Finding Harmony Podcast

Alex Medin: Relax Into Life

It is our great pleasure to introduce you to our old friend (and living legend) Certified Ashtanga Yoga Teacher, Alex Medin. Unfortunately this sentence doesn’t do him justice!
He’s an excellent and exceptional student in so many walks of life: a boxer, ballet dancer, a Sanskrit scholar, entrepreneur, and humanitarian to name but a few. In fact, if there is one allegory to describe Alex, it's that after our interview he immediately wanted to do it over so we could do it better the second time around!
Alex Medin is a native of Olso, Norway, and is the byproduct of an unstable and violent home. Discipline, breakdancing, and boxing began to transform his life from one that was recklessly circling around drugs and crime, to one that led him on an unexpectedly beautiful adventure of self discovered. The impact of this unfolding of Self, is a man who is focused on helping youth recovering from their own substance abuse issues and inmates in prison through his charity organization, Back in the Ring.
Alex stressed to us the importance of freewill as it imparts the weight of responsibility to make good choices. “We are spiritual beings trapped in our karmic patterns,” he said, threading in verses from the Yoga Sutra and Bhagavad Gita to contextualize our present-day circumstance effortlessly through this ancient wisdom like a kind of Sanskrit-Sage Savant (though, we’re pretty sure he would insist otherwise.)
“There’s plenty of madmen in the world and the enlightened ones are few. We live in dualism and although we sometimes feel glimpses of the purity of Supreme Consciousness, we are still ruled by our inner psycho-physio patterning, and this is our starting point for yoga.
We interpret life through our various samskaras.”
Taking ownership, being responsible, doing the very best we can is our starting place in life.
Prakriti (material nature) is for our enjoyment, development, and benefit. The patterns are always changing and through exploration it's up to us to figure out what creates lasting happiness. This is why we have to start with the patterns that drive us to work. It’s this urgency in Alex that makes him strive to be his best self.
“The only way to find freedom is through finding harmony within ourselves. Yoga is finding unity within diversity.”
The real grace of yoga happens in the letting go.
When yoga meets the man of Action, all good things flow towards him.
Alex holds his MA Thesis at SOAS University of London on the lineage of Krishnamacharya, which included interviews with T. K. V Desikachar, B. K. S. Iyengar, and K. Pattabhi Jois, as well as their lineage holders, Kausthub Desikachar, Prashant Iyengar, and R. Sharath Jois.
Towards the end of our lovely interview, Alex mentioned the multiple schisms that occurred within the Ashtanga Yoga Community near the end of 2017, and the deep heartbreaking disappointment that he felt when Sharath Jois removed of a whole generation of teachers from the “official” KPJAYI’s Recognized Teacher List.
“Yoga is a release. A cure for a pain we have not yet fully accessed or discovered.”
And, here we have discovered yet another wound…
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ALEX
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Sparky’s 9th Life

It is with great pleasure to introduce you to our dear friend Mark Stephen Pomianowski, known only as Sparky. He is a kind of Bay Area legend, infamous for his sense of humor, and his constant confrontations with wild (and quite literal) death defying situations.
“Sparx” (for short) was Russell’s Ashtanga Yoga student in San Francisco, as well as a great master of Chinese Medicine who helped cure Russell’s sciatica. Later, he became Russell’s teacher in acupuncture.
Sparky plays bass and classical guitar. His teacher is Jack Casady, the bassist for Jefferson Airplane—who in turn was the childhood friend of Jorma Kaukonen (the guitarist for Jefferson Airplane and the composer of their Embryonic Journey) and Sparky’s classical guitar teacher. If you listen to the end of the show you will hear Sparky give an impromptu, unrehearsed rendition of that song that left us breathless and speechless.
Sparky’s first life took shape as a student of the guitar and aspiring musician. Currently, he’s a sailboat captain, but first, many years ago, he somehow became a midshipman engineer (with no training and nearly died in by electrocution on a Sheik’s yacht in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean).
In another life he traveled as a roadie for R.E.M and became their lighting technician along with the Feelies. Also a Greenpeace rep, who Michael Stipe told in no uncertain terms to quit chasing a rock band and get on following his purpose as an acupuncturist. This sent him to China where he trained as a Chinese Medical doctor—and returned to practice acupuncture in the Bay Area, where he met Russell.
Sparky is also a surfer (who nearly died just last week by a great white shark attack), a yogi, and most of all a father of three, who you’ll hear crawling all over him, in the background during this insanely hilarious episode!
THE FINDING HARMONY PODCAST IS HOSTED, EDITED AND PRODUCED BY HARMONY SLATER AND CO-HOSTED BY RUSSELL CASE.
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.
harmonyslater.com
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.

