The Yogapedia Podcast

Benjy Wertheimer is an award-winning musician, composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. He is equally accomplished on tabla, congas, percussion, esraj, guitar, and keyboards. Wertheimer has performed and recorded with such artists as Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Jai Uttal, Michael Mandrell, tabla master Zakir Hussain, and renowned bamboo flute master G. S. Sachdev. He has also opened for Carlos Santana, Paul Winter and Narada Michael Walden.Benjy and his wife, Heather Wertheimer, as Shantala, have been leading kirtan across the world since 2001. Shantala mixes their voices and instruments of India and the West to create a memorable and loving experience for their audience. To date, Heather and Benjy have released five albums of sacred chant music.

Listen with us as Wertheimer shares about the power of sacred music and his life-transforming experiences as he studied with some of the most renowned Indian musicians.

Welcome to Episode Ten of The Yogapedia Podcast! In today's episode, we're talking with yoga teacher and co-founder of the School of Embodied Flow, Tara Judelle (http://www.tarajudelle.com/tara-2/?utm_source=yogapedia&utm_medium=podcast-article-link)!

Tara Judelle has spent 27 years of her life experimenting with movement. Starting out in dance, she moved into Tai Chi, movement improvisation, and finally, into yoga. Judelle has been teaching around the world as a certified Ansusara yoga teacher for the past 15 years.

In 2014, Judelle and Dr. Scott Lyons (https://www.yogapedia.com/the-yogapedia-podcast-dr-scott-lyons-clinical-psychologist-osteopath-and-mind-body-medicine-practitioner/2/11764), created the School of Embodied Flow (http://www.tarajudelle.com/embodied-flow-2/?utm_source=yogapedia&utm_medium=podcast-article-link). Embodied Flow is a yoga school and therapy practice, which aims to reconnect the body, spirit and mind using a combination of hatha yoga (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/4977/hatha-yoga), moving meditations (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/10629/moving-meditation), tantric philosophy (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5058/tantra), somatics (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/10443/soma-yoga) and transpersonal psychology.

In this episode, we talk with Judelle about her steps into the yoga world and how it has positively impacted different areas of her life. Judelle also explains how yoga and movement can help our bodies, minds, and souls. Listen as we discuss the 'goal of yoga' and how we can all take one step towards self-realization (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5840/self-realization).

Welcome to Season Two of The Yogapedia Podcast! In this interview, we're talking with Dr. Scott Lyons. Dr. Scott Lyons lives and works in the world of yoga. He is a clinical psychologist, osteopath, mind-body (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/7116/mind-body-connection) medicine practitioner, reiki (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/7655/reiki) master, and yoga teacher, just to list a few of his many credentials.

Dr. Lyons is also the co-creator of Embodied Flow, a yoga school and therapy practice. Embodied Flow aims to reconnect the body, spirit and mind using a combination of hatha yoga (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/4977/hatha-yoga), moving meditations (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/10629/moving-meditation), tantric philosophy (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5058/tantra), somatics (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/10443/soma-yoga) and transpersonal psychology. He is also the developer of Somatic Stress Release, which helps us to naturally relax and restore our biological systems.

Dr. Lyons is a firm believer that we can use holistic methods to expand our capacity to be seen, heard and felt, even on a cellular level.

In this episode, we discuss how the the mind-body connection influences our lives and our sadhana (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/4994/sadhana), and how we can utilize our practice and therapy to help foster a stronger connection. Listen as we discuss how the energy in our bodies effects our mind-body connection and how yoga can help us prepare to face difficult life situations.

In the final episode of season one, Janet Stone tells us how yoga has shaped her life as a woman, mother, artist, environmental advocate and a yoga teacher. Stone shares how her yoga journey has led through deep, personal transformation on many levels. Listen as we discuss how the alchemy of Stone's own yoga journey through bhakti yoga (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5013/bhakti-yoga) and the eight-limbed path (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/7274/the-eight-limbs-of-yoga).

Stone has been a dedicated yoga practitioner since 1996, when she traveled to India, the birthplace of her grandfather. Stone blends the alchemy of her own practice with decades of studentship. She aspires not to teach, but to allow the practice to emanate from her, letting awareness blend with movement and breath. Based in San Francisco, Janet leads immersions, retreats, and workshops.

