The Spark of Becoming: Poetry That Connects

Renowned poet, author, and spiritual teacher, Mark Nepo shares poetry from his book The Half Life of Angels. Poetry that touches the soul and reminds us of what it means to be fully alive, to be surrounded by what is sacred. 
#sacredpoetry #poetry #oneness #kriyayoga #indrasnet

Mark Nepo is a poet and spiritual teacher who has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for over 50 years. With over a million copies sold, Mark has moved and inspired readers and seekers all over the world with his #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening. A beloved poet, teacher, and storyteller, Mark has been called “one of the finest spiritual guides of our time,” “a consummate storyteller,” and “an eloquent spiritual teacher.” His work is widely accessible and his books have been translated into more than twenty languages.
A bestselling-author, Mark has published twenty-four books and recorded fifteen audio projects. His most recent, The Half-Life of Angels: Three Books of Poems contains poems written in his fifties and sixties, is the first in a series of volumes to be published in limited editions. In September 2023 his twenty-fifth book, Falling Down and Getting Up is being published by St. Martin's Essentials

WEBSITE: MarkNepo.com ThreeIntentions.com
Social Media: @MarkNepo

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: Mark says "Poetry isn’t the arrangement of words on the page. It's not about stanzas and meters. It is the unexpected utterance of words from the soul." I loved Laurel and Mark’s conversation of the title of his new book of poetry, The Half Life of Angels. This book is a compilation of three books of poetry. Laurel talked about how she understands the term half-life in scientific terms. When she read the title she thought about how angels are infinite and the half life of infinity is infinity. Mark said: “I see it as the spark, that moment in nature, when love touches us”. He used the visual example of Michaelangelo's painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and God touching his finger to man. He also described how going through the many poems that he has written over these past decades opened him up to a greater understanding of himself and it was important to him not to change the way he wrote the earlier poems because of his deeper insights now, but to let them be. I also enjoyed how Laurel shared Yogacharya's poetry as well as Paramahansa Yogananda's. It was a very rich and meaningingful program. I would highly recommend it. 

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: It was a treat to focus on sacred poetry and on Mark Nepo’s new book The Half-Life of Angels.  I appreciated his description of darkness as something we can’t yet see, and that through personal growth we can make darkness visible.  His description of the rhythm between periods of harshness and beauty, between bareness and fullness in our lives as the inhalation and exhalation of the universe was very beautiful and touching to me.  I always enjoy Mark Nepo’s focus on our essential Oneness and our connection with each other and with the sacred Universe.  

Dissolve Self-Criticism with Wisdom and Compassion

How can we transform our inner voice to offer ourselves more self-compassion and less self-criticism? Dr. Rachel Turow, author of The Self-Talk Workout shares scientifically based strategies that support us in building healthier habits of relating to ourselves.

Website: RachelTurow.com
LinkedIn: @rachelturow

#selfcriticism #selfesteem #kriyayoga #meditationandthebrain #nonjudgment

Dr. Rachel Goldsmith Turow

Dr. Rachel Goldsmith Turow is a psychotherapist and research scientist who has trained hundreds of individuals in the use of mindfulness, self-compassion, and cognitive behavioral skills. She is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences. Dr. Turow is the author of several books including Mindfulness Skills for Trauma and PTSD and the book we are speaking about today,  The Self-Talk Workout: Six Scientific Backed Strategies to Dissolve Self-Criticism and Transform the Voice in Your Head.

COMMENT FROM RACHEL TUROW: Thank you so much for the invitation and conversation. I had a wonderful time speaking with Laurel and our talk inspired me to read more about yoga philosophy. I’m sure there are lots of treasures there.

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: I feel that this is a powerful and important Yoga Hour program. There is so much about Kriya Yoga that is in alignment with her work. Self-criticism is so endemic and is a real core problem for many of us. Dr. Turow has been working in this field as a psychotherapist and research scientist for many years. She has discovered that self-criticism is connected to a whole range of mental conditions including depression, PTSD, addiction and self-harm. Through her research and also through her regular meditation and mindfulness practices she has come up with six strategies to overcome self-criticism. She says that self-criticism has become such an ingrained habit for most of us that we can't just decide to stop. I appreciated how science has discovered what is happening in the brain with self-criticism and what strategies can physically rewire our brains to redirect our thoughts to self-compassion. We need tools and then we need to practice those tools to strengthen our "self-compassion muscles". Dr. Turow says that we can challenge the assumption that we are the way we are. Being our own worst critic is not a fixed characteristic. We can become our own best friend. 

