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.   Nikki Vilella, senior teacher and co-owner at NYC's Kula Yoga Project, speaks for herself after being mentioned on the show regarding touch and consent in yoga classes. They reminisce about the early days and then get into a candid discussion on teacher training, deep adjustments and the changing narrative around touch and consent, ethics and legislation, the survival of independent yoga centers, finding community. not trying to be everything, and making it work despite all odds. This episode is sponsored by Ropana CBD.  

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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.   Seth Powell and Chase Bossart come together with J for an in-depth debate into the nature and substance of Patañjali’s Yogasūtras. They discuss whether the sutras and the commentary are written by the same person, differing views on what the text says yoga is, whether it involves stilling the mind to reach a liberation beyond this world or a means of finding clarity and purpose in having this existence, distinguishing between mind and consciousness, and the power of deep yogic inquiry. This episode is sponsored 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.   David Moore, director at the School for F.M. Alexander Studies and author of Smart Yoga: Apply the Alexander Technique to Enhance Your Practice, Prevent Injury, and Increase Body Awareness, talks with J about the elusive technique created by F.M Alexander. They discuss David’s experience of what Alexander defined as “control of human reaction,” the difference between sensing and feeling, educated intuition, letting go of old patterns by engaging your whole system in doing something else. This episode is sponsored by Ropana CBD.  

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.   Michael, Lear, founder of Pangea Yoga and Yoga4Drummers, sits down with J to talk about his unique mix of Trager Approach and Ashtanga Yoga. Michael was born in Easton PA, the town that J moved to a few years ago. They discuss the early yoga scene there and his relationship to Ashtanga Yoga, his work with integrative somatic therapies, how he ended up doing service work around the world, transference of healing through nervous system communication, and the pure joy of rocking out. This episode is sponsored 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.   Jay Fields, author of Teaching People Not Poses, talks with J about their parallel journeys from the early blogosphere days and postural practice to embodiment principles and resilience. They discuss her studies in yoga and neuroscience, some pivotal events in her life that caused Jay to cherish life anew, the principles of embodiment and resilience that she has come to understand and teach, methods for inviting inquiry instead of imposing experience, and the power of doing things just for fun. This episode is sponsored by Ropana CBD.  

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.   Alex Auder, director of Magu Yoga, is a long-time friend of J’s from the early NY days and they get together to talk about her newly-gained Instagram stardom and the recent conversation around consent and touch. They discuss what is behind Alex’s irreverence and trolling on social media, the NY times article, somatic dominance and implicit abuse, the precarious balance between holding people accountable and cancel culture, and the need for modern yoga to evolve beyond its history of abuse. This episode is sponsored 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.   Catherine Salin Derrow, featured in a recent high-profile NY Times article, talks with J about her experience of becoming a flashpoint around consent and touch in yoga. They discuss what happened behind the scenes at the workshop covered by the NY Times, old-school teaching and healthy boundaries, holding people accountable and cancel culture, and the uncomfortable contradictions and difficult questions that must be reckoned with for us to find a healthy way forward. This episode is sponsored by Ropana CBD.  

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.   Ethan Nichtern, author of The Road Home: A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path, has a candid conversation with J about the scandal in the Shambhala Buddhist community, the underlying dynamics at play, and the broader implications for modern spiritual seekers. They discuss the origins of the tradition, his childhood in the community, gurus and his relationship to Chögyam Trungpa and Sakyong Mipham, and what might be needed to foster change in both our inner lives and outer politics. This episode is sponsored 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.   Ean Price Murphy, founder of Moxie Bookkeeping, is an old friend who reconnects with J to discuss how to overcome money shame with cash-management systems that even yoga teachers can understand. They talk about Ean’s viewpoint on numbers and business as a balance of order and chaos like jazz music, the emotional nature of money, using percentages and the Profit First system, and some actionable steps that anyone can take to empower themselves financially and fulfill a sense of purpose. This episode is sponsored by Ropana CBD.  

