Master Yogi Michael Hewett explains what the Yoga Sutras are and why they are such a relevant and potent resource as we move out of the pandemic. Karuna and Michael geek out about attachment styles, practice, and compassion.

"The Yoga Sutra is so bloody important because: it's a fun text, the ideas are magnificent, and the way I'll be sharing them is very understandable. Yes, we could talk about the Sanskrit and the verses roots, but I really don't too much. That's not my specialty. My specialty is taking these ideas that could be esoteric and making them relatable, funny and applicable for one's relationship with themselves. And then how we relate to others. 

For me, it's also been pivotal in my understanding of how I have loved myself and others. Where I mistook anxious and avoidant attachment for love, meaning grasping someone else or kind of playing at this game of, you know, I'm not really available because you seem too eager for me like a manipulative energy that feels like the dance of love. Piercing through that and through the ideas of the future and the practices humbly, I feel like I've gone to a deeper place in my heart and cleaned up a lot of my misunderstandings about how to be a present loving person for myself and someone else."

Michael has an upcoming 7-week series exploring the Yoga Sutras on Mind Oasis. Learn More.

Chakra Curious? Want to about Chakras in the 21st Century? Interested in feeling into the intersection between modern technology and design and your energetic body? This podcast with I-We guests Reda Charrafaddine, Daniel Pittner, and David Celis Garcia is for you.  

What Reda has to say, "For me, chakras are like the mixing boards of the body, and they are connected to our psychological states, our physical state and our spiritual state, and having the ability to balance them, maneuver them, turn the knobs on them in these like pressure points in our spinal system and our central nervous system will create harmony in our lives. 

So the reason I call it in the 21st century, is because we're bringing a very practical nature to it.  One of the fun things we do is to look at YouTube videos of Miranda Priestly from Devil Wears Prada and we talk about what her chakras are doing. And then we also are using very practical techniques to activate or deactivate some chakras. I mean, some things that most people don't know is like your chakra could be too open, not just closed. 

How they interact with each other is also incredibly important. Like sometimes you want your root chakra to be incredibly open while your sacral want to be slightly more closed. So that way you could balance the two depending on the scenario of the events."  

The I-We team brings a couple opportunities to study the chakra on Mind Oasis. Learn More.

In this episode of Meditation Happy Hour, guest Rosa Schnyer explains what a Bodhisattva is and how Tonglen is a potent practice of choice for the resiliency needed during these difficult times.  She goes into how one's aspiration is a key element in avoiding empathetic distress.  

About the Bodhisattva Path, Rosa says, "It's to put a focus of our attention on our shared human suffering. It's been rough around the world for a while, really rough you know, and if you orient your heart towards alleviating suffering for and devoting your life to the benefit of all beings, how in the world do you hold space enough to have resilience to move not only through your own challenges and difficulties day in, day out, but to hold space and to hold the intention that what you're doing in the world is for the benefit of all beings? How in the world do you do you not lose hope and heart and energy? And how do you do that? That's our challenge.   

That's the path that we are walking. That I am walking, that you are walking, that we committed practitioners are walking, you know. So it's about taking the spotlight from just our own suffering and shining it in all of us and then finding an effective way to transform that in our hearts so that we can continue to show up and adapt, and you know, work through wholeness without breaking down and falling into empathic distress.  I have found that the practice of Tonglen has really helped me do that."  

Rosa brings her Resilience: The Awakened Heart of the Bodhisattva workshop to Mind Oasis on 6 June 2021. 

Learn More

In traditional Chinese medicine there are five elements. There's fire, water, wood, earth and metal. The balancing of these five elements energetically is how we balance our being. The balancing of these five elements helps to define who we are in the world, our relationship with nature, as well as our relationship with the cosmos. Karuna and Rachel Joyce get down about the five elements, yoga asana, the difference between yin and restorative yoga, and so much more in this short podcast.  

Mind Oasis hosts Yin Yoga, The 5 Elements: A Master Class with Rachel Joyce on May 1st. Click here for more info!  

About the intersection of the five elements and yoga asana:  

"If we're in a water pose and in water, we want to relieve the feeling of fear. And I'm holding you in a paschimottanasana, you know, five minutes, seven minutes. What happens to you with fear? What comes up? And the the goal is, again, to not be the fear. Don't be the intensity. But you're quiet and you're deep. These are yin qualities, right? You're within and you watch that and you say, oh, what is my relationship to fear? Is it fear in the body? Am I going to pull a hammy? Is it fear in the mind that I can't take this anymore? Is it emotional fear or is it existential fear, like is God real? You know what I mean? Whatever it is, what comes up for you in that five minute paschimottanasana, let's examine that. Then you examine that relationship to your entire elemental makeup with the hopes of releasing and balancing across your bodies, your energy body, your physical body, your emotional body, your spiritual body." -- Rachel Joyce

“Lady Niguma was this incredible practitioner...she was sought out by one of the other masters of the time, this guy named Naropa. And he was looking for someone to teach him to take him deeper into the practices and he heard [from a sage]...she is the one who's going to guide you deeper into your practice. And so it's, again, a whole story. He goes out on a quest looking for this angel Niguma.   

