The Flow Artists Podcast - Yoga, activism and more

Swami Shantananda AKA Mataji (Mother) was the second president of Yoga Australia, back when it was known as the Yoga Teachers Association and she was known as Jani Baker. This episode is the second of our collaboration with Yoga Australia, and it contains some great insight into the early days of the organisation and its grassroots nature. In this episode, we learn how Jani Baker struggled with her catholic upbringing, and how she dealt with depression as a young adult. We learn how she discovered meditation and yoga and came to teach them. We also hear how she became involved in the Yoga Teacher's Association and her motivations for doing so. We also discuss her writings on the yoga sutras, philosophy and her personal practice of Kashmiri Shaivism. Links: Swami Shantananda's blog: http://www.swamishantananda.com.au/ Notes from Mataji: https://podcast.flowartists.com/news/notes-swami-shantananda/ Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/flowartistspodcast

Emily May is a Melbourne based Yoga and Meditation teacher and Reiki Master. Emily does a lot of work around anxiety which is the topic of this episode - and anxiety is an issue that affects many of us day to day. We would like to point out that none of us in the recording are mental health professionals, so if you are struggling with anxiety or depression, please consider seeing someone who can help you - we added some links below. In this episode we learn about Emily's background growing up in Melbourne and how she believes she discovered the effectiveness of healing yourself through chakras from an early age. We learn about how Emily discovered yoga and how she came to teach it. We learn about anxiety, some of it's causes and symptoms and how yoga may help. Finally, we learn about how yoga teachers can sequence and use language to make things easier for people struggling with anxiety. Links Emily May's Website: https://www.mayyoga.com.au/ Emily on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mayyogawellbeing/ RUOK Day: https://www.ruok.org.au/ Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au Books: Lost Connections by Johann Hari: https://amzn.to/312ikwP First, we make the Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson: https://amzn.to/2N047wT My Age of Anxiety by Scott Stossel: https://amzn.to/2N03DXB

Gabrielle is a yoga teacher, a yoga therapist and director of the Bhava Yoga and dance centre in Warrendyke, Victoria, Australia. Gabrielle is also on the board of Yoga Australia. She is a highly respected teacher, and Rane got to know her a little better through satsangs he attended, hosted by Leigh Blashki and Janet Lowndes. She has a wealth of wisdom and knowledge, and always contributed with her many deep insights to the conversations, so we really wanted to speak with her for the podcast. In this episode we learn about Gabrielle's background, growing up in Melbourne and how she developed an early interest in physical movement. We hear how she moved from a career in Insurance after finding joy in yoga and wanting to share that experience with the world. We learn about her philosophy of yoga and how she has recently developed a rich and deep regular meditation practice. Finally, we learn about how yoga, meditation and even the process of teaching yoga have helped her traverse the ups and downs of life. Gabrielle's calm and peaceful nature permeate the entire episode, so you'll definitely want to give it a listen. Links Bhava Yoga and Dance centre: http://thebhavacentre.com/ Buddhi Mind: https://buddhimind.com/ Buddhi Mind on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buddhi_mind/ Community Classes at Garden of Yoga: https://www.gardenofyoga.com.au/classes/community-classes/

This is the first of our episodes in collaboration with Yoga Australia, featuring many of Yoga Australia's past presidents. Michael de Manicor is one of the most highly respected and experienced yoga teachers in Australia, with an extensive background in different approaches and styles of yoga and meditation, and over 30 years of teaching experience. Michael holds a PhD in Health Science, in the area of Yoga and Mental Health in addition to his degrees in education and psychology. He is the Founder, Director and senior lecturer at The Yoga Institute in Sydney and is also the Founder and Director of The Yoga Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that provides yoga-based programs for people who experience disadvantage or hardship. In this episode, we discuss Michael's involvement in Yoga Australia up to and including his tenure as President of the organisation. He shares with us his thoughts on the importance of having a peak body to represent yoga teachers in this country, as well as his dedication to raising training standards. We were eager to discuss Michael's research on yoga and mental health - the topic of his PhD and the importance of a personal practice. Links The Yoga Institute: www.yogainstitute.com.au The Yoga Foundation: www.theyogafoundation.org.au Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YogaInstituteSydney/ Yoga for Mental Health training for yoga teachers (co-presented with Janet Lowndes): https://yogainstitute.com.au/mental-health-syd/ Yoga Retreat in Italy: https://yogainstitute.com.au/savour-italy/ Heart of Yoga retreat weekend outside of Sydney: https://yogainstitute.com.au/heartofyoga_retreat-yanada/ Amy Bell's Guiding Inner Journey's workshop: https://www.gardenofyoga.com.au/workshops/guiding-inner-journeys/ Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/flowartistspodcast

