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Explore the Spiritual Heritage of Yoga
How can the timeless wisdom of The Bhagavad Gita expand your yoga practice to be more spiritually fulfilling? Acharya Shunya, lineage holder, spiritual teacher, and author, presents the radical unity teachings of this text as a bridge between the ancient roots and modern practice of yoga.
#yoga #BhagavadGita #KarmaYoga #BhaktiYoga #RajaYoga #JyanaYoga
Acharya Shunya is an award-winning and internationally renowned spiritual teacher and scholar of Advaita (nondual wisdom) and is a classically-trained master of Yoga and Ayurveda. She offers many courses and retreats and she is author of numerous books including Roar Like a Goddess: Every Woman’s Guide To Becoming Unapologetically Powerful, Prosperous and Peaceful, and Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom.
For more information about Acharya Shunya and her books and teaching schedule, visit her website: acharyashunya.com
Social Media: @acharyashunya
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: I so appreciated Acharya Shunya’s teachings on the sacred text, The Bhagavad Gita. Her conversation with Dr. Trujillo enhanced and enriched my understanding of the teachings of the Gita. She spoke about the four classical paths of yoga, Bhakti, Karma, Upasana or Raja, and Jnana. I have always strongly identified with Karma Yoga, the path of selfless service. She shared that the why of karma yoga is that it is an offering to God, the source and substance of all that is. She shared her translation of an important teaching from the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2.47: “You have a right to engage in your chosen actions. But you are not entitled to the outcome of your actions. Never perceive yourself as solely responsible for the results of your endeavors nor become attached to passivity.” Her teaching on the other three yogas were concise and easily understandable to the all levels of students—new to long time devotees. She said “study of the Gita can feel overwhelming. Just start by reading a verse a day and let the cosmic mind of Ishvara speak to you. Have some fun with it.”
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: As always, I found Acharya Shunya’s teachings on the Bhagavad Gita to be very clear and applicable to our life today. I particularly enjoyed her focus on Ishvara as the controller of everything, our intelligence and inner power, which also includes the creation, sustenance, and dissolution of all things including ourselves. Our discussion of the four classical paths of yoga (Karma, Bhakti, Raja or Upasana, and Jnana) was very rich and deep. Acharya Shunya’s discussion of Bhakti yoga, the path of devotion, included the five ways to love God: as a servant, friend, parent, child, and romantic partner. I really enjoyed and was enriched by our discussion.
Live with Greater Ease and Integrity
How can we face the nitty-gritty of life while keeping a clear mind and making wise choices? Join nico and devon hase as they offer humor and insight into surviving and thriving in modern life with ease and integrity. nico and devon hase are co-authors of the book How Not to be a Hot Mess which we are discussing on this podcast,
nico hase lived in a monastery for six years before earning a PhD in counseling psychology and becoming an Insight Meditation teacher full time. He currently mentors mindfulness teachers, teaches online and in-person retreats, and speaks with students in one-on-one sessions. He and his beloved life partner devon are the authors of How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Buddhist Survival Guide for Modern Life.
devon hase began meditation training in 2000. She has practiced intensively in the Insight and Vajrayana traditions and currently teaches at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock, and other centers.
WEBSITE: devonandnicohase.com FB: Devon + Nico Hase IG: @devonandnicohase
#yoga #mindfulness #meditation #generosity #buddhism #spirituallyconsciousliving
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: A wonderful conversation today between Dr. Trujillo and the hase's. nico and devon have made ancient teachings accessible to all of us living in the modern world. I particularly found nico's comments powerful around the "attention economy." Certainly something we all need to be mindful of as there are more distractions than at any other time in history. He said, "it is revolutionary to take your attention back and take it to where you want it to go." Bringing our attention to meditation, mindfulness, generosity and kindness were some of the concepts discussed to help us survive modern life.
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I really enjoyed both the book and our conversation. It was fun to discuss the parallels between Buddhism and yoga philosophy, including the practices of harmlessness or kindness, truthfulness, and especially the importance of having a steady meditation practice. I particularly appreciated devon’s comments on noticing the good, the benefits of practicing generosity, and the gratitude meditation she led. I thought nico gave a great summary of how we can balance the practices of truthfulness and harmlessness when we speak with others.
