Episodes
Monday Oct 10, 2016
ANUPAYA: PRACTICE WITH THE LIGHTEST TOUCH
Monday Oct 10, 2016
Monday Oct 10, 2016
This podcast is a short account of our approach to yoga practice which seeks to keep technique simple and minimal. [Free. 26 minutes.]
Tuesday Sep 13, 2016
YOGA REGULATION? NO THANKS
Tuesday Sep 13, 2016
Tuesday Sep 13, 2016
This podcast addresses a situation current on planet Yoga in the UK and will be of special interest to UK Yoga teachers and teacher trainers. The situation I allude to is the decision made by a government licensed body [Skills Active] in conjunction with the British Wheel of Yoga to institute a 'National Occupational Standard' [NOS] for a Yoga teacher. This was attempted 12 years ago and didn't succeed, most likely because of considerable opposition from the Yoga Community. I give an outline of the history and the players in this mad game and then demonstrate that Yoga should not be regulated by any governmental agency or narrow interest. Rather, I contend, it is necessarily diverse and therefore beyond the scope of regulation. I then give an account of the Independent Yoga Network which was set up 12 years ago in the face of the first attempt at NOS to defend freedom and diversity and promote Yoga. [Free. 44 minutes.]
Wednesday Aug 10, 2016
PATANJALI'S ZEN: COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST SIX APHORISMS OF THE YOGA SUTRA
Wednesday Aug 10, 2016
Wednesday Aug 10, 2016
In this podcast, we comment on the first six aphorisms of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra. The podcast stands alone but is also intended to supply the background to a practical weekend to be held at The Parkdale Yoga Centre, Wolverhampton on October 22nd - 23rd 2016. This weekend is ideal for yoga teachers, dedicated practitioners and open-minded beginners in Yoga.
Saturday Jun 11, 2016
YOGA AND ANATOMY
Saturday Jun 11, 2016
Saturday Jun 11, 2016
This squib questions the relevance of anatomical study to the practice of Hatha Yoga and the training of 'yoga teachers'. Warning: lots of swearing. [Free. 33 minutes.]
Monday May 09, 2016
KUNDALINI
Monday May 09, 2016
Monday May 09, 2016
This podcast deals with many aspects of the Kundalini phenomenon, particularly the nature of the experience itself, the discourses surrounding it, the theories about it and the practices associated with it. [Free. 40 minutes.]
Saturday Apr 16, 2016
ON THE BODY [PART SIX]: THE SENSES AND PROCESS
Saturday Apr 16, 2016
Saturday Apr 16, 2016
This is a meander which attempts to elucidate the senses and perception. We start off by saying why it is preferable to consider the senses as though processes rather than structures are primordial, as indeed our life-world and lived experience suggest. [The philosophical tradition largely considers the senses through a structural metaphor which understands the human being as like a camera and this is briefly taken issue with.] The path of thought winds its way towards the intimation that the entanglement of the processes of nature, psyche, culture and consciousness which is human life allows the universe, potentially, to see itself. [Free. 59 minutes.]
Friday Apr 01, 2016
ON THE BODY [PART FIVE]: SEX, NATURE, CULTURE & ENLIGHTENMENT
Friday Apr 01, 2016
Friday Apr 01, 2016
As always this is wide-ranging. We discuss the nature of sexual arousal, sexual practices and the ideas people have about sex, attempting as we go to free ourselves from the conceptual straight-jacket imposed by the popular binary nature-culture. This naturally {!} leads to a consideration of sexual taboos and the transgression of them in Dionysiac/Tantric orgies and a fleeting analysis of the emancipatory potential of raw joy - ananda. We find it useful to identify two recognizable modes of consciousness aroused by sex. In one, fantasy is intensified. In the other fantasy is attenuated and 'immediate' sensations take over. [Free. 53 minutes.]
Thursday Mar 17, 2016
ON THE BODY [PART FOUR]: THE BODY DIES
Thursday Mar 17, 2016
Thursday Mar 17, 2016
The body dies. In this podcast we critically reflect on the existential and cultural consequences of the fact of life that the body dies. [Free. 36 minutes.]
Thursday Mar 10, 2016
ON THE BODY [PART THREE]: ANCIENT AND CARTESIAN DUALISM
Thursday Mar 10, 2016
Thursday Mar 10, 2016
In this podcast we outline and evaluate ancient and Cartesian mind-body dualism. We find both of these doctrines incoherent and life-negating and attempt to point towards more easeful attitudes towards the body and life itself. [Free. 29 minutes.]
Sunday Mar 06, 2016
ON THE BODY [PART TWO]: THE EMBODIMENT OF THOUGHT
Sunday Mar 06, 2016
Sunday Mar 06, 2016
We start this podcast with a discussion of the way that walking affects thought and how this significantly draws our attention to the physiological, biological correlation between thought and the living body. We go on to take issue with a variety of dualisms and fragmentary accounts of the human being that all inevitably end up dis-valuing the body. We point out the longevity and ubiquity of contempt for the body, encouraged by religious asceticism, and outline the joyous possibilities that open up when it is dropped. Dramatis Personae: Nietzsche, Robert Graves, Arjuna, Simon the Stylite. [Free. 25 mins.]