Om Som Yoga + Ayurveda Podcast

PRACTICE WITH US

✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translation
https://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join
✦ OmSom App (free) - yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online community
Search OmSom in the App Store
✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharma
https://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto
✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026
https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka
✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training
https://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

IN THIS EPISODE

If you had to pick the most important syllable in the entire tradition of yoga (one sound that contains everything) what would it be? In this episode, Aaron and Paige open the June series on mantra and bhakti by exploring Auṃ, the syllable chanted at the beginning and end of every yoga class, painted on every mat, stuck to the back of every car, and yet very rarely understood for what it actually is.

We unpack why Patañjali never calls it Om in the Yoga Sūtra (and what he calls it instead), why the texts describe it as the sound of Īśvara, and why every other mantra in the tradition begins with this sound. We map the three syllables A–U–M to the three states of consciousness, sit with the fourth state  (turīya) that lives in the silence after the M, and then walk through the nine stages of that silence as taught in the Nāda Yoga and Kashmir Śaivite tradition.

What You'll Learn
✦ The meaning of bhakti and why mantra is inseparable from devotion
✦ The difference between a mantra and an affirmation (and why one points to something while the other is the thing itself)
✦ Why Patañjali codifies Om as Praṇava in the Yoga Sūtra and the aesthetic superstition behind the name change
✦ The three syllables of A–U–M and the three states of consciousness they express: jāgrat (waking), svapna (dreaming), suṣupti (deep sleep)
✦ The fourth state, turīya, that arises in the silence after M
✦ The Maṇḍūkya Upaniṣad teaching of the bow, the arrow, the string, and the target, and why the release is the part you can't practice
✦ The nine stages of silence after Om as taught in Nāda Yoga: bindu, ardha candra, nirodhinī, nāda, nādānta, śakti, vyāpinī, samanā, unmanā
✦ How the syllables of A–U–M map to the doṣas - and how to use mantra to work with the mahāguṇas (sattva, rajas, tamas)
✦ The distinction between japa (mantra you repeat) and ajapa (mantra that repeats itself)
✦ Why Om is described as the hum of the universe and how to actually hear it

Textual References
Patañjali's Yoga Sūtra (Samādhi Pāda)
✦ Tasya vācakaḥ praṇavaḥ - "The expression of Īśvara is the syllable Praṇava."
✦ Taj-japas tad-artha-bhāvanam - "Repeat that mantra while contemplating its meaning."
✦ The following sūtra: through this practice, the awareness turns inward and the obstacles to yoga fall away.

Maṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 
✦ All twelve verses of this short Upaniṣad are dedicated to the syllable Auṃ, mapping its sounds to the four states of consciousness. The bow-and-arrow analogy referenced in this episode is drawn from the Upaniṣadic teaching tradition.

Bhagavad Gītā
✦ Kṛṣṇa: "The one who utters the single syllable Om Brahman and remembers me departs from the body and reaches the supreme destination."

Kashmir Śaivism / Nāda Yoga tradition
✦ The nine progressive stages of the silence after Om (some traditions list seven, others twelve).

Ayurveda and the Mind by Dr. David Frawley
✦ Referenced for the application of mantra to the mahāguṇas.

SHARE & CONNECT

Website: https://omsomyoga.com
OmSom App (free): search OmSom in the App Store
Instagram: @omsomyoga

If this episode landed, the best way to support the show is to share it with one person who might need it.

