Stillpoints: A Podcast with Scott Johnson Scott Johnson

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.
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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.
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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
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If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Danny Paradise, John Scott and Prem & Radha Carlisi.

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. 

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.
 
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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…
 
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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).
 
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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.  
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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.
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"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 
 
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If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Mark Robberds, Deepika Mehta and Joey Miles.
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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
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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.
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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.
 
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"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 
 
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If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Ty Landrem, Daniel Simpson and Greg Nardi.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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“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 
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If you enjoyed this podcast you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Ty Powers, Frank Jude Boccio and Sarah Powers.

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.
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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…
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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