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.
Show Notes Below:
The Hidden Truths of Yoga: Beyond the Mat and Into the Mind
The popularity of yoga in the West has largely been driven by its focus on physical benefits. Classes promising a toned “yoga-body” equipped with increased strength and flexibility, with a side of nervous system regulation. But if we peel back the layers, we find that the true essence of yoga lies in its ability to transform the mind, and see beyond the illusion of physical form.
Our guest today, Daniel Simpson, is passionate about bridging ancient wisdom with contemporary life.
Transformative Yoga Practices: from Physical Healing to Spiritual Inspiration
Whether through injury, illness, or the death of a loved one… At some point in your life, it's pretty much guaranteed you'll start searching for the answer to the question: WHY?
This was the case for our guest today. After a hip injury cause him to question his habits and behaviours, Ganesh Balachandran found himself sitting in a meditation class, meditating on pain and suffering, which surprisingly, opened up a path of rediscovering his cultural roots!
And everything changed!
The Body Remembers: How Yoga Can Release Stored Trauma
We sat down to speak with Anouk Prop, who's a trauma therapist and yoga teacher. And we're talking about how best we can approach yoga in a way that promotes healing.
For those who've experienced trauma, learning pranayama in a gentle, consistent, and sustainable way can be a profoundly transformative tool, working directly with the nervous system, allowing you to find greater sense of calm and ease within your life.
Prison Cells to Nordic Retreats: An Unconventional Path of Yoga
We associate aggression and harm with boxing. When we think of yoga we associate peace and harmony. So it might seem counterintuitive that boxing shares some profound similarities with the more popular practice of yoga asana.
Alex's extraordinary journey from boxer to Sanskrit scholar, ballet dancer to Certified Ashtanga yoga teacher, to becoming a lifeline for inmates and addicts, and founder of Nøsen Yoga Retreat in Norway, will leave you in awe of yoga's power to heal and transform.
The Evolving Yoga Practice of a Mother: Surrender, Growth, and Transformation
We’re talking about the ever evolving definition of yoga as it relates to motherhood. We going deep into the journey of learning to let go of perfect to find your true practice, both on and off the mat.
As a dedicated yoga practitioner, I always thought my practice would get "better" with time. More advanced postures, smoother transitions, deeper states of meditation. I had this ideal vision of what my yoga journey should look like. But then came motherhood. Today, we’re talking to Bibi about her journey both on and off the mat, especially when it comes to being a mom.
Introducing Pranayama: A Journey to Inner Peace and Well-Being
When I first started yoga I recall several teachers warning me about the “dangers of pranayama.” The term “breathwork” was non-existent in popular culture. There were barely any books published on pranayama (let alone something called breathwork) and there was little research on the power of breathing, or studies on how the breath is intimately connected to the stress response in both our body and mind!
Boy… Things have sure changed!
JC, Our Own Personal Jesus?
John brings a depth of knowledge and insight that illuminates our discussion on modern yoga, the cult of personality, and the essence of being present in the moment.
In the realm of modern yoga, the boundaries between what's considered “traditional” and what's labeled “contemporary” are often blurred, and we're left to navigate (without much guidance) a complex construct of spirituality, personal wellness, and self-discovery.
Reflections and Revelations: Celebrating 200 Episodes of Finding Harmony
Join me and my ever-entertaining husband, Russell, on a delightful and reflective journey through the last 4 years and past 200 episodes of the Finding Harmony Podcast!
In this special episode we're diving into some of the heartfelt and humorous stories that made the last 4 years of gathering together so meaningful!
From Harmony, With Love: A Merry Romp Through 2023's Ups And Downs
Join me and my ever-entertaining husband, Russell, on a delightful and reflective journey through the past year.
In this special Christmas Eve episode of the Finding Harmony Podcast, we're diving into the heartfelt and sometimes humorous stories that made 2023 a year to remember…
A Spiritual Practice For the Holidays
With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas coming up around the corner, I wanted to share some helpful tips for how we can use spiritual practices to help us through the holidays. Practices like yoga and mindfulness not only alleviate stress but also contribute to a stronger immune system and overall better health. Scientific evidence suggests that a calm mind can positively impact our body's cellular function and immune response.
Why Asana Isn’t Enough…
Many of us come to the practice feeling broken and struggle with an underlying sense that we’re just not enough. We seek validation by looking outside ourselves. We seek to do things right, to learn the “correct method” and toe the party line.
