Joshua Schrei - "Pulses, Rhythms and Resonances"

Joshua Schrei - "Pulses, Rhythms and Resonances"

Joshua Schrei, host of The Emerald Podcast, talks with J about the animate world in which we live. They discuss the substrate of ecstatic unified experience underlying all human history, the difference between the mystic and the mythic, technologies of rapture, science and spirituality, resonance across different axis, and the growing imperative to revive communal rituals of wonder that resound with the pulse of the present.

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Kristin Leal - "Reverse Engineering Awe"

Kristin Leal - "Reverse Engineering Awe"

Kristin Leal, author of MetaAnatomy: A Modern Yogi’s Practical Guide to the Physical and Energetic Anatomy of Your Amazing Body, talks with J about the mapping of human body and experience. They discuss the Jivamukti Yoga Center on Second Ave that they both started practicing at, Rod Stryker and scandal, failed models, how we hold teachers and teachings, gross and subtle anatomy, and the practicality of "being in your heart."

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Brandt Passalacqua - "Aid Suffering and Spiritual Evolution"

Brandt Passalacqua - "Aid Suffering and Spiritual Evolution"

Brandt Passalacqua, creator of Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy, talks with J about yoga therapy and subtle aspects of yoga. They discuss being a musician in NYC in the early 90's, Brandt's near death experience and the role yoga played in his miraculous recovery, his time at Sivananda and studying with Mukunda Stiles, comparing yoga and yoga therapy, the role of intuition, and the spirit of coming together in the name of balance.

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Simon Goss - "Sensitive New Age Guys"

Simon Goss - "Sensitive New Age Guys"

Simon Goss is a listener who reached out and J thought it would be fun to get to know him on the show. They discuss Simons background in football, growing up in the inner city of Los Angeles, why he spent four years in the Marines, the massage that changed everything, becoming a massage therapist and getting into yoga, overcoming toxic masculinity, courage to be vulnerable, and the shared experience that connects them.

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Robert Moses - "Consciousness, Liberation, and Karma"

Robert Moses - "Consciousness, Liberation, and Karma"

Robert Moses, founder of Namarupa: Categories of Indian Thought, talks with J about subtle aspects of yoga philosophy and life. They discuss his transition to a spiritual path, his time as a disciple of Swami Vishnudevananda and life after the ashram, working through our karmas, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Advaita Vedanta, theory of the Yuga cycle, and keeping ourselves asking the big questions that yoga intends us to explore.

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Gina Zimmerman - "Beyond Personal Identity"

Gina Zimmerman - "Beyond Personal Identity"

Gina Zimmerman is an old friend of J's and they talk about longevity as a teacher and going beyond personal identity. They discuss meeting in Brooklyn 18 years ago, NY during 9/11, the rise and fall of Anusara, sustainability and scale, developing an inner ear from which we can hear clearly, smaller and larger forms of intuition, countering the seeking mechanism, and becoming equipped to hold the fullness of life.

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Mike Huggins - "Living Under A Broken Model"

Mike Huggins - "Living Under A Broken Model"

Mike Huggins, founder of Transformation Yoga Project, returns to report on what is happening in yoga service. They discuss the impact of the pandemic on the non-profit yoga service segment, the direction that Transformation Yoga project has chosen, why the models are broken, needing to "go big or go real small," and having courage to actualize our felt experience of yoga in ways that are true to our deeper purpose.

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Lizzie Lasater - "Holding This Moment"

Lizzie Lasater - "Holding This Moment"

Lizzie Lasater talks with J about her mom, finding her dharma, and walking a mystical path of beauty. They discuss her childhood experience of having a famous yoga mom, developing her own practice, moving from architecture to producing yoga videos and teaching, becoming a mom herself, holding the moment close without gripping too tight, trusting intuition, and coming to cherish the simple moments that reaffirm the majesty and beauty of life.

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Jacob Kyle - "Scholarship, Practice, and Embodied Philosophy"

Jacob Kyle - "Scholarship, Practice, and Embodied Philosophy"

Jacob Kyle, host of the Chitheads Podcast and founding director of Embodied Philosophy, talks with J about the limits of academia, raising the bar on yoga education, and the divine nature of life. They discuss Jacob's transition from western to eastern philosophy, the intersection of scholar and practitioner, Neelakhanta Meditation, starting a podcast and an online platform, and the relevance of nondual tantra for modern society.

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Eliana Moreira - "Underbellies and Silver Linings"

Eliana Moreira - "Underbellies and Silver Linings"

Eliana Moreira talks with J about the dark side of yoga celebrity and navigating the post-pandemic reality. They discuss Eliana's adverse reaction to years of hot yoga and how it lead her to Ayurveda, why she declined an invitation to study with BKS Iyengar, opening a yoga center, meeting Dr. Timothy McCall, her fathers death and the mystical implications, and finding the right balance of money and bliss so the yoga remains true.

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Paul Langland - "Improvisatory Virtuosic Moments"

Paul Langland - "Improvisatory Virtuosic Moments"

Paul Langland, choreographer, dancer, and teacher who for the last 46 years has been an innovator in dance and performance, talks about his work exploring human experience and creative expression. They discuss J's time studying with Paul at the Experimental Theater Wing in the 90's, the origins of contact improvisation, Meredith Monk and Ping Chong, Mary Overly and six viewpoints, Alan Wayne technique, and finding virtuosity.

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Carl Horowitz - "Old School NY Yoga and Patterns of Tension"

Carl Horowitz - "Old School NY Yoga and Patterns of Tension"

Carl Horowitz talks with J about their formative years in the NY Yoga scene and holding a line of integrity. They discuss Carl's former life as a professional skater, his relationship to the yoga industry, why he preferred teaching at Crunch Gym, observing patterns of tension, personal practice, reconciling the abuse histories of our teachers, family life and the death of Carl's wife, and the spirit of inquiry behind authentic yoga.

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Michelle Ryan - "Teacher Training, Hierarchies of Dominance"

Michelle Ryan - "Teacher Training, Hierarchies of Dominance"

Michelle Ryan returns to the show to talk with J about the problems with teacher training and the deeper issues corrupting yoga. They discuss what happened to her yoga center since they last spoke, the collective model she attempted to forge, her opposition to the Yoga Alliance 200-hour standards, cultural appropriation of indigenous knowledge, neoliberal politics and late stage capitalism, and holding ourselves and others to account..

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Eve Grzybowski - "Radical Generosity, Inspired Retirement"

Eve Grzybowski - "Radical Generosity, Inspired Retirement"

Eve Grzybowski, author of Teach Yourself Yoga talks with J about being an early yoga adopter and a radical vision for communal retirement. They discuss yoga in the 70's and 80's, the yoga schools she founded, starting a blog back when that was a thing, creating a small community of friends to live out their latter years together, trials and joys of adult shared housing, the teachings that come when facing end stages of life.

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Sally Kempton - "Obedience, Tantra, and Subtle Body"

Sally Kempton - "Obedience, Tantra, and Subtle Body"

Sally Kempton, author of Meditation for the Love of It and Awakening Shakti, talks with J about different paths in yoga and opening the subtle body. They discuss the 70's yoga scene, Swami Muktananda and her "30 years in obedience," why she left the ashram life, asceticism and tantra, personal enlightenment vs collective good, spontaneous kundalini experiences, and the mystical elements of yoga that people are reticent to talk about.

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Brian Cooper - "Yoga Professionals"

Brian Cooper - "Yoga Professionals"

Brian Cooper, PhD, co-founder and director of Yoga Professionals (aka Yoga Alliance Professionals,) talks with J about raising the standards and quality of yoga teaching. They discuss Brian's background in practice, the impetus behind starting an association, flaws with hours-based curricula, necessary elements in fostering yoga education, the mainstream fantasy narrative of yoga, if mystical realms exist, and fostering yoga that maintains integrity.

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Frank Jude Boccio - "Religious But Not Spiritual"

Frank Jude Boccio - "Religious But Not Spiritual"

Frank Jude Boccio returns to the show for an in-depth discussion about his writings Religious But Not Spiritual, The Secret, Neo-Liberal Buddhism, and McMindfulness: The New Capitalist Spirituality. They discuss the etymology of the word religion, what it means to be spiritual, supernatural pseudo-spirituality, science, materialism, belief in a soul, mcmindfulness, and the honest exchange of ideas and opinions that lead to a discerned truth.

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Brendan McCall - "Yoga of Contemporary Dance"

Brendan McCall - "Yoga of Contemporary Dance"

Brendan McCall. movement artist and educator, talks with J about parallels between contemporary dance and yoga. Brendan and J went to college and made collaborative performance art together. They discuss the experimental performance training they received, experiential anatomy and Allan Wayne work, Jean Hamilton Floor Barre and Mary Overlie’s Six Viewpoints, and the spirit of somatic inquiry that inspired them both.

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Julie Smerdon - "The Great Experiment"

Julie Smerdon - "The Great Experiment"

Julie Smerdon, founder of Shri Yoga, talks with J about the golden times for the yoga profession and the challenges it now faces. They discuss Julie's early formative health challenges, her transition from fitness to yoga, moving from the US to Australia, opening a center and building a community, having to close during the pandemic, pros and cons of doing teacher trainings, and finding out if it’s possible to make a living teaching without a center?

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Kristine Kaoverii Weber - "Subtle Yoga, Subtle Life"

Kristine Kaoverii Weber - "Subtle Yoga, Subtle Life"

Kristine Kaoverii Weber, founder of Subtle® Yoga, talks with J about the subtle nuances of embracing a practice and life of yoga. They discuss Kristine's early years on "walkabout," going against the grain, neuroscience as a lens, implicate order and the crisis of misperception, moving to New Zealand, mystical realms, listening for divine messages, and bridging the seeming chasms that keep us bound and resistant to love.

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