Welcome to the Awkward Sage Network!

Finding Harmony Podcast Episodes

327
July 28, 2026

The Spiritual Pilgrim: How Ashtanga and Tibetan Buddhism Point to the Same Truth

Cory Michael Bryant — known to many as The Spiritual Pilgrim — joins Harmony and Russell for a conversation about what happens when two decades of Ashtanga yoga and Vajrayana Buddhist practice grow up side by side. From a 9/11 wake-up call that led him to his first yoga class, to studying under teachers in the lineage of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche in Nepal, Cory traces how Ashtanga and Tibetan Buddhism aren't separate paths — they may be two branches of the very same root. In this episode: How...
327
July 28, 2026

The Spiritual Pilgrim: How Ashtanga and Tibetan Buddhism Point to the Same Truth [VIDEO]]

Cory Michael Bryant — known to many as The Spiritual Pilgrim — joins Harmony and Russell for a conversation about what happens when two decades of Ashtanga yoga and Vajrayana Buddhist practice grow up side by side. From a 9/11 wake-up call that led him to his first yoga class, to studying under teachers in the lineage of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche in Nepal, Cory traces how Ashtanga and Tibetan Buddhism aren't separate paths — they may be two branches of the very same root. In this episode: How...
326
July 21, 2026

Tarot Isn't Fortune-Telling — It's a Mirror for Your Soul | with Karina La Puma [Video]

In this episode, Harmony sits down with Karina for a conversation about the wisdom that's been inside us all along. Karina explains why she never uses tarot to predict the future — instead, she reads the cards as mirrors for the archetypal patterns already shaping our lives. They talk about magnetic creation, the eight-year fear block that kept her new book on a shelf, and the Terma ritual she teaches for manifesting from alignment instead of force. Along the way, Karina does a live tarot readin...
326
July 21, 2026

Tarot Isn't Fortune-Telling — It's a Mirror for Your Soul | with Karina La Puma

In this episode, Harmony sits down with Karina for a conversation about the wisdom that's been inside us all along. Karina explains why she never uses tarot to predict the future — instead, she reads the cards as mirrors for the archetypal patterns already shaping our lives. They talk about magnetic creation, the eight-year fear block that kept her new book on a shelf, and the Terma ritual she teaches for manifesting from alignment instead of force. Along the way, Karina does a live tarot readin...
325
July 14, 2026

How to Prepare for Death: A Buddhist Scholar on the Bardo | with Dr. John Campbell [video]

What if the whole point of your yoga practice was to prepare you to die well? In one of our favorite conversations of the year, Dr. John Campbell joins Harmony Slater and Russell Case for a third time — and goes somewhere we’ve never gone on the show. John is one of the few Westerners certified to teach Ashtanga by the Mysore lineage, finished the Fourth Series, and holds a PhD in Religion from Columbia. He co-founded the Contemplative Sciences Center at UVA and translates Sanskrit and Tibeta...
325
July 14, 2026

How to Prepare for Death: A Buddhist Scholar on the Bardo | with Dr. John Campbell

What if the whole point of your yoga practice was to prepare you to die well? In one of our favorite conversations of the year, Dr. John Campbell joins Harmony Slater and Russell Case for a third time — and goes somewhere we’ve never gone on the show. John is one of the few Westerners certified to teach Ashtanga by the Mysore lineage, finished the Fourth Series, and holds a PhD in Religion from Columbia. He co-founded the Contemplative Sciences Center at UVA and translates Sanskrit and Tibetan ...
324
July 7, 2026

Diagnosed With Cancer Twice before 21: How One Woman Healed from the Inside Out [VIDEO]

What does it take to truly heal — not just treat symptoms, but address the whole of who we are? In this episode of the Finding Harmony Podcast, Harmony Slater and co-host Russell Case sit down with Gena Bradshaw Vitale, a two-time cancer survivor, author, speaker, and founder of Holistic Human Performance. Diagnosed with leukemia as a young child and again facing a cancer scare as a young adult, Gena's journey led her from a conventional exercise-science background into the world of energy medi...
324
July 7, 2026

Diagnosed With Cancer Twice before 21: How One Woman Healed from the Inside Out | With Gena Bradshaw Vitale

What does it take to truly heal — not just treat symptoms, but address the whole of who we are? In this episode of the Finding Harmony Podcast, Harmony Slater and co-host Russell Case sit down with Gena Bradshaw Vitale, a two-time cancer survivor, author, speaker, and founder of Holistic Human Performance. Diagnosed with leukemia as a young child and again facing a cancer scare as a young adult, Gena's journey led her from a conventional exercise-science background into the world of energy medi...
Guest: gen
323
June 30, 2026

