Stillpoints: A Podcast with Scott Johnson (Scott Johnson)

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	Pub. Date	Title	Duration
	04 Dec 2022	#040: Jon Yuen \| Freedom To Move	01:11:11
In this light hearted, fun and inspiring conversation Scott talks to online trainer, author and entrepreneur Jon Yuen on his life as a movement educator. Jon shares how he sees movement education, how the body can be controlled through time and how we can all find our own unique freedom to move in our bodies. --- We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Yoga community. We teach in-person in London Bridge and live stream online Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes, with weekly yoga clinics and philosophy sessions guided by Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It’s a beautiful way to navigate these times… --- About Jon Yuen Jon currently lives in Norway. He studied and practiced many martial arts in China while living there. He was also a professional dancer for many years and was incapable of settling on one style. Rather, he wanted to delve as deep as he could into each and every genre and culture, in an effort to understand what worked, how it worked and how could it be applied in other practices. Jon is passionate about expanding his own skill set and movement repertoire, and think it’s vital that he personally try out and refine as many approaches as he can in an effort of making it easier for his students. The goal of his work is to offer science-based information that simplifies the way we all can progress towards better movement (without the dogma) and better health (without unwarranted restrictions). --- Find our more about Jon Yuen here: Read Jon's blog on movement and his article, reminders. Find out more about Jon, his work and courses on his website here. Follow Jon on Instagram here. --- Freedom to Move - Jon Yuen Scott and Jon have an open conversation on movement and how ease can be found in the body. Jon talks about how movement has been the foundation of his life, through martial arts and dance, and now how he educates others on principles and patterns that create health, vitality and strength. Jon and Scott also look at the integration of movement culture and yoga, and how we are all just finding what works for us. --- "This conversation with Jon Yuen was so rich. I have followed Jon's works for about 5 years and he teaches and shares movement education in a deeply moving and poetic way. I encourage everyone who has a body to take look at what Jon is offering." *Scott Johnson - December 2022* --- If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with *Mark Robberds, Deepika Mehta* and Joey Miles. [wpv-post-body view_template="cta-membership"]
	19 Aug 2019	#003: Maria Jose Pantoja \| Remembering Precious Times	00:56:59
Scott talks to Maria Jose Pantoja who between 2009 and 2013 was one of the most consistent members and teachers at Stillpoint Yoga London. She turned from one of the most beautiful practitioners into one of our loveliest ever teachers. Maria was loved by everyone who was part of our community. She moved back to her native Mexico in 2013 ------- Remembering Precious Times *When do you get the opportunity to reminisce with someone who was there at a deeply meaningful part of your life.* Scott and Maria have a moving conversation about the early years of Stillpoint Yoga London (between 2009 and 2013) and their relationship as teacher, student and friends. These were beautiful times. A yoga space finding it’s place in it’s early phase, yoga students and teachers being part of that growth together. The conversation brings up lost but incredibly special memories for both of them. Scott and Maria talk about: Maria’s evolution into Ashtanga yoga Her part in the early years at SYL while studying for her PHD. How she became a teacher under the guidance of Scott and the late Ozge Karabiyik. Her memories and deep friendship with Ozge. Her reaction to Ozge’s death in 2012. The impact from her moving away from the UK in 2013. The deep trust she has This is a really lovely podcast. You’re perhaps left with a deep appreciation of the love and respect that Scott and Maria have for each other. Show notes Teachers Mentioned Abby Hoffman Craig Norris John Scott Lucy Crawford Ozge Karabiyik Rachel Barlow Laura Graham-Dullaert
	12 Jan 2020	#011: Joey Miles \| Blending Yoga Traditions	01:11:34
#011: Joey Miles ‘This book is to help you sit like a mountain, so that when you see the big mountains you’ll know what to look for’. Scott talks to Joey Miles, an authorised level 2 and highly inspiring Ashtanga yoga teacher, about how yoga has evolved through his life. Joey came to yoga in 1998 and since that time has become one of the most loved and influential Ashtanga yoga teachers teaching in the UK today. Before yoga, Joey had previously pursued the circus, martial arts and physical theatre. On graduating from Goldsmiths University, he began assisting Hamish Hendry at Ashtanga Yoga London and for 3 years he practised and assisted daily. During this time, he spent 2 or 3 months every year in Mysore practicing with Pattabhi Jois and Sharath. In 2004 he was authorised to teach by Pattabhi Jois and he then taught daily Mysore classes from 2005-2008 at Triyoga in Primrose Hill, London. In 2009 he relocated to Hebden Bridge and set up Ashtanga Yoga Leeds with the intention of supporting people’s daily yoga practice, this has now been running for eleven years. Alongside the more traditional ashtanga path, Joey has studied and practiced Iyengar yoga for fifteen years under Alaric Newcombe. Whilst mixing styles is often frowned upon, he finds the change in approach to be remarkably helpful in his personal practice, for allowing variation, and giving support to a wider variety of students’ needs. Joey’s teaching is rigorous and playful and his intention is to bring clarity and emphasis to sound alignment within the ashtanga system thereby demonstrating unity among different schools of postural yoga. You can find out more about Joey here. _____________ Blending Yoga Traditions - Joey Miles Scott and Joey have known each other for over ten years and have been friends for the past eight. They have a connection that bonds them outside of yoga too. They are both fathers and have a love of dance culture. Scott and Joey spoke in December 2019 where they were both teaching at Purple Valley and have a deeply personal conversation. Joey shares openly and honestly about how his life has evolved through practicing yoga from a young age and shares about his evolution. He talks about how his contemplative practice developed and how his yoga practice, particularly Ashtanga and Iyengar, has evolved through blending both their traditions in a highly insightful and focused way. 'Joey is so articulate. He is ability to share information his so rich and we could have gone on for another hour. Joey's insights on practice are inspiring and the way he talks about blending the practices of Ashtanga and Iyengar is gold. This podcast is essential for those thinking of how to move beyond the strict approach to Ashtanga yoga. Joey's story is of an inspiring inquisitiveness to practice and life.' Scott Johnson - January 2020 If you like this podcast then also listen to *Scott’s conversation with John Scott, who was also one of Joey's early teachers.* Joey talks about: how he first experienced experienced being contemplative through talking, questioning and debating ethical dilemmas as a child. experienced rave culture as transcendental. realised that yoga and meditation was a way to move away from the rave culture to experience transcendence. got involved with the Pegasus Youth Theatre. at 17 started practice yoga every day from a book. how he felt well and connected because of practice. how he travelled to Nepal and was exposed to Hindu and Buddhist culture. how he started to notice how people listened. how he was touched by the mountains. how he discovered circus arts and it became a meditation for him. how he was fortunate to have great teachers before him to study from. how important it was to learn from people who have integrated practice into our culture. how we teach to people in their lives. how practice changes as we practice for longer. how he started Ashtanga yoga how he had faith in his teachers as he progressed through the ashtanga yoga practice. how he started Iyengar yoga. how Iyengar challenged him in whole new way. how he learnt the Ashtanga yoga practice 3 times over. how he learns to read his body. how he has had a sitting practice that has run alongside his yoga practice. seeing yoga and meditation as the same thing. how he sees how yoga plays out in relationships. how he sees yoga playing out in his life. how developing a home practice is one of the most important things working with Iyengar teachers is important to develop their postural yoga practice. how joey sees the contemplative life. Show Notes Bernard Williams Sangharakshita John Blanchard Juggling Pegasus Youth Theatre Sogyal Rinpoche The Beach Ken Robinson Ted Talk Jack Kornfield John Scott Hamish Hendry Zone of proximal development. Alaric Newcombe
	04 Feb 2023	#041: David Swenson on Practicing Yoga Because You Love It	01:39:42
In this deeply inspiring and wide ranging conversation Scott talks to David Swenson, one of the worlds foremost and well loved teachers and practitioners of Ashtanga yoga. --- We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Online Yoga community. For just £20 per month you can support the podcast and every Monday evening, between 7.30pm - 8.30pm UK time, join our live stream yoga philosophy, mindfulness, pranayama and discussion sessions hosted by Scott Johnson. You can also gain access to our growing Stillpoint Online library of helpful yoga and mindfulness content and connect with others on a private messaging group. We look forward to welcoming you to our community. --- About David Swenson David Swenson began his journey of Yoga in 1969 when he and his brother Doug practiced 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. In 1973 David discovered Ashtanga after he met David Williams and Nancy Gilgoff in Encinitas, CA. In 1975 David and Nancy brought K. Pattabhi Jois to the U.S. for the first time and Swenson was fortunate enough to be there. He then initiated studies directly with the master. He made his first trip to Mysore in 1977. David is one of only a handful of Westerners to have learned the full Ashtanga system including all of the asana sequences and pranayama as originally taught by K. Pattabhi Jois. Today David is recognised as one of the world's foremost practitioners and instructors of Ashtanga Yoga. He tirelessly travels year round to teach and offer workshops. His courses are presented in a supportive and compassionate fashion making it accessible to all levels of practitioner to participate. Find our more about David Swenson here: Website Instagram Facebook --- David Swenson on Practicing Yoga Because You Love It Scott and David take a deep dive into David's life as a practitioner and teacher. They cover: what compelled David to start yoga. how his years of Bhakti yoga practice changed him. his views on how we move on from the sexual abuse of K Pattabhi Jois. how we can develop as practitioners by asking more questions. --- "I loved this conversation with David. He is one of the most generous teachers you'll find, with the information he shares and the way he shares it. David Swenson is one of the most loved and respected teachers for a reason. This conversation captures that..." *Scott Johnson - January 2023* --- If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with *Danny Paradise, John Scott* and Prem & Radha Carlisi.
	11 Aug 2021	#029: Lucille Meyer \| Yoga As Service	01:19:51
Scott talks to Lucille Meyer about her powerful work as an activist, yoga teacher and CEO of Chrysalis academy. Chrysalis is one of the largest and most prestigious youth service organisations in South Africa. Lucille has overseen the transformation of thousands of young men and women, using the techniques of yoga and mindfulness and other modalities. ____ We’d like to invite you to join our growing Stillpoint Online Ashtanga Yoga and Mindfulness community. We live stream beginner classes, Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes with evening mindfulness sessions over 6 days with Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It’s a beautiful way to navigate these times… _____ In this inspiring conversation Lucille and Scott talk about Lucille’s introduction to yoga whilst in solitary confinement. Lucille was detained in a South African prison in the early 90’s. In this conversation Lucille’s shares how this early activism shaped her and then how yoga changed her life. Lucille shares about her powerful work as a CEO and educator at Chrysalis Academy and how the young people are really changed through the tools of yoga, mindfulness, service and compassion. You can find out more about Lucille’s and the work of the Chrysalis Academy here. "Lucille Meyer is one of the most inspiring women I’ve met. She has such a powerful conviction to service using yoga and meditation. Her work at Chrysalis Academy, where she has helped to changed the life of thousands of young people, shows a dedication and profound sense os yoga as service. Her voice is powerful and this is one of my favourite conversations on the podcast. Enjoy Lucille’s powerful sharing and insights." Scott Johnson – July 2021
	31 May 2020	#015: Zephyr Wildman \| Yoga and Recovery	01:23:50
Scott talks to his good friend and fellow yoga teacher Zephyr Wildman... Originally from Idaho, Zephyr Wildman is one of London's most well loved and highly regarded yoga teachers. Yoga and the Twelve Step recovery programme have supported her during difficult times, and Zephyr now works closely with treatment centres for addiction, depression and other dependency problems, sharing therapeutic practices with her students. You can watch Zephyr’s Stillpoint Online ‘Yoga for Anxiety’ workshop here. You can find more about Zephyr’s work here. Zephyr also shares widely on her Instagram page here. _____________ Yoga and Recovery - Zephyr Wildman Scott and Zephyr first met at the London Yoga Festival in 2019 and have been friends ever since. This deeply engaging and honest conversation goes deep into the practices of yoga and how it can help recovery from addiction and grief. Zephyr shares a deeply moving account of her life in recovery from an addictive partner, who subsequently and tragically passed away, and how yoga helped her. Her wisdom as a result shines through. Scott and Zephyr also share meaningful words about how they both have been affected by familial alcohol and drug addiction, and how contemplative practice and conversations like these help to gently change in the deep internal narratives they have. In this heartfelt conversation Zephyr shares: How yoga became a contemplative practice for her. How asana practice helped her to heal physically, and how following the Twelve Step programme at the same time allowed her to heal emotionally, mentally and spiritually. What she’s learned from studying with Richard Freeman about the philosophical and psychological maps provided by the yoga traditions, and how we can use these to find our way back to ourselves. Her journey into teaching yoga, which began by covering for her teacher at the Tabernacle in Notting Hill. Her initial resistance to becoming a yoga teacher, before finding her calling to serve others. How you can be ‘in recovery’ as a response to someone else’s addiction. The parallels between the Twelve Step programme and yoga. Her experience of moving from Idaho to London aged 19. Her relationship with her former husband, and how yoga and the Twelve Step recovery programme supported her when she lost him to cancer. The healing power of talking and sharing, and healing through relationship with others. The importance of being seen and feeling safe as part of a sangha (community). How the practice of Ashtanga can act as a mirror. Her understanding of addiction as a symptom of an unmet spiritual need for connection. How brain structure and chemistry reinforces addictive habits, and how these neurological loops relate to the work we do in asana practice. The relationship between the Twelve Step program and the Seven Steps of Yoga in the Yoga Sutras (2:77). What it means to her to live contemplative life. ‘Zephyr is one of the most inspiring yoga teachers I’ve met. Her inquiry into practice comes from her having to deal with her own trauma and grief regarding addiction and loss. This conversion is one of the most meaningful I’ve had because I relate deeply to a lot of what Zephyr shares’ *Scott Johnson - May 2020*
	27 Jul 2021	#028: Martin Aylward \| Reality is Playful	01:14:20
Scott and Dharma teacher Martin Aylward ‘chew the dharma fat’ over topics including contemplative practices, the inherent ‘juiciness’ of life, and the ultimate inevitability of liberation. ___ We'd like to invite you to join our growing Stillpoint Online Ashtanga Yoga and Mindfulness community. You can sign up for a free yoga and meditation course and a free week on our online platform here. We live stream beginner classes, Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes with evening mindfulness sessions, yoga philosophy and restorative yoga over 6 days with Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It's a beautiful way to navigate these times... ___ Martin has been practicing meditation for 30 years. Over that time he studied in monasteries and Ashrams in India and Thailand. He explored many different teachings, from Indian asceticism to Buddhist tantric traditions. Martin began teaching the Dharma in 1999 after being encouraged by his teacher. In 2005, he co-founded Moulin de Chaves, a residential retreat centre in Southwest France. He has held pilgrimages, led wilderness retreats in France and the USA, and has taken small groups of Dharma students to practice in India and Bhutan. He now runs a number of online courses which are designed to help people integrate these transformational meditative practices into their daily lives. You can find out more about Martin’s teaching schedule here. His Mindfulness Teacher Training here. His new book Awake Where You Are: The Art Of Embodied Awareness here. ___ Marting Aylward is such a rich, joyful voice. He brings the teachings of Buddhism and mindfulness and gently lands them in the centre of our lives. For me he is one of the leading voices of contemplative practice teaching at the moment. This conversation will leave you inspired... Scott Johnson - July 2021 ___ Hokusai Says by Roger Keyes Hokusai says look carefully. He says pay attention, notice. He says keep looking, stay curious. Hokusai says says there is no end to seeing He says look forward to getting old. He says keep changing, you just get more who you really are. He says get stuck, accept it, repeat yourself as long as it is interesting. He says keep doing what you love. He says keep praying. He says every one of us is a child, every one of us is ancient every one of us has a body. He says every one of us is frightened. He says every one of us has to find a way to live with fear. He says everything is alive -- shells, buildings, people, fish, mountains, trees, wood is alive. Water is alive. Everything has its own life. Everything lives inside us. He says live with the world inside you. He says it doesn't matter if you draw, or write books. It doesn't matter if you saw wood, or catch fish. It doesn't matter if you sit at home and stare at the ants on your veranda or the shadows of the trees and grasses in your garden. It matters that you care. It matters that you feel. It matters that you notice. It matters that life lives through you. Contentment is life living through you. Joy is life living through you. Satisfaction and strength is life living through you. He says don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Love, feel, let life take you by the hand. Let life live through you.
	20 Nov 2022	#039 \| Shyam Ranganathan (with Greg Nardi) - Understanding Yoga Philosophy	01:42:07
In this deep conversation Scott Johnson is joined by his good friend Greg Nardi. They talk to Shyam Ranganathan, a field-changing researcher, scholar, author and teacher of philosophy, and an expert in the neglected traditions of Indian moral philosophy. Shyam talks about his life as a philosophy researcher, his work on decolonisation and his translation of the yoga sutra named, Patanjali Yoga Sutra ----- About Shyam Ranganathan Shyam Ranganathan is an author, editor, and translator of more than 50 peer-reviewed scholarly works (including Ethics and the History of Indian Philosophy MLBD 2008 and 2017; the Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Indian Ethics 2017; and Hinduism: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation, Routledge 2018). He is a specialist in translation, having written his PhD dissertation on how we can understand texts without projecting our beliefs onto them. With this specialised knowledge, Dr. Ranganathan translated Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra (Penguin 2008). Having taught more than 20,000 hours and 3,000 students,Dr. Ranganathan founded Yoga Philosophy in 2019. Yoga Philosophy is a scholar practitioner initiative bringing research-based knowledge about yoga and philosophy to practitioners. Dr. Ranganathan is an E-RYT-500 and CYA-RYT Gold. He is a member of the Department of Philosophy at York University in Toronto, Canada, as well as the York Center for Asian Research. Find out more about Shyam here. ---- Understanding Yoga Philosophy - Shyam Ranganathan In this open and honest conversation Scott and Greg unpack Shyam's translation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra. Shyam shares how translation works, how his movement into philosophical research and south asian studies compelled him to write a translation of Patanjai's Yoga Sutra. He also shares on the decolonisation of yoga and how he is focusing now on trauma response. ------ "This conversation with Shyam Ranganathan has been 2 years in the making. Both Greg Nardi and I had such a great time talking to Shyam about the way he translated the yoga sutra. It's important to understand his perspective on research and translation so you can possibly find your own." *Scott Johnson - November 2022* ---- If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with *Ty Landrem, Daniel Simpson* and Greg Nardi. [wpv-post-body view_template="cta-membership"]
	03 Aug 2019	#002: Laura Graham-Dullaert \| Becoming Your Own Teacher	01:16:15