Deepen Your Yoga Practice
Join us as we dive more deeply into yoga practice with Cindy Lusk, author of Align and Refine. We will explore the foundational principles of Yoga, the importance of meditation, and how to make these practices our own.
Cindy Lusk is the author of Align and Refine: The Journey of Yoga and Meditation. She completed a BA in psychology and went on to earn her doctorate in social psychology. She began studying yoga āsana with Richard Freeman in 1985, and she has studied and taught both Ashtanga and Anusara yogas. An avid student of yoga philosophy, Cindy has taught many courses and yoga teacher trainings. Cindy began studying with Paul Muller-Ortega in 2009 and is an authorized teacher of Neelakantha Meditation.
You can also follow her on FaceBook @ CindyLusk, Instagram @cindylu108. FaceBook Discussion circle for the book AlignAndRefineBook.
YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: I really enjoyed this episode with Cindy Lusk. The interview began and ended with an important theme: if you want to change the world, you have to start with yourself and change your consciousness. I appreciated the discussion about self-study, the examples she shared and how essential meditation is to the process of refining our being so that we can align with the highest purpose.
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I really appreciated the opportunity to dive deeply into classical teachings with Cindy Lusk, exploring the depth and breadth of yoga. Often, people who step onto the yoga path beginning with yoga postures are confused to realize that classical yoga texts are really talking about states of consciousness. For those who are interested, the continuation of study brings rich rewards. We reviewed that many people have an experience of Oneness consciousness through being in nature, or experiencing art or intimacy, and that these grace-filled events can fuel us along our spiritual path. I agreed with Cindy that we cannot have expectations for any one meditation session, but that the beneficial effects of meditation are cumulative and we can see changes in our lives over a period of time.
Delicious Vegan Food Made Easy
Do things seem too hectic to eat healthy vegan food regularly? Veganism has ecological, health, and spiritual benefits. Gena Hamshaw, certified nutritionist and author of The Vegan Week, discusses smart, practical, and delicious vegan meal planning for a simple way to embrace the joy of eating homemade, nutritious food every day.
Gena Hamshaw is a registered dietitian nutritionist, recipe developer, and the author of Food52 Vegan (2017), Power Plates(2018), and The Vegan Week (2022). She shares vegan recipes on her blog, The Full Helping, which she has written since 2009. Gena lives in New York City, where she can frequently be found scouting out the best vegan pomodoro pastas and tomato pies in town.
WEBSITE: TheFullHelping.com Social Media: @thefullhelping
#vegan, #Vegetarian, #plant-based, #ahimsa, #self-compassion
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: I was very inspired by the discussion with Gena Hamshaw on vegan (and vegetarian) life choices. Both Gena and Laurel consider this an expression in their life of ahimsa - being harmless. They talked about how a vegan diet has both health and ecological benefits. Gina shared eating choices (including protein options) as well as simple meal planning and prep ideas. I loved the concept that Gena shares with her clients which is that meal planning and prep is "an act of kindness to the future self." Upon coming home tired and stressed, the meal is ready - an act of selfcare, of ahimsa for the self. Don't miss this uplifting and energetic podcast.
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I savored our discussion of the many rewards of eating a vegan diet including benefits for our health, the planet, and alignment with our own personal practices of harmlessness. Gena Hamshaw’s expertise on the protein content of vegan foods and your recommendation to get enough protein in a vegan diet were much appreciated. I really enjoyed her down to earth statements that, for her, cooking is not always easy and joyful, but that there are many things we can do to make cooking delicious, nutritious vegan meals easier and more enjoyable.
Living In Divine Love
Do you long for healthy happy relationships? Listen as Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian reveals how “Love Loves Love!” The discussion includes insights for living in divine Love beginning by acknowledging the One in all and lighting up your mind with divine remembrance.