How Hypnotherapy Helped Me Heal When Doctors Couldn’t | with Peter McLaughlin [VIDEO]

What if the diagnosis meant to end your life became the very thing that taught you how to live? In this episode of the Finding Harmony Podcast, Harmony Slater and Russell Case sit down with Peter McLaughlin, a certified hypnotherapist, life coach, and founder of Blue Sky Hypnosis. After a rare leukemia diagnosis (alongside Lyme disease) in his 40s, Peter was told there was no known cause and no known cure. That moment sent him on a decades-long exploration of the relationship between the mind...
324
June 30, 2026

How Hypnotherapy Helped Me Heal When Doctors Couldn’t | with Peter McLaughlin

What if the diagnosis meant to end your life became the very thing that taught you how to live? In this episode of the Finding Harmony Podcast, Harmony Slater and Russell Case sit down with Peter McLaughlin, a certified hypnotherapist, life coach, and founder of Blue Sky Hypnosis. After a rare leukemia diagnosis (alongside Lyme disease) in his 40s, Peter was told there was no known cause and no known cure. That moment sent him on a decades-long exploration of the relationship between the mind...
322
June 23, 2026

The Psychedelic Renaissance: What to Know Before You Journey | with Zappy Zapolin [Video]

What if the most important part of a psychedelic experience isn't the journey at all — but what you do when you come home? In this episode, Harmony Slater and co-host Russell Case sit down with Zappy Zapolin, entrepreneur, filmmaker, and founder of Psychedelic Concierge, an educational platform for training facilitators in preparation, holding space, and integration. Zappy directed the documentary The Reality of Truth, which features voices from across the consciousness and wellness world. Tog...
322
June 23, 2026

The Psychedelic Renaissance: What to Know Before You Journey | with Zappy Zapolin

What if the most important part of a psychedelic experience isn't the journey at all — but what you do when you come home? In this episode, Harmony Slater and co-host Russell Case sit down with Zappy Zapolin, entrepreneur, filmmaker, and founder of Psychedelic Concierge, an educational platform for training facilitators in preparation, holding space, and integration. Zappy directed the documentary The Reality of Truth, which features voices from across the consciousness and wellness world. Tog...
321
June 16, 2026

When Your Guru Is Gone: Grief, Practice, and the Tradition That Remains (Audio)

What does it mean to keep practicing after the loss of the teacher who gave you the practice? In this deeply personal episode, Harmony Slater speaks with Bianca Oliviera — a Brazilian-born Ashtanga teacher now living in Katowice, Poland — about the sudden passing of Sharath Jois, the grief that followed, and how she continues to carry the teachings forward. Bianca was present at the Active Series training in Virginia when Sharath passed, and she shares her firsthand account of that day wit...
322
June 16, 2026

When Your Guru Is Gone: Grief, Practice, and the Tradition That Remains [VIDEO]

What does it mean to keep practicing after the loss of the teacher who gave you the practice? In this deeply personal episode, Harmony Slater speaks with Bianca Oliviera — a Brazilian-born Ashtanga teacher now living in Katowice, Poland — about the sudden passing of Sharath Jois, the grief that followed, and how she continues to carry the teachings forward. Bianca was present at the Active Series training in Virginia when Sharath passed, and she shares her firsthand account of that day wit...
320
June 9, 2026

Selling Without Selling Out: Why Healers Struggle to Share Their Gifts (and How to Change That) | with Mel Brandt

Harmony sits down with her fellow Canadian and spinal energetics colleague, Mel Brandt — chiropractor, coach, and founder of a new paradigm for healer-entrepreneurs. After 18 years building a multidisciplinary chiropractic clinic in Kelowna, BC, Mel recently sold her practice to step fully into the work she believes she was always meant to do: helping healers clear the energetic and subconscious blocks that keep them playing small in their businesses and their lives. What begins as a conversa...
Guest: Mel Brandt
320
June 9, 2026

Selling Without Selling Out: Why Healers Struggle to Share Their Gifts (and How to Change That) | with Mel Brandt (VIDEO)

Harmony sits down with her fellow Canadian and spinal energetics colleague, Mel Brandt — chiropractor, coach, and founder of a new paradigm for healer-entrepreneurs. After 18 years building a multidisciplinary chiropractic clinic in Kelowna, BC, Mel recently sold her practice to step fully into the work she believes she was always meant to do: helping healers clear the energetic and subconscious blocks that keep them playing small in their businesses and their lives. What begins as a conversa...
Guest: Mel Brandt
319
June 2, 2026