Donna Noble is a London based yoga teacher, writer, coach, body positive advocate and founder of CurveSomeYoga. Donna has been making waves in the accessible yoga space over in the UK, so we were really excited to catch up with her. In this episode, we learn about Donna's childhood growing up in London, with a short stint in Jamaica. We discover how a stressful job in IT brought about Bells Palsy, and how she discovered a more holistic way of living. Donna's first Yoga teacher training was with Choudhury Bikram in LA, so we had a few questions to ask on this topic! Finally, we also learn how CurveSomeYoga came about, the impact of diet culture on yoga and the importance of representation in media. Donna tells us about her approach to accessible yoga and we discuss why it's important that everyone in a yoga class feels included. Links Donna's Website: https://thenobleartofyoga.co.uk/ Donna's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donnanobleyoga/ Curvesome Yoga: https://www.instagram.com/Curvesomeyoga/ Our Patreon Page https://www.patreon.com/flowartistspodcast

Ruth Sowter is a love, intimacy and relationship coach with more than 15 years experience working in corporate and personal wellness. We had many questions about the world of coaching - including some of the positive and negative aspects of this industry. We wanted to learn how Ruth's training as a Yoga teacher informs the work she does as a relationship and intimacy coach. We were curious about the differences and similarities between these two roles and how she navigates them. We also wanted to know - what does a coach do? How does it differ from a friend or a therapist? We also wanted to address the ethics of the industry which is unregulated (as is yoga teaching). There is also an interesting exploration into abundance mentality, positivity washing and whether these concepts actually improve our lives. Ruth has a compassionate and light-hearted approach. This is a laughter-filled and fun conversation! Links Website: http://www.ruthsowter.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ruthsowtercoach/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruth_sowter_tantra/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/flowartistspodcast Community Classes at Garden of Yoga: https://www.gardenofyoga.com.au/classes/community-classes/

Dr Scott Lyons is a Clinical Psychologist, Osteopath, and Mind-Body Medicine practitioner who specializes in therapies for infants, youth, and adults. Scott is also the co-creator of embodied flow along with Tara Judelle, so we were super excited to get the chance to have a conversation with him. In this conversation, we learn about Scott's background growing up in Minnesota and California, and we hear about the way he experienced the world as a child. We also learn about his education, including studying at College at the young age of 16! We learn about how he discovered yoga while at College, and how it integrated much of what he was learning about himself and the world. We explore non-dual tantra philosophy, and how it can be expressed and experienced in a yoga class. We hear about how Scott met Tara Judelle and how this lead to them co-creating Embodied Flow. Finally, we get to hear Dr Scott's thoughts on trauma and trauma-informed practices. Links Website: https://www.drscottlyons.com/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/drscottlyons An Embodied Flow Experience: https://www.patreon.com/posts/28208165 Suspended Sound: https://www.gardenofyoga.com.au/workshops/suspended-sound/ Community Classes at Garden of Yoga: https://www.gardenofyoga.com.au/classes/community-classes/ Studio Birthday Party: https://www.gardenofyoga.com.au/workshops/studio-birthday-party/

Amy Bell is a Melbourne based Coach, NLP trainer and facilitator, Artist and all-around wonderful person. In this episode, we learn about NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), it's history, where it differs from and how it can support meditation. Amy shares how she discovered this practice and how she uses it in her own life. We also talk about the intersection between meditation and technology, and biofeedback devices such as the muse headset and heartmath. Amy also tells us how she has introduced these tools to kids and teens and how much fun they had. We also talk about the surrealists and some of these techniques they used to induce hypnogogic states to aid in creating their art. We also question Amy about some of the pitfalls of NLP, including it's ability to be used for manipulation, and how she might deal with problematic clients. This episode contains some discussion about genocide and child abuse in Cambodia, so please be advised. Please leave us a review on iTunes! Links Amy's website: https://www.amybell.com.au/ Amy's workshop "Guiding Inner Journeys": https://www.gardenofyoga.com.au/workshops/guiding-inner-journeys/ Early bird pricing ends 1st July!

