Sheena Sood PhD | Yoga Weaponization or Liberatory Potential For All? | S3 Ep 14

“Sadhana is to realize the embodied being and know the difference. This human incarnation is something we have, it’s not what we are. Avidya is mistaking what we have for what we are.” Lars Ims is a meditator and author who has spent his life immersed in sadhana under the guidance of his Guru, Swami Shyam. He is also a friend, so he is the perfect yogi to discuss the real meaning of Sadhana. It’s such a great joy to share in the Satsang space, where he delivers the true meaning of sadhana, the importance of “sattwifying” our lives so the light of the Self can shine through, and ultimately, how meditation is the way. I love this conversation because it centers around freedom. Whether in the spiritual paths we explore, how we apply our critical thinking or how we move through the world with our dharmas - whatever we do, the Self is always free. Here are a few points we touched on; ➖ The goal of sadhana is to know the state which is always free➖ The final step of sadhana cannot be an effort from your human side➖ Vivek, vairagya, abhyasa ➖ The mind is not the problem - it’s how we relate to the mind ➖ Exploring sadhana and finding your own way to express your spiritual life Find Lars book HEREConnect with Lars on IG HEREThanks for listening! 💭 Find the full show notes at www.bobbipaidel.com/podcast-s3-ep21-lars-ims 💭Support the podcast and join monthly satsangs at patreon.com/acuriousyogipodcast 💭 If you liked this episode, please leave a review on Apple podcasts – it really, really helps the show reach more people, plus I love reading each one. 💭 Share your biggest takeaway on Instagram stories @bobbipaidel 💭Join me in northern India for the Yog Sadhana Retreat Himalaya March 2025 bobbipaidel.com/himalayan-retreat 💭 If you’d like to chat about the show, be a guest, or practice together find me at bobbipaidel.com/connect 🙏♥️✨

"Yoga is pointing towards the possibility of an impersonal approach to everything that is experienced." Hey yoga nerds! This one is for you.Daniel Simpson makes timeless insights accessible and relevant. He’s the author of The Truth of Yoga, an engaging overview of history and philosophy. He also hosts the Ancient Futures podcast. His latest course is a year-long immersion, The Path of Knowledge – you can find out more and join here.In today’s engaging, informative and light-hearted conversation, Daniel offers up so much inspiration from ancient yogic knowledge to applied modern practice. He shares his journey of “so many wrong turns to find the right path” and eloquently speaks to the misconceptions of yoga. Amidst the confusion of yoga in modern times, Daniel invites us to keep asking questions and “ come back to the basics”.We discuss Sankhya Yog and Advaita Vedanta as well as the defining elements of “Yoga” as meditation according to Patanjali and other Vedic scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita.A few good laughs for those into yogic humour as Daniel illuminates the teachings with humility, kindness and humour.I know you’ll love this one.Thanks for listening!💭 Find the full show notes at bobbipaidel.com/podcast-s3-ep20-daniel-simpson💭Support the podcast and join monthly satsangs at patreon.com/acuriousyogipodcast💭 If you liked this episode, please leave a review on Apple podcasts – it really, really helps the show reach more people, plus I love reading each one.💭 Share your biggest takeaway on Instagram stories @bobbipaidel💭Join me in northern India for the Yog Sadhana Retreat Himalaya March 2025 bobbipaidel.com/himalayan-retreat💭 If you’d like to chat about the show, be a guest, or practice together find me at bobbipaidel.com/connect 🙏♥️✨

"Your practice is meant to remind you that you’re free."Today I’m graced with the presence of the one and only master Padma Yogi. Padma is a certified advanced meditation teacher from the International Meditation Institute in India and one of Canada’s most respected teachers.In today’s satsang conversation, Padma brings the ancient knowledge of yoga to life with eloquence and clarity, answering my questions with knowledge and presence.Padma makes the teachings accessible so all the curious yogi’s listening can begin to inquire and unfold the knowledge and meditation practice for themselves.Learn more about Padma’s India Retreat 2025: padmameditation.com/product/retreat-in-india-early-bird/Connect with Padma on FB: www.facebook.com/PadmaYogaTVThanks for listening!💭 Find the full show notes at bobbipaidel.com/podcast-s3-ep19-padma💭Support the podcast and join monthly satsangs at patreon.com/acuriousyogipodcast💭 If you liked this episode, please leave a review on Apple podcasts – it really, really helps the show reach more people, plus I love reading each one.💭 Share your biggest takeaway on Instagram stories @bobbipaidel💭Join me in northern India for the Yog Sadhana Retreat Himalaya March 2025 bobbipaidel.com/himalayan-retreat💭 If you’d like to chat about the show, be a guest, or practice together find me at bobbipaidel.com/connect 🙏♥️✨

