Shambhavi Sarasvati is the spiritual director of Jaya Kula, a nonprofit community in Portland, Oregon. Her principle training is in the View and practices of Trika Shaivism—also called Kashmir Shaivism—and the Dzogchen tradition of Tibet. 

Shambhavi is known for her humor and for making complex teachings about the nature of the self and reality understandable, practical, and always relevant to our lived experience. Her teachings are grounded in forty years of study, daily practice, and personal retreats.

Shambhavi holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Mills College and a Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University. She is the author of six books about spiritual life and practice.

In this episode, Shambhavi and Jacob discuss:

• how the War in Gaza amounts to a crack in time that has fundamentally reoriented consciousness in this moment
• our relationship with the "other"
• how the nature of reality is a dynamic play of "wisdom-virtue"
• what the Mahabharata has to teach us about the war in Gaza
• how we each can connect to our own unique impulse to be of service in this moment
• the obstacles people encounter that keep them from speaking up, and how to move through those obstacles
• how to embody the "wisdom of the heart"

Shambhavi has created a reading list as a resource for those interested in deepening their understanding around the historical and political circumstances between Isreal and Palestine. You can find that reading list here: https://jayakula.craft.me/palestine-learning

Shambhavi and the Jaya Kula community gather for satsang and kirtan every Sunday at 3:30pm Pacific. Satsang is live in Portland Oregon and live-streamed. Visit jayakula.org for more information.

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Athena Potari is a philosopher, spiritual teacher, and lineage holder of the Hellenic
spiritual tradition. She is the founder of Athenoa – an Academy for Hellenic Wisdom in
Greece, where Hellenism is approached as a living wisdom tradition whose core
consists in the inextricable synthesis of scientific reason, self-inquiry and spirituality.
Her work aims to revive the deeper spiritual and experiential dimensions of Hellenic
Philosophy as a living spiritual lineage, combining discursive rigor, embodied
meditative practices, and ancient spiritual practices with the aim of awakening to the
ever-present mystery of being – our true Self. She received her PhD from the University
of Oxford, specializing in Political Philosophy, and her MA in Political Theory with
Distinction from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She was
Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies at Harvard University, exploring possibilities
for an expanded practice of Philosophy by re-integrating elements and histories of the
feminine. She is recipient of the Academy of Athens Award of Philosophy (2020),
author of “A Call for a Renaissance of the Spirit in the Humanities” published by the
Galileo Commission, and Member of the Galileo Commission Steering Committee.

In this episode, Athena and Jacob discuss:

• How engaging with the Indian yogic traditions can clarify our ability to find wisdom in our own indigenous traditions.
• The unique energetic “field” of Oxford and how it nurtured her academic and philosophical development.
• The basics of the Hellenic worldview, and how it frames a spiritual path that sees the All as both One and Many.
• The inherently political nature of Being.
• The ways in which the modern university does not satisfy the deepest impulses toward eudaemonia – happiness, or fulfillment.
• A view of ethics not as “morality” but as “habits of energy.”
• Philosophy not as an “intellectual” but an “embodied” endeavor. 
• The teachings of various ancient Greek philosophers, including Plato, Heraclitus, Plotinus, and Pythagoras. 
• The holistic synergy between consciousness and matter.
• The nature of Being.

Follow Athena on the Following Channels:

• Facebook: facebook.com/athenapotari ; facebook.com/athenoa
• YouTube: @athenoa
• Instagram:  @athena_potari
• Webpage (finished soon): philathenea.wixsite.com/athenoa-academy

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In today's episode, Embodied Philosophy Founder Jacob Kyle is interviewed by Kelly Blaser for the 2024 Power of Meditation Summit. They discussed the role of the scholar-practitioner, the philosophical significance of "zero," the important synergy of knowledge and experience, "reappropriating God," and the necessary role of spirituality in the lives of queer people. 

Jacob Kyle is a meditation teacher, writer, philosophy educator, and the Founding Director of Embodied Philosophy. He holds an MPhil in Classical Indian Religions from the University of Oxford, an MA in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research in New York City, and an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Jacob is a student of Kashmir Śaivism scholar-practitioner Paul Muller-Ortega and is a devoted practitioner of the Śaiva-Śākta Darśana. 

