Yogaland Podcast

We're back! This week we're talking through four life skills for every yoga teacher to master. These four skills are attributes that we work on in our own work and personal lives through our practice. They are also the four pillars around which our upcoming January program -- Mind-Body Reset -- is built. The four skills are: Self-compassion -- the skill of being an ally to yourself and accepting y...

Fall doesn't just mean pumpkin spice lattes. It means that you will likely start to hear a cacophony of sniffles and coughs when you're ordering said pumpkin spice latte -- or wherever you go. It's a great time to thinking about your yoga practice as a tool for building your resilience. Iyengar Yoga teacher Lisa Walford joins me this week to talk about her approach to immune health and how to use...

Inversions can be fun, empowering, and strength-building -- if they are introduced thoughtfully and systematically. On this episode, Jason walks through how to introduce four key inversions to beginners: Handstand, Forearm Balance, Headstand, and Shoulderstand. He shares the building blocks that will create a blueprint for each pose, keeping them safe and beneficial. We have companion sequences fo...

Carving out a place for yourself as a yoga teacher is no easy task. It was such a treat to have multi-hyphenate Neeti Narula on the show to hear how she has done it. Neeti is an NYC-based yoga and meditation teacher, as well as a mother of two, a contributor at Yoga Journal and now, a freshly minted contributor on the lifestyle platform, Melissa Wood Health. Neeti shares so many helpful gems on th...

This week we continue on with our series for beginners (and those teaching beginners): Our focus is the best arm balances for beginners. Arm balances are typically poses that beginners really enjoy playing around with, because they offer shapes that we don't typically do in other disciplines (unless you're a gymnast or a pro skateboarder). Arm balances can build stability, balance, strength, mobil...

Modern life is not great for your back -- sitting in chairs tightens the hip flexors, which can lead to a chain reaction that stresses the low back. When we type at a computer, we typically roll the shoulders forward or hunch the upper back. And looking at our phones constantly can lead to the dreaded and painful "tech neck." -- chair sitting, typing, and looking at our phones. Simple backbends ar...

Jason joins me on this week's episode to talk about how yoga teacher training goes beyond skill acquisition and can become a catalyst for self-transformation. We just hosted a webinar on the topic last week and we enjoyed it so much we thought we'd re-record the episode especially for the podcast. This is a fun episode if you're considering YTT or if you've already done a YTT and you'd like to rem...

Today's conversation is with Alison Zak, who recently published her first book, " Wild Asana: Animals, Yoga, and Connecting Our Practice to the Natural World ." Zak's unique nature memoir artfully weaves together her personal stories, ecological context, and yoga asana. Her book is a moving and urgent call for us to remember our connection to the natural world. As Zak says, "We're more alike than...

There’s something about fall that just feels like back to school time for me, even as an adult.  Jason’s 200-hour YTT is coming up October 24th, so we thought we’d review what to look for if you’re thinking about going back to yoga school!  We talk through the importance of adapting asana to modern knowledge and safety standards, the significance of understanding yoga anatomy in a functi...

On our live episode two weeks ago, we answered the question, ‘Is this thing that we’re doing still yoga?’ Jason shared five principles that make even the most modern practices a yoga practice. On this episode, we will walk through how yoga teachers can bring these principles to life in their teaching. Here are some of the ideas we talk through: Reflecting on whether classes still have liberatory q...

As many of yoga know, Sally Kempton was hugely influential to me. She was an expert guide, a loving presence, and a creative inspiration. She passed away on July 10th and has been on my mind constantly since then. I put together this episode to honor and remember her with my friend, the former editor-in-chief of Yoga Journal, Kaitlin Quistgaard. We had a lot of fun sharing stories and memories of...

This discussion was recorded in London at the new Mission studio where Jason led Module I of his hybrid YTT a few weeks ago. Together, Jason and I explored the question -- Is this thing that we're all doing still actually yoga? Our power-hour or our 30-minute glo class or our rolling on foam rollers with some poses sprinkled in -- are those still yoga? Or has yoga in the West evolved into somethin...

