The Uplifted Yoga Podcast

Brett Larkin

Uplift your personal life and accelerate your yoga career leveraging yoga's ancient wisdom. Explore yoga philosophy from the Yoga Sutras, the Vedas, psychology, kundalini and self-help. Brett Larkin helps you get closer to making consistent daily yoga a reality, while empowering you to acknowledge your role as a leader and healer of others. Whether you're experiencing a kundalini awakening, resolving unprocessed trauma, suffering as a "hidden healer," in a cycle of self-sabotage, feeling "imposter syndrome," or stuck trying to grow your wellness business, the Uplifted Yoga podcast is where you come to slay your mindset blocks and indulge in yoga's rich philosophy in a way that's practical and fun. ✨Pre-Order Brett's Book on Amazon ✨Make your yoga practice 2x more potent in 1/2 the time here ✨Download four free yoga business plan Become a member at brettlarkin.com/uplifted

  1. 6d ago

    The Forgotten Way to Learn Yoga Philosophy: Ancient Memory Practices (Part 1)

    When was the last time you memorized something on purpose? Not a password, grocery list, or directions, but a piece of poetry, a prayer, a mantra, a sutra, or a verse that you carried with you in your mind. In this episode, I'm exploring why memorization was once the original way ancient wisdom was passed down, and why it still matters now. We'll look at how memorizing meaningful words can train your attention, support your nervous system, strengthen your brain, and help wisdom become something you can actually return to in real life. Inside this episode, I explore: 🔹 Why ancient texts like the Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Vedas, Psalms, and Torah were designed to be remembered 🔹 How memorization turns passive reading into active spiritual practice 🔹 Why sacred words can become tools for nervous system regulation 🔹 How memorization becomes a countercultural act in the age of scrolling and endless information This is part one of a two-part conversation. For now, I'm planting the seed: What words, prayer, poem, mantra, or verse might you want to carry in your heart? 💖 Want to shift what you're practicing and paying attention to? Join the Uplifted Membership: https://www.brettlarkin.com/uplifted/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=uplifted     FREE Practice: Anti-Anxiety "Get Grounded FAST" Yoga Sequence (8-Min) - ALL LEVELS - Quick Yoga (10 Minute Yoga) Relevant Blog: 15 Life-Changing Yoga Books To Deepen Your Yoga Practice   Relevant to Today's Episode: 🔮 History of Yoga 📖 Yoga Life Book 🐍 Yoga for Self Mastery 💖 Uplifted Membership 💫 Somatic Certification 🎧 Also Listen to: #370 – Yoga's Messy Origins: Understanding Yoga's Historical Context #401 – Who Has Your Attention? Attention Economy vs the Ancient Path #425 – How the Divine Speaks: Sacred Symbolism in the Gita, Bible & Upanishads Part 1   © 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

  2. Aug 26

    Stop Stacking Certifications: How to Integrate Your Gifts and Finally Use What You Know

    So many of us think the next certification will finally make us feel clear, confident, or ready. But more information is not always the answer. Sometimes the real missing piece is integration. In this restream episode, I'm talking about the certification trap, why your nervous system may be keeping you in "learn more" mode, and how to begin organizing your existing tools into a clear, repeatable method that actually supports your clients and your business. We'll also look at why movement, somatic awareness, and embodied coaching can create a deeper kind of transformation than talking or mindset work alone. If you're a yoga teacher, coach, healer, or wellness practitioner who has taken multiple trainings but still feels scattered, this episode is for you. Let's explore: 🔹 Why collecting more tools can sometimes become a freeze response 🔹 How embodied self-awareness differs from conceptual self-awareness 🔹 Why movement is essential for emotional release and somatic integration 🔹 The three pillars healers need to move forward You don't need to do more. You need to do less, better. With structure, support, and a nervous system that feels safe enough to take action. 💗 Learn more about Embodied Yoga Life Coaching: https://www.brettlarkin.com/somatic-yoga-training-certification/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=eylc  💎 Experience somatic yoga in this Embodied Yoga Workshop: https://www.brettlarkin.com/embodiedyoga?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=embodiedyoga   FREE Practice: MORNING YOGA FOR TIGHT HIPS & LOWER BACK | Stretches for Flexibility - Unleash Your Creative Energy✨ Relevant Blog: Top Somatic Coaching Programs And How To Choose One   Relevant to Today's Episode: 🐍 Yoga for Self Mastery 🌀 Somatic Yoga Life Coaching  💫 Somatic Certification 🎧 Also Listen to: #299 – Strategies to Slay Imposter Syndrome and Share Your Gifts #363 – How to Become a Magnet for Loyal Students & Own the Room with Confidence with Taylor Lorenz #386 – Stop Selling Products—Start Selling YOU: Human Design for Visibility & Flow with Juliette Stapleton   © 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

