Finding Harmony Podcast

What is a spiritual practice? How does it work? How will it improve my life? How will deepening my self-care transform me? What strategies can I use to improve my life, increase my health, and create wellness? How can craft a life that I love? The Finding Harmony Podcast gets to the root of all these questions. Each episode is full of inspiration, humour, honest observations, and actionable steps that you can integrate to enhance your experience of self-love, develop a connection to Spirit, and create a life you truly love.

Listen on:

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Episodes

Life Beyond Power Yoga

Sunday Jan 31, 2021

Sunday Jan 31, 2021

Very often our podcasts are a coming together of old friends, conversations which sometimes unravel into talking about something funny, strange, a little bit weird, or “culty,” just like we would be sitting at a chai-stand in Mysore, India. Sometimes though, we call on a person who looms much larger in our minds, a giant in our industry, whose life experience, we know, has fundamentally altered ours; just by the sheer courage of the choices made in their era.
Beryl Bender Birch is one of those people. Without her, and without her books, Power Yoga and Beyond Power Yoga, how could we possibly “be here now” doing any kind of yoga at all?
Yet, so magically and with great kismet, we find out that Beryl, and others like her, are just like you and I.
That they came before us is an accident of birth only. The richness of their experiences mirror our own.
Beryl told it like it was, and continues to tell it like is, and we were thrilled to have her acerbic sense of humor and enjoyed her salt-of-the-earth presence. Beryl tells us about meeting, traveling, and meditating with her spiritual guide, Munishree Chitrabhanu, a Jain monk. She also speaks candidly about Pattabhi Jois’ indiscretions while teaching in the classroom, as well as how she began her Ashtanga yoga studies with Norman Allen in NYC.
You’ll hear finally, Beryl and Russell recount a time sitting with the Mindful Congressional Rep. Tim Ryan in San Francisco and being publicly harangued for cultural appropriation. With some side bars on the value of mind altering substances, Beryl congratulated Russell on being sterile… ‘a good start,’ she said, ‘on our population and environmental problems.’
This interview is provocative, historical, and sprinkled with a bit of magic.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT BERYL BENDER BIRCH
WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM I FACEBOOK
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
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤
Leave 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 - Simply Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

Yoga and Social Activism

Sunday Jan 24, 2021

Sunday Jan 24, 2021

If there is one thing we have learned this year it’s that no matter how uncomfortable we are, it’s always better to try and engage in conversation whereby we can learn our neighbor’s perspective.
We should, whether it be our Trans or Trumpist family members, attempt to reach deeply into the wound that’s created a particular pattern and find compassion and understanding for hearts, that like our own, experience fear, grief, and pain.
To that end, we’ve asked the ebullient Shanna Small onto our program to answer some very personal questions regarding her perspective on multicultural ethnicity and implicit biases.
This sincere conversation will leave the listener in a precarious position of having to make different choices. And, these choices can impact one’s very sense of self and identity.
Who I am? Where do I fit in? Am I doing enough to subvert white supremacy? How do I take a stand for justice and equality? How do I present myself on social media? Do I eat ice cream or no? Vegan or vaccinated?
Shanna very graciously allowed us a moment to be curious and sincerely engaged in a conversation about MLK Jr. and performative activism, what sits at the heart of ahimsa and social justice; whiteness, ethnicity, gendered language; and her passion for making the practices and teachings of yoga accessible to anyone who wants to learn regardless of age, income, ability, ethnicity, or mobility.
If we look naive, we are. However, we’re deeply grateful to Shanna for her generous spirit and enthusiasm, and for gentle, patient instruction. Shanna has a powerful voice that speaks to our highest truth as human beings.
There was a time when the deeply racist phrase “white man’s burden” was acceptable. Not ever any more.
Today, you might say, the “Black Woman’s Burden” is this: Holding our civilization together.
Shanna Small is a writer and Yoga teacher who speaks to the intersectionality of yoga and social justice. She has practiced Ashtanga Yoga and studied the Yoga Sutras since 2001. She has studied in Ashtanga in Mysore with Sharath Jois and finds joy in making the Ashtanga practice accessible for all.
She is a founding member of Yoga For Recovery Foundation, a non-profit that helps those recovering from addiction, trauma, and systemic oppression.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SHANNA
WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM I YOGA FOR RECOVERY FOUNDATION I
Yoga & Social Justice Immersion with Shanna
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! ❤
Leave us a 5★ rating!

