The Yoga Well Podcast

Dr. Birdee is an Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health. He practices Integrative Health at Vanderbilt University and also performs clinical research on integrative health and modalities. He is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and pediatrics.

More information about Vanderbilt's Integrative Health Center can be found at https://www.vanderbilthealth.com/service-line/osher-center-integrative-health

Learn more about Yoga Well's Yoga Therapist Training at https://www.yogawell.com/yoga-therapist-training/

This practice, led by Yoga Therapist and Artist, Robyn Love, is an invitation to make yourself the object of meditation. Using inspiration from Yogasūtra III.44, she guides a practice of physical self-study and ponders, "What am I?" This practice is an adaptation from part of her Yoga and Creativity offering where Robyn uses yoga to support the creative process.

Find Robyn at https://www.athayoga.ca/ and find Yoga Well's class offerings at https://www.yogawell.com/our-offerings/

Yoga Therapist and long-time teacher Grazia Jaroff describes her introduction to Yoga Therapy in the '80s and potent comments from her interactions with Mr. Deśikachar. She and Chase dive into meditation: the importance of relationship to meditative objects and how it can open up new potentials. Grazia teaches in Davis, CA. Contact her at gjaroff@comcast.net.

Download a free copy of Carrie Heeter's book, An Inside Look at Meditation, at https://www.yogawell.com/viniyoga-resources/

Join Yoga Well's Yoga for Meditation at https://www.yogawell.com/yoga-for-meditation/

Yoga Therapist Chris Armstrong guides a practice of gentle āsana and reflection on someone you miss. With the intention os supporting different types of grieving, this practice can be done standing or seated. You can find Chris Armstrong at https://www.chrisarmstrongyoga.com/ and find Yoga Well's online practice classes at https://www.yogawell.com/our-offerings/

Amanda Green and Chase,Co-Faculty of the Yoga Well Yoga Therapist Training in California, discuss the therapeutic application of Yoga including what is Yoga Therapy and what differentiates it from other Yoga. Amanda Green is a Yoga Therapist in Austin, Texas. Find her at https://www.innermost-yoga.com/ Learn more about Yoga Well's Yoga Therapist Training Programs at https://www.yogawell.com/yoga-therapist-training/

The āśīrvāda mantra is a blessing mantra used to wish long life, health & prosperity for the listener. Let this wash over you and receive the blessing.

Learn more about Mantra as a support for focusing the mind on the Yoga Well Blog https://www.yogawell.com/blog/mantra/ 

Nostril manipulation is a common prāṇāyāma technique. Chase provides instructions for how to influence the breath's movement through the nose using the classical technique of mṛgi mudrā. Correct positioning of the hand, wrist and arm is discussed along with comments about possible experiences therein. Additionally, it is combined with the practice of extending the exhale through the nostrils.

Try more brief prāṇāyāma and meditation practices with our weekly 15 Minute Breathing and Meditation class https://www.yogawell.com/15-minute-breathing-and-meditation/

Yoga is interested in the mind and how it operates. Chase discusses the active engagement of meditation: what it is, definitions of mind, purposes of meditation, depth of experience, and how to create successful meditative experiences. Along with weekly meditation classes like Yoga for Meditation and 15 Minute Breathing and Meditation, you can learn more about the structure of Meditation in the course Understanding Meditation. 

Find these classes at https://www.yogawell.com/our-offerings/

Meditation is an intentionally engineered experience that leaves us influenced by the qualities of the focus to which we have connected.

In this short meditation, arm movements to the side and front and utilized to set the stage for receiving the expansiveness of the sky.

Jenny Orona is, among her many certifications and roles, a Yoga Therapist working with in-patient and out-patient clients recovering from trauma, substance abuse, and mental illness.

She and Chase discuss the digestion and integration of experiences that are unprocessed in our system, the pain of cleaning deep wounds, and the importance of having someone hold space for us during this process.

This conversation highlights the slow and steady process of carefully cultivated experiences that support change in perception, identity, and emotions. Find Jenny Orona at https://corazonyoga.com/ Learn more about iRest at https://www.irest.org/ and explore Yoga Well's Yoga Therapist Training at https://www.yogawell.com/yoga-therapist-training/

Deepen your awareness of Vīrabhadrāsana or Warrior 1 in discussion and guided experience. The intention of this pūrvatāna posture is to stretch the front of the body with the primary focus of lengthening the spine and targeting prāṇa vāyu located in the trunk.