Kelly Blaser is the founder of DharmaBridge and SomaPsychotherapy, and is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist with an emphasis in Buddhism, Shaiva and Shakta Tantra, and Somatic Psychology. Her background in feminist movements and Latin American Studies and experience living in Central America opened her up to the extent that our inner struggles are reflective of systemic structures that promote domination and disassociation. Her work is to help others experience the infinite compassion beneath the chaos of life and to remind them of their true nature. Her programs and courses focus largely on the power of applying the dharma to one's relationship with oneself and others. She helps people train themselves in meditation, mindfulness practices, and compassionate self-inquiry, so they can gain freedom from conditioned mind and open up to possibility. 

Explore the many upcoming offerings and follow Kelly's work at www.kellyblaser.com.

In this episode, Jacob and Kelly discuss:

• how the history of "zero" as a mathematical disruptive discovery reflects the way our contemplative sādhana both disrupts and inspires different forms of knowledge
• the importance of studying yoga philosophy as a way to empower embodied experience
• how scholarship should take seriously and employ experientially the embodied epistemologies of ancient wisdom traditions
• what it means to let your subjective experience inform your practice without rejecting the knowledge systems of the tradition
• the symbolism of Nataraja (the dancing Shiva) and how it represents the five universe functions of reality
• the dance of revelation and concealment according to the Tantrik tradition
• how organized religions have rejected gay and queer people, and how this necessitates a "re-appropriation" of God in queer-inclusive theologies and philosophies that are simultaneously informed by an understanding of wisdom traditions.

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Leslie Kaminoff is a yoga educator inspired by the tradition of T.K.V. Desikachar. He is an internationally recognized specialist with four decades’ experience in the fields of yoga and breath anatomy. He leads workshops for many of the leading yoga associations, schools and training programs in the world.

Leslie’s book Yoga Anatomy, (co-authored with Amy Matthews), sold out its first print run of 19,000 within one month of its June 2007 release, and has been a top-selling yoga book on Amazon ever since. The book went into 12 printings before the newly-revised third edition of Yoga Anatomy was released on October 31, 2011, now with well over half a million copies in print and translations into 23 languages.

Leslie also helped to organize international yoga conferences while serving as Vice-President of Unity in Yoga, and was part of the ad-hoc committee that established national standards for yoga teacher training. Prior to the formation of The Yoga Alliance, Leslie was a strong voice in the ensuing national debate regarding the application of those certification standards. This dialogue resulted in the creation of e-Sutra, an influential e-mail list and blog that has an active worldwide membership.

Leslie is the founder of The Breathing Project, a New York City based non-profit educational corporation which ran highly respected year-long courses in yoga anatomy from 2003 to 2017.

Leslie Kaminoff founded The Breathing Project in 2001 as a non-profit dedicated to the sharing of educational, community-based programming related to yoga, anatomy and health enrichment. From 2003 until mid-2017 the main vehicle for this mission was the physical studio we ran in New York City. The Breathing Project continues its mission of community service by producing and co-sponsoring workshops, immersions, symposia and publications featuring thought leaders from the fields of yoga, anatomy, somatics and other allied fields.

The courses Leslie taught at The Breathing Project in New York City have been available online to a worldwide audience at yogaanatomy.net since 2011, with thousands of students worldwide participating in this growing online community.

In this episode, Jacob & Leslie discussed:

• three tiers of yoga education: instructor, teacher, educator (and therapist?)
• the yoga teaching landscape post-Covid
• the historical arc of yoga's popularity
• the psychology of the classroom & student/teacher dynamics
• studying the anatomy of the mouth through Sanskrit

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About the Guest

Lucy Crisfield is a speaker at the World Yoga Festival, a plenary speaker at the British Wheel of Yoga Festival, and the founder of ‘Original Wisdom’, through which she shares the inner teachings of mantra and yoga philosophy with sound, meditation, and scholarly precision. Lucy has just finished writing a book with the same title as her signature course, ‘The Sounds of Sanskrit ~ The Language of Yoga’. Taking seven years to write, the book is a direct expression of her own experience in response to the meditative inquiry and realizations that the Sanskrit sounds have brought forth.

Lucy studied the violin and piano at the Royal College of Music from the age of eleven, and after receiving a first class honours degree in mathematics and Music, she left London to travel solo through twenty countries over five years in her quest for a deeper understanding of life. As well as immersing herself in yoga and finding herself at the feet of many revered teachers of the tradition, she also studied Arabic and the recitation of the Quran in Damascus, Yemen, and East London, and Hebrew at SOAS in London.

