Yoga Stories with Matt and Monica

Jan 26 2022

Yoga Stories with Matt and Monica Podcast artwork

Former Buddhist and yoga teacher Monica chats with Matt, ex-Mormon, about how they came to yoga, how it compares to their religious experiences and what yoga has taught them and continues to teach them. Their lighter style is easy for beginners who want to see what else there is to yoga apart from asana practice. As well as sharing their own continuing yoga story, Matt and Monica interview people with yoga stories that have something to teach us all. The guests range across cultures, religions and philosophies in an attempt to find the unity in yoga and with people of all faiths and none. The podcast is currently on an extended break - everything changes!

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Starting a Personal Practice

Jan 26 2022 61 mins

OK, so January is almost over, but that doesn't mean we cannot still develop some new habits and work on those resolutions we made at the beginning of the year! Monica tells us it only takes 21 days to develop a new habit - so why not use that power to achieve something wonderful?Our idea (and we don't claim it's original!) is to encourage you to start a personal (yo

Farewell to 21 (part 2)

Dec 31 2021 47 mins

How quickly and dramatically can things change? In a global pandemic, the answer is "VERY"! In the last episode Monica was looking forward to Christmas in Slovakia and her birthday (and New Year) in Sicily. However, Monica is now in splendid isolation at home after testing positive before trying to take the flight to Sicily. Matt was busy preparing for a Christmas for sev

A Farewell to 21 (part 1)

Dec 25 2021 56 mins

We decided to celebrate the end of the year by listening back to the guests we had over the last year; to share the impressions we had, the lessons we learned, the beautiful stories shared. However, we were really only half way through when time was up (a booster vaccination appointment was calling!). So this is just part 1. We will talk about everyone before the year is out... (ho

Yoga Stories: Michael

Dec 16 2021 58 mins

Born in the US Pacific Northwest, Michael was a bookish child, not so comfortable in his body. He grew up in a loving family, but one that had no specific religious or spiritual practice. Realising he was good at school work, he decided to be really good at school. This eventually led to a full ride scholarship to University.It was while at college that he discovered dance, and too

Yoga Stories: Shannon

Nov 29 2021 50 mins

Born in South Africa, Shannon had an idyllic childhood including time at a catholic boarding school. Sensing the world was bigger than what she saw of it in her home country, she moved to London and enjoyed all the big city can offer.Along the way she became acquainted with yoga and meditation, but it wasn't until she went on a month long Buddhist meditation retreat that her l

Yoga Stories: Tessa

Oct 11 2021 47 mins

Tessa is half-Belgian, half-American and is a teacher at Yyoga in Brussels. Monica and Matt chat to Tessa about when and how she discovered yoga - as a student in Florida. Tessa seems to have taken a very different course through life after her introduction to yoga than the one she had envisaged when she went to the USA to complete post-graduate studies.Tessa found yoga (or yoga fo

Yoga Stories: Tara

Sep 22 2021 55 mins

This episode introduces us to Tara - who studied with Monica in Mysore. Tara is based in India but has also lived in Europe. She is a student and teacher of yoga, as well as an artist and mindful cook.Tara's introduction to yoga came from two sources - a grandmother (who instilled the Yamas and Niyamas in her), and later family friends. That introduction was significant - not

Yoga Stories: September catch up with Monica and Matt

Sep 15 2021 49 mins

Summer is almost over - but you wouldn’t know that from Monica’s regular comment on the weather! This summer has been one of growth for both Matt and Monica. With yoga studios in Belgium allowed to reopen, and with Matt having completed a teacher training course, things have, inevitably, changed.Have we been able to embrace this change, as yogis do? As the young people would sa

Yoga Stories: Klara and Sigrid

Aug 31 2021 65 mins

In a recording made during the heady days of summer, Monica and Matt talk to Klara and Sigrid, teacher and student at Reykjavik Yoga in Iceland. Why Iceland? We noticed that after Brussels, Reykjavik is the city in which we had the most listeners. So we wanted to meet some of them!Klara was born in the Czech Republic but has traveled the world since then. Yoga was seeping into her

Yoga Stories: Shilpi

Jun 25 2021 50 mins

Shilpi is originally from India but now lives in New Jersey, USA, with her husband, daughter, son and enormous dog (Cosmo). Shilpi was introduced to yoga by her Dad when she was a youngster. It was a very physical practice with very little theory but she continued to practise up until moving to the USA. She has recently taken up yoga again, but perhaps this time with more emphasis