Escaping Samsara

Welcome to a special bookclub episode of Escaping Samsara, where we delve into the profound teachings of Chogyam Trungpa's classic, "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism." In this episode, we're thrilled to host Ty Landrum, an esteemed yoga teacher known for his insightful and deeply rooted understanding of Eastern and Western philosophy.

We discuss the concept of spiritual materialism, the tendency to see spirituality as a means to enhance our ego rather than to dissolve it. And Ty discusses how to apply these teachings on the mat and in daily life, helping us to navigate our spiritual journey with more awareness and authenticity.

This episode isn't just for avid readers or seasoned practitioners. It's for anyone curious about the intersection of yoga, Buddhism, and the journey towards true self-awareness. Whether you're new to these concepts or a long-time follower of Trungpa's work, you'll find fresh perspectives and thoughtful discussions to inspire your practice.

https://www.tylandrum.com/

Lovers of technical yoga talk rejoice! In this extraordinarily geeky interview Gregor sheds light on nuances of pranayama and meditation practices described in great detail in his books. We also talk about his most recent book about the Map of Transformative States and get a glimpse into the upcoming work with a fascinating discussion on mudras. This is a great interview for everyone going deeper into the higher limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.

Show notes

• On Stanislav Grof and Aldous Huxley
• Chakras and brain circuits
• On Nadi Shodhana and types of visualisations
• Ista Devata visualisation in Kumbhaka
• Surya vs Chandra Bhedana
• On relationship with the spirit world
• On Basti kriya
• Kundalini rising techniques and Ego
• Mudras!
• Things to consider when sequencing different practices

To find out more about Gregor's teaching, learning materials, courses and in-depth blog article visit https://8limbs.com/

Check out new books by Gregor Maehle:

CHAKRAS, DRUGS AND EVOLUTION: A Map of Transformative States

"How To Find Your Life's Divine Purpose: Brain software for a new civilization"

It’s easy to get caught up in the intellectual debates of spirituality, or spending hours creating exalted states of consciousness, but the actual effects of all this practice are borne out in your everyday life and nowhere is that more apparent then in your intimate relationships. 

Marriage is an interesting thing from a spiritual perspective. It could be an excuse to end your practice and focus on “real life”. Or it could be something you use your practice to escape from. Both of these pitfalls deny the chance to use “relationship yoga” as a tool to bring about lasting changes, reduced suffering, and the embodiment of deep wisdom. 

To help us understand this, we speak to Mark Usher, a men’s coach, who has made marriage his main life practice. 

David Garrigues has been practicing Hatha Yoga, specializing in advanced Ashtanga Vinyasa for about 30 years. Few people understand the rigors and challenges of long-term asanas practices as deeply.

As a fellow vinyasa enthusiast, and keen meditator, I've long been fascinated by the overlap between the two and how much asana practice can be considered a meditation in and of itself -- and not just a preparation.

In our discussion, we look closely at the integration between medieval Hatha Yoga and its modern forms, how long-term practice challenges your faith, and the struggle between defining, and leaving things unsaid.

Check out David's new book: Ashtanga Yoga Vinyasa here

This is a companion episode to our "Ashtanga and Fatherhood" episode. We're talking about how yoga practice changes for women after pregnancy and in the years of child-rearing.

We talk about the challenges of physical recovery and the requirements of emotional labor. How time is the essential factor, and how we witness time can change everything.

Today, we sit down with Rich Ray, a seasoned practitioner of meditation and director of Ashtanga Yoga Portland Maine (and also creator of some dope Instagram visuals @richrayyoga)

With over 25 years of Zen and Ashtanga experience, Rich’s commitment to self-discovery and inner peace led him on a transformative path as a resident monk at a silent monastery four years. During this profound period of self-reflection, he cultivated profound insights that continue to influence his life and teachings. As well as founding his studio, Rich also taught yoga and meditation at state prisons in California and New Hampshire and started a meditation program at a women’s county jail in Boston, Massachusetts.

In our chat we discuss:

• The intersection of Zen and Ashtanga practice.
• How to make Ashtanga practice more meditative.
• Yoga and aging.
• And the secrets of the Advanced Ashtanga series.

In this episode, we try to find out if the yogis and the Buddhists are describing the same thing when they talk about Samadhi. Are the paths aiming at the same experience but using different language to talk about it? Or are there deeper differences?

To find out, we host a conversation between Gregor Maehle and Leigh Brasington who practice and teach deep Samadhi meditations from the yogic and Buddhist schools, respectively. 

MC Owens is a Buddhist teacher, translator, and author who uses a sutra-based curriculum to teach the history, philosophy, and practices of Buddhism. He has taught in universities, colleges, monasteries, and a variety of unique venues including museums, teahouses and nightclubs.

Through Lotus Underground, MC Owens offers courses and private study, and is building the Lotus Underground School of Buddhism, which will combine traditional methods with immersive technologies to provide resources and develop innovative approaches to the study of Buddhism. 

He is also a teacher for the San Francisco Dharma Collective, where he currently hosts Dharma Doors, a Sunday evening gathering that brings sutras to life through recitation, translation, humor, and storytelling. 

MC Owens' dharma talks, sutra recitations and deep dives into Buddhist texts can be found on the Lotus Underground soundcloud and youtube. 

He is also the author of the historical fiction novel, A Sacrifice of Monks

A little Ashtanga episode for your ear holes! Nothing I like better than a fine and geeky Ashtanga-based chat and what a privilege to do so with the raconteur himself, Russell Case.

Russell has been practicing and teaching Ashtanga yoga for more than 25 years. A humble and refined teacher, he was given Authorization by Pattabhi Jois in 2005. Case is known for his joking spirit, and his perpetual eye toward social justice work. When Pattabhi Jois invited him to his pranayama class in 2007, he considered this distinction to be the highest grade. 

