In today's episode, Dr. Shyam Ranganathan explains the process of translating spiritual texts; how belief systems, both conscious and unconscious, can influence our interpretations; and why logic is better than experience in deciphering ethics. 

Dr. Ranganathan is a trained scholar and researcher of philosophy and is author, editor and translator of numerous peer reviewed, scholarly works. To learn more, visit www.yogaphilosophy.com or follow on Instagram @ yogaphilosophy_com

Also, be sure to check out our newest online offering begins this October -- Living the Path: Using the Tools of Yoga for Navigating Change. We hope you can join us. Visit www.ashtangadispatch.com/online-courses for details. 

The Ashtanga Dispatch Podcast is hosted by Peg Mulqueen and Meghan Powell. Music is by Marc Pilley.

Yoga Podcast Ep. 58 || Dr. Shyam Ranganathan: Yoga Philosophy + the Conundrum of Interpretation

For the next hour, be a fly on the wall as David Keil and I cover the gamut of topics including how we both have changed in the ways we practice and how we look at practice. David calls himself lazy, and me, hippy-dippy. But his laziness is actually efficiency and my more laid back approach these days is simply inviting more ease. In other words, we’re growing and changing. 

Towards the end of our talk, David and I did touch upon a pretty serious subject: yoga and injuries. In fact, David is right now working on some cutting-edge research into the long-term effects of yoga. With over 2400 participants, David hopes this project will help bring about more meaningful inquiry, both statistically and experientially. You can follow this ongoing project - and if still available - participate yourself, by visiting www.yoganatomy.com/survey

Also as a reminder, if you liked this podcast please consider supporting it at www.patreon.com/ashtangadispatch - where, for the price of a cup of coffee, you can help us make the show better and better, while getting access to some cool stuff in the process. We are really committed to keeping this podcast ad-free and also want to ensure it remains sustainable and gets better with time! So if you are inclined, please visit the link above and help support this show.

This episode of the Ashtanga Dispatch Podcast was edited and produced by Chris Lucas and hosted by me, Peg Mulqueen.

The Ashtanga Dispatch Podcast

Ep 20 | David Keil

Synchronicity. It’s not luck that puts us in a place and with people we need … at just the right time. No, there was nothing random finding myself spending really needed time with Certified teacher, John Scott last month at the EcoYoga Centre in Scotland. Just how needed I’d come to find out this week in the aftermath of an incredibly emotional election here in the states. 

In fact, I found myself turning to this discussion again and again for both comfort and guidance. Because in this podcast, John shares the four codes of relationship he learned from Guruji, keys in building meaningful connections in the yoga room - but also in our families, in our neighborhoods, and, yes - right here in our country. 

Scott Johnson of Stillpoint Yoga joins us halfway in and shares a story of great loss his community suffered, and how John stepped in, modeling for Scott and his students, how to move on using this very method of practice we’ve been handed down. The same way Guruji modeled in the days following 9/11.

Truth is, John Scott may have blown my mind in the first podcast, but in this one, he stole my heart. And in this week, his words bring me peace - which we could all use right now. And why we decided to bring you this special episode early.

A tremendous thank you to the EcoYoga Centre in Scotland for making this podcast possible. The EcoYoga Centre is one of the most enchanted places here on earth. Please check them out at ecoyoga.org. 

One final note, if you love this show and would like for it to remain ad-free, please consider showing your support by visiting Patreon.com/ashtanga dispatch and making a monthly contribution of $2 or more. Thank you!

Ashtanga Dispatch Podcast

Ep 21 | John Scott

Ross Rayburn guides you through a short meditation to reconnect with gratitude wherever you are right now.

Gratitude Meditation

A special gift from Harmony Slater and Ashtanga Dispatch: A Loving Kindness Meditation to begin the new year.

Metta Meditation

I remember how I came to hear of Cathy Louise Broda of Purple Yoga in Hawaii. First, a listener from Chicago wrote me an email asking me to interview Cathy. She said she’d just gotten back from one of her retreats and was just really inspired. I didn’t know Cathy but I let the student know I’d certainly try. 

And I would’ve too if Cathy herself didn’t reach out to me before I even had a chance. Apparently she read a blog I wrote on my struggle with menopause and was so moved, she called Christine Hoar to get my information and next thing I know, I have an email from Cathy - just a few weeks after being asked to track her down. 

The universe is funny like that, right? Like just in case I didn’t get the message the first time ….

Talking with Cathy helped. As did talking with other women, like Christine Hoar. And I hope this chats as helpful for many of you too!

Ep 22 | Cathy Louise Broda

As much as I hate to admit it, pain has a lot to teach us. Maybe that's why my next guest, Tim Feldmann, is such a great teacher - because he's certainly had his fair share to deal with.

You see, Tim began practicing yoga after a terrible accident many years ago, left him nearly unable to walk again. Injuries sustained such as those may heal, but they don't always go away and instead, tend to reappear in various forms and struggles. These days, Tim is dealing with his wrist and at the time we talked, was still forced to wear the soft cast he'd been wearing even since the last time I'd seen him, many months before. In any case, Tim will tell you, pain is inevitable. For all of us.

The Ashtanga Dispatch podcast is edited and produced by Chris Lucas and hosted by Peg Mulqueen.

Ep 25 | Tim Feldmann Returns!

Well, the irony for me is, the more I practice and the more I do these interviews, the more questions I end up having! And today’s episode with certified Ashtanga yoga teacher, Mark Darby - or Darby, as he tells me to call him - is no exception. Darby was first introduced to Ashtanga yoga with Pattabhi Jois - Guruji - in Mysore in 1979. You do the math - but lets just say Darby has been practicing and teaching for a very, very long time. Lucky for us, I got the chance to catch up with Darby for practice and this interview his very last week teaching morning Mysore in Montreal. 

