Accessible Yoga Podcast

About Accessible Yoga Podcast

Accessible Yoga Podcast with Jivana Heyman

Publisher

Jivana Heyman

Category

education · health & fitness · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

22 Jul 2020

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

111 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Oct 2026

   Exploring Yoga Nidra

   Join Jivana as he talks with Theo Wildcroft and Beverley Nolan about their new book Leading Safe and Simple Yoga Nidras. Theo and Beverley unpack the complex history of yoga nidra, its relationship to sleep science, and why demystifying the practice is one of the most important things we can do to make it safer. Together they explore the ethical responsibilities of anyone who leads this practice and why yoga nidra is ultimately a neurological process that any skilled yoga teacher can learn to lead with confidence and care. In the second part of the episode, Jivana and co-host Deanna Michalopoulos reflect on why yoga nidra is so powerful and why that power has historically attracted some of yoga's most problematic teachers. They discuss the importance of giving students information before guiding them into vulnerable states, connecting the conversation to broader themes of accessibility and agency. We also hear a voicemail from Jeanie Jyanti of The Alchemy School of Yoga in Cork, Ireland, who asks Jivana to offer a dedicated yoga philosophy training. Jivana shares about his on-demand course with Anjali Rao and reflects on how yoga philosophy is most powerfully taught through presence and practice. Topics include: The five-part structure of yoga nidra and how it differs from guided meditation The influence of relaxationism and Western psychotherapy on modern practice of yoga nidra Staying and awake and falling asleep during yoga nidra How to reduce the power imbalances that make yoga nidra vulnerable to misuse Leading Safe and Simple Yoga Nidras's practical tools for teachers, including audio samples Writing books through collaboration Check out: Get your copy of Leading Safe and Simple Yoga Nidras (https://us.singingdragon.com/products/leading-safe-and-simple-yoga-nidras) today! Pre-order Beverley's forthcoming book Bodyscapes (https://www.northatlanticbooks.com/shop/bodyscapes/), also available as audiobook (https://www.audible.com/pd/Bodyscapes-Audiobook/B0GR88MR6H?overrideBaseCountry=true&ipRedirectOverride=true&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&plink=Akxbyo6iaTXjRYz4&pageLoadId=bxMEvpDBIedXoz80&creativeId=b50d3acf-bf15-400e-8f43-f1ebd0e505ca) Tracee Stanley (https://www.traceestanley.com) The Essence of Yoga: Making Yoga Philosophy Accessible (https://www.accessibleyogaschool.com/making-yoga-philosophy-accessible) with Jivana Heyman & Anjali Rao - available On-Demand **Learn more about the Accessible Yoga Mentorship Program (https://www.accessibleyogaschool.com/mentorship) and join today! We look forward to seeing you there.** We Want to Hear from You! How do you balance self-care and service in your yoga practice and teaching? Submit your answer or any other questions you have for Jivana via Google Form: https://forms.gle/NtijeM82dSgU5jVD7 (https://forms.gle/NtijeM82dSgU5jVD7) or leave a voice message here (90 second maximum): https://www.speakpipe.com/AccessibleYoga (https://www.speakpipe.com/AccessibleYoga) Selected responses may be featured in future episodes! Connect with Beverley: Beverley Nolan is a yoga teacher-practitioner and a somatic movement educator with forty years’ experience. She is the founder of Barefoot Body Training (UK) offering professional trainings and further education programmes. Her offerings span the inquiry, integration and application of her work in experiential anatomy, developmental movement, embryology, somatic psychology, and Authentic Movement. Drawing on this wealth of experience and her inexhaustible curiosity, Beverley writes on Substack at Field Notes from the Body, and is the author of Bodyscapes, published by North Atlantic Books. www.beverleynolan.com (http://www.beverleynolan.com) | www.barefootbody.com (http://www.barefootbody.com) | @beverleynolan.writes (https://www.instagram.com/beverleynolan.writes/) (IG) | @gardenofyoga (https://www.instagram.com/barefootbodytraining/)(FB) Connect with Theo: Theo Wildcroft, PhD is a yoga teacher-trainer, writer and scholar who is interested in the democratization of yoga post-lineage, somatic literacy, meaning-making and the counter-culture. She is a university lecturer, former Coordinator of the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies, Advisory Council Member for the American Yoga Council, and Secretary of the British Association for the Study of Religions. She has collaborated on numerous books, including The Yoga Teachers’ Survival Guide, Yoga Studies in Five Minutes and Leading Safe and Simple Yoga Nidras. www.theowildcroft.com (http://www.theowildcroft.com) | @theowildcroft (Substack) (https://substack.com/@theowildcroft) | @theodorawildcroft (https://www.instagram.com/theodorawildcroft/) | @theowildcroft (FB) (https://www.facebook.com/theowildcroft/) Connect with Jivana: Check out Jivana’s books, Accessible Yoga (https://bookshop.org/lists/jivana-heyman-s-books), Yoga Revolution (https://bookshop.org/lists/jivana-heyman-s-books), and The Teacher’s Guide to Accessible Yoga (https://www.accessibleyogaschool.com/teachers-guide-to-accessible-yoga), and get more information about Accessible Yoga at accessibleyoga.org (https://www.accessibleyogaschool.com) www.jivanaheyman.com (http://www.jivanaheyman.com) | @jivanaheyman (https://www.instagram.com/jivanaheyman) | facebook.com/jivanaheyman (http://facebook.com/jivanaheyman) Thank You to Our Sponsors! beYogi Comprehensive insurance for yoga instructors and wellness practitioners. Get $20 off our annual yoga teacher insurance policy at beyogi.com/jivana (https://beyogi.com/jivana/). OfferingTree Simplify your yoga business with their all-in-one platform. Visit offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga (offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga) to save 50% off your first 3 months on a monthly subscription or 15% off an annual subscription. Credit: Mikus Dharma, AYP Podcast Sound Engineer

