18. I Will Rise Again
This episode is a magical interview with my friend Seán Johnson.
Seán is a musician, storyteller, teacher-trainer, and sacred space-holder who has been teaching Yoga for the last 24 years. He is the founder of Wild Lotus Yoga in his native New Orleans, and Soul School, an online interdisciplinary spiritual immersion and Yoga teacher training program that focuses on teaching Yoga with skill and imagination, that he guides with Mitchel Bleier. In all these roles, he relishes creating a playful, tender, brave space for people to open their hearts and voices, sing, and embrace their innate creativity.
Seán has a master’s degree in Creation Spirituality from The Naropa Institute-Oakland, with focus on teaching chant as spiritual practice, apprenticing there with south Indian musician and teacher Russill Paul, author of The Yoga Of Sound. In 2002 he founded Wild Lotus Yoga in his beloved hometown and dubbed it "New Orleans' Home for Heart-Centered Yoga and Down-To-Earth Spirituality."
In 2005, in the harrowing days right after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Seán founded The Wild Lotus Band, initially as a philanthropic music project, touring and raising funds across the country for relief from the devastation of the storm. Now 16 years later, the band continues to record and tour--- sharing ancient mantras from the traditions of yoga, global chants, conscious lyrics, roots, rock, gospel, and world grooves with listeners worldwide. They are the first mantra music based band to ever play The New Orleans Jazz Festival. Seán is also the co-curator of Putumayo World Music's 'Music For Yoga' series, featuring artists from around the globe.
Seán's first significant initiations into a more conscious spirituality came through the exuberance of falling in love for the first time and then through the pain and grief of heartbreak. A journey to heal his heart led him to the path of Bhakti Yoga which deeply honors vulnerability, creative expression, and art as forms of prayer and spiritual practice. The theme of searching for grace and inspiration amidst challenge, destruction, and grief permeates his music and teaching, deepened further by the death of his brother Jeremy, who passed away in a drowning accident in 2013.
Seán is passionate about his Irish roots and ancestry, a pillar of his spirituality. He co-leads online Celtic Spirituality gatherings and retreats in Ireland each year with his friend, Ireland native Mary Meighan, founder of Celtic Journeys.
Seán lives in New Orleans with his wife Farah and son Finn.
This episode explores:
Voice and vulnerability
Creativity
Reconnecting with the heart
Grief as a teacher
The mystery of life
Faith
Reimagining community
Covid 19 as a teacher
How to heal wounds and shift narratives
Ancestors
Opening to possibility
Tenderness
Connect with Seán on the Wild Lotus Yoga website, his band website, and on Instagram @seanwildlotusband and @wildlotusyoga
Podcast music by Charles Kurtz