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I really enjoyed our conversation about how to transform our self-talk to include more self-compassion and kindness.  I was interested to learn that anxiety, depression, PTSD, and stress all have a component of negative self-talk, and that it’s not enough just to want to be kinder to ourselves.  Dr. Turow pointed out that changing our inner dialog requires practice which can include meditation or taking a few moments each day to write down ten things that we did to improve something for ourselves, our families, friends, and acquaintances, from sending a text to taking out the trash.   

It’s Time for a Change!

Do you feel there is just not enough time in the day? Andrew Mellen, author of Calling BS on Busy, combines cutting-edge neuroscience with common sense to change the way we think and act about time, bringing us into the present moment with clear intention, gratitude and abundance.

Andrew Mellen is the Wall Street Journal and Audible best-selling author of Unstuff Your Life!, and Calling BS on Busy. He has appeared on Oprah, Martha Stewart and CBS Sunday Morning. Andrew speaks nationally and internationally. Some of his corporate clients include American Express, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Mets baseball team. He is long-time practitioner of meditation and mindfulness.

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: This is a great interview with Andrew Mellen. The tools he shares to bring mindfulness into our lives are simple and straightforward. He discusses how having an “unconscious relationship with time” brings the stressful feeling of not having enough time to do what we think we should do.  The key he says is to realize there are 24 hours in the day, period. Andrew shared that prioritizing those hours based on core values can bring fullness into your life. Once behaviors are aligned to core values you are not so easily pulled off balance. We then prioritize doing the things that are important to us. His description of the “golf ball” exercise and the “80/20 Rule” really help put time scheduling in perspective. Don’t miss this podcast if you feel overwhelmingly busy.

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I found our conversation to be particularly valuable to me personally and I believe it will be for our listeners as well.  Being conscious of how we spend our time is part of the practice of Right Use of Vital Force, one of the Yamas or ethical principles of yoga. As Andrew points out, none of us know when we will be “kicked off the island” so we don’t know how much time we each have and we need to use it wisely.  I appreciate his approach of starting by being conscious of what is most valuable to us as we consider how we spend our time.  I love that he recommends using very simple tools (a stopwatch, timer, and calendar) that are easily accessible and inexpensive.  The episode is filled with lots of down-to-earth tips about how to change our relationship with time.

The Life Changing Inspiration of Autobiography of a Yogi

Why has reading Paramahansa Yogananda’s book Autobiography of a Yogi changed so many lives? Join author Philip Goldberg as he discusses this important book, which he calls “An iconic memoir of an authentic yogi.”

Philip Goldberg has been studying the world’s spiritual traditions for more than 50 years.  He is an illuminating and entertaining public speaker and workshop leader, a spiritual counselor, meditation teacher, and an ordained Interfaith Minister. Phil is the author or co-author of numerous books, including America Veda, Roadsigns on the Spiritual Path, The Life of Yogananda, and Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times.  He contributes regularly to Spirituality & Health magazine online. Phil is the host of the popular Spirit Matters podcast

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: What a delightful conversation with Phil Goldberg on the Yoga Hour.  I could have listened for hours. Philip Goldberg so easily and richly shares his knowledge of Paramahansa Yogananda, the book 'The Autobiography of a Yogi' and Yoga philosophy in general. I found his explanation especially enlightening of why The Autobiography of a Yogi is such a classic book and so influential in America. Phil talked about how few Yogi's write about their own life and that it is a compelling story about Yogananda's life. He went on to state that Yogananda also includes stories of other people, yogis and mystics from India and America as well as a discourse on Yoga that is good, concise and informative. Phil shared that the majority of people that he has talked with over the decades that have chosen to explore or teach Eastern spirituality and Yoga state that 'The Autobiography of a Yogi' was the most influential book in getting them started. He encourages people "...to read the book if they haven't read it and to re-read it if they have because there is always something new to learn".

