The Heart of Yoga

Mike Bucher is a musician in Los Angeles. His band, Iglu and Hartley have had hit singles around the world — great uplifting rock and roll. He now ventures forth as "Mike B and the Universe" with has solo album just released, 'Bloom Baby Bloom'.

Mike is a yogi and a teacher in the heart of yoga. Mike speaks candidly about staying real in the midst of celebrity and the life of a working musician, and speaks about how Yoga has been a catalyst for his life, music and relationship.

He teaches in Los Angeles and on his new album combines his great love of the American tradition of song and his yoga realization. Here we have a meeting of Woodie Guthrie, Bob Dylan and the Kinks. It is a very useful work in the world! Highly recommended. Stream or download it here!

In this episode you will hear....

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01:00 The introduction.

05:00 Ancient arrowheads, wandering the ancient worlds. Trespassers and relationship.

12:00 A white trespasser v's indigenous wisdom. Traceable lines of trauma. The opposite of memory.

25:00 Pain is a function of mother nature. Don't meditate or meditate your way out of it. Un-training.

40:00 We should be falling on or knees on the mere sight of each other. Our bodies are not franchises. Yoga is not about the teacher. It's about the student.

50:00 The transition from instructor to teacher with a capitol T. Being here and being hair. When you're full you're a terrible consumer. Confronting patents.

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If you feel moved to submit a question for a future episode, you can do so here:

https://www.heartofyoga.com/podcast

You can find more from the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

“Dear friends,

I was born in the spring of ‘54 to a farmer father and school teacher mother. Both of them children of homesteader parents. After grade 12 , in 72/‘73, I backpacked and worked through Europe and Northern Africa for nearly nine months.

Returning home I began farming and attending an agricultural college receiving a diploma in Ag Production. I bought my first land when I was 18, and have been making a living raising crops and cattle ever since.

I married well in ‘81 and together we have raised three children. I had the opportunity to volunteer in Africa for three winters in the last ten years. Leadership education in Uganda and water filters in Malawi.

I became concerned about small aches and tightness due to a lot of physical work. Yoga was mentioned and I first tried it in about 2006 to loosen up. At that time there were no classes up here in the north so when we were visiting Maui I took a stab at it.

I loved the feeling I got both physically and surprisingly mentally. I wanted to immerse and continue so I looked up a retreat and found the Feathered Pipe Ranch in Montana. I studied under very good teachers there. It expanded my connections and eventually I ended up in Ojai studying with more teachers, including Mark Whitwell who I returned to three more times, meeting at the Peppertree [J. Krishnamurti’s home in Ojai, now a retreat —ed.].

I am happy to now be on the board of directors at the Feathered Pipe foundation.

Yoga has definitely helped me and I can’t imagine not having a daily morning practice that was initially developed by Mark and I’ll weave in something different every day depending what feels right.

It allows me to keep farming in a sustainable nature both for myself and for the farm. We have to look after ourselves so we can look after the farm.”

More info here.

Highlights

• What cows have to teach us about health and community
• Neil and Mark discuss the nature of learning Yoga within the context of real friendship
• What Neil got from studying yoga with Mark and how profoundly it changed his life
• Why no hierarchy is the basic condition for the teacher-student relationship
• What is “furniture disease”?
• Neil’s experience finding Yoga as a farmer in the far north of Canada
• How Mark ‘tricked’ Neil into a daily yoga practice
• The nurturing principle of life in farming and yoga
• Bringing Yoga to our own communities in language and ways that are relevant to them
• Who can teach yoga – and when?

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If you feel moved to submit a question for a future episode, you can do so here:

https://www.heartofyoga.com/podcast

You can find more from Mark and the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Malika Warda is a mystic Yogini poet currently residing in the land of ancient light, Western Australia, and co-founder of the extraordinary yoga, meditation and sound healing studio Cntrspace in Perth. She is the author of a book of poetry by the same name, a photographer, and a deep explorer of the human experience, drawing on her Yogic, Palestinian and Australian Indigenous heritage. Malika and Mark speak about her journey to find the real depth Yoga offers, the impact of finding it on her relationships with self and others, the unfolding of a profound yogic sexuality, and healing the mass social repression of the feminine.

