Emily Smith - "Ins and Outs of Online Yoga Industry"

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Emily Smith, founder of Yogaversity, talks with J about the former and current state of online yoga. They discuss her eight-year tenure as a producer for Yoga International and the transition from print to digital, first figuring out what a yoga class looks like online, Yogaglo and copyrighting camera angles, portals and pay structures, subscription overload, YI being sold to Gaia, horizontal vs vertical growth, changing attention spans, set curriculum’s and self-directed learning, process of developing courses, and the beauty of remaining forever curious.

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J. Brown

J. Brown is a yoga teacher, writer, and founder of Abhyasa Yoga Center in Brooklyn, New York. A teacher for 15 years, he is known for his pragmatic approach to teaching personal, breath-centered therapeutic yoga that adapt to individual needs. His writing has been featured in Yoga Therapy Today, the International Journal of Yoga Therapy, Elephant Journal and Yogadork.

Steve Szakal - "Becoming the Best Version of Your Self"

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Steve Szakal - "Becoming the Best Version of Your Self"

Steve Szakal, ultra runner and yoga teacher, talks with J about overcoming life's obstacles and being who we are meant to be. They discuss getting caught up in the war on drugs, the inhumanity of institutionalization, starting to run marathons, going to yoga, experiencing beauty and exercising demons, differences between Bikram and Gosh Yoga, being a yoga teacher, becoming inundated with love, and being the best version of yourself.

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Rolf Gates - "To Meet and Hold Suffering Wisely"

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Rolf Gates - "To Meet and Hold Suffering Wisely"

Rolf Gates, author of Daily Reflections on Addiction, Yoga, and Getting Well, talks with J live at the 20th Anniversary Celebration for Dragonfly Yoga about the role of yoga in recovery and what it means to be human. They discuss his military service, recognizing addiction, going into rehab, intensity and intimacy, preying to God, before and after covid, intense administrative moments working at Kripalu, and cultivating a capacity for good will.

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Vish Chatterji - "Vedic Astrology and Your Deeper Soul"

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Vish Chatterji - "Vedic Astrology and Your Deeper Soul"

Vish Chatterji, author of Astrology Decoded: The Secret Science of India's Sages, talks with J about Vedic Astrology as a tool to align with divine nature and cultivate a Satvic existence. They discuss parallel paths and a love of Rishikesh, growing up in an Indian family and becoming a tech CEO, Western astrology not being accurate, birth charts and rising signs, inner spiritual development, and living in a western world connected to ancient wisdom.

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Laurie Lowe - "Communities, Commitments, and Connection"

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Laurie Lowe - "Communities, Commitments, and Connection"

Laurie Lowe, founder of Sage Yoga Studio, talks with J about growing a community and finding a wy to sustain it. They discuss meeting each other in Manchester, coming into yoga organically, British Wheel of Yoga Teacher Training, baby and me classes, importance of having your own space, angel landlords, marketing and administration, commitment and gratification, the unseen work of teaching, and getting out of the way to let things happen.

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Dan Alder - "A Modern Story of Translating Patanjali"

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Dan Alder - "A Modern Story of Translating Patanjali"

Dan Alder, coauthor of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras For the New Millennium: A Translation for the Modern Mind, talks with J about his story of owning a yoga center and translating Patanjali. They discuss taking over a studio in 2010, keeping the business model simple and offline, negative impact of intro offers and memberships, becoming obsessed with yoga philosophy, interpretation of the eight limbs, and a passionate embrace of inquiry.

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Sally Bassett - "Spiritual Transformational Yoga"

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Sally Bassett - "Spiritual Transformational Yoga"

Sally Bassett, author of Spiritual Transformational Yoga via the Eight Limbs and founder of the Peace Through Yoga Foundation, talks with J about being called to volunteerism and how yoga leads to a relationship with God. They discuss Sally's path from CEO to center owner and leading adventure trips, teaching at a theological seminary, faith, and the neutrality of practice.

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Clive Sheridan - "Awakening Beyond the Mind"

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Clive Sheridan - "Awakening Beyond the Mind"

Clive Sheridan talks with J about the early days in yoga's migration west, devotion to inner divine presence, and the intimate experience of being with yourself. They discuss adventure travel in the early sixties, American explorer Theos Bernard, Goa in the seventies, drop in classes with BKS Iyengar, receiving the grace of Goddess Durga, spiritual friendship and sangha, free will, and living in the world passionately.

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Year End Check In with J - "Finances, Faith, and God's Will"

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Year End Check In with J - "Finances, Faith, and God's Will"

J returns to his annual ritual of doing a solo talk during the week of Christmas. He gives an update on the new center including the hard numbers, reflects on the administration and operation of the business, shares his process of managing anxiety and relying upon a relationship with God, his daughters and hope for the youth, his wife, and the deeper reasons he continues to stay committed to being a yoga teacher.

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Gregor Maehle - "Bhakti The Yoga of Love"

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Gregor Maehle - "Bhakti The Yoga of Love"

Gregor Maehle, author of Bhakti The Yoga of Love, returns to talk with J about transforming human love into divine love. They discuss why Bhakti is important, the Hatha Tatva Kaumudi, reclaiming God, divine revelation, absolute vs relative evil, homeostasis and collective effort, practicalities of prayer and meditation, being of service to a higher agenda, reaching across chasms of division, and aligning with infinite love, wisdom and beauty.

