July 28, 2026

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

Show Notes
Chapters

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 a strange bout of stress-induced hair loss led a type-A FDA chemist into his first yoga class
Studying with Sharon Gannon and David Life at Jivamukti, and the pull toward Ashtanga
Moving back to the American South as an openly gay man after 20 years in New York and DC
The 37 practices of a bodhisattva, and using relationships as spiritual practice
What sukha and dukkha actually mean — and why it's really about space versus contraction
The Vairochana posture as “the ultimate asana,” and the prana/nadi/trulkhor overlap between Ashtanga and Vajrayana
Taking refuge, ngöndro, and years of preliminary Buddhist practice
Leading pilgrimages to Nepal, Bhutan, India, and this fall, Mount Kailash in Tibet

Guest Bio

Cory Michael Bryant, known as The Spiritual Pilgrim, is a longtime Ashtanga yoga teacher and Vajrayana Buddhist practitioner. A former FDA food chemist, Cory has practiced Ashtanga since the early 2000s, trained at Jivamukti Yoga under David Life and Sharon Gannon, and has studied for over a decade in the lineage of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, including with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. He leads pilgrimages to Nepal, Bhutan, and India through The Spiritual Pilgrim, and teaches on Omstars.

Resources Mentioned