In this episode, Jacob Kyle sits down with his longtime friend and collaborator Nataraj Chaitanya, whose early creative influence helped shape the founding vision of Embodied Philosophy and even inspired the name CHITHEADS.

Ten years after those first late-night conversations about yoga, consciousness, and modern spirituality, Jacob and Nataraj reunite to explore what it means to live a tantric life—one that embraces devotion, awareness, creativity, and radical honesty as integral parts of the spiritual path.

From the story of Nataraj’s early encounter with mantra practice as a young gay teenager in Virginia to his life as a teacher, devotee, and lineage-holder in the meditation tradition of Bhagavan Nityananda, this conversation moves through the full terrain of sādhana as both an art and a science of awakening.

Together they discuss:

• The origins of Embodied Philosophy and the early spirit of CHITHEADS
• Sādhana as alchemy: how awareness and aliveness generate bliss (ānanda)
• Aesthetics and yoga: why āsana is more like theatre than therapy
• Lineage and transmission: the living power of a genuine spiritual tradition
• Devotion and nonduality: giving reality a personality and meeting the divine in all forms
• Queerness as contemplative opportunity: living between identities as a form of freedom
• Pilgrimage as a way of life: learning to meet every moment as the Goddess herself
  
  

Throughout the conversation, the two reflect on their parallel journeys—academic, creative, and spiritual—and on the importance of rebuilding Embodied Philosophy around its original vision: to make philosophy and practice inseparable, and to honor both the scholar and the practitioner within each of us.

The episode also marks a new chapter for Embodied Philosophy: Nataraj will be joining the faculty of Wisdom School and Sādhana School, contributing his decades of experience in yoga, mantra, and contemplative education to a new generation of seeker-teachers.This is a conversation about devotion, transformation, and friendship—about what it means to practice in a world that needs both scholarship and surrender, intellect and love.

Guest Bio: Nataraj Chaitanya

Nataraj Chaitanya has led retreats, workshops, kīrtans, and teacher training programs around the world for more than twenty years.

After beginning a daily meditation and yoga practice at the age of thirteen, Nataraj immersed himself in the teachings of yoga and tantra and, by sixteen, began sharing these nectarean teachings with others. Over two decades, he has inspired countless seekers to take up a committed spiritual practice and has dedicated his life to bringing the wisdom of yoga into everyday life.

His love of teaching is evident in the devotional and enthusiastic spirit with which he leads his sessions, creating environments where people from all walks of life can directly contact the fullness of their own Being.

In January 2019, Nataraj became a formal initiate and custodian of the meditation tradition of Bhagavan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri, under Mahamandaleshwar Swami Shankarananda, one of Swami Muktananda’s senior disciples.

He currently lives and teaches in Melbourne, Australia.

Episode Links

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Explore Embodied Philosophy:

Wisdom School →

Sādhana School →

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