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:
Electric Man : Stan Woodman
What makes someone electric?
In today’s episode we’re going to find out.
Stan Woodman joins us in conversation. He has that beautiful esprit de corps that comes from overcoming adversity with a team in fellowship, even in the face of great tragedy there's still Love in the group.
Stan has a confidence in him that he is loved and will always be loved. Not in an arrogant way whatsoever, but as a man who loves all beings and naturally sees Love within them.
Elizabeth Ball: Science & Yoga
Dr. Elizabeth Ball is a unique teacher within our community. She's akin to the Neuroscientist Meditator or the Warrior Poet… A person uniquely situated to watch reality, as the seer residing in herself. She observes with awareness. As water gives life to the ten thousand things; yet does not strive to do so. She simply does. And so, with her PhD in immunology, Liz is uniquely situated to observe the physiological process of becoming whole as she dips her toe into the water of serenity.
Rebirth, Restart, and the New Year with Guy Donahaye
Guy has a very natural and shy reticence about him. It’s one of his strongest characteristics and is something his students would all immediately ascribe to him. So we were absolutely thrilled to have him join us and talk so much! He was loving, humble and engaged with our conversation in a sincere way, with the intention of cultivating a deeper understanding around why we do the things we do, what’s the true purpose for practicing yoga, and how this might be approached in different ways.
Magic and the Mysore Yoga Tradition with Andrew Eppler
Merry Christmas! For this year-end special we have a little present for you all. Some Magic!
Andrew Eppler began practicing yoga with his father, Ray Eppler, at age 14. Cliff Barber was their first teacher. Andrew has continued practising and teaching Ashtanga yoga all over the world for the past 35 years. Andrew has given us all an incredible gift. He has made and produced the documentary film: The Mysore Yoga Traditions. This film is a deep dive into the myriad practices and teachers, who are alive, available, and relevant in Mysore today. Andrew also studied magic and enjoys diving into anything that seems to be impossible. He is well known as The Yogi Magician.
Saraswati the Goddess of Learning with Tara Mitra
What does cooking, painting and yoga all have in common?
Listen to this week’s episode of Finding Harmony with Tara Mitra to find out.
Tara is a life long lover of learning, discovering new ideas, people, and places. It seems no accident that her mentor, Guru, and main teacher was named after the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning: Saraswati.
Coming Full Circle with Nea Ferrier
Accessing the deepest, most personal parts of herself, and bringing them into the light is at the heart of Nea’s practice. Like Bhuvaneshwari, the great cosmic mother of the universe, who represents space and who creates space for all things. Nea herself, has become a cosmic womb. She creates space within her own consciousness for beautiful experiences to grow and flourish, and is focused on giving birth to her very own divine nature.
A Trip Towards the Self with Barry Silver
Today we interview Barry Silver, traveling artist, explorer of the mystic and esoteric realms. Barry is astonishingly self aware of his own pursuit of cool, and seeking to be cool in the myriad communities he merged with. Whether it was Disco, Kundalini Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, or the “Burner Community,” he has come back to being himself again and again, finding comfort in acknowledging who he is. Like the Alchemist’s journey, he’s realized that there was nothing to strive for or become, and he oozed cool all along.
From altar building to cathartic scrapbook journaling, Barry Silver has traveled an interesting path to becoming a full-time artist… His work is comic, genius, and generous in a wondrously mysterious way.
IKEA, ABBA and Lisa Lalér
Sweden is famous for IKEA, ABBA, Minecraft… and Spotify!
Today we speak with the lovely Lisa Lalér, who was born and raised in Stockholm in Sweden.
We’re extremely grateful that Lisa opened up to us about her turbulent childhood and the trauma accumulated in her body which manifested as stiffness; so much so, that when she came to the practice of Ashtanga yoga she was praised as the stiffest student Maria Boox had ever seen!
Karyn Grenfell: A Hero's Journey
Karyn Grenfell has a very particular and idiosyncratic way of living her life. She is not dissimilar to a Tibetan nun, simply here and present, offering goodness to all beings. She’s not bored. Or at least she’s come to terms with a certain pace of life. And, she’s inculcating that same quality of patience and peacefulness in her child. Karyn is keeping alive traditions that feel as if they belong in another century, a predigital age, activities that keep her refreshingly grounded and self-aware.
If you’re at all in doubt about the value of an Ashtanga Yoga practice, or if you’re fretting and insecure, be assured that the 20 years of practice in a dark room at 3:00 in the morning DOES HAVE an effect…
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.
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.
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 honour the beginning of winter when the demarcation between this world the other is thinned. 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. Not only is Emma an Ashtanga yoga teacher, but she’s also a voice actor who in her own words, “was born and placed on stage,” as well as a Mala-Magician, a true artist with beads, imbuing them with her Witchy Irish intuition and Sanskrit incantations to enhance the sacred stone properties….
Lu Duong: The Western Wing
Lu Duong is 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!). 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…
Michael Baidoo: The Beginner's Mind
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! 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.
The Undersea World of Daniela Ceccarelli
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… I LOVE this interview… and I know you will too!
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 enslavement, is to see the miracle of Anna’s ecstasy.
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.
Living Yoga with Richard and Mary
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?
What we heard was extremely enlightening, and surprisingly heart-opening.
We also touch upon Lojong Buddhist practice, and the difference between “taking refuge” and “surrendering.” What the Bhagavad Gita and the Wizard of Oz have in common, and how they’ve kept love alive within their relationship after all these years… and how you can too!
Where were you on 9/11, Hanne Sydanmaa?
t 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! 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.
The Odyssey of Kristina Karitinou
If you ever wondered how gods are made, our guest today will tell you they start out as heroes. Our guest today is very much like this. She is larger than life and it makes sense that she married a Golden God like Derek Ireland and bore him two children. They used to make statues of people like them (think Venus de Milo). Kristina Karitinou sits with us today and talks about her epic life story, including her true romance with Derek Ireland, nursing him through cancer, and her subsequent depression upon his death. The pain of this event along with their two small children, shaped the rest of her journey.