Scott and Laura talk deeply about how they’re relationship has evolved over 8 years. They share how they met, the shift of their relationship through teaching and Laura apprenticing at Stillpoint Yoga London, how they both navigated the death of SYL co-founder Ozge Karabiyik and then moved into becoming colleagues and dear friends who still goof around together. Laura also talks candidly about how the practice has changed for her over the years based on a condition she has called marfan syndrome. Her practice turned into an investigation and because of it she became a deeply gifted and insightful yoga teacher. She also shares openly about the open grief she shared on social media regarding the death of her father. _____ Scott met Laura in 2009 when Laura stepped into a self practice class he ran near his home in Kent. She quickly recognised the power in practicing Ashtanga yoga regularly and became a integral part of Stillpoint from 2010 through to when she left in 2018. Laura left Stillpoint in 2018 and moved to Margate. She continues to teach yoga there and in central London. Find out more about Laura here. _____ Show notes Yoga Akasha Marfan Syndrome Laura’s Instagram around the death of her father
	24 Nov 2019	#009: Jess Glenny \| Movement Through Life	00:54:45
Scott talks to colleague and fellow yoga practitioner Jess Glenny, a London based yoga teacher and educator, on her lifelong dedication to movement practices. *Those were the days my friend* *We thought they’d never end* *We'd sing and dance forever and a day* Jess is a long term and highly skilled yoga/movement teacher, facilitator and therapist specialising in teaching people how to practice with hypermobility. She brings a personal depth of knowledge to the experience of being hypermobile, dispraxic and autistic, shining a light on how these conditions interact with yoga practice and life. Jess runs Greenwich and Woolwich Ashtanga yoga self practice classes and specialises in teaching people with hypermobile conditions. She also leads courses, intensives and workshops nationally. Jess also has a book, the Yoga Teacher Mentor, coming out in January 2020. You can find out more about Jess here. Jess also has a highly informative blog here _____________ Movement Through Life - Jess Glenny In this deeply personal conversation Jess share moments of her life that shaped the way she practices yoga and movement. She is incredibly open about her dyspraxia, hypermobility and autistic journey and shares intimately how these have impacted her life. Her courage in meeting these conditions head on shines through and is a deep inspiration to others. Scott and Jess also share their journey of trust as they recollect how Jess felt able to be comfortable practicing in the Stillpoint Yoga London self practice room. This personal conversation is inspiring, particularly for those who are working through the same conditions that Jess brings up. Jess' story is one of facing the challenges she found head on, in a beautiful and inspiring way. *If you like this podcast then also listen to Scott’s conversation with Laura Graham-Dullaert* Jess talks about: how she already felt embodied through dance from age just 6 and how that was truly important for her. how she was told that this movement was wrong how she discovered her dyspraxia from an early age. how she draws on different types of practice to make sense of her experience. how she first found out that she was hypermobile the differences in hypermobilty syndromes. the process of having hyper mobility and how it’s not linear. how Ashtanga yoga really helped her understand her body through the movement principle. how she came into the Stillpoint room and navigated her relationship with Scott by asking for space and not be helped. how she navigated her way back into an Ashtanga yoga self practice room. how she now navigates her needs now. how practice is about feeling. how more approaches outside of yoga is needed. how what she needs in relationship to her autism. how this turned into listening to others needs. how dancing has been the thread that has run through her life and that has allowed her to thrive. Show Notes Ehlers-Danlos syndrome Jess’s blog on the movement of the mats at SYL.
	20 Feb 2021	#026: Petri Räisänen \| Learning From The Past	01:30:25
Scott talks to colleague and yoga teacher Petri Räisänen about his life as a yoga teacher and as one of the most respected names in Ashtanga yoga. Petri is deeply open and honest about his relationship to Mysore over the years and Petri and Scott talk about how we can move on from the abuses of Pattabhi Jois. _______________ We'd like to invite you to join our growing Stillpoint Online Ashtanga Yoga and Mindfulness community. We live stream beginner classes, Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes with evening mindfulness sessions over 6 days with Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It's a beautiful way to navigate these times... _______________ *In this podcast we talk about the sexual abuse commited by Pattabhi Jois on a number of his students over the years.* While this conversation centres Petri's experience, it is not meant to detract from the victim’s experience. We acknowledge the sexual abuses and other abuses of power that have happened in the Ashtanga community and the ways in which community members can be trained not to see the abuses that happen in plain sight. This denial serves to hide the abuse and creates a culture that is unsafe for victims. It is our hope that this conversation will help those who are also in a process of reckoning with their relationship to yoga practice and community. *Below are links to the victims testimony and others of relevant interest:* Karen Rain’s #metoo testimony Jubliee Cooke’s #metoo testimony Anneke Lucas’s testimony Silenced Voices – A panel discussion involving Karen Rain, Jubilee Cooke and others on sexual abuse in the yoga community. _______________ Petri Räisänen is an internationally renowned and highly respected Ashtanga yoga teacher. He began practising in 1989, and has studied with teachers such as Derek Ireland, Radha Warrel, and Eddie Stern. In 2001, he was authorised to teach Ashtanga yoga by Pattabhi and Sharath Jois. Petri has been teaching since 1991. In 1997 he founded Ashtanga Yoga Helsinki with his friend and colleague, Juva Javanainen. He teaches in Finland and internationally alongside his wife, Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen. Petri’s teaching integrates healing therapy with yoga. He draws on his work as a traditional Finnish folk healer and naturopath, which he combines with his own experience of practising and teaching. He is known for his gentle, effective, and therapeutic - almost ‘magical’ - adjustments. He is the author of “Ashtanga Yoga – The Yoga Tradition of K. Pattabhi Jois” (2005), written in collaboration with Pattabhi and Sharath Jois; and “Nadi Sodhana” (2008), which includes interviews with Pattabhi and Sharath Jois. You can find out more about Petri’s teaching schedule here. _______________ Petri and Scott talk about his early experiences with yoga and spirituality, working with prana while practising Finnish folk healing, practising with Derek Ireland and Radha Warrel in Finland and Crete, how he consciously changed his teaching style to a gentle approach, the injuries and sexual abuse inflicted by Pattabhi Jois and the conditions that allowed them to continue, the intergenerational abuse going back to Krishnamacarya and how Ashtanga might be able to heal moving forward, learning from and working with his wife Wambui, learning from the past to create a safer future. _______________ Petri Räisänen is one of the most respected names in Ashtanga yoga. His honesty in this conversation really moved me and helped me to start to see the intensity that surrounded the 90's era of Ashtanga yoga and how the abuses of Pattabhi Jois were missed by those who were there. I came away from this conversation deeply respectful of how Petri is trying to change himself by looking at the mistakes of the past and the way we can move the sharing Ashtanga Yoga forward... *Scott Johnson - January 2021* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with… Wambui Njuguna *Räisänen, Greg Nardi, Ian Cheney*
	27 Oct 2019	#007: David Keil \| Owning Your Practice	00:59:57
Scott interviews David Keil, a long term SYL friend and collabarator, about his life and evolution into becoming one of Stillpoint's most loved visiting teachers and a highly sought after yoga anatomy educator. David Keil is a yoga teacher, yoga anatomy educator and entrepreneur who is changing the way we integrate with and learn yoga anatomy. He has written a yoga anatomy book, called Functional Anatomy of Yoga, created a set of highly successful yoga anatomy online courses, he facilitated a yoga research project assessing the yoga asana practice on physical health and injuryand has also just launched a groundbreaking new anatomy learning tool called 3D Muscle Lab. David lives in Miami and travels globally teaching yoga and anatomy. You can find more about David's work here _____________ Owning Your Practice Scott gets under the skin of David Keil, looking deeply into David's journey from starting yoga at 15 through to becoming, what Scott calls him, one of the most skilled Ashtanga yoga teachers and yoga educators teaching today. David has taught at Stillpoint Yoga London since 2010 and in this conversation shares his journey through yoga practice and teaching in a beautifully open and honest way David's skill has always been to be able to help find people's agency in their yoga practice. This podcast get's behind why that is, how David ultimately sees practice and why we love him here at Stillpoint. The conversation covers: how David got in to contemplative practice through self hypnosis/meditation. how David used these techniques to change his school grades. how David got into yoga through practicing Tai Chi. how David began Ashtanga yoga how David started his yoga anatomy workshops how David met John Scott. how David moved to studying in Mysore how David looks at his own practice. how David's practice has been a contemplative process what David wants to get people to understand through teaching anatomy how David helps people to take responsibility for their own yoga practice _____________ Show notes Teachers Mentioned John Scott, Ryan Spielman, Lucy Crawford, Joey Miles
	23 Apr 2023	044: Gregor Maehle on Yoga as a Mystical Experience	01:36:47
In this deep and rewarding conversation Scott Johnson talks to author, yoga teacher and mystic Gregor Maehle on his life as a seeker in the contemplative and spiritual traditions. Gregor shares how his childhood created the bedrock for a life of spiritual discovery, the outcome being a life embedded within the mystical limbs of yoga and contemplative practice. ___ We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Online Yoga community. For just £20 per month you can support the podcast and every Monday evening join The Still Space, our live stream yoga philosophy, mindfulness, pranayama and discussion sessions hosted by Scott Johnson. You can also gain access to our growing Stillpoint Online library of helpful yoga and mindfulness content. ___ Gregor Maehle on Yoga As A Mystical Experience Scott and Gregor talk openly about Gregor’s life as a yoga practitioner and mystic. Gregor shares: How he grew up in a catholic upbringing. How he had a mystical experience aged 6. How his parents saw something deep in him from an early age. How he read mystical books from a very young age. How he took psychedelics in his late teens but the integration as a spiritual experience didn’t work. How in his twenties he did the guru trail in India. How he decided to spend his life doing personal sadhana. Why mystical experiences are not spontaneous. Why you should work with hypotheses rather than belief. Why the mystical state is your birth right. How in his forties he developed a relationship with Jesus. How the ego gets in the way of the mystical experience and is known in many traditions with different names. How we need to be in the service of all beings. Why yoga is the most powerful tool for transformation. What the inspiration is that he uses to write his books. How we can all find our life’s purpose. How we can stay connected to nature. What the most important thing is that he has discovered through his practice. ___ About Gregor Maehle Gregor Maehle began his yogic practices 45 years ago. In the mid-1980s he commenced annual travels to India, where he studied with various yogic and tantric masters, traditional Indian sadhus and ascetics. He spent fourteen months in Mysore, and in 1997 was authorised to teach Ashtanga Yoga by K. Pattabhi Jois. Since then he has branched out into researching the anatomical alignment of postures and the higher limbs of yoga. In India Gregor also received eight months of mostly one-on-one instruction in scripture and the higher limbs of Yoga through B.N.S. Iyengar, a student of T. Krishnamacharya, and he studied Sanskrit under Professor Narayanachar and Dr Chandrasekhar. Gregor’s internationally acclaimed textbook series consisting of Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy, Ashtanga Yoga: The Intermediate Series, Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga, Yoga Meditation: Through Mantra, Chakras and Kundalini to Spiritual Freedom, Samadhi The Great Freedom, How to Find Your Life’s Divine Purpose, Chakras, Drugs & Evolution and Mudras: Seals of Yoga – have sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide and have been translated into eight foreign languages. Additional volumes currently prepared are Tantric Meditation and Bhakti: Yoga of Love. Gregor has been invited to many countries to teach and has contributed to and been interviewed by numerous yoga magazines. On Gregor’s blog page chintamaniyoga.com/blog/ you will find over 300 articles, videos and podcasts on all aspects of yoga, which Gregor has authored together with his wife Monica. Today Gregor teaches an anatomically sophisticated interpretation of traditional vinyasa yoga, integrated into the practice of the higher limbs in the spirit of Patanjali and T. Krishnamacharya. His zany sense of humour, his manifold personal experiences, and his vast and deep knowledge of scripture, Indian philosophies and yogic techniques combine to make his teachings applicable, relevant and easily accessible to all his students. You can find more about Gregor here: Website Blog Books In this deep and rewarding conversation Scott Johnson talks to author, yoga teacher and mystic Gregor Maehle on his life as a seeker in the contemplative and spiritual traditions. Gregor shares how his childhood created the bedrock for a life of spiritual discovery, the outcome being a life embedded within the mystical limbs of yoga and contemplative practice. We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Online Yoga community. For just £20 per month you can support the podcast and every Monday evening join The Still Space, our live stream yoga philosophy, mindfulness, pranayama and discussion sessions hosted by Scott Johnson. You can also gain access to our growing Stillpoint Online library of helpful yoga and mindfulness content. Gregor Maehle on Yoga As A Mystical Experience Scott and Gregor talk openly about Gregor’s life as a yoga practitioner and mystic. Gregor shares: How he grew up in a catholic upbringing. How he had a mystical experience aged 6. How his parents saw something deep in him from an early age. How he read mystical books from a very young age. How he took psychedelics in his late teens but the integration as a spiritual experience didn’t work. How in his twenties he did the guru trail in India. How he decided to spend his life doing personal sadhana. Why mystical experiences are not spontaneous. Why you should work with hypotheses rather than belief. Why the mystical state is your birth right. How in his forties he developed a relationship with Jesus. How the ego gets in the way of the mystical experience and is known in many traditions with different names. How we need to be in the service of all beings. Why yoga is the most powerful tool for transformation. What the inspiration is that he uses to write his books. How we can all find our life’s purpose. How we can stay connected to nature. What the most important thing is that he has discovered through his practice. About Gregor Maehle Gregor Maehle began his yogic practices 45 years ago. In the mid-1980s he commenced annual travels to India, where he studied with various yogic and tantric masters, traditional Indian sadhus and ascetics. He spent fourteen months in Mysore, and in 1997 was authorised to teach Ashtanga Yoga by K. Pattabhi Jois. Since then he has branched out into researching the anatomical alignment of postures and the higher limbs of yoga. In India Gregor also received eight months of mostly one-on-one instruction in scripture and the higher limbs of Yoga through B.N.S. Iyengar, a student of T. Krishnamacharya, and he studied Sanskrit under Professor Narayanachar and Dr Chandrasekhar. Gregor’s internationally acclaimed textbook series consisting of Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy, Ashtanga Yoga: The Intermediate Series, Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga, Yoga Meditation: Through Mantra, Chakras and Kundalini to Spiritual Freedom, Samadhi The Great Freedom, How to Find Your Life’s Divine Purpose, Chakras, Drugs & Evolution and Mudras: Seals of Yoga – have sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide and have been translated into eight foreign languages. Additional volumes currently prepared are Tantric Meditation and Bhakti: Yoga of Love. Gregor has been invited to many countries to teach and has contributed to and been interviewed by numerous yoga magazines. On Gregor’s blog page chintamaniyoga.com/blog/ you will find over 300 articles, videos and podcasts on all aspects of yoga, which Gregor has authored together with his wife Monica. Today Gregor teaches an anatomically sophisticated interpretation of traditional vinyasa yoga, integrated into the practice of the higher limbs in the spirit of Patanjali and T. Krishnamacharya. His zany sense of humour, his manifold personal experiences, and his vast and deep knowledge of scripture, Indian philosophies and yogic techniques combine to make his teachings applicable, relevant and easily accessible to all his students. You can find more about Gregor here: Website Blog Books “This conversation with Gregor is grounded in deep insight. Gregor has lives such a rich life of study and practice that his teachings are a visceral outcome of personal committed study. Gregor shares life experiences that are at the same time teachings. We all can find a deeper way to interact with ourselves and the world. Gregor is a testament to that… “ *Scott Johnson – April 2023* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with *Ty Landrum, Simon Borg Olivier*** and *Frank Jude Boccio.* In this deep and rewarding conversation Scott Johnson talks to author, yoga teacher and mystic Gregor Maehle on his life as a seeker in the contemplative and spiritual traditions. Gregor shares how his childhood created the bedrock for a life of spiritual discovery, the outcome being a life embedded within the mystical limbs of yoga and contemplative practice. We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Online Yoga community. For just £20 per month you can support the podcast and every Monday evening join The Still Space, our live stream yoga philosophy, mindfulness, pranayama and discussion sessions hosted by Scott Johnson. You can also gain access to our growing Stillpoint Online library of helpful yoga and mindfulness content. Gregor Maehle on Yoga As A Mystical Experience Scott and Gregor talk openly about Gregor’s life as a yoga practitioner and mystic. Gregor shares: How he grew up in a catholic upbringing. How he had a mystical experience aged 6. How his parents saw something deep in him from an early age. How he read mystical books from a very young age. How he took psychedelics in his late teens but the integration as a spiritual experience didn’t work. How in his twenties he did the guru trail in India. How he decided to spend his life doing personal sadhana. Why mystical experiences are not spontaneous. Why you should work with hypotheses rather than belief. Why the mystical state is your birth right. How in his forties he developed a relationship with Jesus. How the ego gets in the way of the mystical experience and is known in many traditions with different names. How we need to be in the service of all beings. Why yoga is the most powerful tool for transformation. What the inspiration is that he uses to write his books. How we can all find our life’s purpose. How we can stay connected to nature. What the most important thing is that he has discovered through his practice. About Gregor Maehle Gregor Maehle began his yogic practices 45 years ago. In the mid-1980s he commenced annual travels to India, where he studied with various yogic and tantric masters, traditional Indian sadhus and ascetics. He spent fourteen months in Mysore, and in 1997 was authorised to teach Ashtanga Yoga by K. Pattabhi Jois. Since then he has branched out into researching the anatomical alignment of postures and the higher limbs of yoga. In India Gregor also received eight months of mostly one-on-one instruction in scripture and the higher limbs of Yoga through B.N.S. Iyengar, a student of T. Krishnamacharya, and he studied Sanskrit under Professor Narayanachar and Dr Chandrasekhar. Gregor’s internationally acclaimed textbook series consisting of Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy, Ashtanga Yoga: The Intermediate Series, Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga, Yoga Meditation: Through Mantra, Chakras and Kundalini to Spiritual Freedom, Samadhi The Great Freedom, How to Find Your Life’s Divine Purpose, Chakras, Drugs & Evolution and Mudras: Seals of Yoga – have sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide and have been translated into eight foreign languages. Additional volumes currently prepared are Tantric Meditation and Bhakti: Yoga of Love. Gregor has been invited to many countries to teach and has contributed to and been interviewed by numerous yoga magazines. On Gregor’s blog page chintamaniyoga.com/blog/ you will find over 300 articles, videos and podcasts on all aspects of yoga, which Gregor has authored together with his wife Monica. Today Gregor teaches an anatomically sophisticated interpretation of traditional vinyasa yoga, integrated into the practice of the higher limbs in the spirit of Patanjali and T. Krishnamacharya. His zany sense of humour, his manifold personal experiences, and his vast and deep knowledge of scripture, Indian philosophies and yogic techniques combine to make his teachings applicable, relevant and easily accessible to all his students. You can find more about Gregor here: Website Blog Books ___ “This conversation with Gregor is grounded in deep insight. Gregor has lives such a rich life of study and practice that his teachings are a visceral outcome of personal committed study. Gregor shares life experiences that are at the same time teachings. We all can find a deeper way to interact with ourselves and the world. Gregor is a testament to that… “ *Scott Johnson – April 2023* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with *Ty Landrum, Simon Borg Olivier*** and *Frank Jude Boccio.* “This conversation with Gregor is grounded in deep insight. Gregor has lives such a rich life of study and practice that his teachings are a visceral outcome of personal committed study. Gregor shares life experiences that are at the same time teachings. We all can find a deeper way to interact with ourselves and the world. Gregor is a testament to that… “ *Scott Johnson – April 2023* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with *Ty Landrum, Simon Borg Olivier*** and *Frank Jude Boccio.*