You will hear how relatively quickly when a person receives yoga, transmission into local community can occur. Malika is a wonderful example of a yoga teacher of these recent times.

You can find Malika on IG @malika.abuwarda___ and in person teaching at her studio in north Perth at Cntrespace.

In this episode you will hear...

03.30 How, where and why Mark & Malika met. A pivotal time in Malika's life. Finding more to Yoga.

08:00 Actual Yoga happening in and around Malika and her practice. Results and friendships.

12:00 Finding strength, beauty and form as the feminine. A process shown and shared. A feminine force repressed.

17:00 Empowered utterances of Yogic realizations. Sexual intimacy and freedom from patterning.

25:00 Spiritual wisdom was packaged as a mechanism of male authority. Adding value and actualization of a real Yoga practice.

If you feel moved to submit a question for a future episode, you can do so here:

https://www.heartofyoga.com/podcast

You can find more from the Heart of Yoga on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

In this episode of "The Heart of Yoga " Rosalind kicks off the Yogic Arts Series with a deep and enlightening conversation with artist and Yogini Melissa Forbes. They explore the intersection of art and spirituality through the study of Yantra, numerology, and Jyotish (Vedic astrology). Melissa shares her personal journey into sacred geometry and how these ancient traditions have shaped her practice, teaching, and artwork. Through this conversation, listeners are invited into the rich, intricate world of sacred Yogic arts and the deeper meaning behind these practices.

• The profound relationship between Yantra, numerology, and the energies of the planets, exploring how specific shapes, colors, and numbers influence one's life and spiritual journey.
• Melissa’s background in sacred geometry and her teachings on how constructing Yantras can help align an individual's energy with cosmic forces.
• The influence of Melissa’s teacher, Harish Johari, and the tradition of integrating chanting, numerology, and sacred geometry into the spiritual practice.
• Insights into the powerful energy of certain colors and planets, such as working with green and emerald to harness the healing energy of Mercury.
• The importance of natural movement and geometry in understanding the true essence of Yoga beyond its physical form.

• "The study of the macrocosm via the microcosm. Tantra offers a holistic approach to the universe through the lens of the individual."
• "The energy of the Yantras is all about alignment—through sound, color, and shape, we can tap into the deeper forces of the cosmos."
• "Working with a spiral in sacred geometry mirrors nature’s own patterns; it’s a theme that’s as universal as the DNA in our bodies or the form of a fern unfurling."

• Books by Harish Johari: Numerology, Tantra, Ayurveda: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Harish-Johari/410046710
• https://melissaforbes.art/retreats You are invited to join Melissa on her Sacred Geometry luxury retreat in India, January 2025. Melissa leads an annual retreat at Shreyas, member of Relais & Chateaux, focusing on Sacred Geometry. An excellent opportunity to explore the inner dimensions and rekindle our creative energies, and direct it towards spiritual unfoldment. Yoga, Ayurveda and Art in a refined beautiful environment.
• Connect with Melissa on IG @melissaforbes8

• [00:00:00] Introduction to the episode and guest, Melissa Forbes
• [00:01:00] Melissa shares her initial journey into Yoga and sacred geometry
• [00:03:00] Discussion on numerology and the relationship mandala
• [00:06:00] Exploring the deeper meaning of Yantra and the connection with planets
• [00:20:00] Transition into Jyotish and how numerology ties into personal energies
• [00:36:00] Retreat discussions and how participants interact with the Yogic arts
• [00:50:00] Personal anecdotes about U.G. and Melissa's experiences in sacred spaces
• [00:59:00] Conclusion and final reflections on art, spirituality, and cosmic energy