Finding Harmony Podcast Harmony Slater

We can not wait to introduce you to our guest this week: Michael Baidoo. Michael is very unique in that he’s what we might call a “CoVid phenomenon.” He is completely self taught through online resources, social media, and Zoom. And, he is amazing!

It’s a delight for us personally as older, less awestruck, students (Harmony and Russell have been doing Ashtanga Yoga for over 50 years combined!) to encounter such an enthusiast for yoga, and for the Ashtanga Yoga in particular.

For someone like Michael, in fact, the horrific issues entangling the #metoo movement and Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois’s transgressions are in distant past. They, simply are not relevant to his education. What he seeks is a sangha, a community to connect with and lift up!

We loved the levity and profoundly positive approach he brings to the practice that radiates through his Instagram videos. His humor and vivacious personality are infectious, so we brought him on the shown to share his fresh perspective on Ashtanga yoga.

Listen as Michael tells us about his early life growing up as a first generation American, in a fundamentalist Pentecostal, Ghanaian home in New Jersey… And how he used Brazilian Juijitsu and Computer programming to organize his life. Something, he said, (similar to other programmers we’ve had on the show like Lee Seung Eun) is that the system and order of Ashtanga Yoga compliments a programmer’s approach.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MICHAEL
INSTAGRAM I  Bay Jitsu Yoga - bayjitsuyoga.com
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support.

Make A Donation - harmonyslater.com

Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review!  ❤  Give us a 5★ rating!

Opening and closing music compliments Nick Evans, band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.” Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.

Observe this seeming contradiction:

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.
Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.
- Jacques Cousteau - 
Today we are taking a deep dive into the ocean of yoga with Dr. Daniela Ceccarelli as our guide. We’re learning about coral reef ecology, the purpose of counting fish, and what this ultimately has to do with the health of our oceans. While we're down there... we discover the intricate complexities of Ahimsa, and what, if anything, we might do to save our planet.

This interview with Dr. Daniela Ceccarelli reminds us a little of the interview we did with Bethany Mclean where, she spoke about her Ashtanga story, but also gave us an extremely informative picture of the fracking industry.

Dr. Dani is an independent marine ecology consultant with extensive training and experience in tropical marine ecosystems. She is also a long time student of Ashtanga yoga and Level 2 Authorized teacher.

In today’s episode, she gives us an extraordinary window into the state of the sea and her fascinating life. From growing up in Italy, to living abroad as a young girl between Europe and the Middle East, moving to Australia as a young woman, and becoming a mother (while still working on her undergraduate degree)… as well as everything else that unfolds from there.

Krishna mentions to Arjuna on the battlefield, “you have a right to action alone and never at any time to its fruits.”  And so, we like Arjuna find ourselves battling with the complexities of how we can act with care and consciousness; but realizing ultimately, that all things pass into nothingness anyway.

It’s such a delight to listen to Dani. She has not only an enormous intellect, but a broad sense of humor, which allows her to contain these kinds of contradictions with joy and ease. She both sincerely cares about the Great Barrier Reef and its impact on humanity; yet, wryly notes our impending extinction.

She is a true sage poised in equanimity.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DANI
INSTAGRAM  I  WEBSITE
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support!  

Make A Donation - harmonyslater.com

Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review!  ❤  Give us a 5★ rating!

We love to read and respond to your comments - So drop us a note in the comments below and give us a shout out on IG! 

Opening and closing music by Nick Evans. 

Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

It is with great pleasure that we introduce you to our friend Anna Guryeva.  She graces us a with a marvelous little window into the Russian soul. From the heart of Siberia, she reveals a path to joy.

To see the beauty of the Russian spirit, one must understand the generational hardship of the people, and Anna’s narrative, though particular to her, shares this ancestral trauma. To know the horror of the last century, and the centuries of slavery that came before, and Anna’s own personal enslavement, is to see the miracle of Anna’s ecstasy.

We gently coaxed Anna to talk about serfdom in Russia and her own travails. Though it isn’t easy. Anna is ready to move on, you see. And, the Russian ethos in general, isn’t one to dwell on, or speak about their tragedies.