  3. Aug 19

    The Shuniya Shift: Stop Using Kundalini Yoga to Fix Yourself with Bailee Buckendorf

    What happens when healing becomes another thing you're trying to achieve? In this episode, I'm joined by my friend Bailee for a tender conversation about grief, the feminine, Shuniya, and the power of not fixing yourself. We explore grief not as something you "get over," but as a living process to be felt, held, and slowly alchemized. Bailee shares how her journey led her into deeper stillness, sensory awareness, sound, archetype, and the feminine mystery. This conversation asks: What if there is nothing to fix? What if the next step is learning how to listen differently? Inside this episode, we explore: 🔹 Why grief is not something we complete, but something we learn to live with and honor 🔹 How Shuniya, or zero-point stillness, can create space for healing to land 🔹 Why "am I doing this to avoid a feeling?" and "am I doing this because I think I'm not enough?" are powerful questions 🔹 How simple rituals, sound, sensory awareness, and intentional contemplation can support integration My hope is that this episode gives you permission to stop treating healing like a race. You do not have to prove your worth through how much you process, achieve, fix, or overcome. Sometimes the most sacred shift begins when you pause, listen, and let what has already been planted finally land. 🐍 If this conversation stirred something in you: Download your FREE Feminine Kundalini Starter Pack: https://www.brettlarkin.com/online-kundalini-yoga-teacher-training/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=ku    GUEST EXPERT: Bailee Buckendorf | @rebuilding.roots  Bailee Buckendorf is a grief integration guide, contemplative writer, and founder of Sunia Shift. Her work weaves Kundalini yoga, archetypal practice, sacred ceremony, sound, somatics, and matriarchal wisdom to help people relate to grief not as something to fix, but as a source of knowing. Shaped by her own lived initiations as a widowed mother, ultra runner, and lifelong student of loss, Bailee supports individuals and groups through one-on-one containers, digital offerings, and seasonal experiences. Book Mentioned: Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés https://www.amazon.com/Women-Who-Run-Wolves-Archetype/dp/0345409876    FREE Practice: KUNDALINI YOGA FOR EMOTIONAL RELEASE with Music 💜 Trauma Informed Yoga for Beginners 💜 Relevant Blog: The Best Somatic Exercises for Grief: Find Healing Through Movement   Relevant to Today's Episode: 🐍 Kundalini 200-hour YTT 💫 Yoga for Self Mastery 💖 Uplifted Membership 🌀 Somatic Yoga Life Coaching  🎧 Also Listen to: #281 – Grief as a Potent Healer with Kris Carr #324 – The Importance of Emotional Processing and Regulation: DENT Model Trauma #332 – 7 Ways to Release Anger & Grief Through Your Yoga Practice   © 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