2. 

   22 Sept 2026

   Yoga for Neurodiversity

   Join host Jivana Heyman and guest Becky Aten, founder of Yoga for Neurodiversity, for a conversation about making yoga accessible and affirming for neurodivergent students. Becky shares how their autism diagnosis at age 38 shaped their approach as a yoga facilitator and led them to create peer support spaces for neurodivergent people. Together, Jivana and Becky explore what makes a neurodiversity-affirming space different and why affinity spaces and more welcoming general spaces are both needed. In the second part of the episode, Jivana chats with co-host Deanna Michalopoulos, in person in Dublin, Ireland, about how teachers can expand beyond their own experience and trust the wisdom in students' choices. They discuss why embodying the yoga teachings means being open to other people and conclude with an update on Jivana's upcoming Accessible Yoga Trainings. Topics include: The origins of the term "neurodiversity" Why adapting an existing space is harder than building one from the ground up Pathology paradigm and ableism Quantum physics and yoga The tension between yoga as a spiritual practice and the goal-oriented "wellness" model Why yoga doesn't need to keep proving itself through Western science Letting go of a "helper" mindset and embracing community care Community organizing as leadership **Learn more about the Accessible Yoga Mentorship Program (https://www.accessibleyogaschool.com/mentorship) and join today! We look forward to seeing you there.** We Want to Hear from You! How do you balance self-care and service in your yoga practice and teaching? Submit your answer or any other questions you have for Jivana via Google Form: https://forms.gle/NtijeM82dSgU5jVD7 (https://forms.gle/NtijeM82dSgU5jVD7) or leave a voice message here (90 second maximum): https://www.speakpipe.com/AccessibleYoga (https://www.speakpipe.com/AccessibleYoga) Selected responses may be featured in future episodes! Connect with Becky: Becky Aten (they/she) wears many hats in their work as a neurodiversity advocate, yoga facilitator, and a space-holder and bridge-builder for the neurodivergent community. As the founder of Yoga for Neurodiversity, they are passionate about co-creating welcoming, accessible, and affirming environments for self-exploration and community care, where diverse ways of being are seen and included. Becky is also a nature-lover and ecological restoration volunteer, and in her free time she enjoys hiking, petting moss, nerding out with science and sci-fi, and playing tabletop games. www.yogaforneurodiversity.com (https://www.yogaforneurodiversity.com/) | @yoga_for_neurodiversity (https://www.instagram.com/yoga_for_neurodiversity) Connect with Jivana: Check out Jivana’s books, Accessible Yoga (https://bookshop.org/lists/jivana-heyman-s-books), Yoga Revolution (https://bookshop.org/lists/jivana-heyman-s-books), and The Teacher’s Guide to Accessible Yoga (https://www.accessibleyogaschool.com/teachers-guide-to-accessible-yoga), and get more information about Accessible Yoga at accessibleyoga.org (https://www.accessibleyogaschool.com) www.jivanaheyman.com (http://www.jivanaheyman.com) | @jivanaheyman (https://www.instagram.com/jivanaheyman) | facebook.com/jivanaheyman (http://facebook.com/jivanaheyman) Thank You to Our Sponsors! beYogi Comprehensive insurance for yoga instructors and wellness practitioners. Get $20 off our annual yoga teacher insurance policy at beyogi.com/jivana (https://beyogi.com/jivana/). OfferingTree Simplify your yoga business with their all-in-one platform. Visit offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga (offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga) to save 50% off your first 3 months on a monthly subscription or 15% off an annual subscription. Credit: Mikus Dharma, AYP Podcast Sound Engineer

3. 

