Accessible Yoga with Jivana Heyman

Summary

In this episode, Jivana Heyman talks all things Accessible Yoga and shares a practice with us. Jivana Heyman is a C-IAYT, E-RYT500, and is the founder and director of Accessible Yoga, an international non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to yoga teachings. Accessible Yoga offers Conferences, Trainings and a popular Ambassador program. He’s the author of the book, Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body (Shambhala Publications), co-owner of the Santa Barbara Yoga Center, and an Integral Yoga Minister.

Topics

Jivana starts us off with a little practice [1:50]
Jivana talks about his yoga journey, activism, and trauma [4:38]
Yoga as a spiritual practice [8:13]

“Yoga is a spiritual tradition. It's a beautiful ancient lineage that we're lucky to be practicing.”

Commercialism and colonization of yoga [9:37]
Accessible yoga as deeper teachings [10:16]
Jivana’s thoughts on yoga therapy [10:54]
Respecting the tradition of yoga [12:42]
Going online with trainings [15:05]
His inspiration for writing the book Accessible Yoga [17:42]

“I'm really interested in kind of looking at how different poses can be adapted to different bodies. And I think the way I approach it is by looking at the why behind the post, like why do we do the pose, you know, what is the purpose of the practice and the benefits?”

Individualizing practices and trauma informed teaching [21:25]
Accessible yoga as mutual support for yoga teachers all over the world [23:09]
Jivana’s biggest obstacles in making yoga accessible [26:40]

“A lot of people think the goal of yoga is simply to quiet the mind or be enlightened or something or do some acrobatic pose; really, the goal of yoga is to have clear thinking and clear vision.”

Experiencing trauma and fear in the time of covid [29:48]
The importance of listening as a yoga practice [33:13]
Mindfulness during covid [34:43]
Yoga and anxiety [36:32]

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