  4. Aug 12

    Feminine Kundalini Energy: Light, Dark & Tantric Archetypes

    Today's episode is another behind-the-scenes look, this time inside my 200-hour Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training. This teaching comes from the Feminine Form Kundalini module, where we unpack what we mean by feminine energy. In yoga, tantra, and Kundalini, feminine energy isn't about gender or identity. It's archetypal energy, the Shakti current within all of us. In this clip, I explore Shiva and Shakti, the light and dark feminine, and why both matter. I'll also look at how feminine energy becomes blocked, through over-control, disconnection from desire, difficulty receiving, and lack of boundaries. Inside this episode, I explore: 🔹 Why feminine and masculine energy are archetypal forces, not gender roles 🔹 How Shakti and Shiva represent movement and stillness, life force and consciousness 🔹 The difference between light feminine and dark feminine energy 🔹 How feminine archetypes can deepen your Kundalini yoga practice The feminine is not just softness. She is movement, desire, creation, destruction, renewal, and the living intelligence of the body itself. 🐍 Grab my FREE Feminine Form Kundalini Starter. It's a beautiful place to begin exploring feminine energy, Shakti, archetypes, and Kundalini practice in your own body: https://www.brettlarkin.com/online-kundalini-yoga-teacher-training/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=ku    FREE Practice: FEMININE KUNDALINI | Yoga for Women with Overwhelm & Fatigue 🥱 | ACTIVATE ADRENALS & KIDNEYS Relevant Blog: Harnessing the Power of Kundalini Divine Feminine for Transformation   Relevant to Today's Episode: 🐍 Kundalini 200-hour YTT 🔮 Kundalini Demystified ✨ Yoga for Self Mastery 💖 Uplifted Membership 🎧 Also Listen to: #305 – Female Archetypes of Leadership with Anodea Judith Ph.D #312 – Is Your Masculine/Feminine Energy Balanced? Shiva, Shakti & Polarity Within You #352 – Redefining Feminine Energy in Yoga & Ayurveda with Katie Silcox   © 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

  5. Aug 5

    Vibhuti Yoga - See the Sacred Everywhere: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10

    What if the world itself could become your meditation object? In this episode, we explore Chapter 10 of the Bhagavad Gita, known as Vibhuti Yoga — the yoga of divine manifestation and sacred seeing. This chapter explores how to train our perception and helps us stop dividing life into "spiritual" and "not spiritual." The sunset, the breath, the body, the mountain, even impermanence, all can become doorways back to the sacred. It also marks a turning point in Arjuna's relationship with Krishna. Until now, Arjuna has known Krishna as his friend, cousin, mentor, and charioteer. Here, he begins to realize that Krishna is not just wise, but divine reality itself. Inside this episode, I explore: 🔹 What Vibhuti Yoga means and why Chapter 10 is about sacred seeing 🔹 How Krishna teaches Arjuna to recognize the divine shining through the world 🔹 Why awe, beauty, and attention can become spiritual practice 🔹 How your body, breath, and everyday life can become doorways into devotion My hope is that this episode helps you look for the spark this week. Not by chasing a mystical experience, but by letting ordinary life become holy again. If this episode speaks to you, come practice with me inside Uplifted Membership, where we weave yoga philosophy, meditation, somatics, and embodied ritual into practices you can actually feel and live. https://www.brettlarkin.com/uplifted/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=uplifted    📖 Different translations explored: Barbara Stoler Miller: https://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-Krishnas-Counsel-Bantam-Classics/dp/0553213652  Godsong by Amit Majmudar: https://www.amazon.com/Godsong-Verse-Translation-Bhagavad-Gita-Commentary/dp/1524733474  Eknath Easwaran: https://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-2nd-Eknath-Easwaran/dp/1586380192  Bhagavad-Gita As It Is by Swami Prabhupada: https://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-As-Bhaktivedanta-Swami-Prabhupada/dp/0892131233    FREE Practice: Easy Kundalini Yoga for Women | Kriya to be DIVINE LOVE EMBODIED Relevant Blog: What are Patanjali's Yoga Sutras?   Relevant to Today's Episode: ✅ 200-hour Online Yoga Teacher Training 🐍 Kundalini 200-hour YTT 📚 History of Yoga 💖 Uplifted Membership 💫 Somatic Certification 🎧 Also Listen to: #381 – Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali Explained – BOOK 3: Psychic Superpowers & Samadhi #398 – [Meditation] Taking in the Good #427 – What Is Bhakti Yoga? Krishna's Most Confidential Teaching (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9)   © 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