Maria Boox Love Goddess

In Norse mythology, Freyja (from Old Norse meaning "the Lady" is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, and gold. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, is accompanied by the boar Hildisvíni, and possesses a cloak of falcon feathers.
Today we interviewed a woman, who in our opinion, most embodies this Freya sex goddess energy.
Longing for a life of adventure since a small girl this desire took her across the world and after many years, she eventually created a permanent home in Goa, India.
Maria Boox became a Certified Iyengar teacher before seeking out a practice of Ashtanga Yoga with her beloved Guruji, Pattabhi Jois, whom she was a devoted student of for thirteen years. She opened up the first fully dedicated Ashtanga Yoga School in Stockholm, which continues to thrive to this day.
After 2009, she continued to seek out guidance in pranayama and yoga philosophy from Sri. O.P Tiwari (a teacher she also shares with Harmony). All these experiences have added a lot of depth to Maria’s approach to teaching and to her whole practice.
We spoke to Maria about what it means to be a truly wild child growing up in conservative Sweden and how she came to be fully embodied sexually, emotionally, spiritually.
Now, as a grandmother, she in turn, has become a guide for the younger generation and inspiration to many fellow travellers along the path of yoga.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MARIA: WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM - mariabooxyoga.com
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The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
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
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.

Dominic Corigliano: On The Road

For a particular generation of Ashtangi, Dominic Corigliano represents that paternal “cool dad” who knows everything that’s going on in your family and is more than happy to tell you too much about it.
He’s like that cool uncle who’s not condescending and knows about the dope hiding in your room. Dom may smoke it with you, but he’s also going to be real honest about the side effects.
He’s the first guy you call when you need bail money… But he’s also going to reinforce, “You really need to tell your mom, you know?”
Sitting with Dominic, feels very much like you’re part of his family. As a father of five, family has turned out to be a focal point of his life. We touched upon our Ashtanga family foibles, but no one is going anywhere in this large Italian like circle… And look, we’re going to sit together at Christmas anyway, so we might as well forgive and forget and get on with loving each other again.
To that end we spoke about Dom’s childhood that was unfortunately littered with abuse and trauma. His interest in beat poetry and the beat life, and how, like Kerouac, he took to the road. Somehow, in the midst of all this chaos, he ended up as a computer engineer in Encinitas, married with three children before stumbling upon yoga with Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois.
Dom is quite frank about his guru, our teacher— what can be loved about him and what needs to be acknowledged about his failings as a man. This was something Dom knew a lot about as he had to do the same with his own father. He had to learn to forgive in order to continue to be able to love.
“You can’t really understand someone else’s pain, don’t act like you can.” - Dominic Corigliano
Enjoy your time listening to this episode about Dom’s life, which is really another rich story embedded within the living history of the greater Ashtanga Yoga context.
Finding Harmony is about reclaiming balance in a life that has been fractured in some way. For so many of us, Ashtanga Yoga was a vehicle to find balance. Within that structure there were, of course, inevitable frustrations and contradictions along path. To this end, Krishna suggests:
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah
Give up all technique and come to me
I shall deliver you from negative reactions
Do not worry
(Bhagavad Gita chapter 18 verse 66)
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DOMINIC - Facebook I INSTAGRAM
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
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. Make A Donation - http://www.harmonyslater.com/donate
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. Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.

Sista Shree: Gotta Serve Somebody

Sista Shree, born Regina French, in the First Nation State of Sequoyah (what is now referred to as Oklahoma— okla humma) is an embodiment of the benevolent magic Earth-Mother figure that we all need in our lives.
She is a kind of blue-skinned Krishna who vibrates peace and love and makes all beings in her vicinity feel friendship towards her.
For us, we’ve always felt a kinship with her - an immediate friendship was formed - since we first met twenty years ago.
Sista Shree came on the podcast to discuss her new book, an autobiography called SEVA (selfless service) The Memoir of a Modern Day Yogi.
This is her epic tale full of love, trysts, incredible encounters with living Saints, and a clear factual account of the racist institutions that make up American life. All of this is interwoven within the context of the Yoga, each chapter of her life accounted for in one of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.
She says “Yoga allows us to go into the womb of humanity and the earth and relearn the stuff that we actually came here with.”
Speaking about Sri K.Pattabhi Jois she said, “Through his eyes, through his soul, through his smile, he taught us how to awaken the interior self. He was sort of like a guide. He was a guide who gave you wings to fly.”
Sista Shree’s autobiography is dedicated to Nina Simone.
And like her inspiration, this mystic woman is first and foremost a powerful soul singer. She spoke to us of the power of music to heal people, and how it's always been used as a healing and uniting force for the soul. You will feel it.
Like all great Guru’s of Jazz, Soul, Funk, and all the great musicians like Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Sister Pearl, Sly Stone, Bill Withers, and even newer singer songwriter like Sona Jobarteh… what makes them great is their connection to something beyond the self, “There is a devotion, and energy, and this takes you straight to God.”
Learn about the practice of chanting God’s name all day long and getting high on life and high on love in this week's episode with Sista Shree.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SISTA SHREE - sistashree.com
BOOK I WEBSITE I FACEBOOK
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case. 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.
MAKE A DONATION - www.harmonyslater.com
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