#yoga #kriyayoga #sadhana #meditation #surrender #GodisLove
Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian is an acclaimed teacher, award-winning author, and minister who has served seekers of spiritual enlightenment from all walks of life for over forty years. She has published several books and audio programs about meditation, mindfulness and spiritual living, offering a refreshing and authentic voice that makes timeless wisdom accessible to the modern mind. As a teacher in the tradition of Kriya Yoga, Yogacharya O’Brian serves people from all faith backgrounds who are seeking what is known as Self- or God-realization or awakening. She is the spiritual director of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, a meditation center in San Jose, California as well as the founder and spiritual advisor of this podcast.
WEBSITE: EllenGraceOBrian.com CSECenter.org KriyaYogaStudies.com
FB: Ellen Grace O’Brian IG: ellengraceobrian YouTube: Yogacharya Ellen Grace OBrian
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: This episode with Yogacharya O’Brian is about how to cultivate healthy happy relationships. Don't we all want that? She reveals that Divine Love is the natural core of our being and by knowing God as Love itself we can bring that Love into expression in our everyday interactions. Yogacharya and Laurel discuss how meditation and sadhana help us recognize and respond to old patterns of behavior when they come up in relationships. This is a conversation I will listen to again and again to help me continually contemplate how to notice the experience I am having, how to be with it and then how to be willing to let it go. Don’t miss this episode!
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: Since everyone wants to have happier, healthier relationships that was a great focus for our conversation. Yogacharya O’Brian discussed how seeing God as love itself is helpful for us to find that quality within ourselves and also in those that we love. I enjoyed 13th century mystic Saadi’s poem, particularly the last line: “In love, there is a beginning but no end” which she explained beautifully. Our discussion of how the mind colors our experience of relationship was an important one, along with the realization that we also need to learn to let go in ways that help our relationships.
Optimal Health and Wellness for Women Through Ayurveda
How can we use Ayurveda’s ancient principles to recognize and correct imbalance in our bodies? Kate O’Donnell, author, and Ayurveda practitioner will share some insights on how to balance the body and mind for women of all ages based on her new book: Everyday Ayurveda for Women’s Health.
Kate O’Donnell is the author of four Ayurveda books published in seven languages, as well as an international presenter, certified Ayurveda practitioner, and teacher. She is the founder of the Ayurvedic Living Institute, an online community space for self-transformation. Kate’s newest book is Everyday Ayurveda for Women’s Health
WEBSITE: HealWithKate.org FB: @ ayurvedicliving.institute
IG:@ kateodonnell.ayurveda
#ayurveda #yoga #womenshealth #balance #dosha #rasa
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: Kate O’Donnell makes learning about Ayurveda easy for the beginner and insightful to the experienced practitioner especially as she tackles women's hormones and body seasons. I really like the way she encourages an "empowered experiential view of the body" to help us understand how to find balance in the body not only through food but also through experiences, emotions and substances. It's never too late to start to bring your body into balance and better health. This podcast is a great way to do so.
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: Kate O’Donnell imparts her knowledge of Ayurveda in such an accessible way, as she did in her examples of how all five of the elements that Ayurveda recognizes are present in the human body (ether, air, fire, water, and earth). Our discussion touched on how the Ayurvedic view of balance is so important in women’s health, as well as the recognition that we are each microcosms that are affected by what is happening in the wider world around us. I also appreciated her advice about how not to become overwhelmed by trying to change too many lifestyle practices at the same time.
Awaken Your Healing Energy
Our bodies have an amazing capacity to heal and thrive due to our life force, or prana. Shivani Lucki, internationally known Kriya Yoga meditation teacher and author of Healing with Life Force, shares Paramahansa Yogananda’s teachings for vitality, healing and Self-realization.
Website: HealingLifeForces.com FaceBook: @ShivaniLucki IG: @ShivaniLucki YouTube: @ShivaniLucki
#yoga #prana #selfhealing #yogananda #kriyayoga #meditation
Shivani Lucki dedicated her life to the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda in 1969 when she met Swami Kriyananda, the founder of the Ananda community. Her passion has always been the self-healing techniques of Yogananda, taking on as her unique mission to find and share these mostly out-of-print or never published teachings. She helped to establish two Ananda communities-one in California and one in Assisi, Italy as well as the Yogananda Academy of Europe. She is also the founder of Life Therapy School for Self-Healing. Since 1985 she and her husband have lived at the Ananda Assisi Community in Italy. Shivani is the author of a trilogy of books entitled, Healing with Life Force: Teachings and Techniques of Paramahansa Yogananda. Today we are discussing the first book in the series, which is focused on Prana.