	28 Nov 2021	#032: Tim Feldmann \| Ashtanga Yoga: Past, Present & Future	01:22:57
Scott talks to Ashtanga yoga teacher and co-founder of the Miami Life Centre Tim Feldmann about the past, present and future of teaching Ashtanga yoga. In this nuanced and meaningful conversation, Tim and Scott discuss dancing as a spiritual practise, movement as a healing modality, and the teacher’s role as a vessel for knowledge. ________ We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Yoga community. We teach in-person in London Bridge and live stream online Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes, with weekly yoga clinics and philosophy sessions guided by Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. We also have a growing library of on-demand content. It’s a beautiful way to navigate these times… Also, consider joining our Patreon community. We share these podcasts every 2 weeks and would love your feedback, input and support. You can even join a monthly live call to share your thoughts. _________ Tim found his way to yoga after a catastrophic accident in Venezuela in 1992 interrupted his professional dancing career. He encountered Lino Miele in the late 1990’s, who set Tim on the path to practising with Pattabhi Jois in Mysore. There he met his wife, Kino MacGregor, and in 2006 they founded the Miami Life Centre, where they continue to teach together to this day. Tim shares openly about the fear he felt before practising with Jois, who even then had a reputation for fearsome physical adjustments. When Tim finally felt ready to practise with him (after completing Advanced A), he recalls feeling gratitude for the assists he received. Since Karen Rain’s revelations of sexual assault at the hands of Jois, Tim has had to come to terms with how his experience was at odds with that of the women Jois abused. He asks himself how he failed to notice, talking to Scott about how ‘crazy and amazing’ those days in Mysore were, concluding that sometimes people ‘surrendered’ at the expense of the safety of themselves and those around them. Since opening the Miami Life Centre in 2006, Tim has moved his own teaching away from a hierarchical model and towards one that prioritises safety and inclusiveness. Having been confronted with the somewhat blasé attitude towards anatomy in the early days, he’s relieved to see a more detailed and logical approach developing in recent years. He talks about the value and limitations of lineage and hierarchy - that structure can create clarity, but space to explore is essential. He talks about the ‘lineage holders’ of Ashtanga yoga, and the nature of how knowledge is passed down. And finally, reflecting on the past couple of years, Tim concludes with how nothing is more important in life than being there for other people. Tim is the co-founder and captain of the world-wide recognized Miami Life Center and of the newly opened Miami Yoga Garage - a new ambitious Shala and cultural house in Miami's fun Wynwood district. He has practiced yoga since 1994 and Ashtanga Since 1999. Authorized to teach by Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Jois he explores core concepts and modern boundaries of Patanjali’s yoga teachings alike. A practitioner of Ashtanga Yoga’s Advanced A Series Tim finds Ashtanga’s traditional method an exceptional path towards healing, wisdom and self-realisation. Drawing upon his past as an internationally successful dancer and acclaimed choreographer, anatomy, alignment and technique is his second nature. Tim has been pursuing in-depth studies of Patanjali, Sankhya and Vedanta over the past 7 years with Vidwan Nagaraja Rao, Jayashree & Narasimha and other exceptional scholars in South India. Cherished worldwide for his fun, disciplined and detailed pursuit of authentic yoga and his compassionately effective touch, Tim travels to yoga shalas around the globe with the inclusive message of how study, steadiness and devotion is the means to powerful transformation both inside and outside of us. You can find out more about Tim’s work here. ‘This conversation with Tim Feldmann was so good. For quite a while I’ve wanted to talk to someone like Tim, who is one of the most recognisable of the current generation of Ashtanga teachers, about where the sharing of Ashtanga Yoga finds itself. Tim was so open and honest about his own process, where we are currently and what’s possible in the future. I was left feeling like I had found a new friend to ge deep with. This conversation is essential if you care about sharing the practice of Ashtanga yoga to others…’ *Scott Johnson – November 2021*
	14 Jun 2020	#016 \| Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen \| Reclaiming Joy Through Heartbreak	01:11:51
Scott talks to Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen on her life in yoga. An up and coming wellness advocate, Wambui has a blend of formal Ashtanga yoga training, Chavutti Thirumal (massage by foot press) and life experience that gives her a unique ability to see and hear those around her in a way that is tender, gentle and real. Wambui started practicing Ashtanga yoga in 2008 and began assisting Petri Räisänen, who is also her husband, in 2010. She received her Chavutti Thirumal massage training in 2013 from Helen Noakes and Indian head massage training from Terry Thomas in 2019. Wambui combines various healing modalities into her treatments, such as Finnish jäsenkorjaus (bone setting), fascial release, breath work to create customised and highly individualised healing sessions for the client. She aspires to be as human as possible in her teachings and both works and lives from a place of compassion and authenticity. As such, she strives to create spaces in the wellness and spiritual culture where tough, tender conversations can be had with brave truth-telling and equanimity. Where topics such as racism and cultural appropriation can be addressed without resorting to spiritual bypass and denial. It is her greatest aspiration that liberation and awakening can be embodied not only on the individual level but on the collective plane as well; so that we may work to furthering a world based on the tenets of justice, safety and love for all. You can find more about Wambui’s work here. Wambui also shares widely on her Instagram page here. _____________ Reclaiming Joy Through Heartbreak - Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen Scott and Wambui have a deeply open and honest conversation on diversity in the yoga world. Scott and Wambui met when Wambui emailed Scott about his work with Amāyu. Since then they have shared conversations on diversity and how the Ashtanga yoga world can become more open to wider voices. Wambui also shares her evolution from yoga practitioner to teacher to activist. In this intimate conversation Wambui shares: How yoga has always been a contemplative practice for her, right from the beginning, in a deeply embodied somatic way Her background in dance, and the experience of taking her first Hatha yoga class while having a tough year training in modern dance at university That yoga let her discover a deep intuitive knowing that she was enough, just as she is, and that the body is not something to be conquered Her experience of practicing yoga during her time at grad school in Chicago, and how she didn’t feel comfortable identifying herself as a yogi during that time as a result of the monocultural white yoga culture How she found community with black and brown people through Capoeira, Samba, and Afro-Brazillian dancing, a culture that wasn’t present in yoga spaces. Her experience of moving to the UAE as an English teacher, and hitting rock bottom while she was there. How she had her first experience of Ashtanga yoga while working in Abu Dhabi, and how empowering she found her gradual immersion into the practice How in 2009 she studied Ashtanga intensively, travelling to Purple Valley in February to study with Nancy Gilgoff and her now-partnerPetri Räisänen, then to Mysore in July to study with Saraswati, and then practicing with Sharath in Helsinki in August. Her experience moving to Helsinki in January 2010 Her calling to teach, which developed into teaching yoga with her partner Petri Her experience navigating yoga spaces as a multiracial black woman How yoga spaces operate on assumed white norms How she had to silence parts of herself in the past, and how she will not be silent any more How in 2015 her friend Rosalie bought her This Bridge Called My Back (Rosario Moraleas) and Sister Outsider (Audre Lorde), which led her to really consider who is on her bookshelf, and make a conscious effort to seek out community with people of colour in Helsinki. How the tools we develop in yoga practice can be valuable as self care when navigating difficult topics The work that the Ashtanga world needs to do in terms of understanding and countering cultural appropriation, and the need for nuanced discussion with South Asian voices leading Spiritual bypassing within the yoga community, when kindness becomes weaponised The fragmentary effect of Colonialism in separating people from themselves and their history, and how and why it is important for everyone to learn where they come from Ahimsa as an ongoing process rather than a fixed goal How privilege doesn’t need to be something to be ashamed of, but does need to be leveraged effectively How she came to study Buddhism with black African teachers such as Lama Rod Owens Her resonance with Bodhisattva aspiration of collective liberation, and why the prevalent emphasis on samadhi as self-realisation is incomplete Karen Rain’s 2017 statement on decades of systemic abuse within the Ashtanga Yoga community, and how unprepared the community was to address it in a productive way due to dynamics of power and privilege The limits and dangers of the authority model of teaching and how it is healthier to think on collective level The need for a trauma informed approach to teaching yoga The importance of accountability How yoga isn’t separate from the patriarchy and its harmful traits of toxic masculinity, victim blaming and rape culture. How an element of joy is important when undertaking the difficult work of decolonising one's own mind Her hope that that white people can begin to unpack things for themselves, because black people are exhausted That for her, living a contemplative life means making space for her heart to break, making space for discomfort and pain without pushing it away or making it bigger, but being open to what it can teach about being a human in this here and now. The importance of friendship across lines of difference so that people can feel held, seen, cared for and trusted. 'In all the Stillpoints conversations I really love seeing our guests open up. But Wambui's honesty and vulnerability really inspired me. I loved this deeply profound and meaningful conversation and think it's an essential listening for everyone interested in equality in yoga.' *Scott Johnson - June 2020* *If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Deepika Mehtaand Jess Glenny.*
	19 Apr 2022	#036 \| Ty Powers - Finding Equanimity	01:16:51
In this deeply honest conversation Scott Johnson talks to Ty Powers, co-founder of the Insight Yoga Institute. They have a moving conversation on Ty's life of contemplative practice and his teaching of mindfulness meditation for over 25 years. ___ We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Yoga community. We teach in-person in London Bridge and live stream online Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes, with weekly yoga clinics and philosophy sessions guided by Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. We also have a growing library of on-demand content. It’s a beautiful way to navigate these times… Also, consider joining our Patreon community. We share these podcasts every 2 weeks and would love your feedback, input and support. You can even join a monthly live call to share your thoughts. ___ About Ty Powers Ty Powers co-founded the Insight Yoga Institute with his wife Sarah Powers. He has been leading Yoga and Buddha Dharma/mindfulness meditation retreats throughout the world for over 25 years. Ty completed the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader training program in 2003 and has led daylong retreats on cultural diversity. He offers one on one sessions in Internal Family Systems, and as a Change and Transition Strategist and Certified Integral Coach. Ty also sits on the board of Studio BE and serves as it’s Senior Ethics Advisor. Ty's Conversation. Ty shares how contemplative practice was not only a way to find oneness and a deeper connection to life, but also a way to navigate being African American in a world that sees you differently. He subsequently talks about the impact this has had on his life. As a response, Ty shares how we can all learn to see differently using the tools of mediation. You can find out more about Ty’s work here. "For me this conversation with Ty Powers is deeply profound and important. Ty is a highly skilled and experienced Buddha Dharma and mindfulness teacher who has to deal with everyday racism. His openess in this conversation is stunning, giving a deep insight into what it means to be African American in a world that sees you differently. This conversation is an important listen for those of us who have privilege" *Scott Johnson - April 2022* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Sarah Powers, Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen, Laruga Glaser and Martin Aylward.
	12 Apr 2020	#013: Deepika Mehta \| Movement into Stillness	01:03:58
Scott talks to Deepika Mehta, a friend and fellow long term practitioner and teacher of Ashtanga yoga. Deepika has been practicing yoga for over 20 years, where she used the tools of yoga to heal from a devastating climbing accident. Since then she has thrived, studying the Sivananda and Ashtanga yoga traditions and becoming an Authorised Level 2 teacher, from her teacher Sharath Jois, in the latter. She currently runs highly regarded retreats and intensives around the world with her co-teacher and husband, Mark Robberds. You can find out more about Deepika here _____________ Movement into Stillness - Deepika Mehta Scott and Deepika have known each other since March 2019, where they met at the Ashtanga Yoga Bali Conference. They bonded over a love of music, both touched by how music has affected and driven their lives. They recorded this interview while both teaching in Goa in November 2019. In a beautifully honest and open interview Deepika shares: how movement has been an intrinsic part of the way she understands her life and how yoga is a deeply spiritual part of her life. how she found yoga after a life threatening accident and how her recovery was the jumping off point to yoga becoming a central part of her life. beautifully honest comparisons between who she is now and growing up in India as a young girl. how prayer has been a deep part of her life since she was a young girl how her grandfather was a yogi. how she discovered Sivananda yoga. That was her way into yoga practice. how intimidated, challenging and out of place she first found the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore (now SYC). how Ashtanga yoga became an expression of spirituality for her. how she has a deep love for her teacher Sharath Jois and what he brings as a yoga teacher. how she has developed herself as a teacher over the years the way practice can become effortless. A stillness. how body skills and training the body is pointing back to our personal sadhana. how physical practice and movement is a meditation for her. how movement and dance have been deeply spiritual for her. how she teaches new students who have just started yoga. how she steps out of her own way when she is practicing and teaching. how she stays inspired every day. what she has learnt over the years of practice. what it means to live a contemplative life. 'Deepika is a highly inspiring woman. She has had to overcome a deeply personal trauma in her younger years that has now transformed the way she lives her life, and practices and teaches yoga. Deepikas story shows how you can find an inner resolve through movement and by finding the courage to turn inwards. *Scott Johnson - April 2020* *If you enjoy this podcast then also listen to* *Scott’s conversation with Caroline Taylor* *who has a beautiful story about how yoga transformed her life.*
	02 Jul 2019	#001: John Scott \| How Practice Changes Over The Years	01:00:24
In a beautifully revealing conversation at the Purple Valley Retreat Centre in Goa where they were both teaching, John and Scott share intimate moments of their lives. The teacher/student relationship that has evolved between John and Scott over the years has turned into friendship. One where they deeply support each other's work, aren't afraid of having challenging conversations but they can also have a beer and laugh with each other. John talks about developing his deeply profound Ashtanga yoga teaching with his first wife Lucy Crawford in the first decade of the millennium, how he moved through the death of two of his yoga teachers, how emigrating twice challenged him greatly and both John and Scott share how their personal relationship has evolved over the years. They also both remember the late Ozge Karabiyik, who had a deep impact on both their lives. John Scott is a world renowned teacher of Ashtanga Yoga. He has been practicing for 30 years and travels the world sharing the method. www.johnscottyoga.com _____ Scott met John Scott at a yoga workshop in Oxford in 2002. He left knowing he'd found his teacher. Since then Scott has traveled far to work with John, training deeply with him and Lucy Crawford in 2008/2009 on their 2 month teacher training. Stillpoint Yoga London was established in 2009 as response to the teachings Scott and Ozge Karabiyik received from John and Lucy. Interesting fact: Stillpoint Yoga London is named after John and Lucy's 'Stillpoint' retreat in Nelson, New Zealand, which they established between 2006 and 2010.
	12 Dec 2020	#023: Kia Naddermier \| The Practice of Pausing	01:07:14
#023: Kia Naddermier Scott talks to his dear friend and colleague Kia Naddermier on their friendship and her life as a renowned yoga and pranayama teacher. They talk about the ability to pause being a key component in the evolution of yoga in your life. We'd like to invite you to join our growing Stillpoint Online Ashtanga Yoga and Mindfulness community. We live stream beginner classes, Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes with evening mindfulness sessions over 6 days with Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It's a beautiful way to navigate these times... Kia Naddermier is the main teacher & director of Mysore Yoga Paris and an internationally renowned teacher of yoga and pranayama. She is a dedicated advanced practitioner with over 25 years experience of and teaches Ashtanga Yoga, Pranayama, Kriyas and adjustment techniques. Kia has studied extensively within the traditional lineage of Ashtanga Yoga, and continues to practice, research and explore this vast tradition. She is a devoted, long-term student of Shri O.P. Tiwariji and his son Sudhir Tiwariji in the lineage of Kaivalyadham. Kia is one of the first few in the world to receive Kaivalyadham´s highest teaching certification in advanced Pranayamas and Kriyas. Kia teaches with careful adherence to the authentic teachings of Ashtanga Yoga and Pranayama whilst encouraging each individual to explore the beauty of the practice for themselves. She is dedicated to the growth and development of her students, and her way of teaching integrates her profound knowledge of the breath and Pranic energy, subtle and physical anatomy, with yogic principles. Her deep love and years of dedication to all aspects of this practice shines through in her attentive, insightful and inspirational teaching. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Paris where she upholds the daily Mysore-program at the Shala.She mentors teachers, runs long-term apprentice programs and gives workshops, trainings and retreats internationally. You can find out more about Kia’s teaching schedule here. The Practice of Pausing - Kia Naddermier Scott and Kia have been friends since 2015, sharing similar yoga shala's in London and Paris. They are dear forms and colleague, teaching together annually at the SYL Spring Gathering since 2015 and at Purple Valley in Goa since 2018. In this warm and intimate conversation Scott talks to kia about her life and evolution as a highly regarded teacher of yoga and pranayama. Kia is deeply honest and shares personal stories about where she finds herself today. *In this personal and intimate conversation Kia shares:* About her first Ashtanga yoga class in the early 90’s, where she encountered John Scott while working as a photographer in London. The immediate sense of homecoming, of landing in her body, that she felt after that first class. Her experience of working as a model as a teenager, and how yoga helped her to realise for the first time that her body could be felt and appreciated, rather than being judged externally for its appearance. The evolution of her practise from that first class; how she struggled to find any Ashtanga classes in Stockholm, so began with Iyengar yoga before going to see Radha and Derek Ireland in The Practise Place. How, after initially coming to the practise through asana, deeper layers of practise have opened up to her. Her interest in spirituality, which started from a young age, and how yoga presented a non-dogmatic way to explore the bigger questions in life. About meeting her Pranayama teacher Shri O.P. Tiwariji, and his humble way of sharing profound teachings. How Pranayama transformed her Ashtanga yoga practise. About the loss of her sister, and how practise helped her to cope with that loss, while giving her the resources to stay strong for her family. That sharing the practise with others during that time became a sort of self-healing, which is why she began teaching. About how she knew that she wasn’t ready to teach when she was invited to in her twenties, and how going through different phases of life while practising has given her the life experience necessary to share in a meaningful way. How practise always happens in a wider context of a messy and unpredictable world, and that the fruit of the practise is learning to sit down and pause in the middle of it. About slowing down to remember the truth of who we are amid the business of our lives. How raising a family has helped her to soften and bring a sense of humour and lightness to her practise. That Mysore Yoga Paris was formed through community, and how the sangha isn’t connected to one particular place, but to each other. How she has adapted the way teaches has in response to the covid pandemic, and how teaching online has allowed the international Mysore Yoga Paris sangha to come together in a ‘borderless shala’. That for her, living a contemplative life is when formal practise manifests as a pause in everyday life, giving space, a sense of choice in how we react, allowing us to drop in to a deeper sense of who we are. I've often said, *'There are yoga teachers and then there's Kia Naddermier...'It still rings true...I love Kia's teaching so much. She has this beautiful and magnetic way of landing the teachings of yoga so deeply in people. I never get tired of seeing how she can create magic in a yoga room and have been honoured to teach with her since 2015. I've wanted to talk to Kia since I started the podcast and am so happy this particular conversation is now out in the world. A must listen... Scott Johnson - December 2020* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Josefin Wikström, Greg Nardi and Ann Weston