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: It is always such a pleasure to have Phil as a guest on The Yoga Hour, and to discuss Paramahansa Yogananda with him in this program.  He is so knowledgeable about the spread of yoga philosophy in America as well as the life of Yogananda, and he makes these topics so accessible.  I really enjoyed how our conversation wove back and forth between Yogananda’s book Autobiography of a Yogi, and Phil’s book The Life of Yogananda, as the two books are so complementary.  I appreciated our focus on the experiential nature of the philosophy of yoga practice and meditation, how the yoga approach doesn’t rely on blind faith, but is rather an encouragement to try these techniques out for oneself and to see the results in our own life.  I agree with Phil’s encouragement to listeners to read the Autobiography if they haven’t yet done so, or to re-read it if they have read it in the past.  There is always something new and inspiring to find there. 

Sacred Poetry: Insight and Inspiration

Listening to and reading sacred poetry can lift us up, inspire our days and take us to a deeper understanding of the Divine. Ivan Granger is a poet and editor of The Longing In Between: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry from Around the World.  Listen in and be inspired!

Ivan Granger, the founder and editor of the Poetry Chaikhana, a publishing house and online resource for sacred poetry from around the world. He is the author of Real Thirst: Poetry of the Spiritual Journey. He is also the editor of The Longing in Between: A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology, and This Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World. His poetry and translations have been included in several magazines and anthologies.

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: This program with poet Ivan Granger and Dr. Laurel Trujillo was thought provoking. It started with the poem by Gabriel Rosenstock that inspired the title of his anthology of spiritual poetry, The Longing in Between.

A star
A tree
And the longing in between

 This began an insightful conversation about the significance of poetry as inspiration on our spiritual path. Ivan talked about poetry being a verbal art. When the poem is read out loud the breath affects consciousness. The reader shares the breath rhythm of the author. Ivan’s last thought was his conviction that inspiration is something essential and fundamental in the flow of life and should be a daily practice.

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I really enjoyed our conversation about sacred poetry, including the poems that Ivan Granger and I each read aloud.  I appreciated his description of the relationship between longing and union in sacred poetry, that it is a spectrum where these two aspects are connected.  I think this was demonstrated by several of the poems that we shared.  We discussed how the words “yoga” and “religion” both mean union.   I so enjoyed his description of poetry as a magnetic pole, one that allows meaning to gather as we continue to reflect on the poem over time. 

Calm the Storm of your Stressful Life: Finding the Energy to Heal

Discover simple, practical and gentle tools to truly heal from your life’s traumas and stressors. Lauren Walker, author of The Energy to Heal, provides step by step practices using yoga and energy work to help us access our body’s innate healing for a calmer, freer and fulfilled life.

Lauren Walker is the author of The Energy to Heal: Find Lasting Freedom From Stress & Trauma Through Energy Medicine Yoga. She previously published, Energy Medicine Yoga: Amplify the Healing Power of Your Yoga Practice and The Energy Medicine Yoga Prescription. Both books won the Nautilus Silver award for best Mind/Body publication. She’s been teaching yoga and meditation since 1997 and created Energy Medicine Yoga while teaching at Norwich University. She teaches EMYoga across the US and internationally and has been featured many times in Yoga Journal, Yoga, Digest, and published a feature article about her yoga work in The New York Times. In 2016 she was named one of the top 100 most influential yoga teacher in America.

Website: EnergyMedicineYoga.net

#yoga #energymedicine #energyhealing #EMyoga #prana #energyblock #kriyayoga

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: Lauren Walker presented clear and easy to understand explanations of how we all have access to heal ourselves when we understand and embrace the fact that all life is made up of energy and we can learn to use that energy to heal ourselves of stress and trauma.  Lauren reminds us that Yoga is about the use of energy through using the breath/prana and postures/ asana as well as directing the flow of our own consciousness. She draws on ancient healing teachings from around the world to offer many approaches to healing.  I loved her simple explanation about how stress, injury and trauma become blocks to the natural flow of our energy and then she offers easy practices to help heal and open all channels of energy in our body in order to live more vibrant lives. 

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I really enjoyed our conversation about Lauren Walker’s book The Energy to Heal.  She is doing very unique work in combining yoga practices like postures (asana) and breathing techniques (pranayama) with energy work.  Lauren has a lovely way of making energy work accessible to everyone, helping us to realize that we already do things to adjust our energy, like rubbing our temples when we have a headache.  I appreciated our conversation about what causes energy blocks in the body: as she said, “Life”, including stress, trauma, toxins, emotions, pain, or patterns of muscle tension.  We reviewed several simple techniques for people to work with their energy, things that are easy to do and that can make a difference.  We truly all do have the energy to heal within ourselves, and can help our bodies to use that energy more efficiently.  

