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2 episodes with Paul Grilley
2 episodes with Paul Grilley
In this episode, I sit down with Nyk Danu to explore her inspiring journey from a professional hairstylist and hair color educator to a successful yoga teacher and business mentor for other yoga teachers. Nyk shares the pivotal moments that led her to embrace yoga, the challenges she faced, and the strategies she developed to not only sustain but thrive in her new career. We dive deep into the benefits of registered series versus drop-in classes, the importance of niching for yoga teachers, and how to build a supportive community both in-person and online. Nyk also offers practical advice for yoga teachers looking to transition to a more sustainable business model, including marketing approaches and leveraging technology for administrative tasks. Get To Know Nyk: Nyk Danu is a certified Yoga Therapist, Yin Yoga Teacher Trainer, Yoga business mentor, and host of A Yin Yoga podcast. She's a fiercely independent Sagittarius, misfit, introvert, bookworm, cat charmer, crow whisperer, Buddhist, seeker of truth, and a long-term pro-activist who's not-so-secretly out to save the world. Nyk lives in the magical city of Victoria on the enchanted Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada. In her weekly public classes, she teaches Therapeutic Yoga to MisFits. Gen Xers (and sometimes Y) who don't feel at home in mainstream Yoga circles: the rebels, underdogs, introverts, neurodiverse, geeks, and bookworms. As a Yoga Therapist, her specialty is helping MisFits with Back Pain and Anxiety. Nyk has been practicing Yoga since 1998 and teaching since 2004. In 2007 she fell madly in love with Yin Yoga and has since done 500+ hours of Yin Yoga training with Paul Grilley. Her passion for Yin Yoga sparked a deep resonance and curiosity for Traditional Chinese Medicine. This then drew her to study 2300 hours of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Pacific Rim College. In 2017 She received a 800 hour of Yoga therapy certification from Ajna Yoga College in Victoria BC. Nyk has since combined her Yoga Therapy Training, Yin Yoga Training and, Traditional Chinese Medicine knowledge to create a unique Therapeutic Yin Yoga teacher training program that has gotten rave reviews. When she is not teaching Yoga you will likely find her on the beach with a book or curled up with her fella watching Star Trek or Anime. Links: Claim your OfferingTree Free trial + 50% off your first three months or 15% an annual subscription. Head to https://allmatstaken.com/tree to grab your discount. Sign Up to The Newsletter to Get on The All Mats Taken Yoga Business Summit Waitlist: https://allmatstaken.com Connect with Adrianne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jerrettdigital Connect with Nyk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nykdanuyoga/ and https://www.instagram.com/yinyogapodcast/ Check out Nyk's website: https://nykdanu.com/teachers/ Grab this freebie from Nyk: So You Think You Can Niche Workshop: https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yoga-business-mentorship/workshops/#signup
This episode is an EPIC conversation with my friend Nyk Danu about the question of if, when, how, and why we use yoga props in Yin Yoga. Nyk is the host of A Yin Yoga Podcast, and she reached out to propose this crossover episode to share on both of our shows, because the no-props-in-Yin myth is a topic near and dear to both of our hearts. So what you'll hear here is less of an interview and more of a back and forth, or “fireside chat” (as Nyk calls it) where we really unpack this sometimes-controversial Yin subject. As you'll hear, the question of whether (or how) to use props in Yin Yoga touches on issues like accessibility, able-ism, trauma-informed teaching, and all kinds of cultural conditioning that sneaks into our practice. We talk about what it means to be true to a style or lineage, and how we align with the principles that make a Yin practice “yin.” As we explore where the anti-props misnomer comes from, Nyk and I also reflect on our experiences training with the founders of the Yin Yoga style, and how the functional approach to yoga requires that we adapt poses to individual bodies. We also give several specific examples of how props have helped our students get more from the practice, and debunk the assumption that you'll outgrow using props as your practice advances. There are also some practical suggestions for situations where minimal props are available, or where propping is too complicated or unable to solve a student's challenge with a pose. So, pull up your favorite blankets and bolsters, get comfy, and enjoy this fun and informative Yin Yoga conversation! ---------- Guest Bio: Nyk Danu is a certified Yoga Therapist, Yin Yoga Teacher Trainer, and Yoga business mentor. She's a fiercely independent sagittarius, misfit, introvert, bookworm, cat charmer, crow whisperer, Buddhist, seeker of truth, and long term pro-activist who's not-so-secretly out to save the world. In 2007 she fell madly in love with Yin Yoga and has since done 500+ hours of Yin Yoga training with Paul Grilley. Her passion for Yin Yoga sparked a deep resonance and curiosity for Traditional Chinese Medicine. This then drew her to study 2300 hours of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Pacific Rim College. Nyk has since combined her Yoga Therapy Training, Yin Yoga training and Traditional Chinese Medicine knowledge to create a unique Therapeutic Yin Yoga teacher training program, and she is also the host of A Yin Yoga Podcast. ---------- For more links and resources mentioned in this episode, find the show notes at movedtomeditate.yoga/podcast. Holiday Sale: Use discount code HOLIDAY24 before December 24th to take 24% off the 8-hour Yin Yoga Poses + Props Training (normally $149)! To learn more about Nyk's work, visit her website at nykdanu.com, or check out her Yin Yoga Podcast! Follow Nyk on Instagram at @nykdanuyoga Feel free to reach out through my website with any episode requests, topics you'd like to hear about, or guest interview suggestions. You can also connect with me on Instagram or Threads at @addie_movedtomeditate (for mindfulness, movement, pictures of Pacific Northwest nature, crocheting projects, and my adorable kitty, Mustache).
