Escaping Samsara

From Ferguson to New York, and from Germany and South Africa to Australia and Brazil, Lisa Sharon Harper leads trainings that increase clergy and community leaders’ capacity to organize people of faith toward a just world. A prolific speaker, writer and activist, Ms. Harper is the founder and president of FreedomRoad.us, a consulting group dedicated to shrinking the narrative gap in our nation by designing forums and experiences that bring common understanding, common commitment and common action.

Show notes

• Lisa's Podcast about social justice and activism
• Milk, donuts and the first prayer at night in the middle of the Pine Barrens
• Deepening of the kindled interest through studies and culture
• Concept of religious conviction
• Lisa's take on slavery references in the Bible
• Retracing Cherokee Trail of Tears and seeking understanding in the Bible
• From the mind to the heart and how spirituality is only as powerful as you allow it to engage with the world around you
• Hearing the soul's cry, dangers of defining people, the need for silence as a space where one can here God's voice
• The empires of lies and the need of identifying the Truth to change them
• The idea of the fists and the heads
• Political activism, confrontation as spiritual act of worship
• Global awakening and the age of transition
• Lisa's books, podcast, consulting group Freedom Road

Ms. Harper authored 5 books. You can find out more about her work by visiting  https://lisasharonharper.com/.

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Check our website for more content: http://escaping-samsara.com/

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On this episode we talk to Ajahan Succito a british-born Buddhist monk and former abbot of Cittaviveka monestry in the UK. Ajahan Succito ordained in Thailand in 1976 and, along with Ajahn Sumedho, was part of a small group of monks who brought the famous forest master Ajahn Chah’s teachings to the west. Over the last four decades he has helped establish and grow three monestries in the UK and authored nine books all available for free download from his website.

Show notes

• First spiritual experience through Hatha Yoga practices and recognition of death
• University studies, psychedelics, discovering of the Eastern spirituality, travelling to India and Thailand
• 5th precept of abstaining from intoxicants and the use of psychedelics
• Buddhist Paramis and their expression in life
• Renunciation – moving away from sensual indulgences or differentiating wants from needs
• Why true equanimity is almost inconceivable
• From Dharma to culture
• Problem of compartmentalisation of meditation
• Tips on cultivating of Paramis and seeking wholesome states
• The 4 floods, body maps and experience of reality
• Spirituality as a natural process, environmental crisis as opportunity to awaken

Visit Forest Sangha website to find all books by Ajahn Succito as well as his website to find out more about Ajahn's teachings.

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Check our website for more content: http://escaping-samsara.com/

Enjoyed this podcast? Please, leave a review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes

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To us Monica is an embodiment of the yogic way of living. With around 40 years of spiritual practice she is also a Doctor of Chiropractic , Yoga Therapist and co-author of “Ashtanga Yoga, Practice and Philosophy” and “Ashtanga Yoga, The Intermediate Series“. Her passion for teaching yogic anatomy unlocks this uneasy subjects to many of her students. In intensive immersions that she offers together with her husband, Gregor Maehle, Monica is also teaching chanting. Her devotion and love for the practice helps students to tap into the world of infinite beauty the moment the first OM together is chanted. We are privileged and grateful to have her on our show.

 Show notes

• Monica’s first encounters with Samsara Halahala
• Glimpse into the Essence and discovery of Hridaya, the spiritual heart
• Meditation practice, meeting Maharaji Prem Rawat
• Starting on the path of Yoga
• Role of meditation in allaying the fear of death
• Work and discipline in a spiritual practice
• Surrendering, synchronicity and serendipity
• Tapping into emotional scars and working with samskaras through yoga practice
• Yoga as a form of psychotherapy?
• Role of ethics on and off the mat and thoughts on teaching it
• Embracing humanity and finding refuge in practice

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Check our website for more content: http://escaping-samsara.com/

Enjoyed this podcast? Please, leave a review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes

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Mark Togni is a Zen monk, advanced Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga practitioner and teacher. In this geeky interview Mark shared with us his insights on intersection of great amount of different practices and traditions.