Many years later, when back in London, Lucy eventually found the master of sound she had been looking for, Peter Harrison, who initiated her into the Advaita Vedanta tradition. Lucy now lives in the South West of England with her partner and two children, where she offers unique classes which share the teachings and sounds of the yoga tradition to illumine the intellect and connect us to the creative wisdom of the Self.

In this episode, we discuss: 

1. How previous teachers have shaped the understanding of Sanskrit 
2. The difference between academic and vibratory approaches to Sanskrit
3. The metaphysics of sound
4. The difference between music and mantra
5. The philosophy of sound in the modern yoga world
6. The potential effects of mispronounced mantras
7. The role of grammar in receiving Sanskrit’s vibrational potency

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About the Guest

Bihani Sarkar is a Calcutta-born, Oxford-educated, scholar of classical Sanskrit literature and pre-modern Indian history and religious traditions. Bihani is a historian of early Indian politics, religions, and literature (poetry and drama) between the 2nd and the 15th centuries CE. She is lecturer in Comparative Non-Western Thought at Lancaster University and formerly a departmental lecturer in Sanskrit at Oriental Institute, University of Oxford. Bihani has researched and taught in universities in the UK and in Europe. Her teaching goal is to enable everyone access to early Indian Sanskrit texts and traditions in the original language, regardless of ability or prior knowledge, and to think about them in critical, modern, and exciting ways.

Bihani’s publications span the history of the Śākta (goddess-centric) traditions, their metaphysics, their relationship to power, their role in the growth of the state and kingship and, most recently, on Śākta epigraphy as well as on histories of classical Indian literary genres, aesthetics, and emotions. Her most recent book is Classical Sanskrit Tragedy: The Concept of Suffering and Pathos in Medieval India.

In this episode, we discuss: 

1. Marginalized voices in the study of Sanskrit.
2. Wild women and goddesses in ancient Sanskrit poetry in mythology.
3. Shaktism as a stand-alone tradition.
4. Shakta as a homegrown feminist tradition inspiring and emancipating Indian women.
5. Does one need to be from a culture to understand a culture?
6. The importance of valuing the place where something comes from.
7. Being an accidental academic.

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About the Guests

Hari-kirtana das is a yoga teacher, spiritual mentor, and author. He's been practicing devotional yoga and various other yogic disciplines for the better part of the last 50 years, has lived in yoga ashrams and intentional spiritual communities, and has a talent for making complex ideas about spiritual philosophy easy to understand. 

Kenneth Rose, Ph.D., is an author, speaker, and professor of philosophy and religion. As a scholar-practitioner, he specializes in comparative religion, comparative mysticism, and spirituality.

Trish Tillman is a history professor and yoga teacher in the Washington, DC area. She holds a Ph.D. in History from the Catholic University of America and teaches at the University of Maryland - Global Campus. Trish has been steadily involved in the study and practice of Bhakti yoga, via her teacher, Hari-kirtana das. 

Stephanie Corigliano is the editor for Tarka at Embodied Philosophy. She works as a lecturer in the Religious Studies department at Cal Poly, Humboldt. Stephanie holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Theology from Boston College University and an MA in Theology from Loyola Marymount University.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. The concept and role of the guru in present-day spheres of yoga and academia.
2. The overlaps and differences between guru and teacher.
3. What the yogic tradition has to say about the qualifications of a guru and misconceptions about the role.
4. The emergence of scholar-practitioners in academic religious studies and its impact.
5. Why the guru role is still relevant. 
6. The debate over female gurus within the Hare Krishnas in the West as a microcosm of the larger debate over female gurus and spiritual authorities.
7. How the guru role may evolve in our unbounded, modern time.

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About the Guest

Tracee Stanley is the author of the bestselling book Radiant Rest: Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation and Awakened Clarity and the founder of Empowered Life Circle, a sacred community and portal of practices, rituals, and Tantric teachings inspired by more than twenty-five years of studentship in SriVidya Tantra and the teachings of the Himalayan Masters. As a post-lineage teacher, Tracee is devoted to sharing the wisdom of yoga nidra, rest, meditation, self-inquiry, nature as a teacher, and ancestor reverence. Tracee is gifted in illuminating the magic and power found in liminal space and weaving devotion and practice into daily life. She lives with her husband and two dogs in northern New Mexico.