De wondere wereld van Yin Yoga staat voor zachtheid, ruimte vinden en voelen, naar binnen keren en de tijd nemen. Yin Yogavormen worden een aantal minuten lang ingevoeld tijdens een Yogales, wat niet alleen bevordelijk is voor soepeler bindweefsel, maar meerdere lagen van je 'zijn' mag aanraken. En laat dat nou net de kern van Yin Yoga omvatten: meer 'zijn', minder 'doen'. Met haar studio Pure Energy Yoga draagt Esther deze verzachting helemaal uit, en geeft ze door haar opleidingen in Yin Yoga en Yoga Nidra de kracht van zacht alomvattend door. In deze aflevering gaan Esther en ik dieper in op: Hoe de grondleggers en andere inspirerende teachers van Yin Yoga, zoals Paul Grilley, Bernie Clarke en Sarah Powers Esther's Yoga pad hebben beïnvloedt De functionele benadering van (Yin) Yoga Hoe Yin Yoga zowel uitdagend als verzachtend kan zijn, tegelijkertijd Wat Yin Yoga mag doen voor de fysieke én mentale gezondheid Hoe Yin Yoga ervoor zorgt dat het bindweefsel soepeler wordt Waarom nou juist in deze tijd de balans tussen Yin en Yang zo belangrijk is en meer... We hebben in deze aflevering kleine pauzes van muziek toegevoegd. Hierin nodigen we je uit om een moment het gesprek op je te laten indalen, of bewust even in- en uit te ademen. Pure Energy Yoga geeft Yin Yoga en Yoga Nidra opleidingen in Nederland en België. Kijk daarvoor op de website: www.pureenergyyoga.nl Voor alle geplande opleidingen kijk je hier: www.pureenergyyoga.nl/yoga-events . Op de website vind je ook voorbeeldlessen (met gratis PDF downloads) en Yoga Nidra sessies: https://pureenergyyoga.nl/yinspiratie-blog/ Volg Esther van Pure Energy Yoga op Instagram (@pure_energy_yin_yoga) en Facebook voor volop Yinspiratie. Luister naar fijne Yoga Nidra's van Esther via Youtube en Spotify. Geïnspireerd? Laat het ons weten! Schrijf een review, tag ons in jouw Pure Yoga moment op Instagram en wordt deel van onze online magazine community. Je kunt nu ook een reactie achterlaten op de podcast via Youtube en Spotify. Namasté! > Vind Sanne & Yoga Puur Breda op: - Instagram (@yoga_puur_breda) - Youtube (@yogapuurbreda) - Nieuwsbrief (abonneer je hier) - Website (yogapuurbreda.nl)
Ever wondered how a hair stylist transforms into a yoga therapist? Join us as we sit down with Nyk Danu, a certified yoga therapist, whose fascinating journey from the salon to the yoga mat is nothing short of inspiring. Learn how yoga helped her manage her anxiety and alleviate the physical stress of her hairstyling career. Nyk shares her experience with yoga, going from initial reluctance to discovering a passion that drove her to teach and heal others.We uncover the benefits of Yin Yoga as Nyk recounts how a workshop with Paul Grilley brought her a sense of peace and spaciousness. From Hatha to Yin, Nyk's journey through yoga is filled with rich insights on how these practices promote flexibility, mobility, and stress reduction. Understand the power of functional poses and the importance of transitioning from 'fight or flight' to 'rest and digest' modes for internal awareness and grounding.But that's not all—Nyk's journey doesn't stop at teaching. Discover her path to becoming a yoga therapist, specializing in classes tailored for individuals with serious spine issues and anxiety. Learn about the rigorous training involved, the integration of trauma-informed practices, and the ethical considerations of incorporating Traditional Chinese Medicine principles. Nyk's personal anecdotes and reflections on functional anatomy underscore the importance of adapting teaching methodologies to create a supportive and empowering environment for all students. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for anyone interested in the transformative power of yoga.Send us a Text Message! Support the Show.PLEASE VOTE FOR ME! I'm thrilled to announce that I am a nominee in the Women in Podcasting Awards! Please vote for me in the Health & Wellness category. Go HERE to vote between August 1st to October 1st:Join me for my Free Monthly Workshop EMPOWER YOUR ENERGY! An hour with some Reiki, Qigong, Discussion and great energy! Register HERE! Connect with Rose!Rose's WebsiteIG: Rose WippichYoutube: Rose Wippich WellnessEmail: rose@rosewippich.comRose's Recommendations New Energy! New You! Create a New Journey towards your most authentic self. Energies of the Wood Dragon: Free Ebook
The Importance of a Mature Understanding of Yoga www.paulgrilley.com | @paulandsuzeegrilley Paul Grilley, known for his work in Yin Yoga, discusses his journey in yoga and the evolution of yoga in the West along with the secularization of yoga and the rise of power yoga in LA. Paul shares his realization that no matter how much he practiced, there were poses he would never be able to do, which led him to explore Yin Yoga. He mentions his encounter with Paulie Zink, who emphasized the importance of holding poses for a longer duration and his experience studying with David Williams. Support Keen on Yoga
In this episode, I interviewed Nyk Danu. Nyk is a Yoga Therapist who teaches Therapeutic Yoga to Misfits, Gen xers (and sometimes Y) who don't feel at home in mainstream yoga circles: Alternative folks, punx, the rebels, underdogs, neurodiverse, introverts, geeks, and bookworms. Her specialty is helping people with Back Pain and Anxiety and she is also a Yin Yoga specialist and has a Therapeutic Yin Yoga Training. We touched upon all of these things in our conversation. Support the showConnect with Inner Peace Yoga Therapy Email us: info@innerpeaceyogatherapy.com Website Instagram Facebook