Today we're talking about five things that Jason wishes he knew earlier in his yoga teaching career. We hope this discussion helps yoga teachers everywhere take some pressure off of themselves to be everything to everyone all the time. Enjoy! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/yogaland . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jason takes over this week to present a special comprehensive lecture on Patanjali, aka, his Patanjali “Super Lecture.” This episode essentially combines our three existing episodes on Patanjali plus additional content featuring essential philosophical concepts to teach beginners. We wanted to provide a place for all of these conversations to exist together so you have them at your fingertips. The...

Deepen your knowledge of yoga anatomy and the anatomy of twists, in this 20-minute detailed conversation. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/yogaland . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I'm sharing 8 things I've learned in the process of creating this podcast for the past 8 years. Jason joins as my sound board and points out that a lot of these ideas about how to create content -- things like defining your editorial scope, sustaining your passion, and having a thick skin -- apply to teach yoga, too. So -- you get a twofer here: lessons for sharpening your content creati...

It's the 300th episode of Yogaland -- huzzah! For this momentous occasion, I've decided to reflect on the past 8 years.  So much has changed in yoga and in podcasting and I wanted to take a look back together. On the episode I share where and why podcasting started for me (it was a comfort during radiation treatment for breast cancer treatment), what my aim was in starting the podcast, and wh...

In this last of our "essentials" series, Jason shares 5 essential ideas for finding ease and stability in your shoulders during yoga practice. On this episode, you will learn: Why it's particularly crucial to build shoulder stability if you practice vinyasa yoga -- and which joint (of the four) in the shoulder is the most unstable A common misconception about what to do with your shoulders when yo...

On this episode, Jason clarifies what we mean when we talk about the core in yoga. Once you're finished listening, the core will no longer be a vague two-dimensional region that you aspire to pummel into submission. Instead, you'll understand: The difference between the abdominals and the core The functions of the core -- it contains! connects! supports! It's like a Swiss Army Knife! The part of t...

This week, I speak to yoga teacher, writer, and mama Sarah Ezrin about her new book, The Yoga of Parenting: 10 Yoga Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself . As Sarah points out right at the beginning of the episode, there are far more than just 10 practices in this book. There are 34 to be exact, but more importantly it's just brimming with both...

Jason joins me this week to share 5 essential ideas for a healthy spine in yoga. How to distribute your physical and mental attention for optimal spinal health while practicing One of the riskiest moves for the spine How shielding ourselves from back pain can lead to a weak back Whether the spine twists from bottom to top or from top to bottom When it's beneficial to round the spine (and how we of...

Libby Hinsley is a yoga therapist and a Doctor of Physical Therapy living with Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Suffice it to say, she is  the expert  on yoga for hypermobility. Her new book, Yoga for Bendy People: Optimizing the Benefits of Yoga for Hypermobility . This book is so needed in the yoga community and in the medical community, where a dearth of clarity and education aboun...

Learn the best way to practice, teach and troubleshoot one of Yoga's most important hip openers: Pigeon Pose. In this episode, Jason breaks down the Yoga Anatomy of this essential hip-opener and shows you reliable ways to troubleshoot the knee discomfort that some students experience in this pose. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/yogaland . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...

Jason joins me this week to share 5 essential ideas for healthy hips in yoga. Also: Jason's Essential Guide to Yoga Anatomy is open for enrollment! 🎉 Get the details and register at: learn.jasonyoga.com/anatomy Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/yogaland . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest this week is Dara Kennedy, the founder of Ayla Beauty. Having spent more than 10 years in the retail beauty space, Dara started Ayla because she wanted to combine her expertise as a product developer and curator with her passion for yoga and wellness. I've known Dara (as her customer!) for years and the mindfulness she brings to her business is notable. Her friend and the founder of...