Raff's Brain

Hot yoga can feel like a workout, a personal crisis, and a spiritual journey packed into a single class. In this episode of Hot Yoga Problems , Rob Raffety emerges from an intense Friday morning session feeling exhausted, energized, and ready to dissolve into the cosmos during shavasana. He reflects on the strange appeal of paying for unlimited access to a practice that delivers equal parts frustr...

Rob Raffety has two words for you: chin stand . After surviving one of hot yoga’s least intuitive poses, Rob reflects on fitness motivation, weight-loss goals, diet struggles, and the ambitious health plans that do not always survive contact with real life. With a new month beginning, he considers what can realistically change before July arrives. Along the way, a failed Gizmo reference at a party...

In this episode of Hot Yoga Problems , Rob gets back on the mat after a week-plus layoff and discovers that yoga fitness does not believe in paid time off. One missed stretch of routine and suddenly the body is filing a formal complaint. But first, there is the matter of the car’s automatic shut-off feature: the mysterious dashboard “A,” the unsettling silence at red lights, the possible environme...

In this appropriately observant Hot Yoga Problems episode, Rob Raffety battles his nemesis pose: reverse tabletop. What starts as a simple yoga struggle quickly turns into a meditation on spiraling, self-talk, and the strange ways a single moment of frustration can hijack your brain. But recovery is possible. Rob finds his footing with half moon pose, wrestles with the social politics of om-ing in...

Rob is back with another Hot Yoga Problems episode, and this time the crisis is territorial. After a brutal Saturday morning class, he discovers that renovations at a nearby CorePower have sent waves of displaced yogis into his regular studio, taking all the best spots before he even gets there. What begins as a ridiculous call to “build a wall” around the yoga studio quickly becomes a classic Raf...

This week on Hot Yoga Problems , Rob returns from class with a very specific grievance: reverse tabletop . It may look innocent, but for Rob, it belongs in the same category as deer pose, flying frogs, and twisted arm balances — poses that seem designed mainly to humble the human body. After unpacking why reverse tabletop turns him into a wobbly bar table, Rob’s morning takes an unexpected detour...

In this introspective Hot Yoga Problems episode, Raff reflects on a surprising new yoga experience—prone shavasana—and uses it as a launchpad to explore a deeper theme: why we delay the things that are good for us. With May 1st as a symbolic “fresh start,” Raff breaks down the mental traps of procrastination, the realities of midlife health goals, and the importance of taking action immediately in...

In this introspective yet humor-laced episode of Hot Yoga Problems , Raff explores the tension between control and inevitability—whether it’s protecting a pristine car from its first inevitable ding or processing the emotional fallout from a tough playoff loss. He highlights an unexpectedly powerful yoga moment (the halfway lift), reflects on the discipline of showing up while exhausted, and pays...

In this introspective and humor-laced episode of Raff’s Brain: Hot Yoga Problems , Rob reflects on a fleeting but powerful moment of motivation sparked by a hot yoga class. With a mid-year doctor checkup approaching, he confronts the gap between intention and consistency, explores the temptation of modern weight-loss solutions, and debates whether real change requires suffering—or just smarter too...

This episode of Hot Yoga Problems may be Rob Raffety’s self-declared “worst episode ever,” but that might also make it one of the most honest. Fresh off another punishing hot yoga session, Rob tries to make sense of pain, progress, motivation, and why every attempt at self-improvement somehow turns into a sprint instead of a lifestyle. Along the way, he battles Chatbot 5000, gets ambushed by his o...

In this Hot Yoga Problems episode, Rob navigates the collision of everyday inconvenience and personal growth—from DMV bureaucracy to a yoga studio packed beyond comfort. With one location under renovation, the overflow has turned routine classes into competitive environments where early arrival is essential and personal space is a luxury. Rob shares humorous observations about yoga culture, includ...

In this episode of Raff’s Brain: Hot Yoga Problems , Raff battles through consecutive hot yoga sessions only to face an even greater challenge—modern bureaucracy. A simple parking issue spirals into a comedic yet insightful rant about DMV inefficiencies, personalized license plates, and the absurdity of everyday systems. But beneath the humor lies something deeper. Raff reflects on aging, family,...