Wir kennen es alle: Je voller der Tag, je länger die To-Do-Listen und je mehr private und berufliche Verpflichtungen wir zu erfüllen haben, desto schwerer fällt es uns, das Gedankenkarussell am Abend zur Ruhe zu bringen. Und dann liegen wir im Bett, mit offenen Augen, und das allerletzte, was unserem Gehirn in den Sinn kommt, ist endlich einzuschlafen und die dringend benötigte Kraft für den nächsten Tag zu tanken. In dieser Folge “YogaWorld Podcast” führt dich Yogalehrerin Helga Baumgartner durch eine Yin-Yogapraxis, die dir zu einem besseren Schlaf verhelfen kann. Die Praxis ist dafür ausgelegt, dass du sie direkt vor dem Zubettgehen – am besten mit geputzten Zähnen und im Pyjama – machen kannst. Durch das lange Verweilen in den ausgewählten Yin-Yogahaltungen und das Zusammenspiel mit deinem Atem, wird dein sympathisches Nervensystem beruhigt und das parasympathische Nervensystem aktiviert. So hast du die perfekten Grundvoraussetzungen, um in einen erholsamen Schlaf überzugehen. Dabei wirst du von Helgas sanfter Stimme getragen. Yin Yoga at its best! Helga zählt zu den wenigen Yogalehrenden weltweit, die bei Paul Grilley in Kalifornien mehr als 750 Ausbildungsstunden im Yin Yoga absolviert haben. Sie unterrichtet seit 2007 Yogaklassen, mit Fokus auf Yin Yoga, Anatomie und Traumasensiblem Yoga, aber auch Taoist Yoga und Hatha Yoga. Yin Yoga beinhaltet für sie eine tief wirkende und therapeutisch heilende Magie, die sie gerne an andere herantragen möchte. Wir wünschen dir viel Freude bei der Praxis und vor allem: einen erholsamen und tiefen Schlaf! Links: Falls sich dir die einzelnen Haltungen nicht durch das reine Zuhören erschließen sollten, findest du sie hier nochmals in Bildern: https://yogaworld.de/yogasequenz-zum-podcast-72-yin-yoga-helga-baumgartner/ https://yogaworld.de/ https://www.instagram.com/yogaworld108/ https://www.yinplusyoga.de/ https://www.instagram.com/helgabaumgartneryinyoga/ https://www.instagram.com/mindfulyinplusyoga/ Foto: Christine Schneider Photography
This week I am interviewing Addie deHilster. Addie is a mindful movement teacher whose teaching prioritizes mindfulness from the Vipassana tradition. She blends many styles of movement including Yoga, somatics and chi gong to facilitate embodiment. We discuss how Yin yoga in many ways is already a very accessible form of meditation. You will learn how to apply concepts from Vipassana including compassion, and non-resistance to your practice and how to apply Yin components such as body awareness and regulation to your meditation practice. We know that meditation is so beneficial, but many of us lack the time, knowledge or confidence to really commit. I know this discussion will inspire you to turn the things you are already doing in your Yin practice into your own mindfulness practice.Addie deHilster is a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher and C-IAYT Yoga Therapist. Her passion is teaching movement practices that "unlock" mindfulness skills, and helping students gain traction in their meditation practice so they can be more present for their lives. She is a graduate of the Mindfulness Mentor Training with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, the InsightLA Mindfulness Facilitator Training, and the 2014-15 Mindfulness Yoga & Meditation Training Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She has studied Yin Yoga with Bernie Clark, Paul Grilley, and Sarah Powers. Addie is the founder of the Moved to Meditate Class Library, the host of the Moved To Meditate Podcast, and she offers online Yin Yoga Teacher Trainings with a mindful, therapeutic emphasis.Website: https://www.movedtomeditate.yogaClass Library: https://www.movedtomeditate.yoga/classlibrary - Sign up for your Library Card to access 5 free classes each month from the MovedStart Your Pain Care JourneyThis 7 day email course is for anyone interested in learning about pain care in Yoga. In one week you will have 4 accessible practices to use for yourself or for students and clients. You will also learn why these practices are so effective. This email course is free!Enroll now and start today Join the Shift SchoolThis is where we heal. With step by step pain care, daily practice resources, group coaching and a supportive community of peers you have everything you need at your fingertips.Special Offer2 weeks for just $20. See what the Shift School has to offer and if it's right for you. Enter the code YYPod2023 at Checkout. Join: https://theshiftschool.com/join-the-shift-school/ June 5-12, Crete, GreeceThis is a really special retreat experience for the healthy hedonist. Someone who loves movement and mindfulness but also wine, culture, food! Crete is an amazing place to restore and nurture yourself with deeply fulfilling experiences. This retreat is curated to help you enjoy the most of both Yoga and Gastronomy.Space is already very limited. Learn More: https://yoga.mandyryle.com/yoga-and-gastronomy-retreat-in-crete/Free 7 Day Email CourseIntroduction to Pain Care YogaPain Care Yoga combines traditional Yoga practices such as movement, mindfulness and regulation practices with scientific evidence. This course will provide you with 4 go to practices to use in your own pain care plan or for your students. Learn how these techniques can Reduce your pain Increase your function Restore your vitality Cost: FREE Enroll Now to start today!