	02 Jan 2022	#034: Ty Landrum \| Living Yoga Philosophy	01:24:34
Scott talks to Ashtanga yoga teacher Ty Landrum about yoga and how it ‘ruined his life’ in the best possible way. ________ We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Yoga community. We teach in-person in London Bridge and live stream online Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes, with weekly yoga clinics and philosophy sessions guided by Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. We also have a growing library of on-demand content. It’s a beautiful way to navigate these times… Also, consider joining our Patreon community. We share these podcasts every 2 weeks and would love your feedback, input and support. You can even join a monthly live call to share your thoughts. _________ Ty is renowned for his understanding of philosophy and academic knowledge. He never liked school, but after being awarded a wrestling scholarship Ty decided he’d go to college. While there, he found himself wrestling with the problem of the general disorientation he experienced within his day-to-day life. Philosophy seemed to offer clues to the answers he was searching for, and so he continued to study, and now holds a PhD in the subject. He attended his first yoga class while he was at college. He was experiencing depression, and his friend encouraged him to go to a class with Jennifer Eliot. Ty experienced something immediate and visceral in that yoga class, something he’d been grasping for in his studies but newer fully realised. It changed his way of relating to philosophy, and it equipped him with the tools he needed to process the deep grief he had been carrying following the loss of two important people in his life. In this sensitive and intelligent conversation, Ty shares about the clumsiness of academics, the wisdom of the body, and the primacy of human touch. He talks about the revelation of meeting Richard Freeman with his syncretic approach to philosophy. He discusses different wisdom traditions that, despite superficial differences, are united in their overall goal of spreading compassion. For Ty, yoga has been a path to intimacy, communion and relationship with all aspects of his life. You can find out more about Ty’s work here. ‘Ty is one of the most intelligent and wise Ashtanga teachers in the field of yoga at the moment. The way he weaves yoga asana and philosophy together through stories, wisdom and language is beautiful and I wanted to capture how he got there. This conversation actually weaves like its own story, capturing the real spirit of how yoga has evolved in Ty's life. Bring a note book. There is so much to notice...' *Scott Johnson - January 2022* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Petri Räisänen, Kia Naddermier and Dr Matthew Clark
	06 Oct 2019	#006: Caroline Taylor \| A Transformative Pathway	00:52:35
Scott talks to Caroline Taylor, a long term SYL practitioner, about how she has navigated her yoga practice since the time she started in 2012. Caroline has been a practitioner of Ashtanga yoga since 2012 when she first met Scott after walking into Stillpoint Yoga London as a beginner. She joined Stillpoint at the time just after Ozge Karabiyik had passed away and has been an integral part of the community since then. Caroline works as a highly skilled clinical psychologist, based in Brighton. You can find out more about Caroline and her deeply powerful work here. _____________ A Transformative Pathway Scott and Caroline talk candidly about their relationship as teacher and student and how both have grown as a response to meeting each other. Caroline's story is of courage as she found Ashtanga yoga incredibly difficult right from the start. But from the first words she spoke to Scott in the Stillpoint room to now Caroline has shown deep courage in the way she has moved and navigated her yoga practice and life. Carrie also shares how how persistence allowed for her to meet and transform the way she saw her body. It transformed her in such a way that it influenced the way she practice her work too. Carrie's story is a wonderful take on how moving through difficult layers of practice can turn into something transformative. The conversation covers: Caroline's way into contemplative practice. Caroline's time at Bangor University. How she used the Ashtanga practice to land her in her body How Mindfulness wasn't helping her. How she started at Stillpoint How challenging she found yoga practice How she transformed because of her yoga practice How she then found how mindfulness re-invigorated her life. How feedback really helped and re-inforced her How she connected to Ozge even though she had passed a few moths before. How her practice transformed the way Caroline served her clients as a clinical psychologist. Caroline shares ways she helps her clients using principles she has learnt from yoga. How practice is deeply personal. How John Scott helped her to not stop. _____________ Show notes Teachers Mentioned Andy Gill, Lee Monk, Laura Graham-Dullaert, Maria Jose Pantoja, John Scott. Also mentioned Bangor University
	21 Sep 2019	#005: Ian Cheney \| A Broader Perspective On Practice	00:57:05
Scott talks to his friend Ian Cheney about Ian's evolution from an Ashtanga yoga practitioner to a KPJAYI authorised teacher. Ian runs an Ashtanga yoga Mysore programme in Melbourne, Australia. He has been friends with Scott since 2013 and taught at SYL before his move to Australia. Ian was first introduced to Ashtanga Yoga in 2002 and after many years of evolving his own practice he felt the urge to teach and began an apprenticeship with Gingi Lee at The Shala in 2012. The following year he undertook his Yoga Alliance 200hr Teacher Training qualification with his principal teacher, the world renowned John Scott. In 2014 he travelled to Mysore to practice with Sharath Jois. He returned each year and in 2017 Sharath gave Ian his blessing to teach Astanga Yoga as an Authorised teacher. Ian taught principally in London until 2016 when he began teaching internationally. He has taught in various countries including Germany, China, Bali, Italy and the Netherlands before settling in Melbourne. You can find out more about Ian here. _____________ A Broader Perspective On Practice Scott and Ian enjoy a conversation that covers Ian's yoga teaching life. Ian has worked deeply with both John Scott and Sharath Jois as teachers. Ian talks about this nuance and the evolution of his movement from a student of John's to a student of Sharath and how this helped him create a wider perspective on practice. The conversation covers: How Scott and Ian met. Ian talks about how he started yoga. Ian talks about working with Gingi Lee in the Shala both as a teacher and student. His first view of Mysore was negative. The changing nature of his personal practice. Yoga practice as enjoyment or a spiritual practice. How he has negotiated the recent controversy in Mysore regarding Pattabhi Jois. Broader perspectives on yoga practice
	31 Oct 2021	#30: Frank Jude Boccio \| Yoga and Mindfulness	01:25:42
Scott talks to Yoga and Dharma teacher Frank Jude Boccio. Frank took refuge in the Dharma after a period of practising with Thich Nhat Hanh in the 1990’s. In 2000, he began to study with Korean master Samu Sunim, who ordained Frank as a Dharma Teacher in 2007. - You can support The Stillpoints Podcast through our Patreon page and help us to continue to share inspiring and meaningful conversations. You can also join our monthly in-person on online Ashtanga Yoga and philosophy memberships here. - In this warm and insightful conversation Frank shares about his experiences of ‘not-self’, how Buddhism helped him to process grief and loss, the importance of honouring the differences as well as the similarities between yoga and Buddhism, and the lively philosophical debates that Buddha could have had with Patanjali. Frank is the author of ‘Mindfulness Yoga: The Awakened Union of Breath, Body, and Mind’as well as a national and international dharma/yoga teacher and lecturer. You can find out more about Frank’s work here and also join Franks Empty Mountain Sangha Online Facebook page here. 'Frank Jude Boccio has been a deeply impactful part of my life since I discovered his work. His teachings on how to relate mindfulness to yoga asana and life has been profound for me. This conversation allowed me to lean in to the way he sees practice and life and there is so much here. Yoga, Zen Buddhism, Grief, Nirvana... This conversation is so, so lovely. I hope you enjoy it...' Scott Johnson - October 2021
	03 Nov 2019	#008: Danny Paradise \| Creating Your Own Way	01:12:39
Scott talks to Danny Paradise, one of the original Ashtanga yoga teachers and pioneers from the 1970s, about his life and practice in a vast and wide ranging conversation. Danny Paradise is one of the longest practicing western practitioners of Ashtanga yoga,. He began studying with David Williams and Nancy Gilgoff in 1976 and became a pioneer of the method through the late 1970s, 80s and 90s. He brings a wide ranging perspective to the practice and teachings of yoga and has developed his own unique approach to teaching the practice. Danny is deeply influenced by many other spiritual and mystical traditions. Danny has inspired countless students and teachers over the years and was one of the first teachers to deliver Ashtanga yoga workshops in the UK in the 1980s. He continues to teach globally to this day. Danny lives in Hawaii and you can find more about him and his teachings here _____________ Create Your Own Way In this incredible conversation Danny shares with Scott his journey into yoga in the 1970's and how he became the inspiring teacher we know now. The 1970's was an incredibly fruitful time for spiritual traditions and Danny shares this in a beautifully open way. He shares the little known story about how David Williams found yoga, how they all practiced together in those early years and the fascinating people who surrounded them as they learnt the practice. This conversation is such an incredible journey into another time. Danny also shares his movement into teaching yoga and the mystical traditions which are now a major part of his life. He believes in people finding their own path, that yoga is a tool for you to find your own way through life. He encourages us to become truly independent. *This is such a rich conversation, sharing yoga history with deep teachings. It's one that you can listen to again and again.... Danny talks about:* his way into yoga was through martial arts. how yoga was a dance for him. the amazing story about how David Williams found yoga by going to the Atlanta Rock festival and a teacher called Tom Law. How he first met and practiced with David Williams and Nancy Gilgoff. meeting Cliff Barber who was an old yogi in Maui. how the practice was meditation. how right from the beginning it was about self practice. how they learnt the ashtanga series very quickly. how he moved into teaching how he started teaching in Goa how he started to be influenced by others things that came into his practice. how he had deep structural change that deeply changed him. how Shamanism became a deep part of his practice. his own realisation that yoga and receiving information through indigenous spiritual knowledge. how he sees yoga as a devotional science. how he connected with Buddhism his connection to Egypt and why he uses egyptian movements in his classes. how to bring this type of awareness to cities Show Notes Teachers Mentioned David Williams, Nancy Gilgoff, Tom Law, Cliff Barber, Ganga White, Kathy Cooper, Matthew Clark Special mention Ian and Josephine McDonald in Oxford
	15 Dec 2019	#010: Ann Weston \| 62 Years of Practice	00:57:28
#010: Ann Weston Scott talks to Ann Weston, a UK based yoga teacher and teacher trainer, on her 62 years of yoga practice. Ann began her yoga practice at the age of sixteen in 1957. She has been a quiet pioneer of yoga in Britain since that time, quietly practicing and sharing to others what she has found to be so beautiful in her life. Yoga. Ann still teaches classes near her home in Watford and has for the last 26 years taught relaxation at an NHS cancer hospital. You can reach out to Ann directly here _____________ 62 Years of Practice - Ann Weston In this rich and warm conversation, Scott and Ann talk about how yoga has shaped Ann's life since she began practicing back in 1957. Ann has never rested on her laurels and has always kept moving to see what's possible in her life. She has navigated all the major explosions in yoga from the 1960s onwards. Ann shares how she met all of this while raising a family. *This is a classic Stillpoints podcast. A conversation that inspires through the story of one person who has practiced for over 60 years and has always had a deep passion for yoga. Yoga practitioners and teachers should listen to Ann's story as it harks back to a time before most of us were born, before the big explosions we know that have catapulted yoga around the world. Ann talks about the explosions of yoga in her early years that most of us are unaware of. If you like this podcast then also listen to* *Scott’s conversation with Danny Paradise which also looks at the practice from a long term stand point.* Ann talks about: how she first met Scott. how yoga first landed for her when she was a mother. what she was like as a young girl before yoga. how she started her first yoga class in 1957 and really loved it. how she had a family in 1963 and her life changed. how she learnt from Richard Hittleman on the television in the early 1960s. how these were the first yoga classes on a screen. how she began moving into teaching with Diana Lang in Sunita PranaYama Yoga method. how her training in yoga was strict. how she then had to learn to teach in adult education. how she was able to balance her teaching and family life. how she moved into teaching in the British Wheel Of Yoga. how this way of teaching broadened her knowledge. how her life is broken down into a wider context. how in 1973/74 she elevated her teaching. how there was an explosion of yoga in the early 1970s. how her teaching was effected by this explosion. how she moved into a sense of responsibility for her students. how she moved into residentials in the late 1970s. how she met her first philosophy teacher. from the millennium she feels she has evolved again. how now she has found real peace with her yoga how teaching relaxation to cancer patients in the NHS has really grounded her. how she feels fulfilled from all her practice over the years. Show Notes Link to Instagram picture with Scott and Ann. PranaYama yoga. Yogi Sunita Cabral - The Lotus In The Rose book. Suzanna Newcombe - Yoga In Britain. British Wheel Of Yoga Teachers mentioned Andy Gill. Mr Voss - Unkown. Richard Hittleman. Lyn Marshall - Unknown. Diana Lang - Unknown. Yogi Sunita Cabral amazing article. Yogi Sunita Cabral bio. Angela Macdonald and June Baker - Unknown. Alistair Shearer. John Scott.
	29 Nov 2020	#022: Josefin Wikström \| Bringing Yoga Home	01:10:28
Scott talks to dear friend and colleague Josefin Wikström about how yoga changed her life and how she now shares yoga and Bollywood dancing to people in prisons and to those who suffer from complex trauma. We'd like to invite you to join our growing Stillpoint Online Ashtanga Yoga and Mindfulness community. We live stream beginner classes, Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes with evening mindfulness sessions over 6 days with Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It's a beautiful way to navigate these times... Josefin Wikström trained as a Yoga Therapist with The Minded Institute in London with a particular focus on complex trauma and mental health. She has also trained with Bessel van der Kolk, and is a certified TCTSY-F (Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Facilitator), having trained with David Emerson. She has been sharing trauma-informed yoga since 2003, and since 2008 she has brought yoga and dance into Swedish prisons. She has developed programmes for teaching yoga in prisons, and has taught internationally, including in San Quentin state prison in the US. In 2015, she began working with the Prison Yoga Project in Europe, and has led Prison Yoga Project trainings in Mumbai, India, and Mexico. As part of her work for the Swedish Probation services, she co-developed the Swedish Krimyoga program, an evidence-based program drawing on research on the benefits of yoga in correctional settings. She is expanding her trauma-informed yoga programs to include settings such as psychiatry units, the Juvenile justice system, and in schools. Through the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute in Boston, MA, she has completed the Traumatic Stress Studies Certification with She has also studied trauma-informed dance/movement therapy with Katia Verrault and Tripura Kashyap in India. Josefin is a professional member of ICPA-International Corrections and Prison Association. You can find out more about Josefin’s work here and all the Prison Yoga Project. You will be able to buy Josefin's new book, co-authored with upcoming guest James Fox, called Freedom from the Inside: A Woman's Guide to Yoga soon through this link here. Bringing Yoga Home - Josefin Wikström In this touching conversation Scott and Josefin talk about Josefin's life as a yoga practitioner and yoga therapist teaching in prisons and to people with complex trauma, a journey that moves from teaching in the slums of Mumbai in 2005 to tabling a discussion at the centre of the UK government in the House of Lords in 2015. She has developed into an incredibly wise and prolific yoga teacher, sharing her love and passion for yoga to the most vulnerable people there are. *In this inspiring conversation Josefin shares:* How yoga helped heal from childhood abuse and complex trauma. Had she been self medicating with alcohol and drugs then went to Goa at 18. She met an old man in New Delhi who said ‘you have to do yoga’! These words landed in her - he’d seen the unease in her body. How she went to Rishikesh and connected with breathing and moving in first or second class. She hadn't taken a deep breath before then. Started to feel grounded, less scattered. Felt like she’d found herself at home in herself a sense of safety she had'nt had before. Her drive in her work - can reach this place of safety. An accessible, simple way, for so many people How yoga isn’t just about bliss - embracing causes of suffering too. ‘Cleaning our inner space’ put experiences in boxes rather than throwing them out. How she found a healthy sense of connection with people practising yoga, not to do with drugs. She kept the dancing and let go of drugs Yoga fine tunes the senses. Her work in Mumbai - Kaivalya project. She met a lady in a cafe in Mumbai who worked with dance yoga mental health. Josefin was asked to join an NGO working with children who’d survived sexual abuse. Therapeutic programs for women & children, dealing with trauma in community. Helped her own rehabilitation - mind body practises worked where CBT and other therapy didn't. That movement practises transcend the need for common language. The essence of yoga is connection belonging to ourselves and human level. Her decision to return to Sweden and the need to bring the practises there. How she started working at a women’s prison in Sweden in 2008. How her experience of mental health issues and trauma help her to connect with the people she works with in prisons. The importance of keeping it real in order to help as a teacher. How sharing Bollywood dancing helped to break down the social hierarchies in prisons. How complex trauma can be a root cause for criminality, and that yoga & dance is a complementary therapy. Training guards to become yoga teachers - breaking down ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality. Results of research study - yoga vs root cause of criminality. Improved compulsivity (reaction times) reduction anxiety, improved self control, higher sense of belonging, just moving & breathing, no philosophy. Reduction of ocd symptoms James Fox & prison yoga project (training in 2014). How she came to address HOL about yoga in UK prisons. The book ‘ Freedom from the Inside’ written with women in yoga program, in sweden & international, written with James Fox. Yoga is finding a safe & non judging connection. Yoga as a tool for self regulation help us manage everyday life. Yoga given her a sense of belonging & wholeness that she didn’t have before. Living a contemplative life gives life different colours, different dimensions of how we relate to others. ‘'Everyone needs to know who Josefin Wikström is. In my opinion she is one of the most inspiring and compassionate yoga teachers and therapists I know. Her work and drive to help people with trauma become more connected to themselves is deeply moving. She has taken her own trauma and mobilised to truly help those in need. It was a privilege to hold this conversation and I feel it's a great tool for yoga teachers to begin to see how they can connect to working with those who have trauma" *Scott Johnson - November 2020* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with *Zephyr Wildman,* Taylor Hunt and Greg Nardi.
