What happens when the teacher becomes the student? David turns the tables and interviews me. We dive into the roots of my life, growing up in New Zealand’s church and school systems, confronting injustice early on, and stumbling into my body through sport and the natural world. We move through my years as a young man questioning everything society had handed me and into the long journey that led me to the heart of Yoga with my teachers Krishnamacharya and Desikachar. This is a deeply personal conversation. I speak about the early insights that shaped my path, the teachers who helped me see through the spiritual industrial complex, and the simple, profound practices that brought me home to life as it is. David's questions open a space for something very real to come through: not theory, not tradition for its own sake, but the living truth of Yoga as intimacy with reality. Key Takeaways Early Awakening – A childhood moment on the lawn, sun on my back, revealed the body’s deep continuity with the cosmos. Seeing Through Systems – From church to school to spirituality, I recognized early how society exploits the promise of a future salvation or success. Real Yoga Is Empowering – True Yoga adapts to the individual, honors the breath, and returns us to our natural state of wholeness. Teachers Who Transmit – Meeting Krishnamacharya and Desikachar brought a transmission of humility, scholarship, and direct experience, not branding. Yoga Is Relationship – Real practice embraces the body and life’s tangible realities, especially the relational, where true meditation lives. The Body Is God – Yoga reveals that the body is not separate from divinity, it is divinity. This isn't a metaphor. It’s actual, lived reality. Where to Find Our Guest David’s Website: http://lenirvanawear.com David on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david22bali 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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1:05:39
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1:05:39
Stop Looking, Start Living with David Fardi
What if the life you’re seeking is already unfolding beneath your feet? David Fardi's path from spiritual confusion to grounded clarity is a powerful reminder that real Yoga begins when we stop chasing and start participating in what is. A Yoga teacher and founder of the men’s fashion brand Le Nirvana, David shares how he moved through disillusionment in Europe and neo-tantric circles to find a deeply embodied practice in Bali. His story touches on healing generational wounds, living in rhythm with nature, and discovering how simple breath and movement can reshape a life. David now teaches private sessions at Samyama Yoga and lives what he practices with devotion, artistry, and love. Key Takeaways The Power of Presence – Gathering in person allows for a deeper transmission of Yoga that even the best Zoom call can’t replicate. Bali’s Blessing Culture – The spiritual fabric of Balinese daily life creates an environment of tolerance, beauty, and ease that supports deep practice. Yoga Is Participation, Not Performance – Real Yoga is not information gathering; it’s direct participation in the reality of breath, body, and being. Spiritual Friendship Matters – One-on-one connections made in gatherings often become lifelong support systems for practice and healing. The End of the Separate Self – Gathering invites us into a recognition: there’s no fixed “me” to fix. There’s only reality unfolding through us. We Are the Forest Dwellers – These gatherings are part of an eternal cultural process of Yoga; friends meeting in sacred spaces for wisdom to be lived and shared. Where to Find Our Guest David Fardi’s Website: https://lenirvanawear.com David Fardi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david22bali Le Nirvana on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lenirvanabali Links & Resources All In-Person Gatherings : https://www.heartofyoga.com/all-in-person-programs 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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Yoga Sutras Talk Recorded at Bali Teacher Untraining
What does it mean to begin Yoga now—right here, in your breath and body, with your life exactly as it is? This talk, recorded during our teacher untraining in Bali, is a direct experience of the first four Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Together, we chanted, laughed, and explored what it means to practice Yoga in a way that’s grounded, personal, and alive. These Sutras are a living guide, not a doctrine. They point us to something we already are. Your life, your interests, your body in its natural context—this is where Yoga begins. Key Takeaways The Sutras Come Alive in Relationship – Their meaning emerges through the shared inquiry between teacher and student. Yoga Begins Now – Each breath and step taken in presence is the real beginning of practice. Yoga Means Direction with Continuity – Choose your direction and stay with it. This is how peace arises. The Role of a Teacher – A true teacher supports your path, not their own agenda. The Body Is Consciousness – Whole-body participation in reality is the essence of Yoga. You Are Already the Power of the Cosmos – No improvement needed, only recognition and participation. Links & Resources https://www.heartofyoga.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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55:55
Why Do We Gather in Bali?
