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.

Bari Gratton, coauthor of an Open Letter To Yoga Alliance along with collaborators Meghan Maris, Courtney Ng, Gayatri Sehgal, and Shuo Wang, talks with J about the possibility for change in the yoga profession. They discuss the Masters of Arts in Yoga Studies program at Loyola Marymount University, problems with the Yoga Alliance and how the final project they did together came about, whether yoga teaching ought to be regulated, suggestions for reform, appropriation and racism, and engaging in good faith dialogue that respects differences.

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.

Blake Tedder, host of Inner Explorations with Angela and Victor: A Yoga Podcast, talks with J about healing trauma and going deeper in personal practice. They discuss Blake's process of recovery after being in a plane crash and having his appearance scarred by burns, discovering yoga and the influence of his teachers, disassociation and ways to embodiment, his evolution in personal practice from chasing healing to going within and listening to the body, and being directed by the intelligent Life Force that flows through us.

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.

Karin Lynn Carlson, author of the substack Gristle and bone, talks with J about leaving the yoga profession and the power of prayer. They discuss the pitfalls of a group yoga class context, her decision to wind down her teaching, importance of mentorship, a cultural moment defined by repressed futility, the role of practice in bringing about a state of awareness, her turn to writing and most recent post, triage for despair, acknowledging a higher power, choking on hope, and the way prayer renders us responsibility for our 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.

Nick Beem, co-founder of Grateful Yoga, talks with J about the implications of yoga as ritual vs technology. They discuss the contrasts between Nicks training in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy and ParaYoga, why framing yoga as a set of tools for self improvement is lacking, becoming fatigued by intellectual gyrations, intention empowering practice more than some universal metaphysics, recognizing our animistic ancestry and a More Than Human world, and learning to ride the slippery edge where doing and surrender blend together.

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.

Kat Rosenfield, author of No One Will Miss Her and co-host of the Feminine Chaos Podcast, talks with J about her recent article on politics in the yoga space. They discuss Kat's evolution as a freelance pop culture and political writer, her separate life in yoga practice and teaching, the merging of those worlds in her article regarding the high tension and fierce infighting in online yoga communities, broader patterns and implications around identity politics, and reserving the right to let yoga remain a more neutral ground in the culture wars.

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.

Sophie Strand, author of The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine and facilitator of the online course, Myth & Mycelium: Rerooting & Rewilding the Gospels, talks with J about summoning enchantment and healing beyond hope. They discuss Sophie's health journey and the misgivings of the medical industrial complex, epiphanies around fungi organisms and fungal networks, metabolic environment, cultural stories vs lived experience, gating out miracles, "the animate everything," and alchemical storytelling.

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.

Nischala Joy Devi, author of The Secret Power of Yoga: A Woman's Guide to the Heart and Spirit of the Yoga Sutras, returns to talk with J about her revised interpretation of Patanjali's last two padas. They discuss what led to doing a revision of her writing on Yoga Sutras, the criticism she has received since the first edition, why so little consideration is given to the third and fourth padas, going beyond practice and mind, renunciation, the grace of intuitive wisdom, and relinquishing our efforts so we might effortlessly reside in our heart.

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.

Leslie Kaminoff, founder of The Breathing Project and coauthor of Yoga Anatomy, returns to talk with J about the changing professional landscape and deeper inquiries into the nature of healing. They discuss Leslie's bout with long covid and the procedure that reset his heart, working on the third edition of Yoga Anatomy, TKV Desikachar and teachings on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, Leslie's coming show examining one-to-one teaching, having faith, surrendering to dharma, intuition and knowledge, and forever continuing to learn and discover.

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.

Dr. Shamini Jain, Founder and Director of the Consciousness and Healing Initiative and author of Healing Ourselves: Biofield Science and the Future of Health, talks with J about how there need be no divide between science and spirituality. They discuss healing as the absence of disease (pathogenesis) vs a reflection of harmony (salutagenisous,) what placebo research tells us about the power of consciousness to heal ourselves, Jainism, and how when it comes to healing the biggest aura (nature) always wins.

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.

Amy Matthews, co-founder of Babies Project and Program Director for the Somatic Movement Educator (SME) and Infant Developmental Movement Educator (IDME) programs at Sonder Movement Project, returns to talk with J about redefining what it is to be human and reimagining educational models. They discuss the jarring stop to being a traveling teacher, the third edition of Yoga Anatomy, yoga and somatics, embodiment, ourselves as more than individuals, and developing pedagogical starting points based in curiosity.