Welcome to Episode #76 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! My conversation with Victor Chng, a yoga teacher from Singapore, was so fascinating as we took a deep dive into the spiritual understanding of yoga and QiGong. I hope that this conversation made you curious about the energetic imprints of the body itself, and how the chakras, the meridians, and the nadis are all different layers of a map that overlays the body, to utilize for the purpose of healing. If you're looking to tune into a podcast episode that is all about the aim of yoga is to achieve an indestructible body, then this is the conversation for you. Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/wildyogatribe Tell me more about Victor Chng Victor Chng began his yoga journey in the late 1990s and took his first teacher training in Singapore under SVYASA in 2002. Victor began full-time teaching in 2004. And today, he has developed his own system of yin yoga training and practice by integrating Daoist philosophies, Buddhism, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Yellow Emperor Inner Classics to help his students understand a deeper dimension of the yin practice. He also incorporated Qigong, an ancient energy movement developed in China, into Yin Yoga. He teaches all over Asia. He has studied directly under the elder students of the legendary Krishnamarchaya of Mysore, including TKV Desikachar, A.G. Mohan & Srivasta Ramaswami. He has also studied under Paul Grilley as well. What to expect in the Yoga In Singapore episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast This podcast episode with Victor Chng is not quite like any other episode on the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. Victor truly takes us through a deep dive into the history of yoga. Not just stopping at Patanjali's yoga sutras, but going beyond into China, Japan, and through thousands of years of history. We touched on Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine System, and Yellow Emperor Inner Classics, a lineage of information that was completely new to me. Victor is a true wealth of knowledge, and he generously shares it with us on this episode. If you're looking to learn, and I mean really learn, then this is the episode for you! For the skimmers - What's in the yoga in Singapore episode? The relationship between QiGong and Yoga What is Yellow Emperor Inner Classics? Daoist philosophies, Buddhism, and Traditional Chinese Medicine The chakra system in India and the meridian system in China We practice yoga to achieve an indestructible body The history of yoga as we should know it Connect with Victor www.yinyogainasia.com https://www.instagram.com/yinyogainasiasg https://www.facebook.com/YinYogaInAsia Everything you need is just one click away! Check out all the resources here: https://linktr.ee/wildyogatribe --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/wildyogatribe/message
We welcome Micaela Giles, Co-Founder at Origins Collaborative Care PLLC - Director of Mind-Body Education and Healing. Micaela is a true ‘survivor to thriver' story. In our time together, she shares how she took control to save herself and discovered a pathway of healing that transformed her health and her life in ways she only dreamed possible. Her dedication to uncovering what was wrong led her to take her profound personal experience, comprehensive formal education, and an exhaustive amount of informal research and transform it into a unique and powerful approach that is deeply intuitive and responsive to those needs she serves. Just some of what Micaela shares is —Why developing a well-being community is utmost in recoveryHow ill health can be the result of early developmental trauma,What is the autonomic nervous system, and how it plays a part in our recovery,Ways to learn to trust yourself (again)What is Polyvagal Theory, other wellness and well-being techniques, and so much more…About Out Guest: Micaela Giles is the Co-Founder at Origins Collaborative Care PLLC-Director of Mind-Body Education and Healing. She considers her most invaluable learning to be her own hard-won experience as she charted a course of healing from severe, complex chronic illness (and all the many associated losses — personal, relational, financial, and beyond). Micaela brings nearly 15 years of highly specialized education, training, and certifications in energy healing, somatic movement, complex and developmental trauma, Polyvagal Theory, the autonomic nervous system, expressive arts therapy, neuroscience, Ancient Wisdom Traditions, bodywork, mindfulness/meditation. Micaela's training includes SomaSoul Body-Centered Gestalt Psychotherapy, Shake Your Soul Yoga of Dance Teacher Training, 200-Hour Embodyoga Teacher Training, Yin Yoga study with Paul Grilley, Trauma Sensitive Yoga with Bessel van der Kolk, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Reiki II Advanced Certification with John Harvey Gray, and as well as being a Certified Medical Intuitive. She is also a Certified Safe and Sound Protocol Practitioner (including advanced certification for Remote SSP Delivery), an Acoustic vagus nerve stimulator developed by Dr. Stephen Porges based on his Polyvagal Theory, and a trained Hospice volunteer. Learn more at https://www.originscollaborativecare.com/Share this link with family and friends: www.UnderstandingAutoimmune.com/Micaela-2023This show is not intended to diagnose, prevent, or treat autoimmune diseases or other illnesses. The information presented in this interview cannot substitute for the advice of your physician or other trained medical, healthcare, or other professionals. The information provided on UnderstandingAutoimmune.com, Life Interrupted Radio.com, and The Autoimmune Hour are for educational purposes only.