Russell co-hosts the Finding Harmony Podcast with Harmony Slater which is one of my favourite yoga podcasts and if you like Ashtanga you should check them out

Shaila Catherine is the founder of Insight Meditation South Bay, a meditation group in Silicon Valley, and also Bodhi Courses, an online Buddhist classroom. She has been practicing meditation since 1980, with more than nine years of accumulated silent retreat experience. She has taught since 1996 in the USA, and internationally. Shaila studied with several Asian masters in India, Thailand, and Nepal, including H. W. L. Poonja, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, in addition to the founders of several western meditation centers including Christopher Titmuss and Joseph Goldstein. She completed a one-year intensive meditation retreat with the focus on concentration and jhana, and authored Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity. Shaila practiced under the guidance of Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw from 2006-2015, and authored Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhana and Vipassana to help make this traditional approach to meditative training accessible to western practitioners.

In 2014, Shaila founded Bodhi Courses to develop and offer teachings in an online classroom.

Stu Girling is a yoga teacher, anatomy expert and author. He runs Love Yoga Anatomy online and on Youtube, and is the author of Illustrated Yoga Anatomy book. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions about yoga, ashtanga, avoiding injury and maintaining healthy bodies.  We asked questions such as:

• How to return to yoga practice after pregnancy?
• How to do yoga asana with sciatica?
• Avoding ankle pain in lotus pose
• Why should spiritual yogis care about anatomy?
• How crosstraining can stop you getting injured
• What's with Setu Bandhasana? 

Find more from Stu https://loveyogaanatomy.com/ Stu's book: https://illustratedyogaanatomy.com/

There’s been a lot said and written about the changes female yogis go through when they become mothers. Now, for the first time, we discuss Ashtanga Yoga and fatherhood. Our guests, Mark Robberds, Prem Carlisi, and Scott Johnson have about 80 years of practice and teaching experience between them, close to 100 if you include me. 

Mark and I are new fathers, Scott Johnson’s kids are teenagers, and Prem is a grandfather. It was really special to sit with a group of men and learn about realising the goals of yoga in family life. 

Show Notes

• Becoming a father and how men experience having a baby
• How to continue a yoga practice while holding the responsibilities of family life
• How to maintain a quality relationship with your partner
• And the play of masculine and feminine in the yoga of relationship

Check out our guests online!

https://www.markrobberds.com

https://www.markrobberds.com/

https://stillpoint.yoga/

https://www.ashtangayogabali.com/

Ben Goresky is a counsellor, coach, and explorer of consciousness.

He is involved in addiction recovery and working with men as part of the Samurai Brotherhood. He also teaches counscious relationship training, a modern take on the old yoga of coupling.

Show notes

Nathan and Ben are both recovered addicts and share deeply about abuse, drug addiction, and recovery.

They delve into the spiritual practices that have helped Ben and Nathan on their journey to recovery and get into the spiritual power of "men's work" - a worldwide movement to support and heal the masculine.

Find out more about Ben's coaching and online trainings here: https://evolvingman.com/

Ash Hope is a Brisbane-based Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga teacher and a student of Nancy Gilgoff. Her fascination about the body’s self-healing abilities led her to study CranioSacral therapy with the Upledger Institute in Singapore. Ash explores the practice of meditation in the Zen tradition and teaches traditional Mysore style classes in her shala in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane.

• Spiritual longing: From Eastern Germany to India
• Discovering Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga system after an injuiry
• On synergetic relationship of Primary and Intermediate series
• Weekly sequencing - thoughts on rotation of series
• Meeting Nancy Gilgoff
• Evolution of Pattabhi Jois' teaching approach
• On old-school Advanced A series, teaching methodology
• Ashtanga pranayama
• Meditation practice
• Mixing practices from different schools

Visit https://www.ashtangayogacentre.com.au/ to find out more about Ash and her teaching schedul

Michael W. Taft is a meditation teacher, bestselling author, and the host of Deconstructing Yourself podcast. From Zen temples in Japan to yogi caves in India, Michael has been meditating for over thirty five years and has extensive experience in both Buddhist Vipassana and Hindu Tantric practice. Michael authored several books, including "The Mindful Geek, Nondualism: A Brief History of a Timeless Concept", and Ego (which he co-authored).

• Switching between incompatible models of reality
• Taking it too far
• Buddhist modernism
• Mahayana's critique of Theravada tradition
• Emptiness and the Buddha nature
• On Tantric practice
• Feeling your way through uncharted territory
• Uprooting the seeds of the kleshas
• Parallels between Tantric and Vajrayana practices
• On Vipassana
• Mantra and deities

To find out more about Michael Taft visit Deconstructing Yourself website.

Phil Mistlberger is an explorer of world's philosophic and esoteric traditions, transpersonal therapist, international seminar and workshop facilitator, and author with over thirty years of experience. Phil has written 7 books looking from different angles on wide variety of teachings and teachers. He has co-founded and founded schools and communities of inner work like Samurai Brotherhood, and traveled around the world to study and teach numerous courses and workshops.

• Spiritual experiences and Perennial philosophy
• Moving from one tradition to another
• 21st century destructed mind's dark night of the soul problem
• 3 Dangerous Magi
• On Aleister Crowley
• Studying with Osho
• Benefits of releasing generational rage and guilt
• On addiction, ethics and generational context
• Premature teaching
• On conditioned culture, autonomy and reality tunnels
• Encounter work and men groups

Visit http://www.ptmistlberger.com/ to find more about his work.

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Thomas Van Breda is a scholar of religion specialising in the western esoteric tradition. He joins us to discuss notorious occultist Aleister Crowley and his contribution to the evolution of modern yoga. In 1901, Crowley travelled to Sri Lanka and studied what seems to be a mixture of Ashtanga and Shaivite Yoga. When he returned to the UK he started teaching. Is it possible that he was one of the first western yoga teachers ever? Or did his bombastic and strange personality only obscure the teachings?

