Frank Jude Boccio - "Sacred Depths of Religious Naturalism"

Frank Jude Boccio - "Sacred Depths of Religious Naturalism"

Frank Jude Boccio, host of Pobsa’s Dharma Lounge Podcast, returns to continue a conversation with J about materialism, naturalism, and the great mysteries of life. They discuss definitions of religious and spiritual, rejection of anything supernatural, relationship between God and religion, Frank's spiritual background, forms of grace and worship, evil actions and moral codes, and coming together around universal principles.

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Ranju Roy and Dave Charlton - "Religiousness and Yoga"

Ranju Roy and Dave Charlton - "Religiousness and Yoga"

Ranju Roy and Dave Charlton, coauthors of Embodying the Yoga Sutra: Support, Direction, Space, return to talk with J about the role yoga plays in fulfilling our innate religious impulse. They discuss their childhood exposures to religion, the third and forth chapters of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, Ishavara Pranidhana, TKV Desikachar's teaching on devotion, prayer and a creator, and coming to terms with our place in an unknowable universe.

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Ron Baker - "A Souls Journey into Awakening"

Ron Baker - "A Souls Journey into Awakening"

Ron Baker, author of Bright Lights, Big Empty: A Journey of Profound Awakening, talks with J about soul awakenings and the journey to Self. They discuss a mutual connection and convergences, signposts in Ron's early childhood, meeting his friend Robert and the experience of receiving communication from the Arch Angel Gabriel, pathways of initiation, receiving guidance, bioenergetic healing, and learning to love and value life.

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Beth Shaw - "Into the Mainstream with YogaFit"

Beth Shaw - "Into the Mainstream with YogaFit"

Beth Shaw, founder of YogaFit and author of Healing Trauma With Yoga & Mind-Body Techniques, talks with J about the role she played in bringing yoga into the mainstream. They discuss the genesis of YogaFit, developing a style of practice that was appealing to gym culture, getting flak from the yoga world, spiritual interventions and inclusive language, credentialing, social media, and having the courage to offer something transformational.

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Concetta Troskie - "Healing Arts, Trauma, Surrender to Spirit"

Concetta Troskie - "Healing Arts, Trauma, Surrender to Spirit"

Concetta Troskie, creator of Mindfully Embodied, is an old friend of J's and they reunite to talk about their respective journeys of healing and spirit. They discuss the thriving scene in Brooklyn in the early aughts, being supported as young teachers, almost becoming a nun, getting sick with a brain tumor and losing everything, EMDR and Ketamine therapy, recovering souls, and cultivating a differential reverence rooted in love and humility.

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Annabelle Brown - "Overcoming OCD and Anxiety"

Annabelle Brown - "Overcoming OCD and Anxiety"

Annabelle Brown, J's youngest daughter, returns to talk about how she has been managing her mental health and the process of healing our traumas. They discuss what it felt like when she started to have OCD, being unable to communicate because of compulsions, the moment that it seemingly turned and what motivated her, her therapist, her sister, a brief cameo from Mom, and appreciating the innocence and wisdom of a sensitive child.

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Ron Brent - "Yogi Bhajan, Muktananda, Kundalini Awakening"

Ron Brent - "Yogi Bhajan, Muktananda, Kundalini Awakening"

Ron Brent talks with J about time spent with Yogi Bhajan and Muktananda. They discuss his awakening experience, a brief stint in Scientology, stumbling upon Yogi Bhajan, actual sources of Kundalini Yoga, spontaneous kriyas, discovering Muktananda, seeing Yogi Bhajan admonished by his guru Virsa Singh, guru and disciple traditions, shaktipat initiation, and understanding formlessness expresses itself through forms of our culture.

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J. with Daniel Simpson - "Podcasts, Controversy, and J's Dad"

J. with Daniel Simpson - "Podcasts, Controversy, and J's Dad"

Daniel Simpson, from the Ancient Futures Podcast, guest hosts to ask J about the evolution of J. Brown Yoga Talks and the entwinement of his personal growth with the creative process of producing a weekly show. They discuss the original motivations behind starting the podcast, generating episodes, how J's family feels about his "radical transparency," controversy, cultural appropriation, coming to God, and the spirit that fuels J's passion.

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Joshua Schrei - "Temporal Reality and a Harmonic Universe"

Joshua Schrei - "Temporal Reality and a Harmonic Universe"

Joshua Schrei, host of The Emerald Podcast, returns to talk with J about our place in this alive world. They discuss the context in which yoga arises, implications of an animistic worldview, the western scientific tradition, the animacy of inanimate objects, entertwinement of subjective and objective reality, dualistic nonduality, personhood, evil entities and a creator spirit, musical interelationality, and ceding agency to the theater of stone and time.

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R. Sriram - "Rationality, Religiousness, and the Divine"

R. Sriram - "Rationality, Religiousness, and the Divine"

R. Sriram, coauthor of Natya Yoga: Peace Passion Pain Mapping Emotions, reunites with J to talk about the deeper questions of purpose and meaning in yoga. They discuss his understanding of T Krishnamacharya's and TKV Desikachar's view on God, humility and faith, Vedic chanting with J Krishnamurti, diverging from Vyasa's commentary on Patañjali, limitations of science, and respecting the personal artistic nature of the divine.

