It feels like the end of the world, but it's not. In this episode, I try to share some yoga insights on two topics relevant to our current crises: The concept of detachment that is so prevalent in yoga literature, and Taking judgement away to experience the essence of namaste . My prayers and well-wishes go out to everyone in this challenging time. Please support Peter's Podcast on Patreon . Namaste....
In this episode, Wendy Newton and I discuss the notion of freedom from the perspective of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and elsewhere in yoga language. You also learn what we had for breakfast! Check out Wendy's upcoming online workshop on the Yoga Sutras. Please support Peter's Podcast on Patreon.com and rate the podcast right on your app or on iTunes. Namaste!...
In reaction to my previous podcast episode encouraging us not to look for "silver bullet" solutions, I wanted to affirm that there is one silver bullet that addresses everything. I use Elyse Poppers' book The Little Love Book as a prompt to discuss love with Wendy Newton. Poppers, a visual and performing artist as well as a writer, produced this book as a culmination of a project looking for the language with the most words for "love." Her conclusion was that Sanskrit is that language. In the po...
In this episode, I discuss the danger of focusing on finding a silver bullet, whether you're talking about the corona virus epidemic or anything else. The reasons I cover include: It distracts us from what we should be doing It dilutes learning the lessons of what brought us here It gets us invested in magical thinking It fosters conspiracy theories It reinforces tribalism I mention: Comedian Ronny Chieng 's Netflix special. Ezra Klein's book, Why We're Polarized . Please support Peter's Podcast...
I used some of my "shelter-in-place" time to work on a new kirtan recording of a song that always moved me when we chanted it at Paramahansa Yogananda's Self Realization Fellowship. My nephew, Tucker Sody , a professional drummer in Tampa, provided a long-distance accompaniment. Taking a cue from my Psych Rock Kirtan partner Idgy Dean , I played all the rest of the parts myself. I'm looking forward to playing it live in the future, but for now, I hope it gives you some inspiration. In his book C...
In this episode, Wendy Newton and I do a quick dive into svadyaya , the study of the self and the Self, and the self-reflection and reading of texts that help us "see the light" in the darkness. We're leading an immersion workshop this Friday 9-3 New York Time, and we set it early enough that hopefully some other time zones can make it, too. Details and registration are available at ishtayoga.com . If you're having financial challenges during this time, email me and we'll work something out. Ple...
I pause my walk in the park to talk about yoga as a practice and a new perspective. Join me and Wendy Newton in a day-long workshop Bringing Yoga Off the Mat. Details at ishtayoga.com . Please support Peters Podcast on Patreon.com and rate the podcast wherever you listen. Thank you!
Looking at this time as one to choose #deepliving
How our new challenges with social distancing can be put to constructive purpose.
In this episode, I talk a little about the virus pandemic we're all dealing with. Then I lead us in a meditation to help us stay balanced during this time. A couple resources: Brian Lehrer show where there's a March 13 episode with NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/ All Sides Corona Virus news with reference to whether the sources are left, right, or center....
In this episode, I speak with Ulrica Norberg and Wendy Newton about using traditional yoga texts as part of practice. We're going to be leading a workshop using the Gheranda Samhita, Yoga Sutras, and Bhagavad Gita this May in Stockholm. Details are on my website: peterferko.com. Please support Peter's Podcast on Patreon.
In this episode, I speak to Julianne Mirabello about her unique approach to personal fashion and styling. Julianne studied fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City and has designed and created costumes and done personal styling in New York and internationally. She is also a Yoga Teacher who did her 200-hr training at ISHTA with me in New York and a Reiki practitioner. Julianne is launching sartorialstrategist.com , a service to help people figure out and creat...
In this episode, I share a meditation class recording where we look at one of the Bhagavad Gita's chapters about our nature as the "field" and the "knower" of that field. It's an interesting metaphor and provides an useful map of our evolution. Following the talk you can join in a meditation, the ISHTA Diksha. Please support Peter's Podcast on Patreon . Find out about upcoming retreats, workshops, and training at peterferko.com...
Today we head to meditation class to loosen the knots of energy that keep us stuck in limited thinking and keep us from gracefully moving in the flow of nature's cycles. Listen to the talk at the front or join in the practice, too — just not while you're driving! Please support Peter's Podcast on Patreon . Find out about upcoming retreats and classes at home and abroad at peterferko.com . Namaste!...
Join Wendy and me on our trip across the midwest. We talk about the holidays and the challenges and joys of life! Happy holidays! Find out all about retreats, trainings, and more at peterferko.com
Musings on life and karma, whether comedy, tragedy, or wholeness. Come to Bali! Details at siren-spirit.com . Support me on Patreon . Thank you! Take Wendy Newton's next training session on the Yoga Sutras . (There is no pre-requisite.)...
In this episode, Wendy and I chat with Bridgette Shaw . We taught in a meditation training with Bridgette in October at YogaMCC in Calgary. Bridgette is a senior teacher and Sadhaka Yogi in the ISHTA lineage. She specializes in Yoga Nidra, Restorative Yoga and Hormone Yoga Therapy, the latter in which she is one of only three women in all of Canada certified by its creator, Dinah Rodrigues. Please join me, Aino Siren, and Wendy in Bali this February 8-15. You don't want to miss it! Details at si...