Lost Angels Yoga Club

Sunday Jan 17, 2021

Sunday Jan 17, 2021

In our 43rd episode we sit down with Spiros and Erica. On the surface this is an unlikely pair. What is perversely intriguing however, on speaking with these two, is how uniquely suited they are to each other.
What shines through their every interaction is intelligence and insight. With every topic we brought up whether it was Los Angeles, the criminal justice system, the State of Ohio, the Tarot, or the Trumpist identity, they brought a profound sense of layered self-aware contextual discernment to their own thoughts, which compassionately penetrated to the heart of each complicated issue.
This was truly one of the weirder interviews we’ve ever had the delight to showcase, if only to count the number of times Harmony and Russell were gobsmacked silent by revelations to cultural contexts and deeper meanings uncovered.
We delved deep into Erica’s story and learned that she has been practicing yoga since she was a teenager. The practice has been the thread that has stitched together her adult years. She trained as a social scientist in Medical Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley; and spent over a decade at the intersection of yoga and social justice teaching yoga, mindfulness, meditation, writing and art to incarcerated and at-risk teenage girls in the San Francisco Bay Area where she and Russell worked together on occasion.
Spiros is a little harder to nail down. Not because he is Christian, but rather he is reticent and too humble to speak of himself. He is most fascinated by the nature of consciousness and speak eloquently on this subject, in addition to examining the culture and context of language, thoughts, and pretty much everything.
We did learn that he began studying yoga and consciousness in his teens and initiated a diligent daily practice in 1993 in Taos, NM, under the tutelage of a Western Magickal group focused on yoga, breathwork, meditation, and chanting. During this time he used psychedelics to steer explorations, discovery, and reality.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SPIROS & ERICA
WEBSITE I ALMANAC I INSTAGRAM I FACEBOOK I TWITTER
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.
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤
Leave 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 - Simply Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

The Mayor of Mysore

Sunday Jan 10, 2021

Sunday Jan 10, 2021

Every once in a while on this show we like to pull the blinds down (or the pull the curtain away) and show you what it really sounds like at the Chai Stand gossiping on Gokulum High Street in India.
Tim Feldmann is hilarious (unfortunately for him not quite Jewish) and shares a very similar sense of humor to Russell. The two of them create their own little giggling world together and we are delighted to share this hour exploring Tim’s life with you!
Tim appears to be a Dane. He comes from a nice, boring, Danish town that is unpronounceable to North Americans (believe us, we tried!) and he is a shining an example of how good and wonderful a boy can grow up to be when raised with loving parents.
Tim is full of charm, and unlike most of our guests, had a childhood free of trauma or other secondary causalities. He became a dancer as he loved movement and was an energetic child, who had a fabulous mother that encouraged him in every way. His father, despite being an engineer, was astonished that his son got paid to work as a dancer in Australia, and thus, supported his dream wholeheartedly.
However, after a fall of some 6 stories down a mountainside cliff, Tim found himself finally having to change things up and discovered yoga as an avenue for self healing. You do sometimes have to hit rock bottom, and in Tim’s case, that was quite literal.
Tim found that Ashtanga Yoga was a unique and interesting form and pursued it with hungry passion every since his first introduction. He was set on the yoga path by his first teacher Lino Miele and was Authorized to teach directly by the founder of the Ashtanga Yoga Method, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and his grandson, R. Sharath Jois.
Tim’s humorous, straight forward yet profound teaching style makes him a cherished teacher in the Ashtanga yoga lineage, traveling extensively throughout Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas. He also founded the Miami Life Center with his wife Kino MacGregor, which continues to expand to this day!
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT TIM FELDMANN
WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM I MIAMI LIFE CENTER
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
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤
Leave 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 - Simply Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

When Love Comes To Light

Sunday Jan 03, 2021

Sunday Jan 03, 2021

For the New Year and for the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius that it seems we’ve now fully entered… We have done the impossible for you!
We’ve nailed down the spinning melodic kites that are Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor.
What is truly incredible about these two is their enormous sense of self-awareness to the fishbowl world in which we all live.
They know themselves and they see you, seeing them, and within this awareness Love comes to light.
They become (as one of Richard’s books suggests) “The Mirror of Yoga.” It’s deeply uncomfortable to be human and to know our own weaknesses; yet, they manage to emanate grace and compassion throughout the kaleidoscopic lens of their lives. And in turn it reflects back on ours… Because, sitting next to someone— ‘Upana’ is how we learn. And we are able to raise our own vibration simply by being near these two souls.
Richard Freeman has been a student of yoga since 1968, beginning with one simple sitting posture in the Zen tradition. He spent nine years in Asia studying yoga asana, Sufism, Sanskrit language, and Indian philosophical texts; contextualizing them within the turbulent political times of that period in history. In 1974 Richard began working with B.K.S. Iyengar, with whom he studied precise alignment principles, applying them to his own internally rooted experience of the forms. Drawing from this variety of contemplative traditions, and from Buddhism, in which he cultivates a deep interest, Richard teaches the Ashtanga Vinyasa method of yoga as taught by his principal teacher, the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India
Mary tells us about developing an eating disorder during her time in College, which led her to embrace the culinary arts as a way of mastering the beast that is anorexia, through food itself.
With both Richard and Mary we discus at length our Ashtanga Yoga culture and the pitfalls. We believe that you will find this hour with them as fascinating and engrossing as we did. Somehow time in their presence is never enough.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT RICHARD FREEMAN & MARY TAYLOR
WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM I FACEBOOK
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.
DONATE NOW
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤
Leave 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 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 - Simply Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

