Om Som Yoga + Ayurveda Podcast

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✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training

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IN THIS EPISODE

Of all the mantras in the yoga tradition, the Mahā Mṛtyuñjaya is the one people reach for when something goes wrong - when someone is sick, dying, or afraid. But despite its name, it isn't a mantra against death. It's a prayer not to die before you're ready: to ripen fully into life, and to be loosened from the fear of dying the way ripe fruit falls freely from the vine.

We sit with one of the mantras closest to Aaron's heart. They unpack its meaning line by line, tell the story of the sage Mārkaṇḍeya who conquered death itself, and explore why a mantra so wrapped in taboo is actually one of the most nourishing and Ojas-building practices in the tradition.

Content note: this episode discusses death and dying.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✦ Why this mantra, when everything else falls apart - the difference between asking for eternal life and asking for ripeness and fullness of life.

✦ The cucumber that isn't a cucumber - what the urvāruka fruit really is, and why it drops freely when ripe rather than needing to be cut from the vine.

✦ The story of Mārkaṇḍeya - Shiva's impossible choice, a sixteen-year-old's deepest samādhi, and the moment Yama, the god of death, was defeated.

✦ Śavāsana as a death ritual - how every time you lie down at the end of practice, you're rehearsing the art of letting go of the body.

✦ A line-by-line translation - Rudra the three-eyed one who howls with compassion, and what we're truly asking for when we chant.

✦ The Ojas connection - why the most "feared" mantra in the tradition is also the most nourishing, and how it supports each dosha.

✦ How and when to use it - readiness, chanting for the sick and dying, and weaving it into everyday life.

TEXTUAL REFERENCES

✦ Ṛg Veda - the origin of the mantra, found in a portion dedicated to Rudra and traditionally attributed to the sage Vasiṣṭha.

✦ Mahābhārata - the earliest source of the Mārkaṇḍeya story, told within Yudhiṣṭhira's conversation with the sage himself.

✦ Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Śiva Purāṇa, Skanda Purāṇa - the same story recurs across all of these texts.

✦ Bhagavad Gītā - Krishna's teaching that one who remembers him at the moment of death attains his state; the root teaching behind the Hare Krishna tradition's practice.

✦ Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali - abhiniveśa, the fear of death, named as a root of suffering.

THE MANTRA

Om Tryambakaṃ Yajāmahe

Sugandhiṃ Puṣṭi-vardhanam

Urvārukam-iva Bandhanān

Mṛtyor Mukṣīya Mā'mṛtāt

We worship the three-eyed one, fragrant, the increaser of nourishment. As the ripe fruit is freed from its binding to the vine, may I be freed from death, but not from immortality.

SHARE & CONNECT

Website: https://omsomyoga.com

OmSom App (free): search OmSom in the App Store

Instagram: @omsomyoga

If this episode landed, the best way to support the show is to share it with one person who might need it.

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US

✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translation

https://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join

✦ OmSom App (free) - yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online community

Search OmSom in the App Store

✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharma

https://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto

✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026

https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka

✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training

https://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

IN THIS EPISODE

If Om is the sound that holds everything together, the Gāyatrī is the prayer that lights up the mind. We explore the mantra the ancient ṛṣis understood as a request for clarity - may our intellect be illuminated. Through the story of Brahmā condensing the three Vedas down into a single syllable, the meaning of each word of the mantra, the goddess Gāyatrī Devī as the light of the morning sun, and how the mantra meets each dosha, this episode is an invitation into one of the most potent practices in the tradition — held with reverence for where it comes from.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why the Gāyatrī is a prayer for the buddhi (the discerning intellect) rather than the heart or body, and why the ṛṣis saw a clouded mind as the obstacle to yoga
• The story of Brahmā condensing the three Vedas → three verses → three words (bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ) → the single syllable Om, and how this shows the Gāyatrī holds all Vedic knowledge
• The Gāyatrī meter (chhanda): 24 syllables arranged 8–8–8, the same rhythm the Vedas are recited in, compared playfully to the 5-7-5 of a haiku, and why this aids memory and retention
• Gāyatrī Devī - the etymology Gāyantam Trāyate iti Gāyatrī ("she who, when sung, protects"), and the goddess as the feminine light of the morning sun, likened to consciousness itself
• A line-by-line translation of the mantra, including the vyāhṛti (Om Bhūr Bhuvaḥ Svaḥ) as body, mind, and soul / the three worlds, and the difference between Svaḥ and Svāhā (the wife of Agni)
• How the Gāyatrī works within Āyurveda as a heating, solar mantra connected to sādhaka pitta, and how to adapt it for Vāta, Pitta, and Kapha types
• A cautionary teaching story on the potency of the mantra and the importance of teacher-to-student transmission and reverence

