044: Gregor Maehle on Yoga as a Mystical Experience

Stillpoints: A Podcast with Scott Johnson

In this deep and rewarding conversation Scott Johnson talks to author, yoga teacher and mystic Gregor Maehle on his life as a seeker in the contemplative and spiritual traditions. Gregor shares how his childhood created the bedrock for a life of spiritual discovery, the outcome being a life embedded within the mystical limbs of yoga and contemplative practice.

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We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Online Yoga community. For just £20 per month you can support the podcast and every Monday evening join The Still Space, our live stream yoga philosophy, mindfulness, pranayama and discussion sessions hosted by Scott Johnson. You can also gain access to our growing Stillpoint Online library of helpful yoga and mindfulness content.

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Gregor Maehle on Yoga As A Mystical Experience

Scott and Gregor talk openly about Gregor’s life as a yoga practitioner and mystic. Gregor shares:

• How he grew up in a catholic upbringing.
• How he had a mystical experience aged 6.
• How his parents saw something deep in him from an early age.
• How he read mystical books from a very young age.
• How he took psychedelics in his late teens but the integration as a spiritual experience didn’t work.
• How in his twenties he did the guru trail in India.
• How he decided to spend his life doing personal sadhana.
• Why mystical experiences are not spontaneous.
• Why you should work with hypotheses rather than belief.
• Why the mystical state is your birth right.
• How in his forties he developed a relationship with Jesus.
• How the ego gets in the way of the mystical experience and is known in many traditions with different names.
• How we need to be in the service of all beings.
• Why yoga is the most powerful tool for transformation.
• What the inspiration is that he uses to write his books.
• How we can all find our life’s purpose.
• How we can stay connected to nature.
• What the most important thing is that he has discovered through his practice.

___ About Gregor Maehle

Gregor Maehle began his yogic practices 45 years ago. In the mid-1980s he commenced annual travels to India, where he studied with various yogic and tantric masters, traditional Indian sadhus and ascetics. He spent fourteen months in Mysore, and in 1997 was authorised to teach Ashtanga Yoga by K. Pattabhi Jois. Since then he has branched out into researching the anatomical alignment of postures and the higher limbs of yoga.

In India Gregor also received eight months of mostly one-on-one instruction in scripture and the higher limbs of Yoga through B.N.S. Iyengar, a student of T. Krishnamacharya, and he studied Sanskrit under Professor Narayanachar and Dr Chandrasekhar. Gregor’s internationally acclaimed textbook series consisting of Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy, Ashtanga Yoga: The Intermediate Series, Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga, Yoga Meditation: Through Mantra, Chakras and Kundalini to Spiritual Freedom, Samadhi The Great Freedom, How to Find Your Life’s Divine Purpose, Chakras, Drugs & Evolution and Mudras: Seals of Yoga – have sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide and have been translated into eight foreign languages. Additional volumes currently prepared are Tantric Meditation and Bhakti: Yoga of Love. Gregor has been invited to many countries to teach and has contributed to and been interviewed by numerous yoga magazines. On Gregor’s blog page chintamaniyoga.com/blog/ you will find over 300 articles, videos and podcasts on all aspects of yoga, which Gregor has authored together with his wife Monica.

Today Gregor teaches an anatomically sophisticated interpretation of traditional vinyasa yoga, integrated into the practice of the higher limbs in the spirit of Patanjali and T. Krishnamacharya. His zany sense of humour, his manifold personal experiences, and his vast and deep knowledge of scripture, Indian philosophies and yogic techniques combine to make his teachings applicable, relevant and easily accessible to all his students.

You can find more about Gregor here:

• Website
• Blog
• Books

In this deep and rewarding conversation Scott Johnson talks to author, yoga teacher and mystic Gregor Maehle on his life as a seeker in the contemplative and spiritual traditions. Gregor shares how his childhood created the bedrock for a life of spiritual discovery, the outcome being a life embedded within the mystical limbs of yoga and contemplative practice.