Beyond Her Dreams: How Micaela Transformed Her Health and LifeAired Friday, March 3, 2023 at 4:00 PM PST / 7:00 PM ESTWe welcome Micaela Giles, Co-Founder at Origins Collaborative Care PLLC – Director of Mind-Body Education and Healing. Micaela is a true ‘survivor to thriver' story. In our time together, she shares how she took control to save herself and discovered a pathway of healing that transformed her health and her life in ways she only dreamed possible.Her dedication to uncovering what was wrong led her to take her profound personal experience, comprehensive formal education, and an exhaustive amount of informal research and transform it into a unique and powerful approach that is deeply intuitive and responsive to those needs she serves. Just some of what Micaela shares is —• Why developing a well-being community is utmost in recovery• How ill health can be the result of early developmental trauma,• What is the autonomic nervous system, and how it plays a part in our recovery,• Ways to learn to trust yourself (again)• What is Polyvagal Theory, other wellness and well-being techniques, and so much more…About Out Guest:Micaela Giles is the Co-Founder at Origins Collaborative Care PLLC-Director of Mind-Body Education and Healing. She considers her most invaluable learning to be her own hard-won experience as she charted a course of healing from severe, complex chronic illness (and all the many associated losses — personal, relational, financial, and beyond).Micaela brings nearly 15 years of highly specialized education, training, and certifications in energy healing, somatic movement, complex and developmental trauma, Polyvagal Theory, the autonomic nervous system, expressive arts therapy, neuroscience, Ancient Wisdom Traditions, bodywork, mindfulness/meditation. Micaela's training includes SomaSoul Body-Centered Gestalt Psychotherapy, Shake Your Soul Yoga of Dance Teacher Training, 200-Hour Embodyoga Teacher Training, Yin Yoga study with Paul Grilley, Trauma Sensitive Yoga with Bessel van der Kolk, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Reiki II Advanced Certification with John Harvey Gray, and as well as being a Certified Medical Intuitive.Micaela is also a Certified Safe and Sound Protocol Practitioner (including advanced certification for Remote SSP Delivery), an Acoustic vagus nerve stimulator developed by Dr. Stephen Porges based on his Polyvagal Theory, and a trained Hospice volunteer.Learn more at https://www.originscollaborativecare.com/This show is not intended to diagnose, prevent, or treat autoimmune diseases or other illnesses. The information presented in this interview cannot substitute for the advice of your physician or other trained medical, healthcare, or other professionals. The information provided on UnderstandingAutoimmune.com, Life Interrupted Radio.com, and The Autoimmune Hour are for educational purposes only.#MicaelaGiles #SharonSayler #AutoImmuneHourVisit the Autoimmune Hour show page https://omtimes.com/iom/shows/autoimmune-hour/Connect with Sharon Sayler at http://lifeinterruptedradio.com/Subscribe to our Newsletter https://omtimes.com/subscribe-omtimes-magazine/Connect with OMTimes on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Omtimes.Magazine/ and OMTimes Radio https://www.facebook.com/ConsciousRadiowebtv.OMTimes/Twitter: https://twitter.com/OmTimes/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omtimes/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2798417/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/omtimes/
In episode 5 I am speaking with the divine Heidi Trigar. Heidi is well known in Melbourne and the east coast of Australia for her celestial kirtan events. Not only does Heidi have the voice to hold the space, she is also a remarkable yin yoga teacher and yoga teacher trainer. In this episode Heidi shares her movement history from dance to yoga, and how yin yoga opened up the real possibility of feeling safe to truly surrender, not only on her mat, but in all areas of her life. Heidi has been exploring ways in which to bring ancient techniques of mantra, mudra, and meridians into her teaching which she shares here with the listeners. You can find out all about Heidi's classes, upcoming kirtans, workshops and retreats through her website: https://www.heiditrigar.com In this episode we also referenced the bone picture gallery on Paul Grilley's website which can be found here: https://paulgrilley.com/bones
This episode I talk with Paul Grilley on his finding of and understanding of the Taoist Teaching of the Nei Jing Tu - a visual guide to the yogic experience.
