You are listening to the free version of J. Brown Yoga Talks. To hear the rest of our conversation, please subscribe to podcast premium at: https://www.jbrownyoga.com/premium.

Richard Freeman was the person J most wanted to speak with when starting the podcast and his dream is finally realized in this conversation celebrating the 100th episode. They discuss what yoga was like in the late 60’s, how Richard came to study with BKS Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois, universal threads that run through the many different contemplative traditions he has inquired into, trends that have emerged with the progression of yoga into the mainstream, and the importance of remaining curious about the nature of reality.

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Amina Naru, board member and project manager at the Yoga Service Council, owner of Posh Yoga, talks with J about her work bringing yoga into juvenile detention centers and prisons, and the new Best Practices for Yoga in the Criminal Justice System. They discuss her spiritual name, some of the trials and tribulations that have shaped her journey into yoga, her experience of being a black woman in a predominantly white profession, the process of creating community, and the profound gift of shared acceptance, wellness, and purpose.

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Tiffany Cruikshank, founder of Yoga Medicine, joins J for a discussion about her early challenges and roots into yoga and holistic healing modalities, and the process of developing her professional work as a teacher and educator. Their conversation includes a consideration of changing paradigms in yoga, how she incorporates or separates her yoga with her work in sports medicine and orthopedics, her experience of navigating the yoga industry, and developing training with a focus on fusing the two worlds of eastern and western medicine.

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J met Maria Kirsten, founder of Yoga for Grown Ups, through mutual contacts in Japan and they kind of hit it off after discovering they share many common experiences and viewpoints in yoga. In this conversation, they compare notes on teaching and discuss a range of topics including the importance of self-directed mentorship, fostering gradual progressions and relationships over time, teaching people about themselves more than poses, finding your root and stabilization, somatization, and asking the big questions about where it’s all going.

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Rexx Anthony, founder of Rogue Ashtanga, wrote a blog post entitled "A Cautionary Tale on Operating Yoga Studios" that caught J’s attention and spurred this conversation. They talk about Rexx’s early adoption of Ashtanga Yoga and how the system has changed over the years. They also discuss the trends and tribulations of managing a yoga center, some of the pressing issues facing the industry, the challenges that yoga teachers grapple with, and the personal and professional factors that make up a life in the grassroots world of yoga.

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Seane Corn, creator of 'Off the Mat, Into the World', joins J for a lively and wide-ranging discussion on coming into adulthood as teachers alongside yoga going mainstream. Seane talks about the early days of NY Yoga and Life Cafe, her migration west, how she became a “yoga celebrity,” and the political activism that she spearheads. The conversation also examines the evolution of yoga as a profession, healing trauma, sexual misconduct in the yoga world, and the light, shadows and people that have shaped her inspirational teaching.

You are listening to the free version of J. Brown Yoga Talks. To hear the rest of our conversation, please subscribe to podcast premium at: https://www.jbrownyoga.com/premium.

Or Shahar, from freedomyoga.info, is a podcast listener with a booker who got a bit lucky and caught J in a moment that led to this candid and unexpected conversation about family, cultural divides, and the universality of yoga. Or shares her process of healing depression and trauma, how she ended up making a life for herself in Berlin, overcoming the obstacles that yoga teachers face as professionals, and the challenge of meeting people where they are while still holding true to principles that explore the depth of practice.

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Barbara Benagh, legendary indy yoga teacher, joins J to trace the history and evolution of yoga from the 70’s until the present day. They discuss her early adoption of Iyengar yoga, her progression into a more somatic approach, the teachers and influences that have inspired her along the way, her relationship to and feeling about the ascendance of yoga as big business and the celebrity of yoga teachers, and how she ended up going against the grain and setting a precedence of cultivating her own sensibilities and charting her own course.

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Justin Mastine, creator of YogaQuest, talks with J about bringing yoga to the geek community. They discuss what it means to be a geek, the process of embracing her inner nerd through yoga, and how she came to create a narrative-based practice that gives permission for people to be who they are even when it doesn't fit what other people think is normal. Justine also shares her insights into the unique issues that those with passionate fandoms face, and provides an example of what it means to bring yoga with whimsy to unconventional spaces.

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Anneke Lucas, founder of Liberation Prison Yoga, returns to talk with J about her thoughts on the resurgence of the #metoo movement, the politics of power addiction, and the larger implications for the yoga world. They discuss the public reckoning that men are being confronted with, areas in which we are still operating with blinders, the prevalence of pedophilia and conspiracies that cover it up, enabling in the ashtanga tradition, bringing yoga into the criminal justice system, making space for healing, and what it means to be liberated.

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Jill Miller, creator of Yoga Tune Up® and The Roll Model Method®, talks with J eight days after receiving hip replacement surgery. They discuss their parallel journeys, Jill’s decision to go under the knife, what its been like since, the blowback she got online, and why J is both grateful and freaked out by her example. The conversation also touches on issues surrounding injuries in yoga, the role that anatomy plays in mitigating risk factors, radical transparency, and the challenge of being able to evolve and grow while under public scrutiny.

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Alexis Marbach and Caitlin Lanier, members of The Breathe Network, talk with J about the evolving world of trauma-informed yoga. They discuss the expansion of trauma sensitivity in the wake of yoga scandals, whether increased training is warranted, pitfalls in labeling and standardizing individual experience, Flip Chips, and how the current landscape is changing the dynamics and context. They also tackle some of the sticky realities implicit in addressing power dynamics, and being able to make mistakes publicly and learn from them.