TEXTUAL REFERENCES

• Manusmṛti - the source of the story of Brahmā drawing the Gāyatrī from the three Vedas; also the teaching that one who recites the Gāyatrī at both twilights gains the merit of reciting the entire Vedas
• The Vedas - Ṛgveda (tat savitur vareṇyam), Sāmaveda (bhargo devasya dhīmahi), Yajurveda (dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt)
• Indu Arora - Mudra: The Sacred Secret - referenced for a series of 24 mudrās that can be practised with the Gāyatrī Mantra (verify exact book title)
• Robert Svoboda - Kundalini (Aghora II) - the story of the student who chanted the mantra without reverence

TRY THIS IN YOUR PRACTICE

Chant the Gāyatrī at sunrise, slowly and with reverence - not rushing toward a number, but letting each of the three lines (8–8–8) land. Notice the mantra as a request, not a demand: may the light of that sun illuminate my mind.

• Vāta - chant aloud, steady and rhythmic, to ground into the body
• Pitta - slow, soft, internal repetition; release your grip on the practice
• Kapha - chant at sunrise to invite warmth and momentum into the day

And take the closing teaching to heart: let this mantra be offered to you at the right time. The right teachings reveal themselves when you're ready.

SHARE & CONNECT

Website: https://omsomyoga.com

OmSom App (free): search OmSom in the App Store

Instagram: @omsomyoga

If this episode landed, the best way to support the show is to share it with one person who might need it.

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US

✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translation

https://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join

✦ OmSom App (free) - yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online community

Search OmSom in the App Store

✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharma

https://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto

✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026

https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka

✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training

https://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

IN THIS EPISODE

If you had to pick the most important syllable in the entire tradition of yoga (one sound that contains everything) what would it be? In this episode, Aaron and Paige open the June series on mantra and bhakti by exploring Auṃ, the syllable chanted at the beginning and end of every yoga class, painted on every mat, stuck to the back of every car, and yet very rarely understood for what it actually is.

We unpack why Patañjali never calls it Om in the Yoga Sūtra (and what he calls it instead), why the texts describe it as the sound of Īśvara, and why every other mantra in the tradition begins with this sound. We map the three syllables A–U–M to the three states of consciousness, sit with the fourth state  (turīya) that lives in the silence after the M, and then walk through the nine stages of that silence as taught in the Nāda Yoga and Kashmir Śaivite tradition.

What You'll Learn

✦ The meaning of bhakti and why mantra is inseparable from devotion

✦ The difference between a mantra and an affirmation (and why one points to something while the other is the thing itself)

✦ Why Patañjali codifies Om as Praṇava in the Yoga Sūtra and the aesthetic superstition behind the name change

✦ The three syllables of A–U–M and the three states of consciousness they express: jāgrat (waking), svapna (dreaming), suṣupti (deep sleep)

✦ The fourth state, turīya, that arises in the silence after M

✦ The Maṇḍūkya Upaniṣad teaching of the bow, the arrow, the string, and the target, and why the release is the part you can't practice

✦ The nine stages of silence after Om as taught in Nāda Yoga: bindu, ardha candra, nirodhinī, nāda, nādānta, śakti, vyāpinī, samanā, unmanā

✦ How the syllables of A–U–M map to the doṣas - and how to use mantra to work with the mahāguṇas (sattva, rajas, tamas)

✦ The distinction between japa (mantra you repeat) and ajapa (mantra that repeats itself)

✦ Why Om is described as the hum of the universe and how to actually hear it

Textual References

Patañjali's Yoga Sūtra (Samādhi Pāda)

✦ Tasya vācakaḥ praṇavaḥ - "The expression of Īśvara is the syllable Praṇava."

✦ Taj-japas tad-artha-bhāvanam - "Repeat that mantra while contemplating its meaning."

✦ The following sūtra: through this practice, the awareness turns inward and the obstacles to yoga fall away.

Maṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 

✦ All twelve verses of this short Upaniṣad are dedicated to the syllable Auṃ, mapping its sounds to the four states of consciousness. The bow-and-arrow analogy referenced in this episode is drawn from the Upaniṣadic teaching tradition.

Bhagavad Gītā

✦ Kṛṣṇa: "The one who utters the single syllable Om Brahman and remembers me departs from the body and reaches the supreme destination."

