Finding Harmony Podcast

Joey Solano: Accountant to the Bollywood Stars

Grab a coffee, brew your tea, crack a coconut, because this is a real “chai-stand” conversation!
In today’s episode you’ll hear story after story about different people and events within our global yoga community, including celebrity encounters, and funny stories about our time in Mysore, both together and separately.
Our guest is not a professional yoga teacher, but is someone known and loved far and wide within our global yoga family.
Joey Solano is an accountant.
He is someone who finds great benefit from his regular practice, but has never had any intention to teach. This makes his perspective on the practice and the community in Mysore particularly unique. Growing up in Cebu, in the Philippines, Joey Solano moved to America to pursue his studies, where he found Ashtanga Yoga in Florida before moving to L.A to practice with Noah and Kimberly.
Joey made his first trip to Mysore in 2004, and he continued to return to India annually to practice with the Jois family, quitting his job each year to embark on another adventure!
He’s practiced with Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois, Sharath Jois, and Saraswathi. He continued returning year after year, not only because he fell in love with the Shala, but he fell in love with India and it’s many paradoxical ways.
Joey told us about his experience with Water-Fasting, the benefits he personally experienced, and the findings of the Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research on how cells recycle and renew their content, a process called “autophagy.”
This was super interesting, so we took the opportunity to ask Joey about body image, and how he felt about being a larger sized person in a world of freakishly thin yogis.
You’re going to love spending time with our old friend Joey Solano!
Join Harmony in Palm Desert next weekend November 18-22. Find Out More - desertyogashala.com
Online Workshop with Harmony: Yoga Beyond Asana - Nov.27 - Register Now! - harmonyslater.com/yogabeyondasana
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations.
Your contributions have allowed us to keep our podcast ad and sponsor free. Creating, editing and producing each episode takes a lot of time. It is a labor of love. And would not be possible without your kind support.
If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support. Make A Donation - harmonyslater.com/donate
Opening and closing music compliments of my dear friend teaching Ashtanga yoga in Eindhoven, Nick Evans, with his band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.”
Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

Susanna Finocchi: Transitions Through Time and Space

Similar to Ganesha the elephant-headed deity in India, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings in ancient Roman mythology. He is usually depicted as having two faces. Susanna Finocchi, (our first Italian guest!) is a woman who knows these transitions well.
Susanna expounds on the weirdness of being a Southerner in the North. You become a kind of “in-between person,” neither here nor there, but like all these mythological figures you are given a special insight to human nature. And Susanna, in her loving and enthusiastic way, gifts us with her wisdom today.
Susanna’s mother was a Herbalist, and her father Dionysus was a connoisseur of wine, so it’s no surprise that she would grow to hold space for transformation and health. She details her childhood for us and her first encounter with Ashtanga Yoga, and her subsequent emigration to Denmark.
Together, with Jens Bache, she co-founded Astanga Yoga Copenhagen and was the main teacher there for almost 18 years, teaching hundreds of students.
In 2006, she hosted the entire Jois family in Copenhagen and in 2009 she had the honor of being the first school to invite her teacher Sharath Jois, as the incumbent Guru, on his debut tour, and has since hosted him 6 times since that year.
She made her first pilgrimages to Mysore in 1995 and 1996 and since 2003 has returned yearly to KPJAYI (now Sharath Yoga Centre) to practice and study.
Susanna studied Sanskrit at the University of Copenhagen and continues to learn together with chanting and Indian Philosophy during her trips to Mysore.
She currently is living in Rome, her place of birth, and travels all over Italy and Europe teaching the Ashtanga Yoga method.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SUSANNA WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM
FIND HARMONY WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM - harmonyslater.com
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support. Make A Donation
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤ Give us a 5★ rating!
Opening and closing music compliments of my dear friend teaching Ashtanga yoga in Eindhoven, Nick Evans, with his band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.” Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

