Mysore Yoga Paris – Closer Together

Recited daily in Mahayana temples throughout the world, The Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra or The Sutra of the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge is one of the most well known Buddhist teachings and is said to be the view that leads to complete liberation.
In this episode, Kia shares her personal experience and reflections around this sacred text, as well as the creation of hers and Yotam's latest album The Other Shore – Sounds of the Heart Sutra. This is followed by a recitation of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s exquisite translation of the text.

You find the complete album The Other Shore – Sounds of the Heart Sutra on all platforms where you listen to music.

With love and blessings
/kia & yotam x

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

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This meditation explores bringing our Swara - the flow through our right solar and left lunar streams of consciousness - into balance. 
In yoga this is traditionally done through harmonising the flow through our left and right nostril where these subtle breath channels, nadis terminate. There are many practices devoted to this end in classical Hatha Yoga texts. This episode offers a beautifully crafted live recording from Kia's In-depth Development Training  that we invite you to explore with us.
It is said that when our stimulating and generative solar swara comes into a supportive balance with our spacious and receptive lunar swara, inner divisiveness and conflict is able to heal. Entering this sanctuary within, duality and separation begins to soften, even dissolve, and we are left with a deep sense of wholeness and interconnectedness.
This recording is best experienced with headphones to allow for a multi-dimensional listening. 

With Love and Blessings
/kia & yotam

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

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More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

An embodied approach to yoga requires us to learn our body's subtle language so we can attune what and how to practice to care for its changing nature.  Opening and closing with a  Body Scan is a powerful way to strengthen our capacity to use own inner reference system for growing somatic intelligence. Without initiating our practice from this place of deep listening, our practice is likely to be rout, habitual or goal-driven. Opening with a compassionate inquiry into our own embodiment opens up our yoga practice to endless creative opportunities and new pathways for healing.
This is a live recording from Kia's In-Depth Training at Mysore Yoga Paris.
It is best experienced with headphones to allow for a multi-dimensional listening. 
Thank you for your practice

With love & blessings
x Kia & Yotam

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

Resonance frequency breathing  is a very simple, yet powerful practice for restoring balance in our body, breath, heart and mind. The word resonance is defined as synchronicity or harmony between elements. It’s a way of breathing where we consciously slow down our breath cycle in a way that brings our autonomic nervous system into balance. In only a few quiet minutes, this practice allows us to drop into a natural sense of equilibrium and harmony. In resonance with our true selves…

The recording is best experienced with headphones to allow for a multi-dimensional listening. Thank you for your practice

With love & devotion
x Kia & Yotam

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

Kia opens our meditation by sharing a quote from electronic music composer Pauline Olivero's work Quantum Listening. It's an invitation to listen with care and attention. Listening deeply in this way sheds light on the invisible forces that transpires around, within and between us - our inner and outer resonance. Following these subtle vibratory threads, we experience our existence as woven together in a boundless tapestry of sound and breath.

This beautiful sound meditation with crystal bowls by Cristina Monti, is a live recording from this Summers' Retreat in our Mountain Shala. 

The recording is best experienced with headphones to allow for a multi-dimensional listening.

With love & devotion

x Kia & Yotam

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

For more free resources please sign up to our newsletter: https://www.mysoreyogaparis.com/newsletter-sign-up

More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

We invite you for a Savasana-Journey: A divine relaxation that takes us to Mother India, the homeland of yogic practices & ancient wisdom teachings.
We travel deep into a protected rain forest in Karnataka. In the lush soundscape of the jungle, we find a clearing where we lie down.
In this sanctuary, we allow our body to find complete rest and our mind complete presence.
Savasana is usually taken at the end of practice, but we truly recommend taking Savasana any time during the day when you need a pause to relax and renew your body and mind. Or, you could simply allow this journey to gently drop you into a restful sleep.

This sound recording is best experienced with headphones to allow for a multi-dimensional listening.

With love & devotion

x Kia & Yotam

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

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More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

Shamatha means Calm Abiding or Peacefully Remaining and is the foundation of Buddhist Mindfulness Practice. Taking our seat and placing our attention on an anchor such as the breath,  offers us a home ground, a safe but transient sensation that allows us to return to our embodiment in the present moment. When we pause from the momentum of life in this way, we begin to breed an inner sanctuary, a calm resting place from where we can experience life more fully. This ability to abide in reality is what is known as The Lion’s Roar of Confidence.