• We discuss the occult and rejected knowledge systems
• Crowley’s problematic personality
• How Crowley saw enlightenment and how he claimed to have attained it
• We respond to Mark Singleton’s 2010 book “Yoga Body: the Origins of Modern Posture Practice” that claims Crowley was a “black magician” who obscured the message of yoga
• How Crowley taught asana before Krishnamacharya, the old school way
• Crowley’s experiments and achieving dyana and samadhi states

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• Maggi’s artworks especially sacred symbols and geometry
• What kingons and vedic concepts of gunas have in common
• Pattabhi Jois and Bikram back in the day
• A non dual experience slipping into a river
• How the warrior poses are the same as walking
• 70s Hairstyles and the subtle body
• How “The body accepts whatever practice you choose”
• Different catagories of healing
• The wisdom of working with the moon
• Pranic and apanic breathing and moon days
• Ashtanga and aging

http://magginimmo.com/

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While his words are often like poetry and his photos stun you with their raw aesthetics, it is that space beyond the form and beyond the mind that Ty invites us to discover and out which his reflections are generously springing from. He is the wizard of most intricate thought castles, the faqir juggling heavy philosophical constructs with lightness and innocence of a child, while his fascination for exploring the ways of embodiment of the creative principle that animates all life is like a magnet that draws you deeper into inquiry in your own practice. We are absolutely delighted to have Ty Landrum on our show.

• First spiritual experiences, communion with the nature and longing for the sense of connection
• Intellectual intoxication, vinyasas of thought and postures of mind
• Somatic exploration of breath waves
• Terror of letting go of the sense of the self and the brilliance of Ashtanga Vinyasa
• Clinging to a particular idea of what your practice should be
• Asana as embodying the form that supports the liberated movement of creative energy
• Fatherhood and daily practice
• Mixing traditions, following your heart, exploring synchronicities
• Year-long online immersion course "Into the Depth"

Visit Yoga Workshop Online to find out about online classes, workshops and immersions offered by Ty Landrum. Also, check his website https://tylandrum.com/ to discover more about his teaching schedule, as well as some beautiful writing.

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Mumbai-based yoga practitioner and teacher, Deepa Rao shares her experience on Yoga and Meditation with us.

• Deepa's first spiritual recollections
• Amulets, yantras and experience growing up in a Brahmin familiy
• Goenka's Vipassana, practice and studies, aleviation of the fear of darkness
• Equanimity and challenges of daily life
• The story behind Trivikramasana
• How knowledge of mythology can help unravel deeper layers in your asana practice
• Using mantras, themes and affirmations in your practice
• On Ayurveda and diet, prana and apana vayu
• Yoga in modern day India
• Practicing with an American yoga teacher in India

If you want to get in touch with Deepa - visit her Instagram account https://instagram.com/therowdee

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Swami Jaya Devi Bhagavati is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Kashi Atlanta, a nonprofit urban yoga ashram that has served Atlanta for 21 years. She is an urban yoga monk, working to inspire people to live deeply, loving everyone along the way.

Swami has studied yoga, pranayama (yogic breath), meditation, and healing in-depth since 1985. She took her monastic vows in the Saraswati lineage of Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati and was given the title Yoga Acharya (master teacher of yoga) in 2007.

She taught at the 2004 Parliament of World Religions in Barcelona, Spain, and was Grand Marshal of the 2015 Atlanta Pride Parade in recognition of decades of work with the LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS communities. In our chat, we get deep on topics such as pranayama, kundalini and karma yoga.

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Sebene Selassie is an African American Buddhist teacher. She has been studying Buddhism for 30 years and teaching for 10. She has worked extensively for not-for-profit organisations everywhere from the Tenderloin in San Francisco to refugee camps in Guinea, West Africa. This year, she published her first book via HarperOne titled You Belong: A Call for Connection. 

In this enriching conversation we tackle the kind of tough subjects that we all think about but need to talk about more. Why have women been sidelined in Buddhist lineages? How can the Dharma respond to racial strife and injustice? And how we can heal cultures of harm wherever we find ourselves. 

• First experiences with bhakti yoga
• History of women in Buddhism 
• Sebene's journey through Buddhist schools
• Kuan Yin and devotional practice
• The question of cultural appropriation 
• How studying history can aid liberation
• The complex problem of unconscious bias
• What was left out when Buddhism was exported  
• Good ol’ psychedelics 
• Ancestral healing 
• How we might heal racism in dharma communities
• It’s not about separation 
• Guilt vs responsibility
• “The Dharma answers its context” 

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Robert Moses has 50 years’ experience as a teacher of yoga and advaita vedanta. Robert served in the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers for 22 years. He is a founder and co-publisher of Namarupa – Categories of Indian thoughts, a magazine about the philosophies and arts of India. He is leading annual pilgrimages to sacred places of India and offering classes on Pranayama, Bandhas, Kriyas, Mudras as well as exploration of Hatha Yoga Pradipika online.

• First glimpses beyond the physical plain of existence
• Intense yoga practice, meditation and fasting
• Hitchhiking through Europe
• “Cry, The Beloved Country” – growing up in South Africa
• The “Continuum concept” (Jean Liedloff)
• “You can’t just have bad people in the world raising kids” (Norman Allan)
• Bhakti practice, subtle forms of Tridoshas – Tejas, Ojas and Prana
• Brahmacharya in the context of househoder path
• Looking behind the bandhas
• Uddara – the forgotten bandha
• Addendum: Where to fit a mudra practice?
• Discover Namarupa Magazine, classes and courses by Robert Moses.

Discover Namarupa Magazine, classes and courses by Robert Moses. https://namarupa.org/

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Dr. Erik Davis is an American writer, scholar, journalist and public speaker whose writings have ranged from rock criticism to cultural analysis to creative explorations of mysticism. Few people are able to talk about the spirituality with  a precision and accuracy born of a commitment to always remain open to the Mystery.  Erik shares his own path, describing how he maintains scientific viewpoint while also embracing the weird and unknown aspects in all religions, especially Christianity and Buddhism. We talk in detail about "the psychonaut"scientifically minded explorers who use psychedelics in an attempt to map the fringes and consciousness - places where there might still be dragons.

