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In these uncertain times, familiar foundations seem to be shifting. Welcome to Yoga Solutions! I’m Susanna Barkataki, your host, inviting you to explore how yogic tools can help navigate these shifts. What stories are you telling yourself about the world? What practices or tools are you reaching for? This podcast explores how yoga can address daily life challenges, offering practical tools and insights for personal and collective growth. We’ll draw from yoga tools, philosophy, world civilizations, and the vibrant Yoke Yoga community to provide keys to success in this new Era of Empathy and Intelligence. Join me in solo episodes and expert conversations to uncover the wisdom needed for a future-forward life, focusing on wisdom and empathy in action for personal and collective growth and healing. Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or new to yoga, you’ll find valuable insights to support and inspire your journey. Let’s embark on this path together to shape our stories and heal ourselves and the world, exploring skills for optimal health and wellness in the new Era of Intelligence and Empathy.
Episodes
Tuesday Jun 03, 2025
Tuesday Jun 03, 2025
Welcome back to the Yoga Solutions Podcast! Today, I have a wonderful conversation with Angie Tiwari. Angie is the inspiring founder of Unearthed Platform, a space dedicated to championing South Asian representation and decolonizing wellness, where you can practice with all Indian yoga teachers.
In this episode, Angie and I delve into the subtle yet profound power of mudras, or hand gestures. We explore how these ancient practices can be a key to unlocking and shifting our energy, helping us manage the tension, stress, and even fear that we often unknowingly carry in our hands. Angie explains how different mudras connect to various energy points and elements, allowing us to either energize our beings or invite a state of calm. We also discuss the deep connection between our hands, our heart chakra, and our overall self-awareness, and Angie graciously guides us through a beautiful mudra practice designed to cultivate unshakable trust within ourselves.
Key Takeaways from This Episode:
- [00:01:10] Exploring tension in the hands and the transformative power of mudras.
- [00:01:33] Understanding mudras as hand seals and their connection to energy points (marma points).
- [00:04:25] The role of hand awareness in self-regulation and responding to our environment.
- [00:05:26] Angie guides a practice of a mudra for unshakable trust.
- [00:12:03] How to practically incorporate mudras into everyday life for an instant energy shift.
Quotes from the Episode:
- "The different thumb and fingers represent different elements, so we can shift into more of a fire quality and energize if we wanna kickstart our day in the morning, or we can shift into a more calm state if we want to close in the evening."
- (On the mudra for unshakable trust) "This is a great one to do if you want to increase your confidence levels, find a deeper level of faith, and connect with your own instinct a little bit more.”
Yoke Yoga
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Medical Disclaimer:
Please know any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.
Tuesday May 27, 2025
Tuesday May 27, 2025
Welcome back to the Yoga Solutions podcast. I'm thrilled to share this episode where I connect with the insightful Tejal Patel. Tejal is a yoga teacher, community organizer, and the host of the "Yoga is Dead" podcast. She's dedicated to uplifting BIPOC wellness and expanding the vision of authentic yoga, working to decolonize and decentralize yoga with a focus on South Asian and BIPOC voices and experiences.
In this episode, Tejal and I explore the concept of creating true refuge and peace from within, particularly when confronted with a world that isn't always safe or welcoming. We discuss how yoga practices can help us cultivate an internal locus of control and a sense of safety within ourselves, even amidst external chaos or systemic injustices. Tejal beautifully connects the enduring power of yoga to our own ancestral resilience, reminding us that these tools have always been available to us, helping us navigate challenges and work towards creating more safety for ourselves and others.
Key Takeaways from This Episode:
- [00:01:27] Building True Refuge From Within: Discussing how peace isn't about escaping, but about cultivating an internal sanctuary.
- [00:02:05] The Internal Locus of Control: Understanding how we can control our internal responses even when external circumstances are out of our control.
- [00:02:59] Finding Safety Within Through Yoga: How a consistent yoga practice can help us feel more at ease and safe within our own bodies and in our environment.
- [00:06:26] Reflection and Visualization Practice: Tejal guides a practice to check in, explore what we can control, and visualize using inner tools on our life's path.
- [00:10:10] Utilizing Innate Wisdom and Yoga Learnings: Reflecting on the tools from our inner knowing and yoga practices to journey towards a more peaceful existence.