Kashmir Śaivism / Nāda Yoga tradition

✦ The nine progressive stages of the silence after Om (some traditions list seven, others twelve).

Ayurveda and the Mind by Dr. David Frawley

✦ Referenced for the application of mantra to the mahāguṇas.

SHARE & CONNECT

Website: https://omsomyoga.com

OmSom App (free): search OmSom in the App Store

Instagram: @omsomyoga

If this episode landed, the best way to support the show is to share it with one person who might need it.

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translationhttps://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join✦ OmSom App (free) - yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online communitySearch OmSom in the App Store✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharmahttps://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Traininghttps://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-otoIN THIS EPISODEWhat if there was a mantra you've been repeating your whole life without knowing it? One you didn't choose, one you didn't learn, one that lives inside every single breath.In this episode, we turn toward Ajapa Mantra, the mantra that doesn't need to be repeated, because it's already happening. So'haṃ on the inhale. Haṃsa on the exhale. The sound of breath itself.We unpack the mythology of the celestial swan, the meaning of I am That, and the practice of viveka, the discernment to take only the milk and let the water glide off.We upack:✦ Why So'haṃ and Haṃsa are called the Ajapa Mantra, the mantra that is not repeated✦ Mantra defined: man (mind) + tra (protecting) - protecting the mind from overthinking✦ The relationship between mantra, breath, and silence✦ Viveka - the yogic capacity for discernment✦ How to use So'haṃ Haṃsa in āsana, prāṇāyāma, and meditation✦ The Ayurvedic practice of "listening to the burp" - discernment applied to eating✦ Why mantra is an experience, not just wordsWHAT YOU'LL LEARN✦ The difference between So'haṃ and Haṃsa - and why one points to the vastness of being, while the other points to the capacity to move through the world untouched by it.✦ Why this mantra is called Ajapa - already present in every breath, not something you create but something you tune into.✦ The mythology of the swan and what it teaches about discernment, nourishment, and what we choose to let glide off.✦ How to apply viveka in daily life from your meditation cushion to your dinner plate.✦ A practical entry point into mantra practice, even if you don't yet understand or feel the depth of it.TEXTUAL REFERENCES✦ The mythology of Haṃsa, the celestial swan, drawn from the broader Purāṇic and Vedic tradition - the swan as the symbol of viveka (discernment) and the vehicle of Brahmā.✦ The Ajapa Mantra tradition, referenced across multiple yogic texts as the natural mantra of the breath (So'haṃ on inhale, Haṃsa on exhale).✦ Companion to last week's episode on Śūnya (the void) - Soham as I am That, the recognition of the vast emptiness explored in the previous conversation.SHARE & CONNECTWebsite: https://omsomyoga.comOmSom App (free): search OmSom in the App StoreInstagram: @omsomyogaIf this episode landed, the best way to support the show is to share it with one person who might need it.We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translationhttps://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join✦ OmSom App (free) - yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online communitySearch OmSom in the App Store✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharmahttps://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Traininghttps://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-otoIN THIS EPISODEWe continue our exploration of the space element (ākāśa) by turning toward its deepest expression, śūnya, the void. This is pure potential. We unpack why the mind fears silence, where śūnya sits on the Sāṃkhya map, and how the Tao Te Ching's opening line ("the Tao that is named is not the eternal Tao") points to the same truth. We also celebrate 100,000 podcast downloads! Thank you for being here!What You'll Learn✦ The difference between quiet (external) and silence (internal) and why one doesn't guarantee the other✦ Why the mind grasps and labels and how that grasping is the very thing that obscures śūnya✦ How śūnya functions as both a philosophical concept and a practical tool for conserving prāṇic energy✦ The Sāṃkhya context: why the higher we move up the map, the less language can hold✦ The journey through the guṇas from Tamas → Rajas → Sattva → back to śūnya — and where Winnie-the-Pooh fits in (yes, really)✦ How antaḥ-mana (inner listening) becomes the medicine that draws the mind toward stillness✦ Three practical entry points: layered sound meditation, Kāya Sthiram, and Yoga Nidrā as the cognition of nothingness✦ How śūnya shows up off the mat as presence, and as the comfort of not needing to fill spaceTEXTUAL REFERENCES✦ Kena Upaniṣad: the story of Brahman appearing before Indra and the gods✦ Tao Te Ching: "The Tao that is named is not the eternal Tao"✦ Sāṃkhya Darśan: the map of consciousness descending into matter; where śūnya sits at the subtler end✦ The Triguṇa: Tamas, Rajas, Sattva, as the progression of mind-states✦ Kāya Sthiram & Yoga Nidrā: classical techniques pointing toward śūnyaSHARE & CONNECTWebsite: https://omsomyoga.comOmSom App (free): search OmSom in the App StoreInstagram: @omsomyogaIf this episode landed, the best way to support the show is to share it with one person who might need it.We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US

✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translation

https://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join

✦ OmSom App (free) - yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online community

Search OmSom in the App Store

✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharma

https://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto

✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026

https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka

✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training

https://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

IN THIS EPISODE

What happens in the space between your inhale and your exhale?

In this episode of the Om Som Yoga + Ayurveda Podcast, Aaron and Paige explore Kumbhaka, the yogic art of breath retention. Drawing from Patanjali's Yoga Sūtra and the Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā, this episode unpacks why the pause in the breath isn't just a gap, but a doorway into stillness, a direct experience of the quieter layers of the mind, and ultimately a path toward samādhi.

Whether you're new to pranayama or already working with breath retention in your practice, this episode will change how you relate to the space between your breaths.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

✦ What Kumbhaka actually means - the Sanskrit root translates to pot or cup, and the ancient story of the potter that reveals why retention is the seal that holds prana in the body

✦ The two types of Kumbhaka - sahita (deliberate retention) and kevala (the spontaneous suspension that arises unbidden in deep meditation)

✦ What Patanjali's Yoga Sūtra says about the fourth pranayama - the one beyond deliberate practice that opens the door to samādhi

✦ The Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā teaching: when prana moves, the mind moves - when prana is still, the mind becomes still

✦ The science of CO2 tolerance - why the urge to breathe is not an emergency, and how building tolerance helps dissolve one of yoga's core obstacles: fear

✦ Why pranayama is about breathing less, not more - and how stillness in the breath creates the conditions for stillness in the mind

✦ Kumbhaka and the three doshas - how vāta, pitta, and kapha types should each approach breath retention for safe, nourishing practice

TEXTUAL REFERENCES

✦ Patanjali's Yoga Sūtra: pranayama as external, internal, and restrained movement - and the fourth kumbhaka, kevala, as the spontaneous pathway to samādhi

✦ Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā: "When prana moves, the mind moves. When prana is still, the mind becomes still."

TRY THIS IN YOUR PRACTICE

This week, rather than rushing through the turn between inhale and exhale, simply notice the pause. No counting, no control - just linger in that space for a moment. Feel the stillness that already exists between your breaths. That is Kumbhaka in its most natural form. Start there.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Do you tend to hold your breath in daily life without realising it? Or have you ever experienced that moment in meditation where the breath just suspends on its own? Share in the comments below - we read everything.

SHARE & CONNECT

Thank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast.

Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.

Instagram: @OmSom.yoga

Website: OmSom.yoga

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs.

We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US

✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translation

https://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join

✦ OmSom App (free) — yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online community

Search OmSom in the App Store

✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharma

https://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto

✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026

https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka

✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training

https://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

IN THIS EPISODE

Aaron sits down with Simon Borg-Olivier, a man whose practice predates most of the modern yoga industry, for a conversation about coming home to natural movement and natural breath. Simon shares the unlikely path that led him from underwater swimming in Malta, to a Tibetan lama in his late teens, to weight training and gymnastics injuries, and finally to a stretch class where an Iyengar substitute teacher changed everything. From there, the conversation turns toward the principles he has spent four decades refining: moving where you don't bend easily, leaving alone the places that already are, and treating your practice as a work-in rather than a workout. Expect to have a few of your assumptions about flexibility, core engagement, breath retention, and even what "advanced" practice looks like gently turned upside down.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

✦ Why hypermobility is not flexibility and why bending where you already bend easily is one of the most common (and quietly damaging) habits in modern yoga

✦ The difference between a workout and a "work-in" and why one leaves you depleted while the other leaves you energised

✦ How Sthira Sukham Āsanam ("firm but calm") translates into the actual mechanics of the abdomen, the diaphragm, and the breath

✦ Why most people are unknowingly stuck in fight-or-flight through chronic abdominal tension and what that does to immunity, digestion, and reproduction

✦ The science (and tradition) of Jālandhara Bandha, head down, neck back, and why it matters for pranayama

✦ Why Simon teaches less stretch, less tension, less breathing, less thinking, less eating and what we gain on the other side of less

