Episode 2: Rethinking the 'traditional' power dynamics of yoga teaching and practice

Amy Hughes, Emma Isokivi, Karen Kirkness and Lorraine Close discuss a progressive approach to teaching and practising yoga in light of the revelations around problematic power dynamics in many yoga lineages. This discussion pertains in particular to our home shala Meadowlark and the changes we have already made and want to continue to develop moving forwards.

Amy Hughes, Karen Kirkness and Lorraine Close discuss Matthew Remski's book 'Practice and all is coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics and healing in Yoga'. Amy will be hosting a discussion on the power dynamics in yoga that have enabled many historic abuses to take place and how we can move forwards as a yoga community to create safe spaces, facilitate healthy relationships between students and develop a peer to peer network of teachers that is heterarchical rather than hierarchical.

**Trigger warning: there are descriptions of sexual abuse in this podcast.

Kate O'Donnell in conversation with Clare Fulton, they talk Ayurveda, Yoga, Food and Health.

Take some time to relax with this 40 minute yoga nidra with Nadine Watton

Susan Reynolds in Up State New York speaks to Jenn Usher in Edinburgh in April 2020

Chant the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 1.1 - 1.10

John Scott has been practicing Ashtanga yoga since 1987. He was introduced to the practice by early Ashtanga yoga pioneers Derek Ireland and Radha Warell at the legendary Skyros/Practice Place in Greece. John is greatly respected and loved by his students (of whom Amy Hughes is one).
John’s Teaching: John still practices and explores the techniques of the counted method of Ashtanga passed to him and is continually discovering new meanings to the gems of wisdom that Pattabhi Jois left for his students to pass on. He connects to yoga practitioners with refreshing insight into the practice on a physical, anatomical and spiritual levels and is constantly improvising new and unique ways to engage and inspire practitioners with ashtanga and the counted method.

John Worldwide: In John’s mission to pass on Pattabhi Jois’ Counted Method he travels the World literally Counting – he learns to count in the national language of his host (usually his host is a graduate of John’s teacher training) to bridge the cultural ‘gap’ (“mind that gap because therein lies extra ordinary wisdom”) and thus he draws the community in to the shared language of yoga – Sanskrit. From John’s world adventure, sharing Jois’ teachings, an ever growing International Yoga Community is blossoming.