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Gill Lloyd - "TKV Desikachar and the Art of Living Peacefully"

Gill Lloyd - "TKV Desikachar and the Art of Living Peacefully"

Gill Lloyd, former teacher trainer for the British Wheel of Yoga and former chair of both Viniyoga Britain and KHYF-UK, talks with J about her life in yoga and the influence of TKV Desikachar. They discuss her first class in the mid eighties, Vinyasa Krama, stories of watching Desikachar teach, the importance of heart-to-heart connection, watching "Sir's" health decline and the scandal, religiosity, and learning the art of living peacefully in this world.

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Hari-kirtana das - "Individual Souls and a Supreme Being"

Hari-kirtana das - "Individual Souls and a Supreme Being"

Hari-kirtana das returns to revisit questions of nonduality and the relationship between an individual sole and a supreme being. They discuss reimagining our definitions of God and religion, divine and ecological person-hood, immanence and transcendence, conforming to highest truths vs shaping truth to our desires, freedom within the prison of material life, evil, and the benefit of relying on something greater than yourself.

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Jessamyn Stanley - "Fat Positivity and Narrative Disruption"

Jessamyn Stanley - "Fat Positivity and Narrative Disruption"

Jessamyn Stanley, co-founder of The Underbelly and author of Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance, talks with J about body acceptance and challenging preconceived notions. They discuss her entry into yoga and starting to post her practice on Instagram, how she landed a Gatorade commercial, The Yoga Journal cover controversy, differences between fat and body positivity, naked yoga on only fans, and starting uncomfortable conversations.

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Andrew Tanner - "Cults, Industry, and Future Prospects"

Andrew Tanner - "Cults, Industry, and Future Prospects"

Andrew Tanner returns unbound to talk with J about his experience of escaping a yoga cult and shaping the yoga industry. They discuss the life changing moment with his father that led to his commitment to Dahn Yoga, the history and philosophies of Korean Taoist traditions, what went wrong and why he left, working for Kripalu and Yoga Alliance, what happened with the standards review project, and keeping soul in the game.

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Bashira Muhammad - "Mycological Wonders"

Bashira Muhammad - "Mycological Wonders"

Bashira Muhammad, owner of Zoom Out Mycology, is an old friend of J's and they talk about her work in mycology. They discuss the fact that Bashira was the youngest person to do J's teacher training over a decade ago, the qualities in her that lent to yogic inquiry at a young age and led to her interest in mycology, some of the ins and outs of fungi, spirit of mycelium, the recent farm bill, and learning about the interrelationship of all beings.

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Dr. Lisa Miller - "The Awakened Brain"

Dr. Lisa Miller - "The Awakened Brain"

Lisa Miller, Ph.D., author of The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life, talks with J about a belief in God and the neuroscience showing its benefits. They discuss the passing of J's mother, empirical evidence for innate spirituality, post-traumatic spiritual growth, spirituality associated with cortical thickness, neural seeds of awareness, and being open to receive intelligent loving force.

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Kamini Desai - "Lineage, Life Lessons, and Manifest Divinity"

Kamini Desai - "Lineage, Life Lessons, and Manifest Divinity"

Kamini Desai, founder of I AM Education and Yogeshwari of the Lakulish Lineage, talks with J about her journey to becoming a lineage holding and the principles of divinity her teachings encompass. They discuss the history of Kripalu Yoga, growing up at the ashram, learning from the experience of scandal around her father, impermanence and infinite consciousness, and the deeper layers of stillness that reveal our essential wholeness.

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Genny Wilkinson - "Starting Anew with Mission"

Genny Wilkinson - "Starting Anew with Mission"

Genny Wilkinson, co-founder of Mission, talks with J about what has happened to yoga centers, lessons learned, and the new space that she is opening. They discuss why she departed from triYoga, the reasons why so many centers had to close, the genesis of the new center and what they are doing differently, pricing and teacher pay, online vs in person classes, and the need to orchestrate human interaction after years in isolation.

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Dona Holleman - "Theosophy, J. Krishnamurti, and BKS Iyengar”

Dona Holleman - "Theosophy, J. Krishnamurti, and BKS Iyengar”

Dona Holleman, Honorary President of The Centered Yoga Dona Holleman Association, talks with J about her storied career and the formative relationships that shaped yoga in the west. They discuss the Theosophical Society, world wars and being born in a prison camp. talks with Krishnamurti, Iyengar as a young man, Vanda Scaravelli's influence, teaching certification, and the individual path of finding your true self.

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Lolly Stirk - "Active Birth Movement and Prenatal Yoga"

Lolly Stirk - "Active Birth Movement and Prenatal Yoga"

Lolly Stirk, teacher at Mothertime and teacher trainer at YogaBirth, talks with J about the history of the active birth movement and prenatal yoga classes. They discuss her arrival in London during the summer of love, opening one of the first vegetarian restaurants, hanging out with the Beatles and making dinner for BKS Iyengar, softening practice, Vanda Scaravelli, Sheila Kitzinger and Michel Odent, and learning to surrender to the process of life.

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