Don't Forget Yoga Podcast Derek Pashupa Goodwin

The Don't Forget Yoga Podcast helps new yoga teachers absorb yogic wisdom with music, mantras, and mnemonics.
Are you a new yoga teacher working on building your following?  If you're anything like I was, you're probably feeling a little overwhelmed at the amount of information you're expected to know. Anatomy, yoga philosophy, Sanskrit class themes, asana sequences, pranayama , and of course the names of all your students!
Host Derek Pashupa Goodwin is an advanced certified yoga teacher with over a decade of teaching experience. He has always struggled with memorization, which led him on a journey of creating mnemonic strategies to help him remember yogic wisdom. He is a musician who loves wordplay, and his songs and playful rhymes and humor are featured throughout the show.
Each week on the Don't Forget Yoga Podcast,  you're going to learn a key principle of yoga philosophy, Sanskrit, anatomy, Hindu mythology, and other tools from the yoga teachers toolkit. 
If you're a yoga teacher who wants to overcome imposter syndrome, absorb yogic wisdom more easily, and  become an inspiration to other yoga teachers; go ahead and subscribe to the Don't Forget Yoga Podcast right here in your listening app. And download your first episode today!

Have you ever noticed that a really great yoga class feels like a song? The breathing creates a rhythm, the teacher's voice moves like a melody, and the emotion rises and falls until we land gently in Shavasana. 
My guest Juju Stulbach was a dancer before she became a yoga teacher. Juju grew up in Brazil and moved to NYC in her late teens. On her first New Year's Eve in the city, she had an auspicious encounter with the Jivamukti Yoga studio on Lafayette St. That moment eventually landed her at the 2011 Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Training, where I met her.
Our conversation is a meditation on the coreography and songlike structure of a group yoga class. We also talk about how memory lives in the body, how to see the potential in your students, and how to find ease in your practice.
Show Links:
Juju Stulbach Jivamukti Yoga Rima Rani Rabbath Yemọja Don't Forget Yoga Links:
Website: Don't Forget Yoga Youtube: @dontforgetyoga Instagram: @dontforgetyoga Facebook: Don't Forget Yoga Group

 
Vasisthasana (वसिष्ठासन vasiṣṭhāsana) is the Sanskrit name for side plank pose, and it turns out lots of us yoga teachers mispronounce it. 
Today's guest is Frances Vicente, an advanced certified Jivamukti Yoga teacher who lives and teaches in Montreal. Derek met Frances at the 2011 Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Training, and they have been friends ever since. Frances most recently completed a Sanskrit Teacher Training through the American Sanskrit Institute.
We explore the correct pronunciation of Vasisthasana, and learn about the sage Vasistha who the pose is named after. Includes mnemonics to help remember how to pronounce the pose name, and why the sage Vasistha is a great eponym for a pose that works on two sides (another mnemonic!)
 
Show Links:
Frances Vicente on Instagram Sanskrit Studies with Manorama Learn to Pronounce Yoga Poses (Spotify) American Sanskrit Institute Jivamukti Yoga Jessica Stickler on Instagram Luna Yoga in Montreal Yoga Sangha in Montreal  
Don't Forget Yoga Links:
Website: Don't Forget Yoga Youtube: @dontforgetyoga Instagram: @dontforgetyoga Facebook: Don't Forget Yoga Group  
 

One way to remember yoga is to learn about the timelines of the spiritual traditions and cultures that yoga emerged from. Yoga was first mentioned in the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, which were passed on orally for centuries before being written down (mantras and mnemonics!). They are filled with rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices, mantras and benedictions. As time went on, spiritual discourse evolved into the Upanishads, which introduce karma, bhakti, meditation, the atman and Brahman, and other spiritual concepts in forms that are more recognizeable to serious yoga practicioners today.
In this first part of a two part interview, our guest Austin Sanderson takes us through the Vedic era, the Upanishads, and the Puranas (stories of gods like Krishna, Ram, Saraswati, etc;). We cover the difference between dualism and non-dualism, and between Shruti and Smriti. We also touch briefly on the Bhagavad Gita, and how it made yoga accessible to the everyone. This episode lays the foundation for part two of the interview, where we will talk about the Yoga Sutras, Tantra, the Shiva Sutras, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and more.
Includes Derek's original Veda Song to help remember the Vedas and Upanishads with, accompanied by harmonium and bass guitar.
Austin K. Sanderson is an Advanced Certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher. In 2020, Austin founded the Urban Sadhu Yoga Method, “a method of applying ancient yogic wisdom in a contemporary context.” He and his partner Bob are the co-owners of Urban Sadhu Yoga Shala, formally Jivamukti Yoga Center Jersey City (opened in 2013). Austin is the co-founder and co-producer of Yoga Fest Jersey City, a free public yoga, music and vegan food festival held in the heart of downtown Jersey City. He is the author of the Urban Sadhu Chant Book, with illustrations by Devdutt Pattanaik.
https://www.urbansadhuyoga.com/
The Don't Forget Yoga Podcast helps new yoga teachers absorb yogic wisdom with music, mantras, and mnemonics. Leave us a voicemail to have your question featured on our show at: 
https://dontforgetyoga.com
 
 

Om Namah Shivaya is an ancient mantra, considered to be the king of all mantras in the Siddha yoga lineage from which it comes. While it is a mantra to honor Shiva, the five syllables NA MA SHI VA YA each have their own meaning.
This episodes's guest is Libby Love, who was influencial in Derek's path to becoming a yoga teacher. In 2010 she was teaching at Swan River studio in New Orleans, where Derek began practicing Jivamukti Yoga. She now lives and teaches in Austria. She has a deep connection to the Om Namah Shivaya mantra and shares some of her knowledge about it. 
Learn about the mantra, and how to remember its meaning, on this episode of the Don't Forget Yoga Podcast.
Find Libby at yogatirol.at, Libby Love Yoga on Telegram, and @libbylove_yoga on IG.
Here's a blog I wrote about the benefit class Libby taught in New Orleans to help me get to my teacher training, with photos.

This is a podcast is about yoga and memory, and it is created with new yoga teachers in mind. It contains music, mantras, and mnemonics to help yoga teachers remember... yoga. 
In this episode, host Derek Pashupa Goodwin shares his origin story of becoming a yoga teacher; a tale that begins in Western Massachusetts then continues through New Orleans, NYC, and Colorado. Derek talks about his lifelong struggles with memory, how he adapted creative tools to help him remember things, and how that journey led to the creation of this podcast.
He introduces his Four Mnemonic Methods of Memorization, tools to help yoga teachers remember.
Featuring stories about Rima Rani Rabbath, Sharon Gannon, Shiva Shakti (yoga studio in Northampton MA), Swan River Yoga (yoga studio in New Orleans), and, of course, Cheech and Chong.
This episode includes the full version of the Shatkarma Kriya Song, recorded at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY at the 2011 Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Training. It also includes clips from the Pelvis Song and A Humerus Love Song to the Shoulder Girdle, which Derek wrote and recorded to help memorize anatomy concepts during a 2021 training with Amy Ippoliti. These songs will all be explored in more detail in future episodes.