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.

Jonathan Sattin, founder of triyoga, sits down with J at the head offices in London to talk about how he went from holding yoga classes in his living room to creating one of the premier destinations for yoga in the UK. They discuss what it takes to build an operational structure that can survive and grow for eighteen years, amassing five locations, 200+ teachers, and the inherent challenges that come when you get that big. They also touch on the financial realities at work, current trends, and what it might mean to bring integrity to scale.

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.

Roseanne Harvey, founder of its all yoga, baby and co-editor of 21st Century Yoga: Culture, Politics and Practice, is an old friend of J's from the blogosphere days who has been away from the yoga world for a time but has recently emerged once again. In this conversation, they talk about the heyday of the internet, that time Roseanne slept in J's bed, and what is behind her sort-of departure and semi-return to yogaland. They also tackle debt, money, and the yoga of getting our financial houses in order. This episode is brought to you by Karmasoft.

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.

Richard Freeman was the person J most wanted to speak with when starting the podcast and his dream is finally realized in this conversation celebrating the 100th episode. They discuss what yoga was like in the late 60's, how Richard came to study with BKS Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois, universal threads that run through the many different contemplative traditions he has inquired into, trends that have emerged with the progression of yoga into the mainstream, and the importance of remaining curious about the nature of reality.

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.

Amina Naru, board member and project manager at the Yoga Service Council, owner of Posh Yoga, talks with J about her work bringing yoga into juvenile detention centers and prisons, and the new Best Practices for Yoga in the Criminal Justice System. They discuss her spiritual name, some of the trials and tribulations that have shaped her journey into yoga, her experience of being a black woman in a predominantly white profession, the process of creating community, and the profound gift of shared acceptance, wellness, and purpose.

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.

Tiffany Cruikshank, founder of Yoga Medicine, joins J for a discussion about her early challenges and roots into yoga and holistic healing modalities, and the process of developing her professional work as a teacher and educator. Their conversation includes a consideration of changing paradigms in yoga, how she incorporates or separates her yoga with her work in sports medicine and orthopedics, her experience of navigating the yoga industry, and developing training with a focus on fusing the two worlds of eastern and western medicine.

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.

J met Maria Kirsten, founder of Yoga for Grown Ups, through mutual contacts in Japan and they kind of hit it off after discovering they share many common experiences and viewpoints in yoga. In this conversation, they compare notes on teaching and discuss a range of topics including the importance of self-directed mentorship, fostering gradual progressions and relationships over time, teaching people about themselves more than poses, finding your root and stabilization, somatization, and asking the big questions about where it's all going.

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.

Rexx Anthony, founder of Rogue Ashtanga, wrote a blog post entitled "A Cautionary Tale on Operating Yoga Studios" that caught J's attention and spurred this conversation. They talk about Rexx's early adoption of Ashtanga Yoga and how the system has changed over the years. They also discuss the trends and tribulations of managing a yoga center, some of the pressing issues facing the industry, the challenges that yoga teachers grapple with, and the personal and professional factors that make up a life in the grassroots world of yoga.

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.

Seane Corn, creator of 'Off the Mat, Into the World', joins J for a lively and wide-ranging discussion on coming into adulthood as teachers alongside yoga going mainstream. Seane talks about the early days of NY Yoga and Life Cafe, her migration west, how she became a "yoga celebrity," and the political activism that she spearheads. The conversation also examines the evolution of yoga as a profession, healing trauma, sexual misconduct in the yoga world, and the light, shadows and people that have shaped her inspirational teaching.

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.

Or Shahar, from freedomyoga.info, is a podcast listener with a booker who got a bit lucky and caught J in a moment that led to this candid and unexpected conversation about family, cultural divides, and the universality of yoga. Or shares her process of healing depression and trauma, how she ended up making a life for herself in Berlin, overcoming the obstacles that yoga teachers face as professionals, and the challenge of meeting people where they are while still holding true to principles that explore the depth of practice.

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.

Barbara Benagh, legendary indy yoga teacher, joins J to trace the history and evolution of yoga from the 70's until the present day. They discuss her early adoption of Iyengar yoga, her progression into a more somatic approach, the teachers and influences that have inspired her along the way, her relationship to and feeling about the ascendance of yoga as big business and the celebrity of yoga teachers, and how she ended up going against the grain and setting a precedence of cultivating her own sensibilities and charting her own course.