David Swenson: Surf and Turf

Sunday Dec 27, 2020

Sunday Dec 27, 2020

David Swenson is someone in the Ashtanga yoga circle who needs no introduction. He began his journey of Yoga in 1969 when he and his brother Doug were arrested for stretching in a small park at the end of their street in Houston, Texas. There were few sources for yoga at that time so they practiced from whatever books they could find.
He tells us about how he met David Williams and Nancy Gilgoff in Encinitas, CA in 1973 following in brother’s spiritual yoga-surf journey. This naturally flowed into making a trip to Mysore, India, in 1977 to study directly with Pattabhi Jois, after subbing classes for David and Nancy in Maui.
We ask David about the behind the scenes of writing his book and making The Practice videos, from which he became recognized as one of the world's foremost practitioners and instructors of Ashtanga yoga.
We ask some questions about his early experiences with the practice, and the reason why he continues to practice yoga each day, even after 50 years!
David has been traveling and teaching workshops around the world for the past 30 years, and he is a genius for making the practice accessible to all levels.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DAVID SWENSON
WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM I FACEBOOK
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.
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤
Leave 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 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 - Simply Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

Becoming Whole

Sunday Dec 20, 2020

Sunday Dec 20, 2020

In the decades that followed the Korean War, over 250,000 Korean children were sent abroad, to be adopted by foreigners, for many reasons, but most prominently was the incredible weight of economic hardship facing these parents, and all of South Korea during those years. It is referred to as the Han Diaspora.
Born in Daegu, South Korea to Korean parents, Hojung was given up for adoption at a very young age. She was adopted and raised by Flemish-Belgian parents in Europe, who, shortly after her adoption, moved to Madison, Wisconsin.
And although she’s traveled extensively all over the world, and speaks several languages fluently, Hojung reveals that she has never truly felt like she belonged to any people, place, country, or nationality.
Her initial introduction to yoga, as you’ll hear, was astonishingly cathartic. At the age of 16, she discovered Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, which led her to explore various Hatha Yoga traditions for the next 10 years, before beginning Mysore-style Ashtanga Yoga in 1999 in New York City, with Guy Donahaye.
Hojung shares with us her incredible story about her personal search for identity and meaning. And her eventual somewhat tragic reunification with her birth parents. You can listen to a full account of her adoption story on a podcast episode recorded back in December 2018, on a podcast called: ADAPTED.
We spoke also of the emotional concept called “Han” in Korean, which refers to a deep nearly indescribable feeling of sorrow, melancholy, or grief that seems to be an essential element of Korean identity. A feeling Hojung felt her whole life, without being able to give it a name, until she began returning to her motherland, and reunited with her birth family between the years 2012-2017. Hojung mentions a Korean film, Seopyeonje, where the story indirectly depicts this Han quality to the viewers.
Hojung’s own story forces us to ask deeply profound questions like: What happens when your spiritual practices are unable to nourish you during a time of crisis? Where do you turn? What do you do?
In this extra long Holiday Special, we are taken through an incredible journey of self-discovery. We catch glimpses into how culture works to construct one’s identity, and how yoga can work to heal deeply unconscious wounds, when we become present to what’s arising.
Hojung’s story is a deeply moving and emotional journey, where we are given the opportunity to come face to face with the reflection of our own self.
Grab a warm cup of chai because this is one episode that will touch your heart and open your mind.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT hojung
BROKEN WHOLE I WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM
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.
Listen to Opening & Closing music on Spotify Here.

Sunday Dec 13, 2020

We sat down with our close friend Loreto Cortés recently. Russell asked her what it was like living in Chile during Pinochet and fascism. (Something that has been on his mind recently). Loreto said of that time in her childhood that: “In that time everything lacked colour. After Pinochet our world became brighter and filled with light.”
We probed Loreto and her experience as an activist, artist, and yogi. We were fascinated by her universe. Loreto is an actor and as such she can reach her emotions easily. She lifts them and throws them up into the sky for us all to see like a kaleidoscopic prayer to the One True Goddess: the River of Time.
We hear about one of her interactions with a manifestation of the Three Fates, who came in the form of a visiting stranger, traveling through Chile, who introduced her to Ashtanga yoga, right in her living room. And in that moment she knew that this is what she would do in her life. Soon after she happened to meet Paramaguru R. Sharath Jois, in Santiago, he handed her a business card (which she still has) and so like this in the dream time, the mountain girl came to Mysore. And, there she felt at home again.
Now 49 years old, Loreto reflects back on her years of practice and the early days when she opened the first fully dedicated Ashtanga Yoga Shala in Santiago, Chile, 20 years ago. We are so delighted to share her radiant life and story with you.
Loreto was the first Chilean authorized by KPJAYI, becoming a benchmark for Ashtanga Yoga in Chile and South America.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT LORETO & ASHTANGA YOGA CHILE
WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM I ASHTANGA YOGA CHILE
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
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤
Leave 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 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 - Simply Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