Quotes from the Episode:
"How do I feel safe within myself when I'm navigating spaces that might not be peaceful and might not be joyful and happy... still knowing that I have the tools to manage that, that produces a sense of peace and safety within myself."
"People think that peace comes from escaping, but true refuge can sometimes be built from within"
Yoke Yoga
This episode is brought to you by Yoke Yoga The only FREE social yoga app. You deserve wellness. Enjoy your yoga today.
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Medical Disclaimer:
Please know any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.
Tuesday May 20, 2025
Tuesday May 20, 2025
Welcome to another episode of the Yoga Solutions Podcast! For this episode, I'm joined by the insightful Linda Sparrowe: a yoga teacher of teachers, mentor, writing coach, former editor of Yoga International and Yoga Journal, and author of several beloved yoga books. Linda masterfully blends wisdom, humor, and practical guidance in her work.
This episode tackles a common question: the idea that yogis shouldn't feel "negative" emotions like anger. We discuss meeting anger, shame, or guilt not as failures, but as part of being human. Linda suggests yoga helps us notice when we're misaligned sooner, rather than making us "better." We explore honoring all emotions as energy, and Linda offers a compassionate approach for when we act in ways that cause harm, emphasizing softening and listening to our bodies. She also shares a simple, profound grounding practice.
Key Takeaways from This Episode:
- [00:01:52] No emotion is "wrong" or "bad"; feelings are simply energy. It's okay to feel mad, sad, or anything else.
- [00:03:10] Instead of immediately "letting go" of difficult feelings, the practice can be to soften around them and allow self-forgiveness.
- [00:04:00] Bypassing emotions isn't helpful; they'll resurface until acknowledged.
- [00:05:10] A simple daily practice can ground us when feeling agitated or anxious.
Quotes from the Episode:
“There is no such thing as a wrong or bad emotion or feeling. Feelings are just energy."
“If I don't have shame and guilt around joy, why would I have shame and guilt around anger or disappointment or irritation. It's all part of being part of the human experience.”
Yoke Yoga
This episode is brought to you by Yoke Yoga The only FREE social yoga app. You deserve wellness. Enjoy your yoga today.
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Medical Disclaimer:
Please know any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.
Tuesday May 13, 2025
Tuesday May 13, 2025
Welcome back to Yoga Solutions! Today, we explore how clarity is a threat to domination with guest Melissa Shah, yoga therapist and founder of Find Your Breath. Melissa shares how cultivating inner clarity helps us challenge systems that depend on our confusion, drawing on her work making yoga and Ayurveda accessible and adaptable.
Melissa reframes clarity as an ongoing process rather than a destination and guides us through a specific Pranayama for Clarity—using breath and Samana mudra—to help us process experiences, prioritize our energy, and find the focus needed to stand strong.
Key Takeaways from This Episode:
- [01:36] How overwhelm sustains confusion in dominant culture.
- [02:06] The challenge of prioritizing energy and finding your role when feeling overwhelmed.
- [03:09] Viewing clarity as a process, not a destination, and the power of drawing inward.
- [08:06] Samana Vayu breathing practice.
Quotes from the Episode:
- The opposite of clarity is confusion. One way confusion is sustained is through overwhelm – which is a big part of how our dominant culture functions
- Just ask yourself, what kind of support or nourishment do I need to get clear?
Yoke Yoga
This episode is brought to you by Yoke Yoga The only FREE social yoga app. You deserve wellness. Enjoy your yoga today.
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Medical Disclaimer:
Please know any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.
Tuesday May 06, 2025
Tuesday May 06, 2025
Hello and welcome back to Yoga Solutions! This episode tackles a vital question: How do we stop confusing strong feelings for intuition? I'm joined by the insightful Dr. Gail Parker, psychologist, yoga educator, and author, renowned for blending psychology, yoga, and meditation for well-being and healing race-based stress and trauma.
Dr. Parker guides us in discerning the difference between strong emotions—often driven by our activated nervous system urging action—and true intuition, which arises from a quieter place of wisdom and knowing. We discuss the crucial practice of pausing, waiting for the emotional wave to pass before acting, and cultivating the patience needed to hear our inner guidance.
Key Takeaways from This Episode:
- [01:03] Emotion (sympathetic activation) vs. Intuition (quieter wisdom, knowing).
- [02:20] The wisdom of waiting for feelings to pass and the necessity of the pause.