The Language of Yoga: Sanskrit, Ashtanga, and the Pursuit of True Meaning | with Zoë Slatoff

What does yoga actually mean? If you answered 'union,' Harmony and Russell have a fascinating surprise for you. In this deeply rich conversation with Sanskrit scholar and Ashtanga teacher Zoë Slatoff, the trio explores the ancient philosophical roots beneath the practices many of us do every day. Zoë is the author of Yogavataranam: The Translation of Yoga, A New Approach to Sanskrit, Associate Director of the Yoga Studies MA program at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles), and a PhD candid...
319
June 2, 2026

The Language of Yoga: Sanskrit, Ashtanga, and the Pursuit of True Meaning | with Zoë Slatoff (VIDEO)

What does yoga actually mean? If you answered 'union,' Harmony and Russell have a fascinating surprise for you. In this deeply rich conversation with Sanskrit scholar and Ashtanga teacher Zoë Slatoff, the trio explores the ancient philosophical roots beneath the practices many of us do every day. Zoë is the author of Yogavataranam: The Translation of Yoga, A New Approach to Sanskrit, Associate Director of the Yoga Studies MA program at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles), and a PhD cand...
319
May 26, 2026

Are You Actually Practicing Yoga? A Yoga Therapist's Honest Answer

What does it actually mean to practice yoga — and are any of us really doing it? In this rich and unhurried conversation, Harmony sits down with Tara Mitra: Ashtanga teacher, yoga therapist, and devoted Vedic chanting practitioner who has spent decades tracing the practice back to its roots. Tara's path moved from high-stress corporate life in Toronto to studying Ashtanga with dedicated teachers in Canada and California, then four years assisting in the Mysore shala, and finally into the Krishn...
320
May 26, 2026

Are You Actually Practicing Yoga? A Yoga Therapist's Honest Answer (VIDEO)

What does it actually mean to practice yoga — and are any of us really doing it? In this rich and unhurried conversation, Harmony sits down with Tara Mitra: Ashtanga teacher, yoga therapist, and devoted Vedic chanting practitioner who has spent decades tracing the practice back to its roots. Tara's path moved from high-stress corporate life in Toronto to studying Ashtanga with dedicated teachers in Canada and California, then four years assisting in the Mysore shala, and finally into the Krishn...
317
May 19, 2026

What 9 Trips to Mysore Teach You About Devotion, Discipline & Real Life | with Tina Bock

What if the most devoted yoga practice isn't happening at 5am in a Mysore shala — but in stolen afternoon hours between school pickups, on the floor of a LifeTime gym, to whatever music felt right that morning? Harmony and Russell sit down with Tina Bock — Authorized Level 2 Ashtanga yoga teacher, mother of two, eight-year Abu Dhabi expat, and lifelong New Jersey girl — for exactly the kind of conversation Ashtangis have been having since the first Western students sat outside the shala gates wi...
Guest: Tina Bock
318
May 19, 2026

What 9 Trips to Mysore Teach You About Devotion, Discipline & Real Life | with Tina Bock (Video)

What if the most devoted yoga practice isn't happening at 5am in a Mysore shala — but in stolen afternoon hours between school pickups, on the floor of a LifeTime gym, to whatever music felt right that morning? Harmony and Russell sit down with Tina Bock — Authorized Level 2 Ashtanga yoga teacher, mother of two, eight-year Abu Dhabi expat, and lifelong New Jersey girl — for exactly the kind of conversation Ashtangis have been having since the first Western students sat outside the shala gates w...
316
May 12, 2026

Beyond the Asana: Vedanta, Non-Duality & the Deeper Purpose of Practice

What if the practice isn't about becoming better at yoga — but about seeing more clearly who you are? In this rich and contemplative conversation, Harmony sits down with Ricardo Louro and Inês Brilhante — founders of Ashtanga House Faro in Portugal's stunning Algarve region — to explore how studying Vedanta philosophy in the lineage of Swami Dayananda Saraswati has completely transformed their relationship with Ashtanga yoga practice. This is not a conversation about perfecting postures. I...
316
May 12, 2026

Beyond the Asana: Vedanta, Non-Duality & the Deeper Purpose of Practice (VIDEO)

What if the practice isn't about becoming better at yoga — but about seeing more clearly who you are? In this rich and contemplative conversation, Harmony sits down with Ricardo Louro and Inês Brilhante — founders of Ashtanga House Faro in Portugal's stunning Algarve region — to explore how studying Vedanta philosophy in the lineage of Swami Dayananda Saraswati has completely transformed their relationship with Ashtanga yoga practice. This is not a conversation about perfecting postures. It's ...