💡For the month of August, we're re-releasing a few of our favorite podcasts from the 2023 season so far. Enjoy listening (or re-listening!) to these talks and, as always, tell us your thoughts and send over guest ideas.
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Have you ever thought about relaxation being a prerequisite to rest? Jillian Pransky does, and she says that relaxation is a prerequisite to listening. As we discuss here, it’s a process, and one that, thanks to science, we can now name and describe in detail. I would suggest that Jillian is part of a new cadre of experienced teachers exploring the art and practice of restorative yoga, which, yes, has its roots in Iyengar Yoga, but which is evolving beyond this original offering through such interdisciplinary health-span studies as the ones Jillian has been engaged in.
Jillian's teaching is most influenced by the Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chӧdrӧn. We go deeply into her experience as the yoga teacher for Chӧdrӧn's years of retreats at Omega Institute, when she "rewired her brain" to teach the way she does now. Like many, Jillian grew up ambitious, athletic, and professionally successful, and what she has found through years of practice is a sweet spot of nervous system and body-based regulation that comes from aligning the somatic layers of the body—these in the South Asian philosophy and practice are the physical, mental, emotional, breath, and bliss layers, or the koshas.
I can't recommend her Deep Listening enough, and I remain astonished that she was even able to use it as a title because isn’t that what all yoga practice is? I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!
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Terms:
1. Yoga asana: yoga postures
2. Guru/Shisya: spiritual guide or teacher
3. Tantra Yoga: a practice using yantra (a figure representing a particular aspect of the Divine) and mantra (a sound formula for meditation) to experience the union of the masculine and feminine within the individual
4. Chakras: seven energy points running from the base of the spine to the crown of the head
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References:
2. Deep Listening, by Jillian Pransky
3. Dr. Gail Parker on The Weeks Well podcast
4. Transcendental Meditation
5. Homecoming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child, by John Bradshaw
6. Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America's Exercise Obsession, by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela
7. Alan Finger and Mani Finger
8. ISHTA Yoga
9. The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast
10. International Association of Yoga Therapists
11. Jon Kabat-Zinn
12. Deepak Chopra
15. Hatha Yoga Pradipika, by Swami Muktibodhananda
16. JJ Gormley
17. Tara Brach
20. Seane Corn on The Weeks Well podcast
22. Eddie Stern on The Weeks Well podcast
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Episode credits:
Original music by Kim's band Governess.
Produced by Alyssa Yeroshefsky and Kim Weeks.
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