Today I speak with Brenda Zusman, a yoga student at ISHTA whom I've had the pleasure of seeing in class for a decade. Brenda shares her thoughts about the value of a yoga practice and how she has adapted the practice to suit her age and health. I speak about my upcoming retreat to Bali with Aino Siren. Come! ( Details here ) Thank you for supporting Peter's Podcast on Patreon . Join Wendy Newton and me for a Satsang at ISHTA Yoga Nov. 21 ( Details here )...
Today I dip into a book I've been reading: Tantra Illuminated: The Philosophy, History, and Practice of a Timeless Tradition by Christopher D. Wallis. Wendy and I do a commentary on a chapter as way to lay out some of the fundamental premises of this key philosophical underpinning to ISHTA Yoga. Come to Bali on retreat this February with Aino Siren and me, with special guest, Wendy Newton. Details at siren-spirit.com Please support Peter's Podcast on Patreon.com . Take teacher training with me a...
Thanks to Salma Allam for our special Siri/Samadhi intro! Today we go to meditation class. My opening lecture, or dharma talk, is about the nature of our energetic bodies and the chakras yogis use to influence our energy to help in meditation. I'm teaching a course in meditation with Wendy and Bridgette Shaw at YogaMCC in Calgary this month, and at ISHTA Yoga , with Alan and Sarah Finger, in December. Aino Siren and I have extended the early bird price for our February retreat to Bali . Details ...
In today's roundtable edition, I chat with Kristin Leal , Kelly Eudaily , and Wendy Newton about current thoughts about the health benefits of meditation. All three are teacher trainers with lots of experience teaching meditation and the corresponding benefits. We have a good time talking about not only benefits, but the best way to share findings of research and how much research actually matters regarding meditation. Please support Peter's Podcast on Patreon ! It feels good and keeps this podc...
Peter's Podcast is like a pay-what-you-will yoga class. Please support it by dropping your donation at Patreon.com . Thanks! In this episode, I speak with Serge Cashman , a former student of mine, now a teacher and owner of Unit 108 Yoga in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Serge started practicing yoga by accident, bartering photography for yoga classes with Sabine Heubusch , who introduced him to ISHTA Yoga . He completed his 200hr training at Namaste Williamsburg with Debbie Desmond and later went on to...
This meditation class starts with a talk about how our stuck emotions make it hard to meditate. We use a variety of methods to deal with our emotional reactions, but when we don't get to deal with them, they can come back to disturb us in a variety of ways. Today's meditation is a kriya yoga practice that helps us let go of emotions we're aware of and those we no longer even remember.
In this episode, I catch up with fellow ISHTA Yogiraj Tamara Graham in Perth, Australia. A yoga lover since her teens, Tamara Graham started teaching Yoga in New York at her friends' request. Soon after, she completed one of the first ISHTA Yoga Teacher Training programs, when it was Be Yoga. She had a complete a-ha experience with Al realizing that he was her teacher. She returned to Perth Australia, as a single mother of 3, and started teaching there. From her first classes in an empty church ...
Today's episode is the second in our California correspondence with Erika Pahk . Erika has graced me with her presence in classes training and retreats over the past handful of years. This summer, she’s working in L.A., where she’s agreed to check in as our summer west-coast correspondent. In our first installment, we got to hear a little about Erika’s new home. In this episode we get real about facing challenges, whether they're dramatic or conversely, there's nothing going on. And we talk abou...
Puy Navarro is an ISHTA Yoga Senior Teacher, Spanish native actress and a theater producer, focusing on Social Issues and Human Rights. She has been working in New York since 2005. Puy began writing when she felt the need to turn the play she had produced at the United Nations into a film script. Puy's script "Life is a Dream" was selected at Dreamago 2014, Stephen Frears' International Writers Lab. She has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from NYU. She has worked for the Rubin Museum of Ar...
In our first Peter's Podcast Roundtable, Wendy Newton , Aino Siren and I talk about what happens when you venture beyond yoga class. We talk from the perspective of teachers who want to lead workshops and retreats and of students who may not even know that one of these formats would mean a whole new understanding and practice. I share how much I learned from moving beyond yoga classes. Wendy is teaching a workshop on the Yoga Sutras at ISHTA on August 17. Aino and I are leading a retreat in Bali...
In today's episode, I speak to Dr. Jennifer Rhodes , whom I met when she took ISHTA Teacher Training and Meditation Training. Jenny is a licensed clinical psychologist, dating/relationship coach, image consultant, 200 hour ISHTA trained yogi, and founder of Rapport Relationships, LLC. Today, Jenny incorporates her intuitive and healing skills into her therapy and coaching practice. She is passionate about helping people cope with their own healing journeys and combines the science of psychology ...
ISHTA Yoga teacher and Polarity practitioner Jenny Bloom makes another wonderful appearance on the pod. We discuss how we evolve through practice and how that evolution can help your relationships, and helps make better teachers. I mention Shuddhananda Bharati, a tantra yogi who influenced ISHTA Yoga founder Alan Finger. Please support Peter's Podcast on Patreon. It's the donation box at the door of this yoga class! Namaste...
Happy Summer everybody! I mentioned a few weeks ago that I would be mixing up the conversations on the podcast, including some more monolog/discussions of topics. Another way is launching today thanks to Erika Pahk. Erika has graced me with her presence in classes training and retreats over the past handful of years. This summer, she’s working in L.A., where she’s agreed to check in as our summer West Coast correspondent. In our first installment, we get to hear a little about Erika’s new home, ...