Moon Yoga

Sunday Dec 06, 2020

Sunday Dec 06, 2020

Today it is our distinct honor and pleasure to introduce Sharon Moon. This is a one of Russell’s most revered friends, colleagues, his mentor, and teacher. Russell met Sharon in 1998 when he was 23 years old (younger than her grandchildren are now).
Sharon was instrumental in pushing Russell towards studying the traditional method of Ashtanga Yoga in a real Mysore Room in NY. She has an enormous heart and has guided him over the years in his decisions. Sharon tells us about studying with David on the second floor of the the first Whole Foods Store in Austin, Texas in 1993!
Sharon shares with us an incredible story of her first harrowing marriage to an abuser, her subsequent unwanted pregnancies, what an illegal abortion was like in the 60’s, and how she made it out alive. Her next husband died in a tragic car crash that she witnessed firsthand. She spent the next chapter of her life getting strong, real strong, and cultivating deep inner healing on every level.
She recounts meeting Swami Satchidananda, her initiation into Paramahansa Yogananda’s Self Realization Fellowship, and attaining a double Black Belt in Taekwondo.
Sharon shares with us some of her experiences during her travels to Mysore, the UK, and Taiwan. But one of the most meaningful years of her life was the one she spent in the Kibera Settlements of Nairobi, Kenya, working for Russell as a yoga teacher, training new indigenous yoga teachers, and teaching 10,000 children a week. Something that Manju Jois, upon visiting her in Nairobi, catalyzed him to award her an Ashtanga Yoga Authorization on the spot.
Sharon is an interesting duality, a Texan, Jewess, street fighter, and a deeply maternal great-grandmother full of a giant well of loving kindness. We think you’ll enjoy this trip.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SHARON ON HER 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.
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.
YES! I WANT TO MAKE A DONATION
Don’t forget to leave a review! ❤ And 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 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 - Simply Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

Rogue Yogi: Escaping Samsara

Sunday Nov 29, 2020

Sunday Nov 29, 2020

We are delighted to share with you a conversation with our fellow podcaster Nathan Thompson: Poet, Journalist, Buddhist Practitioner, and self-taught Ashtangi, as well as the host of the Escaping Samsara Podcast.
Nathan is a peculiar sort of Englishman. In that he is entirely self made. He seems to have created a career for himself by weaving together a colorful tapestry, in the way that Americans used to (or were assumed to have done in the old days). The English, as Russell will tell you, have the distinct notoriety of being quite class bound. Karl Marx himself said there was no nation more bound for revolution than Great Britain, or words to that effect.
And yet, that is exactly what Mr. Thompson has done in remaking himself.
He grew up near London, surprisingly in an Evangelical Christian culture, with many other thousands in his familial community to gather in the happy-clappy spirit. However, coming down from these singularly peak experiences was humiliating in its own way. Russell pointed out that it resembled Peter Gabriel’s annunciation in Solsbury Hill. How do we live in the meantime? How do we just fold laundry after all that?
Subsequently, in his teens Nathan tumbled headfirst down the deep tunnel of drug use and sank into a pattern of addiction. After a decade of darkness, he found his feet again through the practice of Vipassana Meditation in the lineage of S.N Goenka, a tradition that both he and Harmony share a connection with. Nathan again forged his own path creating a career as a traveling Poet, which helped propel him on his ongoing spiritual quest to taste the nectar of pure, eternal, unadulterated bliss: the kind of thing you can fold laundry with.
A friend asked him to teach English and so you will hear how he moved to Cambodia with a nonprofit organization, and found himself living in a Buddhist Monastery. Here wildly, out of this little hut, he flourished as a Journalist and head of the Foreign Press Club of Cambodia.
Likewise, Nathan, taught himself the Ashtanga yoga practice in an idiosyncratic way, watching videos and trying all the postures from a single series all at one time. We touch upon the differences between being self-taught as a practitioner in this tradition verses having a teacher who will give you a pose and guide your practice, and how the desire to accumulate postures can become an addiction in itself.
One of Nathan’s favourite interviews on his podcast is with Ajahn Achalo, an Australian Buddhist monk living in Northern Thailand, who emphasizes the importance of cultivating Metta Meditation, so that you can call upon loving kindness whenever you need to.
FOLLOW Nathan & the Escaping Samsara podcast
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.
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.

Harmony Slater

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