J repeats his ritual of reflecting on where he’s at what he’s facing as the year comes to a close. He discusses his cat being diagnosed with diabetes, the feeling of not being able to say what you really think, trying to open a yoga center, predictions from the 2016 Yoga in America study, taking stock in the exchanges that make all the difficulties worthwhile, and somehow finding the resilience and fortitude needed to meet life's uncertainty.

Katie Hemphill, author of We Are The Forest, talks with J about expanding the scope of our understanding through embodied living and collective healing. They discuss deciding to study biomedical engineering, discovering yoga and marathon running, programming a cell, a problem/solution perspective, grey areas in risk analysis of medical devices, meaning in scientific process, nutrition science, and questioning the stories that shape our reality.

Radha Metro-Midkiff, Executive Director for the Integral Yoga Institute New York, talks with J about Swami Satchidananda, Integral Yoga, and the major shifts in the industry and culture that have taken place over the last few years. They discuss her childhood at Yogaville, her relationship to Swami Satchidananda, choosing faith or fear, the difference between the guru and the human being, and making sense of life’s complexity.

Brett Larkin, founder of an award-winning YouTube channel and Uplifted Online Yoga Teacher Training, talks with J about building her platform and the state of yoga online. They discuss graduating from NYU, exploring different styles of practice, creating fitness and dance video games, starting to post on YouTube, leveraging social media, legitimizing online training, the influence of kundalini yoga, and asking hard questions.

Diana May talks with J about yoga for the nervous system and somatic experiencing. They discuss moving to a big city before leaving and being closer to nature, dissociation from our bodies, being with the full range of human emotion, somatic experiencing based on the work of Dr Peter Levine, lowering levels of activation, honoring the value of anxiety, making a nervous system supported class, and maximizing capacity for connection.

John Stirk, author of Deeper Still, talks with J about formation, transformation, and the feeling of existence. They discuss changing expectations for careers in yoga, digging deeper to change your perspective, the condition of insightfulness, healing fragmentation, transformation instead of information, authentic intelligence, becoming more sensitive, knowing through direct perception, and relating to the unknown in an intelligent way.

Philip Deslippe, author of From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric, talks with J about his research into the real story behind Yogi Bhajan and the yoga empire he created. They discuss Philip's time as a Kundalini teacher, 3HO, legitimizing something by deferring to a false antiquity, value calculations within traditions, the significance of William Atkinson, benefiting from hucksters, and possibilities for what yoga teaching might look like in the future.

Ruth White, author of Presence: The Truth of Yoga, talks with J about the earliest days of BKS Iyengar coming to the UK and developing a practice that endures. They discuss practicing in a living room with BKS Iyengar, classes in Pune compared to the UK, whether or not Iyengar was an abusive teacher, why Iyengar focused primarily on postures, going inward, and the dropping away of ego identifications so we can see each other as one and the same.

Cristina & Diego, founders of Origo Shoes, talk with J about the philosophy behind barefoot shoes and our relationship to the natural world. They discuss the developmental issues their daughter faced and how that led to barefoot shoes, the detriment of conventional ideas about footwear, specifications that make a shoe barefoot, doing business according to your values, and the benefits of slower living and a return to basic principles.

Joe Simek, co-owner of Dragonfly Yoga and co-founder of The Fiaria Project, talks with J about coming back from the pandemic and moving forward with purpose. They discuss the reopening of his brick and mortar space, leases and sustainability, competition among centers, re-envisioning memberships and community, shifting from information to transformation, issues of accreditation, and the changing dynamics by which we measure success.

Mark Walsh, host of the The Embodiment Podcast and author of Embodiment: Working with the Body in Training and Coaching, talks with J about facilitating life skills and navigating the world around us. They discuss embodiment as a practice and a principle, creating the largest online embodiment conference ever, early days of trolling online, political trends, and the importance of finding ways to make sense and meaning.

Jason Shaw and Emily Brown, owners of Our Country Hearts and Binghamton Yoga, talk with J about scale, sustainability, and local community. They discuss slow flow circa 2014, grass roots politics and making change by focusing on shared intentions, post-pandemic realities, dedicated yoga spaces, co-creative aspect of in person classes, attraction over promotion, and opening doorways in a seemingly walled future.

Bobbi Paidel, founder of Tribe of Lambs and host of A Curious Yogi Podcast, talks with J about having a guru and what it means to live the principles of yoga. They discuss how a cattle ranchers daughter ends up becoming part of a spiritual community in India, surviving in this world, the role of asana, feeling free, unchanged awareness of infinite self, moments of recognition, staying curious, and expanding our frame of reference for existing.

Rod Stryker, founder of ParaYoga, talks with J about the formative events that shaped yoga becoming part of popular culture and the spiritual underpinnings that call it into question. They discuss Yoga Works and the 80's LA Scene, Manny and Alan Finger, westernizing the message, branding and creating empires, defining Tantra, teacher/student relationship, nonduality and divinity, and a singular vision of the heart.

Divya Kohli, author of Finding Peace in Difficult Times: grounding techniques for inner calm, returns to talk with J about the post-pandemic crossroads that many yoga teachers are facing. They discuss the halcyon days of wholly committed teachers, organic communities, sweet spots and scalability, class issues in marketing, inverting the pyramid of priorities, and countering a dystopian future with the power of shared ritual and intention.

David McGrath, author of The Yogi’s Way: Living in Accord with the Yamas & Niyamas, talks with J about Kriya Yoga and embodying philosophical principles. They discuss his teacher Roy Eugene Davis and Paramahansa Yogananda, Self-Realization Fellowship and The Center for Spiritual Awareness, the Camino de Santiago, Lacanian psychoanalysis, Yamas and Niyamas, and the importance of bringing it back to the miracle of right now.

Gary Kraftsow, founder of the American Viniyoga Institute, talks with J about the historical, philosophical, and religious context in which yoga appeared. They discuss the origins and substance of teachings given by TKV Desikachar in 1976, Patanjali's interest in the phenomenon of faith rather than the metaphysical, qualified non-dualism, from alternative to complimentary medicine, and addressing the fragmentation of our times.

Ryan Cunningham, co-founder of Boston Yoga Collective, returns to the show to continue an ongoing conversation with J about the evolution and future of yoga centers. They discuss the traveling circuit heyday, economics of operating an independent center, changes in the market, landlords and leases, importance of physical spaces post-pandemic, pedagogical models and meditation, and the possibility of still making it work against all odds.

J decides to depart from his usual protocol and takes a moment to talk about the economics of opening a yoga center in 2023. He lays out the evolution of operating yoga centers from 2007 until 2019, pay scales and competing incentives, the pivotal shift that destroyed sustainability, moving from spaces to audiences, real estate markets, cooperatives, and reasons why it might be worth it to open something despite all the obstacles.

Michael Hutchinson, author of Breath for Health, talks with J about the teachings of TKV Desikachar and developing understanding through experience. They discuss Michael's dual life working in both the physics of explosion mechanics and yoga, overcoming challenges, hard science and ancient wisdom, inner organizational capacity, aspects of yoga that can't be measured, and little things that lead to big changes of heart.