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This episode I talk with Paul Grilley on his finding of and understanding of the Taoist Teaching of the Nei Jing Tu - a visual guide to the yogic experience.

language!⁠ ⁠ consider these common yoga teacher terms: "modification" - something one does if a student can't do the full pose "variation" - a variation on the standard⁠ - normally for more advanced students. ⁠ this language is a problem. ⁠ ⁠ because it makes it seem that there is a 'standard' pose we all should work to... and we could all get there if we work enough. those who can do the standard teach everyone else (cos they can) and invite those who can to push it even further with 'variations' (for advanced people). ⁠ ⁠ this leaves the vast majority who cannot do the 'standard' and have to 'modify' (and get given all those cues to 'improve').⁠ ⁠ and how does that feel? exactly. i want to you to consider that dropping these words is not being politically correct, spiritually liberal or inclusive. this language is bad because it is bad anatomy... come join me :-D

injury is unavoidable in life. we move too little or move too. and very often we have no idea why we injured ourselves. i offer my insight from years of practice and working with those in extremes - too little or too much... my answers may surprise you :-)

I am delighted to welcome best selling author, Western Medical Doctor & Acupuncture Educator, Dr. Dan Keown to the podcast. Dan's take on what Qi and Chinese Medicine is have lit up the Chinese Medicine world. With his Western medical background and ability to translate the complex Chinese Medicine into modern ideas we can understand, Dan is an absolute gem. Come join us!

Former Principal Dancer of the Scottish Ballet and freelance choreographer, Eve Mutso joins me. Now a board member of Indepen-dance, an inclusive dance company for disabled and non-disabled people and Yin yoga teacher, Eve takes on her journey of success, injury and life after professional dance. come join us.

Benoy Matthew is a registered physiotherapist, currently working in London, United Kingdom. As a clinician since 1998, he treated injuries ranging from minor ankle sprains to complex multi-trauma sports injury, but now specialises in hip and groin injuries for serious sports men & women. In a recent interview with the BBC, Benoy commented that many yoga teachers came to him with injuries which he felt could be avoided. I am excited to welcome Benoy and explore how we can all be smarter, more compassionate with our bodies in our Yoga. We talk about Benoy's 3 pillars of a good physical workout - stretching, cardio, strength (and how we need to have them all), how we are all different and how to identify difference between muscular pain and joint pain. Come join us.

Yoga students often their yoga history from yoga schools & gurus with specific viewpoints or spiritual takes on the world. This is great but potentially sub-optimal. Because they learn from a certain point of view, Yogis often miss out on a neutral, factual take on yoga, the ideas and the (crazy) characters in the 8,000+ years of the yoga story. Join me to listen to the facts without (so much) dogma!

this week is cool! i meet up with fellow acupuncturist and mugwort specialist, hannah swift. mugwort is a prize in chinese medicine. and acupuncture really should be combined with moxa argues hannah as we dig around on the beach for this ever-present, but totally ignored, under our nose european herb. even acupuncturists aren't using it enough which is weird when the chinese word for acupuncture - zhènjîu - infers needles AND moxa, not just needles. put it in your tea, smoke your body with it, get it in your life. https://www.yellowempress.net/

in yoga, meditation, spiritual practice, self-improvement and all these pursuits, we seem fixated on transformation, improvement and refinement. i propose we don't see our yoga this way. it should be a place free from all that pressure.

welcome! i have just come out of our latest yin yoga and variable anatomy teacher training and again have been shocked by how unconfident many yoga students are with exploring yoga poses (placing THEIR OWN hands and feet WHERE THEY WOULD LIKE to put them) and disobeying cues by yoga teachers. in this episode i list a few very obvious examples of movement outside of yoga that break the alignment cues we hold so dear and that many yoga teachers enforce. and if others break our rules. why can't we? teachers need to stop telling people they are doing poses right & wrong. and this means they need to be better educated.

coming again from my teacher training bedroom in milan! talking more about meditation, the core of the yoga practice. yoga is not about getting fit. really yoga (and medtiation) about staying... even when your mind doesn't want to stay with what you are experiencing and going through in life. this is the opposite of what we tend to do. we tend to either avoid what we are thinking and feeling... or we compartmentalise and ignore. this is bad for your mental health. medtiation is about staying and watching what goes on inside you... and then you begin to see what thoughts really are.... NOTES: training coming up (this fall) https://www.dhugalmeachem.com/meditate

live from my attic in milan! meditation is about being your best friend... no matter what. this simple definition is empowering. no spirituality, no super powers, not even necessarily liking it all the time... but is nurturing an ability to be there for yourself... no matter what. NOTES: training coming up (this fall) https://www.dhugalmeachem.com/meditate

coming to you live from milan! is yoga meditation? i certainly think it could be. a practice to allow you to take whatever comes at you in life. if your yoga is not helping or if you have been in yoga a long time and it doesn't seem to be as powerful as it once was... i propose a different way of thinking about your practice.

re-cast! i was recently a leader with atman way's 'silence the guns' meditation marathon to meditate for peace in the world. come join me for my 30min seated meditation practice. we focus on the experience of individuality - and how we can break this down - and therefore understand each other. come join me.

acupressure and myofascial release are getting more and more popular in yin yoga and yoga in general. as it becomes more popular, weird and just plain wrong claims are being made on social media about what massaging or placing massage balls on these places will do. in this short episode, i argue claims like these are erroneous, even dangerous because they leads yoga teachers to make spurious claims about the power of acupressure.

this week i'm getting romantic. i don't mean that kind of romantic. i mean the romance of getting out of your head.... the art of getting out of your head is not limited to postural yoga and meditation. a popular (but kinda out of fashion) approach was poetry. come join me for a meander through some old buddhist monk rambling; misty mountains, gentle rivers and tea.

language!⁠ ⁠ consider these common yoga teacher terms: "modification" - something one does if a student can't do the full pose "variation" - a variation on the standard⁠ - normally for more advanced students. ⁠ this language is a problem. ⁠ ⁠ because it makes it seem that there is a 'standard' pose we all should work to... and we could all get there if we work enough. those who can do the standard teach everyone else (cos they can) and invite those who can to push it even further with 'variations' (for advanced people). ⁠ ⁠ this leaves the vast majority who cannot do the 'standard' and have to 'modify' (and get given all those cues to 'improve').⁠ ⁠ and how does that feel? exactly. i want to you to consider that dropping these words is not being politically correct, spiritually liberal or inclusive. this language is bad because it is bad anatomy... come join me :-D

yoga is often seen to be a lot of effort. sometimes, we even boast to others (and ourselves) how much effort we have put in. we wave around certificates and accomplishments. but really, yoga is the opposite. it doesn't have to be hard. it should be really obvious. come join me to consider the lazy way...

Every week on this podcast we talk about yoga. This week, I thought we should actually practice some. So, I'd like you while you're listening this week to find a quiet place to sit down. Just for 30 minutes. And we'll sit together.

injury is unavoidable in life. we move too little or move too. and very often we have no idea why we injured ourselves. i offer my insight from years of practice and working with those in extremes - too little or too much... my answers may surprise you :-)