In our most recent episode of Talking Yoga, master teacher Kelly Morris describes the impact of shamanistic healing practices on her own life and her role as a yoga instructor.

In our recent episode with Rodney Yee, one of the most thought-provoking subjects he talks about with host Zubin Shroff has to do with his role as a teacher. I’m talking about when Rodney answers Zubin’s question, “What do you learn from your students.”

This is the part of the story, where I’m supposed to tell you about how the clouds parted, the birds sang, and I fell in love with yoga. Truthfully, I hated literally every second of my first class. 

In our most recent episode of Talking Yoga, our host, Colleen Saidman Yee, asks master teacher Ramanand Patel a question from one of our fans: “What is the most precious thing you learned from Mr. Iyengar.

Do you own your past? Not just the mistakes, but everything that you’ve done to bring you to this moment on your life’s journey? Master teacher Seane Corn does, with one exception: she doesn’t consider what she’s done a mistake.

We’re in the midst of a blossoming of interest in yoga around the world, but especially here in the U.S. For some practitioners, yoga will become a framework for their lives and through which they will relate to the world. For others, it will be a fad, a temporary stop in their quest to find something that’s missing in their lives, but ultimately, one which requires more effort and commitment than they are willing to put in.

What is that thing that makes you come alive? In the case of master teacher Kathryn Budig, it was the story of the Greek goddess Artemis that served as a powerhouse for her life. In tomorrow’s episode of Talking Yoga, Kathryn tells host Colleen Saidman Yee about how she grew up loving Artemis – the “Tomboy of the gods” – who defied all the rules, never married, and became an inspiration for generations of empowered women throughout the ages.

The internet is filled with pretty pictures of shapely yogis doing poses in beautiful surroundings. And there is certainly a place for that in the blossoming conversation about yoga happening right now.

But is that all there is to yoga? Of course not. 

Very few of us will ever get to study at the University of Virginia’s Contemplative Sciences Center, founded by master Ashtanga yoga teacher Dr. John Campbell, Ph.D. But in this episode of Talking Yoga, we get the chance to sit in on one of his classes, so to speak. It’s as if the very questions host Beryl Binder Birch asks John were asked by his students, rather than members of the Talking Yoga community.