Emma O’Neill on this Samhain

Samhain or All Hollow’s Eve is an ancient festival of the northern Gaelic islands. It’s a celebration meant to honor the beginning of winter when the demarcation between this world the other is thinned. On this day the Aos Si (the Fairies! as they say) travel more easily into our world, and we must disguise ourselves or risk being taken by them!
And so... to celebrate this day and these celestial beings, we present our friend and fellow Canadian, an Irish born lass, Emma O’Neill.
She’s a lady who’s quite touched by the gifts that come from a long lineage of Pagan Irish Women. We explore what it means to have these psychic instincts and how they relate to what we call gut-instinct or a tingling of intuition.
We also explored the transitions we make between this world and that, between Canada and the far east, her late transition from the closet to out, which she hilariously describes in detail, her mother and sisters simply responding… “Why are you eating chicken? You said you were vegetarian. Pass the potatoes, would you.”
Emma O’Neill is a voice actor who in her own words, “was born and placed on stage.”
She’s also a Mala-Magician, a true artist with beads, imbuing them with her Witchy Irish intuition and Sanskrit incantations to enhance the sacred stone properties. This artistic work, in addition to her yoga practice, keeps her connected to the earth through deep listening and awakens healing energy.
The iconic Ashtanga legend, Nancy Gilgoff (another Wonderful Witchy Women) along with someone who turned out to be a kind of natural sister, Vanessa Gilgoff (Nancy’s daughter) were a significant influences for Emma on her spiritual path when she first met them in Goa, India. It was Nancy who told her to go to Mysore to meet Pattabhi Jois. Nancy connected with her on a deep heart level, and for Emma she will always be her “yoga mom.”
In this episode, you will also hear Russell and Emma reconnect on a shared time in Taiwan, where they spent many years working at Space and Pure Yoga in Asia, during a unique period in our history, that was quite unlike yoga at any other place or time before or after. Luxurious. Abundant. Extraordinary.
You can find Emma teaching Ashtanga Yoga Mysore Classes in Toronto, Canada.
Mysore Toronto’s classes run every Saturday at 7am (last Saturday of the month is Led Primary at 7:30am).
ALL CLASSES ARE AVAILABLE ON ZOOM.
For custom Mala design contact Emma directly.
For voice bookings email Emma here.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT EMMA: MALAS BY EMMA IG I MYSORE TORONTO IG I PERSONAL IG I YOUTUBE - www.mysoreto.com I www.malasbyemma.com I emmaoneillvo.com
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and Russell Case. If you enjoyed today's episode, please make a DONATION to help us continue our work: harmonyslater.com

Lu Duong: The Western Wing

It is probably no secret to you all that we (Harmony & Russell) enjoy watching television together (shhh…!).
After finishing over 21 seasons of Hell’s Kitchen, we moved on to prestige dramas like The Handmaid’s Tale and Mrs. America, and our current obsession, Succession… and often you’ll find references to these narratives percolate in conversations with our guests. We’re in the Golden Age of Television, but the real prototype of our time is the “Walk and Talk” by Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing, which is absolutely beloved. For many of our generation it was the show that precipitated an interest in sincere and earnest political activism.
Our guest today, Lu Q. Duong, is both a result of that movement and quite coincidentally an example.
Lu’s father, a French Vietnamese chef, was founder of a restaurant in DC that became the center for Republican Beltway work lunch.
It was not uncommon, for example, to see former GOP VP Dick Cheney eating there on any given day. Lu’s father remains a dynamic example of the immigrant experience: An indefatigable worker and idealist for the American way of life.
Lu is now Principal Director for the Tech and STEM Initiatives unit for The United Negro College Fund and a former communications lead at the very influential education initiative the Aspen Institute. He took his degree in Political Science at Virginia Commonwealth University and applied his expertise in growth and marketing to his interest in Ashtanga Yoga (in his spare time!).
He created Ashtanga: Parampara, an online magazine, which sought to build on and develop the stories told in Guy Donahaye’s book “Guruji” with long form interviews from other teachers within our global Ashtanga yoga community.
We think it’s fair to say, Lu is kind of a big deal (not to mention a incredibly talented, thoughtful, empathetic and all-round fabulous human being).
In today’s episode we asked Lu his professional opinion to the question... “What would you do with the Ashtanga Yoga brand?”
Listen along as he reluctantly explains his opinion from the perspective of a political marketing expert.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT LU - ASHTANGA PARAMPARA I INSTAGRAM - ashtangaparampara.org
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. ❤ Your contributions have allowed us to keep our podcast ad and sponsor free. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support.
Find out more about Harmony - harmonyslater.com
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤ Give us a 5★ rating! We love to read and respond to your comments - So drop us a note in the comments below and give us a shout out on IG!
Opening & Closing Music by Nick Evans - purchase your own copy - Click Here.