  6. Jul 29

    Perimenopause, Cravings & Hormones: Your Body Isn't Broken, It's Speaking w/ Sema Özpekmezci

    Do cravings, fatigue, or hormonal shifts have you feeling like a stranger in your body? In this episode, I'm joined by Sema Özpekmezci for a grounded, compassionate conversation about chronic illness, women's health, perimenopause, hormones, and what it really means to listen to your body. We explore how midlife changes can feel confusing and how symptoms like cravings, energy dips, mood shifts, and inflammation can become invitations into deeper self-understanding. Sema also shares a powerful way to think about your hormones as the "CEO" of your body and why food, stress, blood sugar, sleep, and nervous system regulation all play a role in helping you feel balanced again. Inside this episode, we explore: 🔹 Why perimenopause symptoms, cravings, and inflammation may be body signals, not personal failures 🔹 How hormones, stress, cortisol, and the nervous system influence women's health 🔹 Why chocolate cravings and blood sugar patterns can reveal what your body actually needs 🔹 How to respond to your changing body with curiosity, compassion, and practical support My hope is that this conversation helps you stop fighting your body and start listening to it. Because your body isn't broken. It's speaking. 💗 If you want to keep exploring this connection between the nervous system, embodiment, and women's health, come practice with me: https://www.brettlarkin.com/ffy?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=ffy    GUEST EXPERT: Sema Özpekmezci | @semaozpekmezci Sema is a certified Clinical Nutritional Therapist and Functional Medicine Health Coach. She is a Yoga and Mindfulness Trainer and yoga/meditation enthusiast. She believes that nutrition, mind, and spirit are inextricably linked to our health and overall well-being and spreading and explaining this is her life's purpose. ​Connect with Sema and find her programs here → https://www.semaozpekmezci.com/    FREE Practice: Somatic Exercises to Reduce Cortisol & Get Out of Freeze Response | Full Body Somatic Yoga Flow Relevant Blog: Yoga Teacher Training as a Mid-Life Wellness Sabbatical: Why More Women Are Using YTT to Reset Their Nervous System (Not Change Careers)   Relevant to Today's Episode: 🐍 Kundalini 200-hour YTT 📚 Healing with Somatic Yoga Book ✨ Yoga for Self Mastery 💖 Uplifted Membership 💫 Somatic Certification 🎧 Also Listen to: #366 – Is Trauma Actually In Your Hips? The Impact of Stress on Hip & Pelvic Health with Dr. Brianne Grogan #369 – Nervous System Masterclass with Kristin Leal #384 – Do Less, Heal More: 7 Invitations to Resolve Trauma from Organic Intelligence   © 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

