche and calling. In 2008, Jacoby co-founded Third Root Community Health Center in Brooklyn, to work at the nexus of healing and social justice....
Mar 01, 2022•51 min•Ep. 144
This episode of the Chitheads podcast is actually the first episode of a new podcast we’re releasing as a part of the new Embodied Podcasts Network – the Tarka Journal Podcast. So as some of you know, embodied philosophy publishes a quarterly journal called Tarka in print and digital, and Stephanie, the Editor in Chief of Tarka and I wanted a space where we could have conversations about the the topics we’re exploring in the journal. In this episode we talk about the inspiration behind Tarka and...
Feb 22, 2022•54 min•Ep. 143
Rev. Dr. Michelle Voss Roberts is professor of theology and past principal at Emmanuel College, a multireligious theological school in the Toronto School of Theology and University of Toronto. She is a comparative theologian who works in Christian and Hindu traditions, as well as an ordained minister in relation to the United Church of Canada and the United Church of Christ. Her teaching and research invite others to imagine themselves in relation to diverse religious worlds, in which particular...
Feb 15, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 142
John J. Thatamanil is Associate Professor of Theology and World Religions at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is the author of The Immanent Divine: God, Creation, and the Human Predicament. An East-West Conversation and, most recently, Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity (Fordham, 2020). Presently, he is working on a book entitled, Desiring Truth: The Quest for Interreligious Wisdom. He is a past President of the North American Paul Tillich Society and ...
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 141
Andrew Harvey is an internationally acclaimed writer, poet, translator, and mystical teacher. He is the author of over 40 books, including Son of Man, The Hope, Way of Passion, Turn Me to Gold, and Savage Grace with Carolyn Baker. He has taught all over the world, given over 20 courses for the Shift Network, and is the founder of the Institute for Sacred Activism. In this episode, we discuss: What is sacred activism? Obstacles to cultivating ourselves as sacred activists. The evolutionary global...
Oct 12, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Dr. Stephen W. Porges is a distinguished university scientist at Indiana University, where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. He is also a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. His more than 350 peer‐reviewed scientific papers, published across several disciplines, have been cited in approximately 40,000 peer-reviewed papers. He holds several...
Sep 28, 2021•51 min•Ep. 139
Layering traditional kirtan with instantly accessible melodies and modern instrumentation, Krishna Das has been called yoga’s “rock star.” With a remarkably soulful voice that touches the deepest chord in even the most casual listener, Krishna Das” known to friends, family, and fans as simply KD” has taken the call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon and the best-selling western chant artist of all time. His album ‘Live Ananda’ (released Ja...
Sep 23, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 138
In this interview with Dr. Cornel West, originally a keynote event from our July 2021 Spiritual Citizenship Online Conference, co-host for the conference, Oneika Mays, explores the relationship between Cornel West’s spiritual and religious commitments and his political activism. By highlighting the example of his many decades of work, through this conversation we arrive at a notion of what it means to be a spiritually-informed citizen. They explore what, from Dr. West’s perspective, are the most...
Sep 14, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 137
Dr. Raj Balkaran is a scholar of Sanskrit narrative texts and the author of The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth (Routledge 2018), The Goddess and the Sun in Indian Myth (Routledge 2020), and several academic articles and book chapters since completing his doctorate in 2015. He is also an avid spiritual practitioner, having been initiated into ancient Indian wisdom traditions by multiple masters, and having been engaged in daily practice for two decades. Also a seasoned online educator, he te...
Jul 27, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 136
Michelle C. Johnson is an author, yoga teacher, social justice activist, intuitive healer, and Dismantling Racism trainer. She approaches her life and work from a place of empowerment, embodiment, and integration. As a dismantling racism trainer, she has worked with large corporations, non-profits, and community groups, including the ACLU-WA, Duke University, Google, This American Life, Eno River Unitarian Universalist Church, Lululemon, and many others. Michelle published Skill in Action: Radic...
Jul 06, 2021•59 min•Ep. 135
Shreena Gandhi is a part of the Religious Studies Department at Michigan State University, where is primarily teaches classes on religion and race in the Americas. She is currently finishing up edits on a manuscript, A Cultural History of Yoga in the United States, which looks at the impacts of race, gender and class on how yoga is practiced and commodified in religious and secular spaces. She is also collaborating with 4 other scholars of South Asian descent on an article titled Feminist Critic...
Jun 08, 2021•42 min•Ep. 134
In the mid-nineties, Isa Gucciardi began developing Depth Hypnosis as she entered into clinical practice. Her studies, both in academia and in the field of cultural and linguistic anthropology, comparative religion, and transpersonal psychology formed the basis of her approach with clients and students. As the body of work that grew out of her clinical practice became larger, she began teaching others so that more people could benefit from the techniques she had developed. In order to accommodat...
May 25, 2021•59 min•Ep. 133
After receiving his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Harvard, Richard Katz began a journey beyond the confines of psychology, into a world of experiences nourished by Indigenous knowledge and its emphasis on spirituality. He traveled in 1968 to the Kalahari Desert to work with the Ju/’hoansi, Indigenous peoples who, as primarily hunter-gathers, offer a view into the fundamental evolutionary roots of our human behavior. He experienced how their spiritually-infused healing energy expanded and bec...
