This is a different sort of podcast – for multiple reasons. Firstly, it features some interviews I did half my life ago. Secondly, it’s still a work in progress. I intended to make a radio documentary, but the audio wound up on MiniDiscs gathering dust.
To cut a long story short, in 2001 I was a foreign correspondent. But this wasn’t a work trip. I was searching for answers to all sorts of questions I couldn’t articulate. I hoped I might find some in India at the world’s biggest gathering – the Mahā Kumbha Melā, where the Ganges meets the Yamuna. I talked to a wide range of people, asking Westerners what had inspired their journeys Eastward.
Looking back a generation later, I’ve made one myself – from drug-fuelled confusion to writing a book about yoga philosophy, and a career as a teacher. My younger self had other ideas – he tried to emulate the Melā by staging a festival on Big War Island in Belgrade. However, listening to these chats, I can hear a few echoes of what was to come – plus repeated indications of much still to learn…
The first conversation is with Scott McNamara, an American disciple of the yogi “Pilot Baba”. The second is with Susan Shumsky, who learned to meditate with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, then turned to “New Thought” – better known today as “manifesting” – whose positive psychology infuses modern yoga.
I’m still unsure about the documentary prospects – not least since I don’t work in radio, or know where to start. I also have mixed feelings about the discussions, as the podcast explains. If you have any thoughts in response, please get in touch!
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Yogic Flashbacks – Daniel Simpson