	06 Nov 2022	#038: Pamela Weiss \| A Fierce Feminine Buddhism	01:23:51
In this heart felt conversation Scott Johnson talks to Pamela Weiss, the first layperson to receive dharma transmission in the Soto Zen tradition. They talk openly about her life of Buddha dharma practice and her book, A Bigger Sky: Awakening A Fierce Feminine Buddhism. --- We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Yoga community. We teach in-person in London Bridge and live stream online Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes, with weekly yoga clinics and philosophy sessions guided by Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It’s a beautiful way to navigate these times… --- About Pamela Weiss Pamela Weiss is the first layperson in the Suzuki Roshi Soto Zen lineage to receive full Dharma Transmission, and is among the few Buddhist teachers authorised to teach in two traditions—Zen and Theravada. After living as a monastic at Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery for five years, she completed comprehensive training through Spirit Rock Meditation Centre to become an Insight meditation teacher. She is currently a member of the Spirit Rock Teacher Council and a guiding teacher at San Francisco Insight. In addition, Pamela is an executive coach, entrepreneur, and pioneer in bringing Buddhist principles and practices into the workplace. She created the award-winning Personal Excellence Program, which, since 2008, has rolled out to thousands of people at companies like Genentech and Salesforce. Pamela lives in San Francisco with her husband and little dog, Grover. Find out more about Pamela here. A Fierce Feminine Buddhism – Pamela’s Conversation. In this open and honest conversation Scott talks to Pamela Weiss about her years of Buddha dharma practice and teaching, Pamela shares how her practice helped her come to terms with a diabetes diagnosis from a young age. She also shares how she became the first layperson to receive dharma transmission in the Soto Zen lineage. Pamela talks about her new book, A Bigger Sky. Part memoir, part historical it’s a deep look at how Buddhism can be reoriented through a more inclusive feminine lens. --- *“As I begin to have more conversations with Buddha Dharma teachers authentic voices are so important. Pamela Weiss is one of them and this conversation* was so rich. She has led a powerful life of practice and teaching and has been deeply moved by the world. This in turn has guided her direction which has culminated in her beautiful book A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism. It’s a must read for anyone who is looking to see spiritual practice can move beyond our own minds to serve others…” *Scott Johnson – November 2022* *---* If you enjoyed this podcast you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with *Ty Powers, Frank Jude Boccio* and Sarah Powers.
	10 Oct 2020	#19: Laruga Glaser \| Leaning In To Vulnerability	01:21:36
#019: Laruga Glaser Scott talks to Laruga Glaser on her life as a yoga student and teacher of Ashtanga yoga. She also shares her experience as a woman of colour in the yoga industry. On 3rd June Laruga shared a 52:39 face to camera Instagram post on her experience as a POC in Ashtanga yoga. The majority of her conversation (with Scott) references Laruga's post. It would be highly beneficial to watch this whole share. It is beautiful, powerful and raw.... Laruga Glaser was first drawn to yoga in 1996, and after coming across Ashtanga in 1998 she fully immersed herself in the method and now has over 20 years of dedicated Ashtanga yoga practise. She made her first trip to Mysore to study at KPJAYI in 2007 and has returned every year ever since. A committed student, an advanced practitioner and a Certified teacher, Laruga endeavours to pass on the tradition of Ashtanga yoga. Laruga shares the teachings of Ashtanga yoga as an act of deep love with which she aspires to create an open, challenging and inspiring space in which each individual who comes to her can realise their full potential. Laruga leads the Ashtanga Yoga program at Yogayama in Stockholm, Sweden and teaches workshops and retreats around the world. You can find out more about Laruga's teaching schedule here. Leaning in to Vulnerability - Laruga Glaser. Scott and Laruga have a beautifully open conversation on Laruga's life as a student and teacher of Ashtanga yoga. She shares how she left a corporate life to become one of the most recognised faces in Ashtanga Yoga. She also shares how she has had to struggle as a woman of colour in the world of yoga and push hard to get to where she is. Scott and Laruga also talk about how to make yoga spaces more diverse. In this inspiring conversation Laruga shares: The ways that yoga has landed for her many times in her life, right from the very first time - a series of ‘aha’ moments, of finding inner stillness. How she began practising by following Iyengar-inspired videos by Patricia Walden and Rodney Yi, which helped her to release back pain and encouraged her to carry on practising. How she started learning Ashtanga from David Swenson’s videos and books, which she considers to be her first virtual teacher That despite ‘doing things wrong’, like not holding the drishti or poses for long enough, she still felt a shift, another ‘aha’ moment How Ashtanga felt ‘complete’ to her Her sense of finally feeling at home when she found yoga, that she was in her space, where she’s supposed to be. That while she was at university in Ohio she found an ad in the student paper for 90 days of yoga for $90 - she went every single day. That she found Laurel Howdry, her first Ashtanga yoga teacher, in her last year of university, How her dedicated Ashtanga practise kept her sane and grounded while she was on a corporate career path. That when she found herself at a crossroads between her career and yoga, she decided to follow yoga. When she made her first trip to Mysore in 2007 it was to be a student, to go and study at the source. How she began teaching internationally after that first trip to Mysore, when a fellow student invited her to teach in Taiwan. About her 14 trips to Mysore and how the energy in the new shala still remains the same The importance of being a student. The strong energetic pull she felt that led her to share in depth on about the lack of diversity in Ashtanga yoga, and how it was a vulnerable thing for her to do. About how it finally felt like people were collectively willing to listen to her experience, despite having been speaking out on individual level for years That she spoke out for the people who didn't feel they fit in About having to deal with microaggressions from within the yoga community, and how she’s been the one who’s had to do the work unpacking these. That these uncomfortable moments have pushed her to a place of confidence, having transformed toxicity into something positive. That she’s nurtured a culture of diversity in her Mysore room, making all people feel welcome and comfortable. About feeling overwhelmed by the response to her video, with many people of colour sharing their experience that yoga spaces don't feel conducive to people from diverse backgrounds, and that the practise feels elitist in a socio-economic sense. How she challenges organisers when she teaches in countries where people of colour are the majority but not represented in her workshop. Her experience of resistance within the Ashtanga yoga community to discuss uncomfortable things. How she’s experienced dismissiveness from her peers, a sense of being ‘put in her place’ About her relationship with her father, a white European, who’s done the work and who sees diversity as a beautiful thing That she’s learned more from her dad through seeing example than the yoga teachers she used to look up to That we don’t need to look so far outside ourselves for these lessons. What it means to her to live a contemplative life. ‘'This conversation with Laruga was so valuable to have. She shares so openly about how she has had to navigate the yoga world as a woman of colour and how she has created a diverse and mindful yoga space in her home of Stockholm. Her courage and strength in speaking out is so inspiring. We are left with how we can find ways to navigate open conversations that matter. To listen... *Scott Johnson - September 2020* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Wambui Njuguna Räisänen, Deepika Mehta* and Ann Weston.*
	17 Jan 2021	#024: Daniel Simpson \| The Truth of Yoga	01:22:00
#024: Daniel Simpson Scott talks to Daniel Simpson, on his life as a yoga philosophy teacher and practitioner. Daniel presents ancient texts for modern times. He is the author of *The Truth of Yoga, a comprehensive guide to the historic tradition and texts of yoga for contemporary practitioners. We'd like to invite you to join our growing* Stillpoint Online Ashtanga Yoga and Mindfulness community. We live stream beginner classes, Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes with evening mindfulness sessions over 6 days with Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It's a beautiful way to navigate these times... Daniel Simpson's work is informed by his master's degree in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation (SOAS, University of London), and draws on his earlier experience as a foreign correspondent. He combines scholarly knowledge with humour and insight, making yoga philosophy accessible and relevant to practitioners today. Daniel teaches courses online, at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, at Triyoga in London, around the UK and internationally. With two decades of experience, he aims to help students explore their own path. You can find out more about Daniel’s work and courses here. You can also purchase Daniel's book - The Truth of Yoga - here. The Truth of Yoga - Daniel Simpson Scott and Daniel have known each other since 2015 and in that time Daniel has become a highly regarded yoga philosophy teacher and academic. In this wide ranging conversation they share insights and stories on the last 15 years of change in the yoga world surrounding how yoga philosophy and history is taught. Daniel also shares personal stories and insights from his own life that compelled him to write his new book - The Truth Of Yoga. *In this wide ranging conversation Daniel shares:* About his euphoric experience during a silent meditation retreat, which completely transformed his relationship with the world and himself. How this transcendent experience transformed his asana practise into a practise of embodied consciousness, a physical practise for training the mind. His thoughts on the relationship between hedonism and spirituality. The connection between Vedic soma rituals and yoga, and the relationship between soma and ayahuasca. How yoga can become an addiction in itself, and about learning to identify and deal with these patterns. That the project of yoga was never about experiencing bliss, but an extreme solution for escaping samsara. About his book - The Truth of Yoga, which distills complex ideas into an accessible format His response to the question: ‘What is yoga?’ His previous work as a journalist and his move into academia, and how both have influenced his approach to writing. Why accuracy is important when presenting historic texts about yoga. The enduring effect of Yoga Body by Mark Singleton and how it influenced the academic study of physical yoga That he hopes his book ‘The Truth of Yoga’ will be used as a bridge between academic researchers and yoga practitioners. About the different and contradictory threads of yoga: dual and non-dual, householder and renunciate. How we can maintain traditional aspects in contemporary physical yoga. About his first trip to India, and his experience of attending the Kumbh Mela in 2001. How yoga ultimately helped him recognise, understand and deal with his issues with substance abuse. How yoga scholarship is a form of practise, a discipline in itself. How living a contemplative life is all about relationship: how we relate to the moment, relate to ourselves, and relate to others. A moment-by-moment engagement with reality. Daniel is a breath of fresh air. His knowledge on the philosophy and history of yoga is so deep yet he is able to share it in a beautifully open, simple and understandable way. I loved having this conversation with Daniel and got so much from it. This is a must for people interested in how the teaching of yoga philosophy and history has changed over the past 10 - 15 years.. *Scott Johnson - January 2020* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Dr Matthew Clark, Taylor Hunt and Zephyr Wildman.
	20 May 2021	#027: Kino Macgregor \| Yoga and Covid	01:04:50
Scott has an open, honest and heartfelt conversation with colleague and international yoga teacher Kino Macgregor about Covid-19 and the year of the pandemic. _______________ We'd like to invite you to join our growing Stillpoint Online Ashtanga Yoga and Mindfulness community. You can sign up for a free yoga and meditation course and a free week on our online platform here. We live stream beginner classes, Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes with evening mindfulness sessions, yoga philosophy and restorative yoga over 6 days with Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It's a beautiful way to navigate these times... _______________ Scott and Kino talk about their own personal experiences around the global pandemic. They talk about the divisions that have become apparent within the yoga community as a result of the pandemic, the danger inherent in confining ourselves to our own online echo chambers, and the potential for healing by learning to listen to each other in these fraught and fragile times. Links to topics covered in the conversation: Kino's vaccination Instagram post on 23rd April 2021. Kino's response to the above Instagram post on 23rd April 2021 Jo Herman's long covid articles in The Guardian With over 1 million followers on Instagram and over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube and Facebook, Kino MacGregor is one of the world’s most recognisable yoga teachers. She is a Miami native and mango enthusiast. A sought-after yoga teacher, she has written four books and has produced six DVDs on Ashtanga yoga. She is the founder of Omstars, and co-founder of the Miami Life Center. A dedicated Ashtanga student, she was Certified to teach the method by Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. She continues to study in Mysore with her teacher Sharath, and is dedicated to sharing Ashtanga yoga with practitioners all over the world. Kino’s international schedule includes classes, privates, workshops and retreats. You can find out more about Kino’s teaching schedule here. I reached out to Kino after seeing her address the negative comments she received after being vaccinated. I've personally wanted to have this particular conversation all year. To be able to have it with Kino, one of the most recognisable yoga teachers in the world and someone who is as passionate about this incredibly important issue as I am, felt really valuable. I hope this conversation helps to create more dialogue in the yoga world as we move forward from the pandemic... Scott Johnson - May 2021
	31 Dec 2022	Reflections 2022 - What does it mean to live a contemplative life?	00:23:18
Scott shares intimate moments with his guests over the year. Hear beautiful words from his conversations with Ty Landrum, Sarah Powers, Ty Powers, Nadia Gilani, Pamela Weiss, Shyam Ranganathan and Jon Yuen. You can listen to all this years episodes here. Scott also intersperses the guests words with poetry that has inspired him over the year, words that he has shared with his online and workshop communities. Listen to poems from Derek Mahon, Julia Fehrenbacher, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Rumi and more... We hope you have a happy and prosperous 2023 from all of us at Stillpoint.
	12 Dec 2021	#033: J.Brown \| How Yoga Talks	01:41:57
Scott talks to yoga teacher, writer and renowned podcast host J.Brown ________ We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Yoga community. We teach in-person in London Bridge and live stream online Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes, with weekly yoga clinics and philosophy sessions guided by Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. We also have a growing library of on-demand content. It’s a beautiful way to navigate these times… Also, consider joining our Patreon community. We share these podcasts every 2 weeks and would love your feedback, input and support. You can even join a monthly live call to share your thoughts. _________ J.Brown has been practising yoga for nearly thirty years, and teaching for almost twenty. In that time he taught at studios in New York, managed his own studio, and has been an early adopter of teaching yoga online. His ‘Yoga Talks’ is one of the most widely listened to yoga podcasts - you can listen to his episode with Scott Johnson here. J came to yoga after his mum died at a young age. Yoga made him feel better, even in moments when he thought feeling better wasn’t possible. Yoga helped J. to process his grief, and over time his practise evolved from a physically intense asana practise to something more gentle. J. went on to develop his own personal teaching style of ‘gentle is the new advanced’. In this wide-ranging conversation, J. shares about the challenges of establishing himself as a ‘gentle’ yoga teacher when power yoga was at its peak. J. talks about how his podcast developed, as well as the push-back he has received as a result of his decision to publish certain podcast episodes. Throughout the conversation, J. keeps coming back to how yoga is a practise of praise. Where once he might have distanced himself from it, now he embraces his spirituality and the mystical wonder of life. You can find out more about J.’s work here. ‘J hosts one of the leading yoga podcasts of the past five years and has spoken to hundreds of people. He was also a great help in setting the Stillpoints Podcast up. In speaking to J I wanted to get underneath what is meaningful for him. This conversation is at one point informative and another so tender. I so appreciated J allowing me to go on a journey with him...' *Scott Johnson - December 2021* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Frank Jude Boccio, Zephyr Wildman, Lucille Meyer and Dr Matthew Clark
	23 Feb 2020	#012: Dr Matthew Clark \| A Naturally Sceptical Mind	01:08:29
#012: Dr Matthew Clark Scott talks to Dr Matthew Clark, a long term yoga practitioner, philosophy teacher and academic. Since 2004, Dr. Matthew Clark has been a Research Associate at SOAS, University of London. He is one of the administrators of the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies in London and is one of the editors of the Journal of Yoga Studies. His publications include: The Daśanāmī-Saṃnyāsīs: The Integration of Ascetic Lineages into an Order (2006), which is a study of a sect of sādhus; The Tawny One: Soma, Haoma and Ayahuasca (2017), which is an exploration of the use of psychedelic plant concoctions in ancient Asia and Greece; The Origins and Practices of Yoga: A Weeny Introduction (revised edition) (2018). You can find more about Matthew’s work here. _____________ A Naturally Sceptical Mind - Dr Matthew Clark Scott and Matthew have know each other for over 15 years. Scott first met Mathew 15 or so years ago where Scott hosted Matthew for a workshop on Sadhus. Scott saw in Matthew a deep knowledge yet a deeply open outlook. Scott and Matthew spoke in November 2019 was Matthew's home in Brighton. They have a wide ranging conversation on Matthew's life as yoga practitioner, researcher and academic. Matthew shares openly has way in to yoga and contemplative practice in the early 1970s through hallucinogens, how his inquisitiveness led him to India to study with many gurus and was sceptical of all of them, how he moved into academia to research yoga history and philosophy and now how his life's work has turned into the study of Soma, a deity and ritual drink that dates back to the Rig Veda. In this conversation Matthew talks openly about hallucinogenics and plant medicine. While always taking incredible care when taking decisions ingesting anything that changes the way you see the world, Matthew explains in detail the context these drinks and potions were taken in relation to the ancient vedic tradition of ritual. *'Matthew is such a rich source of personal experience and academic knowledge. He has truly studied himself to understand how mystical experiences and yoga are* *related. This vast conversation brings a deeply historical lens to the ancient practices of yoga and how we can perhaps relate to them now.* Scott Johnson - January 2020 If you like this podcast then also listen to *Scott’s conversation with Danny Paradise, who like Matthew is interested in yoga as a mystical experience.*
	08 Apr 2023	#043: Peter Levitt on How Mindfulness Is Creativity	01:26:23