We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Online Yoga community. For just £20 per month you can support the podcast and every Monday evening join The Still Space, our live stream yoga philosophy, mindfulness, pranayama and discussion sessions hosted by Scott Johnson. You can also gain access to our growing Stillpoint Online library of helpful yoga and mindfulness content.

Gregor Maehle on Yoga As A Mystical Experience

Scott and Gregor talk openly about Gregor’s life as a yoga practitioner and mystic. Gregor shares:

• How he grew up in a catholic upbringing.
• How he had a mystical experience aged 6.
• How his parents saw something deep in him from an early age.
• How he read mystical books from a very young age.
• How he took psychedelics in his late teens but the integration as a spiritual experience didn’t work.
• How in his twenties he did the guru trail in India.
• How he decided to spend his life doing personal sadhana.
• Why mystical experiences are not spontaneous.
• Why you should work with hypotheses rather than belief.
• Why the mystical state is your birth right.
• How in his forties he developed a relationship with Jesus.
• How the ego gets in the way of the mystical experience and is known in many traditions with different names.
• How we need to be in the service of all beings.
• Why yoga is the most powerful tool for transformation.
• What the inspiration is that he uses to write his books.
• How we can all find our life’s purpose.
• How we can stay connected to nature.
• What the most important thing is that he has discovered through his practice.

About Gregor Maehle

Gregor Maehle began his yogic practices 45 years ago. In the mid-1980s he commenced annual travels to India, where he studied with various yogic and tantric masters, traditional Indian sadhus and ascetics. He spent fourteen months in Mysore, and in 1997 was authorised to teach Ashtanga Yoga by K. Pattabhi Jois. Since then he has branched out into researching the anatomical alignment of postures and the higher limbs of yoga.

In India Gregor also received eight months of mostly one-on-one instruction in scripture and the higher limbs of Yoga through B.N.S. Iyengar, a student of T. Krishnamacharya, and he studied Sanskrit under Professor Narayanachar and Dr Chandrasekhar. Gregor’s internationally acclaimed textbook series consisting of Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy, Ashtanga Yoga: The Intermediate Series, Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga, Yoga Meditation: Through Mantra, Chakras and Kundalini to Spiritual Freedom, Samadhi The Great Freedom, How to Find Your Life’s Divine Purpose, Chakras, Drugs & Evolution and Mudras: Seals of Yoga – have sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide and have been translated into eight foreign languages. Additional volumes currently prepared are Tantric Meditation and Bhakti: Yoga of Love. Gregor has been invited to many countries to teach and has contributed to and been interviewed by numerous yoga magazines. On Gregor’s blog page chintamaniyoga.com/blog/ you will find over 300 articles, videos and podcasts on all aspects of yoga, which Gregor has authored together with his wife Monica.

Today Gregor teaches an anatomically sophisticated interpretation of traditional vinyasa yoga, integrated into the practice of the higher limbs in the spirit of Patanjali and T. Krishnamacharya. His zany sense of humour, his manifold personal experiences, and his vast and deep knowledge of scripture, Indian philosophies and yogic techniques combine to make his teachings applicable, relevant and easily accessible to all his students.

You can find more about Gregor here:

• Website
• Blog
• Books

“This conversation with Gregor is grounded in deep insight. Gregor has lives such a rich life of study and practice that his teachings are a visceral outcome of personal committed study. Gregor shares life experiences that are at the same time teachings. We all can find a deeper way to interact with ourselves and the world. Gregor is a testament to that… “

Scott Johnson – April 2023

If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Ty Landrum, Simon Borg Olivier and Frank Jude Boccio.

In this deep and rewarding conversation Scott Johnson talks to author, yoga teacher and mystic Gregor Maehle on his life as a seeker in the contemplative and spiritual traditions. Gregor shares how his childhood created the bedrock for a life of spiritual discovery, the outcome being a life embedded within the mystical limbs of yoga and contemplative practice.