What makes us leave home and come together in person to share Yoga? In this episode, Mark and Rosalind reflect on hosting Yoga gatherings in Bali. They speak about the deeper meaning of these meetings, the beauty of Balinese blessing culture, and what it really means to offer something useful in a spiritual tourist economy. Can travel be justified as Bali groans under the weight of tourism and the expansion of the concrete jungle? What are we doing here, and what are the potential They discuss how seeking makes us vulnerable to exploitation, the nature of real practice, and the kind of intimacy that arises when people meet without pretense. Themes Bali as a spiritual gathering place and why people come here Blessing culture: what is it and how does it work How do we justify going to a Yoga gathering? Is it selfish? The difference between information-gathering and experiential learning Personal practice as the foundation of everything The healing power of dear friendship grounded in Yoga How do we welcome a genuinely wide range of people? Key Quotes “Yoga is participation in the given reality.” “There’s no need to get to what you already are.” “The gathering is the icing on the cake. Zoom is the cake—we already have it.” “People come to Bali looking for something, even if they don’t know what it is.” “There’s a relief in realizing there’s nothing to become. You already are.” Key Takeaways Place Carries Power – Bali holds a blessing culture that people can feel in their bodies. Gatherings Create Intimacy – In-person Yoga opens a space for deeper relational presence. Practice Starts with You – The daily rhythm of breath and movement is where change happens. Transmission Is a Felt Thing – Yoga is shared in silence, in contact, in attention. Seekers Need Care – Honest offerings matter in places shaped by spiritual commerce. There Is No One to Fix – Yoga reveals freedom through untraining, not accumulation. Learn more and register for future events at https://www.heartofyoga.com/bali-ytt. This podcast is sustained by your donations. You can support the Heart of Yoga Foundation at www.heartofyoga.com/foundation
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Walt Whitman was a Yogi | Dylan Giles
Imagine words so sincere, that the author appears as a close friend, speaking directly through time to the deepest part of who we are? This week, Dylan Giles joins Rosalind to share how reading Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” in a time of personal drift opened a direct experience of connection. Dylan describes nights spent under the Californian moon, feeling Whitman’s words as a living presence, breaking him free of rigid traditions. In this episode I find out from Dylan about Whitman as mystic, and we use him to understand yogic ideas such as shaktipat, ishta, and guru parampara. We explore how reading Whitman can lead to a shift from cleverness to sincerity in our own writing, the subtle ways we unconsciously believe we are separate from greatness, and the challenge of integrating moments of inspiration into daily life. In this conversation we track the shift from being a FAN of a mystic like Whitman of William Blake, to being a fellow participant in the great mystery called life. With our artists and mystics holding our hands. Subjects Explored Meeting Whitman in a moment of drift and loneliness The freedom of Whitman’s meterless, sincere poetry Sensing Whitman’s living presence through reading How sincerity cuts through patterned language Moving beyond cleverness to honest writing Recognizing unconscious beliefs of separation Yoga as the way we integrate grace into our lives Key Phrases or Quotes “I was reading this and feeling from the page that Walt Whitman was directly communicating to me, like he was in the room.” “True sincerity really moves me.” “I felt as if his words were so sweet. I felt it in my heart that he was just around me somehow.” “There’s erosion of spontaneous human expression. You sort of felt like you’d discovered a fountain of spontaneous human expression in a desert.” “I realized he wasn’t different from me. We are made of the same stuff.” Key Takeaways Sincerity Creates Real Connection – Honest words carry a power that reaches others directly. Poetry Reveals Yoga – Words infused with life transmit a sense of presence and unity. Admiration Sparks Recognition – Seeing beauty in Whitman helps us see it in ourselves. Yoga Grows in Integration – Grace opens possibilities, and Yoga helps us live them fully. Spontaneous Words Are Alive – Breaking from scripts nourishes life and brings clarity. We Share the Creative Force – The same life that moved Whitman moves through each of us. Suggested Reading Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman – Explore the groundbreaking free verse poems that celebrate the body, nature, death, and the joy of existence. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake – A visionary work challenging traditional views of good and evil, exploring the unity of opposites, and the energy of life. Timestamps 00:02:00 Intimate Yoga revealed in Whitman’s poetry during Dylan’s personal drift 00:04:00 Whitman’s presence felt through words alive and immediate across time 00:06:00 Scripted language blocking authentic, heartfelt human communication 00:08:00 Shaktipat-like realization ignited by powerful, sincere words 00:09:00 Shared creative power with Whitman dissolves illusions of separation 00:20:00 Radical embrace of body, sexuality, death, and life celebrated by Whitman 00:29:00 “What is the grass?” reflects on life, death, and universal connection 00:32:00 Eternal life recognized within finite human experience through Yoga 00:36:00 Bold authenticity inspired by Whitman’s lines urging courage beyond comfort 00:46:00 Body-soul unity illuminated in Blake’s vision of eternal creative energy 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.
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.
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