Sophie Duncan is the founder of Aaoka Beauty, which was born from a desire to raise beauty consciousness through the lens of Ayurvedic wisdom.

A mother of two young children, Sophie’s holistic work promotes a deep connection to nature, nourishment, and natural, luminous ageing. 

She provides offerings that empower women to remember their innate radiance through all stages of life so they can take beauty back into their own hands.

Creating a new paradigm within the community, her content and teachings enable all to apply Ayurvedic wisdom in a tangible and time-accessible way.

Sophie offers an online membership called The Radiance Rhythms, as a means to working more intimately to discover many holistic ways to nourish you from within.

IN THIS EPISODE:

- Sophie's story, how she came to Ayurveda and the invaluable approach to ageing and beauty

- The key reframe and shift in paradigm that occurs through the Ayurvedic approach to beauty

- Unpacking how the face is a mirror for the mind

- Sophie's recommended tools and ingredients to get started on this path

- Her guidance for simple ways to support nourishment during the postpartum window for mothers

- What we need to understand in order to age radiantly

- Sophie's recommended reading

- The opportunity to join the Radiance Rhythms membership to work closely with Sophie

MENTIONED:

- Absolute Beauty by Pratima Raichur

- The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf

Sophie's website: Aaoka Beauty

Join the Radiance Rhythms HERE.

Born in Texas in 1953, Dr. Robert Svoboda is the first Westerner ever to graduate from a college of Ayurveda and be licensed to practice Ayurveda in India.

After being ritually initiated into the Pokot tribe of northern Kenya as its first white member in June 1973 he moved to India, where he lived from during the 70’s and 80’s, receiving his Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery from the University of Poona in 1980. 

In his final year of study at the Tilak Ayurved Mahavidyalaya he won all but one of the University of Poona’s awards for academic excellence in Ayurveda, including the Ram Narayan Sharma Gold Medal.

During and after his formal Ayurvedic training he was tutored in Ayurveda, Yoga, Jyotish, Tantra and other forms of classical Indian lore by his mentor, the Aghori Vimalananda.

Author of over a dozen books, Dr. Svoboda has traveled extensively In the years since 1986, spending three months per year on average in India.

You can find out more about his work and study online with Robert at www.drsvoboda.com and follow him on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn of Dr Svoboda’s most pivotal moments across his life
• Sanskrit words that help to illumine a greater understanding of death
• The rich significance of Benares (Varanasi) and cremation grounds
• How to understand and work with the planet Saturn through the lens of Vedic Astrology 
• Dr Svoboda’s book recommendations
• His favorite temple in India
• And the new book coming soon from Dr Svoboda!

RESOURCES:

• Jnaneshwari (Bhavartha Deepika)
• Ka, by Roberto Calasso 

Learn from Robert via his huge library of online courses: https://drsvoboda.teachable.com/

Laura Poole is a Vedic meditation teacher and founder of Mahasoma – supporting Vedic meditators and teachers with feminine-led Vedic wisdom, embodiment practices, and community.

Laura has trained intensively over the past 15 years with great masters in Australia and India.

She currently resides in Noosa on her 3-acre homestead, growing a syntropic food-forest and biodynamic vegetable garden. 

Laura shares the transformative wisdom of Vedic meditation, Vedanta, and Ayurveda, in an engaging, relevant, and humorous way that allows people to make deep discoveries about themselves and their purpose. 

She is a dedicated leader in the meditation space. Passionate about community and aware of its transformative power, Laura brings people together in uplifting shared experiences through Vedic meditation courses, events, and India retreats.

Her intention is to share simple ‘how-to’ techniques for creating awakening, balance, and harmony while supporting people to live a heart-based life in flow with nature.

Laura was also an original co-founder/co-creator of 1 Giant Mind Australia and its free Learn to Meditate app.

To learn Vedic meditation with Laura you can head to laurapoole.com and mahasoma.com

IN THIS EPISODE:

- Hear of how Laura came to Vedic meditation specifically

- Learn what Vedic meditation is, where it comes from, and its lineage and history

- Listen to Laura's experiences of India, and her time immersed in tradition

- Laura's recommended reading and upcoming offerings

MENTIONED:

— Tao Te Ching (translation by Stephen Mitchell)

— Bhagavad Gita (commentary by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi)

— Mahabharata (Ramesh Menon)

— The Ringing Cedars by Vladimir Megre

Author of the best-selling book Ayurveda Cooking For Beginners and creator of numerous courses and trainings on Ayurveda, Laura Plumb promotes sacred, sumptuous living through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Jyotish, Mantra, and Devi Sadhana.

Laura is lead faculty for the Ayurvedic Integrated Nutrition 200-hour Professional Training and has studied with some of the great masters of our time, practicing and sharing what she has learned from the heart-centered wisdom schools of the world.

Laura’s blog is an inspirational resource for Ayurvedic nourishment and delight.

She is widely recognized for understanding and sharing the deeper principles of various Vedic traditions while making them accessible and relevant to modern life.

In this episode:

- Laura's story as to how she felt pulled to India and came to learn of the various Vedic traditions

- Laura's fascinating and pivotal first trip to India many years ago

- How we can amalgamate Vedic traditions into daily life

- How Ayurveda and Jyotish overlap

- The concept and approach to remedies through the Vedic lens

- The purpose behind Laura's first book, Ayurveda Cooking For Beginners

- Two of Laura's book recommendations

- Three of Laura's daily practices to align with Vedic wisdom

- So much beauty, metaphor, and more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

The Upanishads

CONNECT WITH LAURA:

Website: https://lauraplumb.com/

Blog: https://food-alovestory.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraplumb/

USE CODE: Plumb10 for 10% off a Jyotish Vedic Astrology consultation with Laura.

Maya Tiwari is an Ayurveda Matriarch, Peace Leader, Humanitarian, and a best-selling author of multiple books. She has been in the field for more than 35 years.

Fondly called Mother Maya, or Maa, she established the first Ayurvedic school in North America in 1981 (the Wise Earth School of Ayurveda) and founded the Mother Om Mission, a charitable organization that works in the at-risk communities of New York. 

Among the many gems she has restored to the earth-based education of Ayurveda are the sadhana of food, breath and sound; the earth therapies of Pancha Karma, and the long-lost lunar education for women’s healing.

Maa has been meticulously trained in the Vedas, Vedanta, Ayurveda, Sanskrit, Vedic Chants, and also in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra.

A life-threatening ovarian cancer survivor at age 23, she has personally helped thousands of women to heal from devastating disorders.

Maya served for two decades as a Vedic monk, belonging to India’s prestigious Veda Vyasa lineage. 

In 2010, Maya made the radical decision to renounce her monastic title to be of wider service to the populations in need.

Through her global work, Maya promotes practices that invite inner peace, ancestral wellness and that which creates harmony with Mother Earth.

Spiritual pioneer, Maya is a regular Featured Speaker at the Parliament of the World Religions.

Maa is also the recipient of the Dhanvantari Award and AAPNA’s Rishi Award for her outstanding work in Ayurvedic medicine.

BOOKS MENTIONED:

The Path of Practice

Ayurveda: A Life of Balance

CONNECT WITH MAYA:

Website: http://mayatiwari.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MayaTiwari

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wiseearth/

Kate O’Donnell is an international speaker, Ayurvedic practitioner, long-time yoga practitioner, and the author of four books, including best-selling The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook.

She has been studying in US and India for 25 years. Her new book Everyday Ayurveda for Women's Health is available for pre-order now.

Find her online at: https://ayurvedicliving.institute/ and https://www.instagram.com/kateodonnell.ayurveda/

Within this episode:

• Kate’s calling to India, her fun and fascinating story of coming to yoga and Ayurveda
• The philosophical unpinning of the Vedic lifestyle
• The four stages of life (ashramas)
• Insight into studying in India
• The deficit Westerners have coming to yoga
• Women’s transition into embodied wisdom
• The value of immersing in wisdom traditions within India
• A call to potentially hang up the asana
• The evolution of yoga through one’s lifetime
• The relevance of Ayurvedic Dhatus to our movement practices
• Ritucharya, movement with the seasons
• Kate’s book recommendations

Kate’s new book (Everyday Ayurveda for Women's Health) is due for release April 2024 with Shambhala Publications. Pre-orders available now.