“Freedom is a state of needlessness and acceptance.” Today I share in a heartfelt discussion on the oneness that sadhana unfolds and the unending polarities of life, beginning with celebration and despair. My dear friend Truus Breukers (Tripti) is a registered nurse, holds a master's in child psychology, and is a children’s book author living between Northern India and the Netherlands in a “dynamic exchange”. She is a creator, a hiker, a wife, a friend, a generously giving spirit and she is a sadhak. In our satsang, we discuss experience on “two tracks”, how important friends are on this path, holding space, defining freedom and how much meditation works! I hope you enjoy Tripti’s expression as much as I do. in oneness, Bobbi Thanks for listening! 💭 Find the full show notes at bobbipaidel.com/podcast-s3-ep18-tripti 💭Support the podcast and join monthly satsangs at patreon.com/acuriousyogipodcast 💭 If you liked this episode, please leave a review on Apple podcasts – it really, really helps the show reach more people, plus I love reading each one. 💭 Share your biggest takeaway on Instagram stories @bobbipaidel 💭Join me in northern India for the Yog Sadhana Retreat Himalaya March 2025 bobbipaidel.com/himalayan-retreat 💭 If you’d like to chat about the show, be a guest, or practice together find me at bobbipaidel.com/connect 🙏♥️✨

“Not California oneness. Real oneness is where everything is inclusive.”Swami Svatmananda is a rare scholar who has delighted audiences worldwide with his lectures on various Vedic knowledge. His rare combination of innate skills, broad life experience and dedicated scriptural study translates into a uniquely comprehensive approach to teaching and applying ancient wisdom in modern times. Swami Svatmananda’s teaching style makes the elusive ancient wisdom accessible to all who earnestly seek it.In our talk together we discuss studying the Vedas practically, how essential is the teacher, having time for contemplation, ending suffering and so much more! Thanks for listening! 💭 Find the full show notes at bobbipaidel.com/💭Support the podcast and join monthly satsangs at patreon.com/acuriousyogipodcast 💭 If you liked this episode, please leave a review on Apple podcasts – it really, really helps the show reach more people, plus I love reading each one. 💭 Share your biggest takeaway on Instagram stories @bobbipaidel 💭Join me in northern India for the Yog Sadhana Retreat Himalaya March 2025 bobbipaidel.com/himalayan-retreat 💭 If you’d like to chat about the show, be a guest, or practice together find me at bobbipaidel.com/connect 🙏♥️✨

“Buddhists always consider new people as friends. Not the other way around, we should see each other as friends. It makes the world a better place.” In this episode, I’m talking to Magnus Fridh, a teacher of yoga, mindfulness, and meditation. Magnus is also one of the founders of The Mindfulness App. His latest book, “The Art of Stillness in a Noisy World” (Hardie Grant), is about how to find tranquillity and peace in everyday life. Magnus started meditating in his teens and immersed himself in the subject through Tibetan Buddhism and university studies in Indology.Magnus and I discuss the power of meditation to anchor us in life's ups and downs, the many doorways into stillness, and both the science of meditation and the philosophy of compassion that can help get us out of rumination and into the ananda maya kosha. We also discuss trusting the hyper-focus of ADHD and how yoga off the mat in the coming years is more important than ever. Find Magnus: Podcast: About Yoga Meditation Podcast Website www.aboutyoga.se/om-oss Art of Stillness in a Noisy World: Buy the bookIG: www.instagram.com/magnus_fridh In oneness, Bobbi Thanks for listening! 💭 Find the full show notes at bobbipaidel.com/podcast-s3-ep16-magnus-fridh 💭Support the podcast and join monthly satsangs at patreon.com/acuriousyogipodcast 💭 If you liked this episode, please leave a review on Apple podcasts – it really, really helps the show reach more people, plus I love reading each one. 💭 Share your biggest takeaway on Instagram stories @bobbipaidel 💭Join me in northern India for the Yog Sadhana Retreat Himalaya March 2025 bobbipaidel.com/himalayan-retreat 💭 If you’d like to chat about the show, be a guest, or practice together find me at bobbipaidel.com/connect 🙏♥️✨

In this short episode, I share my personal story of how Himachal Pradesh, India shifted my belief and mindset to one that is rooted in freedom, service and sadhana. And I let you in on why I decided to do something as crazy as hosting a retreat there and of course, invite you to join me for an incredible journey in this lesser-explored area of Northern India in March 2025. Come explore the magic! ✨ Visit www.bobbipaidel.com/himalayan-retreat to download the info guide. ✨ Hit me up at [email protected] if you're curious and want to discuss it in more detail.Thanks for being here dear Curious Yogi 🙏