What does suffering mean to a culture when a third of their population was forcibly married and held in servitude for life? You see, around 23 million Russians were held in slavery until 1863.

People carry that kind of wound throughout the generations. Anna spoke to this and growing up in Siberia, now living in St.Petersburg.

We dug into Russian history through Anna’s eyes and her personal experience with being indoctrinated into a religious cult, where she lived as a domestic slave for three years.

After living in Moscow for a year and seriously exploring the option of becoming a Christian Nun, she moved to St. Petersburg and started on an entirely different spiritual journey exploring esoteric practices within Kabbalah, the teachings of the Russian Mystic Gurdjieff, and finally found her teacher in Tibetan Buddhism, and eventually began practicing Ashtanga yoga.

With all this in her personal history Anna has given us a beautiful book the titled: “Space and Bliss: Yoga and Buddhism for Life in the Modern World.”

The title of her book comes from a Tibetan monk’s conversation with her. He was telling her about the evolution of her spiritual practice and offered her this exotic mind-blowing gem.

“Space and Bliss are Inseparable and Now You Are Going to Die.”
Anna Guryeva is the Founder of the Ashtanga Yoga Shala in St. Petetersburg, Russia and Authorized Ashtanga Yoga Teacher. 

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ANNA
WEBSITE  I  INSTAGRAM I ANNA’S IG 
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support. www.harmonyslater.com

It is such a joy to meet a human being dedicated to evolution, self discovery, and insight.  It’s our pleasure to introduce to you the accentless Englishman, now profoundly Canadian, Geoff Mackenzie!

Citizen of the world, swimmer, rugby player, and avid skier… Mysore teacher and Yogic Health Coach. He tells us how his practice has evolved over these past few year, becoming less strict. He’s created a more adaptive approach, more personal, and not dependent on needing to “show your practice off” in Mysore, India.  You’ll hear us talk about how to maintain your practice as you age.

What was particularly touching was listening to Geoff speak about his blossoming awareness to the unique issues facing men around connecting to their masculinity in a “non-toxic” kind of way.

He touches upon the need for men to relearn how to speak to one other openly and honestly and hold each other accountable. He facilitates such a gathering within the container of an organization called “The Samurai Brotherhood.”


Geoff Mackenzie has been practicing yoga for over 20 years and teaching  classes since 2004. His guidance is informed by his extensive study with  the Jois family in Mysore, India, combined with occasional input from  veteran Western practitioners. Modern approaches to strength, mobility,  and breath-work training feature in his own practice too.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT GEOFF - INSTAGRAM  I  WEBSITE - https://www.firstlightyoga.ca/
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future  episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we  are immensely grateful for any and all of your support. 

Make A Donation - http://www.harmonyslater.com

Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review!  ❤  Give us a 5★ rating!

We love to read and respond to your comments - So drop us a note in the comments below and give us a shout out on IG! 

Opening and closing music Nick Evans, with his band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.”

Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.
To purchase your own copy - Click Here.

Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor need no introduction.

In this episode, we talk about the dissolution of our minds, bodies, and practices in the face of time. How do we let go of the physicality of the practice?

We were curious after 50 years of yoga, how they’ve maintained their enthusiasm in the face of age.

What we heard was extremely enlightening, and surprisingly heart-opening.

Your whole body and mind are an offering. You are never throwing it away… But rather, allowing it to shine no matter what state it’s in.

Practice itself is an offering. The whole idea of offering is sacrifice. It means you’re giving something of value to others. And when you really do this deeply, it effects your body and mind in a profound way.

To give it all away as an offering to others is the whole purpose of the practice.

These two beautiful souls have an incredible way of grounding their spiritual experiences in the present moment and anchoring them in reality.

We may be seduced by dissolution, but if we follow Arjuna’s example, we will continue to do our dharma, without being motivated by any sense of accomplishment, on our quest for unity — to live in love.