Thank you for your practice.
With love and blessings

Kia & Yotam x

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

In this episode we are taking you on a sound journey to one of my retreats in the Spanish mountains where you find our Mountain Shala. We go here to retreat and to practice deeply. But also to simply be together, enjoy and explore. Most practitioners return year after year, and over time many friendships have flourished here. This is not so much a journey away from, as it is a journey towards each other and inside ourselves.
Many elements in this Soundscape were recorded live during our last retreat in the mountains. The scape is 90 mins long so it´s wonderful to listen to it during practice to allow yourself to immerse into the energy of the retreat. 
Or: you might simply sit back and enjoy the journey...
As with all our multi-layered sound scapes, they are best experienced using headphones.

With love & devotion
x Kia & Yotam

With deep gratitude to David & Emma and all wonderful mountain shala practitioners!

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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This talk on Saṁkalpa is a live recording from our Borderless Online Shala, held only days after the passing of zen master Thich Nhath Hahn. The talk was followed by a meditation on the same theme which you find in the next episode of our Podcast.
Saṁkalpa is a very particular word in the Sanskrit language. The most common, but somewhat simplified English translation is "An Intention Formed by the Heart". But the power of Saṁkalpa is really embedded into the very sound of the word itself. So its potency is directly reliant on our capacity to listen deeply. Kia relates to Saṁkalpa not so much as an intention but as an Inner Resonance that we listen for and reflect upon. She also shares how it speaks to the truth of our fundamental Interbeingness - a word coined by Thich Nhath Hahn.

With love & devotion
x Kia & Yotam

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

In our previous episode, we shared a talk on Saṁkalpa recorded live  in our Borderless Online Shala. The Meditation you are about to hear was recorded during the same session. So we invite you to listen to the talk first, to lay a foundation for the meditation.
Saṁkalpa is a very particular word in the Sanskrit language. The most common, but somewhat simplified English translation is "An Intention Formed by the Heart". But the power of Saṁkalpa is really embedded into the very sound of the word itself. So its potency is directly reliant on our capacity to listen deeply. Kia relates to Saṁkalpa not so much as an intention but as an Inner Resonance that we listen for and reflect upon.
It is in quietude that we can move closer to our hearts so that we can hear the resonance arising from within: Saṁkalpa the very depth of our being coming into manifestation.

Enjoy your practice.

With love & devotion
x Kia & Yotam

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

The tendency of our distracted mind is to be scattered and cut off from the direct, physical sensations of our body. When we are caught in thinking of the future or past, we leave the nowness of our breathing body. Our body and mind separate from one another. The division between body, heart and mind is first healed by the breath.  We anchor our awareness in our breath to yoke body, heart and mind into same place the same at time.  
In this space there is a sense of Wholeness.

With love & devotion
x Kia & Yotam

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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The Breath Space opens with Kia taking us through a short breath awareness practice where we awaken to the Pranic & Apanic patterns that cause the shape and pulse of our body to change with each breath.
With fluidity and spaciousness arising from within, we bring ourselves to Samastitihi where we align body, breath and mind – before moving into 80 mins of Soundscapes designed to carry us through our practice. 
Throughout we are offered gentle reminders to help bring us back home to the openness and aliveness of our inner breath space. Kia also shares one of her favourite quotes by Ani Pema Chödrön.

Watch a magnificent video of this episode: https://youtu.be/BGSPnK9fxsM

If you feel compelled to help support production costs for this offering, a donation is deeply appreciated: https://donorbox.org/mysore-yoga-paris-closer-together

Enjoy your practice.

With love & devotion
x Kia & Yotam

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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The most direct portal to presence comes through being awake in our body. Many people think of meditation as a practice solely for the mind, reaching some alternative, transcendent state. But mindfulness meditation is above all a fully embodied practice.  
In this meditation we let our awareness drop down into the belly and rest deep within our body. We try not to manipulate or control the breath in any way. Instead we learn to trust the breath to breath us naturally. Bringing our attention to the navel centre we come to know the seat of all layers of our embodiment, our fundamental wholeness and interconnectedness.
Thank you for listening.

With Love & Devotion

/Kia & Yotam 

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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It´s time to take rest. We prepare our Savasana as if for our most beloved in life. Offering this gift of care and kindness to ourselves. The practice of Savasana is passive, receptive. We allow ourselves to be held unconditionally. Our nest, a divine resting place. 
Now lie down, close your eyes and feel yourself lying on the earth. This is not the time to practice. This is the time to surrender. We sense our body fully supported, received in our  shared space.  As our breath gradually falls into the background, we become receptive to sound.  Listening not just with our ears, but with our entire body. We let 108 divine Oms flow with our breath from the centre of our heart throughout our body and beyond... As our Om breath rolls in and out, we become aware of the oscillation of our inner and outer body, our inner and outer world. Soaked in our own vital life force Prana, we drop into a natural sense of belonging. A sanctuary, a refuge deep within the universe of our own being.

This sound recording is best experienced with headphones to allow for a multi-dimensional listening. 

With love & devotion

x Kia & Yotam

Deep gratitude to the inspiring work of Tracey Stanley.

