Ep. 294 – Different Forms of Yoga

Ep. 294 – Different Forms of Yoga

Author: Ram Dass / Love Serve Remember December 30, 2025 Duration: 48:35

In this talk from the 1980s, Ram Dass explores different forms of yoga—hatha, dhyan, jnana, bhakti, tantra, and more—and answers questions from the audience. 

Get your copy of All In This Together, the latest book from Jack Kornfield!  Let this new book be your guide, as Jack reveals how to navigate our human experience with wisdom and care. Inside you’ll find a beautiful collection of stories, inspiration for conflict resolution, and powerful teachings on healing, justice, and human kindness—anchored in the teachings of the Buddha and poetry from luminary voices like Mary Oliver. Click here to learn more!

This episode of Here and Now comes from an event in Irvine, CA, called “Living Consciously in the 1980s.” 

  • Ram Dass talks about how it’s only when we realize we aren’t who we think we are that the journey of awakening begins. Fortunately, there is help along this path in the various types of yoga, or methods for coming into the One.
  • Ram Dass explores different forms of yoga, including hatha yoga (energy), dhyan yoga (meditation), jnana yoga (wisdom), bhakti yoga (devotion), and tantric yoga (senses). He says we should work with whichever form calls to us, or we can be a “chicken soup eclectic” like he is. 
  • Finally, Ram Dass answers some questions from the audience. He talks about intuition, the darkness that comes before spiritual growth, social identities, dealing with attachment to your child’s predicament, and more.

The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox.

About Ram Dass:

Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. Learn more at ramdass.org.

“What I’m saying to you is, which yoga is appropriate for any human being, only that human being can figure out. And you can only figure it out by trying and testing and looking and quieting your heart and opening. One of you, it will be perfect for you to study and read holy book and Vedic tracts and things. For someone else, it’ll be absolutely perfect to start to work with the energy. For someone else, it’ll be perfect to do tantra. And it is not better or worse. These are merely different strategies. And some you will be sort of like I am, sort of like a chicken soup eclectic. And I do sort of play with all of these at a kind of superficial level.” – Ram Dass

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.


The voice of Ram Dass carries a unique and enduring warmth, a blend of profound spiritual insight and grounded, often humorous, humanity. Ram Dass Here And Now is a curated archive of this wisdom, drawing from a rich tapestry of lectures recorded over four decades. Each episode is a focused journey into themes of consciousness, love, service, and the intricate paths of awakening, all filtered through Ram Dass's distinctive heart-centered perspective. The podcast is presented by the Love Serve Remember Foundation, with longtime friend and director Raghu Markus providing contextual introductions that connect these timeless talks to our contemporary moment. Listeners will find themselves immersed in conversations that weave together Eastern philosophy, particularly from the Hindu and Bhakti traditions, with practical Western psychology, exploring how spiritual principles manifest in everyday life, relationships, and societal challenges. It’s less a formal lecture and more an intimate, meandering dialogue with a wise elder, offering reflections that feel both ancient and immediately relevant. This isn't about dogma, but about the shared, often messy, human experience of seeking meaning and connection. To spend time with this podcast is to encounter a gentle guide, one who points persistently toward the present moment, toward compassion, and toward the recognition of our shared essence.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 307

Ram Dass Here And Now
Podcast Episodes
Ep. 116 - A Deeper Source [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:16
On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass explores a deeper source of psychological neuroses and touches on some of the most crucial aspects of the spiritual path. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Cali…
Ep. 115 - Satsang and Taking Risks [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:45
Ram Dass is joined by Rameshwar Das and Raghu Markus for a conversation around Satsang and taking risks.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-se…
Ep. 114 – Honor Our Incarnation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:55
On this episode of Here & Now, Ram Dass asks us to honor our incarnation and live on this plane as if “we” are all “us.”Ram Dass talks about integrating a sense of oneness into all planes of consciousness, challenges us…
Ep. 113 - Wrestling with Uncertainty [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:26
Ram Dass is joined by Raghu Markus for a conversation around wrestling with difficulties and uncertainty. From dogma to physical suffering to our own Dharma, Ram Dass and Raghu talk about wrestling with our difficulties…
Ep. 112 - The Notion of Ego [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:56
Recorded at Naropa University in 1974, Ram Dass joins Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, John Baker, Jim Green and Duncan Campbell for a conversation around the notion of ego and personal identification. In this panel discussion,…
Ep. 111 - Ram Dass Receives the "True Secret Teaching" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:52
Ram Dass gives a moving talk on the Guru's grace and the story of how he received a true secret teaching from his own Guru. Recorded in June 1973, Ram Dass leads a discussion around the concept of Dharma, or one's path i…
Ep. 110 - Live Awake [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:41
Live Awake; this special talk given at the 1994 Psychedelics Symposium at Chapman College follows Ram Dass's history and thoughts around psychedelics. Psychedelics have guided the course of Ram Dass's life. Ram Dass shar…
Ep. 108 - Geography of the Journey [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:20
In this rare talk, Ram Dass reports on the geography of the journey of awakening. Ram Dass gives this talk not long after returning from India where he began to learn the geography of the journey. He describes the cycles…
Ep. 107 - The True Revolution [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:45
On this unique episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass discusses seeing God in all things and how the true revolution is found through the evolution of consciousness. In both parts of this episode, Ram Dass imparts wisdom on t…