What makes it holy to get really stoned? This is an unavoidable question in India, where smoking cannabis is banned but done by dreadlocked devotees. Meanwhile, weed smoothies are frequently drunk at religious festivals.

The writer Karan Madhok investigates this paradox – along with many others – in his new book Ananda, subtitled “An Exploration of Cannabis in India”. It also covers lots of other subjects, including cultural history, indigenous medicine, politicised religion, the pleasures of travel and the charms of Varanasi.

As we discuss, references to cannabis date back to the Vedas, though the custom of smoking it is relatively recent. Like criminalisation, that came from outsiders – and ironically countries that promoted prohibition, such as the United States, have since been at the forefront of legalisation.

Things are now changing in India with commercialised hemp and Ayurvedic remedies, but recreational use is illegal. Our conversation considers the benefits as well as the drawbacks of cannabis consumption, and asks if the bliss to which Ananda refers might be found more sustainably by other means.

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What if the most important yogic posture was curiosity? That’s how Paul Bramadat, a scholar and practitioner, approaches research on a personal passion. He describes his new book Yogalands as “a skeptical but devoted insider’s perspective” on postural yoga and its place in the world.

As we discuss, this involves nuanced thinking on its practical benefits, the role of religion, the significance of politics and ways to engage with contemporary debates about guru abuses and cross-cultural borrowing. The book emerged from interviews with teachers, reflecting diverse views on how “yoga is this, but also that”.

Our conversation explores, among other topics:

* What it might mean to teach “yoga for adults”

* Tensions between yogic and academic worldviews

* Why healing from trauma is such a common paradigm

* Whether practitioners retreat into “anti-worlds”

* If yoga is political, which values define it

Paul works as a professor at the University of Victoria, where he is director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society. He also teaches Ashtanga yoga.

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Are there limits to what can be said in factual prose? Might poets sometimes do a better job of conveying deeper meaning and emotional truth? Lindsey Hilsum has reported on conflicts for more than 30 years. Her latest book, I Brought the War with Me, juxtaposes poetry with frontline experiences.

Our conversation explores her reflections on a wide range of topics, including:

* Why poetry speaks more timelessly than journalism

* How difficult situations can bring out the best in people

* Some potential limitations of reporting, as well as its value

* The distinction between being an eyewitness and an activist

* Whether locals or outsiders tell more trustworthy stories

Lindsey works as International Editor for Channel 4 News, and also contributes to newspapers and literary journals. Her previous book – about the war correspondent Marie Colvin – won the 2019 James Tait Black Prize for biography. For those outside the UK, this article explains the podcast's reference to Gary Lineker…

🎓 Study with me – a weekend immersion (March 1-2, 2025) and a year-long exploration of yogic traditions (from September, 2025).

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How closely connected are yoga and politics? Many people today try to keep them apart, but an ancient tradition sees yoga as politics. Although its theories might be distinct from yogic philosophies and mind-body disciplines, they’re nonetheless part of a broader understanding of what yoga means.

A new book called The Yoga of Power, by Sunila Kalé and Christian Lee Novetzke, unpacks the implications. Initially inspired by events such as a U.S. court case about whether yoga in schools was religious and the Hindu nationalist promotion of “yoga day”, their work studies texts from the Ṛg Veda onwards, showing how yoga describes the exertion of control. Together, we discuss (among other topics):

* The use of yoga-kṣema to refer to people’s welfare

* What links good governance to personal self-discipline

* How yogic ideas inspired anti-colonial resistance politics

* Why texts tell haṭha yogis to find well-governed lands

* Whether sun salutations are yogic or martial arts

We also talk about this film from 1928, in which the Raja of Aundh promotes sun salutations (as discussed in this article). You can find out more about Sunila’s work here, and Christian’s here – both are professors at the University of Washington.

🤿 To dive deep into yoga history, join me for the year-long Path of Knowledge...

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How do people cope with uncertainty? What differentiates ways of predicting the future from scientific study of patterns – be that in epidemiology or forecasting weather? Might techniques of divination reveal as much about the past and the present as what happens next?

Michelle Pfeffer (formerly Aroney) is a historian at Magdalen College, Oxford, and co-curator – with David Zeitlyn – of an exhibition at the Bodleian Library titled “Oracles, Omens and Answers”. As we discuss, there are fascinating links between modern sciences and older approaches – particularly astrology. Yet we also examine what distinguishes their methods, and how different cultures do similar things.

The exhibition focuses more on social function than predictive accuracy – though it does say all systems have limits. You can find out more in an accompanying book that covers two dozen disciplines – or see recent articles by the co-authors here and here. Michelle also posts on X, and the Bodleian Library shares pictures on Instagram.

🔭 To explore yogic views on clairvoyance – and much else besides – join me for a weekend immersion (March 1-2, 2025)

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How can we address global problems – such as catastrophic climate change – when individual actions make very little difference? What’s the right thing to do when there aren’t easy answers? Is it wrong to do nothing? Is everything relative, or are there better ways to think about solutions?

