Freedom Becomes You With Julian Walker

My full length interview with Michael Skelton —dance/movement teacher, on his journey through 5Rhythms, SoulMotion, and now to OpenFloor… Michael has been a huge influence on me as a friend and teacher, and honored me with the invitation to take over his long-running Tuesday night dance event when he moved away from LA, which led to the creation of Dance Tribe!

Laurel and I talked about a lot in a short period of time. Here are some of the topics she observed that we covered: "My process from the beginning of my teaching until now - imitation to innovation. Why I continuously change and evolve how I teach. The importance of cross-training your yoga practice by doing more than asana. A teacher’s willingness to be self-critical and willfully step into the discomfort of asking why we teach what we teach. Why claims about yoga pose benefits are often epistemologically dubious because they lack specificity - who are we talking about when we say this pose will help with this particular body ailment or limitation and how do we know if that’s true if we lack mechanisms to measure these benefits? The difference between mobility and flexibility, active and passive range of motion. The difference between functional movement and aesthetically pleasing movement - is movement either/or? Or do we need to ask a better question? Conflict (or opportunity?) that can arise when

In Part Two of my fascinating interview with Matthew, we discuss older vs more contemporary ways of understanding mind-body psychology as experienced in yoga practice. Matthew shares about being a younger yogi who valued the altered state of being on the mat as somehow “more real” and valid than the unglamorous struggles and anxieties of everyday life. He tells us about idealizing his teacher who could do full front-splits walking in out of the Chicago wintry cold at the beginning of class, as an exemplar of complete open-ness and ease in life, as contrasted with his own discomfort in the world of adult responsibilities. In response I talk about seeking escape in yoga from my own sense of helplessness as a kid from Apartheid South Africa. We finish up talking about Matthew’s fascinating book Threads of Yoga, a “remix” of Patanjali —critical reactions, and our own nerdy fascination with how to understand and keep evolving yoga philosophy. Theme music used by permission of http://www.jesseblakemusic.com/ In

The Light and Shadow of Yoga: Cultish power dynamics, injuries and attitudes toward the body, and entrenched beliefs that are deemed taboo to question. I want to introduce those of you who don’t know him to Matthew Remski —you can read his bio here. In Part One of our discussion, Matthew talks about the tension between being a teacher and author who has also been moving more and more into doing research and journalism around certain key issues in the yoga community. He shares about his fascination with questions of healing, abuse, and distinctions between justice and revenge, transparency and punishment, and how to serve the goal of creating a healthier yoga community without being on a personal psychologically-driven crusade. We discuss his current book and research project WAWADIA (What Are We Actually Doing In Asana?) —a deep exploration of the topic of injuries, abuse, and how we think about our bodies in yoga. We touch on some of the history of corporal punishment and intimidation in the yoga tradi

In Part Two, Jill opens up about her mentor, Glenn Black, and his approach to hands on bodywork in yoga, and how this led to her method of having people practice self-massage in her yoga workshops to heighten body awareness and healing. I am so impressed by the bold moves she made, as she started developing her Yoga Tune Up® balls and bringing them in to how she was teaching. We also touch on her new work around states of bliss and what she calls “tolerance for parasympathy” in terms of working directly with the autonomic nervous system, and how she encourages teachers she trains to keep innovating and developing her work. Theme music used by permission of http://www.jesseblakemusic.com/ Interviews, articles and more at https://www.freedombecomesyou.com

Jill Miller is an innovator and integrator who has a had a huge impact on the intersection between yoga, manual therapy/bodywork, and fitness. She has developed not her only her own approach to the body that has crossed over into being widely acclaimed in each of the above disciplines, but also specialized equipment, and methods of updating how we think about, teach and further evolve yoga practice. In Part One we talk about the history Jill and I share that goes back 20 years to the packed and hot little asana room of Anna Forrest’s yoga studio, and how her work began to take shape via her initial fascination with the core, intestinal health, and recovery from an eating disorder. She shares the powerful pivotal experience that changed everything for her, as well as the newer layers of healing and integration she is currently discovering via somatic psychology. I was really touched by Jill’s willingness to be so open and vulnerable about this personal material and how it has shaped her work in the world w

