Mindful Yoga and Embodied Dharma with Anne Cushman
Release Date: 04/18/2024
Moving Metta Meditation: Invite Kindness
Moved To Meditate Podcast
This episode of the podcast is a guided meditation-in-motion, intended as a dynamic (yet gentle) way to explore Metta or Lovingkindness Meditation. You might think of it as a complement or alternative to the traditional seated Metta Meditation practice. (The meditation itself will start at ~ 3:30 after a brief introduction.) Metta means lovingkindness, goodwill, friendliness, or benevolence. We’ll be using simple Qigong-inspired movements to invoke and express kindness for ourselves and for others. Classic Metta Meditations often use the repetition of phrases like “May I (or you, or all...
info_outline
Grounding Together in Tumultuous Times with Francine Ang
Moved To Meditate Podcast
In this episode of the podcast, I’m talking with Francine Ang about the joys and challenges of teaching yoga and mindful movement during tumultuous times. Francine shares what it’s been like leading classes in her community since they were impacted by the recent LA Fires, and we reflect on what it means to find ground through practice. You’ll hear about Francine’s background growing up in a Chinese Buddhist family in California, and how she ended up spending a year at a monastery in Tibet. We talk about her path to becoming a yoga teacher and how she’s now integrating Qigong...
info_outline
AI Meditation? My human thoughts as AI enters the meditation space
Moved To Meditate Podcast
Yes, AI meditation is a thing now. So, in today’s episode, I’m taking a look at how the current rapid expansion of AI tech is reaching the meditation world…and why I don’t think human meditation teachers are going to be replaced by these tools anytime soon. Like me, you may be immediately skeptical that AI can play a role in a deeply human activity like meditation. However, there are several ways that AI has entered the meditation scene already, including AI-generated meditation scripts, AI voiceovers for guided meditations, AI-based meditation apps, and more. There are even AI tools...
info_outline
Somatic Dance and Movement Therapy with Anika Voy
Moved To Meditate Podcast
In this podcast episode, we’re exploring Somatic Dance as a form of movement therapy. My guest, Anika Voy, is a trained psychotherapist who helps her clients and students find authentic self-expression and healing through dance. Anika explains that “the dance floor is a microcosm of our life,” and describes how creative movement can be used as a tool of discovery, as well as self-expression. We talk about the differences between dance as a performance art vs. dance as a somatic therapy, or a form of personal practice or mindful movement. She also describes certain obstacles and...
info_outline
2024 Podcast Recap and Intentions for the New Year
Moved To Meditate Podcast
Happy All The Holidays! It’s almost the solstice and the end of the calendar year, so it felt like a natural time to pause and reflect. In this short episode, I recap some of my favorite podcast moments from the past year. A few themes really stood out across multiple conversations: the symbiotic relationship of mindful movement and meditation practices what it looks like to integrate (or de-compartmentalize) practices like yoga and sitting meditation the reasons we practice and how we’ve found mindful movement and meditation beneficial the accessibility of movement and meditation...
info_outline
Yin Yoga Poses with Props: A "Fireside" Chat with Nyk Danu
Moved To Meditate Podcast
This episode is an EPIC conversation with my friend Nyk Danu about the question of if, when, how, and why we use yoga props in Yin Yoga. Nyk is the host of A Yin Yoga Podcast, and she reached out to propose this crossover episode to share on both of our shows, because the no-props-in-Yin myth is a topic near and dear to both of our hearts. So what you’ll hear here is less of an interview and more of a back and forth, or “fireside chat” (as Nyk calls it) where we really unpack this sometimes-controversial Yin subject. As you’ll hear, the question of whether (or how) to use props in Yin...
info_outline
Post-Election Perspectives and Musings from a Mindful Movement Teacher
Moved To Meditate Podcast
This week’s episode of the podcast is a short post-election reflection - just me sharing some of what’s currently on my mind and what’s sustaining me right now. This one is a little different, because I don’t really hide my political views, but I also don’t usually make them a focal point of my teaching. While I certainly have opinions and I care deeply about the issues, I also respect my students' autonomy and I try not to make too many assumptions about the views they may hold. I want to hope that we can all practice together and find common ground more often than not. The thoughts...
info_outline
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome with Lou Redmond
Moved To Meditate Podcast
This episode of the podcast is a conversation about overcoming Imposter Syndrome. I’m speaking with meditation teacher Lou Redmond, and together we explore this very common fear that often holds good people back from truly expressing their creativity, leadership, and potential in the world. Imposter Syndrome is a form of self-doubt that causes us to worry about being enough, knowing enough, or having someone expose us as a fraud. We talk about how Imposter Syndrome often comes up when we are trying something new, stepping into a leadership role, or pioneering in an area that others haven’t...
info_outline
Mindful Movement as Cross-Training for Your Awareness
Moved To Meditate Podcast
In this episode of the podcast, we’re exploring the idea of Mindful Movement as a form of “cross-training” for your awareness. It’s a fun metaphor for how Mindful Movement and meditation can fit together and enhance each other, and it might just inspire you to try something new! In fitness, cross-training is the idea that it's healthy to round out your routine with different forms of exercise like cardio, strength, endurance, mobility and flexibility so you get maximum physical benefits. So, what if we apply this idea to Mindfulness? Just like there are different aspects of physical...
info_outline
Life as a Highly Sensitive Person with Erica Webb
Moved To Meditate Podcast
Today’s podcast is an exploration of life as a Highly Sensitive Person (or HSP), with my friend and colleague Erica Webb. Erica and I sat down for a deep dive into our shared experience of high sensitivity, and how we work with these traits in ourselves. This is something I’ve been looking at more closely over the last several months, and I knew that Erica had been speaking about HSP more, as well. So, I reached out and asked if she’d like to do a joint episode that we would each share on our podcasts, and this conversation is the result! You’ll hear our stories of living life as a...
info_outlineThis week on the podcast, I have a very special conversation with Anne Cushman, a pioneer in the field of mindful yoga. Anne is a senior retreat teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she founded the first multi-year Buddhist meditation training for yoga teachers.
Anne Cushman has dedicated her life to the embodied Dharma path, equally exploring the wisdom traditions of yoga and Buddhism, since she started her practice in the 1980s. Her teachings and writings skillfully express the intersections of philosophy, meditation, movement, creativity, and real-world practice.
We talk about why it has been important for her to center mindfulness in her yoga practice, and how yoga asana and pranayama allowed her to truly absorb the Dharma teachings beyond a conceptual understanding. You’ll hear how she defines mindful yoga, and how cultivating mindful awareness enables us to meet all of the contents of our experience - on the mat and off.
She also shares some fascinating history, as someone who had a front row seat to the development of yoga and Buddhist Dharma culture in the West.
You’ll hear about Anne’s time working as an editor and writer at Yoga Journal (in its early days), including her experience interviewing BKS Iyengar. She also shares what it was like being one of the first teachers to offer yoga practices on Buddhist meditation retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.
We touch on issues like balancing tradition and innovation, moving between spiritual communities, drawing from multiple lineages, and the potential of cultural appropriation. Anne emphasizes that yoga and meditation have always gone together and that asana was always intended to be in service of the transformation of heart and mind.
Enjoy this inspiring and insightful interview with a true mindful movement trailblazer!
--
Guest Bio: Anne Cushman is a pioneer in the integration of mindfulness, embodied meditation, and creative expression. A senior retreat teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, she founded the first multi-year Buddhist meditation training for yoga teachers. She’s the author of the memoir The Mama Sutra: A Story of Love, Loss, and the Path of Motherhood; the novel Enlightenment for Idiots (honored by Booklist as one of the top ten first novels of its year); the mindful yoga book Moving Into Meditation; and the India pilgrimage guide From Here to Nirvana; and her essays on spiritual practice in daily life have appeared in the New York Times, Yoga Journal, O: The Oprah Magazine, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, and many other publications. She is a guiding teacher for the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, which has trained thousands of teachers in more than 70 countries. She mentors mindfulness practitioners and writers worldwide and leads retreats and classes both in person and online with a focus on creativity, embodiment, connection with nature, and daily life practice.
--
For more links and resources mentioned in this episode, find the show notes at movedtomeditate.yoga/podcast.
To learn more about Anne Cushman, visit her website at annecushman.com
And, learn more about the Dharma, Yoga, and Mindfulness Training (DYMT) at Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Thanks so much for listening! Feel free to reach out through my website with any episode requests, topics you'd like to hear about, or guest interview suggestions. You can also connect with me on Instagram or Threads at @addie_movedtomeditate.