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Lucy Crisfield - "That Which is Secretly Uttered All Around"

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Lucy Crisfield - "That Which is Secretly Uttered All Around"

Lucy Crisfield, founder of Original Wisdom, talks with J about bringing forth the essence of love through sound. They discuss being inspired by the Arabic call to prayer, Rishikesh, spending time at Auroville, Vedic chanting at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandirum, learning at SOAS, Kaustaub Desikachar and parting from KYM, evolution towards simple attunement to Satva, Peter Harrison and Svara, and hearing the resonance of your heart.

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Anoop Kumar - "The Future of Allopathic Healthcare is Wellness"

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Anoop Kumar - "The Future of Allopathic Healthcare is Wellness"

Anoop Kumar, MD, founder of Numocore and creator of The Science of Consciousness, talks with J about the movement towards wellness as an emerging new health system. They discuss the limitations of western medicine, solving the mind-body "problem," accessing mind through movement, mechanisms behind religion and science, rest as a form of creativity, and the deepest of all expressions of health and soul.

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Rick Olderman - "Understanding Pain Patterns"

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Rick Olderman - "Understanding Pain Patterns"

Rick Olderman, author of Pain Patterns: Why You Are in Pain and How to Stop It, returns to talk with J about integrating movement, fascia, and neurological reflex patterns to address pain. They discuss three patterns that account for most spinal issues, functional links between past injuries and current pain, fascial lines, cytokines and myofibroblasts, nutrition, simple assessment, and changing habits by feeling the truth more than thinking the truth.

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Susi Hately - "Moving Better, Feeling Better"

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Susi Hately - "Moving Better, Feeling Better"

Susi Hately, founder of Functional Synergy, talks with J about the unfolding process of helping people. They discuss how Susi got to yoga therapy, distinguishing yoga therapy from western medicine, yoga anatomy books in 2004, persistent pain, alignment vs movement function, pain and tissue damage, compensatory patterns, gait analysis, biomechanics, exploring where states of knowing come from, and the soul of a yoga profession.

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Melissa Scagliarini - "Blessings, Burdens, and Financial Futures"

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Melissa Scagliarini - "Blessings, Burdens, and Financial Futures"

Melissa Scagliarini, founder of Satya Yoga Studio, talks with J about teaching, having a center, and a local call to the divine. They discuss experiencing in person classes in remote New Hampshire, reasons for teacher training, health food stores, teaching opportunities and boom times, learning from India, changing terms for commercial leases, navigating pandemic policies, worrying about money, and recognizing what is important.

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Norman Blair - "Is Everything Political Including Yoga?"

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Norman Blair - "Is Everything Political Including Yoga?"

Norman Blair, author of Brightening Our Inner Skies: Yin and Yoga, talks with J about the appropriateness of teachers advocating for causes and campaigns. They discuss the state of the yoga industry since they last spoke, whether politics should be in yoga classes, Egalitarian yoga, war and genocide, antisemitism and Zionism, propaganda, and avoiding the distractions that keep us from what is needed to be well.

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Jenny Gladding - "Self-Leadership Vs Self-Mastery"

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Jenny Gladding - "Self-Leadership Vs Self-Mastery"

Jenny Gladding, author of Self-Leadership Vs Self-Mastery: The Key to Leading with Clarity, Courage, and Heart, talks with J about healthy internal families and unburdening ourselves. They discuss the pitfall of mastery, free-spirited yoga, the usefulness of mirrors, Zen and the art of archery, who is in control, anthropomorphizing divinity, the parts of us that feel stuck and wounded, finding language, and developing a process for multi-dimensional healing.

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She Coombes - "The Test of Time and Practice"

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She Coombes - "The Test of Time and Practice"

She Coombes, a long-time teacher and practitioner, talks with J about living your yoga and what happens when lives get changed. They discuss seeking an alternative lifestyle in 1970's London, when yoga clothes were underwear, meditation with Maharaja, The Friends of Yoga, the simple approach of TKV Desikachar, stages of life, yoga becoming business oriented, sources of wisdom, and remaining resilient with heart.

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Nrithya Jagannathan - "T Krishnamacharya and TKV Desikachar"

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Nrithya Jagannathan - "T Krishnamacharya and TKV Desikachar"

Nrithya Jagannathan, director of Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) Institute of Yoga Studies, talks with J about the legacy of T Krishnamacharya and TKV Desikachar. They discuss Nrithya's early role as a copywriter at the KYM, historical context, asana and Swedish calisthenics, the contribution of TKV Desikachar, distinguishing between yoga and yoga therapy, reclaiming humanity, and bringing about transformation for spiritual growth.

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Brian Dana Akers - "Open Source Software for the Soul"

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Brian Dana Akers - "Open Source Software for the Soul"

Brian Dana Akers, author of The Yoga Manifesto, talks with J about the intrinsically free and historically egalitarian nature of yoga. They discuss the appeal of little orange books, the yoga scene in Kalamazoo, his Great-Great-Great-Grandfather's infamous speech to Abraham Lincoln, his fathers ministry, studying and translating Sanskrit, Swami Vishnudevananda, science and religion, money, scenarios for the future, and why yoga matters.

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