But when we truly slow down to feel what’s underneath all our striving and the patterns of perfectionism, we begin to see that it’s the system that’s broken, not us.
Creating a Sustainable Spiritual Wellness Practice
If you've ever felt overwhelmed by a lack of time or physical fatigue, this episode is for you.
We're going to discuss a few practical strategies to help you overcome some of these obstacles and create a sustainable spiritual wellness practice.
Whether you're feeling pressed for time, exhausted, or over-committed, I'm giving you some helpful ways to slow down and create a practice that both nourishes your spirit and gives you energy!
Life and Death with Ty Landrum
It’s with great pleasure we sit down to speak with Ty Landrum to talk about his passion for Philosophy and the interplay of Eros and Thanatos. What creates the desire to thrive?
We examine the existential pointlessness of enduring our own suffering… And how to end it? A question that’s plagued humanity since the dawn of time, birthing the disciplines of Yoga and Buddhism.
Mara Branscombe: Ritual as Remedy
Mara Branscombe is a mother, writer, yogi, artist, teacher, mindfulness leader, ceremonialist and spiritual coach. She is the author of “Ritual As Remedy: Embodied Practices For Soul Care.”
An adventurous spirit, Mara has sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, trekked across the Himalayas, studied yoga in India, planted trees in Canada’s north, lived off the grid in a remote cabin in the woods, worked as a Waldorf (Steiner School) teacher, and then found her passion for dance and choreography.
This is a beautiful conversation and an interview you don’t want to miss!
Katie Silcox: Southern Shakti to Keep You Healthy, Happy & Sexy
Katie told us that ours was the “single most fun podcast she’d ever been on. Bar none!” High praise to be sure. We were SO delighted!
Getting to know Katie Silcox is like unwrapping a beautiful gift that keeps revealing more lovely surprises hidden inside the layers and folds:
The Southern Belle as Mystic who shares openly about her journey and struggles, what brought her to seek out the wisdom traditions of the East and ultimately what’s inspired her to explore the philosophical teachings of the West…
The Long Way Home with Vikram Jeet Singh
Armed with Pasasana as a superpower our guest today, Vikram Jeet Singh joins us to talk about the evolution of the asana practice and our attachment to the physicality of it and how we can begin to embrace a wider scope of practice.
You’ll find we touch upon interesting and somewhat difficult topics of racism, cultural appropriation, fascism, the relationship between yoga in the West vs East, and how our mind, higher intellect, and ego interface to make sense of our experiences in life.
Casey Palmer: a Proto Punk Pioneer in Portland
Casey Palmer is a ‘Gen-Xer,’ a punk - ‘do it yourselfer.’ Fiercely independent and skeptical of hierarchies and monetization of that which is pure and authentic. He embodies our Gen-X slogan from the movie Say Anything, “I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.”
Please sit and listen to a fascinating discussion on a number of different topics like the culture in Mysore, holding multiple frames of consideration for Pattabhi Jois, growing up in Alaska, leading a yoga community as as an anarchist collective, and whether we can really hold onto anything for more than a passing moment in time.
The Empty Mirror
Today we have a delightful conversation for you with one of the few Certified teachers of Ashtanga yoga, Luke Jordan. We learn about his on-going journey, which has taken him all around the world seeking out experts, gurus and teachers in the field of Yoga and spirituality.
We speak about things like the value of learning to surrender, freewill verses determinism, and the relationship between Sankhya and Yoga. Discover whether the nature of the Self is a Full-Emptiness or an Empty-Fullness.
Luke Jordan began a formal study of Eastern mysticism while at University during the 1990s, feeling a sense that there must be something more to life, Luke began experimenting with Psychedelics. During this period, after a relationship break up, Luke had a life-altering experience where the identity he had so carefully crafted as a means of coping with life completely fell apart.
Chasing Dragons with Dr. John Campbell
Even after practicing for decades, and finishing Advanced Series in Mysore with Pattabhi Jois, John found himself isolated, studying and writing his Ph.D thesis in Varanasi. Feeling alone, and confused in an alien environment, John found himself attracted to the darkness… And eventually lost himself in cycle of addiction. We explored together the mind-body connection in relation to substance use and addiction, gurus, the big Self, and how the practice can create a cycle of chasing dragons.
Lost Angels Yoga Club
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.