As Travis Rieder writes in Catastrophe Ethics, we need our own frameworks for making decisions. Two common pitfalls get in the way. One highlights universal rules and the other rejects them. To avoid being distracted by either, we need to think for ourselves about right and wrong, inspired by ideas drawn from moral philosophy.

Our conversation explores how this works to make life meaningful. In the process, we talk about illusions of purity, the need to find reasons to justify actions and the value of “doing our part” – however limited it may be – to minimise harm. We also reflect on life’s inevitable compromises, the complicated ethics of creating new people, and why personal integrity means being transparent not wearing a hair-shirt.

Travis works as a professor at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. He’s also the author of In Pain: A Bioethicist’s Personal Struggle with Opioids, which expands on a TED talk about his experience.

🎓 Join me in London – or online – for a weekend immersion in yoga philosophy (March 1-2, 2025)

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What does it mean to be human, and how can one access one’s innermost self? Robert Rowland Smith writes popular books about practical philosophy, including a memoir that discusses what he’s learned from his relationships – as well as a career as an Oxford don, a strategic adviser and a personal coach, among other things…

Our conversation explores the extent to which people can change, and how to get attuned to an inner alarm that reveals when it’s necessary. We also talk about intuitive ways of knowing, the role of fate and how inherited patterns shape our lives. Along the way, we consider the importance of facing mortality, why it might be scary to experience awakening and how to find purpose by asking good questions.

If you’d like to learn more about Robert’s approach – including family constellations – he’s running an online “retreat” from January 5 (available on-demand at other times). He’s also co-host of regular philosophy slams, where he and Mark Vernon respond to audience prompts with impromptu ideas.

🧘‍♂️ Join me in London or online for a weekend immersion in yoga philosophy (March 1-2, 2025)

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"What are we doing wrong that requires us all to be so resilient so often?” That’s the basic question that frames a new book by Elliot Cohen. The Psychology of Slow Living investigates ways to avoid being frazzled by a culture of urgency fuelled by quests for instant gratification via digital technology and overconsumption.

Drawing on ideas from Buddhist, Hindu, Daoist and Jewish traditions – as well as social psychology – the book explores how to slow down from a range of perspectives. It warns against seeking quick fixes, but highlights the value of meditative practice, communion with nature and social rituals, from tea ceremonies to the Sabbath.

We also talk about the mental effects of surroundings – from the impact of urban environments to natural examples of living with balance. In the process, Elliot cites teachings on the “usefulness of uselessness”, promoting some renouncing without dropping out. You can find out more about his research here.

📅 Join me in March to explore authenticity in yoga (in London or online).

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N.B. for more on this topic, see this article.

What if the text known as the Yoga Sūtra never existed – at least not to start with? Philipp Maas is a scholar of Patañjali’s yoga, whose work suggests its teachings were originally transmitted as part of a larger philosophical text with explanations.

We discuss how this accompanying commentary (bhāṣya) interprets the sūtras, and reflect on the broader significance of studying history for modern practitioners. We also consider the distance in time and space between yogic texts and their uses today. Among other topics, our conversation explores:

* The evidence for Philipp’s conclusions on Patañjali

* What studying another culture reveals about our own

* Whether scholars of yoga ought to practise its methods

* The risks of colonising history for political purposes

* Recent critical comments by Shyam Ranganathan

You can find out more about Philipp’s research at academia.edu, where his work is downloadable (free registration needed). This recent overview is a helpful place to start. It covers much of what we discuss, including several layers of commentary.

🎓 For accessible insights on yoga, join me for a course at truthofyoga.com.

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What do Heinrich Himmler and Mohandas Gandhi have in common? Both were inspired by the Bhagavad Gītā. As Dorothy Figueira explains, what they found in it were mental projections. So Gandhi saw promotion of non-violence, while Himmler thought it justified killing for an avatar of God called Adolf Hitler.

These interpretations – among many others – are the subject of Dorothy’s recent book, The Afterlives of the Bhagavad Gītā. As a scholar of religion and comparative literature, she shows how modern translations are often more revealing of their authors’ ideas than the texts they engage with.

With the Gītā, there are so many readings that it’s difficult to summarise where they diverge. Our conversation discusses the “decadence”, as Dorothy terms it, of Western seekers such as Allen Ginsberg. She contrasts this with meticulous colonial scholars and use of the Gītā by Indian nationalists. Detached from commentaries, it proved politically malleable, serving to justify many positions.

Some of the most shocking continue to resonate. The Nazi Gītā is resurgent online, via the writings of a European woman known as “Savitri Devi”. Although Dorothy laments these distortions, her general advice is to accept the existence of multiple readings, and to explore them open-mindedly to counteract dogma. She works as a professor at the University of Georgia.

🎓 For accessible overviews of yoga’s evolution, join me for a course at truthofyoga.com.

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