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We love sitting with old friends, only to find out something completely new about them. In this episode, we sit down with Greg Nardi to ask some of those deeper questions around his choices and experiences, like what religion he was raised in, how he felt growing up, what brought him to yoga, and how his identity has evolved over time.

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. Inevitable even.

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.

After a long period of contemplation, Greg reached his personal break-up point with the current power structure embedded within Ashtanga yoga. “The List” of Authorized and Certified teachers seemed less and less important as it clearly had no bearing on one’s ability to actually teach or transmit yoga. Greg felt called to create a legitimate training program for new and aspiring teachers. This kind of program was strictly forbidden, as it decentralized the intrinsic authority of the Institute in Mysore, India.

So, Greg resigned.

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!

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FIND OUT MORE ABOUT GREG

INSTAGRAM I ASHTANGA YOGA WORLDWIDE TEACHER TRAINING I AYW IG

JOIN GREG & HARMONY & SCOTT JOHNSON on CLUBHOUSE Every TUESDAY

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JUNE 6th join Harmony’s Workshop

The Secrets of Yoga: The Marriage of Shiva-Shakti

The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.

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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.” Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Simply Click Here.
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