We invite you to spend some time with us, watching nature unfold and reality drip through the cracks, with Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor. Their insights and presence is a true joy to be treasured in the face of impermanence.

“The basic mistake is that we’ve reduced ourselves and we’ve reduced others to just ideas about ourselves and others, and that’s really sad… What we are is way beyond the ideas we have about who we are.” - Richard Freeman
We spoke about Lojong meditation practice (often translated into English as “Mind Training”) from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Mary explains that when religion is working well it allows us to feel our vulnerability.

Trusting in something bigger than oneself is a vital part of becoming more of a whole human being.”  - Mary Taylor
We spoke about the difference between “taking refuge” and “surrendering,” what the Bhagavad Gita and the Wizard of Oz have in common, as well as how they’ve keep love alive within their relationship after all these years… and how you can too!

Time is running out, apparently it’s a good thing, because it gives us the motivation to pull ourselves off center stage and find out who we really are, why we’re in this body, and what we can do to help others.

“The practice that’s appropriate for you in any given moment is the one that helps you be authentic. To join together the disparate parts of who you are and show up. And show up, not in order to be the star of the show, but to show up to be a servant. To be there and be of service to others.” - Mary Taylor
If you’d like to keep learning and going deeper into the esoteric teachings inside the Bhagavad Gita, we would invite you to register for Richard and Mary’s upcoming online course: Living Yoga: Embodying the Teachings of the Bhagavad Gita

I'm offering a couple of amazing bonuses when you join the course through me! - harmonyslater.com/richard-freeman-mary-taylor-living-yoga

Registration opens this TUESDAY, September 21st!

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT RICHARD FREEMAN & MARY TAYLOR: INSTAGRAM I YOUTUBE I WEBSITE - richardfreemanyoga.com

It is with great pleasure we introduce to you the contagiously ebullient Hanne Sydanmaa from Helsinki, Finland.  We asked Hanne to share a bit about the birth of Ashtanga Yoga in Finland, which continues to this day to have the most practitioners per capita over any other country in the world!

We tried, in our way, to get Hanne to open herself to us… So that you could see the Real Hanne, with her zestful and sparkling personality.

Alas, like all Fins, they are hard to coax out from their safe, cold, woodland, hidden away in a forgotten corner of the North. They are quite like the Children of the Forest in that regard who, with great mirth, created that calamity of White Walkers!

So this tendency towards shyness is what we’ve learned about the Fins. And, is something we share with you here in today’s episode.

We learn about Hanne’s prior occupation as a flight attendant, her family, and her youth; how she learned Ashtanga yoga, and how her body collapsed on her in the middle of 3rd series.

After only a few years of practice, Hanne had to go back to square one, and relearn this practice in a completely different way than the rest of us.

This is a very special episode that will help anyone dealing with injury or looking for hope in how to rehabilitate their body and practice.

Now you will find Hanne handstanding all over the world, teaching pilates, and enjoying ballet classes - just for fun!

When the question came up "Where were you on 9/11?" we explored our stories and how that fateful day changed our collective history forever.  Not only will September 11th never be forgotten, but it is also Saraswathi’s birthday. Twenty years ago she was celebrating her 60th birthday in New York City when the towers fell, which means this year she turned 80 years old!

Thank you so much to all who follow us and listen to these stories that we share in our living historiography of our Ashtanga Culture. We adore you and hope they continue to enrich your days and lives!

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HANNE - INSTAGRAM  I  FACEBOOK  I  WEBSITE - https://hanneyoga.com/
Be sure to register for Harmony's FREE Breathwork Masterclass - http://www.harmonyslater.com/free-breathwork-master-class

The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
A big heart of thanks to our friends, family, and students from around the world, who’ve generously supported this podcast through your comments, sharing, and financial donations. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support.

Make A Donation - http://www.harmonyslater.com/

Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review!  ❤  Give us a 5★ rating!
We love to read and respond to your comments - So drop us a note in the comments below and give us a shout out on IG!

Opening & Closing Music by Nick Evans from the album “for Morgan.”  Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.