In this beautiful and enlightening conversation Scott Johnson talks to Zen teacher, poet and author Peter Levitt about his book Fingerpainting On The Moon, his life as a Soto Zen practitioner and poet and how we can all use contemplative practices to find our own unique creative process. --- We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Online Yoga community. For just £20 per month you can support the podcast and every Monday evening, between 7.30pm - 8.30pm UK time, join our live stream yoga philosophy, mindfulness, pranayama and discussion sessions hosted by Scott Johnson. You can also gain access to our growing Stillpoint Online library of helpful yoga and mindfulness content and connect with others on a private messaging group. We look forward to welcoming you to our community --- Peter Levitt on How Mindfulness Is Creativity Scott and Peter talk openly about his life as a writer and a Zen practitioner. Peter shares: About his early years of growing up with chronic illness How his early life spending time on his own was the catalyst to his learning his craft How he discovered Zen at the end of the sixties. How he begun to understand how his creative process comes from him How the art of practice is intimacy How all relationship is intimacy Who the great Soto Zen master Dogen was. How non-separation is the key to creativity How creativity is expressed without language. How poetry lands in someone. How we finds words that move through us. How the language of poetry carries ineffable words. On how we are all creators About his book Fingerpainting On The Moon Seeing that we have choice with what we do with this moment --- About Peter Levitt Peter Levitt is authorized as a Zen teacher within the Suzuki-roshi lineage, and as a preceptor within the White Plum Asanga. He is is the founder and guiding teacher of Salt Spring Zen Circle on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia where he lives with his wife and fellow poet Shirley Graham, Peter is the author of seventeen books of poetry and prose including Within Within, One Hundred Butterflies and Bright Root, Dark Root. In 2003 Peter wrote Fingerpainting on the Moon: Writing and Creativity as a Path to Freedom a beautiful meditation on finding our own unique creative process. A longtime student of Zen, he edited Thich Nhat Hanh’s classic,The Heart of Understanding, and recently he served as Associate Editor of The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye – Zen Master Dogen’s Shobo Genzo, edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi (pictures above with Peter) and he co-edited, with Tanahashi, The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master. In addition, Peter has published many fiction and literary translations from Chinese, Japanese and Spanish. In late 2022 Peter released his latest book of translations, Yin Mountain: The Immortal Poetry of Three Daoist Women, co-translated with Rebecca Nie. You can find links to these books in the show notes. Governor General Award recipient, Robert Hilles said of Peter books One Hundred Butterflies and Within Within, “these are master works that reveal the interconnected fabric of it all in ways that will leave you stunned.” And Legendary poet, Robert Creeley, wrote that Peter Levitt’s poetry “sounds the honor of our common dance,” and, in 1989 Peter received the prestigious Lannan Foundation Award in Poetry. Find our more about Peter Levitt here: Website Wikipedia Peter's books on Amazon --- "Peter's book Fingerpainting On The Moon is a roadmap to getting underneath our own creative process. This conversation with Peter Leviit is beautiful and helps us to consider how we can make our way through this precious life with openness. It is one of my favourite conversations and has changed the way I see my own creativity." *Scott Johnson - April 2023* --- If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Pamela Weiss*, Sarah Powers* and *Frank Jude Boccio.*
	13 Nov 2021	#31: Ellen Johannesen \| Ashtanga and Buddhism	01:16:38
Scott talks to Ashtanga yoga teacher Ellen Johannesen. A professional dancer at the time, Ellen travelled to the Lakshmipuram Institute (the ‘old old’ Shala) in 1997 where she spent three months studying with Pattabhi Jois. ------- You can become part of our Stillpoints Podcast Patreon Community and get weekly updates on the podcast, plus a monthly Stillpoints Podcast Live Stream Chat where you can talk to Scott about the conversations past, present and future. We'll also get some of the previous guests involved too. ------- Since then, Ellen’s sadhana has seen her live in a Buddhist monastery alongside five-thousand monks, learning Tibetan in Kathmandu, and studying Buddhism with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. A devoted student, Ellen shares about finally feeling ready to take on the role of ‘teacher’, the value of learning the language of a spiritual tradition, the power of intention, and how contemplative practises can offer us all a different way of being in the world. You can find out more about Ellen’s work here. 'Ellen is a deeply committed practitioner who has devoted her life to the study of yoga and Buddhism since the turn of the century. This conversation really gets to the heart of what it means to study both Ashtanga and Buddhism and how it can become a deep part of your life .' Scott Johnson - November 2021
	26 Sep 2020	#18: Simon Borg-Olivier \| Finding The Real Yoga	01:41:47
#018: Simon Borg-Olivier Scott talks to Simon Borg-Olivier on his 50 years as a teacher and practitioner of yoga. Simon Borg-Olivier is a maverick and someone who has truly done his own research into how yoga works for him. Simon Borg-Olivier has been studying traditional forms of posture, movement and breathing for over 50 years. He has worked as a research-based scientist, exercise-based physiotherapist and a university lecturer. He has over 33 years experience teaching yoga, inspiring people all around the world. He co-founded Yoga Synergy in 1984 with Bianca Machliss, leading daily yoga classes, workshops, teacher training courses and international events. His passion for his work has brought him to understand the interconnectedness of the world around us, and the belief that we can make the world a better place by acknowledging and enhancing the connections within us and around us. The purpose of a yoga practise for Simon is to ‘lovingly encourage the circulation of energy and consciousness’ in the body, so that we can be in greater harmony with everything around us. You can find out more about Simon’s profile and teaching schedule here and his teacher training courses here Simon also has a new online Ashtanga Yoga course. You can access it here. Finding The Real Yoga – Simon Borg-Olivier Scott and Simon have an incredibly expansive conversation on SImon’s 50 year exploration into yoga and movement and his search for the ‘real’ yoga. Simon shares incredible stories of his time spent with some of the leading teachers of modern postural yoga and shares how he has formulated his unique approach to yoga teaching and practice. *In this inspiring conversation Simon shares:* How he was introduced to breathing techniques when he was very young. His fascination from an early age with the connection between yogis and nature. That for him, meditation is a deep deep process of the body and mind based on circulation of the blood in the body. How his approach to meditation resonated with the Iyengar teaching method. How meeting Professor Bim Dev Malik inspired him to see the possibilities of what yoga can achieve. That meeting Shandor Remete in 1985 really deepened his knowledge of Iyengar Yoga and sent him to meet BKS Iyengar in India, leading him to understand that only BKS Iyengar taught true Iyengar yoga. How he learnt Ashtanga yoga in 1985 from Robert Lucas, Cliff Barber and Danny Paradise. About meeting Pattabhi Jois in the 1990s, and w he’s still inspired by Ashtanga yoga. How he met TKV Desikachar, who was an influence too. How seeing and learning the Malakam practice in India inspired him greatly. Learning dasaran in Malakam was challenging but a way to connect with the Indian boys in India. The similarities between yoga postures and martial arts postures. About his time working in an Indian hospital. His decision to teach yoga rather than become an academic in 1992. How, as a result of a friend having a bad accident, he presented yoga exercises to doctors to help rehabilitate paraplegics. That training to be a physiotherapist was about being able to present yoga to doctors as a valid rehabilitation process. How becoming a physiotherapist changed his way of teaching people. His views on how easy it is to become a yoga teacher now, and why he set up his own teacher training programme. How Yoga Synergy became a system that could help benefit a wide range of people, basing it on traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga and adapting it for the modern body. How he healed from a back injury by changing how he moves as well as how he teaches, and how this non-traditional approach has been healing for himself and others. How care needs to be taken with yoga cueing so that their meaning and helpfulness doesn’t get lost or misunderstood How he met his teacher, Master Zhen Hua Yang, in 2007, who he continues to train with. How he sees his role as a teacher as learning from his mistakes and doing better job with his students than he did with himself. That the ultimate purpose of yoga is to realise that we are all one – a manifestation of connected consciousness – which we can start to realise by becoming physically connected with ourselves first. That, for him, the aim of yoga practice is to generate loving information and communication in the body by freeing good energy, and becoming yama and niyama in action. That, ultimately, it’s all about love. *Simon talks about:* Shandor Remete BKS Iyengar Prashant Iyengar Cliff Barber. ‘To me Simon Borg-Olivier is a teacher’s teacher. A modern day icon and maverick in the yoga world. He is a visionary and has never rested on his laurels, always learning… This conversation get’s behind how he has become the yogi we know and love. An essential listen for all modern day yoga practitioners who are on a quest for real yoga…. *Scott Johnson – September 2020* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Danny Paradise, Ann Weston, and Dr Matthew Clark.
	09 Oct 2022	#037: Nadia Gilani \| The Yoga Manifesto	01:32:45
In this raw and wide-ranging conversation Scott Johnson talks to Nadia Gilani, yoga teacher and author of The Yoga Manifesto. They both go deep on yoga, practice, life, creativity and the shadows and light of yoga that Nadia discusses in her her new book, The Yoga Manifesto. ----- We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Yoga community. We teach in-person in London Bridge and live stream online Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes, with weekly yoga clinics and philosophy sessions guided by Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. We also have a growing library of on-demand content. It’s a beautiful way to navigate these times… ----- About Nadia Gilani Nadia Gilani is a yoga teacher and author of The Yoga Manifesto published earlier this year (May 2022). She first discovered yoga after her mum took her to a class in the 1990s and has been practicing ever since. Nadia has extensive experience of working with people with different bodies and from all walks of life and is deeply committed to making yoga inclusive. Her approach to teaching is contemporary and explorative while maintaining a deep respect for the ancient practice. Find out more about Nadia here and connect to her instagram account here. The Yoga Manifesto - Nadia's Conversation. Nadia shares how her yoga practice became a way to make sense of her body and forge new relationships with it. She shares intimate details of how this new intimacy formed her love of yoga practice and why she then felt compelled to write about how the practice she loves needs to find its soul again. Nadia also shares about the creative process, about birthing a book into the world and how even now, with the book getting rave reviews, she still questions why people would read what she has to say. We are left with the understanding that a voice like Nadia's could never stay quiet. And we are all the better for it... And as a beautiful ending to the podcast Nadia reads an excerpt from her book "Nadia has written a brave and inspiring book that points to the way yoga has changed over the years. She shares in a beautifully raw way how yoga moved her, where she finds it now and Nadia also challenges us to look at the practice we hold dear with tender eyes. The Yoga Manifest is a powerful new book that is essential reading for all avid yoga practitioners." *Scott Johnson - October 2022* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Ty Powers, Lucille Meyer and Greg Nardi
	31 Jan 2021	#025: Eddie Stern \| The Yoga Dialogue	01:21:22
Scott talks to yoga teacher and educator Eddie Stern about his early life as a seeker of yoga and how the deeply spiritual aspects of his life evolved through his impact with India and hindu temples. Scott has known Eddie since 2014 and has co-hosted him in the UK twice. Both times Eddie performed Puja’s at the workshops and these were deeply moving rituals. Scott talks to Eddie about the evolution of this side of his teaching and practice. Also in the conversation Eddie and Scott talk about: teaching online; non-physical aspects of yoga; samskaras and how they shape our actions; the relationship between science and ritual; how understanding the tools of yoga can let us use them more effectively; his decision to change how he teaches; and, the pain caused by the sexual abuse comitted by Pattabhi Jois. We’d like to invite you to join our growing Stillpoint Online Ashtanga Yoga and Mindfulness community. We live stream beginner classes, Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes with evening mindfulness sessions over 6 days with Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It’s a beautiful way to navigate these times… Eddie Stern has been practising yoga since 1987. He ran his school in New York, from 1993-2019. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s it became a focal point for Ashtanga Yoga in New York for an eclectic group of spiritual seekers that included downtown artists and well known celebrities. He studied Ashtanga yoga under K. Pattabhi Jois and R. Sharath Jois, and he continues to study philosophy, Sanskrit, ritual, science, and religion, while maintaining a daily yoga practice. Together with his wife, Jocelyne, Eddie founded Manhattan’s first Vedically consecrated Ganesh Temple: The Broome Street Temple (2001-2015). Projects that Eddie has either founded, been involved in, or contributed to include: Black Yoga Teachers Alliance, Yoga and Science Conferences; Urban Yogis in the UK and New York; LIFE Camp; Namarupa magazine; Set/Reset; and the Inner Peace Network. He is the author of ‘One Simple Thing: A New Look at the Science of Yoga and How It Can Transform Your Life’. His most recent offering, created in collaboration with Jocelyne and Sergey Varichev, is The Breathing App, a free app with breathing exercises aimed at reducing stress and anxiety. Eddie has just released a brand new app called yoga365, 365 short daily practices that you can do every day. You can find out more about Eddie’s work and courses here. "Eddie Stern has been one of the foremost teachers of Ashtanga yoga over the past twenty five years and was teacher at Ashtanga Yoga New York for over twenty. He is a deeply devoted practitioner and teacher of yoga and shares it with such deep respect to the Indian tradition. I loved talking to Eddie about this side of his practice. There is so much to take from this inspiring conversation." *Scott Johnson - January 2021*
	01 Apr 2023	#042: Waylon Lewis on The Story of Elephant Journal	01:31:34
In this deeply inspiring and wide ranging conversation Scott talks to Waylon Lewis on his life as a buddhist and the growth of the world renowned yoga and wellness magazine, Elephant Journal. --- We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Online Yoga community. For just £20 per month you can support the podcast and every Monday evening, between 7.30pm - 8.30pm UK time, join our live stream yoga philosophy, mindfulness, pranayama and discussion sessions hosted by Scott Johnson. You can also gain access to our growing Stillpoint Online library of helpful yoga and mindfulness content and connect with others on a private messaging group. We look forward to welcoming you to our community --- About Waylon Lewis Waylon Lewis, founder of Elephant Journal & host of Walk the Talk Show with Waylon Lewis, is a 1st generation American Buddhist “Dharma Brat.” Voted #1 in U.S. on twitter for #green two years running, Changemaker & Eco Ambassador by Treehugger, Green Hero by Discovery’s Planet Green, Best (!) Shameless Self-Promoter at Westword’s Web Awards, Prominent Buddhist by Shambhala Sun, & 100 Most Influential People in Health & Fitness 2011 by “Greatist”, Waylon is a mediocre climber, lazy yogi, 365-day bicycle commuter & misses his best friend Redford (his rescue hound of 14 years). His aim: to bring the good news re: “the mindful life” beyond the choir & to all those who didn’t know they gave a care. elephantjournal.com His dream of 12 years, the Elephant “Ecosystem” will find a way to pay 1,000s of writers a month, helping reverse the tide of low-quality, unpaid writing & reading for free online. His first book, Things I would like to do with You, touches on modern relationships from a Buddhist point of view. His second book, It’s Never too Late to Fall in Love with Your Life, is available, here. Find our more about Waylon Lewis here: Elephant Journal Instagram Facebook --- Waylon Lewis on The Story of Elephant Journal Scott and Waylon take a deep dive into his life and how Elephant Journal became a major figure in the wellness industry. Waylon shares: About growing up in a Buddhist school. How loneliness taught him about contemplative practise How he began Elephant Journal How Elephant was originally a yoga magazine. Why he called it Elephant Journal How he began practicing yoga How Elephant compared with Yoga Journal and other publications. How Elephant gave anyone the opportunity to write on the platform. How Elephant used pop culture to bring people to understand spiritual traditions. What actually clickbait is. How Instagram and Facebook changed the way we relate to each other. How EJ is now becoming a Community platform where anyone can write. The most important reading from his new book: ‘It’s Never Too Late To Fall In Love With Your Life’ --- "I really wanted to speak to Waylon about Elephant and how he grew a small local magazine to a worldwide publication that we all recognise. His story of growing up in a spiritual school and being a Buddhist is fascinating. And his sharing of the power of the big social media companies is food for us all. This is a fascinating insight into someone who has shaped part of our modern yoga and wellness culture" *Scott Johnson - March 2023* *---* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Pamela Weiss*, Sarah Powers* and *Frank Jude Boccio.*
	29 Aug 2020	#17: Greg Nardi \| Empowerment Through Ashtanga Yoga	01:28:42
#017: Greg Nardi Scott talks to close friend and colleague Greg Nardi on his life as an Ashtanga yoga practitioner and teacher. --- *In this podcast we talk about the sexual abuse commited by Pattabhi Jois on a number of his students over the years.* While this conversation centers Greg's experience, it is not meant to detract from the victim's experience. We acknowledge the sexual abuses and other abuses of power that have happened in the Ashtanga community and the ways in which community members can be trained not to see the abuses that happen in plain sight. This denial serves to hide the abuse and creates a culture that is unsafe for victims. It is our hope that this conversation will help those who are also in a process of reckoning with their relationship to yoga practice and community. *Below are links to the victims testimony and others of relevant interest:* Karen Rain’s #metoo testimony Jubliee Cooke’s #metoo testimony Anneke Lucas’s testimony Silenced Voices - A panel discussion involving Karen Rain, Jubilee Cooke and others on sexual abuse in the yoga community. --- Greg Nardi believes in the healing power of yoga for all. His style of teaching empowers students to discover the approach to the practice that is most beneficial for them. He has been practicing yoga since 1996, and is a 500 hr E-RYT with Yoga Alliance. He is currently director of Ashtanga Yoga Worldwide where he teaches workshops in yoga practice and theory internationally, and is co-director of Grassroots Yoga where he teaches in his home of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His work draws on his knowledge of the oral traditions of yoga, having studied Sanskrit chanting and yoga philosophy in Mysore, India. He also travelled to KPJAYI thirteen times, the first trip was in 1999. He was later authorised by Pattabhi Jois to teach Ashtanga yoga. He has studied extensively with teachers in North America and Europe, and he draws on his personal experience of practice, as well as his ongoing self-study of academic research in contemporary and traditional yoga. Greg resigned his authorization from KPJAYI in 2018. He now works with his colleagues at Amāyu yoga, developing an organization and learning pathway for Ashtanga teachers to help create safer spaces for yoga practitioners. Amāyu’s work is consent driven, practitioner centered, and based in practitioner empowerment. You can find out more about Greg’s teaching schedule here _____________ Empowerment through Ashtanga Yoga - Greg Nardi Scott and Greg have a deeply open and honest conversation on the evolution of yoga in Greg’s life. They have been close friends since 2013 and share in a moving conversation how the devotional aspect of yoga became a central part of Greg’s life and how Greg has shifted direction since he left KPJAYI. In this intimate conversation Greg shares: How he was drawn to the spiritual aspect of yoga from the very beginning. How he explored different yoga traditions, such as Jivamukti, before settling on Ashtanga yoga. The pull he felt to travel to Mysore, the home of Ashtanga yoga. His early misconception that ‘gurus’ have godlike aspects, and how until recently this formed a big part of his life and belief system. The immediate connection he felt when he first met K Pattabhi Jois. The romanticised image he had of Mysore during his first few trips there. How he witnessed K Pattabhi Jois’ abusive treatment of women, and his growing disillusionment with his teacher. The problems with his initial response to Karen Rain’s 2017 #metoo statement, and how he’s learned and evolved since then. How he had to let go of his conception of K Pattabhi Jois as his ‘guru’, and how as a response he changed his whole teaching process, rejecting the authoritarian model of the Ashtanga yoga teaching method. How the challenges of the last few years have shown him what yoga really means to him, and that things falling apart have helped him to feel more connected to himself. His belief that creating connection and personal agency for practitioners is key for developing Ashtanga yoga. ‘This is such a rich conversation. It shows how one can use their personal agency in their own practice to see that the light can grow from there, not anywhere else. Greg is one of the most considerate and compassionate teachers I’ve met and I’m so proud to call him a friend. We’ve had many conversations over the years and I’m so pleased that his wisdom, intelligence and insights are now available. He has really found a way to navigate himself into a new way of being after the huge disappointment he felt from his teachers behaviour.’ *Scott Johnson - August 2020* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Ian Cheney, David Keil, and Mark Robberds.
