The Yogic Studies Podcast
In-depth explorations into the traditions of Yoga, Sanskrit, Indian Philosophy, and South Asian Religions. Featuring candid conversations and interviews with scholars and educators from around the world. Hosted by Seth Powell.
Episodes
59 episodes
8. Sravana Borkataky-Varma | Śākta Tantra, Female Practitioners, and Misperceptions of Tantra
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Sravana Borkataky-Varma about her experience growing up in India, receiving initiation into a Śākta tantra lineage at Kāmākhya, discovering Religious Studies and the academic path, her doctoral research, the r...
7. Karen O’Brien-Kop | Pātañjala Yoga, Yogācāra Buddhism, and Re-Thinking the Category of "Classical Yoga"
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Karen O’Brien-Kop (University of Roehampton) about her intertextual research on Pātañjala and Buddhist Yoga, rethinking the category of “Classical Yoga,” the yoga of Yogācāra Buddhism, Buddhist definitions of ...
6. Ben Williams | Śaiva Tantra, Abhinavagupta, and the Tantric Sahṛdaya
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Ben Williams (Naropa University) about his story of growing up in spiritual community, the scholar-practitioner, the scriptures and world of non-dual Śaiva Tantra, the Kashmiri exegete Abhinavagupta and his co...
5. James Mallinson | The History and Practice of Haṭha Yoga
In this episode, we speak with Dr. James Mallinson (SOAS, University of London) about his travels through India, meeting his guru, his journey to becoming an Indologist, his pioneering research on the history of yoga and yogīs, key findings fro...
4. Philip Deslippe | Making Sense of Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini Yoga
In this episode, we speak with Philip Deslippe (UC Santa Barbara) about his research on the modern history and construction of Kundalini Yoga, the controversies surrounding the late guru Yogi Bhajan, as well as the role and positionality of the...
3. Antonia Ruppel | On Teaching and Learning Sanskrit
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Antonia Ruppel (LMU, Munich) about her study and teaching of the Sanskrit language, from elite universities to the St. James Senior Boys' School, the richness and diversity of Sanskrit literature, her recent S...
2. Daniela Bevilacqua | Hindu Asceticism and Haṭha Yoga
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Daniela Bevilacqua (Post-Doc Research Fellow, SOAS) about her background in History and Anthropology, her doctoral work on the Rāmānandī Sampradāya, her ethnographic fieldwork for the Haṭha Yoga Project, and t...
1. Finnian Gerety | Vedic Ritual, OṂ, and Early Yoga
In this first-ever Yogic Studies Podcast episode, we speak with Dr. Finnian Gerety (Brown University) about his background as a musician, his journey to Indology and Sanskrit studies at Harvard University, his fieldwork among Nambudiri Brahmins...
0. Seth Powell | Introducing the Yogic Studies Podcast
In this brief introduction, Seth introduces listeners to the Yogic Studies Podcast. He shares his story of how yoga led him to academia, to the PhD at Harvard University, the study of Sanskrit, the world of yoga research, and the birth of Yogic...