Finding Harmony Podcast

This conversation explores the lived experience of practicing and teaching Ashtanga as a visible minority, and what it takes to evolve a lineage without losing its heart. We examine how unspoken norms, lack of clear standards, and performance-driven culture can exclude people, and what a more inclusive, structured, and compassionate approach looks like in real rooms.

What You’ll Hear

• Identity, visi...

This week’s episode is a special replay of a 2021 conversation between Harmony Slater and Kelsey Murphy, originally aired on the Whiskey & Work podcast. At the height of pandemic-era stress and life juggling, Harmony joined Kelsey to talk about the power of breathwork—why it works, how it affects the nervous system, and simple practices you can start using today. Whether you’re a high performer, busy parent, or someone simply t...

Have you ever felt like your story wasn’t really yours?

In today’s powerful conversation, Harmony speaks with transformational coach and Akashic Records teacher Bhavya Gaur about the process of reclaiming your story—and your worth—from the ashes of trauma.

Bhavya shares her journey from growing up in India under the weight of cultural conditioning, through the unraveling of a toxic marriage, to creating a new life of sovereignty an...

What happens when you chant a mantra 900,000 times in solitude? Dr. Vigneshwar Bhat knows. This week on the Finding Harmony Podcast, Harmony sits down with one of her beloved teachers to explore the deep wisdom of the Vedas, the science behind mantra, and the importance of ritual precision in spiritual life. Dr. Bhat, a Vedic priest and PhD in Mimamsa Philosophy, shares his journey from a remote village in Karnataka to founding the...

What if your biggest problem… isn’t actually a problem at all? In this enlightening conversation, Harmony and Russell welcome back longtime friend, acupuncturist, and author Dr. Jagdeep Johal. Together, they explore how unresolved threat—not personality flaws or psychological issues—drives our sense of suffering. Dr. Johal discusses his new book, Ease: Unwinding the Biology of Threat, which reframes trauma, burnout, and stress thr...

In this multidimensional episode, Harmony Slater sits down with long-time friend and deeply intuitive healer, Angelika Anagnostou. From clearing the evil eye in childhood to becoming a certified Ashtanga yoga teacher and practitioner of Life Alignment Therapy, Angelika shares her incredible journey through spiritual awakening, depression, soul retrieval, and psychic training. Raised in Greece and trained in London at the College of...

What does it take to hold space for both structure and sensitivity in modern yoga practice? In this warm and wide-ranging episode, Harmony and Russell talk with Leo Castro and Samira Eidi, co-founders of Coletivo Mysore, a thriving Ashtanga yoga community in downtown São Paulo, Brazil. Together, they explore how somatic intelligence and bioenergetic therapy can be integrated with traditional yoga practice to create more inclusive, ...

What happens when a Benedictine monk becomes a money manager? In this rich and engaging conversation, Harmony talks with Doug Lynam about his extraordinary journey from the Marine Corps to monastic life, and ultimately into the world of finance. Drawing on his unique spiritual and intellectual background, Doug shares how childhood trauma, Enneagram types, and attachment styles shape our financial lives—and how we can transform our ...

Harmony and Russell sit down with Paul Bramadat — professor, anthropologist, and longtime yoga practitioner — to explore the spiritual, cultural, and deeply human dimensions of modern yoga. Paul, who began his yoga journey in Harmony’s studio in Victoria, BC, now returns not as a student, but as the author of Yoga Lands, a fascinating book that blends memoir, ethnography, and cultural critique.

Together, they dive into the real rea...

In this episode of the Finding Harmony Podcast, Harmony Slater and Russell Case sit down with Raquel Devillé, a skilled therapist specializing in neurodiversity. They explore the complexities of living with ADHD, autism, and sensory sensitivities, and how these experiences can manifest in daily life—especially for highly sensitive individuals.

Key Topics Covered:

• The meaning and nuances of neurodiv...

Join Harmony Slater for a deeply transformative conversation with author and mentor Sara Avant Stover. In this heartfelt episode, they explore Sara’s powerful book, Handbook for the Heartbroken: A Woman’s Path from Devastation to Rebirth, offering profound insights into how grief and loss can be the gateways to our greatest personal and spiritual transformations.

Sara shares her personal journey through heartbreak, revealing how lo...

Your relationship with money runs deeper than spreadsheets or strategy—it’s stored in your body.

In this insightful and energizing episode, Harmony Slater shares an excerpt from a powerful conversation with business coach Danielle Leigh about money, worth, and the energetic patterns that shape how we show up in business. From Harmony’s early childhood imprint of financial fear to the science of dopamine and gendered money responses...

 In this powerful episode of the Finding Harmony Podcast, Harmony Slater sits down with Ramona Rouhdoust, a healer, teacher, and founder of Let’s Yoga Shiatsu. Ramona shares her incredible journey from her early life in Iran to her transition from a career in biopharmaceutical research to becoming a spiritual teacher and healer.

Ramona discusses the pivotal moment when she left her high-powered job to pursue healing practices like ...

In this episode of the Finding Harmony Podcast, Harmony Slater and Russell Case are joined by David Swenson, one of the most respected and beloved Ashtanga Yoga teachers in the world. With over four decades of practice and teaching, David shares stories from his new book, "Why Only Dead Fish Go with the Flow," offering a candid look into his life, his family, and his journey through the world of yoga.

David’s insights are both hu...

In this deeply resonant episode of the Finding Harmony Podcast, hosts Harmony Slater and Russell Case are joined once again by two of the most beloved teachers in the world of yoga and Buddhist philosophy—Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor. Together, they explore the eternal question: What does it mean to be truly happy?

Drawing from decades of yoga practice, philosophical inquiry, and embodied living, Richard and Mary illuminate how ...

When a beloved teacher passes, what remains? In this poignant conversation, Harmony and Russell sit down with fellow Canadian Ashtanga teachers David Robson and Jelena Vesic to explore how a community carries the torch of tradition through grief, transformation, and time.

They share personal stories about lineage, legacy, and leadership following the sudden loss of Sharath Jois. Together, they reflect on the challenges of upholding...

Harmony Slater reconnects with longtime friend and fellow teacher Paul Dallaghan to explore his journey from Ireland to India, from business school to biology, and from asana to advanced Pranayama. Paul shares the inner current that drew him to spiritual practice, his years immersed in India and Thailand, and his groundbreaking research on how breath-based yoga practices affect longevity, telomere length, and mental health.

The epi...

Harmony sits down with Siobhan Fitzgerald, a dedicated yoga teacher and breathwork practitioner whose work explores the ancient wisdom of Pranayama and its profound relevance to modern life—especially for women in midlife.

Siobhan shares how traditional Pranayama practices and kriyas can support women’s health through perimenopause and beyond, helping to regulate digestion, balance hormones, calm the nervous system, and heal emotio...

This week, Harmony and Russell sit down with the dynamic and deeply grounded Amy Kokoszka—a Polish-Canadian Ashtanga Yoga teacher living in Ireland—whose journey weaves through Sivananda, Hatha, and eventually, Ashtanga yoga. But this conversation isn’t just about yoga.

Amy shares how the raw power of “Women Who Run with the Wolves” inspired her to create healing spaces for women through story, circles, and breathwork. She speaks c...