- [06:05] Introduction to Dr. Parker's practice for inner connection:
Step 1: Greet self with friendliness ("How are you?").
Step 2: Greet self with curiosity ("I wonder what will come up?").
Step 3: Greet self with concern ("What do you need from me right now?").
Quotes from the Episode:
"Just because you think something doesn't make it a fact. It's the same with emotion or feeling. That's not intuition."
"Intuition is quieter... there's a stillness associated with it, that's how I trust it."
Yoke Yoga
This episode is brought to you by Yoke Yoga The only FREE social yoga app. You deserve wellness. Enjoy your yoga today.
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Please know any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.
Tuesday Apr 29, 2025
Tuesday Apr 29, 2025
Welcome back to Yoga Solutions! Today’s episode, inspired by my new book Ignite Your Yoga, explores how to transform your practice into a powerful force for change. We'll move beyond seeing yoga as just an escape and dive into becoming 'agents of spiritual possibility'—using yoga's principles like truth and compassion to meet life's challenges and make a difference.
Discover foundational tools and heart-centered practices from the book designed to help you embody your yoga, both personally and in your community. This episode is your invitation to live your yoga more deeply.
What You'll Learn from This Episode:
- [00:01:31] Living Yoga: Becoming 'yoga in action' through truth and love.
- [00:02:49] Agents of Spiritual Possibility: What it means and how yoga helps us meet suffering with compassion.
- [00:04:57] Practice: A simple heart-centered meditation to embody possibility.
- [00:06:25] Everyday Change-Making: How anyone can be an agent of spiritual possibility in their world.
- [00:06:51] Your Invitation: How will you live yoga as love, truth, and devotion today?
Quotes to Remember:
“We don't practice to escape suffering, but to meet it with presence and power.”
“Being a yoga practitioner is not about escaping the world, it's about transforming it from the inside out.”
Yoke Yoga
This episode is brought to you by Yoke Yoga The only FREE social yoga app. You deserve wellness. Enjoy your yoga today.
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Medical Disclaimer:
Please know any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.
Tuesday Apr 15, 2025
Tuesday Apr 15, 2025
For this episode, I’m so excited to welcome Carrie Hoffman, a deeply inspiring yoga teacher, recovery advocate, and co-founder of Bigger Life Adventures. Carrie brings her heart and lived experience to the practice, creating trauma-informed yoga spaces and transformational retreats that guide people toward healing, connection, and a more joyful life.
Our conversation is a rich exploration of the healing power of yoga. Carrie opens up about the role of trauma-informed practices in recovery, how to honour and trust the body’s innate wisdom, and the transformative impact of peak experiences. She also shares how accessible, compassionate spaces can make yoga a profound ally on the recovery journey—and a source of strength for anyone looking to reclaim their joy.
Key Takeaways from This Episode:
- [00:04:30] Carrie’s Personal Recovery Journey and Connection to Yoga
- [00:11:21] Creating Safe, Trauma-Informed Spaces for Healing
- [00:18:35] The Power of Peak Experiences in Transformation
- [00:21:09] Accessible Yoga for Communities in Need
Quotes from the Episode:
“Recovery isn’t a linear path—it’s a journey of ups and downs, and yoga can be a constant anchor along the way.”
“We all deserve spaces where we feel safe to heal and connect with our bodies, no matter where we’re starting from.”
Yoke Yoga
This episode is brought to you by Yoke Yoga The only FREE social yoga app. You deserve wellness. Enjoy your yoga today.
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Connect with Carrie:
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Medical Disclaimer:
Please know any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.
Tuesday Mar 25, 2025
Tuesday Mar 25, 2025
In today's episode of Yoga Solutions, I connect with the inspiring Emily Haight, a dedicated yoga teacher who has been guiding students of all ages since 2016. With a passion for making yoga accessible to everyone, Emily specializes in adaptive yoga for teens and young adults with special needs, as well as yoga programs in elementary schools. Her work focuses on the social-emotional well-being of children, helping them develop essential skills for self-regulation, focus, and confidence.
Emily and I dive into the transformative power of yoga for children, exploring how movement, breath, and mindfulness help young people navigate big emotions, build resilience, and develop lifelong tools for well-being. We discuss the importance of making yoga fun and engaging, the role of trauma-informed practices, and how even the simplest techniques—like the yoga pledge or the SA TA NA MA meditation—can create profound shifts in children's lives. Plus, Emily shares actionable ways parents, teachers, and caregivers can introduce yoga to kids, no matter their background or experience.
