Lizzie and Judith Lasater return to catch up with J and talk about their latest offering, a free mini-course in Restorative Yoga to Support Menopause and Beyond. They discuss teaching during the last few years of transition, the genesis of their new course on menopause, generational differences, adapting practice, viewing body changes as a process vs treating a condition, menopause belly, exercise vs innercise, feeling rushed, places of refuge, positive aspects of aging, biopsychosocial self-care, and some keys to a long healthy life.
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Hy Brown is J's dad and they have a candid talk about the life he’s led, choices he’s made, and the lessons he's learned. They discuss growing up in Brooklyn, his involvement with the mob, becoming a civil engineer and vice president of Tishman Construction, working on famous building projects, understanding the system and the art of the con, the life-changing impact of having a heart attack at age 47, meeting J's mom and navigating her death, leading a dual life, fracturing of families, finding new purpose, and learning to care for others.
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Bryan Kest, author of Autobiography of an American Yogi, talks with J about the trajectory of yoga into the mainstream and the role he played in it. They discuss the early LA yoga scene, class in Maui with David Williams, one-to-one with Pattabhi Jois, mentality of not being good enough, learning from India, before "power yoga" became a generic term, beefing with Maty Estaty, opening a donation based studio, systematization, controversy with his brother, doing away with adjustments, and the passion and commitment that fuels a life in yoga.
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Esther Ekhart, founder of EkhartYoga, talks with J about the purpose and passion behind being an early pioneer of yoga video online. They discuss her mother's influence, witnessing healings in the Philippines, miracles of Satya Sai Baba, learning devotion and surrender, becoming a teacher and opening a studio, deciding to make videos and go online, YouTube, being the face of a company, the pandemic boom and slowdown, merging the business, relinquishing over to something bigger, and navigating from a place of love as a given.
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Noah Mazé, founder of The Mazé Method, talks with J about the stark realities that yoga professionals are facing. They discuss the "ecosystem" of the yoga world before lockdowns, Yoga Journal conferences and Wanderlust festivals, shortening of classes and workshops, going from DVD's to online with Yogaglo, impact of subscription-based services, intellectual property, sustainability of teacher training and the studio model, integration and strength instead of pushing the envelope, and finding meaning in uncertainty.
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Cindy Lusk, author of Align and Refine: The Journey of Yoga and Meditation, talks with J about the continual refinement of intention and understanding. They discuss the renunciate path of Patanjali and householder purpose, Richard Freeman's influence, Patabhi Jois's adjustments, Anusara and the legacy of John Friend, Paul Muller-Ortega, certification and the role of asana through different life stages, grappling with questions of higher consciousness, Bhāvanā, and the iterative process of bringing out the best of who we are.
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Ranju Roy, author of Yoga as Pilgrimage: Sutras for a Modern Age, talks with J about the ways in which practice and study become interwoven into one's life. They discuss the meaning of a pilgrimage, understanding the Samkhya terrain in relationship to the map of Patanjali, Prana and Apana, poetics and not limiting ourselves to secular materialism, respecting other viewpoints , honoring traditions, radical transparency, letting go appropriately, uncomplicated wholeness, and engaging in the creative act of learning and sharing knowledge.
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Dr Lauren Tober, creator and author of Mental Health Aware Yoga, talks with J about the intersection of psychology and yoga for mental health. They discuss the limitations of a clinical approach, the DSM5, doing an n=1 study, finding the right treatment methodology, differences in pedagogy, importance of relationship, supporting students, mental health integrating with the gunas, protocols for helping people feel safe, touch and consent, and staying within or widening our windows of tolerance to better cope with life.
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Ryan Kurczak, host of The Kriya Yoga Podcast, talks with j about understanding and appreciating what is real. They discuss being ordained into Kriya Yoga by Roy Eugene Davis, the history of Self Realization Fellowship, scalability and maintaining direct connection, vedic astrology, occultism, dramatizing your spiritual path, Ishvara Pranidhana, Samkhya, Jesus Christ, a universal principle of love, creating grooves in your consciousness, Samahdi, and learning to pay attention to the essence of what is divine rather than the manifestation of form.
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Tara Stiles, co-founder of Strala Yoga, returns to compare notes with J about the current state of the yoga world. They discuss the ray of humanity that brought them back together, letting go of brick and mortar spaces, online trends moving from brands to influence, opening up the conversations around spirituality, connecting across divides, gentle yoga becoming trauma informed, training the algorithms to curate your internet experience, the appropriate use of touch, and reacclimating to in person teaching and co-regulating together.
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Jonathan FitzGordon, creator of the CoreWalking Program and Rejuvenation Movement Method, talks with J about learning how to move and be well. They discuss teaching people how to walk and stand, extreme sensitivity and hypermobility, Jonathan's three knee surgeries, alignment and choosing not to do certain poses, appropriate practice in group classes, core tone, strength that comes from balance, integrated conditioning, how we see ourselves in space, changing perspectives, and getting to know yourself and heal.
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Paul JJ Alix, founder of Yoga for All, talks with J about his time during the formative years of yoga coming into the mainstream and the rifts between teaching and consumerism that emerged. They discuss the intersection of meditation and ballet, being an early adopter of pilates and choosing yoga as a focus, meeting TKV Desichackar, teaching in NY and setting conditions to attract only committed students, causing a raucous over start times at Ananda Ashram, the need for clarity, staying true to principles, and the enduring power of practice.