Janet grew up on a wonderful, slightly crazy hippie farm in Northern California, a childhood spent rescuing orphaned animals of every shape and size, eating a lot of tofu and homemade everything, cleaning rabbit cages, bailing hay, working hard, swimming naked, dancing around freely and feeling naturally connected to the planet, a feeling that continues to inform her life and teaching these days.

In todays episode, we’ll be hearing from Anodea Judith, one of the country's foremost experts on the chakra system and its therapeutic use. She is author of several books on the chakras, yoga, healing, psychology and social change. Her award-wining book Wheels of Life (https://www.amazon.ca/Wheels-Life-Users-Chakra-System/dp/0875423205) has sold over 250,000 copies in the US with translations in 25 languages. She holds Masters and Doctoral degrees in psychology and human health. Anodea travels the world teaching workshops and trainings for therapists, yoga teachers (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5063/yoga-teacher), and leaders, with transformative techniques.

Anodea is a globally recognized teacher, speaker, healer, and writer on the intersection of personal and collective awakening (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/10943/awakening), her passion for the realization of our potential matches her concern for humanity’s impending crises—her fervent wish that we “wake up in time.” Anodea is a therapist with lifelong studies in somatic psychology, mythology, history, sociology, systems theory, and mystic spirituality. She is best known for her groundbreaking work reviving the chakra system of ancient yoga, and its profound correlation to human psychology, cultural evolution, and the downward process of manifestation. Her best-selling books (https://anodeajudith.com/bestselling-author/?utm_source=Yogapedia&utm_medium=Podcast%20Article) have gained worldwide recognition with over a million books in print in 25 languages, and won several awards.

Kia Miller (https://www.kiamiller.com/) is a devoted yogini and yoga teacher. As model and filmmaker, Miller spent a lot of her life travelling around the world. Yoga is what helped keep her centred. She is a certified Ashtanga (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/4979/ashtanga-yoga) and Vinyasa Flow (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5431/flow-yoga) teacher, as well as a Kundalini Yoga (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5024/kundalini-yoga) teacher, and has trained with world-renowned teachers in India, Europe and the US. Miller's teaching style pulls from her vast knowledge and experience of multiple yogic disciplines.

In this episode, we talk with Miller about how yoga influenced her as a young adult. She shares how the yoga guided her, centred her and helped nourish her throughout her careers as a model and a filmmaker. She also talks about her relationship with various types of yoga and how she connects with them all. This conversation explores not only how yoga can influence our physical body, but our mind and spirit as well. Listen as we discuss how yoga is not only a path to explore our inner selves (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5043/inner-self), but also a way to elevate our consciousness (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/4955/consciousness).

Colleen Saidman Yee is one of the most revered and recognizable women in the world of yoga. She has been an international fashion model since 1980 and teacher since 1998. Along with her husband Rodney Yee, Saidman Yee leads teacher trainings at their studio, Yoga Shanti, in New York City. Together they developed the Urban Zen Integrative Yoga Therapist Program (https://uzit.urbanzen.org/), a worldwide initiative with Donna Karan in 2010 that's designed to transform care in hospitals around the world.

In this episode, we talk with Saidman Yee about her intimate journey to yoga. She shares the tumultuous path of uncovering self-worth as a young fashion model amidst the staggering pressure to conform to expectations of the industry and those around her. She explains that through these early challenges of self-criticism and doubt, she tried to outrun her fears until finally she was faced with no choice but surrender.

This is a raw and authentic conversation about discovering your enough-ness, cultivating peace and contentment (https://www.yogapedia.com/2/7036/self/self-love/finding-happiness), and finding the daily practices that draw you back to yourself. Today Saidman Yee shares the power of breath, meditation and movement as a way into vulnerability, acceptance and resilience.

Saidman Yee also shares with us the inspiring vision and profound work of the Urban Zen Projec (https://colleensaidman.squarespace.com/urban-zen)t. Her collaborative initiative trains members of healthcare and yoga communities on treating the patient, not just the disease.

For more information about Colleen Saidman's work you can purchase her book: Yoga For Life: A Journey to Inner Peace and Freedom (https://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Life-Journey-Inner-Freedom/dp/1476776784)