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translationhttps://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join✦ OmSom App (free) - yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online communitySearch OmSom in the App Store✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharmahttps://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Traininghttps://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-otoIN THIS EPISODEWhat if there was a mantra you've been repeating your whole life without knowing it? One you didn't choose, one you didn't learn, one that lives inside every single breath.In this episode, we turn toward Ajapa Mantra, the mantra that doesn't need to be repeated, because it's already happening. So'haṃ on the inhale. Haṃsa on the exhale. The sound of breath itself.We unpack the mythology of the celestial swan, the meaning of I am That, and the practice of viveka, the discernment to take only the milk and let the water glide off.We upack:✦ Why So'haṃ and Haṃsa are called the Ajapa Mantra, the mantra that is not repeated✦ Mantra defined: man (mind) + tra (protecting) - protecting the mind from overthinking✦ The relationship between mantra, breath, and silence✦ Viveka - the yogic capacity for discernment✦ How to use So'haṃ Haṃsa in āsana, prāṇāyāma, and meditation✦ The Ayurvedic practice of "listening to the burp" - discernment applied to eating✦ Why mantra is an experience, not just wordsWHAT YOU'LL LEARN✦ The difference between So'haṃ and Haṃsa - and why one points to the vastness of being, while the other points to the capacity to move through the world untouched by it.✦ Why this mantra is called Ajapa - already present in every breath, not something you create but something you tune into.✦ The mythology of the swan and what it teaches about discernment, nourishment, and what we choose to let glide off.✦ How to apply viveka in daily life from your meditation cushion to your dinner plate.✦ A practical entry point into mantra practice, even if you don't yet understand or feel the depth of it.TEXTUAL REFERENCES✦ The mythology of Haṃsa, the celestial swan, drawn from the broader Purāṇic and Vedic tradition - the swan as the symbol of viveka (discernment) and the vehicle of Brahmā.✦ The Ajapa Mantra tradition, referenced across multiple yogic texts as the natural mantra of the breath (So'haṃ on inhale, Haṃsa on exhale).✦ Companion to last week's episode on Śūnya (the void) - Soham as I am That, the recognition of the vast emptiness explored in the previous conversation.SHARE & CONNECTWebsite: https://omsomyoga.comOmSom App (free): search OmSom in the App StoreInstagram: @omsomyogaIf this episode landed, the best way to support the show is to share it with one person who might need it.We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translationhttps://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join✦ OmSom App (free) - yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online communitySearch OmSom in the App Store✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharmahttps://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Traininghttps://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-otoIN THIS EPISODEWe continue our exploration of the space element (ākāśa) by turning toward its deepest expression, śūnya, the void. This is pure potential. We unpack why the mind fears silence, where śūnya sits on the Sāṃkhya map, and how the Tao Te Ching's opening line ("the Tao that is named is not the eternal Tao") points to the same truth. We also celebrate 100,000 podcast downloads! Thank you for being here!What You'll Learn✦ The difference between quiet (external) and silence (internal) and why one doesn't guarantee the other✦ Why the mind grasps and labels and how that grasping is the very thing that obscures śūnya✦ How śūnya functions as both a philosophical concept and a practical tool for conserving prāṇic energy✦ The Sāṃkhya context: why the higher we move up the map, the less language can hold✦ The journey through the guṇas from Tamas → Rajas → Sattva → back to śūnya — and where Winnie-the-Pooh fits in (yes, really)✦ How antaḥ-mana (inner listening) becomes the medicine that draws the mind toward stillness✦ Three practical entry points: layered sound meditation, Kāya Sthiram, and Yoga Nidrā as the cognition of nothingness✦ How śūnya shows up off the mat as presence, and as the comfort of not needing to fill spaceTEXTUAL REFERENCES✦ Kena Upaniṣad: the story of Brahman appearing before Indra and the gods✦ Tao Te Ching: "The Tao that is named is not the eternal Tao"✦ Sāṃkhya Darśan: the map of consciousness descending into matter; where śūnya sits at the subtler end✦ The Triguṇa: Tamas, Rajas, Sattva, as the progression of mind-states✦ Kāya Sthiram & Yoga Nidrā: classical techniques pointing toward śūnyaSHARE & CONNECTWebsite: https://omsomyoga.comOmSom App (free): search OmSom in the App StoreInstagram: @omsomyogaIf this episode landed, the best way to support the show is to share it with one person who might need it.We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US

✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translation
https://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join
✦ OmSom App (free) - yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online community
Search OmSom in the App Store
✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharma
https://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto
✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026
https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka
✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training
https://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

IN THIS EPISODE

What happens in the space between your inhale and your exhale?
In this episode of the Om Som Yoga + Ayurveda Podcast, Aaron and Paige explore Kumbhaka, the yogic art of breath retention. Drawing from Patanjali's Yoga Sūtra and the Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā, this episode unpacks why the pause in the breath isn't just a gap, but a doorway into stillness, a direct experience of the quieter layers of the mind, and ultimately a path toward samādhi.