Michael Baidoo: The Beginner’s Mind

We can not wait to introduce you to our guest this week: Michael Baidoo. Michael is very unique in that he’s what we might call a “CoVid phenomenon.” He is completely self taught through online resources, social media, and Zoom. And, he is amazing!
It’s a delight for us personally as older, less awestruck, students (Harmony and Russell have been doing Ashtanga Yoga for over 50 years combined!) to encounter such an enthusiast for yoga, and for the Ashtanga Yoga in particular.
For someone like Michael, in fact, the horrific issues entangling the #metoo movement and Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois’s transgressions are in distant past. They, simply are not relevant to his education. What he seeks is a sangha, a community to connect with and lift up!
We loved the levity and profoundly positive approach he brings to the practice that radiates through his Instagram videos. His humor and vivacious personality are infectious, so we brought him on the shown to share his fresh perspective on Ashtanga yoga.
Listen as Michael tells us about his early life growing up as a first generation American, in a fundamentalist Pentecostal, Ghanaian home in New Jersey… And how he used Brazilian Juijitsu and Computer programming to organize his life. Something, he said, (similar to other programmers we’ve had on the show like Lee Seung Eun) is that the system and order of Ashtanga Yoga compliments a programmer’s approach.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MICHAEL
INSTAGRAM I Bay Jitsu Yoga - bayjitsuyoga.com
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support.
Make A Donation - harmonyslater.com
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤ Give us a 5★ rating!
Opening and closing music compliments Nick Evans, band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.” Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.

The Undersea World of Daniela Ceccarelli

Observe this seeming contradiction:
The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.
Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.
- Jacques Cousteau -
Today we are taking a deep dive into the ocean of yoga with Dr. Daniela Ceccarelli as our guide. We’re learning about coral reef ecology, the purpose of counting fish, and what this ultimately has to do with the health of our oceans. While we're down there... we discover the intricate complexities of Ahimsa, and what, if anything, we might do to save our planet.
This interview with Dr. Daniela Ceccarelli reminds us a little of the interview we did with Bethany Mclean where, she spoke about her Ashtanga story, but also gave us an extremely informative picture of the fracking industry.
Dr. Dani is an independent marine ecology consultant with extensive training and experience in tropical marine ecosystems. She is also a long time student of Ashtanga yoga and Level 2 Authorized teacher.
In today’s episode, she gives us an extraordinary window into the state of the sea and her fascinating life. From growing up in Italy, to living abroad as a young girl between Europe and the Middle East, moving to Australia as a young woman, and becoming a mother (while still working on her undergraduate degree)… as well as everything else that unfolds from there.
Krishna mentions to Arjuna on the battlefield, “you have a right to action alone and never at any time to its fruits.” And so, we like Arjuna find ourselves battling with the complexities of how we can act with care and consciousness; but realizing ultimately, that all things pass into nothingness anyway.
It’s such a delight to listen to Dani. She has not only an enormous intellect, but a broad sense of humor, which allows her to contain these kinds of contradictions with joy and ease. She both sincerely cares about the Great Barrier Reef and its impact on humanity; yet, wryly notes our impending extinction.
She is a true sage poised in equanimity.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DANI
INSTAGRAM I WEBSITE
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support!
Make A Donation - harmonyslater.com
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤ Give us a 5★ rating!
We love to read and respond to your comments - So drop us a note in the comments below and give us a shout out on IG!
Opening and closing music by Nick Evans.
Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