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Nate Klemp, author of OPEN: Living with an Expansive Mind in a Distracted World, talks with J about making your life your practice, digital realities, and political universes. They discuss the limitations of thinking to experiencing, the tradition of living philosophy, blogging about a life beyond logic, family life and yogic caves, the 80/80 marriage plan, a mindset of radical generosity, strategies for addressing screen cravings and addiction, lethal mass partisanship, and when surrendering to joy and possibility becomes your only best option.
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Josh Thomas is a friend of J's who joins the show to talk about intuitive facility and luminous darkness. They discuss transition states, being motivated by an undercurrent of "not good enough-ness," dissolving boundaries and destruction of ego structures, becoming somebody to become nobody, parapsychology proven real beyond probability, fear of being shunned by the culture, taking belief out of the equation, spiritual healing, radiating peacefulness in everyday life, and marking your intention to a guiding true north of love.
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Weena Pauly, creator of SE+AM (Somatic Experiencing + Authentic Movement) and host of the Reverence for Impulse Podcast, talks with J about reclaiming how your body wants to move and the focus of seeing and being seen. They discuss sturdy containers for letting the unknown be revealed, nothingness and staying with trembling discomfort, distinguishing impulse from being impulsive, attributing value, power dynamics and reciprocity of wisdom, hope for our children, and experience as a language of the divine.
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Keith Parker, co-founder of Field Dynamics and host of the Field Dynamics Podcast, talks with J about energy healing, the human aura, and infinity exploring the finite. They discuss transitioning from music to yoga, being tamed by India, striving for liberation or enlightenment, limits of a materialistic paradigm, seeing human auras, gross/subtle/causal relationships, the structure of a soul, Chakras and identity, palpating energy, magical realms, higher intelligence and serving a greater good, and helping to bring subtlety into the foreground of perception.
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J repeats his ritual of reflecting on where he’s at what he’s facing as the year comes to a close. He discusses his cat being diagnosed with diabetes, the Dalai Lama's twitter/x account, genetically modified butter, the feeling of not being able to say what you really think, trying to open a yoga center, predictions from the 2016 Yoga in America study, a changing internet, making ends meet, taking stock in the exchanges that make all the difficulties worthwhile, and somehow finding the resilience and fortitude needed to meet life's uncertainty.
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Katie Hemphill, author of We Are The Forest, talks with J about expanding the scope of our understanding through embodied living and collective healing. They discuss why Katie decided to study biomedical engineering, discovering yoga and marathon running, programming a cell, a problem/solution perspective, corporate jobs, grey areas in risk analysis of medical devices, meaning making in scientific process, nutrition science, optimizing connection, balanced containers, and questioning the stories that shape our reality.
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Radha Metro-Midkiff, Executive Director for the Integral Yoga Institute New York, talks with J about Swami Satchidananda, Integral Yoga, and the major shifts in the industry and culture that have taken place over the last few years. They discuss her childhood growing up at Yogaville, her relationship to Swami Satchidananda, choosing faith or fear, teachings and the growth of institutions, the difference between the guru and the human being, authentic transmission of yoga, and making sense of life’s complexity through transparent dialogue.
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Brett Larkin, founder of an award-winning YouTube channel and Uplifted Online Yoga Teacher Training, talks with J about building her platform and the state of yoga online. They discuss graduating from NYU, exploring different styles of practice, creating fitness and dance video games, starting to post on YouTube and gaining subscribers, leveraging social media, legitimizing online training, the influence of kundalini yoga and asking hard questions, working with Ayurveda, energy bodies, and learning from the past so we can proceed with integrity.
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Diana May talks with J about yoga for the nervous system and somatic experiencing. They discuss moving to a big city before leaving and being closer to nature, dissociation from our bodies, being with the full range of human emotion, somatic experiencing based on the work of Dr Peter Levine, resonance fields, lowering levels of activation, honoring the value of anxiety and becoming less defensive of our responses, making a nervous system supported class, tolerance for different views, and maximizing capacity for connection.
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John Stirk, author of Deeper Still, talks with J about formation, transformation, and the feeling of existence. They discuss changing expectations for careers in yoga, digging deeper to change your perspective, the condition of understanding, getting in touch with insightfulness, healing fragmentation by highlighting that which is indivisible, transformation instead of information, authentic intelligence, mental indigestion, becoming more sensitive, knowing through direct perception, and relating to the unknown in an intelligent way.
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Philip Deslippe, author of From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric, talks with J about his research into the real story behind Yogi Bhajan and the yoga empire he created. They discuss Philip's time as a Kundalini teacher, 3HO, the role of students in editing and elevating teachers to master status, legitimizing something by deferring to a false antiquity, value calculations within corrupted traditions, the life and significance of William Atkinson, the paradox of benefiting from hucksters, and possibilities for what yoga teaching might look like in the future.
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Ruth White, author of Presence: The Truth of Yoga, talks with J about the earliest days of BKS Iyengar coming to the UK and developing a practice that endures. They discuss practicing in a living room with BKS Iyengar, the difference between classes in Pune compared to the UK, standardization and growth, whether or not Iyengar was an abusive teacher, starting a yoga prop company, why Iyengar focused primarily on postures, going inward, and the dropping away of ego identifications so we can see each other as one and the same.
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Cristina & Diego, founders of Origo Shoes, talk with J about the philosophy behind barefoot shoes and our relationship to the natural world. They discuss the developmental issues their daughter faced and how that led to barefoot shoes, the detriment of conventional ideas about footwear, specifications that make a shoe barefoot, educating people about the benefits and making the appearance more accessible, doing business according to your values, embracing simple as better, and the benefits of slower living and a return to basic principles.
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