Joe Simek, co-owner of Dragonfly Yoga and co-founder of The Fiaria Project, talks with J about coming back from the pandemic and moving forward with purpose. They discuss the reopening of his brick and mortar space, leases and sustainability, competition among centers, re-envisioning memberships and community, shifting from information to transformation, economics of surrender, issues of certification and accreditation, marketing with soul, and the changing dynamics by which we set roots and measure success.
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Mark Walsh, host of the The Embodiment Podcast and author of Embodiment: Working with the Body in Training and Coaching, talks with J about facilitating life skills and navigating the world around us. They discuss the emergence of coaching in the yoga world, embodiment as a practice and a principle, creating the largest online embodiment conference ever, trauma work and fads, early days of trolling online, political trends, decadence and the luxury of despair, overcoming grief, and the importance of finding ways to make sense and meaning.
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Jason Shaw and Emily Brown, owners of Our Country Hearts and Binghamton Yoga, talk with J about scale, sustainability, and local community. They discuss slow flow circa 2014, grass roots politics and making change by focusing on shared intentions, post-pandemic realities, dedicated yoga spaces, co-creative aspect of in person classes, working inward rather than outward and feeling vs doing, soft sells and attraction over promotion, coming together in grounded states of mind, and opening doorways in a seemingly walled future.
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Bobbi Paidel, founder of Tribe of Lambs and host of A Curious Yogi Podcast, talks with J about having a guru and what it means to live the principles of yoga. They discuss how a cattle ranchers daughter ends up becoming part of a spiritual community in India rooted in Vedic knowledge, keeping ourselves safe and surviving in this world, the role of asana, feeling free, unchanged awareness of an infinite self, moments of recognition, staying open and curious, truth and a deeper sense of connection, and expanding our frame of reference for existing.
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Rod Stryker, founder of ParaYoga, talks with J about the formative events that shaped yoga becoming part of popular culture and the spiritual underpinnings that call it into question. They discuss Yoga Works and the 80's LA Scene, Manny and Alan Finger, westernizing the message, seeking vs career choices, branding and creating empires, defining Tantra, teacher/student relationship, guard rails in the pursuit of truth, nonduality and divinity, science of energy management, mapping out the nature of mind, and a singular vision of the heart.
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Divya Kohli, author of Finding Peace in Difficult Times: grounding techniques for inner calm, returns to talk with J about the post-pandemic crossroads that many yoga teachers are facing. They discuss the halcyon days of wholly committed teachers, maturation in parallel with the evolution of modern yoga, organic communities, sweet spots and scalability, wanting in person vs actually showing up, class issues in marketing, inverting the pyramid of priorities, and countering a dystopian future with the power of shared ritual and intention.
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David McGrath, author of The Yogi’s Way: Living in Accord with the Yamas & Niyamas, talks with J about Kriya Yoga and embodying philosophical principles. They discuss his teacher Roy Eugene Davis and Paramahansa Yogananda, Self-Realization Fellowship and The Center for Spiritual Awareness, the Camino de Santiago, Lacanian psychoanalysis, moving beyond speculative conversations into the actualization of concepts, Yamas and Niyamas, life and oneness consciousness, and the importance of bringing it back to the miracle of right now.
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Gary Kraftsow, founder of the American Viniyoga Institute, talks with J about the historical, philosophical, and religious context in which yoga appeared. They discuss the origins and substance of teachings given by TKV Desikachar at Colgate University in 1976, Patanjali's interest in the phenomenon of faith rather than the metaphysical nature of the godhead, qualified non-dualism, escaping the materialism of asana, from alternative to complimentary medicine, and transformation that addresses the fragmentation of our times.
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Ryan Cunningham, co-founder of Boston Yoga Collective, returns to the show to continue an ongoing conversation with J about the evolution and future of yoga centers. They discuss meeting each other at the tail end of the traveling circuit heyday, economics of operating an independent center, changes in the market and studio culture, landlords and leases, importance of physical spaces post-pandemic, influence of the person at the top, pedagogical models and meditation, and the possibility of still making it work against all odds.
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J decides to depart from his usual protocol and takes a moment to talk about the economics of opening a yoga center in 2023. He lays out the evolution of common models used for operating yoga centers from 2007 until 2019, pay scales and competing incentives, the pivotal shift that destroyed sustainability, moving from spaces to audiences, downsides of creating online platforms and reach, real estate markets and signing leases, cooperatives, and reasons why it might be worth it to open something despite all the obstacles.
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Michael Hutchinson, author of Breath for Health, talks with J about the teachings of TKV Desikachar and developing understanding through experience. They discuss Michael's dual life working in both the physics of explosion mechanics and yoga, Desikachar and Iyengar, overcoming challenges with pranayama, hard science and ancient wisdom, Bhavana and accessing subtle internal experiences, building inner organizational capacity, respecting aspects of yoga that can't be measured, and valuing little things that lead to big changes of heart.
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Andrew Eppler, director of Ashtanga Yoga Studio and visionary behind the Mysore Yoga Traditions Film and Conference, talks with J about BNS Iyengar and the Mysore Yoga Traditions. They discuss how Andrew discovered BNS Iyengar, stepping with the right or left foot, influence of western teachers, distinguishing vinyasas, origins of Patabi Jois sequences, Nathamuni Sampradaya, illusion or reality, God and Self-realization, learning from elders, Krishnamachrya leaving Mysore, and a love of yoga that transcends culture and social class.
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Anoop Kumar, MD, founder of Health Revolution, talks with J about the primacy of consciousness and its implications on allopathic medicine. They discuss Anoop's early exposure to nondual philosophy, becoming an emergency physician, definitions of consciousness, the "recognition" problem, multidirectional healing, measuring outcomes, inverting primary and complimentary care, Atman and Brahman, the three minds of experience, and creating bridges of understanding with insights into the fundamental nature of the cosmos.