Whether you're new to pranayama or already working with breath retention in your practice, this episode will change how you relate to the space between your breaths.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

✦ What Kumbhaka actually means - the Sanskrit root translates to pot or cup, and the ancient story of the potter that reveals why retention is the seal that holds prana in the body
✦ The two types of Kumbhaka - sahita (deliberate retention) and kevala (the spontaneous suspension that arises unbidden in deep meditation)
✦ What Patanjali's Yoga Sūtra says about the fourth pranayama - the one beyond deliberate practice that opens the door to samādhi
✦ The Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā teaching: when prana moves, the mind moves - when prana is still, the mind becomes still
✦ The science of CO2 tolerance - why the urge to breathe is not an emergency, and how building tolerance helps dissolve one of yoga's core obstacles: fear
✦ Why pranayama is about breathing less, not more - and how stillness in the breath creates the conditions for stillness in the mind
✦ Kumbhaka and the three doshas - how vāta, pitta, and kapha types should each approach breath retention for safe, nourishing practice

TEXTUAL REFERENCES

✦ Patanjali's Yoga Sūtra: pranayama as external, internal, and restrained movement - and the fourth kumbhaka, kevala, as the spontaneous pathway to samādhi
✦ Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā: "When prana moves, the mind moves. When prana is still, the mind becomes still."

TRY THIS IN YOUR PRACTICE

This week, rather than rushing through the turn between inhale and exhale, simply notice the pause. No counting, no control - just linger in that space for a moment. Feel the stillness that already exists between your breaths. That is Kumbhaka in its most natural form. Start there.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Do you tend to hold your breath in daily life without realising it? Or have you ever experienced that moment in meditation where the breath just suspends on its own? Share in the comments below - we read everything.

SHARE & CONNECT

Thank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast.

Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.

Instagram: @OmSom.yoga
Website: OmSom.yoga

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs.

We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US
✦ Sadhana Sangha - 5 practices per month, asana workshops, subtle body techniques, Yoga Sūtra translation
https://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join
✦ OmSom App (free) — yoga philosophy, Sanskrit study + online community
Search OmSom in the App Store
✦ 100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharma
https://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto
✦ 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026
https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka
✦ 50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training
https://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

IN THIS EPISODE
Aaron sits down with Simon Borg-Olivier, a man whose practice predates most of the modern yoga industry, for a conversation about coming home to natural movement and natural breath. Simon shares the unlikely path that led him from underwater swimming in Malta, to a Tibetan lama in his late teens, to weight training and gymnastics injuries, and finally to a stretch class where an Iyengar substitute teacher changed everything. From there, the conversation turns toward the principles he has spent four decades refining: moving where you don't bend easily, leaving alone the places that already are, and treating your practice as a work-in rather than a workout. Expect to have a few of your assumptions about flexibility, core engagement, breath retention, and even what "advanced" practice looks like gently turned upside down.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
✦ Why hypermobility is not flexibility and why bending where you already bend easily is one of the most common (and quietly damaging) habits in modern yoga
✦ The difference between a workout and a "work-in" and why one leaves you depleted while the other leaves you energised
✦ How Sthira Sukham Āsanam ("firm but calm") translates into the actual mechanics of the abdomen, the diaphragm, and the breath
✦ Why most people are unknowingly stuck in fight-or-flight through chronic abdominal tension and what that does to immunity, digestion, and reproduction
✦ The science (and tradition) of Jālandhara Bandha, head down, neck back, and why it matters for pranayama
✦ Why Simon teaches less stretch, less tension, less breathing, less thinking, less eating and what we gain on the other side of less
✦ The simple Five-Region Reset, fingers/shoulders, neck, pelvis, core, face, that you can drop into any practice, any time, anywhere

TEXTUAL & LINEAGE REFERENCES
✦ Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali — Sthira Sukham Āsanam (II.46), and Simon's note on the Siddhis appearing in the third chapter (Vibhūti Pāda) - a reminder that supernatural breathing is not the first step
✦ The 8 Limbs - Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prāṇāyāma - and why most of us are still working at the foundation
✦ B.K.S. Iyengar - Simon's first formal yoga path in the early 1980s
✦ Yoga Synergy - co-founded by Simon and Bianca Machliss, one of Australia's oldest yoga schools
Cross-traditional influences - Tibetan teachings received in his late teens, Japanese Aikido, and Chinese Qigong and martial arts woven into his Five-Dimensional Flow framework

FIND SIMON
Website → https://simonborgolivier.com
Membership (free + paid tiers) → https://healthhappinesslongevity.co

SHARE & CONNECT
Thank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast.
Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.

Instagram: @OmSom.yoga
Website: OmSom.yoga

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM