7/10/14 - Stable and Conducive to Bliss: Insights into Asana 
Meta Chaya Hirshl
Encore from 6/28/12

Asana, the posture or seat that prepares us for meditation is an intentional meeting place for the body, mind, and the essential Self. Meta Chaya Hirschl, author of Vital Yoga: A Sourcebook for Students and Teachers joins Yogacharya O’Brian for a deep look at how yoga philosophy and practice can help us transcend fear and experience bliss. 

Meta Chaya Hirshl, originator of the YogaNow Teacher Training Apprentice Program, has studied yoga for decades and been teaching for ten years. Before opening her yoga studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she received a bachelor of science degree in Food Science, took a job as a brewing supervisor, then earned a master of business administration degree in Information Systems and worked as a computer systems consultant, technical software writer, and university lecturer. Meta took her first yoga class in 1978. Years later, after working in business, teaching in academia, and writing software books, she was drawn back to yoga following the development of a serious illness. Her passion for yoga led her to eventually open a studio and later establish the YogaNow Teacher Training Apprentice Program, a nationally accredited curriculum incorporating a variety of traditions and styles.

7/17/14 - Bringing Home the Practice: Yoga for Total Wellbeing  
Tara Fraser

Yoga is a wonderful tool for everybody: young or old; healthy or sick; man, woman, or child. Whether you begin with the aim of becoming spiritually enlightened or just stretching your legs is not important. The point is to begin and see where the journey takes you. Tara Fraser, author of Total Yoga: A Step-by-Step Guide to Yoga at Home for Everybody, joins guest-host Dr. Laurel Trujillo for an exploration of how you can establish, expand, and deepen a consistent home-based yoga practice. If you are new to yoga, learn how to get started. If you are an experienced practitioner, discover how a home practice can deepen and extend your yoga sadhana. Encourage, inspire, and challenge yourself to enjoy your yoga practice. Your complete wellbeing awaits you!

Tara Fraser has had a lifelong interest in yoga and has been teaching since 1993. She believes yoga can help everyone to live well, feel good and age gracefully. Tara is the founder and co-director of Yoga Junction in London where she teaches regular classes and teacher training programs. She is the author of five best-selling yoga books, including The Easy Yoga Workbook, Live Better: Yoga and Total Yoga. 

7/24/14 - Refresh Your Mind with Pratyahara   
Pandit Vamadeva Shastri and Yogini Shambhavi 

Are you suffering from sensory overload? Do you yearn for more inner peace? Tune in and learn how pratyahara can help. Pratyahara, often translated as withdrawal of the senses, is that and much more. Pandit Vamadeva Shastri and Yogini Shambhavi of the American Institute of Vedic Studies join Yogacharya O’Brian to share insights and practices from pratyahara, the fifth limb of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga.

• Discover how you can use pratyahara to take better control of your life and open up to your own inner being.
• Find out why some great yogis consider this neglected limb of yoga to be the most important limb of all.
• Learn techniques for nourishing and protecting the mind including mantra.
• Less stress and more joy are ours as we make conscious choices to direct our mind and our senses in ways that support our peace, clarity, and complete wellbeing.
  

Vedacharya David Frawley (Pandit Vamadeva Shastri) is a western born teacher in the Vedic tradition. In India, Vamadeva is recognized as a Vedacharya (Vedic teacher), and includes in his scope of studies Ayurveda, Yoga, Vedanta and Vedic astrology, as well as the ancient Vedic texts. Vamadeva is the author of more than thirty books available in twenty languages worldwide, including Yoga & Ayurveda: Self-Healing and Self-Realization--the first book published in the West on the interface between Yoga and Ayurveda.

Yogini Shambhavi is a mystic Yogini, guide and teacher rooted in the ancient teachings and traditions of Shakti worship. As an important woman teacher in the Shakti tradition of India and the Himalayas, she aims to draw one to the deeper ‘Yogic Reality’, helping to awaken the universal power of nurturing within us. Yogini Shambhavi has authored two books on the Mother Goddess in India as well as two powerful Mantra chanting CDs in the traditional style. 

7/31/14 - The Power of our Word    
Ron Lindahn
Encore from 1/12/12

CSA Minister Ron Lindahn joins Rev. Ellen Grace O’Brian from the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment on The Yoga Hour online broadcast for an insightful look at how we can align our thoughts, speech, and actions with the power that runs the universe. Conscious speech holds the key to prosperous and fulfilled living. Delve into the spiritual principles and practices related to conscious speech and discover the promise of fulfilled living today.

Ron Lindahn met his guru, friend and mentor, Roy Eugene Davis in 1970. Since 1975 Ron has been writing and lecturing on inspirational and self help topics, meditation and Kriya Yoga. He was ordained by Roy Eugene Davis at the Center for Spiritual Awareness in 1978. For more than twenty years he has served as co-minister for Estatoah Wayfarers Unity Center in Dillard, Georgia. He is often invited as a guest speaker for Unity Churches around the country and offers seminars on creative living, meditation and Kriya Yoga. Ron currently serves as a member of the staff at the Center for Spiritual Awareness headquarters in north Georgia.

8/07/14 - Health, Harmony, and Awakening through Ayurveda   
Vishnu Dass 

Ayurveda and Yoga are sister sciences with Vedic roots in ancient India. Yoga recognizes that our body/mind is our vehicle for awakening, and Ayurveda instructs us in the proper maintenance of that vehicle. When we live in harmony with nature, we thrive on all levels. Ayurvedic practitioner Vishnu Dass joins guest-host Dr. Laurel Trujillo for an exploration of how Ayurveda can support our complete well-being, paving the way for natural, radiant health and removing unnecessary obstacles from our own awakening process.

• What is the spiritual and holistic foundation of Ayurveda?
• What is the Ayurvedic approach to health?
• How does an Ayurvedic lifestyle help to heal the world?
• Join us as we explore these questions and dive deeply into Ayurveda as an art of daily living and a science of self-understanding.
  

Vishnu Dass is an Ayurvedic practitioner and herbalist and the owner and director of Blue Lotus Ayurveda. He received his training under the guidance of Dr. Vasant Lad and is a graduate of the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, NM. Having served on the board of directors for the National Ayurvedic Medical Association, he remains an honorary lifetime practitioner member. He teaches extensively on Ayurveda and Yoga philosophy for schools of clinical herbalism as well as Yoga retreat centers and teacher training programs. His knowledge in both Eastern and Western herbal traditions combined with years of clinical practice comes together in his practical and inspired new book Ayurvedic Herbology—East & West.