Show Notes

• Spiritual and uncanny experiences occurred in Erik’s childhood bedroom
• Fear and fascination 
• How Erik spans science and spirituality
• Erik’s deep experience with Christian art
• “The weirdest year of your life”
• Erik on prayer and grace
• “America can’t escape the shadow of puritanism”
• Psychonauts vs religious seekers 
• Psychosis as an occupational hazard
• Practical Buddhist ethics
• The role of a spiritual teacher
• When Erik met Ram Dass

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Leigh has been practicing meditation since 1985. He is the senior American student of the late Ven. Ayya Khema. He began teaching retreats in Europe and North America in 1997, and is the author of the book "Right Concentration - A Practical Guide to the Jhanas". This is first part of our in-depth exploration of different aspects of Buddhist teachings that Leigh generously took time and energy for.

Episode 2 Show Notes

• Studying Buddhist suttas and commentaries, Visuddhimagga and Abhidhamma
• Stream entry, interpretation, importance and application of buddhist models
• Pulling out mile markers
• Long-term practice, improvement and reduction of dukha and unshakable peace
• On Daniel M. Ingram's sub-jhanas, excitement about and usefullness of experience
• Contemplation on 32 body types

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Leigh has been practicing meditation since 1985. He is the senior American student of the late Ven. Ayya Khema. He began teaching retreats in Europe and North America in 1997, and is the author of the book "Right Concentration - A Practical Guide to the Jhanas". This is first part of our in-depth exploration of different aspects of Buddhist teachings that Leigh generously took time and energy for.

Episode 1 Show notes

• The falling of the veil, spiritual hedonism and world trip
• The story of Theravada nun Ayya Khema
• Ways to look at Pratītyasamutpāda - dependent origination
• Five skandhas, Eckart Tolle and taking a nap
• Emptiness or Śūnyatā, inherent existence and the deathless
• Immortality project
• Leighs process of studying the Suttas
• What are Jhanas or the stages of indestructible mind
• Morality, concentration, wisdom
• Jhanas as a spectrum of concentration states
• As you go deeper the space of observer gets smaller
• Don't get fooled by your concepts
• Leigh's and Nathan's take on the spiritual world of today
• How Buddhism translates into Western culture

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Norway-born, Kathmandu-based KPJAYI authorised level 2 Ashtanga yoga teacher, co-founder of the first Ashtanga studio In Oslo, buddhist practitioner and scholar of Himalayan languages and Tibetan philology - Ellen Johannesen shares with us her fascinating life story as we change between buddhist and yogic perspectives exploring the path to liberation.

Show notes

• From contemporary dance to yoga
• Movement patterns, innate animal logic and asana
• The act of balancing or playing with the forces outside of you
• Yogic Yamas & Niyamas vs. Buddhist Paramis
• Regaining subtle body awareness through asana
• Relocating to Nepal and studying Buddhism, Himalayan languages, Tibetan philology
• How studying sutras and scriptures slowly changes you
• Dependent origination and breaking the pattern
• Practices aiming at removing samskaras
• Reconciling Yogic and Buddhist perspectives
• 100.000 prostrations in Bodh Gaya
• Making merit

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A lover of the ancient and obscure, Forrest Knutson is a yogi householder, writer and meditation teacher. He offers many great video instructions on Kriya Yoga and meditation on his YouTube channel, as well as through his courses and trainings.

Show notes

• Search for Truth, "Hamsa" meditation and first spiritual experience
• Joining monastic community
• Lahiri Mahasaya and Babaji
• Wondering up in the hills
• Kriya
• Enlightenment equasion, samadhi, layman vs monastic practice
• "Remedial teacher", heart rate variability and "3 cordial rules"
• Kechari Mudra
• Analogies with buddhist Jhana practice
• 7 Kriyas of Lahiri, buddhist 5 breath states

Check out Forrest Knutson's YouTube Channel, his website and his book "Hacking the Universe: The Process of Yogic Meditation"

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We are beyond excited to kick off the new year with these 2 beautiful guests - Deepika Mehta and Mark Robberds. Yoga couple, Ashtanga practitioners and movement specialists, teachers and successful Instagramers, humble and curious beings on the spiritual path - which of these labels come close to who they really are? Listen in!

Show notes

• Deepika's path to spirituality
• Relationships, practice and parenthood
• Pareto principle in Mark's approach to maintaining the practice
• Aging: Flexibility means fragility?
• Movement exploration rooted in the yogic tristana
• Benefits of a set sequence and creativity, yoga and surfing
• Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati
• Pranayama, Breathwork and Wim Hoff?
• James Nestor and Simon Borg-Olivier
• Cultural appropriation and Mula Bandha underwear
• Mark's Instagram journey
• Meditation practice and personal challenges
• 3 new online courses

Deepika Mehta - https://deepikamehta.in/

Mark's website - https://markrobberds.com/

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We are very happy to present to you this interview with Gregor Maehle that was recorded around a year ago. Gregor's path is a remarkable example of limitless determination to find the Truth. While not attempting to gain popularity and fame his ideas and views can be polarizing, provoking and challenging. He dismisses authorities, hierarchies, guru worship and other unhealthy group dynamics. By doing so he is not only living out authentically one of the fundamental yogic attitudes of willing to know, rather than to believe, but also plays an extremely important social role that is becoming more and more scarce in today's poisoned with political correctness world - by not sweetening up his words, pointing out things that are broken, views that are wrong and actions that are unethical he invites all of us to question our assumptions of reality, so that we can finally wake up from our ignorant slumber and experience the true joy of being.

It is in sincere gratitude for his guidance on the path of Yoga that we release this interview.