We’d like to invite you to join our growing monthly Stillpoint Online Yoga community. For just £20 per month you can support the podcast and every Monday evening join The Still Space, our live stream yoga philosophy, mindfulness, pranayama and discussion sessions hosted by Scott Johnson. You can also gain access to our growing Stillpoint Online library of helpful yoga and mindfulness content.

Gregor Maehle on Yoga As A Mystical Experience

Scott and Gregor talk openly about Gregor’s life as a yoga practitioner and mystic. Gregor shares:

• How he grew up in a catholic upbringing.
• How he had a mystical experience aged 6.
• How his parents saw something deep in him from an early age.
• How he read mystical books from a very young age.
• How he took psychedelics in his late teens but the integration as a spiritual experience didn’t work.
• How in his twenties he did the guru trail in India.
• How he decided to spend his life doing personal sadhana.
• Why mystical experiences are not spontaneous.
• Why you should work with hypotheses rather than belief.
• Why the mystical state is your birth right.
• How in his forties he developed a relationship with Jesus.
• How the ego gets in the way of the mystical experience and is known in many traditions with different names.
• How we need to be in the service of all beings.
• Why yoga is the most powerful tool for transformation.
• What the inspiration is that he uses to write his books.
• How we can all find our life’s purpose.
• How we can stay connected to nature.
• What the most important thing is that he has discovered through his practice.

About Gregor Maehle

Gregor Maehle began his yogic practices 45 years ago. In the mid-1980s he commenced annual travels to India, where he studied with various yogic and tantric masters, traditional Indian sadhus and ascetics. He spent fourteen months in Mysore, and in 1997 was authorised to teach Ashtanga Yoga by K. Pattabhi Jois. Since then he has branched out into researching the anatomical alignment of postures and the higher limbs of yoga.

In India Gregor also received eight months of mostly one-on-one instruction in scripture and the higher limbs of Yoga through B.N.S. Iyengar, a student of T. Krishnamacharya, and he studied Sanskrit under Professor Narayanachar and Dr Chandrasekhar. Gregor’s internationally acclaimed textbook series consisting of Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy, Ashtanga Yoga: The Intermediate Series, Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga, Yoga Meditation: Through Mantra, Chakras and Kundalini to Spiritual Freedom, Samadhi The Great Freedom, How to Find Your Life’s Divine Purpose, Chakras, Drugs & Evolution and Mudras: Seals of Yoga – have sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide and have been translated into eight foreign languages. Additional volumes currently prepared are Tantric Meditation and Bhakti: Yoga of Love. Gregor has been invited to many countries to teach and has contributed to and been interviewed by numerous yoga magazines. On Gregor’s blog page chintamaniyoga.com/blog/ you will find over 300 articles, videos and podcasts on all aspects of yoga, which Gregor has authored together with his wife Monica.

Today Gregor teaches an anatomically sophisticated interpretation of traditional vinyasa yoga, integrated into the practice of the higher limbs in the spirit of Patanjali and T. Krishnamacharya. His zany sense of humour, his manifold personal experiences, and his vast and deep knowledge of scripture, Indian philosophies and yogic techniques combine to make his teachings applicable, relevant and easily accessible to all his students.

You can find more about Gregor here:

• Website
• Blog
• Books

___

“This conversation with Gregor is grounded in deep insight. Gregor has lives such a rich life of study and practice that his teachings are a visceral outcome of personal committed study. Gregor shares life experiences that are at the same time teachings. We all can find a deeper way to interact with ourselves and the world. Gregor is a testament to that… “

Scott Johnson – April 2023

If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Ty Landrum, Simon Borg Olivier and Frank Jude Boccio.

“This conversation with Gregor is grounded in deep insight. Gregor has lives such a rich life of study and practice that his teachings are a visceral outcome of personal committed study. Gregor shares life experiences that are at the same time teachings. We all can find a deeper way to interact with ourselves and the world. Gregor is a testament to that… “

Scott Johnson – April 2023

If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Ty Landrum, Simon Borg Olivier and Frank Jude Boccio.