Episode
The Language of Yoga: Sanskrit, Ashtanga, and the Pursuit of True Meaning | with Zoë Slatoff (VIDEO)
- Podcast
- Finding Harmony Podcast
- Published
- Jun 2, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3460
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Summary
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? What You'll Learn in This Episode 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 Zoe 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 Zoe believes dualism and non-duality are…