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Sadie Nardini, founder of Core Strength Vinyasa and The Yoga Shred, host of Rock Your Yoga and cast member of Yoga Girls, talks with J about her early beginnings and emergence as a social media yoga icon. Sadie discusses her childhood struggle with a neurological disorder, the fierce determination that helped her be strong, the unintended consequences that forced her to change, and the development of her yoga practice and teaching. They also discuss her persona as the “black sheep” of yoga and her love of music.

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Lucas Rockwood, founder of Yoga Teachers Collegeand YOGABODY Naturals, host of Yoga Talk Show, is a fellow podcaster and expat who wrote a scathing piece about doTerra that got J’s attention. They have a lively discussion about leaving the NY scene to stake a claim in the international markets, his evolution from accidental teacher to retreat center owner, starting a supplements company, and creating a well known online presence. Lucas also shares important warnings and insights into successful entrepreneurship in the yoga sphere.

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Matthew Taylor, past president of the board of directors of International Association of Yoga Therapists, chair of their business development community, and leader in business and clinical skills development for Yoga therapists, talks with J about the origins and future of yoga as a respected therapy. They discuss Matthew’s background in integrative rehabilitation, formative times in his evolution, the creation of standards and their importance, exciting new developments in the field, and his work with the Veterans Yoga Project.

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Kimberly Wilson, founder of Tranquil Space and host of the Tranquility du Jour Podcast, sold two of the most popular yoga center locations in the DC area to Yogaworks right about the same time that J sold his center in Brooklyn. They talk about the arc of yoga in the mainstream, the process of growing a yoga center and related businesses, and what it means to let go and move on to new horizons when the time comes. Kimberly shares some of her insights into what it takes to be successful and ways to keep learning, exploring, and growing.

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J sits down with Roody Senecal, creator of Karmasoft Online, to talk about how he went from manufacturing metal doors to becoming a yoga teacher, owning a yoga center, and developing the software that J ran his center with for seven out of ten years he had it. They discuss Roody’s childhood in Haiti and immigration to Brooklyn, the relationship to his wife that started his yoga journey, his training with Bikram Choudhry, and how he utilizes his relationships with people to foster a successful yoga center and business.

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Jillian Pransky, author of Deep Listening, talks with J about her journey in overcoming anxiety and finding a slow, gentle approach to body and life. They discuss her childhood and early exposure to meditation, giving up a “real” job in publishing to pursue a yoga career, the influences that have shaped her work and led to a focus on restorative yoga, and her new book. The conversation also touches on navigating the changing professional yoga landscape, and the increasingly difficult challenge of finding a healthy work/life balance.

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Vanessa Kudrat Weinberg, founder of Body Mind Gifts, is an old friend of J’s from their early college years who showed up to one of his final classes in Brooklyn after not seeing each other in over fifteen years. They reconnect and reminisce on the old days at NYU, talk about Vanessa’s studies with Yogi Bhajan, the early days of the internet, and the ways in which wellness and yoga have gone mainstream and become professions. The conversation also examines the effects of new media on yoga teachers and the policies of yoga centers.

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Trina Altman, creator of Yoga Deconstructed® and Pilates Deconstructed®, talks with J about her viewpoint on the limitations of the physical side of yoga for fitness and health. They discuss life events and influences that have led to the combination of modalities and techniques informing her teaching and approach to yoga and embodied movement. J learns about the differences between Yoga and Pilates, and they examine how the new teaching landscape lends itself to exploring a wider scope and more diverse diet of movement.

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Melissa Hagedorn, founder of the Northwest Yoga Conference, joins the podcast for a lively and redemptive conversation after J accidentally used a photo of hers on one of his blog posts and got a polite but firm request to cease and desist. All is made well as they discuss Michelle’s mobile lifestyle and her call to create a yoga conference against all odds. They also discuss the accessibility of conference offerings, the pay or lack there of for teachers, and the ways in which balance can be struck between yoga and commerce.

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Noah Mazé, founder of YOGAMAZÉ, talks with J about his early exposure to yoga, how he came to meet John Friend during the formative time of Anusara, the trajectory of his teaching and the effects that the Anusara downfall had on him, and the ways in which the thread of his yoga has carried through and expanded. They also discuss the online videos of Noah doing crazy asana stuff, the repercussions of those videos being posted without context, a recent scandal, Facebook trolls, and the discussions that exemplify and shape our times.

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Cora Wen is a name that J knew from his early remembrances of the yoga world, yet it wasn’t until this talk that he knew anything about her. They discuss Cora’s origins in yoga, the many amazing teachers that she has worked closely with over the years, and some reasons why she has maintained a slightly underground status. The conversation also tracks some yoga-going-into-the-mainstream history, some of the pitfalls and troubles that come with the territory, what things look like today and what might be warranted given the new conditions.

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Leslie Kaminoff invites J to join him for the last of his live oral history events at The Breathing Project. They are accompanied by a small group of staff and friends for an intimate conversation about what has gone past and what lies ahead. The discussion tracks some history behind the Breathing Project, the publication of Yoga Anatomy and rumors of a potential third edition, and all the emotions around saying goodbye as the space reincarnates into the Babies Project and Leslie sets a new course for himself and The Breathing Project Foundation.

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Nischala Devi, author of The Secret Power of Yoga: A Woman's Guide to the Heart and Spirit of the Yoga Sutras, joins the podcast and brings J some inspiration and joy. They talk about her many years in ascetic life, the process of leaving it, new paths forged since, and what its like to translate Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras from a woman’s perspective. They also discuss the evolution of yoga from its beginnings as an alternative lifestyle into a mainstream industry, and what might be needed to retain the heart and soul of the practice.