   8 Sept 2026

   Devotional Practices

   In this episode, Jivana sits down with Tracee Stanley, author of the newly released book Living Ritual: Infuse Each Day with Purpose and Spirit. Tracee shares how she treated the writing of the book itself as a ritual and shares how practicing Bhakti Yoga through chants, mantras, and mental puja (manas puja) blossomed her personal practice. Together, Jivana and Tracee talk about the devotional aspect at the heart of the yoga tradition and why contemporary yoga has drifted away from Bhakti Yoga and devotional practice. In the second part of the episode, Jivana chats with co-host Deanna Michalopoulos about his conversation with Tracee, including the idea that devotion does not have to be directed at a guru and can instead be offered to nature or to the small acts of daily life. They dig into mindfulness and pratyahara, the practice of consciously choosing where to place attention, and how ordinary moments can become rituals when done with awareness. Topics include: The difference between performative ritual and internal or mental puja Reclaiming one's senses via Yoga Nidra is presented as a vital strategy against constant digital stimulation Simple ways to bring devotion into a yoga practice The risks outsourcing all spiritual knowing and devotion to an external authority or guru figure Pratyahara and the practice of making conscious choices about attention Turning daily habits like doing dishes or drinking coffee into small acts of ritual Get your copy of Living Ritual (https://www.traceestanley.com/livingritual#preorder) today! **Learn more about the Accessible Yoga Mentorship Program (https://www.accessibleyogaschool.com/mentorship) and join today! We look forward to seeing you there.** We Want to Hear from You! How do you balance self-care and service in your yoga practice and teaching? Submit your answer or any other questions you have for Jivana via Google Form: https://forms.gle/NtijeM82dSgU5jVD7 (https://forms.gle/NtijeM82dSgU5jVD7) or leave a voice message here (90 second maximum): https://www.speakpipe.com/AccessibleYoga (https://www.speakpipe.com/AccessibleYoga) Selected responses may be featured in future episodes! Connect with Tracee: Tracee Stanley is the author of the upcoming book Living Ritual: Infuse Each Day with Purpose and Spirit (St. Martin’s Essentials August 2026) and the bestselling books Radiant Rest and The Luminous Self. Tracee is the founder of Empowered Life Circle, a sacred community and portal of practices, rituals, and Tantric teachings inspired by more than 30 years of studentship in Sri Vidya Tantra and the teachings of the Himalayan Masters. Tracee is devoted to sharing the wisdom of yoga nidra, rest, meditation, self-inquiry, nature as a teacher, and ancestor reverence. Tracee holds certificates from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Advanced Eco-Therapy, New Thinking, Best Practices, and Emerging Modalities, and a certificate in Advanced Ecopsychology. Tracee is devoted to illuminating the magic and power found in liminal space and weaving devotion and practice into daily life. traceestanley.com (https://www.traceestanley.com/) Connect with Jivana: Check out Jivana’s books, Accessible Yoga (https://bookshop.org/lists/jivana-heyman-s-books), Yoga Revolution (https://bookshop.org/lists/jivana-heyman-s-books), and The Teacher’s Guide to Accessible Yoga (https://www.accessibleyogaschool.com/teachers-guide-to-accessible-yoga), and get more information about Accessible Yoga at accessibleyoga.org (https://www.accessibleyogaschool.com) www.jivanaheyman.com (http://www.jivanaheyman.com) | @jivanaheyman (https://www.instagram.com/jivanaheyman) | facebook.com/jivanaheyman (http://facebook.com/jivanaheyman) Thank You to Our Sponsors! beYogi Comprehensive insurance for yoga instructors and wellness practitioners. Get $20 off our annual yoga teacher insurance policy at beyogi.com/jivana (https://beyogi.com/jivana/). OfferingTree Simplify your yoga business with their all-in-one platform. Visit offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga (offeringtree.com/accessibleyoga) to save 50% off your first 3 months on a monthly subscription or 15% off an annual subscription. Credit: Mikus Dharma, AYP Podcast Sound Engineer

Who has been a guest on Accessible Yoga Podcast

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Michelle Cassandra Johnson
• Matthew Sanford
• Tristan Katz
• Jacquie "Sunny" Barbee
• Kristie Dahlia Home

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 56 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

80

Social presence

97

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Accessible Yoga Podcast