Heart Yoga Radio

ON BREATH

In this podcast I give a brief outline of breath disciplines described by Patanjali and Svatmarama and discuss their practicality and significance. I draw attention to the common tendency to manipulate the mind-body complex and endow the resultant effects with significance derived from received models of the human being and metaphysical narratives. I ask, 'how do these fit in with the fact that this is it?' [Free. 26 minutes.]

ON THE BODY [PART ONE]: YOGA AND THE BODY

This is the first part of a series on the human body. It deals with various attitudes to the body found within yoga culture and texts and attempts to evaluate them against their usefulness for life. I also propose that the affirmation of the human body and the attribution of the highest value to it is essential to Yoga practice. Accordingly, the value of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika lies in the fact that it refrains from condemnation of the body whilst reminding us that "Hatha is for Raja". This recording was first put out on YouTube some time ago. We're repeating it here because it touches on many of the themes we want to explore in more detail in this series. [Free. 30 mins.]

PATANJALI ON PRANAYAMA

This short podcast is stimulated by Yoga Sutras 2.49 to 2.52. In these few short aphorisms, Patanjali outlines four elements of pranayama.The first three prefigure the  much later Hatha Yoga pranayama of Svatmarama which is an operation of will upon the body, particularly upon rhythms of breath. The fourth pranayama is a more subtle breath disciplne which reveals the 'light'! [19 minutes. Free]