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David Procyshyn, founder of doyogawithme.com, talks with J about the evolution of online yoga and maintaining values in the digital landscape. They discuss the origins of the doyogawithme platform, giving everything away for free and switching from donations to subscriptions, being values-oriented and the stirha/sukha of business, understanding the user experience, advantages and disadvantages of social media, growing your reach and making money, trending online, conscious consumerism, and being human in a technological realm.
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Frank Jude Boccio, host of Pobsa’s Dharma Lounge Podcast, returns to continue a conversation with J about materialism, naturalism, and the great mysteries of life. They discuss definitions of religious and spiritual, rejection of anything supernatural in favor of awe, the relationship between God and religion, Frank's spiritual background, forms of grace and worship, the magic of matter, evil actions and moral codes, and coming together around universal principles and common humanity to honor diversity of religious life.
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Ranju Roy and Dave Charlton, coauthors of Embodying the Yoga Sutra: Support, Direction, Space, return to talk with J about the role yoga plays in fulfilling our innate religious impulse. They discuss their childhood exposures to religion, the third and forth chapters of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, Ishavara Pranidhana, the evolution of TKV Desikachar's teaching on devotion, prayer and the question of a creator, challenging post-enlightenment viewpoints, chanting and emotions, and coming to humble terms with our place in an unknowable universe.
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Ron Baker, author of Bright Lights, Big Empty: A Journey of Profound Awakening, talks with J about soul awakenings and the journey to Self. They discuss a mutual connection and convergences, signposts in Ron's early childhood, meeting his friend Robert and the experience of receiving communication from the Arch Angel Gabriel, questions of biblical prophecy, pathways of initiation, receiving guidance and cultivating intention, bioenergetic healing and nine nurturing needs, and learning to love and value life.
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Beth Shaw, founder of YogaFit and author of Healing Trauma With Yoga & Mind-Body Techniques, talks with J about the role she played in bringing yoga into the mainstream. They discuss the genesis of YogaFit and starting a multi-million dollar business out of her trunk, developing a style of practice that was appealing to gym culture, getting flak from the yoga world, spiritual interventions and inclusive language, credentialing and yoga therapy, social media, and having the courage of your convictions to offer something transformational.
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Concetta Troskie, creator of Mindfully Embodied, is an old friend of J's and they reunite to talk about their respective journeys of healing and spirit. They discuss the thriving art and yoga scene in Brooklyn in the early aughts, being supported as young teachers, searching for answers and almost becoming a nun before choosing to live in the world, getting sick with a brain tumor and losing everything that defined her, EMDR and Ketamine assisted therapy, recovering souls, and cultivating a differential reverence rooted in love and humility.
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Annabelle Brown, J's youngest daughter, returns to talk about how she has been managing her mental health and the process of healing our traumas. They discuss what it felt like when she started to have OCD, being unable to communicate because of compulsions, the moment that it seemingly turned for her and what motivated it, her therapist and how being able to talk about what is happening helps, the evolution of her relationship with her sister, a brief cameo from Mom, and appreciating the innocence and wisdom of a sensitive child.
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Ron Brent talks with J about time spent with Yogi Bhajan and Muktananda. They discuss his awakening experience, a brief stint in Scientology, stumbling upon Yogi Bhajan on Melrose Ave, actual sources of Kundalini Yoga, spontaneous kriyas vs a technology of practice, discovering Muktananda, seeing Yogi Bhajan admonished by his guru Virsa Singh, questioning ethics and morals, guru and disciple traditions, transmission and shaktipat initiation, and understanding how formlessness expresses itself through the forms of our culture.
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Daniel Simpson, from the Ancient Futures Podcast, guest hosts to ask J about the evolution of J. Brown Yoga Talks and the entwinement of his personal growth with the creative process of producing a weekly show. They discuss the original motivations behind starting the podcast, the process by which episodes are generated, how J's family feels about his "radical transparency," stoking controversy and learning better of it, cultural appropriation, coming to God, and the spirit of friendship and inquiry that fuels J's passion for facilitating conversation.
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Joshua Schrei, host of The Emerald Podcast, returns to talk with J about our place in this alive world. They discuss the context in which yoga arises, implications of an animistic worldview in modern times, dictates of the western scientific tradition, fuzzy boundaries and the animacy of inanimate objects, entertwinement of subjective and objective reality, dualistic nonduality, an expanded vision of personhood, existence as a continuum, evil entities and a creator spirit, musical interelationality, and ceding agency to the theater of stone and time.
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R. Sriram, coauthor of Natya Yoga: Peace Passion Pain Mapping Emotions, reunites with J to talk about the deeper questions of purpose and meaning in yoga. They discuss his understanding of T Krishnamacharya's and TKV Desikachar's view on God, the effects of connecting to source, humility and faith, Vedic chanting with J Krishnamurti, academic bonafides and diverging from Vyasa's commentary on Patañjali’s Yogasūtras, limitations of science and potential of human spirit, and respecting the personal artistic nature of the divine.
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Gill Lloyd, former teacher trainer for the British Wheel of Yoga and former chair of both Viniyoga Britain and KHYF-UK, talks with J about her life in yoga and the influence of TKV Desikachar. They discuss her first class in the mid eighties, Vinyasa Krama in principle and practice, stories of watching Desikachar teach, the importance of chanting and heart-to-heart connection, watching "Sir's" health decline and the scandal with his son, religiosity, personal practice and educating teachers, and learning the art of living peacefully in this world.
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