The Yoga Podcast Episode 4 Matthew Sweeney

You know that episode where you introduce your guest and you do it all wrong? And then he has to stop you -very politely- to make corrections? Well, this is one of those episodes...

But the good thing is Matthew Sweeney is a really cool guy, he was not disappointed and he wanted to correct things because he has two partners on the beautiful yoga place they share in Ubud, in paradise Bali, and so he told me.

And I left it on the podcast because I think it is good that you hear the spontaneity of how it all went.

I met Matthew through a photograph. And it is not as woo-woo as it sounds...

We were in Mysore, it was 2008, and one night, during one of those frequent electric cuts, my friend Martina and I started looking at his book "Ashtanga Yoga As It Is".

We looked specifically at the advanced postures, like, pick any of the photos in the sample page below... like really, ANY...

Then we would look at each other, Martina and I, over the flickering candle light and go:

"Noooooo... That is impossible!"

What I love about Matthew is that he works very hard at the practice, at teaching it and at keeping it real.

He has "beef" with the usual teacher trainings when they are impersonal and the teacher does not get to know the students (think those courses that teach more than a hundred at the time).

He also does not believe that one system can be good for "everyone", because he has seen the results...

People leave the practice when it is too rigid, when it won't adjust to the issues and the lifestyles and DNA of each individual person.

And that is sad.

He is also adamant about getting to know personally the people who will go in the world and teach what he teaches.

His teacher trainings have many levels, but they are not there to annoy anyone, but rather to build a solid relationship, to do it right.

And, because his practice is so extensive and has happened over such a long period of time, he has created his own sequences, which you can download (see about Matthew section at the bottom of the email)

WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT

• The restaurant he is opening in Bali, at the yoga retreat, and what they will serve (hint: I love dosas)
• His experience with Pattabhi Jois (who received him before he even got out of the taxi cab)

Matthew's teaching space in Bali

• The differences between the approaches of Iyengar and Jois
• What happens we you practice yoga and you want to be "honest" about it
• Matthew's personal definition of yoga today... which has to do with what is happening to you now
• How the issues of food and sex need to be resolved for a proper asana and yoga practice in full to work
• The different levels of kindness
• How he has become "uncool" (in certain areas) in front of his 16 year-old daughter
• How we was inspired to create the posters that eventually became books by Darma Mitra
• Matthew's big beef with most yoga teacher trainings
• How the "moon sequence" that he developed, helps bring some balance (satvic energy) to the extreme (rajasic) practices some of us do
• How he teaches pranayama and when
• What is the one thing that took him a long time to understand

ABOUT MATHEW

Website

TheYogaTemple.com

Workshops and Retreats 2015 and 2016

Newsletter sign-up for updates from Matthew

DVDs books and posters (available for instant download as well)

Facebook

TRANSCRIPT

Claudia Altucher: Hello and welcome to the Yoga Podcast. I am thrilled today to have Matthew Sweeney with me. Matthew is the director of the Yoga Shala Bali in Ubud. He is a yoga teacher, a Star Wars fan, and a twice black belt in martial arts. Matthew has explored and practiced four, or even five I think, of the Ashtanga Yoga series of Sri Jois, who is the founder of Ashtanga Yoga, as well as the teachings of Krishnamacharya, Desikachar, BKS Iyengar, among many other teachers and trains of thoughts.

He started teaching yoga in 1996; at first Ashtanga Yoga, but as he went on he received thousands of student...