Tim is a Canadian Yoga Teacher and yoga studio owner based in Whangarei - a city in the far north of New Zealand. Tim has worked as a fire-fighter for many years both in Canada and New Zealand. We were really interested in learning about how yoga and meditation could benefit individuals who worked in this profession and first responders in general. As you might imagine this line of work can be very intense, both physically and mentally so yoga and meditation may have the potential to help here. In this episode, we hear about Tim's background growing up in Edmonton Canada, and how he changed direction from wanting to be a history professor to working as a fire-fighter. We hear about the challenges of the interview process, and what Tim feels got him through the process. We learn about the stress of working as a first responder, and how mental health support often isn't given the priority that it should. We also ask the question, can yoga and meditation help? This episode was recorded one day after the tragic Christchurch shootings, so we ask Tim his thoughts on the general mood in New Zealand and what it may have been like for the first responders in this terrible situation. As a note - some of what discuss in this episode could potentially be triggering for some people, so please be advised. Links Yoga Fire: https://www.yogafire.co.nz/ Yoga Fire TV: https://www.yogafire.tv/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yogafire.nz/ Tim's workshops at Garden of Yoga: https://www.gardenofyoga.com.au/workshops/yoga-fire-workshops/ Amy Wheeler - Assessing and Balancing the Human System: https://www.janetlowndes.com.au/amy-wheeler-workshop-details

Dr Timothy McCall is a board-certified physician specializing in internal medicine, a yoga therapist and the author of three books, Examining Your Doctor: A Patient's Guide to Avoiding Harmful Medical Care Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing and his latest, Saving My Neck: A Doctor's East/West Journey Through Cancer. Timothy’s book Yoga as Medicine is a book Rane referenced a lot during his yoga teacher training, so we were very excited to get the chance to speak with him. After our experiences with Rane's stomach cancer, we were interested to hear Timothy's perspectives and how he drew on his medical knowledge and his extensive yoga background to find his way to recovery. In this conversation, we learn about Timothy's background growing up in Vermont, how he came to yoga partially through the influence of Tennis! Jo loved the memoir aspect of Timothy's latest book so we delve into his family history and the process of writing the book. Links Timothy's Website: http://www.drmccall.com/ Buy Saving My Neck: https://amzn.to/2K25IA1 (Affiliate Link) The Inner Game of Tennis: https://amzn.to/2W0hMsI (Affiliate Link)

For our very special 50th full-length episode, we have a very special guest! Jivana Heyman is a yoga teacher, a yoga therapist, the creator of the Accessible Yoga conferences that run all over the world and author of the forthcoming book “Accessible Yoga: Poses & Practices for Every Body.” This is a topic that is very important to Rane and Jo so we thought that Jivana would be the best possible guest to have for our 50th! We both strongly believe that individuals in all types of bodies should be able to benefit from the gifts that yoga can provide. We really appreciate Jivana's work connecting a global community of teachers who share these goals. In this episode, Jivana tells us about his early days practising yoga with his grandmother. We learn how his work as an AIDs activist informs his work today and how being isolated by geography encouraged him to build a community online. We also learn how he found true inspiration in highlighting the work of other great teachers. Links: Accessible Yoga: http://accessibleyoga.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jivanaheyman/ https://www.instagram.com/accessibleyoga/ https://www.instagram.com/accessibleyogatraining/ https://www.facebook.com/jivana108 https://www.facebook.com/AccessibleYogaProject/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibleyogatraining/ Join the Flow Artists Podcast Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1698795386857843/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/flowartistspodcast