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.   Donna Farhi returns to the show to talk with J about addressing the fundamental problem of power abuse in Iyengar Yoga and beyond. They discuss the difference between pedagogy and ‘heutagogy’ or self-determined learning, when quiet authority is given by students or authoritarianism is asserted by teachers, educating people about what is between the lines and understanding the invisible matrix so we can make change, and the inquiry and shared humanity that makes for a lifelong sustainable yoga career. This episode is sponsored 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.   Amy Quinn Suplina, founder of Bend and Bloom Yoga in Brooklyn, NY, talks with J about how her center has managed to survive when so many others have closed. They discuss what things were like when they opened their studios, the influences that shaped Amy’s choices, what has contributed to her centers’ sustainability including how much she pays her teachers, her thoughts on social justice and unionization efforts, and the healing power of fostering relationships and developing community. This episode is sponsored by Ropana CBD.  

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.   Julie Dohrman, founder of Shaktiyoga New York, connects with J on the unionization effort at Yogaworks NYC and their shared experience of the evolving yoga industry. They discuss the early days of the NY scene and Julie’s initial foray into yoga, her time in the Anusara community and the trauma of its devolution, the difference between working for a corporation and an independent center owner, survival as a professional teacher, and the effort to create a yoga teacher union as a way to change the industry. This episode is sponsored 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.   Luvena Rangel, founder of The Curvy Yogi, talks with J about the trauma caused by colonization and the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation. After reading Luvena’s blog, Too Much Ado Around Isms, Or is it?, J reached out to discuss the hurt caused by western yoga teachers’ insensitivity to the experiences of Desi’s and BIPOC (Black/Indigenous/People of Color,) and how to stop perpetuating a legacy of injustice by recognizing privilege and creating more impartial narratives. This episode is sponsored by Ropana CBD.  

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 many books including The Elements of Yoga, holds a special place in J’s mind and joins him to discuss the early seeds he planted and the hard-nosed realism he is known for. They discuss his formative years, the role he played and his regrets in “mainstreaming” yoga, gurus and rejecting hierarchies, zen and the influence of child development education, the harm created by using poses for anything other than developing sensitivity, and keeping mysticism practical. This episode is sponsored 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.   Marlysa Sullivan, coauthor of Yoga and Science in Pain Care and assistant professor at Maryland University of Integrative Health, talks with J about Eudaemonic Well-Being, Polyvagal Theory, and the difference between Yoga and Yoga Therapy. They discuss the intersection between yoga philosophy and biomedical science, samkya and evidence informed practice, creating research models that root the data in yoga, and a mutual agreement on potentially clarifying the definition of yoga therapy. This episode is sponsored by Ropana CBD.  

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.   Ian Baker, author of Tibetan Yoga: Principles and Practices, talks with J about Tibetan Yoga and its radical underpinnings of Tantric Buddhism. They discuss Ian’s relationship to the Dalai Lama and the permission he was granted to reveal long-held secrets, misconceptions about Buddhism, the red-robbed sutric path of the renunciate and the white-robbed integrative path of the tantric, and the importance of restoring personal agency obscured by hierarchical Institutions and abused by spiritual leaders. This episode is sponsored 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.   Nathan Oxenfeld, founder of Integral Eyesight Improvement, talks about the Bates Method and helps J unravel some os his own vision patterns. They discuss Nathan’s journey of improving his eyesight and no longer needing glasses, Dr Bates and his method, connections and parallels between Integral Yoga, Sri Aurobindu, and the Bates Method, conventional notions about eye health that limit our perceptions of what is possible, and the deeper implications of inquiry into eyesight. This episode is sponsored by Moonclerk and Ropana CBD.  

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.   Timothy Lynch, formerly authorized Mysore Ashtanga Method teacher, invites J to his Mysore room for a practice and discussion on the state of Ashtanga Yoga. A few weeks before they got together, Timothy decided to have his name removed from the authorized Ashtanga teachers list and they talk about why he made that decision, the history of his practice, consistency vs needing to evolve, and the responsibility of the AY community to repair and address the history of abuse. This episode is sponsored 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.   Dan Coniglio, an official Wim Hof Method Instructor, visits J in PA for an exchange of yoga, friendship, and ice baths. After J gave Dan a yoga class in his studio, Dan took J through a Wim Hof session that culminated in this conversation about the three pillars of: breath, mind and cold. They also discuss how Dan got to the method, parallels to yoga, understanding the value in uncomfortable rituals, and the importance of remaining open to the full range of experience possibility. This episode is sponsored by Moonclerk and Ropana CDB.