Show notes

• First glimpses of infinity
• Doer mentality, surrendering and grace
• What led Gregor to the practice of the 8-limbed Yoga
• Immersing into teachings today vs in old times
• Tibetian Ngöndro, Six Yogas of Naropa, Dzogchen
• Purification practices within the Ashtanga Yoga tradition and the mechanisms behind them
• Why your meditation doesn't work
• Happiness and robotic conditioning
• Gregor's spiritual practice and the sense of freedom
• Breath waves
• Experience of Cosmic intelligence on different levels
• The differences and similarities of different spiritual paths
• Svadharma
• Gregor's observation of the modern Yoga landscape

To find out more about Gregor's teaching, learning materials, courses and in-depth blog article visit https://8limbs.com/

Check out new book by Gregor Maehle: "How To Find Your Life's Divine Purpose: Brain software for a new civilization"

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Harmony Slater is Ashtanga Yoga practitioner and teacher based in Calgary, Canada. Her search for meaning led her from ballet dancing to studying philosophy, religion and psychology, travelling to China to learn Buddhist meditation and eventually meeting Sri. K Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. In this lively conversation we talk about her path and discuss many other topics:

• Entranced by Sri Yantra - first mystical experiences
• Different internal drishtis during asana practice and the meditative aspect of it
• Harmony's study of the mind in academical and practical setting
• Darkness, addiction and the light of knowledge as a ladder for the intellect
• Anorexia, body dysmorphia, not good enough
• The strong remedy of Ashtanga Yoga
• On Pranayama and Kundalini

Harmony is also a host of Finding Harmony Podcast, where she interviews many interesting yogis and fellow seekers in a very entertaining and uplifting way.

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This is a second interview in our two-part special with yoga teachers Mary Taylor and Richard Freeman. In our first conversation we were primarily focusing on different aspects of the Yoga practice. Now in this episode we explore the relationship between Yoga and Buddhism. We look closely at the content of both teachings to understand how they intersect, whether they are talking about same or similar things just under different angles, what is the reason between different emphasis of those, as well as how both traditions can support each other if you bring enough curiosity and create a space for a dialogue.

• The relationship between Patanjali's 8 limbs and Buddha's 8 folded Path
• Different ways of setting the stage for compassion to arise in the yogic and buddhist traditions
• Yogic Samadhi vs. Buddhist Samadhi
• Navigating the diversity of practices
• References to Truth in Buddhism and Yoga, differences between solidifying authority vs. investigating authority
• Don't know mind
• The taste of Nirodha
• Different emphasis on purification practices in yogic and buddhist traditions
• Role of asana in buddhist schools and how the traditions come to communication in recent times
• Thoughts on the common synergy of yogic asana practice with Vipassana style meditation between yoga practitioners
• Pranayama, the sweetness of Kumbhaka and the right attitude

Missed the first episode? Listen now - Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor – Yogic Musings, Part I.

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Our hearts are filled with joy and gratitude, and we are honoured to bring you a very special series of conversations with a yogic couple, who have influenced the world of modern yoga probably more than anyone else. Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor dedicated their lives to practice and study of the spiritual traditions of the East and are sharing the knowledge revealed to them humbly and graciously with their students.

• Mary's reflections on her first spiritual experiences
• Groundedness, embodiment and the connection to the environment
• Dropping of the breath as the beginning of Yoga
• The roots of Richard's subtle body teachings
• How far away is esoteric from ordinary?
• Release of the soft palate and the concept of Nada Anusandhan
• Meditational aspects of the asana practice, subtle body alignments and how different schools of thought encompass each other
• Visualisation, idolatry and guidance
• Role of Pranayama in removing of Samskaras and how you can make them worse
• Aesthetics, emotionality and beauty
• Tadagi Mudra
• Nauli in Kukkutasana
• Separating grains from chaff or thoughts on finding a teacher
• Secret to good relationship :)
• Ethical aspect of romantic relationship between teacher and student
• Ongoing process of Ashtanga community dealing with Patthabi Jois's sexual abuse
• Richard's take on the modern world of yoga

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Bhante Panna is an American monk living in a forest monestry near Bangkok. He has a popular Instagram (@bronthepath} where he shares his life of contemplation. In this conversation we address monkhood, spiritual powers, communing with nature, ending racism, and liberation. I know you're going to like this one!

Show Notes

• 2.50 Bhante’s spiritual awakening while climbing a mountain 
• 11.40 The spirituality of Thailand 
• 14.00 Bhante’s daily routine and life as a monk
• 24.00 How celibacy has given Bhante a new sense of freedom
• 27.00 The roots of African spirituality
• 32.30 Discussing siddhis or extra-normal powers associated with meditation 
• 37.40 Empathy with snakes and scorpions and chilling with Nature
• 44.00 Black meditation matters
• 49.50 Liberation and racial conditioning 
• 54.00 Cultural healing in spiritual communities
• 58.00 The spiritual landscape of the world today

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Anthony "Prem" Carlisi has been practicing and teaching Ashtanga yoga for over 40 years. He learned directly from Pattabhi Jois in 1978 for several months in Southern California. In 1979, he was amongst the first small group of Western students to study with Jois in his home town of Mysore, India. He is considered one of the American pioneers of Ashtanga yoga, along with David Williams, Nancy Gilgoff, David Swenson and Tim Miller. Prem was certified to teach the primary, intermediate and advanced series of Ashtanga yoga in 1994. He also completed a four-year course of ayurvedic study in 1984 with Dr. Vasant Lad and has been studying tantric techniques since 1990. In 2007, Prem published his first book, The Only Way Out Is In, which is his commentary on the synergy of the three life sciences of Ashtanga yoga, ayurveda and tantra. He and his partner Heather "Radha" Duplex are now based primarily in Ubud, Bali for 6-8 months of the year, and 3-4 months in Kauai, Hawaii with Pineapple Yoga. They offer daily Mysore classes in both locations, as well as trainings for teachers, intensives and workshops that deepen the understanding of Ashtanga yoga, ayurveda and tantra.