Friendship as a Radical Practice for Social Change

How can friendship offer healing and transformation for ourselves and for the world? Author and spiritual teacher, Kate Johnson shares simple strategies, grounded in ancient teachings, to help us embody our deepest values and show us the importance of working toward the collective well-being in all our relationships.

Kate Johnson is an acclaimed teacher, writer, and facilitator. She leads programs and retreats integrating meditation, somatics, social justice and creativity around the world and online.  She works with individuals and organizations seeking greater sustainability through the cultivation of wise relationships. She is the author of the book we are discussing today, Radical Friendship: Seven Ways to Love Yourself and Find Your People in an Unjust World.

Website: KateJohnson.com

#spiritualfriendship #selfcompassion #radicalfriendship #kriyayoga #socialjustice

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: This was another important program about social justice but this time in the context of friendship with others and friendship with ourselves and how those friendships can transform the world. Kate Johnson defines these friendship as quality. She says it is unconditional friendliness, unconditional positive regard and that the friends genuinely want the best for each other. She goes on to say that radical friendship is where we commit to show up for our own and each other’s liberation, in a spiritual sense and in a human sense. She spoke quite a bit about how we can be better friends with others when we can be a better friend to ourselves. When we accept ourselves for being who we are, we can accept others no matter what their flaws. I highly recommend this podcast for those who want to receive from and give to deep friendships and see those friendships as a way to contribute to a better world. 

Live a Spiritually Conscious Life: The Way of the Yogi - Part 2

The second limb of yoga consists of five ethical practices called the Niyamas. David McGrath, spiritual teacher and author of the book The Yogi’s Way: Living in Accord with the Yamas and Niyamas, shares how the teachings of Kriya Yoga, specifically the practices of the Niyamas offer us a practical way to live a spiritually conscious life.

David McGrath is dedicated to sharing the philosophical and psychological principles, and practices of yoga with a focus on promoting the holistic capacity of Kriya Yoga to provide insight into what it means to be human and how we can appreciate and live in tune with the fundamental nature of life. David was ordained by Mr. Roy Eugene Davis, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, as a minister within the tradition of Kriya Yoga, in 2011. He offers instruction and guidance through one-to-one consultations, organized retreats, online programs, public seminars, workshops, and written publications. David imagines a world awakened in oneness and invites people to follow a path which will allow them to clarify their conscious awareness.

WEBSITE: www.davidmcgrath.ie

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: Part 2 of this interview with David McGrath was a wonderful discussion on the niyamas following up from part 1 on the yamas.  He explained how the yamas and niyamas support each other. While the yamas are practices that deal with the outside world, the niyamas are practices that disconnect with the outside world to give space to look within ourselves. Laurel and David agreed that meditation is a key practice to disengage with the ego concerns and go within to experience contentment. It is also a key part of Self-study, the second of the three pillars of Kriya Yoga. Self-study supports us in moving into the space of the witness. I was inspired by what he shared at the end of the program, wherever one is in the practice of yoga, it is extremely useful to disconnect, find silence and stillness. There you can know yourself just as a witness. This was an excellent interview and shouldn't be missed.
#yoga #niyamas #contentment #santosha #selfstudy #svadhyaya #eightlimbsofyoga #meditation #yogasutras 

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: After my discussion with David McGrath on the Yamas in Part One; the ethical principles about how we relate to others, it was useful to turn our focus within and discuss the five Niyamas: cleanliness, contentment, self-discipline, self-study, and self-surrender.  As we discussed, these practices gain depth and subtlety the longer we engage with them, and practicing them deepens our understanding of the practice of the Yamas, or restraints, as well.  I particularly appreciated our deeper conversation about two of the Niyamas, contentment and self-study.  David’s exercise of contemplating words to decide how much they describe contentment was thought-provoking.  He lists happy, balanced, still and curious as words that may describe contentment, and I appreciated our discussion that happiness and contentment are not necessarily the same thing.  We both agree that meditation is one key practice that helps us with both contentment and self-study.