That’s How I Got To Moscow... with Anna Guryeva

It is with great pleasure that we introduce you to our friend Anna Guryeva. She graces us a with a marvelous little window into the Russian soul. From the heart of Siberia, she reveals a path to joy.
To see the beauty of the Russian spirit, one must understand the generational hardship of the people, and Anna’s narrative, though particular to her, shares this ancestral trauma. To know the horror of the last century, and the centuries of slavery that came before, and Anna’s own personal enslavement, is to see the miracle of Anna’s ecstasy.
We gently coaxed Anna to talk about serfdom in Russia and her own travails. Though it isn’t easy. Anna is ready to move on, you see. And, the Russian ethos in general, isn’t one to dwell on, or speak about their tragedies.
What does suffering mean to a culture when a third of their population was forcibly married and held in servitude for life? You see, around 23 million Russians were held in slavery until 1863.
People carry that kind of wound throughout the generations. Anna spoke to this and growing up in Siberia, now living in St.Petersburg.
We dug into Russian history through Anna’s eyes and her personal experience with being indoctrinated into a religious cult, where she lived as a domestic slave for three years.
After living in Moscow for a year and seriously exploring the option of becoming a Christian Nun, she moved to St. Petersburg and started on an entirely different spiritual journey exploring esoteric practices within Kabbalah, the teachings of the Russian Mystic Gurdjieff, and finally found her teacher in Tibetan Buddhism, and eventually began practicing Ashtanga yoga.
With all this in her personal history Anna has given us a beautiful book the titled: “Space and Bliss: Yoga and Buddhism for Life in the Modern World.”
The title of her book comes from a Tibetan monk’s conversation with her. He was telling her about the evolution of her spiritual practice and offered her this exotic mind-blowing gem.
“Space and Bliss are Inseparable and Now You Are Going to Die.”
Anna Guryeva is the Founder of the Ashtanga Yoga Shala in St. Petetersburg, Russia and Authorized Ashtanga Yoga Teacher.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ANNA
WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM I ANNA’S IG
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support. www.harmonyslater.com

Geoff Mackenzie: Man of the World

It is such a joy to meet a human being dedicated to evolution, self discovery, and insight. It’s our pleasure to introduce to you the accentless Englishman, now profoundly Canadian, Geoff Mackenzie!
Citizen of the world, swimmer, rugby player, and avid skier… Mysore teacher and Yogic Health Coach. He tells us how his practice has evolved over these past few year, becoming less strict. He’s created a more adaptive approach, more personal, and not dependent on needing to “show your practice off” in Mysore, India. You’ll hear us talk about how to maintain your practice as you age.
What was particularly touching was listening to Geoff speak about his blossoming awareness to the unique issues facing men around connecting to their masculinity in a “non-toxic” kind of way.
He touches upon the need for men to relearn how to speak to one other openly and honestly and hold each other accountable. He facilitates such a gathering within the container of an organization called “The Samurai Brotherhood.”
Geoff Mackenzie has been practicing yoga for over 20 years and teaching classes since 2004. His guidance is informed by his extensive study with the Jois family in Mysore, India, combined with occasional input from veteran Western practitioners. Modern approaches to strength, mobility, and breath-work training feature in his own practice too.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT GEOFF - INSTAGRAM I WEBSITE - https://www.firstlightyoga.ca/
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support.
Make A Donation - http://www.harmonyslater.com
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤ Give us a 5★ rating!
We love to read and respond to your comments - So drop us a note in the comments below and give us a shout out on IG!
Opening and closing music Nick Evans, with his band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.”
Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

