Escaping Samsara

Harmony Slater is Ashtanga Yoga practitioner and teacher based in Calgary, Canada. Her search for meaning led her from ballet dancing to studying philosophy, religion and psychology, travelling to China to learn Buddhist meditation and eventually meeting Sri. K Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. In this lively conversation we talk about her path and discuss many other topics:

• Entranced by Sri Yantra - first mystical experiences
• Different internal drishtis during asana practice and the meditative aspect of it
• Harmony's study of the mind in academical and practical setting
• Darkness, addiction and the light of knowledge as a ladder for the intellect
• Anorexia, body dysmorphia, not good enough
• The strong remedy of Ashtanga Yoga
• On Pranayama and Kundalini

Harmony is also a host of Finding Harmony Podcast, where she interviews many interesting yogis and fellow seekers in a very entertaining and uplifting way.

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This is a second interview in our two-part special with yoga teachers Mary Taylor and Richard Freeman. In our first conversation we were primarily focusing on different aspects of the Yoga practice. Now in this episode we explore the relationship between Yoga and Buddhism. We look closely at the content of both teachings to understand how they intersect, whether they are talking about same or similar things just under different angles, what is the reason between different emphasis of those, as well as how both traditions can support each other if you bring enough curiosity and create a space for a dialogue.

• The relationship between Patanjali's 8 limbs and Buddha's 8 folded Path
• Different ways of setting the stage for compassion to arise in the yogic and buddhist traditions
• Yogic Samadhi vs. Buddhist Samadhi
• Navigating the diversity of practices
• References to Truth in Buddhism and Yoga, differences between solidifying authority vs. investigating authority
• Don't know mind
• The taste of Nirodha
• Different emphasis on purification practices in yogic and buddhist traditions
• Role of asana in buddhist schools and how the traditions come to communication in recent times
• Thoughts on the common synergy of yogic asana practice with Vipassana style meditation between yoga practitioners
• Pranayama, the sweetness of Kumbhaka and the right attitude

Missed the first episode? Listen now - Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor – Yogic Musings, Part I.

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Our hearts are filled with joy and gratitude, and we are honoured to bring you a very special series of conversations with a yogic couple, who have influenced the world of modern yoga probably more than anyone else. Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor dedicated their lives to practice and study of the spiritual traditions of the East and are sharing the knowledge revealed to them humbly and graciously with their students.

• Mary's reflections on her first spiritual experiences
• Groundedness, embodiment and the connection to the environment
• Dropping of the breath as the beginning of Yoga
• The roots of Richard's subtle body teachings
• How far away is esoteric from ordinary?
• Release of the soft palate and the concept of Nada Anusandhan
• Meditational aspects of the asana practice, subtle body alignments and how different schools of thought encompass each other
• Visualisation, idolatry and guidance
• Role of Pranayama in removing of Samskaras and how you can make them worse
• Aesthetics, emotionality and beauty
• Tadagi Mudra
• Nauli in Kukkutasana
• Separating grains from chaff or thoughts on finding a teacher
• Secret to good relationship :)
• Ethical aspect of romantic relationship between teacher and student
• Ongoing process of Ashtanga community dealing with Patthabi Jois's sexual abuse
• Richard's take on the modern world of yoga

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Bhante Panna is an American monk living in a forest monestry near Bangkok. He has a popular Instagram (@bronthepath} where he shares his life of contemplation. In this conversation we address monkhood, spiritual powers, communing with nature, ending racism, and liberation. I know you're going to like this one!

