Whole Life Yoga Podcast James Boag

This May 8-12 2024 I will be collaborating with Clare Nicholls on a living the yoga sūtra-s immersive retreat during which we'll explore how we can embody the practical, whole life teachings of yoga. In this conversation, Clare and I share some of our ideas, motivations and experiences of teaching, practising and studying with nature as the guru. This includes a mention of the teachings and practice can help us attune more deeply to our essence - satya, how they can help us come into truer rhythm - ṛta and experience the vastness of who we really are bṛhat. Find out more about the May 8-12 immersive retreat here on Clare's website: https://thecolourandthechaos.com/evolving-through-embodying-patanjali/

This week I'm going to be collaborating with Rosa Tagliafierro of ashtanga yoga italia in Milano, giving a weekend immersion in Italian. Here is an Italian themed podcast episode in which I share a yogic perspective on the Italian folk song Bella Ciao, a song I have sung since the first year I began learning Italian as an eighteen year old at university back in the 20th century.

In this episode I continue the conversation around the practical teachings of the Bhagavad Gītā with my friend and former colleague from Chulalongkorn University, Acharn Captain William S Whorton. As a combat veteran who has experienced and participated first hand in what he describes as an evil war, Bill brings a unique perspective to yoga and the teachings of the Bhagavad Gītā and how they can help us confront evil. He has recently published a translation of the Bhagavad Gītā, co-authored with Acharn Tassanee Sinsakul, which I highly recommend, published by Uppsala Books. All being well, I will have chance to interview Bill again soon.

In this conversation with Clare Nicholls, we consider:
- what does it mean to 'live the yoga sūtra-s'?
- why might a person might want to do that?
How can these teachings help us weave greater harmony into the fabric of our being. 
Clare and I will be facilitating a retreat exploring these teachings in greater depth this May 8th-12th in Switzerland:
https://thecolourandthechaos.com/evolving-through-embodying-patanjali/

Praha edition 2 - Jakob and the golden hearth

As I’m still in Prague, I’m continuing on the Prague theme, here sharing another of my favourite yoga stories from beyond the Indic tradition. This one is of Jakob and the golden hearth. It features the Karluv most/Charles Bridge and the Prague castle. And it also allows me to talk a little about Purāṇa - the timeless, perennially relevant stories of the yoga tradition that alert us to the gifts of our birth and the inner treasures we are always really conected to. If you enjoy this telling here, I invite you to listen also to another version that I shared on soundcloud a few years back, Jakob, yoga and the real power of love.
https://soundcloud.com/james-boag-517265519/jakob-yoga-and-the-real-power-of-love

I am in the beautiful capital of Bohemia, not far from the Vltava river. In this episode I share a story of Princess Kolobiska, the young woman who knows how to find the sure way through even seemingly impossible situations by finding the middle path. This story from Czech folklore I know better from Italo Calvino’s Fiabe Italiane, where it is one of my favourites, the story of Caterina - La Contadina Furba.
In this episode, with reference to these yogic folk stories, to Prague and to the Bhagavad Gītā, I talk about how yoga happens in the junction.