Show notes

• Journey to India and meeting his teacher Sri H.W.L. Poonja (Poonjaj, Papaji)
• Thoughts on the selecting the Guru and how to reconcile different philosophical views of Yoga and Buddhism - interdependent co-arising, self-inquiry
• 10 Great Precepts and how does a Zen Monk end up practicing 4th Series of Ashtanga
• Unified mind, passive and active Samadhis and asana practice
• Intersection of 8 Limbs of Patanjali and Zen Buddhism Precepts
• Difference in effects of Vipassana, Zen and Yogic Chakra / Kundalini raising meditation techniques
• Thoughts on selecting a Guru
• Reconciling Zen's interdependent co-arising, Advaita's self-inquiry and Patanjali's philosophy
• Unraveling Samskaras through practice and Gestalt therapy
• Ida and Pingala, and thought son effects of meditation before and after asana practice
• Breathing waves and bandhas as form of response to the heaven and earth connection 
• Effects of different Ashtanga sequences, energetic patterns and reasoning
• Finding a balance between Asana, Pranayama and Meditation
• Combining practices from different spiritual traditions 
• Mark's thoughts on Yoga and spiritual landscape  of today

Mark is currently teaching in Gold Coast Yoga Center in Australia. Visit their website to find more information about his teaching.
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Check our website for more content: http://escaping-samsara.com/

Enjoyed this podcast? Please, leave a review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes

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Here is our PAYPAL or  PATREON account for contributions.

Lorraine Cavanagh is an Anglican priest, theologian and a sincere practitioner of Christian path. Her journey is about cultivating and helping others to establish personal relationship with God, outside of any dogmatic concept or structure. It’s about spirituality, and not about church. She is also a writer and a podcast host.

In this interview Lorraine shares with us her thoughts on the problems of modern Christian religion, the common misunderstandings about major Christian concepts and helps us better understand some fundamental metaphors of Christianity. We speak about the practice of prayer and the importance of silence, and ask her many more quirky questions, while she kindly and lovingly shares her wisdom with us.

Show notes

• Lorraine’s remarkable experience – the choosing of the Path
• True meaning of Mission and Evangelism in Christianity
• Reasons and consequences of the spiritual experience
• Institutionalised religion and what increasing spirit of managerialism does to it
• Misunderstanding of the conecpt of Prophecy
• Hard questions and the mechanism of prayer as a tool to address them
• Depression, dark night of the soul and the purpose of it
• Metaphor of Jesus dying and how death is not the end of the story
• God, Christ and Holy Spirit experiences
• Importance of silence
• Difference between contemplative life and activism?
• Calling, destiny, providence and the weaving together
• Abuse of power in the context of religion and the chronic loneliness of the human condition
• Lorraine’s books

You can find out more about Lorraine’s work at https://www.lorrainecavanagh.net/

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Check our website for more content: http://escaping-samsara.com/

Enjoyed this podcast? Please, leave a review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes

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Here is our PAYPAL or  PATREON account for contributions.

Talking to Simon Borg-Olivier is like going snorkelling with Jacque Yve Cousteau - you suddenly find yourself in a bathyscaphe at the bottom of the ocean exploring its depth and multifacetedness of creatures you never knew existed, although in our case it's the ocean of Yoga and the creatures are different angles to view mudras, kriyas, asanas, yogic breathing and the concept of movement itself. In this fascinating talk Simon takes us on a wild ride through many different angles to view the common things - from questioning the validity of the most basic instructions like lifting your arms and drawing your shoulders down in Surya Namasakara to how almost any yogic tool can cause a different outcome based on your intention and tiniest details of your technique.  

We speak about Simon's ideal practice routine, how to nourish yourself with practice in the hard time of Covid-19 caused isolation, how to stay connected while being isolated and physically disconnected, how to expand your meditative practice far beyond the formal time spent on the yoga matt. This interview offers you so many dimensions to explore, think and question your views and believes, and we felt very enriched, and once again mystified with all the new pieces of the yogic puzzle.