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: I was so inspired by this conversation with Shivani Lucki. Her reverence for Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings and her years of study and teaching bring a depth of knowledge that will inspire many who are looking for spiritual healing. She shared that Yogananda was not as well known for his work in spiritual healing, but it was a great focus of his work. He became known as the founder of spiritual healing in the modern age and produced many articles and teachings about prana (life force). He said all disease is due to two factors: insufficient prana and the balance of prana. He taught how prana can be enhanced and distributed throughout our bodies and minds. With our energy forces in peak performance we can increase our health and wellness and do the work that we are here to do. This first book of her trilogy of books gives us tools and techniques to increase and balance our prana, as taught by Yogananda, some of which Shivani shares with us. I highly recommend this Yoga Hour program.
DR TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: Our conversation focused on prana, or vital force, and how the health of the energy body underlies the health of the physical body. We discussed how breathing exercises, or pranayama, balance the flow of energy in the two main channels of the body, the ida and the pingala as they are called in Sanskrit. I particularly enjoyed our conversation of the link between our willpower and prana, and the review you gave of a few methods to increase our willpower. We can commit to trying one new thing every day, or to doing something creative either daily or at least once a week. Both of these practices build our willpower, and thus keep our “tank” full of prana, or vitality.
Stress Less and Improve Your Heart Health
How can the ancient sciences of Ayurveda and Yoga help us to improve our overall well-being and especially our heart health? Author of the book The Centered Heart: Evidence-Based, Mind-Body Practices to Stress Less and Improve Cardiac Health and yoga teacher Susi Amendola shares how these practical and research-proven tools can improve our heart health and quality of life.
Susi is the author of “The Centered Heart: Evidence-Based Mind Body Practices to Stress Less and Improve Cardiac Health" and is an Internationally Certified Yoga Therapist who brings over 40 years of experience utilizing Yoga and lifestyle practices to help others heal. In 1983 she founded Yoga Now in Omaha, Nebraska where she currently teaches classes and directs the annual 200-Hour Yoga Certification program. Susi has developed yoga-based stress management programs for schools, businesses, and hospitals throughout the country. Presently, Susi is a National Senior Trainer of Stress Management for the prestigious Ornish Lifestyle Medicine program for reversing heart disease. Susi has contributed over 150 articles to the online publication Ornish Living Magazine
WEBSITE: YourCenteredHeart.com FB and IG: @thecenteredheart
#yoga, #kriya yoga, #hearthealth, #hathaYoga, #meditation, #Ayurveda
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: Laurel’s discussion with Susi Amendola about the incredible benefits that people with heart disease attain with the practice of yoga—the physical postures, meditation, a healthy plant-based diet, breath awareness and ethical living— is a very important topic. As she said, most people don't realize the amount of stress we are almost continuously under in this western society. This takes a toll on our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. I really appreciated that she shared how more and more top medical studies show the benefit of these practices for our overall health and wellness whether we have heart disease, or any disease or are interested in prevention of disease. The practices of Yoga have become a standard of care for patients with cardiac disease. In her parting words of inspiration Susi said: "We have a lot more agency in our own healing than we may have imagined. These practices allow us to center in our heart, which connects us to our own inner wisdom, our own inner healer."
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: It was a pleasure to discuss Susi Amendola’s new book The Centered Heart: Evidence-Based, Mind-Body Practices to Stress Less and Improve Cardiac Health with her. It’s important to recognize how much scientific evidence there is that yoga improves cardiac health, including yoga postures (hatha yoga), breathing exercises (pranayama) and meditation. I particularly enjoyed our discussion of how yoga practices increase the resiliency of our nervous system and reduce stress. We also discussed how practicing yoga allows us to more easily listen to our own inner wisdom and put it into practice in our lives.