Yogaland Podcast

Is yoga enough? It's one of the most debated questions in the wellness world — and honestly, it's the wrong question. Yoga has specific strengths and specific limitations. The most useful thing we can do as practitioners and teachers is understand both — clearly and without defensiveness. That's what this episode does. We look at what yoga genuinely does brilliantly — and where it fall...

Most yoga backbend preparation focuses on opening the front body. That's valuable — but it's only half the equation . The posterior shoulders, rhomboids, and upper back muscles that should be driving backbends are almost never specifically strengthened in a yoga practice. The result: most practitioners push the floor away rather than pulling the chest forward — and no amount of additional...

If you've been wondering how to incorporate resistance training into your yoga classes without losing what makes yoga yoga — this episode is for you. In this conversation breaks down his exact six-phase structure bringing resistance training into a yoga context. The central insight: resistance doesn't make yoga harder. Done intelligently, it makes yoga easier, more embodied, and more effec...

The summer went quickly; we thought we'd reconvene and catch you up on our latest in life and yoga. As a reminder! Yoga-ish conversations are where we share life stuff, and although it may cross over into yoga territory, it is decidedly non-technical. This week, we cover a lot of ground and talk about: Books we loved this summer What we're watching (spoiler: We're divided over Widow's Bay) Surpris...

What is yoga — really ? Most practitioners and teachers can answer that question with a pose, a breath, or a feeling. Far fewer can answer it with the philosophical depth the tradition actually deserves. This week's episode does just that. Drawing on academic scholarship, Sanskrit etymology, and nearly 30 years of teaching and study, Jason identifies the six core teachings that appear consistently...

Most yoga twists are done to the spine — not with it.   In nearly every conventional yoga twist, the arms and legs do the work: The hand presses against the knee. The elbow hooks outside the thigh. The leverage of the limbs produces the rotation, while the spinal muscles — the obliques, the multifidus, the deep rotators — remain largely passive. The spine is being twisted. It is not doing the...

This week Jason and I have a conversation the yoga world has been dancing around for years: Does yoga build strength?   Jason offers an honest framework for understanding the ways that yoga builds strength — and where it genuinely falls short. What You'll Learn:   Why strength matters — particularly for longevity The two primary components of strength development and how yoga addresses e...

If you've been meaning to teach pranayama in your classes but keep finding reasons to wait — this week's podcast is for you. Most yoga teachers want to include breathwork. The problem isn't interest — it's knowing where to start, how long to spend, and whether students will actually value it. This episodes solves all three problems in under 20 minutes, with three simple, immediately usable techniq...

Most yoga teachers cue Full Boat Pose as an abdominal exercise. It isn't — and once you understand why, you'll also discover Low Boat Pose: the most underused core exercise in yoga. Full Boat Pose (Paripurna Navasana) is primarily a hip flexor exercise. Low Boat Pose (Ardha Navasana) is primarily an abdominal exercise. Understanding why — and how to use both intelligently — is one of the most prac...

Most people assume tight hamstrings are a stretching problem. They're not. Hamstring tightness is almost always multifactorial, which means the solution requires a broader range of strategies — not more of the same stretching that hasn't worked. On this podcast, Jason breaks down 6 evidence-informed strategies for improving hamstring flexibility that go well beyond passive stretching. Whether you'...

Wow wow wow -- it's been 10 years since the launch of Yogaland! It feels like it's been a heartbeat and also a lifetime. There's been so much learning, growth, and love while making these episodes for the past decade. I spent time compiling precious insights--gems if you will--that stood out to me from the past 10 years. We revisit moments with: Amy Ippoliti — free diving, environmental activism,...

This week's podcast is such a special one because it focuses on our family. Jason sits down with his brother, Todd, to talk about growing up together, the chaos of addiction within family, anxiety, self-compassion, and healing as an ongoing process.   I love both of these men so much, and I'm so proud of them for sharing so openly.    This isn't a yoga-specific episode — it's a conv...

