Podcast
The Heart of Yoga
Hosted by Mark Whitwell · EN
Mark Whitwell and friends present heartfelt conversations from the heart of yoga.
"Indeed a soft message for a hard time. Please listen to Mark Whitwell. God is in this moment. God is as close as your own breath. So be here now! Mark will show you an easy way." — Ram Dass on Mark's book 'The Promise'
In the spirit of yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ, we offer this podcast as a tool to direct attention towards relationship, intimacy with our experience, and the sublime beauty of our human situation. Ever since he met his yoga teachers TKV Desikachar and his father Tirumalai Krishnamacharya in Madras / Chennai in 1973, Mark has been sharing the tools of intimacy with body and breath through asana, pranayama and meditation, the practical method of response to grace in our life. The influence of J and UG Krishnamurti has clarified Yoga for all time as a practice of participation in the given reality, not a struggle towards a future result. "If you can breathe, you can do Yoga!"
Join us for an experience of union / Yoga (not just more knowledge about it), resolution of spiritual confusions, insight from decades of teaching experience, stories from the diverse sangha of practitioners, practical relationship discussion, and the application of Yoga to every aspect of our everyday life.
To find out more about teachings, retreats, online yoga classes, and our in-depth online yoga courses for both beginner and advanced practitioners, please visit www.heartofyoga.org.
21episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Bali, Holy Mountains, & the Great Recycling Program
Dec 300:46:30Tap to summarizeWhat if aging isn't a problem to solve but a feature of being human? What if what's falling apart is doing exactly what it's meant to do? Sarah Jessop is a dear friend, fellow mariner, Yoga teacher, artist, and mystic based in Witchcliff, Western Australia. She's been coming to Bali since she was 21, when she first left Australia with a little bit of money and no idea what she was in for. We talk about what it means to be welcomed into a living culture, the ways tourists sometimes misunderstand Bali, and how Balinese society holds itself together through invisible threads of connection. Sarah speaks so honestly about what it's been like to age, to shift from student to teacher, to feel the tug between visibility and invisibility, and to stay true in the face of frog Yoga and downward dogs with goats. This one gets into the heartbreak and humor of being alive, being a woman, and remembering that life is already working, even in the compost pile. Key Takeaways Bali is a Living Culture – The Balinese aren't performing for tourists. They're living their culture, and we're being invited into it. Ageing is Sacred – Watching the body change is confronting, but it's also part of how life keeps moving and renewing itself. Breath is What People Really Want – When Yoga is centered in breath and simplicity, people feel the difference. They stay. Self-Doubt Still Comes Up – Even seasoned teachers wonder if they'll be eclipsed by trendier offerings, but truth finds its people. Everything is the Practice – Even the pain of losing what you thought you were is part of Yoga. It all belongs. Life is a Recycling Program – We're made of star stuff, Einstein's hair, and dinosaur toenails. Nothing is ever lost. Where to Find Our Guest Sarah Jessop on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahjessopyoga Links & Resources You are the beauty. You are the intelligence. You are already in perfect harmony with life. You don't need to seek it. You need only participate in it. Learn more and access the course at https://www.heartofyoga.com Support the Heart of Yoga Foundation. This podcast is sustained by your donations.
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You Are The Beauty with Sofie Chi and Mark
Nov 2600:46:03Tap to summarizeYou're locked in a cell, in handcuffs, with no way out. Not just physically, but mentally too. That's where Sofie Chi found herself, and it's also where her daily Yoga truly began. In this conversation, Sofie speaks about being detained and how, in that moment of intense restriction, she turned to her breath and body. From within that birdcage-like balcony, she began participating in the given reality, and it changed everything. Sofie is a teacher from Austria of Polish descent who travels the world sharing Facial Rejuvenation. Her story and presence bring deep clarity to the question of beauty, how it's been distorted by culture, and how Yoga reveals that we are the beauty itself. This episode moves through trauma, power structures, aging, sexuality, and what it means to be truly intimate with life. Sofie speaks from direct experience and with real humility. I'm grateful to walk this path alongside her. Key Takeaways Yoga in Crisis - True practice begins when there's no escape from mental and physical restriction. The Body is the Cosmos - Real Yoga is participation in the beauty and unity of life itself. Beauty Is Not Performance - We are not meant to chase beauty. We are it, inherently and already. Aging with Integrity - Aging is not a decline but a return to natural wisdom and strength. Sexuality as Presence - Intimacy begins with the breath, the body, and receptivity to life. From Comparison to Compassion - We must unlearn the societal patterning that pits women against one another. Where to Find Our Guest Sofie Chi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/starfaceyoga Links & Resources You are the beauty. You are the intelligence. You are already in perfect harmony with life. You don't need to seek it. You need only participate in it. Learn more and access the course at https://www.heartofyoga.com Support the Heart of Yoga Foundation. This podcast is sustained by your donations.