✦ The simple Five-Region Reset, fingers/shoulders, neck, pelvis, core, face, that you can drop into any practice, any time, anywhere

TEXTUAL & LINEAGE REFERENCES

✦ Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali — Sthira Sukham Āsanam (II.46), and Simon's note on the Siddhis appearing in the third chapter (Vibhūti Pāda) - a reminder that supernatural breathing is not the first step

✦ The 8 Limbs - Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prāṇāyāma - and why most of us are still working at the foundation

✦ B.K.S. Iyengar - Simon's first formal yoga path in the early 1980s

✦ Yoga Synergy - co-founded by Simon and Bianca Machliss, one of Australia's oldest yoga schools

Cross-traditional influences - Tibetan teachings received in his late teens, Japanese Aikido, and Chinese Qigong and martial arts woven into his Five-Dimensional Flow framework

FIND SIMON

Website → https://simonborgolivier.com

Membership (free + paid tiers) → https://healthhappinesslongevity.co

SHARE & CONNECT

Thank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast.

Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.

Instagram: @OmSom.yoga

Website: OmSom.yoga

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US

✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translationhttps://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join

✦ OmSom App (free) — yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online communitySearch OmSom in the App Store

✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharmahttps://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto

✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka

✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Traininghttps://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

IN THIS EPISODE

What does it really mean to live from the heart?

In this episode of the Om Som Yoga + Ayurveda Podcast, Aaron and Paige dive deep into Hridaya (hṛdayam) the spiritual heart at the centre of all yogic and Vedantic tradition.

Drawing from the Chandogya Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad, and Patanjali's Yoga Sūtras, this episode explores one of the most profound teachings in all of yoga philosophy, the idea that within the tiny cave of the heart lives the infinite self, equally as vast as the entire cosmos.If you've ever wondered what yoga teachers mean by "coming to the heart," or felt confused by the idea of heart-centered living, this episode is for you.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

✦ The three layers of the heart - physical, emotional, and spiritual - and how yoga teaches us to move through all three

✦ The Sanskrit root meaning of hṛdayam: the give, receive, and circulate at the centre of all human experience

✦ The teaching of Daharākāsha from the Chandogya Upanishad, the doorway within the heart that is no larger than your thumb, yet contains the entire universe

✦ Why Anahata (the heart chakra) is not the same as Hridaya and why this distinction matters in your practice

✦ What Patanjali says happens when you meditate on the heart: knowledge of the mind (and why that's the ultimate siddhi for modern life)

✦ The Āyurvedic view of the heart: hṛd basti treatment, ojas, the 8 drops of vital force within the heart, and abhyanga over the heart marma

✦ How to stop seeking ease outside yourself, and begin to inhabit the cave of the heart as your true home

TEXTUAL REFERENCES

✦ Chandogya Upanishad: Dahara Vidyā (the knowledge of the inner space)

✦ Katha Upanishad: "Smaller than the smallest, greater than the greatest, the Self is hidden in the cave of the heart"

✦ Patanjali's Yoga Sūtra, Chapter III: the samyama of Hridaya and the arising of knowledge of the mind

TRY THIS IN YOUR PRACTICE

This week, instead of meditating in your head, consciously drop your awareness into the heart. Sit in the cave. Let your mantra or breath or visualisation arise from that place, not from the screen of the mind.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

What came up for you in this episode? Have you ever experienced that deep stillness at the heart, even for a moment? Share in the comments below. We read everything.

SHARE & CONNECT

Thank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast.

Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.

Instagram: @OmSom.yoga

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We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM

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ON THIS WEEK'S EPISODE:

We unpack one of the most misunderstood teachings in yoga, "citta vritti nirodhah". Most people hear citta vritti nirodhah and think yoga is asking them to stop thinking. So they try to force the mind quiet. Then the mind gets louder.

This week, Aaron and Lina explore the second Yoga Sutra and what it actually means to settle the mind. This is not an episode about suppression. It's about space. The mind doesn't respond to force. It responds to stillness being allowed, not imposed.

DEFINITION & ETYMOLOGY:

Citta Vritti Nirodhah (चित्त वृत्ति निरोध)

Citta: the total field of the mind, including perception, memory, and cognition

Vritti: fluctuations, waves, or movements of the mind

Nirodhah: cessation, a natural settling

Together: the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.

The key word is natural. Nirodhah does not mean suppression. It points to stillness that arrives when agitation is removed, not forced out.

