Accessible Yoga Podcast

By Jivana HeymanSociety & Culture Alternative Health Health & Fitness Education How To

Accessible Yoga Podcast episodes

January 10, 2024The Social Change Ecosystem as A Guide Map
“We are at a crossroads as individuals and collectives in this moment to figure out how we're going to approach what is happening around us.”
Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. Her work is rooted in Asian American, South Asian, Muslim, and Arab communities where she spent fifteen years in policy advocacy and coalition building in the wake of the September 11th attacks and ensuing backlash. Currently, Deepa leads projects on solidarity and social movements at the Building Movement Project, a national nonprofit. She has written two books, We Too Sing America and Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection. Her first children’s picture book, We Are The Builders, will be released in the fall of 2024.
Many people are moved to do something and often feel overwhelmed by the scope and the vastness of all that is going on in the world. Can you share more about some of the roles in the social change model, and how can one go about finding their place, their role?
In this special episode, Anjali and Deepa discuss:
The biggest misconceptions around justice work
Radical visioning for the world we live in
Liberation
Practices of care in times of adversity
Connect with Deepa on her website and Instagram @deepaviyer.
Free Resources for Teachers
We are grateful for the support of our podcast partner OfferingTree — an all-in-one, easy to use business platform for classes, courses, memberships and more. Check it out at www.offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga.
37 min
December 22, 2023Finding the Center with Anjali Rao
"Asking questions is renouncing a bloated sense of one’s ego, is an exercise in humility, not as an end in itself but as a springboard for authentic and skillful responses."
In the last episode of 2023, Anjali shares about 5 lessons from the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita:
The power and the essentiality of an intentional pause
Talk to a friend/Listen to a friend: Connection and relationships are important for collective liberation
Asking questions is important for skillful action
Finding the Center doesn't mean neutrality
Staying engaged in the seeking of your role. The seeking is the practice
She also shares a brief background of Mahabharata and the Gita, the relevance of the first chapter during these times, and an invitation for reflection from five lessons from the First chapter.
"To ask questions is to be hopeful, honest and true.

What can be more vulnerable than saying I don’t know?
What can be more trusting than saying, can you help me?
What can be more loving than offering a listening ear?
What can be more courageous than saying, why am I doing this?
What can be more important than saying why am I not doing this?

This is the last episode of The Love of Yoga podcast for 2023 in which I share some teachings from my favorite chapter, perhaps the most moving one, the first chapter of the Gita, Vishada Yoga." –– Anjali

Interested in learning from Anjali Rao? Connect with her on Instagram and be sure to checkout her Upcoming Course: Lighting Up the Path: A Critical Insight into Yoga, Religion, Caste & Race

Free Resources for Teachers
We are grateful for the support of our podcast partner OfferingTree — an all-in-one, easy to use business platform for classes, courses, memberships and more. Check it out at www.offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga.
19 min
December 06, 2023Grief as a Portal for Collective Liberation with Tysir Salih
"All of the stories from the Bhagavad Gita, it's so clear to me. These are calls to action. We'll even start with ahimsa..."
In this episode, Anjali Rao and Tysir Salih discuss the impact of witnessing multiple genocides and wars in real time and how Yoga practitioners can respond to the atrocities in the world. They also speak to how we can show up in solidarity and in alignment with the yogic teachings.
Tai Salih (she/her) E-RYT® 500, YACEP®, came to Canada as a refugee in her youth. Today she is the Founder of the Red Ma'at Collective and is currently working towards her designation in Psychotherapy. Her dedicated passion to heal through her own traumas has guided her desire to do more for and within the community. Tai's approach encompasses a compassionate and intersectional lens that is geared towards uplifting and empowering BI&WoC/gender-expansive folx. Tai is an intersectional feminist, who believes in uplift and empowering women/gender-expansive folx through intersectional wellness, therapeutic yoga, and education on trauma healing to build resiliency and autonomy.

In this episode, Anjali and Tysir also discuss:
Tysir’s path in Yoga and experiences as a yoga practitioner/teacher
Our impact on situations happening around the world
Practices to support you during times of collective grief
Practices of both Self care and Collective care

Connect with Tai's work here and be sure to follow her on Instagram!

Free Resources for Teachers
We are grateful for the support of our podcast partner OfferingTree — an all-in-one, easy to use business platform for classes, courses, memberships and more. Check it out at www.offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga.
37 min
November 14, 2023Are We Free Yet? with Tina Strawn
"What are some of the things that you do every day to kind of keep yourself grounded or receptive? Open?... I love this question. I'm going to give you three things that I do every day. One is my meditation practice, coming to stillness every day, coming to my breath, and turning inward."
Tina Strawn (she/they) is a joy and liberation advocate, racial and social justice activist, author of "Are We Free Yet? The Black, Queer Guide to Divorcing America." Tina is also the owner and host of the Speaking of Racism podcast and she is the co-founder of Here4TheKids and abolitionist movement to ban guns and fossil fuels. The heart of Tina's work is founding and leading Legacy Trips, immersive, 3-day antiracism weekends where participants visit historical locations such as Montgomery and Selma, AL, and utilize spiritual practices and other mindfulness based resources as tools to affect personal and collective change.
Tina has three adult children, an ex-husband, an ex-wife, and an ex-country. She has been a full-time minimalist nomad since February 2020 and currently lives in Costa Rica. Tina travels the globe speaking, writing, teaching, and exploring where on the planet she can feel safe and free in her queer, Black, woman-identifying body.
In this conversation Tina and Anjali discuss:
Tina’s path in Yoga and experiences as a Yoga practitioner/teacher
The story of Legacy Trips and the excavations from these journeys
Her book Are we Free Yet, The Black Queer Guide to Divorcing America?
Unfolding of grief and healing on multiple levels and holding the complexities of power and privilege
Here4TheKids is an abolitionist movement to ban guns, and the roadblocks that we face in this country from a cultural perspective
Tina’s practices of care during turbulent times to remain open and receptive

Checkout Tina's work on their Website or follow her on Instagram!

Free Resources for Teachers
We are grateful for the support of our podcast partner OfferingTree — an all-in-one, easy to use business platform for classes, courses, memberships and more. Check it out at www.offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga.
50 min
October 24, 2023The Gift of Purpose as an Adaptive Yoga Teacher with Rodrigo Souza
"One thing that I like about teaching Yoga is that it's something that I give and receive at the same time, teaching Yoga supports me, it makes me feel connected to a deep sense of purpose." –Rodrigo Souza
Rodrigo Souza (he/him) is an Adaptive & Accessible Yoga teacher with experience in teaching yoga to folks who have gone through Trauma & Disability. He sustained a spinal cord injury after a fall accident. Through direct personal experience with traumatic injury and chronic pain he took charge of his recovery and decided to optimize his long-term well-being by deepening his yoga practice.
He also teaches for several Non-profits, community centers and newly injured folks in an Active Rehabilitation Center in Sweden. He is focused on creating a supportive community for those who have experienced trauma, loss & and disability through Adaptive & Accessible Yoga. Eventually, he decided to become a Yoga teacher and teach from his own experience, creating Allihopa Accessible & Adaptive Virtual Yoga Studio, where he teaches folks with a diverse range of abilities from all over the world.
In this conversation Anjali and Rodrigo discuss:
Rodrigo’s journey being paraplegic and reconnecting to the body
Finding purpose through teaching adaptive yoga
Rodrigo’s inspirations as a yoga teacher
His unforgettable moments as a teacher
Learning through teaching
Ways in which people with disabilities can be supported in Yoga spaces
Practices of nurturing and self care
Check out Rodrigo's work on his website and be sure to follow him on Instagram!
For those new to Anjali, you can learn more about her work via her website and you’ll find her on Instagram as well.

Free Resources for Teachers
We are grateful for the support of our podcast partner OfferingTree — an all-in-one, easy to use business platform for classes, courses, memberships and more. Check it out at www.offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga.
38 min
October 03, 2023Scattered Goddesses: History as a Teacher with Dr. Padma Kaimal
One of the objectives of this podcast is to shine a light on the work of compelling scholars, offer a multi-disciplinary approach to Yoga, and connect it to everyday Yoga practitioners.
Yoga history is vast and multi-dimensional, and can be intimidating for many. As a subject of study, it's barely given any space or thought outside of the academic realm. And yet there is an overwhelming need for many to know more and to contextualize the teachings of Yoga.
In this week's episode with Dr. Padma Kaimal, someone who has researched and published about a very specific subject in history, the stories behind the 10th century Tantra Yogini sculptures of South India.
Dr. Padma Kaimal’s book, Scattered Goddesses, traces the journeys of 10th century Tantra Kanchi Yoginis, their birth homes in ancient South India, through colonization to their present homes in twelve separate museums in North America, Western Europe, and South India.
In this conversation, we discuss:
Unpacking a non-binary approach to history.
How “seeing connections and interdependencies rather than polarities and oppositions” help shed light on the various conflicts in our world now.
How we can hold the tension of appropriation and misrepresentation of colonized cultures along with fostering narratives of inter-dependency.
Unearthing non-patriarchal narratives in Yoga.
Whether museums are the problem, the solution, or both, to fights over cultural property.

We are grateful for the support of our podcast partner OfferingTree — an all-in-one, easy to use business platform for classes, courses, memberships and more. They also offer FREE resources and webinars for yoga teachers — check it out at www.offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga.
49 min
September 15, 2023Yoga and Liberation: A Critical Interrogation with Dr. Tria Blu Wakpa
Dr. Tria Blu Wakpa is a scholar and practitioner of Indigenous contemporary dance, North American Hand Talk (Indigenous sign language), martial arts, and yoga. Professor Blu Wakpa has taught a wide range of interdisciplinary and community-engaged courses at public, private, tribal, and carceral institutions.
In 2020, she was the first Assistant Professor at UCLA to receive a Chancellor’s Award for Community-Engaged Scholars. Professor Blu Wakpa is a co-founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief of Race and Yoga, the first peer-reviewed journal in the emerging field of Critical Yoga studies. It examines issues surrounding the history, racialization, sex(ualization), and inclusivity (or lack thereof) of the yoga community. The journal features research-based articles, editorials, and reviews of books, films, and art exhibits.
In this episode, Anjali and Dr. Tria Blu Wakpa discuss:
Dr. Tria Blu Wakpa's current work as a scholar and practitioner of Indigenous contemporary dance and North American Hand Talk
The genesis of Race and Yoga, and how the project has expanded (Follow their Instagram: @raceandyoga)
Dr. Wakpa’s thoughts on the state of Yoga today
How can we tap into the transformative potential of Yoga and the tension between carceral systems and this liberatory practice
Core tenets of Indigenous sign language
In the Race and Yoga journal article, Transforming Space: Spatial Implications of Yoga in Prisons and Other Carceral Sites, the author examines the possibilities and limitations of practicing Yoga in prisons. How can we hold the discourse and the movement for abolition along with the practice of Yoga in prisons?
Dr. Blu Wakpa’s practices, especially during moments of activation

We are grateful for the support of our podcast partner OfferingTree — an all-in-one, easy to use business platform for classes, courses, memberships and more. They also offer FREE resources and webinars for yoga teachers — check it out at www.offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga.
40 min
August 30, 2023Getting Clear with Emily Dalsfoist
What does it mean to be in right relationship to the practices and teachings of yoga as a white-bodied yoga practitioner? What does it mean to teach and offer these practices when we ourselves have no direct ties to this ancient spiritual lineage?
This is some of what Tristan and guest Emily Dalsfoist discuss in this winding conversation about privilege, yoga, solidarity, parenting, and so much more.
Emily (she/her) is a mother, trauma sensitive yoga teacher, and musician based on the land of the Cowlitz & Clackamas Peoples. Emily has sought to integrate her connection to nature with her teachings and she brings the teachings of Yoga into her role as a parent.

In this conversation, Emily and Tristan discuss:
How Emily came to yoga, and what compelled her to pursue teacher training
Emily’s process of uncovering the richness beyond asana in a capitalist white-washed western yoga world
The ways in which Emily has sought to integrate her connection to nature with her teachings
How she brings the teachings of yoga into her role as a parent
…and more
Check out Emily’s offerings on her website and be sure to follow her on Instagram!

This is Tristan’s final guest episode! Thank you, Tristan, for hosting on Anjali’s behalf this summer. Be sure to stay connected with Tristan! You can learn more about them on their website and you’ll find them on Instagram as well.