Resources mentioned:

Ka by Roberto Calasso

Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life by Dr Claudia Welch

Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook by Kate O’Donnell

Kaya Mindlin is a trusted teacher guiding many of today’s yoga teachers and longtime practitioners. Mature seekers resonate with her authentic approach that synthesizes the mystical and practical. With over 20 years teaching experience and the blessing of her gurus as a steward of the vedic tradition, Kaya expertly weaves yogic practice, storytelling, sanskrit recitation, vedanta, shaktism, vedic astrology & ayurveda in her rich programs. Her Supreme Release Yoga works gently and deeply with the subtle spine as a sacred pilgrimage site. While many are first drawn to her fierce stewardship and commitment to breaking yogaland myths on social media, they find their yoga home in her inclusive and deep approach that prioritizes a loving teacher-student relationship in which anything can be fodder for spiritual growth. Kaya lives in the US with her husband, a masterful Vedic Astrologer and their two children.

Some of the episode highlights:

• Learn of Kaya’s personal story, including how she was raised and then came to finding the Vedic traditions
• Guardianship and gatekeeping of the yogic tradition
• Ganesha’s relevance to protecting the sacred
• How we can qualify, be ready or eligible to receive the deeper teachings
• The concept of Adhi-Kāra
• What prepares us to be ready to receive the teachings
• The role of storytelling
• Weaving the teachings into daily life and embracing the householder tradition
• Motherhood and the divine mother
• Kaya’s reluctance to recommend books (& why)
• A couple of recommended Yogic texts to read
• The concept of Śruti and deep listening

Receive 15% off ALL of Kaya's online offerings with the code: LIA15

Online courses to highlight:

1. Nectar of Nidra (New class starts Nov. 3rd) - https://yogawithkaya.com/online-programs/nectar-of-nidra/
2. Nectar of Time (ongoing membership) - https://yogawithkaya.com/nectar-of-time-membership/
3. Nectar of the Gita (New class starts Jan. 11th) - https://yogawithkaya.com/the-nectar-of-the-gita/
   

All online offerings can be found here: https://yogawithkaya.com/online-programs/

Connect with Kaya:

Website: https://yogawithkaya.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayamindlin/

Katie Rose is a yoga teacher, ayurveda guide and author with over 25 years of experience in the world of wellness alongside many thousands of teaching hours under her belt. She is a doula and teacher for the Australian Doula College.

Katie was the manager of the prestigious TriYoga centre in London before moving to Sydney and opening Samadhi Yoga in 2004 followed by Jivamukti Yoga Sydney which at its peak was a four-studio business.

Her popular online courses have helped hundreds of women from all over the world in empower themselves.  Much of Katie’s work focuses on the Australian seasons, landscape and Indigenous culture and she has a keen passion for respecting First Nation’s wisdom as well as animal rights and the environment.

She is the founder and host of the annual Bhakti Women’s Online Yoga Summit and the author of several internationally available books published by Rockpool Publishing including ‘Mindful Living’ and ‘The Yoga of Birth’.

Katie helps women go from feeling stuck and overwhelmed to living a life that is vibrant, creative and abundant. 

She lives in Sydney, Australia with her partner and her five children in a loud and busy household where her meditation practice keeps her sane!

Within this episode:

• Katie’s past life calling and blessing of good karma with her teachers
• Unravelling the esoteric and feminine approach to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
• The value of inner authority when understanding yoga related texts
• Weaving the masculine and feminine qualities into daily life, personally and professionally
• Being in relationship with the subtle yogic body, the pranamaya kosha, in a practical way
• Katie’s capacity to utilise her time and presence with depth
• How Katie has curated her career with boundaries and devotion to her family
• How Katie embraces the role of matriarch in her home
• Building community, bringing people together both in person and online
• The challenges and biggest learning from hosting online live summits
• Katie’s favourite book recommendations on Yoga and Ayurveda
• The controversial book Katie is currently reading and the biggest takeaway from it

Connect with Katie via her website: https://www.bhaktirose.com.au/ and on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bhakti.rose/

Mentioned in the episode:

• The Secret Power of Yoga, by Nischala Joy Devi
• Don’t Just Sit There! By Biet Simkin
• The Path of Practice, by Maya Tiwari
• Eve in Exile: And the Restoration of Femininity, by Rebekah Merkle