	30 Sep 2023	#045: Mark Williams on How We Created Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy	01:16:49
In this wide ranging conversation Scott Johnson talks to Dr Mark Williams, professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford and director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, about mindfulness meditation and its ability to treat and prevent depression. Mark was raised in a devout Christian household, and at a young age believed his calling was with the ministry. His path changed while studying clinical psychology at university, where he was drawn to the field of treating adult mental health. _____ We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Online Yoga community. For just £20 per month you can support the podcast and every Monday evening join The Still Space, our live stream yoga philosophy, mindfulness, pranayama and discussion sessions hosted by Scott Johnson. You can also gain access to our growing Stillpoint Online library of helpful yoga and mindfulness content. _____ Mark Williams - How We Created Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy In this conversation, Mark explains how cognitive therapy and mindfulness can be used to reduce the risk of relapse in people who have experienced depression. Mindfulness, unlike antidepressants and cognitive therapy, is uniquely effective as a preventative measure against poor mental health. By engaging in mindfulness even when we are not depressed, we can lower the risk of it affecting us in the first place. Among many rich and inspiring stories Mark shares how he developed MBCT after working with Jon Kabat Zinn, the founder of modern day mindfulness practices. Mark shares: How he developed MBCT with his colleagues and working directly with Jon Kabat Zinn How he experienced the transformational power of mindfulness meditation only after having abandoned it. How mindfulness and his Christian faith work in tandem, with surprising similarities between Buddhist awareness meditation and the Gospel of St John. How, within the Christian contemplative tradition, God can be understood as the ‘loving heart’ at the centre of the universe. How effective the combination of cognitive therapy and mindfulness is at reducing the risk of relapse. The limitations and contraindications of mindfulness. How liberation is to be found in the present moment, and that each moment is a possible moment of freedom. _____ About Mark Williams Mark Williams is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford, having held posts at the Medical Research Council’s Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at Cambridge and the University of Wales, Bangor. He co-developed Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy and founded the University of Oxford’s Mindfulness Centre that works to prevent depression and enhance human potential through the therapeutic use of mindfulness across the lifespan. His books include The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness (with John Teasdale, Zindel Segal and Jon Kabat-Zinn) and Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World (with Danny Penman). His most recent work focuses on how to sustain and deepen mindfulness through a programme that explores feeling tone (vedanā) 'frame by frame', as explained in Deeper Mindfulness (2023). You can find more about Mark here: Oxford Mindfulness Foundation Wikipedia Books "This conversation with Dr Mark Williams gives a beautiful insight into one of the foremost leaders in the field of mindfulness over the past 40 years. Mark shares not only his involvement in the growth of mindfulness based interventions but also about his own journey with mindfulness. It is one of my favourite conversations yet...." *Scott Johnson - September 2023* _____ If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with *Pamela Weiss, Peter Levitt*** and *Martin Aylward.*
	25 Apr 2020	#014: Mark Robberds \| Into The Unknown	01:18:02
#014: Mark Robberds Scott talks to Mark Robberds, a friend, senior Ashtanga yoga teacher and movement educator. Mark Robberds has been practicing yoga since 1997. He is one of the few people to be certified to teach Ashtanga Yoga by KPJAYI. Over the years he has become one of the leading figures of movement in yoga culture, pushing the boundaries around how yoga and movement can interrelate. Mark now lives in Bali with his wife Deepika Mehta where they teach Ashtanga yoga and movement intensives. You can find more here. Mark also shares widely on his Instagram page here. ________________ Into The Unknown - Mark Robberds Scott and Mark have been friends since 2018. This engaging, warm and beautiful conversation covers the span of Mark's life as a practitioner and teacher. Over the years Mark has taken leaps of faith and stepped into the unknown. He's had times when he's had to step back but his path has always been one of evolution. In the podcast Mark shares the choices and directions he has made that has turned him into the teacher and pioneering educator he is now. In this conversation Mark shares how: the experience of yoga first evolved in his life. his mum introduced him to Christian philosophy as a child. from a young age he had a philosophical outlook on the world. he reinvented himself aged twenty one by going travelling. his mum introduced him to yoga when he returned. he met his first teacher Nicky Knoff, who introduced him to Ashtanga yoga. he recovered from Dengue Fever through practicing yoga, which changed his mindset. he went back to Sydney and practiced at Yoga Moves with senior teacher Eileen Hall. he travelled to India for the first time and headed north, before travelling to Mysore to study with Pattabhi Jois. his experience of practicing in Mysore for the first month was. after leaving Mysore he had a cathartic experience and had to go back to Sydney. he apprenticed at Yoga Moves, which really helped him become part of the Ashtanga yoga community. he returned to Mysore to study at KPJAYI while continuing to learn from Eileen, which propelled his learning. in the early 2000’s he started practicing at Yoga Synergy with Simon Borg Olivier, seeing a lot of benefits to his teaching. he was exposed to the teachings of legendary teacher Shandor Remete. Clive Sheridan became a great influence in his life, his approach to yoga and Ashtanga yoga practice. he studied yoga philosophy in Mysore with Professor Nagaraj Rao in 2005 he sold everything to go away and discover himself. the book The Artist’s Way changed his life. he went to South America, where plant medicine helped him to clarify his direction and identity. in 2015 he discovered Instagram and Ido Portal, who had a deep impact on him. Richard Freeman influenced him. how he had to break away from the yoga practice to bring it back. his next journey is fatherhood. it is for him to live a contemplative life. *Mentioned in the Podcast:* *Teachers:Nicky Knoff, Eileen Hall, K.Pattabhi Jois, Simon Borg Olivier, Shandor Remete, Clive Sheridan, Professor Nagaraj Rao, Ido Portal, Richard Freeman Book:The Artists Way by Julia Cameron 'Mark's story is one of a 23 year movement of self discovery. He has never rested on his laurels and once he knew yoga was the path for him he set his focus on going deep. That his destiny was to just discover life unfolding. This conversation really teases out how going into the unknown can be a deep way of discovering where we can find our true path' Scott Johnson - April 2020* *If you enjoyed this podcast then also listen to* *Scott’s conversations with Danny Paradise, Joey Milesand Mark's wife, Deepika Mehta.*
	23 Jan 2022	#035: Sarah Powers \| Lit From Within	01:33:20
Scott Johnson talks to Sarah Powers, a long term teacher of yoga and Buddha Dharma, about her life of contemplative practice and its culmination in her new book 'Lit From Within'. We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Yoga community. We teach in-person in London Bridge and live stream online Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes, with weekly yoga clinics and philosophy sessions guided by Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. We also have a growing library of on-demand content. It’s a beautiful way to navigate these times… Also, consider joining our Patreon community. We share these podcasts every 2 weeks and would love your feedback, input and support. You can even join a monthly live call to share your thoughts. Sarah Powers is an author, therapist and co-founder of Insight Yoga Institute. Her work is led by a desire for healing, and over the past 35 years Sarah has explored a number of healing modalities. Her yoga practise began with Ashtanga in the company of Chuck Miller, Maty Ezraty, Tim Miller, and Richard Freeman. There she found a daily ritual, an invitation to explore what changes on the inside, when on the surface things might look the same. In this rich and generous conversation, Sarah shares how a profound experience she had while on retreat with Jack Kornfield deeply impacted her life. She’d been a yoga practitioner for over a decade at that point, but this was the time that it first truly made sense to her. Her previous practise served as a preparation for the Buddhist teachings she encountered. She studied both Theravada and Dzogchen, and saw comparisons with her previous studies in Advaita Vedanta. Sarah believes that underlying the multiplicity of teachers and traditions, they would all agree on the fundamental nature of freedom. Over time, Sarah moved away from teaching Ashtanga yoga and towards a more Yin based approach, but the essence of inquiry that she first found in Ashtanga remains. Now, she combines yoga with mindfulness meditation in her classes, integrating yoga and Buddha Dharma with the intention of introducing beginners to meditation. She is the author of Insight Yoga and her most recent book Lit from Within takes a holistic approach to healing our five experiential centres: the physical, energetic, mental, emotional, and interpersonal realms. You can find out more about Sarah’s work here. "This conversation with Sarah is so, so rich. I had wanted to speak to Sarah for a while, for her to expand on her beautiful view and experience on how the Buddha Dharma and yoga traditions blend together. I got so much and more. Sarah's wonderful and insightful way of seeing these practices and then sharing them is visceral and compelling. This conversation will leave you feeling like you've stepped right into the middle of Sarah's world. Full, inviting and so, so rich..." *Scott Johnson - January 2022* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Kia Naddermier, Martin Aylward and Ann Weston
	07 Sep 2019	#004: Liz Lark \| Yoga As A Creative Process	01:01:27
Scott talks to Liz Lark about her life. Scott and Liz have been friends and colleagues for nearly 15 years. Liz is one of the foremost and most well loved teachers of yoga in the UK over the last 30 years. She has written 8 books on yoga and brings a sense of creativity, fun and beautiful intelligence to the teaching and sharing of yoga. She continues to teach nationally and internationally and is on the faculty of the Yoga Campus teacher training program. You can find out more about Liz here. _____________ Yoga As A Creative Process 'I saw an angel in the stone and I carved until I set him free.' Michaelangelo Scott and Liz have a wide reaching conversation that spans her practice and teaching life. From her early practice years, where she worked with pioneers Derek Ireland and Radha Warrell to where she now mentors yoga teachers, Liz shares beautiful insights into how Ashtanga yoga evolved in London and the UK. She also shares how yoga has evolved for her and how she helps others to find their own creative process through her own ongoing discoveries. The conversation covers: How Scott and Liz met. Liz talks about how she began yoga. Liz talks about working with Derek Ireland and Radha Warrell at the legendary Practice Place in Greece learning Ashtanga yoga. How people had to travel to find yoga when she was younger. How Liz started teaching yoga. Liz’s relationship with her teacher Derek. Liz’s memories of Derek’s death in 1999. Working with Gingi Lee at the Sangam. Liz’s movement away from Ashtanga yoga. How yoga has became a deeply creative process for Liz. How Liz finds herself now. This podcast is like a little history lesson of the early UK and London ashtanga yoga scene. It also captures the evolution of a wonderful and inspiring free spirit, which Liz totally embodies. _____________ Show notes Teachers Mentioned Derek Ireland Radha Warrell Hamish Hendry John Scott Gingi Lee Godfrey Devereux Yoga Shala’s Mentioned Stillpoint Yoga London The Life Centre Gingi Lee’s The Sangam (now The Shala) Triyoga Special Mentions Oxford Yoga - Ian and Josephine Macdonald The Montiverdi Choir Books Mentioned The Endorphin Effect - William Bloom When Things Fall Apart - Pema Chodron
	24 Oct 2020	#020: Prem & Radha Carlisi \| Finding Humility Together	01:19:00
#020: Prem & Radha Carlisi Scott talks to Prem and Radha Carlisi (and their lovely dogs) about their friendship since 2008 and how they've evolved over an incredibly close, and tender, twelve years of knowing each other. --- We'd like to invite you to join our growing Stillpoint Online Ashtanga Yoga and Mindfulness community. We live stream Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes with evening mindfulness sessions over 6 days with Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It's a beautiful way to navigate these times... --- Anthony ‘Prem’ Carlisi and Heather ‘Radha’ Carlisi first came together as a teaching team in Sri Lanka in 2007. They felt a powerful synergy between their combined energy as teachers, which led them to continue to teach together internationally. They were married in 2013. In December 2008 they travelled to Bali, where in November 2009 they established the Ashtanga Yoga Bali Research Center (AYBRC). In their shala they teach in the tradition of K. Pattabhi Jois, with whom they both studied for many years. Prem first travelled to Mysore to study in 1978, and Radha in 1995 having begun her study of Ashtanga yoga with Chuck Miller in 1990. Following the example set by Krishnamacharya, they adapt their teaching to the individual needs of each student. They also apply their knowledge Ayurveda to their unique teaching style, blending the elements of Ashtanga yoga and Ayurveda to help students to achieve a balanced lifestyle well beyond their asana practise. Prem and Radha have many shared at AYBRC. You can find out more about their teaching schedule here. Finding Humility Together - Prem and Radha Carlisi In this moving conversation Scott, Prem and Radha share intimate and tender memories of their friendship over the past 12 years. Prem and Radha are deeply open and honest about how their relationship managed the passing of Prem's daughter Shanti in 2012 and how they navigated people coming to their Yoga Shala in Bali and their own yoga practices. We are left with hope.... In this deeply moving conversation Prem & Radha share: The challenges they’ve faced running a Mysore shala from Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic. How Scott contacted Prem in 2008 after reading ‘The Only Way Out is In’, and ended up hosting both Prem and Radha for a London workshop. Prem’s motivation for writing his book - to share his perspective as a ‘regular guy’ so that people would know that yoga is accessible to anyone. That after Radha’s first yoga class - which she found in the Yellow Pages - she told the teacher (Chuck Miller) that she was going to be a yoga teacher. About the incredible support Radha has given Prem in his work and in his personal life. About how they set up Ashtanga Yoga Bali together, and how it felt like everything was falling into place for them. That everything collapsed in 2013 with the death of Prem’s daughter, Shanti. How they managed to keep the shala open, with crowds coming to see them, while struggling to come to terms with this tragic loss. The thoughtless comments that Prem received about how, as a long term yogi, he should be able to deal with grief. How grief forces a deeper perspective to Ashtanga yoga practise beyond the physical. That teaching - being able to give to others - can be a solace, and that suffering can bring empathy. The sense of humbling humiliation that Prem felt, in the face of such grief after this life-changing loss, despite external material successes. Their intentions around organising Ashtanga yoga conferences, hoping to keep the community connected after K. Pattabhi Jois died. The responsibility that senior teachers have to pass on the subtler layers of practise that move beyond the physical. About why Ashtanga yoga is a constant process of discovery, rather than a static set of rules. How important it is to meet all students as individuals, and that teaching this way becomes a dance. That an ‘advanced’ practise isn’t necessary to experience the principles of Ashtanga yoga practise: breath, bandha, and drishti. The relationship between the ethereal aspects of practise and how they relate to our physical being. Learning to dance with the people in our lives and with ourselves: Nataraja, Shiva, the aspect of life and death. How Prem’s practise has become more contemplative over time, spending hours in meditation. How Radha has become more forgiving of herself, and that in finding more freedom in her practise she has a better understanding of who she is, rather than who she thinks she’s supposed to be. ‘'I've been wanting to have this conversation with my dear friends Prem and Radha since I started the Stillpoints Podcast. It is one of the tenderest and most open conversations I have had and I loved the candid honesty that both Prem and Radha bring. They share how they have navigated grief together and that this is now the foundation of their relationship. We're left with a sense of hope. That it's a dance... *Scott Johnson - September 2020* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with John Scott, Dr Matthew Clark* and Liz Lark.*
	15 Nov 2020	#021: Taylor Hunt \| Recovery Through Yoga	01:16:58
Scott talks to Ashtanga yoga teacher Taylor Hunt about how Ashtanga yoga has helped him through his recovery from addiction and how he now helps others using the same inspiring outlook. We’d like to invite you to join our growing Stillpoint Online Ashtanga Yoga and Mindfulness community. We live stream beginner classes, Ashtanga Yoga assisted self practice and guided classes with evening mindfulness sessions over 6 days with Scott Johnson and the Stillpoint teaching faculty. It’s a beautiful way to navigate these times… Taylor Hunt is a devoted practitioner of Ashtanga yoga and a passionate teacher of the traditional method. He was granted Level 2 authorisation in 2013 by his teacher Sharath Jois who he studies with in Mysore every year. His is a story of personal transformation. His book ‘A Way From Darkness’ is an inspiring account of his journey from addiction to health. He is director of the Trini Foundation, which shares the practice of Ashtanga with those suffering from addiction. Ashtanga yoga has been deeply healing in his life and he is dedicated to sharing the benefits with others. He teaches daily Mysore classes Ashtanga Yoga Columbus, where he supports the community of practitioners in their practice and their daily lives. He also offers workshops around the world. You can find out more about Taylor’s teaching schedule here. You can also contact the Trini Foundation if you are interested in learning more about their inspiring work. If you’ve been affected by any of the issues brought up in this conversation and need help you contact Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous (please note these links are UK based organisations). Recovery Through Yoga – Taylor Hunt In this honest and powerful conversation Scott and Taylor share intimate details about how their lives have been affected by addiction. Taylor has come such a long way in his sobriety and Scott from growing up in an alcoholic family. Their unique perspectives, particularly Taylor on how he has navigated his own recovery, is powerful and honest. In this moving conversation Taylor shares: What it means to be running a Mysore shala during the covid pandemic, and his decision to immediately hold classes online so he could carry on supporting his community About his book – Away from the Darkness, in which he writes about his journey from addiction to health. How he was convinced by his sponsor into taking his second yoga class after finding his first deeply uncomfortable because of everything it brought up. How he heard God speaking to him in savasana after that second class, telling, saying ‘you’re perfect, just the way you are’. He’d been sober for six months, and it was the first time he’d felt compassion and love for himself. He’s practised six days a week ever since. How sobriety rekindled his relationship with God. The relationship between being a Twelve Step sponsor and an Ashtanga teacher – the elements of coaching, accountability, and support. The daily work involved in staying sober, how he has to show up consistently in the program and on the mat. His reason for practising – that has to show up for sake of sobriety – means it’s life or death for him, as well as for a lot of people that he teaches, which is why he’s so passionate about showing up. The impact of his addiction on his family. The clarity after suffering he felt when his ex-wife took him for the treatment he needed. His deep gratitude for the second chance he’s been given That his first Ashtanga teacher was Laruga Glaser, who he practised with every day How he’s seen the practise help people, how it offers hope for escaping our samskaras. His belief in a higher power, whether it’s Jesus, Buddha, Vishnu, Shiva, Moses… they represent the same universal truths and inspire him in the same way, that his practice is like a prayer, a surrender to this higher power. The importance of being open with his children about his addiction. His work with the Trini Foundation, and how Ashtanga can help people in recovery The blessings in his life; his wife and his children That for him, living a contemplative life means showing up, and living a simple, uncomplicated life. ‘’Talking to Taylor was something I've wanted to do since I started the podcast. I’ve been personally affected by addiction from a young age, through my family, so to talk to Taylor about his recovery and how yoga has helped his sobriety felt deeply important top me. I was so deeply grateful at how honest Taylor was. I hope this helps others feel like they are not alone. Like Zephyr’s, its one of the most important and personal conversations I’ve had yet… *Scott Johnson – November 2020* If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with *Zephyr Wildman*.

