“In Our Time” is a remarkable weekly radio show on BBC Radio 4 hosted by veteran broadcaster, Melvyn Bragg, in which a panel of experts discuss important events and ideas in the cultural history of humankind. On March of this year they did a wonderful overview of India’s beloved spiritual text, the Bhagavad Gita. It’s only 45 minutes long and gives you a real sense of its history and content. Well worth a listen.

“In Our Time: The Bhagavad Gita” (streaming via BBC iPlayer)

If the streaming link is no longer available, check the podcast archives for the download. And browse around, there’s some great stuff there.

Tags: Bhagavad Gita

Here is a podcast of another “Please Explain” segment from WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show.

Anger is one of the forces that has sparked protests across the Middle East, from Egypt to Libya to Syria. It can be a motivating force, but it can also be destructive and damaging when it goes unchecked. On this week’s Please Explain, we’re taking a look at the roots and consequences of anger. Dr. Philip Muskin, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, and Dr. Howard Kassinove, Professor of Psychology and Director, Institute for the Study and Treatment of Anger and Aggression, and author of Anger Management: The Complete Treatment Guidebook for Practitioners and Anger Management for Everyone, explain when anger becomes a problem and how anger management works.

Tags: Anger

WNYC is my local public radio station. The Leonard Lopate show regularly does “Please Explain” segments. This podcast of the show features a conversation with Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of “The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want” and a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside on recent research into what makes people happy.

Dr. Lyubomirksy also has a blog over at Psychology Today.

Tags: Happiness | Science | Web

Alice Riccardi is a Baptiste Power Vinyasa Teacher and co-owner of Portland Power Yoga in Maine. She wrote a wonderful piece for RecoveringYogi.com which later got picked up by ElephantJournal.com. (ElephantJournal.com limits the amount you can read on their site without a pay subscription. I give you both links so you can decide for yourself where to read it.) She is also an Alexander Technique teacher. Her thoughtful essay considers the proper place for excellence and virtuosity in the realm of yoga:

If yoga is focusing more on the asana as opposed to the practice, are we all to become virtuosos? What about those who are amateurs? The origin of the word amateur comes from Latin, meaning “to love,” and the origin of virtuoso comes from the Italian, meaning “skilled.” Are we working toward becoming skilled in practice while leaving behind our amateur approach? Or what about loving something so much that being skilled is less important, because being in love and loving is the experience we really all want at the end of the day? What about the realization that, in essence, life is messy, not perfect, coming together and falling apart with the regularity of the sun rising and setting.

Give it a read and let her, and me, know what you think. RecoveringYogi.com link here. ElephantJournal.com link here.

This TED talk is not new, it dates back to 2008, but I find Jill Bolte’s story of what happened to her as she had a stroke and how she recovered to be quite amazing.