The newest episode of our podcast, ‘Mindful U at Naropa University,’ is out on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher now! We are happy to announce this week’s episode features Nataraja Kallio and Ben Williams, PhD, faculty in Naropa’s BA Yoga Studies program.
Nataraja Kallio & Ben Williams: Reining in the Wild Mind – Yoga Traditions and Studies
“It is important to cultivate discernment in the sense of a historical awareness: the ability to discern many different streams in yogic traditions, and understand their fundamental orientations, outlooks, and practices. This means not letting these different streams all get mixed up into a very vague notion of yoga, but actually appreciating the depth and integrity of each. And thus when we draw from each lineage, we gain greater access to its transformational power. I think that discernment is something that is missing in the broader world of modern postural yoga.”
Nataraja Kallio is a professor of Yoga Studies at Naropa University and has been a student of Yoga since 1989. Seven years of study in India provided the initial foundation for his learning. There, he immersed himself in the contemplative traditions of Tantra, Vedanta, Sri Aurobindo, Buddhism, as well as the Hatha Yoga lineages of Krishnamacharya (namely Iyengar and Ashtanga yoga) and Swami Shivananda. He has completed advanced studies with a wide variety of teachers, earning degrees in Religious Studies and Psychology. His teaching integrates the breadth of Yoga, from its meditative foundations, to its rich history, mythology and philosophy. (via hanumanfestival.com)
Ben Williams received his PhD in the Department of South Asian Studies at Harvard University. In addition to a broad training in the history of Indian religions, and sustained study of Indian philosophy and literature in Sanskrit sources, Williams is a specialist in the tantric traditions of premodern India. His doctoral thesis is on the theory of revelation and the figure of the tantric guru in the writings of the great tenth- to eleventh-century polymath, Abhinavagupta.