We are grateful for the support of our podcast partner OfferingTree — an all-in-one, easy to use business platform for classes, courses, memberships and more. They also offer FREE resources and webinars for yoga teachers — check it out at www.offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga.
50 min
August 11, 2023Getting Visible with Riss Giammalva
Marketing doesn’t have to be spooky, and visibility as a yoga teacher or entrepreneur doesn’t require “perfection.” This conversation with Riss Giammalva explores all of this and more.
Riss is a storyteller, communications and marketing specialist, joyful movement enthusiast, and future skeleton living on land stolen from Peoria, Anishinabewaki, and Waawiyatanong peoples, now known as Detroit-ish, Michigan. In the digital management realm, Riss works to support folks in confidently communicating their ideas and aspirations on a grand scale, visually, verbally, and creatively through inclusive and diverse content creation and marketing management strategies. In the movement and wellness space, Riss assists those who do not typically ‘fit the mold’ find joy in moving their bodies, by reminding them that movement does not have to be spooky. With specific interest and focus on supporting larger-bodied, queer, trans, neurodivergent, and disabled populations, Riss believes in people over power and patriarchy, in building relationships rather than transactions, in inclusion, accessibility, mental health and collective liberation, and they believe, whole-heartedly, in authenticity, amplifying marginalized voices, and creating kick-ass supportive communities.
In this conversation, Riss and Tristan discuss:
How Riss came to yoga, what their initial foray into a social media presence looked like, and how both yoga and social media were key parts of their healing journey
The fact that showing up and putting yourself “out there” on the internet doesn’t get any less spooky over time
The role of storytelling in marketing and visibility and how narratives related to internalized oppression might impact one’s relationship to being visibile
The value of authenticity over perfection and relationships over transactions
…and more
Check out Riss’s work on their website and be sure to follow them on Instagram!
For those new to Tristan, you can learn more about them on their website and you’ll find them on Instagram as well.

Free Resources for Teachers
We are grateful for the support of our podcast partner OfferingTree — an all-in-one, easy to use business platform for classes, courses, memberships and more. They also offer FREE resources and webinars for yoga teachers — check it out at www.offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga.
58 min
July 19, 2023Getting Embodied with Terra Anderson
"When I talk about pleasure and embodiment, I'm talking about your unique individual moment that feels true for you in your body. Not what you're being sold. And so I think that, you know, when we're talking about oppression and social justice, and I say something like, I believe pleasure is the antidote, I actually mean it.”
—Terra Anderson
In so many yoga spaces and in the wellness world in general, we talk a lot about embodiment. But what does it actually mean to “be embodied”?
Terra Lyn Anderson has devoted their life to being a conduit for the healing connection between body and mind for both individuals and the collective. While pursuing their graduate degree in Somatic Counseling Psychology at Naropa University, Terra began to envision what the healing potential of embodiment would look like on a large societal scale, with people aware and empowered by both thought and feeling, attuned to one another, in love with and trusting of their own bodies, and able to consciously and intentionally regulate their nervous systems. Inspired by the vision of an embodied, empowered and connected society, Terra directed their focus to studying the physical impact and healing of oppression trauma. They pursued supplemental trainings in social power differentials, racial justice, intersectionality, embodied sexuality, gender diversity, and organizational transformation. Terra believes that social justice is inherently tied to the body, as is oppression and trauma. Their unique approach to healing, education and activism is characterized by a commitment to empowering the relationship between body and mind.
In this conversation, Terra and Tristan discuss:
The definition of embodiment and the role of privilege in this conversation
How embodiment connects with our consent practices, and our abilities and ways in to hearing a clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’
The role of embodiment, and pleasure, in trauma healing and in dismantling systems and challenging oppression
…and more
Check out Terra’s work on their website and Instagram and learn more about their co-facilitated offerings with Weeze Doran on Weeze’s website.
For those new to Tristan, you can learn more about them on their website and you’ll find them on Instagram as well.

Free Resources for Teachers
We are grateful for the support of our podcast partner OfferingTree — an all-in-one, easy to use business platform for classes, courses, memberships and more. They also offer FREE resources and webinars for yoga teachers — check it out at www.offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga.
50 min