Show Notes

• 2.50 Bhante's spiritual awakening while climbing a mountain
• 11.40 The spirituality of Thailand
• 14.00 Bhante's daily routine and life as a monk
• 24.00 How celibacy has given Bhante a new sense of freedom
• 27.00 The roots of African spirituality
• 32.30 Discussing siddhis or extra-normal powers associated with meditation
• 37.40 Empathy with snakes and scorpions and chilling with Nature
• 44.00 Black meditation matters
• 49.50 Liberation and racial conditioning
• 54.00 Cultural healing in spiritual communities
• 58.00 The spiritual landscape of the world today

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Anthony "Prem" Carlisi has been practicing and teaching Ashtanga yoga for over 40 years. He learned directly from Pattabhi Jois in 1978 for several months in Southern California. In 1979, he was amongst the first small group of Western students to study with Jois in his home town of Mysore, India. He is considered one of the American pioneers of Ashtanga yoga, along with David Williams, Nancy Gilgoff, David Swenson and Tim Miller. Prem was certified to teach the primary, intermediate and advanced series of Ashtanga yoga in 1994. He also completed a four-year course of ayurvedic study in 1984 with Dr. Vasant Lad and has been studying tantric techniques since 1990. In 2007, Prem published his first book, The Only Way Out Is In, which is his commentary on the synergy of the three life sciences of Ashtanga yoga, ayurveda and tantra. He and his partner Heather "Radha" Duplex are now based primarily in Ubud, Bali for 6-8 months of the year, and 3-4 months in Kauai, Hawaii with Pineapple Yoga. They offer daily Mysore classes in both locations, as well as trainings for teachers, intensives and workshops that deepen the understanding of Ashtanga yoga, ayurveda and tantra.

Show Notes

• 1.40 First spiritual experiences with psychedelics
• 5.50 Intersection with psychedelics and traditional spiritual practices
• 10.00 The practice of dying while living
• 23.00 Tapas and purification
• 29.30 The sudden death of Prem's daughter and how he dealt with the grief
• 37.30 How Prem lost his way and found it again
• 39.30 Siddhis
• 40.50 Advice for his younger self
• 42.00 Importance of meditation practice
• 50.00 Surrender and the Buddha's "middle path"
• 54.00 Eight limbs are a foundational practice
• 57.00 Pranayama and when to do it
• 60.30 Wim Hoff technique

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In this episdoe we talk to Oliver Crossley from Yogic Physio.

Oliver is a Registered Physiotherapist, Yoga and Meditation Teacher. He is a long-term practitioner of Zen Buddhism, Ashtanga Vinyasa and Vinyasa Krama Yoga in the tradition of Krishnamacharya. He is a passionate proponent of evidence-based rehabilitation and person-centred care and loves helping people get back to moving at their best.

This is a different kind of episode. This time we gathered questions of our listeners on different social media platforms and asked Oliver about his opinion. This a very practical episode that hopefully will help some of you into a safer and less painful practice.

• Tight psoas and lower back discomfort
• Prolapsed discs and continuing practice
• Strengthening of unstable shoulder joint
• How to assess the seriousness of the shoulder injury
• Tight hamstrings and psoas and forward bends
• Is grabbing your ankles during backbending safe?
• Hand placement in Lagu Vajrasana - ankles vs. calves?
• Is practicing Ashtanga 6 days a week safe?
• Examples of conflict between traditional way of teaching Ashtanga Vinyasa and modern physiotherapy approach
• How to protect your lumber spine?
• Are there certain asanas that will more likely lead to injuries as the body gets older?
• Knee pain
• Shoulders: Strengths vs. stiffness
• Thigh rotation in Visvamitrasana

If you want to get in touch with Oliver or find out more about his work visit https://www.yogicphysio.com

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The shrine has a mosque-like roof, white as a meringue. People, some in robes, walk in-between evergreen trees laden with jackfruit. It's the rainy season in Bangladesh and everything is hot and wet.

Muhammed Ali fixes us with a calm gaze beneath authoritarian eyebrows. Behind him, a woman sweeps around the grave of saint Lalon Shah and that of his mother. The two six-foot-long prisms are covered with patterned material and spicy smokes threads through latticed burners. Lalon's main disciples are buried outside the small mausoleum. Ali points out one of the graves, "my father lies there. I inherited the role of caretaker from him," he says.

He takes us to the main hall. We slip off our shoes and step onto cool, white stone. Inside, devotees recline in the midday heat. Women and children sit around bags of spicy peas and rotis, their saris the colour of oak and red squirrels and emerald.