  7. Jul 22 ·  Video

    Nervous System Science Every Yoga Teacher Should Know

    What's actually happening in the body when yoga helps you "calm down"? In this behind-the-scenes lesson pulled directly from the Uplifted 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training, we explore the nervous system science behind yoga, and why practices like breathwork, inversions, mantra, repetition, and Savasana can profoundly shift your stress response. You'll learn why yoga isn't just about relaxing, but about building awareness, resilience, and the ability to move skillfully between stress and recovery. We explore: 🔹 How yoga activates the parasympathetic nervous system 🔹 Why slow exhales and vagal tone matter for emotional regulation 🔹 The nervous system effects of inversions, mantra, repetition, and Savasana 🔹 Why yoga isn't about avoiding stress, but responding to it differently 🔹 How yoga teachers help students build nervous system resilience through awareness This episode is a special preview from inside our teacher training and offers a glimpse into how we blend anatomy, nervous system science, yoga philosophy, and embodied practice together inside the program. 🎓 Curious about joining the next cohort of the Uplifted 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training? Learn more about our anatomy-forward, highly supportive online certification program → https://www.brettlarkin.com/online-yoga-teacher-training/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=200ytt  💖 Or, if this episode helped you understand your nervous system or yoga practice in a new way, I'd be so grateful if you left a quick review for the podcast. Reviews help more yogis discover these teachings and support the show tremendously. ✨ Leave a review here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-uplifted-yoga-podcast/id1097989571?action=write-review (If the link opens the show page instead of reviews, just scroll down and click on "Ratings & Reviews" then tap "Write a Review.")   FREE Practice: Calming Restorative Yoga Sequence | Relax & Nourish your Senses (45-min) All Levels Relevant Blog: Industry Expert Tips For Yoga Injury Prevention (+ Modifications)   Relevant to Today's Episode: ✅ 200-hour Online Yoga Teacher Training 🔮 300-hour Online Yoga Teacher Training 💖 Uplifted Membership 🎧 Also Listen to: #420 – Healing Painful Joints with Scott Hogan #424 – What Makes a Great Yoga Teacher Training? Your Questions Answered #429 – My Yogic Decision-Making Framework: How to Find Real Clarity   © 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

  8. Jul 15

    How the Divine Speaks: The Neuroscience of Sacred Storytelling (Part 2)

    Why do the world's great spiritual traditions teach through stories, imagery, and metaphor instead of simple instructions? In this episode, I'll explore why metaphor changes us in a way facts alone cannot and how imagery bypasses the analytical mind to speak directly to the nervous system, imagination, memory, and body. Building on Part 1, we'll dive deeper into Tantra's vision of awakening as a love story between Shiva and Shakti: awareness and energy, stillness and sensation, consciousness and embodiment. I'll explore: 🔹 Why metaphor activates the nervous system differently than information 🔹 The neuroscience behind stories, imagery, and embodied learning 🔹 How yoga philosophy, Christianity, Buddhism, and Tantra all teach through metaphor 🔹 Why metaphor is essential for trauma-informed yoga teaching and meditation 🔹 Practical ways to use imagery, cue layering, and storytelling in your yoga classes 🎓 Want to become a more confident, creative, and impactful yoga teacher? Grab my free Sequencing & Cueing Bundle and learn how to structure classes, layer cues, and use metaphor and imagery in a way that truly lands with students → https://www.brettlarkin.com/teach?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=teach     FREE Practice: 10 Min Beginner Morning Meditation | EASY GUIDED MEDITATION Relevant Blog: Yoga Cues 101: Everything You Need To Teach Yoga   Relevant to Today's Episode: 📚 Healing with Somatic Yoga Book  🔮 300-hour Online Yoga Teacher Training 🐍 Yoga for Self Mastery 💖 Uplifted Membership 🌀 Somatic Yoga Life Coaching  🎧 Also Listen to: #300 – Unraveling the Mystery of Chronic Pain for Yoga Teachers & Practitioners with Kim Patel #422 – What Happens When You Die? Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8 Explained #425 – Why the Divine Speaks in Metaphor: Sacred Stories from the Gita, Bible & Upanishads Part 1   © 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

4.8
out of 5
623 Ratings

About

Uplift your personal life and accelerate your yoga career leveraging yoga's ancient wisdom. Explore yoga philosophy from the Yoga Sutras, the Vedas, psychology, kundalini and self-help. Brett Larkin helps you get closer to making consistent daily yoga a reality, while empowering you to acknowledge your role as a leader and healer of others. Whether you're experiencing a kundalini awakening, resolving unprocessed trauma, suffering as a "hidden healer," in a cycle of self-sabotage, feeling "imposter syndrome," or stuck trying to grow your wellness business, the Uplifted Yoga podcast is where you come to slay your mindset blocks and indulge in yoga's rich philosophy in a way that's practical and fun. ✨Pre-Order Brett's Book on Amazon ✨Make your yoga practice 2x more potent in 1/2 the time here ✨Download four free yoga business plan Become a member at brettlarkin.com/uplifted

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