In this Hot Yoga Problems episode, Raff makes his long-awaited return to the mat—only to face one of the most awkward and revealing class setups imaginable: a near-private session with a highly advanced yogi. With nowhere to hide, Raff confronts the gap between where he thinks he is and where he actually stands. Between self-deprecating humor and surprisingly sharp introspection, he explores disci...

In this episode of Hot Yoga Problems , Rob Raffety recounts a brutally hot and unexpectedly crowded yoga class in the Outer Banks, complete with fogged-up mirrors, loud breathing, minimal mat real estate, and a dangerously tall yogi whose Warrior Three nearly became an ophthalmology event. From there, Rob does what he does best: riffs outward. What starts as a hot yoga story becomes a larger medit...

Broadcasting from the Outer Banks after another punishing session at OBX Hot Yoga, Rob delivers a classic Hot Yoga Problems episode that starts with sweat and spirals into an unexpectedly sharp monologue about cars, culture, and negotiation. What begins as a post-class check-in becomes a funny, thoughtful breakdown of why he finally traded in his old Subaru, why manual transmissions are disappeari...

This special episode of Raff’s Brain captures a live talk with 22 undergrad and MBA students from West Virginia Wesleyan College during their DC immersion trip. Instead of a traditional keynote, Rob turns the session into an interactive breakdown of what actually drives progress early in life and career. The central idea: Action creates information. From that foundation, Rob introduces three pract...

Rob Raffety is feeling dangerous in the best way after a monster hot yoga session. In this episode of Hot Yoga Problems , he reflects on the thrill of unexpectedly crushing class, the satisfaction of finally locking into a monthly flow, and the chaos that comes from entering yoga with a sleep-deprived, candy-fueled brain. Along the way, he offers a classic observational detour on why some iconic s...

In this episode of Riffin’ with Raff , Rob is joined by returning guest Grauben Lara for a thoughtful conversation about smart glasses, content creation, and the blurry line between innovation and intrusion. Grauben recently picked up a pair of Meta Ray-Bans and is already testing how wearable POV video can change the way creators tell stories. What starts as a conversation about a new gadget quic...

In this episode of Hot Yoga Problems , Rob exits another early-morning hot yoga class only to realize the practice he’s done for a decade still has endless ways to surprise—and punish—him. Today’s offenders: the Shiva Curtsy and the newly discovered Dancing Camel , two poses that raise an important question: Is yoga an infinite system of human suffering disguised as flexibility training? Between b...

What happens when a hot yoga class accidentally turns into the best throwback playlist of all time? In this episode of Hot Yoga Problems , Rob battles the post–daylight savings struggle just to make it to class. The whole world feels ten minutes behind schedule, the sleep deprivation is real, and showing up might actually be the hardest part of yoga—for once. But halfway through class, something m...

Charles Blatz returns to Raff’s Brain for a wide-ranging conversation about DIY home renovation, backyard farming, and the unexpected joys of modern homesteading. After buying a modest fixer-upper outside Cleveland, Charles has spent the past year transforming both the house and his lifestyle. He shares lessons learned from ripping out old plumbing, sanding hardwood floors, and aggressively paying...

This episode of Hot Yoga Problems begins where many great stories do: backing out of a garage and almost getting taken out by a concrete column with attitude. Rob spins that everyday moment into a funny meditation on cars, frugality, dents, and the freedom that comes from not caring too much about cosmetic damage. Then it’s off to the studio for a truly unhinged hot yoga flow, where strange transi...

Rob Raffety welcomes Brady Bond to Riffin’ with Raff for a conversation about collectibles, card culture, and the economic ideas hiding in plain sight inside hobby markets. Brady, a college student with experience buying and selling cards, is developing a project that uses the trading card world as a lens for teaching concepts like market value, scarcity, incentives, and consumer behavior. What ma...

This episode is different — and deeply personal. Rob shares the remarks he delivered to the inaugural class of MRU College Fellows, a program focused on cultivating the next generation of communicators advancing economic ideas and classical liberal principles. In a world where more than half of Americans believe the country can’t solve its biggest problems, what role do creators play? Rob frames t...

After six days off, I return to hot yoga — and it’s absolute carnage. In this Hot Yoga Problems episode, I unpack the mental spiral of falling off routine, the speed of physical regression, and the brutal honesty required to admit when you’ve been “Sloth Central.” From the mystery of Reverse Horse pose to the temptation of GLP-1 weight loss meds as the ultimate cheat code, this episode dives into...