Lalon Shah lived and taught here, in Kushtia, Bangladesh throughout the 19th century. He died in 1890 aged over 100 years old.

"Lalon was one of the most influential mystic saints of the Indian subcontinent. He has inspired millions with his songs," said Lalim Haque, a researcher and Lalon expert. "His lyrics are so profound he has been able to touch the lives of not only people who have a taste for music but all people."

Haque is kind and avuncular. He said Lalon's songs, especially when heard in their original Bangla, have the power to propel people to spiritual heights. Estimated to have composed thousands of songs, Lalon and his followers went on to influence 20th century greats like Rabindranath Tagor, the Bengali poet, Allan Ginsberg and Bob Dylan. To contemporary Bangladeshis he is like Shakespeare, Martin Luther King and Ekhart Tolle rolled into one.

Barely an hour goes by at Lalon's shrine without a song being sung, day or night. The twang of the ektara, a single-stringed instrument, its sound somewhere between a banjo and a sitar, joins scurrying drums and tinkling symbols.

His followers are called Bauls, they are a mystical sect found in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Some are part timers with families and jobs who don white robes and sing songs of egalitarianism on the weekends. Others are homeless mendicants, devoted to the path.

Outside the shrine, there is a park with a ten-foot portrait of Lalon. It wafts with weed and tobacco. Rumana, a former lawyer, has been a full-time Baul for 22 years. She plants a clay pipe between her fingers, cups her hands and inhales. She is charismatic, intelligent and, unlike many of her companions, reveals clean white teeth whenever she smiles, which is very often. She can speak English but refuses to be interviewed until we come back with a translator saying that Bengla is the only language she can use to describe these sacred things. Listen to this unique episode.

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Ajahn Achalo an Australian buddhist monk and current abbot of Anandagiri Forest Monastery in North Thailand. He was born in Brisbane and ordained in the lineage of Ajahn Chah in 1996. In recent times he has created some extensive online teachings that are proving popular on meditation apps, Spotify and the like. You can find his writings and Dharma talks on the website of the monastery.

In this conversation, Ajahn Achalo generously shared his thoughts on many intricate aspects of Buddhist practice. The ease and open-heartedness with which he engaged in conversation with us is something very special. Listen in.

• Listening to the sound of the waves
• First spiritual instruction from a hippie in a new age bookstore
• From discovering Metta meditation to recording guided instructions for practitioners
• Will Metta come automatically if you practice enough Vipassana?
• How death mediation practice can lead to enhanced self aversion
• Core toolbox meditation practices, qualities of the Buddha and how to relate to them
• Brahma Viharas and Jhana meditation, becoming and desire energies in our practice
• Dangers of overestimating your results, difference between Upacara Samadhi and Jhana
• Role of contentment and gratitude, and the practice of celibacy
• The story of the forest monk
• Intentions in Metta meditation and the importance of carrying them into the world
• Exploring teachings of different schools of Buddhism, learning from Dalai Lama
• The story behind Nathan's Maitreya tattoo
• New books and the story behind Ajahn Achalo's over 3500 hrs of meditation at Bodh Gaya
• What constitutes Enlightenment

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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.

• 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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On this episode we talk to Ajahan Succito a british-born Buddhist monk and former abbot of Cittaviveka monestry in the UK.

I became aware of Ajahn Succito when my teacher gave a series of talks on the Paramis – the Buddhist virtues – based on his book on the subject. I hadn't heard of the Paramis or Succito but my teacher was so enthused by his presentation of the subject I couldn't help but get a copy which turned out to be easy as all his books are freely available here.

I worked with his Paramis book and still do to this day. My teacher also gave me a copy of Rude Awakenings, his memoir of an incredible pilgrimage on foot visiting the Buddhist holy sites in Kathmandu and North India.

I met him a few times at his base at Cittaviveka monastery not far from London in the UK. I was struck by his complete lack of pretentiousness and self-regard. He spoke in the way a tree might speak to the wind and showed me that it is possible to bring the ancient teachings of the Buddha to full fruition today.

• 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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