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The Yoga of Music with Tony Glausi and Mark
Nov 1200:42:24Tap to summarizeFor Mark Whitwell, music was always a temple. In the jazz clubs of New York such as Village Vanguard, Blue Note, and Sweet Basil, he felt the power of true presence. In this conversation, Mark is joined by Tony Glausi, a trumpet player and composer who carries the living jazz tradition with profound originality. Over the course of a month practicing together in Bali, a friendship formed through daily Yoga, shared breath, and an unshakable love for music. Tony opens up about the journey that brought him here. From his roots in a large Mormon family to years of exploring Buddhism, psychedelics, and the creative highs and lows of the music industry, he shares how Yoga has become his ground. Mark and Tony speak candidly about sobriety, the myth of the tortured artist, and what it means to truly merge with the music. Tony Glausi is a New York-based musician devoted to the jazz tradition. Through trumpet, piano, and composition, he explores the meeting point of Yoga and sound for the real life of every person. His most recent album, Awaken, came from a time of injury, reflection, and a deep return to what matters most. Key Takeaways Yoga of Breath and Sound – Music and Yoga meet in the breath, in the steady exhale, and in the felt experience of being fully alive. Sobriety and Clarity – Letting go of substances isn't a loss. It is the return to real perception and sustainable joy. From Dogma to Direct Experience – Yoga isn't a belief system. It's how we are with what is. Horizontal Intimacy as the Foundation for Art – Real artistry comes through being fully with the life around us. The End of the Tortured Artist – Art does not need to come from suffering. With real Yoga, artists can thrive and create from wholeness. Concerts as Ceremony – Tony envisions a new kind of performance that begins in silence, in practice, in true receptivity. Where to Find Our Guest Tony Glausi's Website: http://www.tonyglausi.com Tony Glausi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyglausi Links & Resources Tony's Latest Album 'Awaken': http://www.tonyglausi.com You are the beauty. You are the intelligence. You are already in perfect harmony with life. You don't need to seek it. You need only participate in it. Learn more and access the course at https://www.heartofyoga.com Support the Heart of Yoga Foundation. This podcast is sustained by your donations.
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The Beauty of Om with Sybille and Rosalind
Nov 501:05:19Tap to summarizeOM is the mantra of all mantras, the expression of perfect perfection of life that is happening as every person and every form of the cosmos. Including you, the reader. Pronunciation of OM reveals this to the whole body and mind. This conversation is between two devotees of the OM: Sybille is a Yoga teacher, student of Sanskrit and the wisdom traditions, mother, historian, and co-founder of Hatha Vinyasa Parampara Studio in Mainz, Germany. She is also a lover of the vibration of the OM. We explore the beauty of Om, its sonic completeness, and how Sanskrit, practiced rather than merely studied, can cleanse the doors of perception. Key Takeaways Om Is The Breath Of The Universe – It includes all other sounds, and contains the same rhythm of expansion and return found in life and nature. Sanskrit Is An Embodied Practice – Beyond signifier and signified, it is a sonically intelligent language that includes the whole body nervous system. Sound Is Real, Not Just Symbolic – In Sanskrit and in Yoga, sound actually exists, it wriggles through the air, it ripples through us; it's not just a vehicle of conceptual meaning. Precision In Mantra Creates Harmony – Subtle shifts in pronunciation affect energy, and pleasure leads the way. Chanting Is Subtle Asana – Just like postures, refining sound in the instrument of our body involves subtle adjustments, in devotion to the flow of prana Silence Is Part Of Om – The fourth part of Om is silence, the natural state, what is the base of all sound and form. Links & Resources Learn more and access resources to practice at https://www.heartofyoga.com Support the Heart of Yoga Foundation! This podcast is sustained by your donations.