Melanie Mackintosh is a yoga teacher, co-owner of the Australian Yoga Academy and their Director of Education, where she manages AYA’s Advanced Diploma of Yoga Teacher training program. Melanie was one of Rane's teachers and mentors while he was doing his yoga teacher training and she specialises in pre and postnatal yoga, the topic of today's episode. In this episode, we cover the core principals of prenatal yoga and it's benefits. We discuss some alternative viewpoints over different aspects of prenatal yoga which can make it a complex and sometimes confusing style to teach. We learn some strategies for working with a general class that may include pregnant women, so everyone feels safe and included. Rane shares the anxiety he sometimes feels when pregnant women come into his class, and we know he is not alone, so there is information in this episode that will help many teachers. Finally, we discuss Mel's upcoming 50 Hour Advanced Pre/Post Natal Yoga Teacher Training at Australian Yoga Academy in Prahran, Melbourne, and who may benefit the most from it! Links: Mel's upcoming workshop: https://australianyogaacademy.com/special-events/workshops/ Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/flowartistspodcast Music by Ghostsoul: https://ghostsoul.bandcamp.com Yoga Life Satsang: https://www.janetlowndes.com.au/yoga-life-satsang

Emma Kenna is a globetrotting hoop dance teacher from the UK who also holds a PhD in immunology. In this conversation, we learn all about what set her on the path she is on today as well as what it’s like running a business where you are essentially the product. Emma travels the world teaching hoop dance full time and we talk about some of the misconceptions that people may have about this lifestyle and how she makes it work. We also talk about staying inspired and keeping your workload sustainable when you're a one-person operation and the importance of delegating. Emma has lots of great advice which would definitely apply to yoga teachers or anyone else who is running their own small business. Congratulations go to Barbara Courtille will be receiving a signed copy of The Good Hustle by Polly McGee! Links: Emma's Website: http://www.hoopingmad.co.uk/ Emma's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoopingmad/ Our Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/flowartistspodcast Amy Wheeler Workshop: https://www.janetlowndes.com.au/amy-wheeler-workshop Melanie Mackintosh's Pre/Post natal workshop: https://australianyogaacademy.com/special-events/workshops/

Polly McGee is a yogi, entrepreneur, teacher and author of the book The Good Hustle. We first met Polly when she was leading a Yoga Business Planning Intensive workshop in Melbourne recently, and it was an amazing experience. Polly has a way of really cutting through to the core of what it is that you as a heart centred business owner are trying to achieve - even when you aren’t quite sure how to articulate it. Polly is a bundle of joy and energy and just a pleasure to be around, so we were really looking forward to catching up with her for this interview. In her book The Good Hustle, Polly combines the ancient wisdom and philosophy of yoga with contemporary business practices in a compelling blend of mindfulness, spirituality and entrepreneurial action. It really is a great read and we have a signed copy to give away! To win a copy of the book all you have to do is like our facebook page and while you’re there Tag a friend with a heart centred business who has a good hustle going. Links: Polly's Website: https://pollymcgee.com/ Polly on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pollymcgeewriter/ Polly on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pollymcgee/ Win a copy of "The Good Hustle": https://www.facebook.com/flowartistspodcast/posts/2238806852876139 For some bonus content on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/25952124

William Wong is a Melbourne based Yoga teacher with a passion for functional movement, gymnastics, Qi Gong, Reiki and sound healing. He has the wonderfully named Instagram profile Willy Wongka, and the equally wonderfully named website yogathewongway.com. William has a very strong practice but is equally committed to the more subtle aspects of yoga and meditation, and projects a welcoming and often hilarious sense of humour in his teaching and his online presence, so we were very excited to have the chance to speak with him recently. In this episode, we learn about William's background growing up in Melbourne, how he studied landscape architecture for 6 years before deciding it wasn't for him. We learn how he discovered fitness and yoga after a stint as a Flight Attendant. We learn how William's teaching and practice have evolved and how he has learned from and managed injuries along the way. We love William's light-hearted approach and deep dedication to these practices and we think you'll really enjoy this conversation! Links Website: https://www.yogathewongway.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willy_wongka_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yogathewongway/ Retreats: https://www.yogathewongway.com/retreats Flow Artist's Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/flowartistspodcast Adrenal Healing Workshop: https://www.gardenofyoga.com.au/workshops/adrenal-healing/