Show notes

• Looking into drishti and physiological aspecs of chanting 
•  Simon's take on breathing practice
•  Practice of kriyas - the intricacies of Nauli & Lauliki and dosha specific objectives
•  Moving from the core
•  Self isolation and how yogic tools can help: meditative states
•  Meditative cleaning :)
•  Thoughts on what makes a supportive practice vs. increasing stress level through activity
•  Coping with isolation and finding a perspective in the info swamp
•  Breathing waves geekery
•  Ratios in Nadi Shodana and the subject of Kumbhaka
•  Are you able to breathe into your chest in a relaxed way?
•  7 stages of Hatha Yoga treatise and Basti kriya as a prerequisite for mudra, asana and pranayama
•  Important paradigm shifts to happen in modern postural yoga 
•  Kapalabhati, Bastrika, Nauli and the danger of misinterpretation of their purposes
•  Shades of Kumbhaka
•  Incredible hyperventilation experiment
•  Words of caution and thoughts on selecting a teacher and teaching

Check out YogaSynergy or his personal website for more information on Simon's teaching.

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Check our website for more content: http://escaping-samsara.com/

Enjoyed this podcast? Please, leave a review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes

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Nicky Knoff has an incredible life story and a yoga journey that stretches over more than 50 years. Being 82 at the time when we recorded this interview, she is vibrant, full of life and excited about teaching yoga to her students. Nicky shares the story of her life with us - from growing up in a prisoner's camp in Indonesia, discovering yoga and meeting many inspirational teachers to her philosophy and approach to teaching that aims to integrate higher limbs of yoga in a holistic and balanced practice.

Show notes

• Be here now - Nicky's childhood memories of prisoner's camp in Indonesia
•  Discovering yoga by observing its fruits in a close friend 
•  Bikram Choudhury, BKS Iyengar, Desikachar and S. N. Goenka 
•  Why students are discouraged from doing yoga during Goenka retreats?a
•  How Vipassana and Yoga help us confront the same issues in a synergistic way
•  Nicky's Pranayama practice
•  Pranayama as integral part of asana practice and how Ujayi can help during labor 
•  Ashtanga sequencing and lack of attention to Pranayama in traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa way of teaching
•  What is to consider when designing your own asana and pranayama routine
•  Difference in breathing patterns and their effects as taught by Desikachar, BKS Iyengar and Pathabi Jois
•  Teaching main objective to focus on when teaching people with PTSD 
•  Nicky's approach to integration of higher limbs in her teaching to offer balanced yoga practice

You can learn more about Nicky's teaching and access many valuable materials at https://www.knoffyoga.com/
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Check our website for more content: http://escaping-samsara.com/

Enjoyed this podcast? Please, leave a review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes

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Here is our PAYPAL or  PATREON account for contributions.

In this episode we interview Matthew Sweeney, a long-term yoga practitioner and teacher. Matthew's path of self-inquiry is a remarkable journey through different systems and approaches, from Martial Arts and Zen Shiatsu to Iyengar Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. A long-term absorption in yogic practices together with open-mindedness an interest in Meditation, Tantra, Gestalt Therapy, Transpersonal Therapy, Transforming Cellular Memory, Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta helped him to crystallise his understanding and develop his own authentic and honest approach to teaching. He has written several books and created DVD teaching programs , as well as many great reflections in form or free articles. He is currently based in Ubud, Bali, where he teaches courses in his beautiful shala - Vinyasa Krama Mandiram. 

In this episodes we go in-depth on the great variety of topics and get really geeky. 

Show notes

• Relationship between Moon Sequence & Ashtanga Primary Series. Background & Purpose.
• Impact of different asana practices on the state of mind - tamasic, rajastic, sattvic?
• Different angles to look at Vinyasa Krama
• Sequences of Ashtanga Yoga  
• Yamas and Niyamas
• Matthew's take on 8 limbs of Patanjali
• Focusing on Stambha within Pranayama and Meditation
• Dharana, Dhyana and attachment to the practice
• Pratyahara and misunderstandings around it
• Self-enquiry and Advaita Vedanta
• Potential of higher limbs and limitations of the system
• Benefits of combining different observer consciousness practices
• Spirituality and technique

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Check our website for more content: http://escaping-samsara.com/

Enjoyed this podcast? Please, leave a review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes

Feel grateful and would like to support us? Thank you!
Here is our PAYPAL or  PATREON account for contributions.