Chase walks you through the context and the vinyāsa krama / steps of this classical pose. We explore the continuum of āsana tools, prāṇāyāma, and meditation in our 300-hour practitioner and seeker training Deepen Your Yoga Practice: https://www.yogawell.com/deepen-your-yoga/

Yoga Therapist and Member of the Minnesota Chorale, Celia McCoy shares her story of finding her freedom of voice. Her voice has been trained, challenged, imposed upon, and was silenced by grief. She and Chase discuss the process of yoga's goal of kaivalya (liberation, freedom), through Celia's svādhyāya (self study) practices in Vedic Chanting, study, and mentorship. Find Celia at https://celiayogatherapy.com/ Learn more about Yoga Well's 300-Hour Deepen Your Yoga Program and Yoga Therapist Training at https://www.yogawell.com/our-offerings/

Listen and learn a chant from Taittirīya -saṁhitā (5.7.4.15) which honors the moon as connected to the Earth and the healing power of plants. Practice your focus on listening and repeating as you experience this brief Vedic mantra without seeing the written words.

Chase instructs the chant in small portions with space for you to practice as he slowly builds the sounds into the whole chant. Vedic chanting is an important part of how we pay respect to the roots of our Viniyoga tradition. Chanting instruction is included in both our 300-hour training and Yoga Therapist training. Learn more at https://www.yogawell.com/our-offerings/

What do I know to be true? Chase speaks with author, writing mentor, and Yoga Well student, Nancy Rue about the neverending, self-discovering journey of Yoga. The two explore the importance of experiential learning coupled with philosophical context as a way to allow the true self to arise.

Find Nancy at http://www.nancyrue.com. Learn more about Yoga Well's 300-hour Deepen Your Yoga Practice at https://www.yogawell.com/deepen-your-yoga/ and the Wednesday morning meditation class, Yoga for Meditation at https://www.yogawell.com/yoga-for-meditation/

Traditionally we ensure the exhale breath has been fully developed before developing the inhale. In this experience, we will explore the experience of the inhale breath through attention, hand placement, gentle arm movement, and self-study.

Try more brief breathing practices with our weekly 15-Minute Breathing and Meditation class at https://www.yogawell.com/15-minute-breathing-and-meditation/

Concepts of perception, identity, and relationship are core to the practice of yoga. Melissa Shah, a Yoga Therapist and first generation Indian-American, joins Chase in a discussion about the foundational Indian cultural perspectives in yoga, projecting Western culture onto yoga, layers of privilege, and the importance of doing personal work around identity.

Connect with Melissa at https://www.findyourbreath.net. Learn more about the Being Mindful of the Race course at bmor.us. Explore Yoga Well's philosophical offerings at https://www.yogawell.com/our-offerings/

In this prāṇāyāma practice with ujjāyī breathing, you are guided to count different aspects of the breath, developing inhale, exhale, hold after exhale, and hold after inhale into a samāna ratio. Breath is an important tool in yoga.

You will find breath-based focus in our āsana and meditation classes. Learn the how and why of breathing practices in our 300-hour practitioner and seeker training Deepen Your Yoga Practice: https://www.yogawell.com/deepen-your-yoga/

Our guest Chris Armstrong is a yoga therapist working with the Mayo Clinic. She and Chase discuss her work with caregivers and students with grief. They delve into the importance of a yoga practice in making courageous personal decisions, the utility of revisiting the information and experience of training, and the supportive gift of being held in community during therapeutic yoga.

Find Chris at https://www.chrisarmstrongyoga.com/ Learn more about Yoga Well's 300-hour training and yoga therapist training at https://www.yogawell.com/

This experience focuses our attention on the exhale component of our breath. Notice what exploring your exhale can do for your overall state.

Try more brief breathing practices with our weekly 15-Minute Breathing and Meditation class at https://www.yogawell.com/15-minute-breathing-and-meditation/

This conversation with Chase and yoga therapist Esther Bogatova delves into yoga's ability to uncover a deeper understanding of our Self and how that redefines our being in the world. They discuss the nature of embodied philosophy, the role of study complementing practice, Kabbalah, identity, and the meaning of īśvarapraṇidhāna.

Find Esther at https://www.sweeterfoodyoga.com/ Learn more about Chase's yoga philosophy classes at https://www.yogawell.com/yoga-philosophy/