Please enjoy this unique conversation with Ted Meissner. His way of understanding and sharing Buddhist teaching and practice from a contemporary, secular perspective really illuminates the possibilities of an integrated and grounded journey. We touch on many topics: meditation, psychology, psychedelics, enlightenment, beliefs, reality, spiritual bypassing, and our personal journeys of evolution in terms of how we think about the word “spirituality.” Ted: “As we look more externally in search of something on the outside, that takes us farther away from what’s inside, what’s in our heart right here, right now. This is not anything supernatural, it is very mundane, it is the ordinary. It is this single breath. That type of focus, if you read Dogen and some other Zen authors and even the Pali canon, you see references to this, This, THIS —as not somewhere else, not a place to get to, but a wakefulness to what’s already here…. This is often lost in some places, with some teachers, when it is held up on a pedest

I am so deeply touched and inspired by Chelsea’s truly harrowing journey, that took her from trauma, anorexia and an ensuing life-threatening stroke at age 15, into treatment and the slow process of healing, to becoming a psychoneuroimmunology researcher, yoga teacher, and now creating a non-profit called Eat, Breathe, Thrive that uses a scientifically-informed model to complement the psychological healing from eating disorders with the interoceptive body awareness and mindfulness of yoga practice. Chelsea and I have been good friends for several years, and this opportunity to talk with her in greater depth about her work only made me admire and appreciate her more. Theme music used by permission of http://www.jesseblakemusic.com/ Interviews, articles and more at https://www.freedombecomesyou.com

I met Rick Hanson through an annual conference at UCLA which I have been honored to present at for the last several years, but was already a big fan of his work —most notably his fantastic book Buddha’s Brain which I teach in my Awakened Heart, Embodied Mind yoga teacher training as a required text. Having briefly shared the stage with him at one of his workshops, and had a chance to chat a little over lunch, I was delighted that he agreed to fit me into his schedule for this incredible conversation. I was already aware of how warm, compassionate and lucid Rick can be as a presenter, but I could not have been prepared for him really turning on the intellectual engines in his mind and delivering this truly extraordinary overview of his perspective. Such a fun ride! We touch on evolutionary psychology, Buddhist teaching, neuroscience, mindful cultivation of beneficial states, and philosophical inquiry into consciousness and phenomenology. Though his intellectual capacity and depth of specialization is deepl

Delighted to share this great conversation with Jules Mitchell, who brings her fascination with exercise science and biomechanics to the evolving field of modern yoga practice. We discuss the tension between a beginning student (or new teacher) mindset around differing “correct” models of alignment and technique, and the less clearly defined process of exploring the underlying realities of the body. Jules talks about how the work she shares with people has evolved to include free movement, loading, and encouraging what she calls “reversibility.” We touch on neuroplasticity, self-loving embodiment, and the inseparable nature of body and mind. As nerdy and technical as these topics sound, Jules is a warm, pragmatic and unpretentious conversationalist —I think you’ll find this a very engaging and illuminating interview! Theme music used by permission of http://www.jesseblakemusic.com/ Interviews, articles and more at https://www.freedombecomesyou.com

Elisha Goldstein Phd’s interview is super accessible, insightful and down to earth. His rational, compassionate and realistic approach to well-being, emotional healing, and life long practice is inspiring, insightful and illuminating. We touch on his early years as a dot-com-boom party animal, his hyper mental phase studying Ken Wilber, and the awakening to meditation that made him question Judaism, God and anything that wasn’t available to the direct experience of self-inquiry…. Great stuff. Theme music used by permission of http://www.jesseblakemusic.com/ Interviews, articles and more at https://www.freedombecomesyou.com