Beryl Bender is an iconoclast. She coined the term "power yoga" in the 1980s and went on to write her first book Power Yoga. She took the Ashtanga Yoga teaching tradition and translated and made it accessible for westerners. She wanted the phrase to describe strength (versus just flexibility), appeal to men, and show that yoga could be a workout. In addition to later writing Beyond Power Yoga, her favorite of her books, she was also a Wellness Director way before it was cool. It is in this way that Beryl's career has occurred: She got her start way back in the 1970s in meditation, found yoga, integrated the two, and has been pushing the boundaries of what presence, stillness and practice mean. I just loved that she taught 100K runners in New York City a progressive yoga curriculum —and that not one person in any of those classes was injured. Talking to Beryl made me think so much more about what goes in to teaching yoga. Enjoy!

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Terms:

1. Dharma: one's duty

2. Karma: action and reaction

3. Raja Yoga: a system of concentration and meditation based on ethical discipline

4. Ashtanga Yoga: a style of yoga popularized by K. Pattabhi Jois

5. Jainism: an Indian religion focused on becoming liberated from the endless cycle of rebirth

6. Ahimsa: non-harming

7. Anekantavada: the second tenet of Jainism, it means relative thinking

8. Samskara: mental impression

9. Upanishads: the most recent part of the Vedas (the oldest Hindu scriptures)

10. Advaita Vedanta: a Hindu sadhana (path of spiritual discipline and experience)

11. Integral Yoga: a style of yoga brought to the west by Swami Satchidananda

12. Sivananda Yoga: a style of yoga founded by Vishnudevananda

13. Iyengar Yoga: a style of yoga developed by B.K.S. Iyengar

14. Yogas citta vrtti nirodahah: one of the Yoga Sutras, translates to yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind

15. Nirodhah: stillness

16. Tapas: spiritual austerity

17. Seva: selfless service

18. The Yoga Sutras: a collection of Sanskrit sutras on the the theory and practice of yoga

19. Rajasic: activity, restlessness

20. Svadhyaya: spiritual study

21. Ishvara pranidhana: worship of God

22. Kriya Yoga: a meditation technique focused on energy and breath control

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References:

1. The Hard & The Soft Yoga Institute

2. Power Yoga, Beryl Bender

3. Beyond Power Yoga, Beryl Bender

4. David Swensen

5. The Beatles

6. Huston Smith

7. A Search in Secret India, Paul Brunton

8. Judith Hansen Lasater

9. George Purvis

10. Manouso Manos

11. Aadil Palkhivala

12. John Abbott

13. Desikachar

14. Chelsea Roff

15. Rob Schware

16. Give Back Yoga Foundation

17. JJ Gormley

18. Erich Schiffmann

19. Norman Allen

20. Fred Lebow

21. Simon & Schuster

22. Warner Brothers

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Episode credits:

Original music by Kim's band Governess.

Produced by Alyssa Yeroshefsky and Kim Weeks.

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