J. Brown Yoga Talks

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.

Todd Norian, author of Tantra Yoga: Journey to Unbreakable Wholeness, returns to talk with J about happiness, freedom, and opening to a bigger energy. They discuss what it means to be a yoga teacher in 2024, transmission online and in person, distinguishing between happiness and joy, Svatantrya, randomness and entanglement, auspiciousness of your heart and Gods will, creating healthy self boundaries, how to make a decision, being supported by spirit, going within, and setting the sails to catch the winds of grace.

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.

Stephen Cope, author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self and The Dharma in Difficult Times, talks with J about the crossovers and divergences in eastern and western spirituality. They discuss psychotherapy and contemplative pursuits, crazy wisdom teachers, theology and practice, divinity school, discovering Kripalu, shaktiput from Amrit Desai, revelations of abuse and reinvention from ashram to retreat center, prayer and meditation, dharma, being called to act, and slowly refining your capacity to know that still small voice within.

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.

Nadine Watton, part of the Hillside Yoga Collective, talks with J about riding the wave and surviving the crash of yoga into the mainstream in both practice and profession. They discuss mutual friends and synchronicity, practicing in the late 90's, teacher training certification becoming a thing, Dave Charlton and the British Wheel of Yoga, choosing yoga as a full time profession and having a family, integrated breath in asana, yoga teacher collectives, and letting go of trying to fit into tired molds so we can stay true to what feels most important.

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.

Katie Armstrong, founder of Inspired Living, talks with J about moving through different life stages and the healing power of building muscle. They discuss starting a yoga-related business in the early aughts, e-commerce, the festival circuit and the unseen backstage realities of presenters, hormone replacement therapy, muscle as medicine, feeling empowered to engage a diversity of embodiment practices, crisis of sedentary lifestyles, capacity for stress, progress over perfection, and finding resiliency in the face of entropy.

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.

Susi Amendola, author of The Centered Heart, talks with J about the intersection of medicine and holistic health. They discuss suffering from debilitating anxiety, being saved by yoga and joining an ashram, reconciling fallen gurus, becoming part of the Dean Ornish Lifestyle Medicine Program, internal vs external locus of control, four lifestyle medicine protocols, impacts of chronic stress, coexistence with allopathy, effectiveness of imagery, nervous system resilience, and addressing the core process underlying our choice making.

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.

Brad Wetzler, author of Into the Soul of the World, talks with J about overcoming addiction, spiritual interventions, and laying ourselves bare in order to heal. They discuss the pandemic period they met in, getting misdiagnosed as bipolar and becoming addicted to medication, mental health care diagnosis and treatment, community yoga, saints and gurus, walking in the footsteps of Jesus, undoing learned narcissism, receiving shaktipat, swimming in the waters of materialism, devotion, being softened by love, and finding real humanity.

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.

Live from the Berkshire Yoga Festival 2024, J talks with Johanna Epps, Louise LeGouis, and Leslie Kaminoff about motivation, purpose, and the zeitgeist of the times. They discuss making sense of the scandals, new challenges, marketing and patience, hurting our bodies and student safety, what sells and presenting to the public, bubbles bursting and the traveling teacher circuit, reasons to attend and benefits of presenting at a festival, eternal topics and breaking new ground, and not taking for granted the joy of being in person.

J departs from his usual format to reflect on how he lost hope in the viability of small intimate yoga centers and why he has decided to open one now. He discusses the dark night of the soul that many yoga teachers are facing, the events that have led to the crossroads he faces, a random opportunity or perhaps divine intervention that has changed everything, and the hard reality that has caused him to admit that he can't do it alone.

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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.

Godfrey Devereux, author of The Little Book of the Bandhas, returns to talk with J about releasing somatic intelligence from learned habits and the story that bandhas tell us. They discuss varied ideas about bandhas, connection between Mulabandha and exhalation, pulsating opposition of spinal curves, spontaneous muscle events leading to potent and energetic spiritual experience, Iyengar and bandha in the extremities, oojai breathing, and the irresistible invitation to surrender into the totality of life and deepest heart of being human.

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.

David and Iana Lifar, founders of the Indra Devi Foundation in Argentina and creators of Indra Devi International Virtual Yoga School, talk with J about the legacy of Indra Devi with translation by Mariana Campos. They discuss being inspired to meet Indra after seeing her on a tv show and the immediate connection they made, an experience in a prison that convinced David she was something special, the influence of Krishnamurti, Krishnamacharya and Sai Baba, and the gestures of love that distinguish and characterize Indra's presence.