As yogis, we’re certainly aware of the many benefits of stretching — but  are you aware of what the research actually says about how to stretch effectively? Or how to evaluate that research honestly?   On this week’s Yogaland, I’m sharing meta-analyses and systematic reviews to give you a clear, accurate, and intellectually honest picture of what actually increases flexibility.   In...

What happens when two yoga teachers fall down a NASA rabbit hole and can't stop thinking about non-duality, The Overview Effect, and Grandmother Moon? This episode of Yoga-ish — our more personal, less technique-focused podcast — is exactly that kind of conversation. Yoga-ish is where Jason and Andrea talk about their actual lives: what they're reading, watching, thinking about, and how all of it...

If you've ever felt lonely as a yoga teacher — you're not alone. And that's exactly what this week's podcast is about.   Teaching yoga is one of the most isolating jobs most people never see coming. You're surrounded by students, immersed in a tradition built on connection, and somehow you still end up feeling like you're doing it alone. In this video I'm naming that honestly — and talking ab...

You've been told to stretch more. You've tried the releases, the routines, the one weird trick. And you're still not as flexible as you want to be. Here's why: flexibility isn't one thing — it's four. And until you understand all of them, you're only ever solving part of the problem. Chapters 00:00 — Why flexibility is misunderstood 00:33 — The 4 Factors that contribute to flexibility 01:47 — Fact...

The yoga world has done important work questioning its obsession with extreme range of motion — and rightly so. But the pendulum has swung too far. Flexibility and mobility aren't relics of an outdated paradigm. They're essential physical qualities with real implications for how well you move, how long you stay independent, and how good you feel in your body. In this podcast, Jason makes the case...

Yoga philosophy gives context to the physical practices many of us experience first — postures, breathwork, and meditation. It connects modern yoga to its historical roots and helps us understand the deeper purpose of the tradition. In this conversation, I explore several reasons yoga philosophy still matters today. It provides a framework for values, offers existential perspective, and strengthen...

Most yoga teachers are taught that sequencing should be creative, complex, and always different. But these common beliefs often making teaching harder -- and keep both teachers and students stuck. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/yogaland . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is our second in a series of solocasts (you might remember that Andrea did one recently, Why Mindfulness is Still Important) .   In this week's episode, I explain why strength matters for yoga practitioners and teachers — not as a performance goal, but as a foundational quality that supports stability, protects joints, improves proprioception, and ultimately helps us practice for a lifet...

On this week's podcast, Jason outlines why the old models of yoga sequencing are no longer effective in today's landscape. To name a few: More people cross-train. Fewer students are walking into studios. ClassPass has changed loyalty. Online platforms have shifted expectations. If you want better student retention, stronger engagement, and a more sustainable yoga teaching career, this conversation...

Most yoga teacher trainings prepare you to teach one class at a time. They don’t teach you how to build real student progress. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 4:04 The hidden gap in yoga teacher training 5:50 Why “random” classes stall student progress 8:40 The burnout cycle for yoga teachers 13:24 The curriculum mindset explained 14:40 Monthly arcs, series & workshops 27:58 Expanding your teachin...

In this Yogaland episode, Jason Crandell and I talk candidly about power dynamics in yoga, the potential for abuse of authority, and how students and teachers can protect what’s most important: trust, safety, consent, and healthy boundaries. We’re not psychologists or legal experts — but we’ve been in the yoga world for decades, and we’ve seen how quickly a “teacher-student relationship” can becom...

In this solo episode, Andrea explores why mindfulness remains a vital practice—especially during times of collective stress, uncertainty, and moral overwhelm. Drawing from Buddhist foundations of mindfulness, personal experience, and years of teaching yoga and meditation, Andrea reframes mindfulness not as passivity or “everything’s fine” thinking, but as the practice of witnessing —with non-judgm...

Most yoga teachers undervalue how powerful good demonstrations really are. In this episode, we break down how, when, and why to demonstrate yoga poses so students actually learn. Demonstration is one of the most overlooked—and misunderstood—skills in yoga teaching. In this episode of Yogaland, Jason shares how to demonstrate yoga poses effectively in both in-person and online classes, and why visu...