Keen On Adam

Sitting with Adam is a bit like sitting with David Beckham — they are both from Essex you understand — and are whirlwinds of energy!
When Adam isn’t practising yoga, he’s talking, recording his Keen On Yoga Podcast, writing his book, and after all that, asks “what else can I do today?”
To which he cheerfully answers, “I know, I’ll cook for them!”
Adam has a wonderful lightness to him. His nature is a living example of a powerful creative energy, he embodies the quality of vata (in Ayurvedic terms) a bundle of moving, swirling ideas, ready to spring to life, and of course this energy is naturally infectious.
He’s really quite punk in his inclination and seems to have a distaste for authoritarianism, which has transformed and shaped his worldview.
You’re going to love listening to his story and how he is continuing to help evolve the conversation around Ashtanga yoga as a living, working, yoga methodology, building upon the experience of the past to shape a new, more thoughtful future.
Adam’s teaching is committed to facilitating the individual’s experience of yoga. Teaching is approached with a lightness of touch and an open mind. Outside the sphere of yoga, Adam is a continuous student of philosophy as well as having worked previously to teach as vegetarian chef.
You can find him teaching on Keen on Yoga, an online platform offering workshop and classes that he started with his wife Theresa.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ADAM and Ashtanga Yoga & Beyond: www.keenonyoga.com
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
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.
www.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

Yoga, Philosophy, and Favelas

In this episode, we speak with an exceptional Brazilian. He’s a Professor of Philosophy and an Ashtanga yoga practitioner. We catch up with Marcos Silva, who is the chief organizing force behind a beautiful initiative to help the forgotten mothers within the Brazilian favelas.
Marcos explains how a majority of the Brazilian population is of African Ancestry predestined to live out their lives within the confines of these slums, with little hope for a way out.
These mothers, Maes de Favelas, are the descendants of the enslaved people brought over to work the sugar plantations that fueled the Triangle Trade of Rum, Sugar, and Human Beings.
Recently, he’s turned his attention towards the hunger crisis arising in Brazil due to the ever increasing Covid pandemic and lack of proactive government response. Last month, he with some others, began a projected called Rede Yoga Contra a Fome. A teaching network offering charity classes to support CUFA — Mães da Favela as he explains, the“Mothers of the Slum.”
The pandemic in Brazil has gotten much worse and most of the population already lives in precarious conditions. These people are now facing extreme poverty and hunger, as the Brazilian government actions are very weak or nonexistent.
Listen to Dr. Silva as he passionately describes how small minded ideologies like Nativism and racism can create excessive chaos and suffering. Just as in Trump’s America, so it is now in Bolsonaro’s Brazil.
Join Harmony on Saturday June 19th at 7am ET in support of Rede Yoga Contra a Fome help fight
Make A Donation & Attend Class
1. Donate any amount the week before the class you wish to attend.
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3. You’ll receive a zoom link for the class.
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The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case. 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 Nick Evans. Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.