Show Notes

• 1.40 First spiritual experiences with psychedelics
• 5.50 Intersection with psychedelics and traditional spiritual practices 
• 10.00 The practice of dying while living
• 23.00 Tapas and purification
• 29.30 The sudden death of Prem’s daughter and how he dealt with the grief
• 37.30 How Prem lost his way and found it again
• 39.30 Siddhis
• 40.50 Advice for his younger self
• 42.00 Importance of meditation practice
• 50.00 Surrender and the Buddha’s “middle path”
• 54.00 Eight limbs are a foundational practice
• 57.00 Pranayama and when to do it
• 60.30 Wim Hoff technique

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In this episdoe we talk to Oliver Crossley from Yogic Physio.

Oliver is a Registered Physiotherapist, Yoga and Meditation Teacher. He is a long-term practitioner of Zen Buddhism, Ashtanga Vinyasa and Vinyasa Krama Yoga in the tradition of Krishnamacharya. He is a passionate proponent of evidence-based rehabilitation and person-centred care and loves helping people get back to moving at their best.

This is a different kind of episode. This time we gathered questions of our listeners on different social media platforms and asked Oliver about his opinion. This a very practical episode that hopefully will help some of you into a safer and less painful practice.

• Tight psoas and lower back discomfort
• Prolapsed discs and continuing practice
• Strengthening of unstable shoulder joint
• How to assess the seriousness of the shoulder injury
• Tight hamstrings and psoas and forward bends
• Is grabbing your ankles during backbending safe?
• Hand placement in Lagu Vajrasana - ankles vs. calves?
• Is practicing Ashtanga 6 days a week safe?
• Examples of conflict between traditional way of teaching Ashtanga Vinyasa and modern physiotherapy approach
• How to protect your lumber spine?
• Are there certain asanas that will more likely lead to injuries as the body gets older?
• Knee pain
• Shoulders: Strengths vs. stiffness
• Thigh rotation in Visvamitrasana

If you want to get in touch with Oliver or find out more about his work visit https://www.yogicphysio.com

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The shrine has a mosque-like roof, white as a meringue. People, some in robes, walk in-between evergreen trees laden with jackfruit. It’s the rainy season in Bangladesh and everything is hot and wet.

Muhammed Ali fixes us with a calm gaze beneath authoritarian eyebrows. Behind him, a woman sweeps around the grave of saint Lalon Shah and that of his mother. The two six-foot-long prisms are covered with patterned material and spicy smokes threads through latticed burners. Lalon’s main disciples are buried outside the small mausoleum. Ali points out one of the graves, “my father lies there. I inherited the role of caretaker from him,” he says.

He takes us to the main hall. We slip off our shoes and step onto cool, white stone. Inside, devotees recline in the midday heat. Women and children sit around bags of spicy peas and rotis, their saris the colour of oak and red squirrels and emerald.

Lalon Shah lived and taught here, in Kushtia, Bangladesh throughout the 19th century. He died in 1890 aged over 100 years old.

“Lalon was one of the most influential mystic saints of the Indian subcontinent. He has inspired millions with his songs,” said Lalim Haque, a researcher and Lalon expert. “His lyrics are so profound he has been able to touch the lives of not only people who have a taste for music but all people.”

Haque is kind and avuncular. He said Lalon’s songs, especially when heard in their original Bangla, have the power to propel people to spiritual heights. Estimated to have composed thousands of songs, Lalon and his followers went on to influence 20th century greats like Rabindranath Tagor, the Bengali poet, Allan Ginsberg and Bob Dylan. To contemporary Bangladeshis he is like Shakespeare, Martin Luther King and Ekhart Tolle rolled into one.

Barely an hour goes by at Lalon’s shrine without a song being sung, day or night. The twang of the ektara, a single-stringed instrument, its sound somewhere between a banjo and a sitar, joins scurrying drums and tinkling symbols.

His followers are called Bauls, they are a mystical sect found in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Some are part timers with families and jobs who don white robes and sing songs of egalitarianism on the weekends. Others are homeless mendicants, devoted to the path.

Outside the shrine, there is a park with a ten-foot portrait of Lalon. It wafts with weed and tobacco. Rumana, a former lawyer, has been a full-time Baul for 22 years. She plants a clay pipe between her fingers, cups her hands and inhales. She is charismatic, intelligent and, unlike many of her companions, reveals clean white teeth whenever she smiles, which is very often. She can speak English but refuses to be interviewed until we come back with a translator saying that Bengla is the only language she can use to describe these sacred things. Listen to this unique episode.

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Ajahn Achalo an Australian buddhist monk and current abbot of Anandagiri Forest Monastery in North Thailand. He was born in Brisbane and ordained in the lineage of Ajahn Chah in 1996. In recent times he has created some extensive online teachings that are proving popular on meditation apps, Spotify and the like. You can find his writings and Dharma talks on the website of the monastery.

In this conversation, Ajahn Achalo generously shared his thoughts on many intricate aspects of Buddhist practice. The ease and open-heartedness with which he engaged in conversation with us is something very special. Listen in.

• Listening to the sound of the waves
• First spiritual instruction from a hippie in a new age bookstore
• From discovering Metta meditation to recording guided instructions for practitioners
• Will Metta come automatically if you practice enough Vipassana?
• How death mediation practice can lead to enhanced self aversion
• Core toolbox meditation practices, qualities of the Buddha and how to relate to them
• Brahma Viharas and Jhana meditation, becoming and desire energies in our practice
• Dangers of overestimating your results, difference between Upacara Samadhi and Jhana
• Role of contentment and gratitude, and the practice of celibacy
• The story of the forest monk
• Intentions in Metta meditation and the importance of carrying them into the world
• Exploring teachings of different schools of Buddhism, learning from Dalai Lama
• The story behind Nathan's Maitreya tattoo
• New books and the story behind Ajahn Achalo's over 3500 hrs of meditation at Bodh Gaya
• What constitutes Enlightenment

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From Ferguson to New York, and from Germany and South Africa to Australia and Brazil, Lisa Sharon Harper leads trainings that increase clergy and community leaders’ capacity to organize people of faith toward a just world. A prolific speaker, writer and activist, Ms. Harper is the founder and president of FreedomRoad.us, a consulting group dedicated to shrinking the narrative gap in our nation by designing forums and experiences that bring common understanding, common commitment and common action.