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Stillpoints: A Podcast with Scott Johnson (Scott Johnson)

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About Jon Yuen

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Freedom to Move - Jon Yuen

#011: Joey Miles

‘This book is to help you sit like a mountain, so that when you see the big mountains you’ll know what to look for’.

Blending Yoga Traditions - Joey Miles

Joey talks about:

Show Notes

About David Swenson

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David Swenson on Practicing Yoga Because You Love It

Yoga and Recovery - Zephyr Wildman

Hokusai Says

About Shyam Ranganathan

Understanding Yoga Philosophy - Shyam Ranganathan

Movement Through Life - Jess Glenny

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Owning Your Practice

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Gregor Maehle on Yoga As A Mystical Experience

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About Gregor Maehle

Gregor Maehle on Yoga As A Mystical Experience

About Gregor Maehle

Gregor Maehle on Yoga As A Mystical Experience

About Gregor Maehle

Reclaiming Joy Through Heartbreak - Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen

About Ty Powers

Ty's Conversation.

Movement into Stillness - Deepika Mehta

#023: Kia Naddermier

The Practice of Pausing - Kia Naddermier

A Transformative Pathway

Show notes

A Broader Perspective On Practice

Create Your Own Way

Show Notes

#010: Ann Weston

62 Years of Practice - Ann Weston

Ann talks about:

Show Notes

Teachers mentioned

Bringing Yoga Home - Josefin Wikström

About Pamela Weiss

A Fierce Feminine Buddhism – Pamela’s Conversation.

#019: Laruga Glaser

Leaning in to Vulnerability - Laruga Glaser.

#024: Daniel Simpson

The Truth of Yoga - Daniel Simpson

#012: Dr Matthew Clark

A Naturally Sceptical Mind - Dr Matthew Clark

Peter Levitt on How Mindfulness Is Creativity

About Peter Levitt

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#018: Simon Borg-Olivier

Finding The Real Yoga – Simon Borg-Olivier

About Nadia Gilani

The Yoga Manifesto - Nadia's Conversation.

About Waylon Lewis

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Waylon Lewis on The Story of Elephant Journal

#017: Greg Nardi

Empowerment through Ashtanga Yoga - Greg Nardi

Mark Williams - How We Created Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy

About Mark Williams

#014: Mark Robberds

Into The Unknown - Mark Robberds

#020: Prem & Radha Carlisi

Finding Humility Together - Prem and Radha Carlisi

Recovery Through Yoga – Taylor Hunt

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