When he finds her, it's interesting. At first she's like, no, no, no, no, no, I can't do it. I’m not teaching you. You're not ready. And he has to prove himself to her. But what she ends up doing is passing on this lineage that she has of how to move the energy in your body in a very specific way that will get you towards the goal of liberation. And in layman's terms, it's like “do this” to be happier.   

She was a master of using very specific tools and techniques for us to reach a higher state of peace. And it's such a beautiful story. I can't wait to dive more into the detail of it. And it is so special because I think as we talk about the philosophy and go through the asana, it has that really beautiful feminine flair to it, which I love. It, speaks to my heart so much and it's powerful.” - Sarah Blackburn  

Sarah Blackburn brings this 1,000 year practice alive on Mind Oasis on 10 April 2021. 

Learn More and Register

Guest Kathy Leader on overcoming inner and outer criticism through meditation as an artist. 

"As I developed along my life, I had lost my confidence completely. When I went to [art] school, I started really thinking about that. What is it that is stopping me...what was I being afraid of? Clearly, my mother, in a critical way of being was what was stopping me, so I kind of delved into that.  I've always been into meditation and yoga. That's a huge part of my life. And I started to just meditate a lot about it and. I came up with this idea that my mother and that judgment had imprinted, implanted itself in my brain, and I had to in some way move it, move past it. 

Through years of meditation and teaching, I did a lot of teaching in schools and on schools. I learned that, everyone, kind of [with] myself first, I needed a kind of liberation through meditation and breathing. But my students also needed it. So sometimes it wouldn't necessarily just be through meditation, but it would be through journaling or writing that I would encourage them to be less judgmental about their own work. I, as a teacher and a coach, had to be encouraging and not be at all critical because it just stops the whole process. So I think, you know, in a backhanded way, I can thank my mother for giving me that opposite experience that led me to do this work for myself and for my students."

Kathy is a fascinating artist, as is this interview on Meditation Happy Hour: Tea, Talk, and Truth with Karuna. She brings a freebie to Mind Oasis in mid-April and a series thereafter. 

Learn More and Register.

"I titled this class of yoga for all, because I really want to make sure that's accessible to everyone. It's so often that I hear I can't touch my toes, and that's not the point. So more than the physical practice and I love the way that Michael Hewett puts it, it's more than just poses on a piece of plastic. And as I'm sure you know, it's the whole philosophy and the lifestyle around it and working with where you are rather than where you wish you were. So I would say that my students can definitely expect a level of teaching that is accessible to everyone. I will be offering several appropriate accommodations for all bodies and for all ability levels." Lindsay Komp  

Enjoy this short Meditation Happy Hour: Tea, Talk, and Truth with Karuna where Lindsay Komp and Karuna chat about how yoga works and what it means exactly to say yoga is for all.  

Lindsay teaches weekly vinyasa sessions on Friday nights on Mind Oasis. 

Learn more and register.

Vocal empowerment goes beyond the voice as an integration of identity. On this episode of Meditation Happy Hour: Tea, Talk, and Truth with Karuna, she and Vocal Empowerment Coach Melissa Grogan explore how voice not only means the words that you express, but equally is about your ability to listen mindfully. It's a fascinating romp through science, esoteric practices, breath, and identity. 

Check out her upcoming offerings on Mind Oasis.

“So voice means not just the sound that you hear me saying right now, but it also means identity. So to say I have a voice in this world means I have an identity that takes up space and that is meant to be here...our culture, our family, perhaps ourselves, something has for most of us gotten in the way of us being able to to connect to that and to know how to interrelate.   

Honestly, I know I keep bringing that word up, but it's an issue. I want to bring this work into schools. I want to bring it into the the political spectrum. I would love to work with prisoners. I would love to work with all populations. I think this is honestly something that culturally we need. And what I love is that I'm seeing people more and more recognizing that voice is this piece that they're missing, that they don't know how to access." - Melissa Grogan

"We need more Jedis, not more teachers" - Michael Hewett  

Meet our lead Yoga Immersion teacher Vessel Academy Founder, Michael Hewett! He shares his philosophy about what it means to be a worthy vessel, how curiosity can help you lead a more fulfilling life, and if you stay until the end you get to enjoy an original song he plays for the Mind Oasis audience.   

Learn more about the upcoming Yoga Immersion (starts 3/29/2021).

On this episode, Karuna's guest Christina Ionno (@dakinilounge) of Dakini Lounge, talks about life as a model and how meditation has helped her to roll with the punches of the highs and lows of the fashion industry. She shares the magic of finding a teacher, living with a big open heart, and the heartfelt desire to live authentically -- even in fast-paced NYC!  Christina brings a 4-part series designed to amplify the mind/body connection with Dharma-infused meditation and asana on Mind Oasis starting 1 Feb.  

Learn More: https://mindoasis.org/classes/workshops-and-series/