Show Notes
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features special guests His Eminence Kalu Rinpoche and Michele Loew. Together with host Daniel Aitken, they celebrate the release of The Yoga of Niguma, available now at wisdom.org. This new publication interweaves Buddhist and yogic practices, making them accessible to both Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Rinpoche shares personal stories about learning the practice and now teaching it, while Michele explores how yoga and meditation can serve as complementary paths, helping students integrate body and mind through embodied awareness. The discussion also covers practical advice for new practitioners, encouraging practitioners not to be intimidated by the practice but to approach the teachings with sincerity and humility and discover the impact on both physical and mental well-being.
Rinpoche, Michele, and Daniel also discuss:
the challenges and plateaus which can occur in Yoga;
advanced practices and illusory body;
healing and health benefits of Niguma Yoga; and
much more!
Additional content mentioned in this episode:
Rinpoche and Michele’s new book, The Yoga of Niguma
Rinopche’s most recent online course, Niguma’s Dream Yoga
Rinpoche’s first Wisdom Academy online course, The Illusory Body and Mind
Learn more about Rinpoche and his work at https://shangpakagyu.org/
Learn more about Michele Loew at https://www.micheleloew.com/
The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Wisdom Publications or any entities they represent.
Meet Our Guests:
His Eminence the 2nd Kalu Rinpoche
His Eminence the 2nd Kalu Rinpoche was born on September 17, 1990 in Darjeeling, India. His father, Lama Gyaltsen, was a nephew of the previous Kalu Rinpoche and had also been his secretary since his youth. The 2nd Kalu Rinpoche was recognized on March 25, 1992 by Tai Situ Rinpoche. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has officially confirmed the recognition.
On February 28, 1993, he was inducted into Samdrub Darjay Chöling (Sonada). His father passed away in 1999 and he asked to live in the monastery of Bokar Rinpoche in order to grow and study under his direction. In 2004, he began the traditional three-year retreat, which he completed in 2008. In 2009, he received from Tai Situ Rinpoche all the transmissions of the Shangpa Lineage. On this occasion, he undertook to confer 108 times the cycle of initiations of the lineage from which he is now the holder.
In 2010, Kalu Rinpoche traveled to the West and took charge of the meditation centers created by the first Kalu Rinpoche around the world. In 2014, he returned to Burgundy, in the center of meditation Palden Shangpa La Boulaye, to teach and to resume the tradition of Monlam Shangpa initiated by his predecessor. He has done the same in the United States in 2019.
Michele Loew
Michele Loew is an international yoga teacher and practitioner of Hatha and Tibetan yogas. She has taught, practiced, & studied avidly since 1998, and ran her longtime beloved yoga studio, The Yoga Space in Portland, Oregon, from 2006-2025. You can now practice with her online or at in-person retreats, yoga immersions, and teacher trainings.
She is known as a teacher’s teacher and is respected for her 200 & 300 hr Yoga Alliance Certification schools and her ability to integrate modern therapeutics and cutting-edge science with lineage-based traditional yoga practices.
She is the co-author of The Yoga of Niguma with H.E. Kalu Rinpoche and shares Niguma’s yoga practices and the dharma around the world.
Her love and commitment to the unexcelled yoga tantras of Varayana and the sister science of Hatha Yoga as paths we can take towards perfect enlightenment, seeing both as powerful interconnected traditions, infuses her work with great joy & commitment towards sharing yoga and spirituality to create a more compassionate and awakened world.
She honors the lineage o
More from The Wisdom Podcast
This Wisdom Podcast episode, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features special guests Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Justin Kelley, and Sandra Fernandez. They share how Tergar Institute is bringing traditional Buddhist teaching into daily modern life. Rinpoche shares his examples from his wandering retreat, including a near-death experience and how it impacted his view of the world. They also explore the Nalanda framework of view, meditation, and application, and how Tergar Institute condenses traditional scholarship and practice into an intensive cohort model while also pointing to at-home practice options through Tergar programs.
This Wisdom Podcast episode features special guest Venerable Bhikkhu Anālayo. Venerable Anālayo is a scholar of early Buddhism and a meditation teacher. He completed his PhD research on the Satipaṭṭhānasutta at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2000 and his habilitation research with a comparative study of the Majjhimanikāya in light of its Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan parallels at the University of Marburg, Germany, in 2007. His over five hundred publications are for the most part based on comparative studies. In this episode, host Daniel Aitken and Venerable discuss Venerable’s book The Perfection Of Wisdom In First Bloom. They also explore the Bodhisattva path, Venerable shares his mindfulness detour in the USA, and together they touch upon the debate of the origins of Mahayana Buddhism.
This Wisdom Podcast episode, recorded live as a Dharma Chat, features special guest Thupten Jinpa. Join Jinpa and host Daniel Aitken as they discuss Jinpa’s newest Wisdom Academy online course, The Nature of Reality. Journey into the nature of reality and emptiness with the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Jinpa contrasts the “mundane,” unexamined view with the yogi’s disciplined inquiry into appearance and reality, explaining how grasping and belief in a true self arise through mental interpretation. They also address debates about Madhyamaka “relinquishing views,” emptiness of emptiness, how realizations of emptiness can make appearances feel illusion-like, and so much more.
This Wisdom Podcast episode, recorded live as a Dharma Chat, features special guest, His Eminence Gyalwa Dokhampa. His Eminence oversees 32 Drukpa lineage centers worldwide and authored The Resting Mind. In this episode, host Daniel Aitken and His Eminence discuss the path of courage, impermanence, equanimity, and Vajrayana practice in everyday life. They also explore the themes and lessons His Eminence learned from the King Gesar epics and how to bring these teachings into our daily rituals. Discover how your practice and shifting your perspective train awareness and can help bring about the restful mind.
This Wisdom Podcast episode, recorded live as a Dharma Chat, features the newly enthroned abbot of Gyuto Tantric Monastery H. E. Khangser Rinpoche. Take a look inside as Rinpoche and host Daniel Aitken discuss monastic life inside Gyuto Monastery. Explore the role Gyuto Monastery plays in the Gelugpa tradition. Learn about the duties of an abbot and discover the path from abbot to Ganden Tripa. Rinpoche and Daniel then transition to discussing Tsongkhapa’s yogic life, the values of analytical meditation, and so much more!