• Lisa's Podcast about social justice and activism
• Milk, donuts and the first prayer at night in the middle of the Pine Barrens
• Deepening of the kindled interest through studies and culture
• Concept of religious conviction
• Lisa's take on slavery references in the Bible
• Retracing Cherokee Trail of Tears and seeking understanding in the Bible
• From the mind to the heart and how spirituality is only as powerful as you allow it to engage with the world around you
• Hearing the soul's cry, dangers of defining people, the need for silence as a space where one can here God's voice
• The empires of lies and the need of identifying the Truth to change them
• The idea of the fists and the heads
• Political activism, confrontation as spiritual act of worship
• Global awakening and the age of transition
• Lisa's books, podcast, consulting group Freedom Road

Ms. Harper authored 5 books. You can find out more about her work by visiting https://lisasharonharper.com/

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On this episode we talk to Ajahan Succito a british-born Buddhist monk and former abbot of Cittaviveka monestry in the UK.

I became aware of Ajahn Succito when my teacher gave a series of talks on the Paramis – the Buddhist virtues – based on his book on the subject. I hadn’t heard of the Paramis or Succito but my teacher was so enthused by his presentation of the subject I couldn’t help but get a copy which turned out to be easy as all his books are freely available here.

I worked with his Paramis book and still do to this day. My teacher also gave me a copy of Rude Awakenings, his memoir of an incredible pilgrimage on foot visiting the Buddhist holy sites in Kathmandu and North India.

I met him a few times at his base at Cittaviveka monastery not far from London in the UK. I was struck by his complete lack of pretentiousness and self-regard. He spoke in the way a tree might speak to the wind and showed me that it is possible to bring the ancient teachings of the Buddha to full fruition today.

• First spiritual experience through Hatha Yoga practices and recognition of death
• University studies, psychedelics, discovering of the Eastern spirituality, travelling to India and Thailand
• 5th precept of abstaining from intoxicants and the use of psychedelics
• Buddhist Paramis and their expression in life
• Renunciation - moving away from sensual indulgences or differentiating wants from needs
• Why true equanimity is almost inconceivable
• From Dharma to culture
• Problem of compartmentalisation of meditation
• Tips on cultivating of Paramis and seeking wholesome states
• The 4 floods, body maps and experience of reality
• Spirituality as a natural process, environmental crisis as opportunity to awaken

Visit Forest Sangha website to find all books by Ajahn Succito as well as his website to find out more about Ajahn's teachings.

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To us Monica is an embodiment of the yogic way of living. With around 40 years of spiritual practice she is also a Doctor of Chiropractic , Yoga Therapist and co-author of "Ashtanga Yoga, Practice and Philosophy" and "Ashtanga Yoga, The Intermediate Series". Her passion for teaching yogic anatomy unlocks this uneasy subjects to many of her students. In intensive immersions that she offers together with her husband, Gregor Maehle, Monica is also teaching chanting. Her devotion and love for the practice helps students to tap into the world of infinite beauty the moment the first OM together is chanted. We are privileged and grateful to have her on our show.

• Monica's first encounters with Samsara Halahala
• Glimpse into the Essence and discovery of Hridaya, the spiritual heart
• Meditation practice, meeting Maharaji Prem Rawat
• Starting on the path of Yoga
• Role of meditation in allaying the fear of death
• Work and discipline in a spiritual practice
• Surrendering, synchronicity and serendipity
• Tapping into emotional scars and working with samskaras through yoga practice
• Yoga as a form of psychotherapy?
• Role of ethics on and off the mat and thoughts on teaching it
• Embracing humanity and finding refuge in practice

You can find many great articles by Monica in the blog https://chintamaniyoga.com/blog/, as well teaching schedule under https://8limbs.com/.

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Talking to Simon Borg-Olivier is like going snorkelling with Jacque Yve Cousteau - you suddenly find yourself in a bathyscaphe at the bottom of the ocean exploring its depth and multifacetedness of creatures you never knew existed, although in our case it's the ocean of Yoga and the creatures are different angles to view mudras, kriyas, asanas, yogic breathing and the concept of movement itself. In this fascinating talk Simon takes us on a wild ride through many different angles to view the common things - from questioning the validity of the most basic instructions like lifting your arms and drawing your shoulders down in Surya Namasakara to how almost any yogic tool can cause a different outcome based on your intention and tiniest details of your technique.  

We speak about Simon's ideal practice routine, how to nourish yourself with practice in the hard time of Covid-19 caused isolation, how to stay connected while being isolated and physically disconnected, how to expand your meditative practice far beyond the formal time spent on the yoga matt. This interview offers you so many dimensions to explore, think and question your views and believes, and we felt very enriched, and once again mystified with all the new pieces of the yogic puzzle.

• Looking into drishti and physiological aspecs of chanting
• Simon's take on breathing practice
• Practice of kriyas - the intricacies of Nauli & Lauliki and dosha specific objectives
• Moving from the core
• Self isolation and how yogic tools can help: meditative states
• Meditative cleaning :)
• Thoughts on what makes a supportive practice vs. increasing stress level through activity
• Coping with isolation and finding a perspective in the info swamp
• Breathing waves geekery
• Ratios in Nadi Shodana and the subject of Kumbhaka
• Are you able to breathe into your chest in a relaxed way?
• 7 stages of Hatha Yoga treatise and Basti kriya as a prerequisite for mudra, asana and pranayama
• Important paradigm shifts to happen in modern postural yoga
• Kapalabhati, Bastrika, Nauli and the danger of misinterpretation of their purposes
• Shades of Kumbhaka
• Incredible hyperventilation experiment
• Words of caution and thoughts on selecting a teacher and teaching

Check out YogaSynergy or his personal website for more information on Simon's teaching.