KEY CONCEPTS & INSIGHTS:

• Thoughts are not the problem. The agitation feeding them is. Sensory overload, stimulation, and constant doing all churn the surface of the mind.

• The mind is like Lake Manasarovar beneath Mount Kailash. When the winds blow, the moon's reflection scatters. You cannot smooth the lake with your hands. You wait for the wind to settle.

• Yoga Sutra 1.4, vritti sarupyam itaratra: at other times, we identify with the movements. When the mind is unsettled, we mistake the thoughts, the story, the role, for our actual self.

• The goal is not just stillness but recognition. When the mind clears, the seer (drastuh) abides in its own nature. We remember we are the one watching, not the one thinking.

TEXTUAL SOURCES:

The first four Yoga Sutras of Patanjali form a single sequence:

• 1.1 Atha yoganushasanam: now, the teaching of yoga. Yoga only happens now.

• 1.2 Yogas citta vritti nirodhah: yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.

• 1.3 Tada drashtuh svarupe vastanam: then the seer abides in its own true nature.

• 1.4 Vritti sarupyam itaratra: at other times, there is identification with the movements.

PRACTICAL INTEGRATION:

• Use the breath as your anchor. It is always internal, always present. Slow it down and let it draw you inward.

• Allow pauses to arise naturally in practice rather than forcing a hard stop. When stillness appears, stay with it.

• If your mind was busy in meditation, ask: who noticed? That noticing is the observer. You are already there.

• Consider what is agitating the mind before trying to calm it. Sometimes the first step is reducing external input, not increasing internal effort.

Reflection: What happens when you stop trying to quiet the mind and simply let it settle on its own?

SHARE & CONNECT

Thank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast. Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@OmSom.yoga⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠OmSom.yoga⁠⁠

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We’d love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey. 

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US:

365 Sadhana Sangha

https://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join

100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharma

https://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto

200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026

https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka

50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training

https://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

ON THIS WEEK'S EPISODE:

Some people breathe deeply but the breath gets stuck. The lungs fill, but there is no distribution. Prana arrives and goes nowhere.

This week, Aaron and Selenna explore Vyana Vayu, the prana of circulation, integration, and adaptability. Not about breathing bigger. About letting the breath spread. This episode covers what vyana is, why it holds all other pranas together, and how its presence or absence shows up in the body, the practice, and daily life.

DEFINITION & ETYMOLOGY:

Vyana Vayu (Sanskrit: व्यान वायु)

Root: vyah, to spread, pervade, or expand outwards in all directions

Vyana moves nourishment from the centre to the periphery

Non-directional, unlike prana vayu (inhale) or apana vayu (exhale). It is the fullness between the parts.

When depleted: cold extremities, pallor, fatigue, disconnection from the limbs.

KEY CONCEPTS & INSIGHTS:

• The Prashna Upanishad story: the five pranas argue over which is most important. Each leaves the body to test its necessity. When prana vayu departs, all the others follow. Vyana is the integrating force that knits them all together.

• Vyana is synergy. A movement in the hand travels through the wrist, elbow, and shoulder. A slow practice flows into quiet Savasana, into calm pranayama, into still meditation. Vyana makes practice holistic rather than fragmented.

• Prana can be received without being distributed. Building energy without vyana is like filling a pipe with no outlet. Stuck prana is useless.

• Vyana is adaptability. Ease moving between conversations, environments, and states. In practice, the capacity to meet yourself where you are.

• Stillness without vyana becomes stagnation. Vyana allows you to enter stillness when needed and move out when the time comes.

TEXTUAL & TRADITIONAL SOURCES:

• Hathayoga Pradipika: vyana vayu governs circulation, peripheral movement, and integration of bodily systems. Imbalance presents as fatigue, poor circulation, or disconnection from the limbs.

• Prashna Upanishad: without vyana, the other pranas cannot act in coordination.

PRACTICAL INTEGRATION:

• Practices that cultivate vyana: lateral bends, backbends, spinal rolls, Surya Namaskar, inhale retentions.

• Vyana Vayu Mudra: touch the thumb to the index and middle fingers at the fingertips, ring and pinky fingers extended. Use when feeling stuck, fragmented, or disconnected. Also supports circulation to the extremities in cold weather.

• In daily life: rigidity in social situations, difficulty transitioning between tasks, or feeling like different parts of life are disconnected are signs of depleted vyana.

Reflection: Where are you receiving nourishment but not letting it move?

SHARE & CONNECT

Thank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast.

Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.

Instagram: @OmSom.yoga

Website: OmSom.yoga

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM