In this episode, we speak with Dr. Tamara Cohen about her background in Siddha Yoga, meditation, and how she came to pursue a PhD at the University of Toronto on the Yogavāsiṣṭha. We discuss the dream-like nature of the text and its unique nondualism, the textual history of the Yogavāsiṣṭha and its earlier recension known as the Mokṣopāya, the role of the term haṭhayoga within the text, and in what ways the Mokṣopāya/Yogavāsiṣṭha should be considered an important work on yoga.

We conclude by discuss her live online course, YS 218 | The Yogavāsiṣṭha, which is currently available for enrollment.

Speaker Bio

Tamara is the Ludo and Rosane Rocher Foundation Fellow for 2024-2026 at the University of Virginia, where she works with John Nemec on the connections between the Mokṣopāya, a text from mid-10th century Kashmir, and nondual Tantric Śaivism. Tamara completed her PhD in 2023 at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Srilata Raman in Toronto and Jürgen Hanneder in Marburg, Germany. Tamara's research touches on the early history of Yoga, nondual philosophy in Hinduism and Buddhism, and Sanskrit literary traditions. Her book (in process) revises her dissertation, tracing the textual affiliations of the Mokṣopāya using the stories that depict the body and its transformations on the path to liberation. In the book, she shifts her focus from historical context to a study of the text’s Yoga system. Tamara has been a practitioner of Siddha Yoga Mediation since 1994 and she completed a 300 hour Yoga Teacher Training in 2018 at Ahimsa Yoga in Toronto. In 2022, Tamara became certified in Integrated Attachment Trauma coach, Gibson Method.

Links

• YS 218 | The Yogavāsiṣṭha
• "Yoga in the Mokṣopāya." PhD dissertation, University of Toronto. 2023.
• "Uddālaka’s Yoga in the Mokṣopāya." Religions. 2020.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Sunila Kale and Dr. Christian Novetzke from the University of Washington about their recent publication, The Yoga of Power: Yoga as Political Thought and Practice in India (Columbia 2025). We discuss the genesis of their book beginning with court cases in both the U.S. and India involving yoga and politics, an understanding of the term yoga not only as philosophy or mind-body disciplines but as a political idea and practice, yoga's varied meanings in the ancient Rg Veda, Mahābhārata, and Bhagavadgītā, the mandala theory, yoga spies in the Arthaśāstra, yoga's political role within modern Indian independence movements including the writings of Tilak, Aurobindo, and Gandhi's famous Karma Yoga, and how the authors discovered what is potentially the earliest video footage of sūryanamaskār! We close by discussing the upcoming course, YS 134 | Yoga, Power, and Politics.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Sunila S. Kalé is a Professor in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle. Dr. Kalé has a BA from the University of Chicago and PhD from the University of Texas, Austin. Her teaching and research are in the fields of politics, development, political economy, energy studies, and yoga studies. She is author of many essays and articles and the books Electrifying India (Stanford 2014) and Mapping Power (Oxford 2018). Her first book was awarded a prize from the American Institute of Indian Studies, and her research has been supported by fellowships from AIIS and Fulbright.

Dr. Christian Lee Novetzke is a Professor in the Jackson School of International Studies and the Comparative History of Ideas Department at the University of Washington, Seattle. Dr. Novetzke teaches and researches in the fields of religion, cultural history, and yoga studies. He has a BA from Macalester College and graduate degrees from Harvard University (MTS) and Columbia University (PhD). His books include Religion and Public Memory (Columbia 2008), The Quotidian Revolution (Columbia 2016), and Amar, Akbar, Anthony (Harvard 2016). His first book won a prize from the American Academy of Religion and his research has been supported by grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, AIIS, Fulbright, and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Links

• https://www.yogicstudies.com/ys-134
• https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-yoga-of-power/9780231220019
• "Surya Namaskar 1928 by Raja of Aundh" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYcwS2ePkMw

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Anya Golovkova about the world of Śrīvidyā and the Hindu tantric traditions. We learn about her background growing up in Russia and then discovering South Asian studies later in life in New York City, eventually going on to pursue a PhD on Śrīvidyā texts and traditions. We discuss the category of "tantra," the role of the Goddess within tantric traditions, the history of Śrīvidyā, the major texts of the tradition, the nature of the Śrī Cakra, contemporary Śrīvidyā traditions, and much more. We close by previewing her upcoming course, YS 133 | Śrīvidyā: Tantric Wisdom of the Goddess.

Speaker Bio

Anya Golovkova is a historian of Asian Religions and a Sanskritist. Prior to joining Lake Forest College as Assistant Professor of Religion, she was an A. W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Religion at Bowdoin College and a Visiting Scholar at Cornell University’s South Asia Program. Dr. Golovkova completed her Ph.D. in Asian Studies at Cornell University and holds a B.A. (with distinction) in Linguistics and Intercultural Communication from Moscow State Linguistics University, an M.A. in the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University, and a Master of Studies (with distinction) in Oriental Studies from Oxford University. Dr. Golovkova has published articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited book chapters. She is the co-editor (with Hugh Urban and Hillary Langberg) of The Tantric World, forthcoming from Routledge. Her forthcoming monograph, A Goddess for the Second Millennium: The Making of Śrīvidyā, is the first comprehensive study of a Hindu Tantric (esoteric) tradition called Śrīvidyā. Dr. Golovkova serves as the Co-Chair of the Tantric Studies Unit of the American Academy of Religion, the largest scholarly society dedicated to the academic study of religion, with more than 8,000 members around the world.

Links

• YS 133 | Śrīvidyā: Tantric Wisdom of the Goddess
• Golovkova, Anna A. “Śrīvidyā.” Edited by Knut A. Jacobsen, Helene Basu, and Angelika Malinar, Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism Vol. 4. 815–22. Leiden [etc.]: Brill, 2012.
• https://lakeforest.academia.edu/AnnaAAnyaGolovkova