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Lorraine Cavanagh is an Anglican priest, theologian and a sincere practitioner of Christian path. Her journey is about cultivating and helping others to establish personal relationship with God, outside of any dogmatic concept or structure. It's about spirituality, and not about church. She is also a writer and a podcast host.

In this interview Lorraine shares with us her thoughts on the problems of modern Christian religion, the common misunderstandings about major Christian concepts and helps us better understand some fundamental metaphors of Christianity. We speak about the practice of prayer and the importance of silence, and ask her many more quirky questions, while she kindly and lovingly shares her wisdom with us.

• Lorraine's remarkable experience - the choosing of the Path
• True meaning of Mission and Evangelism in Christianity
• Reasons and consequences of the spiritual experience
• Institutionalised religion and what increasing spirit of managerialism does to it
• Misunderstanding of the conecpt of Prophecy
• Hard questions and the mechanism of prayer as a tool to address them
• Depression, dark night of the soul and the purpose of it
• Metaphor of Jesus dying and how death is not the end of the story
• God, Christ and Holy Spirit experiences
• Importance of scielence
• Difference between contemplative life and activism?
• Calling, destiny, providence and the weaving together
• Abuse of power in the context of religion and the chronic loneliness of the human condition
• Lorraine's books

You can find out more about Lorraine's work at https://www.lorrainecavanagh.net/

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Mark Togni is a Zen monk, advanced Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga practitioner and teacher. In this geeky interview Mark shared with us his insights on intersection of great amount of different practices and traditions.

Differences in effects of Vipassana, Zen and Yogic chakra and Kundalini raising meditation techniques. Interdependent co-arising in Zen, self-inquiry approach of Advaita Vedanta and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra philosophy. Breathing waves, bandhas and energetic patterns of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga’s sequences. These are just a few things we discuss in this over an hour long interview with Mark Togni.

What makes this conversation so valuable is that his statements are based not on the book knowledge, but are coming from his first hand experience with different spiritual practices. Listen in!

• Journey to India and meeting his teacher Sri H.W.L. Poonja (Poonjaj, Papaji)
• Thoughts on the selecting the Guru and how to reconcile different philosophical views of Yoga and Buddhism – interdependent co-arising, self-inquiry
• 10 Great Precepts and how does a Zen Monk end up practicing 4th Series of Ashtanga
• Unified mind, passive and active Samadhis and asana practice
• Intersection of 8 Limbs of Patanjali and Zen
• Difference in effects of Vipassana, Zen and Yogic Chakra / Kundalini raising meditation techniques
• Thoughts on selecting a Guru
• Reconciling Zen’s interdependent co-arising, Advaita’s self-inquiry and Patanjali’s philosophy
• Unraveling Samskaras through practice and Gestalt therapy
• Ida and Pingala, and thought son effects of meditation before and after asana practice
• Breathing waves and bandhas as form of response to the heaven and earth connection
• Effects of different Ashtanga sequences, energetic patterns and reasoning
• Finding a balance between Asana, Pranayama and Meditation
• Combining practices from different spiritual traditions
• Mark’s thoughts on Yoga and spiritual landscape of today

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Nicky Knoff has an incredible life story and a yoga journey that stretches over more than 50 years. Being 82 at the time when we recorded this interview, she is vibrant, full of life and excited about teaching yoga to her students. Nicky shares the story of her life with us – from growing up in a prisoner’s camp in Indonesia, discovering yoga and meeting many inspirational teachers to her philosophy and approach to teaching that aims to integrate higher limbs of yoga in a holistic and balanced practice.

• Be here now – Nicky’s childhood memories of prisoner’s camp in Indonesia
• Discovering yoga by observing its fruits in a close friend
• Bikram Choudhury, BKS Iyengar, Desikachar and S. N. Goenka
• Why students are discouraged from doing yoga during Goenka retreats?a
• How Vipassana and Yoga help us confront the same issues in a synergistic way
• Nicky’s Pranayama practice
• Pranayama as integral part of asana practice and how Ujayi can help during labor
• Ashtanga sequencing and lack of attention to Pranayama in traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa way of teaching
• What is to consider when designing your own asana and pranayama routine
• Difference in breathing patterns and their effects as taught by Desikachar, BKS Iyengar and Pathabi Jois
• Teaching main objective to focus on when teaching people with PTSD
• Nicky’s approach to integration of higher limbs in her teaching to offer balanced yoga practice

You can learn more about Nicky’s teaching and access many valuable materials at https://www.knoffyoga.com/

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In this episode we interview Matthew Sweeney, a long-term yoga practitioner and teacher. Matthew’s path of self-inquiry is a remarkable journey through different systems and approaches, from Martial Arts and Zen Shiatsu to Iyengar Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. A long-term absorption in yogic practices together with open-mindedness an interest in Meditation, Tantra, Gestalt Therapy, Transpersonal Therapy, Transforming Cellular Memory, Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta helped him to crystallise his understanding and develop his own authentic and honest approach to teaching. He has written several books and created DVD teaching programs, as well as many great reflections in form or free articles. He is currently based in Ubud, Bali, where he teaches courses in his beautiful shala – Vinyasa Krama Mandiram.

In this interview with Matthew Sweeney we go in-depth on a great variety of topics and get really geeky. 

• Relationship between Moon Sequence & Ashtanga Primary Series. Background & Purpose.
• Impact of different asana practices on the state of mind – tamasic, rajastic, sattvic?
• Different angles to look at Vinyasa Krama
• Sequences of Ashtanga Yoga  
• Yamas and Niyamas
• Matthew’s take on 8 limbs of Patanjali
• Focusing on Stambha within Pranayama and Meditation
• Dharana, Dhyana and attachment to the practice
• Pratyahara and misunderstandings around it
• Self-enquiry and Advaita Vedanta
• Potential of higher limbs and limitations of the system
• Benefits of combining different observer consciousness practices
• Spirituality and technique

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