Chitheads listeners can use receive 30% off the price of Tracee’s new book The Luminous Self when you order from Shambhala.com and use coupon code LUM30.

Website: https://www.traceestanley.com/luminous-self

Facebook: Tracee Stanley - Empowered Life

Instagram: @tracee_stanley

In this episode, we discuss:

1. Our true nature and what gets in the way of accessing that.
2. The extractive nature of the spiritual marketplace.
3. How saṃskāra shapes a life.
4. The kleśas (obstacles) that stand in the way of realizing our true nature. 
5. Spiritual and professional recommendations for yoga teachers in the wake of the pandemic.
6. Creating your own rituals to honor transitions.
7. Sādhana as a source of creativity, clarity, and wisdom.

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About the Guest

Jill Miller, C-IAYT, ERYT, YA-CEP is a fascia and movement expert that forges links between the worlds of yoga, massage, athletics, and pain management. Her programs, Yoga Tune Up® and The Roll Model® are found at gyms, yoga studios, hospitals, athletic training facilities and corporations worldwide. She is the former anatomy columnist for Yoga Journal and has been featured in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Shape, Women’s Health, O, Today Show, and Oprah Winfrey Network. She is the author of The Roll Model: A Step-by-Step Guide to Erase Pain, Improve Mobility, and Live Better in Your Body, and a contributing author on self-myofascial release in Fascia, Function and Medical Applications. She is the creator of dozens of instructional DVDs, with movement luminaries Tom Myers, Katy Bowman, Kelly Starrett DPT and Jen Fraboni DPT. Her newest book is Body by Breath: The Science and Practice of Physical and Emotional Resilience. She lives in LA with her husband, 2 kids and rescue dog. 

Website: www.tuneupfitness.com

Instagram: @TuneUpFitness, @thejillmiller

In this episode, we discuss:

• Innovation in the yoga classroom.
• Being a disrupter in the yoga space.
• How fascia makes you whole.
• Breath-induced altered states.
• Breath as a tool to reduce stress and promote relaxation.
• Accessing the parasympathetic dominant state for healing, recovery, and growth.
• An embodied breath approach to yoga therapy.

*UPCOMING MASTERCLASS - September 26, 7:30 pm ET
Voyage to Vagus: How to Arouse Physiological Relaxation w/ Jill Miller

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About the Guest

Sally Kempton was a master of meditation, yoga philosophy, and practical tantric philosophy. Her retreats and workshops were known for creating breakthroughs, born of her ability to help people turn sublime truths into lived, and life-shifting, experience. Sally spent 20 years as a swami in a Vedic order and studied and taught spiritual wisdom for more than 40 years. She is the author of Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga and Meditation for the Love of It, a seminal book on basic meditation practice, and wrote the popular Yoga Journal column, Wisdom. 

Website: sallykempton.com

Instagram: @sallykemptonofficial

In this episode, we discuss:

1. The difference between “presencing reality as feminine” and “presencing as masculine.”
2. The incarnations of Shakti.
3. Deity yoga.
4. A pragmatic approach to spirituality.
5. The essence and spirit of tantra.

Note: This episode was originally published in 2016 and is being republished as a tribute to Sally.

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About the Guest

Ava Taylor, Founder of YAMA Talent, is a tenacious entrepreneur & avid yogi. Committed to running an ethics-based business, her personal mission is to be a Catalyst for Better Living, bringing the tools of wellness to communities of all kinds. Ava has pioneered the development of the booking, management, & consulting business in the yoga space and is a sought-out media contributor known for having her finger on the pulse of this rapidly expanding industry. She’s the creator of The Catalyst: Online Business School for Yogis and author of the forthcoming Yoga Business with Human Kinetics.

Website: https://yamatalent.com/

IG: @yamatalent ,  @avantaylor

In this episode, we discuss:

1. The future of yoga business.
2. The yoga industry climate pre-pandemic and how it’s transforming today. 
3. The link between grief and creativity.
4. Business lessons from COVID.
5. Considerations for yoga teachers from a yoga business perspective. 
6. Reimagining yoga. 
7. Opportunities, innovations, and possibilities for a sustainable future of yoga.

NOTE: This episode was previously recorded as part of the Future of the Yoga Teacher Summit and is being republished for its depth and relevance.

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