What is Yin Yoga? Can you integrate yoga, mindfulness, and meditation to improve your well-being?MEET Addie deHilsterAddie deHilster is a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher and C-IAYT Yoga Therapist. Her passion is teaching movement practices that "unlock" mindfulness skills, and helping students gain traction in their meditation practice so they can be more present in their lives. Yin Yoga is one of the main modalities she practices and teaches, as it is an excellent doorway into embodied meditative stillness. Now based in Vancouver, Washington (USA), she previously owned and operated a community yoga studio in Los Angeles, California for over five years. A dedicated practitioner of Buddhist Insight Meditation, she has accumulated over four months of silent retreat practice over the years. She is a graduate of the Mindfulness Mentor Training with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, the InsightLA Mindfulness Facilitator Training, and the 2014-15 Mindfulness Yoga & Meditation Training Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, which is a program dedicated to weaving together the wisdom traditions of Hatha Yoga and Buddhist meditation. She has studied Yin Yoga with Bernie Clark, Paul Grilley, and Sarah Powers. Addie is the founder of the Moved to Meditate Class Library, the host of the Moved To Meditate Podcast, and she offers online Yin Yoga Teacher Trainings with a mindful, therapeutic emphasis.Find out more about Addie at Move To MeditateIN THIS PODCAST:What is Yin Yoga? 4:31How is Yin yoga different from traditional yoga? 11:58What are the mental health benefits of Yin yoga? 13:52What Is Yin Yoga?Connecting the mind with the body with embodied meditationYin vs. Yang state Integrating props into Yin yogaThe importance of finding an instructor that can adapt to each individual personHow Is Yin Yoga Different From Traditional Yoga?Preparing the body with active movementWhat is passive movement?Restorative yoga vs. Yin yogaUsing Yin yoga as a mindfulness practiceWhat Are The Mental Health Benefits Of Yin Yoga?Becoming aware of our physical, mental & emotional state through mindfulnessHow Yin yoga helps build our stress resistanceDown-regulating our nervous systemWhat is the Window of Tolerance?Connect With MeInstagram @holisticcounselingpodcastFacebookJoin the private Facebook groupSign up for my free email course: www.holisticcounselingpodcast.comRate, review, and subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, and
As the infamous Paul Grilley states "every bone in every body is different. What is easy for one skeleton, is impossible for another". When it comes to yoga, any kind of yoga, any kind of movement really, it is crucial to understand that at the core of every human being, is a unique set and structure of bones. When we can truly appreciate this fact, I think we will be moving ever closer to real relationship with the body, the self and the heart, rather than sitting in constant discouragement or self critique about the ever elusive notion of "one day I will get there in my practice". For more on skeletal variation, visit my website drkarinasmith.com and use promo code SAVE10 to get 10% off online courses.
Welcome Loves!I am SO glad you are here.In this week's episode I am joined by Machelle Lee, Founder of Roots & River Yoga.Machelle specializes in the health and rehabilitation of fascia, connective tissues, and joints with background in Depth Psychology, Chinese Medicine Facilitator, and Educator in her passion Yin Yoga. Machelle also travels around the world offering trainings in the science and psychology of Meridian Theory, Comparative Anatomy and Yoga Teacher Trainings.You guys know I LOVE geeking out on the way the body works and the mind, body, universe connection and in this episode we go deep into origin stories of Chinese Medicine, Yin Yoga, and the connection of it all.Machelle also takes us on the personal journey of how she used yoga practice to heal her depression early in life, which became the catalyst for a life long deep love for the lifestyle and practice. If you love learning about the body and want to dive in deeper to the origins and workings of yin yoga, then this is your Jam! What we dive into: Machelle's story of overcoming depression and overwhelm in motherhood with YogaRewiring mindset with consistent self-care practicesTrusting the Redirects of our livesThe language of the Body: The ways the body communicates with us constantlyIntroduction into Chinese Medicine and its relation to fascia and connective tissueThe body holds our emotions, our memories, our storiesCorrelating Yoga as a form of Self-AcupressureThe beginning of Yin Yoga with Paul GrilleyComparative AnatomyUnderstanding your personal anatomy- We are all built different and will be able to show up to different poses differently, and that's OK.Finding enlightenment and peace in the gentle practicesMental Health Support with Yin Yoga, Chinese Medicine, and AwarenessEvery time I get the chance to hear more about our fascia and the intelligence of how our systems work together I am just mesmerized. In my mind it just opens the door to so many other possibilities. I hope you're inspired to give yin yoga at try or go deeper in your own practice! Thank you friends for listening in! Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss a single episode. If this episode resonated for you, I‘d be SO grateful for your likes and reviews wherever you are listening to this podcast!So much coming your way...Amazing guests, New episodes, and a lot happening at Chaos & Calm. Make sure you check out chaoscalm.com for all the news on courses, training, classes, events and while you are there check out all the free resources, tools, and inspiration!You can join in more of the conversation and community by clicking the link below for the In The Calm Community! All my love friends! I hope you have the most amazing week ahead, and see you soon. Connect to Your Community & Georgie:www.ChaosCalm.comITC COMMUNITYINSTAGRAM GEORGIE Connect with Machelle Lee:WEBSITEINSTAGRAM