Living Yoga with Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor

Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor need no introduction.
In this episode, we talk about the dissolution of our minds, bodies, and practices in the face of time. How do we let go of the physicality of the practice?
We were curious after 50 years of yoga, how they’ve maintained their enthusiasm in the face of age.
What we heard was extremely enlightening, and surprisingly heart-opening.
Your whole body and mind are an offering. You are never throwing it away… But rather, allowing it to shine no matter what state it’s in.
Practice itself is an offering. The whole idea of offering is sacrifice. It means you’re giving something of value to others. And when you really do this deeply, it effects your body and mind in a profound way.
To give it all away as an offering to others is the whole purpose of the practice.
These two beautiful souls have an incredible way of grounding their spiritual experiences in the present moment and anchoring them in reality.
We may be seduced by dissolution, but if we follow Arjuna’s example, we will continue to do our dharma, without being motivated by any sense of accomplishment, on our quest for unity — to live in love.
We invite you to spend some time with us, watching nature unfold and reality drip through the cracks, with Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor. Their insights and presence is a true joy to be treasured in the face of impermanence.
“The basic mistake is that we’ve reduced ourselves and we’ve reduced others to just ideas about ourselves and others, and that’s really sad… What we are is way beyond the ideas we have about who we are.” - Richard Freeman
We spoke about Lojong meditation practice (often translated into English as “Mind Training”) from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Mary explains that when religion is working well it allows us to feel our vulnerability.
Trusting in something bigger than oneself is a vital part of becoming more of a whole human being.” - Mary Taylor
We spoke about the difference between “taking refuge” and “surrendering,” what the Bhagavad Gita and the Wizard of Oz have in common, as well as how they’ve keep love alive within their relationship after all these years… and how you can too!
Time is running out, apparently it’s a good thing, because it gives us the motivation to pull ourselves off center stage and find out who we really are, why we’re in this body, and what we can do to help others.
“The practice that’s appropriate for you in any given moment is the one that helps you be authentic. To join together the disparate parts of who you are and show up. And show up, not in order to be the star of the show, but to show up to be a servant. To be there and be of service to others.” - Mary Taylor
If you’d like to keep learning and going deeper into the esoteric teachings inside the Bhagavad Gita, we would invite you to register for Richard and Mary’s upcoming online course: Living Yoga: Embodying the Teachings of the Bhagavad Gita
I'm offering a couple of amazing bonuses when you join the course through me! - harmonyslater.com/richard-freeman-mary-taylor-living-yoga
Registration opens this TUESDAY, September 21st!
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT RICHARD FREEMAN & MARY TAYLOR: INSTAGRAM I YOUTUBE I WEBSITE - richardfreemanyoga.com

Where were you on 9/11, Hanne Sydanmaa?

It is with great pleasure we introduce to you the contagiously ebullient Hanne Sydanmaa from Helsinki, Finland. We asked Hanne to share a bit about the birth of Ashtanga Yoga in Finland, which continues to this day to have the most practitioners per capita over any other country in the world!
We tried, in our way, to get Hanne to open herself to us… So that you could see the Real Hanne, with her zestful and sparkling personality.
Alas, like all Fins, they are hard to coax out from their safe, cold, woodland, hidden away in a forgotten corner of the North. They are quite like the Children of the Forest in that regard who, with great mirth, created that calamity of White Walkers!
So this tendency towards shyness is what we’ve learned about the Fins. And, is something we share with you here in today’s episode.
We learn about Hanne’s prior occupation as a flight attendant, her family, and her youth; how she learned Ashtanga yoga, and how her body collapsed on her in the middle of 3rd series.
After only a few years of practice, Hanne had to go back to square one, and relearn this practice in a completely different way than the rest of us.
This is a very special episode that will help anyone dealing with injury or looking for hope in how to rehabilitate their body and practice.
Now you will find Hanne handstanding all over the world, teaching pilates, and enjoying ballet classes - just for fun!
When the question came up "Where were you on 9/11?" we explored our stories and how that fateful day changed our collective history forever. Not only will September 11th never be forgotten, but it is also Saraswathi’s birthday. Twenty years ago she was celebrating her 60th birthday in New York City when the towers fell, which means this year she turned 80 years old!
Thank you so much to all who follow us and listen to these stories that we share in our living historiography of our Ashtanga Culture. We adore you and hope they continue to enrich your days and lives!
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HANNE - INSTAGRAM I FACEBOOK I WEBSITE - https://hanneyoga.com/
Be sure to register for Harmony's FREE Breathwork Masterclass - http://www.harmonyslater.com/free-breathwork-master-class
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support.
Make A Donation - http://www.harmonyslater.com/
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤ Give us a 5★ rating!
We love to read and respond to your comments - So drop us a note in the comments below and give us a shout out on IG!
Opening & Closing Music by Nick Evans from the album “for Morgan.” Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.