“What are the ethical implications of yoga being used by these racially oppressive, colonial forces and being used to help people who are agents of that oppression feel better and decompress and destress?”I am honoured to introduce you to this week's guest, Sheena Sood, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Sociology, activist, yoga practitioner, and healing justice visionary. Sheena is on the editorial board of Race & Yoga Journal; is a co-founder of Yogis for Palestine - and the founder of Yoga Warrior Tales. Her research is focused on what she calls Omwashing; the weaponization of yoga by far-right imperialist forces and military and policing institutions.Sheena gives incredible insight and uncomfortable facts to direct our attention, contemplation and action toward the “deeply unfree world” in which we all participate.We dig into the important topic and difficult reality of the oppressive systems in power along with the responsibility yoga practitioners have to examine and question them if we sincerely wish to shift the collective towards liberation and embodied freedom for all.References:I referenced some of Sheena's published work and highly recommend reading more from her sheenashining.com/publications/Aljazeera Article; ‘Om-washing’: Why Modi’s Yoga Day Pose Is DeceptiveUndrowned Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline GumbsConnect with Sheena:Sheenas Instagram instagram.com/sheena_shining/Yoga Warrior Tales Instagram (for your kids!) instagram.com/yogawarriortales/Yogis for Palestine Instagram instagram.com/yogis4palestine/Sign up for Sheena's newsletter pages.sheenashining.com/newsletterYoga Warrior Tales Program {Note link correction] yogawarriortales.podia.com/ Thanks for listening!Bobbi💭 Find the full show notes and video clips bobbipaidel.com/podcast-s3-ep14-sheena-sood💭Support the podcast and join monthly satsangs at patreon.com/acuriousyogipodcast/💭 Share your biggest takeaway on Instagram stories @bobbipaidel💭Join me in northern India for the Yog Sadhana Retreat Himalaya March 2025 bobbipaidel.com/himalayan-retreat/💭 If you’d like to chat about the show, be a guest, or practice together find me bobbipaidel.com/connect/ 🙏♥️✨

“The communion of spiritual life and worldly life. Only if you understand your spiritual life, can actually live your worldly life quite beautifully.”A special guest and inspiration today is the one and only Arohini Narain, Chief HR and Strategy officer from Lucknow, India. But more than a successful businesswoman, Ruhi is a satsangee first and foremost. In this episode Arohini shares the wisdom of her spiritual master who has guided her through her successes and challenges in life. She speaks with clarity and conviction in the teachings and shares the resting places shes’ cultivated within herself which allows her the freedom and strength to know her spiritual master and her ashram are always with her. We touch on ➖ The confusion between spirituality and religion➖ Worshipping the universal being in all➖ How to overcome suffering of a divided world➖ Neti Neti➖ The true meaning of "ashram" and so so much more! I hope you take as much practical knowledge as possible to begin to find the same spiritual joy Ruhi has and live your worldly life just as beautiful! Thanks for listening! In Oneness, Bobbi 💭 Find the full show notes at bobbipaidel.com/podcast-s3-ep-13-arohini-narain 💭Support the podcast and join monthly satsangs at patreon.com/acuriousyogipodcast 💭 If you liked this episode, please leave a review on Apple podcasts – it really, really helps the show reach more people, plus I love reading each one. 💭 Share your biggest takeaway on Instagram stories @bobbipaidel 💭Join me in northern India for the Yog Sadhana Retreat Himalaya March 2025 bobbipaidel.com/himalayan-retreat 💭 If you’d like to chat about the show, be a guest, or practice together find me at bobbipaidel.com/connect 🙏♥️✨

“We have both always been searching for something that gave us purpose and meaning, to fill that whole and guidelines to live after.”Raw. Real. Totally Joyful. Richard Grønlie and Line Sortehaug made a huge impression when I met them earlier this year. They are a Norwegian married couple with three kids, they are yoga teachers, and they are addicts.Their story is one of transformation and redemption. They share their views on life, yoga, recovery and how to handle the ups and downs that will inevitably come our way. Richard and Line walk the talk, they are role models to anyone struggling with addiction, in any capacity. And also a reminder to us all that another way of life is always, always possible.Find Richard and Line’s yoga space Styrkestua IG HERE and FB HERECheck out Back in the Ring Foundation at backinthering.noAnd check out my recent episode (S3 Ep8) with Alexander, the founder of Back in the Ring HEREThanks for listening!💭 Find the full show notes at bobbipaidel.com/podcast-s3-ep12-richardandline💭Support the podcast and join monthly satsangs at patreon.com/acuriousyogipodcast💭 If you liked this episode, please leave a review on Apple podcasts – it really, really helps the show reach more people, plus I love reading each one.💭 Share your biggest takeaway on Instagram stories @bobbipaidel💭Join me in northern India for the Yog Sadhana Retreat Himalaya March 2025 bobbipaidel.com/himalayan-retreat💭 If you’d like to chat about the show, be a guest, or practice together find me at bobbipaidel.com/connect 🙏♥️✨