If I had any questions prepared for our interview, they all went out the window. So if I sound a little tongue-tied at times, it’s only because I’m not sure I was able to form words around what I had just experienced in the practice room before the interview. He stops me in my very first sun salutation having me straighten my legs and fold over his fist. “Dantian” he tells me. Look for Dantian. But as I fold over Darby’s closed hand below my navel, something else catches my attention. It’s his feet. There are individual letters below each of his 10 toes: S-P-R-E-A-D-T-O-E-S  He will tell me later, he’s thinking of having this tattooed on his two feet. Then I come to the floor and instead of binding in my seated postures to pull myself forward in the folds, Darby has me specifically not bind and push away instead. 

Curious yet? I hope so! Because I think you’re going to really have fun listening to this one. And afterwards, you can an take all your questions and YOU to Costa Rica to spend time with Darby where he and his wife Joanne, will continue to teach. Visit their website, sattvayogashala.com to start planning. 


This episode of the Ashtanga Dispatch podcast was edited and produced by Chris Lucas - and hosted by me, Peg Mulqueen. This show is made possible by each and every one of you listening right now. Ashtanga Dispatch wouldn’t be possible without YOU! And also our good friends who support us through Patreon.com. Thanks to their contributions, we are able to keep this podcast going - ad-free. If you’d like to join them in supporting the show, please visit patreon.com/ashtangadispatch. Enjoy the rest of  your summer and see you again in the fall with Kino MacGregor and Eddie Stern to start us off!

EP 27 | Mark Darby

Kino MacGregor is one of the most celebrated Ashtanga yoga teachers in the world with over a million followers now on Instagram. And though it would be easy to chalk up her fame to a winning mixture of beauty, charm, and physical skill -  you’d then be missing the REAL reason Kino is who she is and where she is. As the author of 4 books, including her most recent, The Yogi Assignment, a co-creater of Om Stars, an online channel for yogis, producer of six videos, and one of a select group of teachers certified to teach Ashtanga by Pattabhi Jois, Kino is like a true force of nature. Smart, driven, and incredibly disciplined, Kino’s success is by no accident.

This isn’t the first time I’ve interviewed Kino, either. So I already know how smart and driven she is. And I’ll admit, she can also be somewhat guarded and perhaps with good reason. But not this time. In fact, in today’s episode of the Ashtanga Dispatch podcast, Kino opens up about her personal obstacles and struggles in both her practice and in her marriage. And in a rare, candid moment - Kino responds to the critics who say videos are no way to learn Ashtanga. 

Stay tuned after our interview for a very special offer from Kino to try out her new Om Stars channel, as well as exciting news from Ashtanga Dispatch. 

This episode of the Ashtanga Dispatch podcast was edited and produced by Chris Lucas - and hosted by me, Peg Mulqueen. Thank you to our good friends who support this podcast over at Patreon. If you’d like to join them, please visit patreon.com/asthangadispatch

EP 28 | Kino Returns!

These next episodes will be devoted to one story … Of how a community moves beyond the authoritarian Guru model, and away from the kind of hierarchical structures and rules of silence that have allowed for its members to be hurt, ostracized, and abused. It’s a story about learning from one another - and leaning on one another. One that shifts the focus from rules and dogma - to people and relationships; where leadership is shared and all voices, heard. Because we are the authors. And this is our story. One that begins today - with Kinship.

All the voices you will hear in today's podcast - Erica Morton Magill, Greg Nardi, Pranidhi Varshney, Spiro Antonopoulos, and Kory Sheffer -  participated in a weekend gathering in the California desert last December as part of a Kinship initiative. It’s a change of course from the historically hierarchical, authoritarian model that has defined the Ashtanga Yoga community.

Again, if you want to be part of Kinship, please sign up at LAyoga.club/kinship

Special thanks to Marc Pilley whose music you’ve been listening to. The song, Be with Me is from his latest album, Acorns,  which you can download at arksong.net

The Ashtanga Dispatch Yoga Podcast is written, edited, produced, and hosted today by me, Peg Mulqueen. The transcript for today's episode can be found on our website along with all links mentioned. Just visit ashtangadispatch.com 

Thanks for listening.

Kinship: A Way Forward

During these challenging times, we are here to support you.  Please visit ashtangadispatch.com to join us for a special program: Equanimity Through the Storm. 

We hope you take these few minutes to enjoy this metta meditation with Meghan Powell as a way to ground in loving-kindness - for yourself and for the world. May you be healthy, safe, happy, and know that you are loved by us.

A Loving-Kindness Meditation

The Ashtanga Dispatch Yoga Podcast explores the 8-limbed path of yoga through conversations and interviews with individuals who inspire and support our practice - on and off a yoga mat. 

Whether you are new to the practice or someone who's been practicing by years, we hope you enjoy these thoughtful and often impassioned dialogues around topics that include the teacher/student relationship, juggling practice and family life, injury and pain, aging, and lots more.

This podcast is a mother/daughter collaboration with episode, produced, edited, and hosted by mum, Peg Mulqueen along with her daughter, Meghan Powell. We are clearly a very small team. If you would like to support our mission, please consider making a donation by visiting www.ashtangadispatch.com/donate. Thanks - and enjoy!

Yoga Podcast Ep. 58 || Dr. Shyam Ranganathan: Yoga Philosophy + the Conundrum of Interpretation

Ashtanga Dispatch

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