Mindful Yoga and Embodied Dharma with Anne Cushman

This week on the podcast, I have a very special conversation with Anne Cushman, a pioneer in the field of mindful yoga. Anne is a senior retreat teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she founded the first multi-year Buddhist meditation training for yoga teachers.  Anne Cushman has dedicated her life to the embodied Dharma path, equally exploring the wisdom traditions of yoga and Buddhism, since she started her practice in the 1980s. Her teachings and writings skillfully express the intersections of philosophy, meditation, movement, creativity, and real-world practice. We talk about why it has been important for her to center mindfulness in her yoga practice, and how yoga asana and pranayama allowed her to truly absorb the Dharma teachings beyond a conceptual understanding. You'll hear how she defines mindful yoga, and how cultivating mindful awareness enables us to meet all of the contents of our experience - on the mat and off. She also shares some fascinating history, as someone who had a front row seat to the development of yoga and Buddhist Dharma culture in the West.  You'll hear about Anne's time working as an editor and writer at Yoga Journal (in its early days), including her experience interviewing BKS Iyengar. She also shares what it was like being one of the first teachers to offer yoga practices on Buddhist meditation retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. We touch on issues like balancing tradition and innovation, moving between spiritual communities, drawing from multiple lineages, and the potential of cultural appropriation. Anne emphasizes that yoga and meditation have always gone together and that asana was always intended to be in service of the transformation of heart and mind. Enjoy this inspiring and insightful interview with a true mindful movement trailblazer! -- Guest Bio: Anne Cushman is a pioneer in the integration of mindfulness, embodied meditation, and creative expression. A senior retreat teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, she founded the first multi-year Buddhist meditation training for yoga teachers. She's the author of the memoir The Mama Sutra: A Story of Love, Loss, and the Path of Motherhood; the novel Enlightenment for Idiots (honored by Booklist as one of the top ten first novels of its year); the mindful yoga book Moving Into Meditation; and the India pilgrimage guide From Here to Nirvana; and her essays on spiritual practice in daily life have appeared in the New York Times, Yoga Journal, O: The Oprah Magazine, Lion's Roar, Tricycle, and many other publications. She is a guiding teacher for the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, which has trained thousands of teachers in more than 70 countries. She mentors mindfulness practitioners and writers worldwide and leads retreats and classes both in person and online with a focus on creativity, embodiment, connection with nature, and daily life practice. -- For more links and resources mentioned in this episode, find the show notes at movedtomeditate.yoga/podcast. To learn more about Anne Cushman, visit her website at annecushman.com And, learn more about the Dharma, Yoga, and Mindfulness Training (DYMT) at Spirit Rock Meditation Center Thanks so much for listening! Feel free to reach out through my website with any episode requests, topics you'd like to hear about, or guest interview suggestions. You can also connect with me on Instagram or Threads  at @addie_movedtomeditate.