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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Perhaps the most accessible gateway to begin a meditation practice is through Mindfulness of Sound. Sounds are always happening in the present moment, they arise, change and dissolve.  We  cultivate a sense of spaciousness for sounds to arise without clinging, rejecting, or being distracted by them.  
Mindful Listening is an Embodied Listening. We don´t just hear with our ears, but we listen with our entire body. Being actively engaged in listening directly attunes us to the present moment. When we listen deeply, we create conditions for awareness to naturally arise.

Thank you for Listening...

With love & devotion
x Kia & Yotam

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

This is a live recording from March 29th 2021, one year since we moved our community to our Borderless Online Shala.

”Personally I feel the Shala and its community have never been more important than this last year. As a refuge, a sanctuary – not in a sense of hiding away from the world, on the contrary: as an active process of placing our practice in the midst of our life as it is right now. Holding space for us to draw from these teachings and practices so that we can move through this incomprehensible time with as much compassion and wakefulness as we possibly can.
I wish to thank all of you who have shown up here, some of you every single week since we opened.  Quite some re-adjustment and re-imagination had to take place for us to make this transition into a virtual space.
I bow to you for your willingness to re-adapt, to create space and to show up for yourself and each other, because there  is something deeper that connects us than physical location. It is thanks to you that Mysore Yoga Paris has survived this challenging year as a community and a Shala. You have shown not only in words but in action that separation doesn´t have to mean isolation.  Instead we can allow distancing to be a form of care. In our hearts we can make conscious choice not to close down bu but to close in on each other. 
For the awakening heart, supporting the practice of those around us, our Sangha is just as important as our own individual path – because the two are entirely interdependent.”

With love and devotion x

Kia & Yotam
Paris March 29th 2021

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

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The biggest illusion about the Path of Refuge is that we have to journey somewhere else to find this sacred space. Ultimately our refuge is not outside ourselves or somewhere else, but it is always and already here. We are taking refuge in the truth of who we are - our Inner Shala.
This practice soundscape is meant to help open up this sanctuary within. To cultivate an inner experience of wholeness and belonging in your practice. 

The Inner Shala opens with Kia counting through the  traditional standing sequence of Ashtanga Yoga in Sanskrit, after which we float into self practice to our own breath rhythm. We allow ourselves to be carried in Yotam´s soundscapes - and finally soaked in 108 Oms.

Enjoy your practice.

With love & devotion
x Kia & Yotam

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

This is a live recording of a Meditation on Pratyahara the 5th limb of Yoga, following a talk given in our previous episode with the same name. It was held in our Borderless Online Shala in December 2020. 
We begin by dropping into the body by anchoring down into earth. From a place of groundedness, we become aware of the Midline waking up at the very centre of our body. We connect earth to heaven and heaven to earth through our own central axis.  We let the breath flow naturally between our inner world and the outer.  As we open to our breath, as we open to sensations, we fall into Pratyahara and the world can open itself to us. The world can come to us.

Thank you for listening.

With love & devotion
x Kia & Yotam

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

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More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

This recording is a talk given before one of our Pranayama classes in our Borderless Online Shala 2020.
Pranayama, the Yogic breathing practices is the 4th of Patanjali´s 8 limbs of Yoga. It is said to lead the practitioner towards Pratyahara the 5th limb. Pratyahara is commonly translated as  ”sense withdrawal”. However, I find this translation quite problematic. Can you really withdraw your senses?
In a time of confinement, distancing and separation I think it is especially interesting to look at the deeper meaning of a concept that seems to ask the yogi to do just that:  withdraw from the world.
Thank you for listening.

With love & devotion
x Kia & Yotam

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

For more free resources please sign up to our newsletter: https://www.mysoreyogaparis.com/newsletter-sign-up

More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music

In this episode we want to share with you a Prayer for all of the Essential Workers written by zen priest Ando Jaune Evans, gently adapted by Kia.
With this prayer we place our practice in the midst of the world we are living in, and we acknowledge all of the essential Bodhistattvas that are at work amongst us every day, carrying us through these pandemic times. 
The Prayer is followed by a guided Meditation and a Blessing of Loving Kindness for all beings.
This is a a live recording from an early morning sit with our Borderless Online Shala community, Friday Nov 20th, 2020

With love & devotion
x Kia & Yotam

Linktr.ee offers a comprehensive list of resources for raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of justice and equality.

For more info about Kia´s International Workshop Schedule, Trainings, Retreats and Global Sangha, please visit: http://mysoreyogaparis.com

Instagram: mysoreyogaparis

For more free resources please sign up to our newsletter: https://www.mysoreyogaparis.com/newsletter-sign-up

More music by Yotam can be found at: https://www.yotamagam.com/music