Alive as Life: An Interview with Mariana Garcia Flores

What 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.

You'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.

For 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.

OM 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.

Grief is love.