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The Freedom to Feel: An Interview with Yogini Jin Hee Kim
Oct 2900:49:31Tap to summarizeGrief is love. Fear, anger, pain and grief are biological functions that resolve into compassion for all. Rather than fixation on my one dominant emotion, we develop an emotional intelligence. We predict the next emotion that is more fundamental than our present emotion. By this intelligence, we come to compassion. It is our own intelligence. We are born with it. We saw an extraordinary Yoga transformation occur over one year. Jin Hee Kim, (or Jinny) is a yogini from Korea and Melbourne. Over the past year, she has gone through a powerful journey of loss, realization, and return. Jinny shares how the death of her sister-in-law and the pain passed down from her mother, a woman identified as a shaman, led her into deep grief that no method could resolve. When we met in Bali, she began to see that this grief was actually love. That the only way forward was to stop seeking and do her Yoga. To feel, to breathe, to be in her life. This is a real and intimate dialogue about feminine power, suicide, healing, and what Yoga actually is. She speaks from experience. We do not need to run to monasteries or look for answers to big cultural promises. We need to be here. In our bodies. In our breath. In our relationships. This is where life is. Key Takeaways Grief Is Compassion – Jinny's journey began when she realized her grief wasn't something to fix. It was something to feel and offer. Stop looking, start living. Stop Seeking, start Breathing – True Yoga began for her not in techniques, but in the simplicity of breath and body, just as they are. Healing Is Intimacy – She found that healing came through a close relationship with herself, her family, and her surroundings. Masculine Drive, Feminine Wisdom – A deep shift happened when she embraced her feminine. Shakti softened the fierce Shiva. The secular must serve the sacred. Cultural Shame Holds Trauma – By speaking openly about her mother's story, she ended a cycle of silence and fear. The Seduction Of Enlightenment – Her biggest lesson was that we don't need to transcend life. We need to live it fully, in our own way, in our own language. Links & Resources You are the beauty. You are the intelligence. You are already in perfect harmony with life. You don't need to seek it. You need only participate in it. Learn more and access the course at https://www.heartofyoga.com Support the Heart of Yoga Foundation. This podcast is sustained by your donations.
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In the World, Not of the World with Maartje Hesseling
Oct 1600:55:17Tap to summarizeCan Yoga be real in the corporate world? Can we live from the natural state while moving through meetings, deadlines, and the everyday push of professional life? In this conversation with my good friend and dedicated practitioner Maartje Hesseling, we speak about what happens when Yoga becomes a daily reality. Maartje lives in Switzerland and works at a high level in the corporate world, but over the last three years, she has quietly come into a steady rhythm of practice. We talk about how that shift has changed her life, not by chasing self-improvement, but by staying close to what she actually is. This one is for anyone who has felt torn between their inner life and the world of work. Maartje shares from her own experience, and her clarity and honesty really shine. Key Takeaways Yoga as Daily Relationship – Yoga becomes sustainable when it's not a self-improvement project, but a daily pleasure and relationship with life. Drop the Drive – The subtle pressure to always get better is deeply ingrained, but it's not necessary. It's not helpful. Corporate Compassion – When we're intimate with our own life, we relate with respect and clarity to everyone around us, even when things are tough at work. Inclusion as Yoga – True inclusion at work begins by truly seeing each person, their presence, their gifts, and being in relationship with them. No Conflict Needed – Yoga in the workplace isn't about turning anyone into a spiritual person. It's about being human together and making space for wellbeing. Start With Practice – The clarity, confidence, and connection we long for don't come from a strategy. They come from simply showing up in our practice. Links & Resources You are the beauty. You are the intelligence. You are already in perfect harmony with life. You don't need to seek it. You need only participate in it. Learn more and access the course at https://www.heartofyoga.com Support the Heart of Yoga Foundation. This podcast is sustained by your donations.
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Om Shanti - Not Provoked? Andrew Raba and Rosalind Atkinson
Oct 900:34:54Tap to summarizeWhat does it really mean to be not provoked? I called in my dear friend Andrew Raba for this one, because he's the final and complete master of Shanti, obviously never disturbed by anything ever. Well, not quite. But we did want to talk about this phrase from the tradition: Om Shanti Shanti Shanti. It's something we've both chanted a thousand times, but the meaning that's really stuck with us is one we learned from Mark, "not provoked." Andrew shared so honestly about a moment where he lost it in front of a whole group of students. A group of teenage boys showed up to Yoga class, laughing and disrupting everything, and he found himself cold with anger. He was teaching Shanti, and he was not feeling it. What happened next was such a beautiful reminder of how the practice works over time, and how Om comes first for a reason. I loved this conversation so much. It's about friendship, real practice, and what becomes possible when we stop trying to be peaceful and start actually digesting what provokes us. Key Takeaways Not Provoked Is a Practice – Shanti doesn't mean calm or passive. It means being able to receive life without being hijacked by memory or reaction. Yoga as Internal Bomb Diffusal – The point of practice is to clear out those little bombs of pain that get lit up in a relationship. Om Comes First – Om reminds us that life is already complete. From that remembrance, peace becomes possible. Reaction Is a Signal – If I'm reacting, I'm being shown something. That's not failure. That's the moment the fruit is ripe to fall. Shame Doesn't Heal – Beating ourselves up for being reactive just keeps the cycle going. What helps is love, humor, and depersonalizing the pain. Peace Improves Relationships – The true test of Yoga isn't how long you can chant. It's whether your practice helps you stay open when you'd normally shut down. Where to Find Our Guest Andrew Raba's Website: https://www.yogainschools.org.nz Andrew Raba on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_andyraba_ Links & Resources You are the beauty. You are the intelligence. You are already in perfect harmony with life. You don't need to seek it. You need only participate in it. Learn more and access the course at https://www.heartofyoga.com Support the Heart of Yoga Foundation. This podcast is sustained by your donations.
