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 candidate whose dissertation may permanently change the way you think about what yoga is for.

The conversation moves from Zoë's early years in Brooklyn and a pivotal Rodney Yee VHS tape, to engineering studies at the elite Cooper Union, to teaching 16 yoga classes a week in New York City, to the magic of Lakshmi Puram in Mysore before the internet existed. It arrives, finally, at the big philosophical question at the heart of her dissertation: how did yoga go from meaning separation to meaning union?

• Why "yoga" in the Yoga Sutras means separation—not union—and how Advaita Vedanta changed everything
• The role of the Upadesha Sahasri (attributed to Shankaracharya) in bridging dualism and non-duality
• How Pattabhi Jois used to quote ancient Vedantic texts every single day in conference in Lakshmi Puram
• Why the neti neti practice ('not this, not that') is a powerful tool for modern meditators
• How Zoë began her Sanskrit journey in Mysore and transformed it into a published textbook and academic career
• What it means to teach Sanskrit in a way that actually serves yoga practitioners (not classical scholars)
• The magic—and the chaos—of traveling to India without the internet, using hand-drawn maps and STD phone boxes
• Why Zoë believes dualism and non-duality are ultimately describing the same thing, just from different angles

Zoë Slatoff is a Sanskrit scholar, longtime Ashtanga yoga practitioner and teacher, and author of Yogavataranam: The Translation of Yoga—a groundbreaking Sanskrit grammar textbook designed specifically for yoga practitioners who want to read the texts that inform their practice. She holds a master's degree from Columbia University in Asian Languages and Cultures, is completing her PhD at Lancaster University, and currently serves as Associate Director (and incoming Director) of the Yoga Studies MA program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She also teaches Sanskrit online through the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.

• Yogavataranam: The Translation of Yoga by Zoë Slatoff — available wherever books are sold (new edition coming soon)
• Yoga Studies MA Program at Loyola Marymount University — visit lmu.edu for admissions info
• Sanskrit classes online through the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies — check Zoë's website at ashtangayogasanskrit.com
• Yoga Gives Back — the charity whose fundraising gala reunited Zoë, Harmony, and Russell in LA
• Harmony Slater's Portugal intensives — Lisbon and Faro (end of June through mid-July); details in show links
• The Being Gathering festival, Portugal

The Inner Rejuvenation Codes: https://harmonyslater.kit.com/inner-rejuvenation-codes-mc

Join the Lightworker Mastermind: https://harmonyslater.com/lightworker-mastermind

FIND Harmony online: https://harmonyslater.com/
Harmony on IG: https://www.instagram.com/harmonyslaterofficial/
Finding Harmony Podcast on IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingharmonypodcast/

FREE Manifestation Activation: https://harmonyslater.kit.com/manifestation-activation