Key Takeaways from This Episode:
- [00:02:04] The Yoga Pledge: A Simple Ritual for Focus and Presence
- [00:03:47] SA TA NA MA Meditation: A Tool for Self-Regulation
- [00:11:54] Making Yoga Fun: Games, Poses, and Stories
- [00:19:10] The Science Behind Yoga for Children’s Mental Health
- [00:21:04] Teaching Kids to Shift Their Energy with Breath and Movement
Quotes from the Episode:
"We often tell kids to 'calm down,' but we don’t teach them how. Yoga gives them the tools to actually do it."
"It’s science, but it feels like magic. When children experience yoga’s benefits, it transforms their ability to navigate the world."
Yoke Yoga
This episode is brought to you by Yoke Yoga The only FREE social yoga app. You deserve wellness. Enjoy your yoga today.
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Medical Disclaimer:
Please know any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.
Tuesday Mar 04, 2025
Tuesday Mar 04, 2025
In today’s episode of Yoga Solutions, I’m thrilled to welcome Meera Dhawan, a powerful voice in the yoga and mental health space. As the founder of True to Yoga, Meera bridges ancient yogic wisdom with modern mental health practices, offering trauma-informed teachings rooted in pranayama, the koshas, and deep yogic philosophy.
We dive into the Panchakosha model—the five layers of being—and how it offers a path to greater mental, emotional, and spiritual harmony. Meera opens up about her personal journey as an immigrant, the challenges of reclaiming her cultural heritage, and how yoga became a transformative anchor in her life. This episode is all about connecting to the depth of yoga and honouring its roots while making its practices relevant for today.
Key Takeaways from This Episode:
- [00:04:03] Navigating the Intersection of Cultural Identity and Yoga Practices
- [00:13:42] The Hidden Depths of the Panchakosha Model and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- [00:20:21] Anandamaya Kosha: Finding Joy, Bliss, and Inner Harmony
- [00:26:42] The Importance of Customising Pranayama for Different Mental Health Needs
Quotes from the Episode:
“Yoga is not just for the body; it’s a practice for the mind and spirit—a framework to live in harmony with ourselves and the world.”
“Our beliefs shape our emotions, and our emotions influence our energy and physical body. It’s all interconnected through the koshas.”
Yoke Yoga
This episode is brought to you by Yoke Yoga The only FREE social yoga app. You deserve wellness. Enjoy your yoga today.
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Medical Disclaimer:
Please know any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.
Tuesday Feb 11, 2025
Tuesday Feb 11, 2025
In today’s episode of Yoga Solutions, I’m joined by the radiant Malaika Vida, an incredible teacher and movement artist dedicated to guiding people towards nervous system harmony and embodied joy. Malaika brings a wealth of knowledge from her journey, combining the grounding practices of yoga with the playfulness of AcroYoga and a trauma-informed approach to movement. With a background that spans her own transformative experiences at Harvard to building a community at Valley AcroYoga in Los Angeles, Malaika shares tools for healing, connection, and inner balance.
This conversation is a heartfelt dive into how we can care for our nervous systems through movement, breath, and presence. We explore the power of grounding practices, how AcroYoga can foster deeper trust and connection, and how to honour our body’s natural responses. We also touch on the magic of storytelling and rituals that bring calm and clarity to our daily lives.
Key Takeaways from This Episode:
- [00:03:20] The Role of Yoga in Navigating Stress and Big Life Changes
- [00:05:10] What Is AcroYoga and How It Transforms Relationships with Others and Self
- [00:08:07] Building Consent and Nervous System Awareness in Partner Yoga
- [00:11:21] Exploring Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Deep Relaxation
- [00:13:49] Storytelling as a Somatic Practice: The Fox and the Fleas
- [00:17:22] Reclaiming Agency and Connection in Overwhelming Moments
Quotes from the Episode:
“When your nervous system is so overloaded, when you can’t even remember what to do, it’s a message from your body. Slow down, pause, and check in to know what’s going on.”
“Sometimes, the most profound healing comes from asking: What do I really need right now? What can make my experience better in this moment?”
Yoke Yoga
This episode is brought to you by Yoke Yoga The only FREE social yoga app. You deserve wellness. Enjoy your yoga today.
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Medical Disclaimer:
Please know any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.