All In The Family with Greg Nardi

If you have sensitive ears around please use earphones! The beauty of this episode is that Greg loves to go a little meta!
He enjoys questioning and looking at our Ashtanga yoga practice, culture, shared history, and all the accompanying assumptions from a slightly higher perspective, being self-reflective, rather than continuing to perpetuate unhealthy patterns and unhelpful belief systems.
We’re sure you will enjoy coming along this journey of inner exploration as we share our unique perspectives and the mixed bag of contradictory feelings that arise from being a member of a particular spiritual community— a post-guru community— trying to find its way through.
Those of us who “grew up” in Mysore together, were like members of a family. We all made that same extreme (and somewhat obscure choice at the time) which compelled us to spend months upon months out of every year living in a small suburb of the southernmost city in Karnataka, India.
In each idiosyncratic interview on the Finding Harmony Podcast we learn, as we do here with Greg, what was it for them that made a choice like this seem reasonable.
From Wicca to Yoga you will hear about Greg’s personal journey of self-discovery. We fearlessly dig into the darker, shadow side of the Ashtanga culture, including the allegations of sexual assault that came into the public eye against Sri K. Pattabhi Jois during the Me Too movement in 2017; as well as the perpetual “Fat Shaming” that somehow came to be viewed as normative behaviour within our community. These issues, for many of us, were either experienced firsthand or witnessed, and although we felt somewhat ill at ease with what we saw, heard, or experienced, we also firmly held to the belief that our Teacher(s) held our best interest at heart, were acting in a way to help us evolve spiritually, and any uneasiness we may have felt was simply our own misunderstanding.
Ashtanga Yoga Worldwide will be starting an eight-month 300 Hour Teacher Training on June 1st, 2021.
In addition to the usual philosophy, chanting, anatomy, and alignment principles, this training will have you examining models of presumed “correctness” or “incorrectness,” while deconstructing the assumptions we make around the practice itself, how it’s taught, and it’s methodology.
You’ll be encouraged to reflect on how we might change the implicit power dynamics within the student-teacher relationship, and the importance of holding space to create an atmosphere where students can safely explore the depths of their own consciousness. You’ll learn how to debunk the idea of “injury versus opening,” and what it means to teach people to listen to their body, rather than continuing to perpetuate a disembodied practice.
Registration is now open! FIND OUT MORE
JUNE 6th join Harmony’s Workshop: The Secrets of Yoga: The Marriage of Shiva-Shakti Register Now
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The Goddess Solution

We had a delightful morning interviewing Lisa Marie about her new book: The Goddess Solution: Practical Wisdom for Everyday Life. As it turns out, Lisa Marie is a Goddess, named after the King’s daughter, Miss. Presley. We discovered through our conversation that you are a Goddess too… And that even Russell could use this book (if so inclined).
You’ll want to hear at what point Lisa Marie finally broke down and said “To hell with it, I’m changing my life and burning it all down. Then I’m gonna do some yoga.”
Getting divorced and quitting her job was her initiation into The Path of the Goddess.
For you, like Lisa, that means activating the energy of the Goddess Lilith in your life to have the confidence to pursue a path less travelled, the path of unconvention. When it comes to sex, Lilith is a goddess that likes being on top, and you’ll hear that someone else does too.
Or like a lot of Ashtangis, you might find that the Goddess Morrigán is more your style. The Goddess of difficult emotions can help us pursue physically challenging activities like mountain climbing, Ashtanga Yoga, or even wild sex to work out stress and anxiety.
Ultimately, this book is about self-empowerment and how to imbue our lives with magic and intention. As Lisa Marie says poignantly when you sit down to write, try not to edit. That kind of self-criticism in that moment inhibits creativity and expression. “Write Now, Think Later” she says.
Remember, the Goddess has an inherent sense of worthiness that isn’t looking outside of herself for validation.
We think you will look forward to sitting with Lisa, and be charmed by her effusive Goddess energy.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT LISA MARIE: THE GODDESS SOLUTION I WEBSITE I FACEBOOK COMMUNITY I INSTAGRAM
Sign up for Harmony’s OMSTAR Workshop JUNE 6: The Secrets of Yoga: The Marriage of Shiva-Shakti Register Now harmonyslater.com
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
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!

Laura’s Dharma

Laura Miguel is founder of Casa Leela and AYPOA, and is a teacher of ashtanga vinyasa yoga, one of the few authorized to teach the method in Brazil by the institution KPAYI, in Mysore - India. Ayurvedic therapist graduated from Suddha Dharma, in Uberlândia - MG, and with a specialization in nutrition from the International Ayurveda Institute in Puna - India. She teaches the ashtanga vinyasa yoga method in Porto Alegre and also teaches in workshops throughout Brazil.
We caught up with her in Porto Alegre and asked her about how she came to be an Ashtanga Yoga teacher. Its a wild and incredibly cute story the way she tells it; but, actually, she’s quite serious. She gave up her life, legal career, and car when she decided to move to India to study. Her father disowned her, but then took her back, after she founded an orphanage in Nepal, and put an abuser of young children in prison.
Laura told us about her ongoing passion for developing expertise in Ayurveda and gives our listeners many excellent tips on diet, and practice. Russell is convinced that in 2003 he gave her a nude “Osho-Ayurvedic” massage (although, we’re still not sure there such a thing?!). Laura says “No.”
But wait for it… by the end of show she’s looking to book herself in for a future appointment.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT LAURA WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM - ashtangayogaportoalegre.com.br
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case. 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. Make A Donation - http://www.harmonyslater.com/donate
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HARMONY'S CLASSES, WORKSHOPS & ONLINE COURSES - HarmonySlater.com
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤ Give us a 5★ rating!
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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.” dawn-song.bandcamp.com/album/for-morgan