November 15, 2025
This Very Moment
Episode 2: From 60's Counterculture to Yoga Lineage with Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor
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Show Notes
Join Ivan and Sara Bercholz (co-owners of Shambhala Publications) in conversation with the renowned yoga teaching couple Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor. From the ‘60s music scene to transcendental philosophy, Eastern thought, holistic psychology, and integrated health, through their first discoveries of yoga and meditation and travels to India and Iran, we get a glimpse into the early experiences that carried them forward to becoming the revered yoga practitioners and teachers that they are in This Very Moment.
In this interview we learn about Richard and Mary’s early upbringing and the environment that inspired them to embark on the spiritual path. With their signature warmth, hear how Richard and Mary found their way to the Buddhist and yogic tradition through the waves of hippy counterculture, revolt against the Vietnam War, and the growing tension in the Middle East. Learn about their early interactions with their teachers K. Pattabhi Jois and B.K.S. Iyengar, and the origin story of their relationship and how they became co-teachers.
About the Interviewees
Richard Freeman has been a student of yoga since 1968. He spent nine years in Asia studying yoga āsana, prānāyāma, Sufism, the Sanskrit language, and Indian philosophy. He has studied āsana with B.K.S. Iyengar and K. Pattabhi Jois, and has worked with numerous Buddhist teachers to draw insights into the interfacing of Buddhism and yoga as a reflection of life.
Mary Taylor began studying yoga in 1971, and her studies have grown into a deep interest in how yoga āsana, meditation, and the intersection of yoga with Buddhism combine to support us through complex modern times. Her main āsana practice is in the internal forms of the Ashtanga Vinyasa tradition. She is part of the core faculty of the Being with Dying program at Upaya Zen Center and the senior faculty for the UZIT training program, both of which apply contemplative practices.
Books by the Authors
- Feeling Happy: The Yoga of Body, Heart, and Mind
- When Love Comes to Light: Bringing Wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita into Modern Life
- The Art of Vinyasa: Awakening Body and Mind through the Practice of Ashtanga Yoga
Books Mentioned by the Authors
- The Tibetan Book of the Dead translated by Francesca Fremantle and Chögyam Trungpa
- Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
- Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar
