
J. Brown Yoga Talks
531 episodes — Page 3 of 11
Ep 431Michelle Thielen - "Yoga for Jesus"
EYou 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. Michelle Thielen, founder of Yoga Faith, talks with J about utilizing yoga practice to strengthen a belief in Jesus Christ. They discuss yogis being OK with God but not Jesus, Christians thinking yoga is demonic and everything being part of creation, personal faith separate from institutionalized churches, historical roots of christian yoga, being humbled before a Heavenly Father, whether or not Jesus is cool with chanting, Satan and the battle for souls, knowing your knower, and receiving guidance and blessings in the secret place of the most high.
Ep 430Hari-kirtana das - "A Reasonable Faith in the Bhagavad Gita"
EYou 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. Hari-kirtana das, author of Journey into the Bhagavad Gita: A Guide to Exploring Timeless Principles of Transcendental Knowledge and Integrating Them Into Your Life, talks with J about universal principles that lead to religious experience. They discuss origins and larger context of the Bhagavad Gita, mindset of the reader, divergence of faith and knowledge, undifferentiated oneness, personal relationship of transcendental love, reincarnation, acting in harmony with cosmic order, and seeing ourselves as we truly we are.
Ep 429Tessa Hillman - "Helped Along by Guides and Angels"
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. Tessa Hillman, author of Yoga Stories from Guru Guptananda and Memoir of a Skeptical Seeker, talks with J about opening up to spiritual realms and receiving guidance. They discus coming to yoga in the 70's and 80's, teacher training and yearning for a deeper understanding, when skepticism fails, coming into communication with Guru Guptananda and stories that teach yoga philosophy, messages from a North American Indian Chief, being protected by your own goodness, and realizing that we are helped along by guides and angels.
Ep 428Sage Rountree - "Yoga for Athletes, Exercise Science for Yogis"
EYou 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. Sage Rountree, author of The Athletes Guide to Recovery and The Art of Yoga Sequencing, talks with J about yoga for athletes and endurance science for yoga teachers. They discuss the origins of Sages name, starting out in yoga and becoming an endurance coach, being ready for connection, specificity in goals and reasons to train, sports specific conditioning and utilizing poses, changing science and three best things for recovery, placebo effect and ice baths, business models for centers, and charging people to trust the process.
Ep 427Godfrey Devereux - "Rendering Sutras, Spiritual Dimensions"
EYou 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. Godfrey Devereux, author of YOGA UNVEILED, YOGA DECODED, and ANNOTATED YOGA SUTRAS, returns to talk with J about whether or not Patanjali is a dualist and the invulnerability of our spiritual nature. They discuss translation vs rendering, adhering to interpretations, manufacturing silence, deeper relinquishing, intelligent power, state of being human, impersonal consciousness, moral codes, tantra and human sexuality, postural practice and capacity for self-harm, and rhythmic progression towards the presence of awareness.
Ep 426Josh Kane - "Home Studios, Commercial Leases, Authentic Yoga"
EYou 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. Josh Kane, founder of Gandiva Yoga Center, talks with J about transitioning from independent contractor to center owner, the pursuit of deeper understanding, and the in's and out's of dedicated locations. They discuss how a blue-man group audition led to yoga, being a child actor, finding a teacher and lineage, John Friend's bowspring system, studying with Ragunath, falling out with studio owners, consistent schedules, challenges of creating a home studio, credibility of having a lease, and risking it all on the possibility of lasting joy.
Ep 425Eddie Ellner - "Roads Less Traveled and Spaces To Gather"
EYou 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. Eddie Ellner, founder of Yoga Soup, talks with J about the trajectory of yoga into western culture, paradoxes in the human condition, and creating spaces for people to gather. They discuss the early 90's yoga scene via Yogaworks and Jivamukti, the influence of Brian Kest and Steve Ross, acceptance or manipulation of your body, charismatic teachers and the dangers of celebrity, discerning truth, creating Yoga Soup, sobering business realities, and penetrating the fear of what might happen to find joy in making a place for friends to come together.
Ep 424Vijay Hassin, Sharada Thompson, and Kathleen Rosenberg - "Integral Yoga Exposed"
EYou 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. Vijay Hassin, Sharada Thompson and Kathleen Rosenberg talk with J about the underbelly of Swami Satchidananda and the Integral Yoga Institute. They discuss Vijay's history including his founding of the center in San Francisco, the meeting in the 1970's when allegations of sexual misconduct were first made, more recent revelations and the Facebook group that Kathleen started, Sharada's story of mistreatment at the hands of Swami Satchidananda, and reconciling the hurt created by failed leaders and institutions.
Ep 423Lizzie and Judith Lasater - "Menopause and Beyond"
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. 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.
Ep 422Hy Brown - "Aftermath of the American Dream"
EHy 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. To subscribe and support the show… GET PREMIUM. Check out J's other podcast… J. BROWN YOGA THOUGHTS.
Ep 421Bryan Kest - "Autobiography of an American Yogi"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 420Esther Ekhart - "Devotion, Surrender, and Video Production"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 419Noah Mazé - "Downturns and Ambiguities in Yoga Profession"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 418Cindy Lusk - "Making Sense of Contradictory Messages"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 417Ranju Roy - "Pilgrimage Into Sacred Inner Landscapes"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 416Dr. Lauren Tober - "The Frontline of Mental Health Care"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 415Ryan Kurczak - "Stepping into a Samadhi State"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 414Tara Stiles - "Online Influence and a Return to Creativity"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 413Jonathan FitzGordon - "Learning to Move and Be Well"
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. 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.
Ep 412Paul JJ Alix - "Strict Protocols for Committed Students"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 411Nate Klemp - "Strategies for a Distracted and Polarized World"
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. 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.
Ep 410Josh Thomas - "Being Expansive Amidst Deep Suffering"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 409Weena Pauly - "Impulse Towards Aliveness"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 408Keith Parker - "Chakras and Auras are Real"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 407Year End Check in with J - "Standing at a Crossroads"
EJ 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. To subscribe and support the show… GET PREMIUM. Check out J's other podcast… J. BROWN YOGA THOUGHTS.
Ep 406Katie Hemphill - "Biomedical Engineering to Animistic Wonder"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 405Radha Metro-Midkiff - "Gurus, Disciples, and Institutions"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 404Brett Larkin - "Youtube, Kundalini, and Yoga Industry"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 403Diana May - "Having a Regulated Nervous System"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 402John Stirk - "Awakening to the Unknown"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 401Philip Deslippe - "The Truth About Yogi Bhajan and 3HO"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 400Ruth White - "Iyengar's UK Roots and the Essence of Yoga"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 399Cristina & Diego - "Experiencing the World in Barefoot Shoes"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 398Joe Simek - "Goals and Trajectories for Yoga Centers"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 397Mark Walsh - "Trauma, Embodiment, and Facebook Bombs"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 396Jason Shaw and Emily Brown - "Quality Yoga, Quality Furniture"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 395Bobbi Paidel - "Guru Relationships and Timeless Wisdom"
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. 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.
Ep 394Rod Stryker - "Knowledge, Power and Devotion"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 393Divya Kohli - "A Midlife Crisis of Yoga"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 392David McGrath - "Yamas, Niyamas, and Accordance with Life"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 391Gary Kraftsow - "Nonsectarian But Not Secular"
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. 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.
Ep 390Ryan Cunningham - "Return of Brick-and-Mortar Yoga?"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 389Check In with J - "The Economics of a Yoga Center in 2023"
EJ 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. To subscribe and support the show… GET PREMIUM. Check out J's other podcast… J. BROWN YOGA THOUGHTS.
Ep 388Michael Hutchinson - "Your Breath Wants to Help You"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 387Andrew Eppler - "BNS Iyengar and Mysore Yoga Traditions"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 386Anoop Kumar - "Insufficiency of the Biopsychosocial Model"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 385David Procyshyn - "Going Online with DoYogaWithMe"
EYou 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. 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. For 2-months of unlimited access at doyogawithme go to: https://www.doyogawithme.com/yogi/register/j-brown-yoga Promo code: jbrown
Ep 384Frank Jude Boccio - "Sacred Depths of Religious Naturalism"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 383Ranju Roy and Dave Charlton - "Religiousness and Yoga"
EYou 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. 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.
Ep 382Ron Baker - "A Souls Journey into Awakening"
EYou 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. 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.