May 11, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 132
Françoise Bourzat has been bridging the divide between western psychology and indigenous wisdom for the past 30 years in collaboration with healers in Huautla de Jimenez, Mexico, on the optimal applications of the psilocybin-containing mushrooms for healing and growth . She is the Founder of the Center for Consciousness Medicine and is the co-author of Consciousness Medicine. Françoise was part of the advisory board for Oregon Prop 109 initiative. She is currently collaborating with the Pacific ...
Apr 20, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 131
Prentis Hemphill is a movement facilitator, Somatics teacher, and practitioner, and working at the convergence of healing, collective transformation, and political organizing. Prentis has spent the last 15 years bridging wellbeing and power building as a part of movement building organizations, most recently as the Healing Justice Director at Black Lives Matter Global Network. In 2016, Prentis was awarded the Buddhist Peace Fellowship Soma Award for community work inspired by Buddhist thought. A...
Apr 06, 2021•58 min•Ep. 130
In this episode we discuss: The roots of pastoral care and chaplaincy Incorporating the frameworks of Vendantic, yoga philosophy in Hindu chaplaincy Contemplative dimensions of pastoral care, bringing radical compassionate presence in spiritual accompaniment Obstacles to cultivating spiritual health and the epidemic of loneliness in the globalized westernize world The three elements of Sādhanā: Tapas, Svādhyāya, Īśvarapraṇidhāna Building inner resilience Intimate and personal experience of the S...
Mar 09, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 129
In this episode we discuss: Post-Daoism as a philosophy reinterpreting depth psychology, qigong, and Daoism MogaDao as a practice at the intersection of somatic, queer, and socioerotic inquiry Socially imposed self-images versus deeply personal mythopoetic self-images The democratization of desire in all forms and socio-erotic experiences Spiritual significance of sex, sexuality, and desire as authentic expressions of a soul’s original virtue Consumeristic paradigm of sexuality as another attrib...
Feb 23, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 128
In this episode we discuss: 1. The philosophy of yoga nidra, the goddess of yoga nidra and the four states of consciousness. 2. Yoga nidra as a state and as a systematic guided relaxation. 3. Obstacles to rest in our culture. 4. Working with trauma and the importance of safety in moving toward rest. 5. The science of yoga nidra, accessing the place of healing and rejuvenation. 6. The relationship between liminal space and creativity. 7. How to set up a supportive yoga nidra nest. Tracee Stanley ...
Feb 09, 2021•52 min•Ep. 127
In this episode, we discuss: How yoga communities and the industry have changed during the Covid pandemic. The inspiration for Tia’s new book “The Practice is the Path”. Being comfortable living with uncertainty. Identity and attachment. The significance of dreams and the role of the dream state in breaking the spell of the everyday life. Emphasizing the “not doing” and shifting the default mode to be one of rest Yoga and the art of seeing - the role of being seen and heard in relationship and h...
Jan 12, 2021•58 min•Ep. 126
In this episode, we discuss: Growing up Indian in a majority white culture, shame and the impact of disconnection from culture. The value of yoga and mindbody practices in medicine and education. Stress, trauma and burnout, and ways in which embodied practices can help. The impact of the pandemic and isolation on us as social beings and the value of yoga and stress relief in times of Covid. Practicing compassion, stress relief, and strategies to generate compassion for self and others. Yoga and ...
Dec 30, 2020•54 min•Ep. 125
In this episode, we discuss: Understanding the culture of Contemporary medicine and medicine as an industry. The Ayurvedic approach, addressing the physical, energetic and mental realm. Quantum biology and the Siddha texts - healing from the inside out. Role of intuition as it informs mastery in healing and any field of work. Science of Sound, biological translation to energy and meaning. The distinction between mantra and aphorism; using mantra and devotion to connect to your soul’s intention. ...
Dec 15, 2020•56 min•Ep. 124
In this episode, we discuss: Invocation as a tool to invoke the divinity from within us. The celebration of Diwali and the purpose of celebrating festivals. Idols as means to connect to the God within us. Chanting mantra, contemplating deeper truths, and the main sadhana of Kali Yuga. The many names of Shiva - infinite expressions of infinite glories. How to understand karma and taking responsibility for your life. Spiritual practices for facing challenging times with strength and clarity. Swami...
Dec 01, 2020•55 min•Ep. 123
Medical anthropologist Alberto Villoldo has studied the shamanic healing practices of the Amazon and Andes for more than 25 years. He is the founder of the Four Winds Society, which trains modern shamans in the practice of energy medicine. He directs the Center for Energy Medicine in Chile, where he investigates and practices the neuroscience of enlightenment. Over the course of two decades with the shamans in the jungles and high mountains of the Andes, Villoldo discovered a set of sacred techn...
Nov 18, 2020•44 min•Ep. 122
In this episode we discuss: Daniel Simpson’s upcoming book, The Truth of Yoga. Daniel shares his intention and inspiration behind this comprehensive overview integrating contemporary history with scholarly history Differentiating yoga history and yoga philosophy as evolutionary systems of ideas Debunking commonly misunderstood concepts and myths of yoga evolution Connection points to tradition within modern practices Postural practice and being definitive about the unknown Reinterpreting yoga tr...
Oct 20, 2020•59 min•Ep. 121