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Why Yoga? An Interview with Rosalind
Oct 200:27:50Tap to summarizeToday I speak about an insight that freed me from a deep presumption carried since childhood. I saw that I am allowed to enjoy life. That recognition lifted the sense of guilt I had lived with for simply being. Social expectations and spiritual ideals can push us to keep working on ourselves to be better, more vulnerable, or more mindful. Yet in Yoga there is no such requirement. The mind is not a problem. The mind moves in all directions so the body can be alive in its total context. Yoga is intimacy with what is already the case. This is about the natural freedom of life itself. The body, breath, and relationship are already whole. There is nothing to attain. You are the movement of life in unity with the ocean, the light, the air, and every other being. End of story. Key Takeaways The Freedom to Enjoy Life – Guilt is unnecessary. Life is meant to be enjoyed. The Weight of Ideals – Social and spiritual patterns can create pressure to strive and improve. The Natural Mind – The mind's activity of moving in all directions is simply how life functions. Yoga as Intimacy – Yoga is direct intimacy with body, breath, relationship, and the total context of life. Emotions are Natural – Numbness, grief, anger, and joy are biological functions arising in the whole body. Life as Unity – You are not separate from the ocean, the trees, the light, or other beings. You are already the one movement of life. Links & Resources You are the beauty. You are the intelligence. You are already in perfect harmony with life. You don't need to seek it. You need only participate in it. Learn more and access the course at https://www.heartofyoga.com Support the Heart of Yoga Foundation. This podcast is sustained by your donations.
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You Are the Movement of Life, End of Story
Sep 2400:43:07Tap to summarizeWhat if life is already complete, already whole, already free? My dear friend Jana Wirth, a yogini and physiotherapist in Mainz, Germany, speaks about the moment she realized she was free to enjoy her life without guilt. That simple recognition lifted years of conditioning and opened space for ease and joy. Together we speak about her path through physiotherapy, Yoga, and the ways these two streams meet in her daily work. Jana describes her steady commitment to practice, the challenges of cultural expectation, and the simple joy of merging with life as it is. I loved hearing how she no longer feels the burden of fixing people, but instead supports them in discovering their own capacity to heal. This is the Yoga of intimacy with breath, body, relationship, and the living world around us. Key Takeaways Freedom to Enjoy Life – Jana describes the profound relief of letting go of guilt and realizing she is allowed to enjoy her life. Physiotherapy and Yoga Together – Rather than keeping them separate, Jana allows these two pathways to inform and support each other. Healing is Within – True healing happens when people discover their own capacity to move, breathe, and feel, not when someone else tries to fix them. Daily Practice as Anchor – A simple, consistent Yoga practice—sometimes just ten minutes—has guided Jana through emotion, work, and daily life. Union with All of Life – Yoga is intimacy with body, breath, relationship, and the living world, an experience of being one with everything arising. Freedom from Roles – Jana no longer identifies as only a physiotherapist or Yoga teacher, but lives freely beyond professional labels. Where to Find Our Guest Jana Wirth on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_jana_surya Links & Resources You are the beauty. You are the intelligence. You are already in perfect harmony with life. You don't need to seek it. You need only participate in it. Learn more and access the course at https://www.heartofyoga.com Support the Heart of Yoga Foundation. This podcast is sustained by your donations.
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Victory Over the Usual Life with Kalena Hynes
Sep 1700:41:43Tap to summarizeWhat happens when Yoga brings you to life? When the suffering and heaviness that seemed endless begin to wash away, and what is left is natural beauty and creativity? When I first met Kalena she was a solo mother, a frustrated artist caught in family strife and difficulty. Life felt miserable and heavy. Through daily Yoga practice, she found relief. She began painting for ten minutes a day and what poured out of her was beauty. Her painting and ceramics now flow as the movement of life and her recent Holy Waters exhibition has become a balm for others. This conversation is the story of victory over the usual life, the mystery of healing and the flowering of art and love through Yoga. Key Takeaways Yoga as Catalyst – A steady daily practice brings forth our latent talents and natural gifts. Breaking Family Patterns – Healing requires more than survival; it opens into genuine freedom and love. The Power of Art – Creative expression can become both a personal practice and a healing balm for the community. Victory Over Limitation – Yoga helps us transcend society's patterns of suffering and awaken to natural joy. The Mystery of Healing – Transformation unfolds as a graceful mystery, not as a formula or technique. Life as Relationship – Art, Yoga, and simple daily living are all ways of relating to the fullness of life. Where to Find Our Guest Kalena's Website: https://www.artaeology.art/ Kalena on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/111kalenium Links & Resources You are the beauty. You are the intelligence. You are already in perfect harmony with life. You don't need to seek it. You need only participate in it. Learn more and access the course at https://www.heartofyoga.com Support the Heart of Yoga Foundation. This podcast is sustained by your donations.
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