Yin/Restorative yoga teacher Marcy Tropin does not just help others heal through the teachings of yoga, she has survived multiple traumas herself. In this conversation she offers some really important insights she's had through her own experience taking ownership of her healing and her own narrative. We discuss the importance of right effort in maintaining a longterm yoga practice. As you listen, I encourage you to think about places in your yoga practice and life you could increase or reduce effort for a better result. If you are a yoga teacher, there are some really good tips in here for how you can create and attract a safe space for your students by remembering and understanding what the experience is like from the student's perspective. Make sure to listen closely for the equalizing way Marcy starts every class she teaches and the other resources she uses to support her and her students. Marcy Tropin is certified in Alan Finger's ISHTA Yoga, Ancient Thai Healing, as a Relax and Rew Trainer through Judith Lasater, in Yin Yoga with Paul Grilley, and completed Shiva Rea's Advanced Teacher Training. Marcy is an intuitive healer, and works with students to release pain, and recover from injuries through private bodywork sessions. In 2017 she self-published Yin Yoga Master Class: A Memoir. In 2021, Marcy launched Thumbsky, an apparel brand with original designs combining yoga, humor, equality, art and writing. Follow Marcy's instagram here. Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify. Your support is deeply appreciated! Visit My Site Make a donation Instagram
In this week's podcast episode, I'm geeking out with Nyk Danu, a fellow yoga therapist and Yin Yoga teacher. Nyk has extensive training in Chinese Medicine and yoga therapy, so we go in-depth on how these modalities can enhance the Yin Yoga practice. Nyk talks about how learning anatomy from Paul Grilley - especially the reality of skeletal variation - totally changed her understanding of alignment in yoga. We also discuss the use of yoga props in Yin, and why they are so important for making the practice accessible and therapeutic. You'll also hear about: the role of the nervous system and interoception in a therapeutic Yin practice how the long-held Yin poses can be calming for anxiety the mental challenges that often come up in a Yin practice why Nyk is cautious about how she shares Chinese Medicine and Meridian theory in her Yin classes what the sinew channels are, and how they may be more relevant to Yin than the Meridians reconsidering common language in Yin Yoga, from a therapeutic point of view ways to make Yin classes more trauma-informed. This episode is packed with info for our Yin lovers! So, give it a listen and let us know what your favorite take-aways are. -- To connect with Nyk, you can visit her website at https://nykdanu.com/ or follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/nykdanuyoga/ To connect further with me (Addie), check out my main website movedtomeditate.yoga or the Moved To Meditate Class Library at movedtomeditate.com And, as mentioned at the beginning of the episode, our current Deeper Dive theme is Patience & Persistence. There is a free 3-page worksheet that you can download and use to take a closer look at your own relationship to Patience and Persistence, if you like. I will be sending the worksheet out with my email newsletter during the first week of January...you can sign up to receive it here. P.S. If you missed the newsletter because you're listening to this later, you can still get the worksheet. All you need to do is email me at mail@movedtomeditate.com and ask. :)
Eva Williams is the founder of Golden Lotus; A divine online portal of meditations, movement practices, and sexual/spiritual energy education designed to cultivate spiritual awakening, sexual activation, and embodied sovereignty. This episode explores rebirth and the unfolding of the sacred feminine through preparation and activation rituals, with a deep dive into birth and pregnancy. Tahnee and Eva journey into the numinous layers of Eva's healing work, her Golden Lotus portal, her focus on cultivating and purifying the body through ancient techniques, sexual embodiment, self-pleasure practices, and the many dimensions of birth work. A healer and teacher with over a decade of experience in bodywork, energy work, and feminine sexual cultivation techniques, Eva carries a depth of knowledge that women need now more than ever. Currently, the way most women in society birth is within the structure of an over-medicalised patriarchal system. Sacred feminine lineages of natural birthing wisdom have been at large, replaced with time constraints, interventions, inductions, and regulations; The antithesis of a naturally unfolding feminine space. How did we end up here? With so much of her work focused on this space and where sexual embodiment falls into birth, Eva discusses the importance of birth preparation; From detoxing, orgasms, and opening the pelvis to the deep work of trusting the body and baby to do what they instinctively know how to do. This conversation is a deep weaving of energetic, sexual, and birth culture healing; For all women, past, present, and future. "Many people come into tantra with a concept of a partner base in mind. But the way I was trained, particularly with my teachers in this more Sufi tradition, I never went into any of this work looking for my sexuality. I never thought I would only work with women; I never thought I would be working with birth. That was not my aim; My aim was to heal people. I worked on everyone. Ultimately, I wanted to find God. I wanted a very deep spiritual experience or a series of those. And over time, that guided me in that direction. But there was a level of care and sobriety cultivated within me before I was put on that path. And this level of deep devotion and sobriety to my self-development was paramount". - Eva Williams Tahnee and Eva discuss: Doula work. Ultrasounds. Inducing labour. Foetal monitoring. Dolphin midwives. Birth preparation. Empowered birth. Tantric practices. Devine Female Orgasm. Self-pleasure practices. Feminine embodiment. Female sexuality and birth. The pelvis is a fluid body. Somatics and embodiment. Time constraints placed on pregnancy and birthing. Who is Eva Louise Williams? Eva Louise Williams is a healer and teacher with over a decade of experience in bodywork, energy work, and feminine sexual cultivation techniques. She began her journey at 18 learning reiki and pranic healing, before becoming initiated into Kriya yoga (the lineage of Babaji) at 20, then went on to study Shiatsu, Japanese Acupuncture, and Taoist sexual cultivation techniques. She began teaching others at 26 and received the transmission for Golden Lotus at the age of 29. She currently has over 10,000 hours of experience as a bodyworker and teacher. Eva is also a doula, a birth educator, and an RYT 500 in tantric Hatha and kundalini lineages. Golden Lotus was founded to both serve and lead female seekers towards awakening and remembering Self-love & trust. It is a series of teachings that cultivate spiritual and sovereign embodiment; the focus lies in stabilising, purifying, and awakening through ancient techniques and spiritual secrets taught through a state of ritual and Holy full-body Prayer. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN ON APPLE PODCAST Resources: goldenlotus.com Golden Lotus Instagram Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We'd also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or check us out on Stitcher, CastBox, iHeart RADIO:)! Plus we're on Spotify! Check Out The Transcript Here: Tahnee: (00:00) Hi everybody, and welcome to the SuperFeast Podcast. Today, I'm joined by Eva Williams. I'm really excited to have her here. I've been following her work online and she's really aligned with what we do at SuperFeast. She's an explorer of this wide world of Daoist medicine through the Japanese lineage, but also, she waves in, from what I can tell, you seem to bring in all these beautiful, different traditions, Sufism, Kriya yoga, different types of feminine embodiment, Pranic healing, that kind of stuff. So I'm really excited to have you here today. I'm really excited to share with our community your work. Tahnee: (00:37) And if you guys are interested, we'll talk about it through the podcast, but Eva has a whole lot of resources on her website, courses you can do related to different aspects of a lot of the stuff we teach at SuperFeast. So thank you for joining us here today, Eva, it's such a pleasure to have you here. Eva Williams: (00:53) My pleasure. Thank you so much. Tahnee: (00:57) Yeah, I'm so excited. I think I first came across you on Instagram and I've had a look through what you offer. I know you haven't studied with Mantak, but it really seems aligned with a lot of the work that I learned through studying with him, the feminine work around energy cultivation. Obviously, you've studied Shiatsu and Japanese acupuncture. So you speak to the meridians and all those kinds of things. Would you mind telling us a bit about your journey here? How did you get to be offering Golden Lotus to the world? Eva Williams: (01:30) Yeah, sure. All right. My journey's been quite interesting in terms of length because my mom is really into alternative medicine. I remember when I was six years old and I just had this incredibly bad tonsillitis, it was to the point where I was being taken out of school for days and days every week. And my mom noticed that I responded really, really well to the osteopath that she would take us to because she used to take us all three to the osteopath regularly. And so the osteopath said, "Look, this kid is responsive as hell. You should just take her to a cranial osteopath because that will help." Eva Williams: (02:12) So I started going to this professional cranial osteopath when I was six, and it was the only thing that assisted, it was the only thing my body would really respond to. So really, from an early age, my mom knew that, particularly me, I think my brother and sister definitely as well, but particularly me, if anything would happen, like when I was 13 and I had anxiety, my mom was like, "Oh, we could put her on anti-anxiety or we could do reflexology with Bach flower remedies." And also, I had psoriasis, I had developed psoriasis when I was 13. And psoriasis, for those of you who don't know, is a skin issue, and it's one of these just really stubborn, autoimmune things. Eva Williams: (02:55) Anything that's autoimmune is basically, no offence to all of the fantastic doctors and the medical community, but anything that's autoimmune is basically in the realm of, "We don't really know what the fuck is happening, so here's some steroids. That's where we're at." And so I started trying out these different things and some of them are called like bowel neurotherapies, which are where you'd have a salt bath and then UV light therapy or something like that. And there's not a lot of sun in the Netherlands where I was living at the time. So I started getting into this world where every time I'd be going to this clinic, I'd be checking out the cards on the notice board. Eva Williams: (03:34) And there'd always be like random things like Karma healing or like emotional Chakra clearing. And one day I found this card and I was like, "This is so good." I walked around with this card for like a week or two, and then I called the person. And I remember, as soon as I called her, she was like, "Yeah, how can I help you?" I'm like, "Look, I don't really know what you do. Do you speak English? I don't really know what you do, but I feel really like this is something that I need to try." And she was like, "Hmm, no, you need Dini." I was like, "I'm sorry, have we even met? I'm trying to book an appointment with you." Eva Williams: (04:04) And she was like, "No, you need Dini." I was like, "Oh, okay. I need Dini." And then this woman was this like 75-year-old woman who looked so young. And she was like, "How old do you think I am?" I'm like, "We've been through this before." She was just amazing. And she barely spoke any English. And I remember I was 15 when I first went to see her, and she did Meridian massage. She did Meridian clearing and healing. She was just a healer, so she would tell me a bunch of different things, and then she would do this work on me. She would tell me things that I look back on now, I'm like, "Dude, she was so on point." Eva Williams: (04:44) But at the time, I was like, "What the fuck is she talking about?" She's like, "You're taking on a lot from your father." I'm like, "Okay." Tahnee: (04:51) What does that mean? Eva Williams: (04:51) Exactly. And now, I'm like, "I'm that person." But it was quite a unique experience. And I remember when she first read my astrology chart, she just looked at me. And it was very Dutch. The Dutch are very dry, they don't beat around the bush, they're very pragmatic and straightforward. And she was like, "Wow, that's not good." I was like, "Why are you doing this to me?" So she started saying to me really early on when I was 15, 16, I didn't like high school, so I left high school when I was 15 to teach myself. She started saying to me really regularly, "You have to promise me that you will do this work." She's like, "Do you think what I do is amazing?" I'm like, "I think it's pretty out there." Eva Williams: (05:36) And she's like, "Okay, but what you are going to do is this, but much, much more." And she's like, "You have to promise me." And my mom taught me from when I was really young that a promise is a really strong word and you don't use it if you can't keep it. So I was like, "Far out, man, this is my life ahead of me and you want me to..., " But she sent me to some other people, liquid crystal healers and all sorts of things, so I was getting into some really bizarro stuff. And I wasn't telling my parents that much about this because it no longer had this homoeopathic application anymore. Now, it was just like, "Fuck it, I'm going to go on a journey and meet the [inaudible 00:06:07]. See you later." Eva Williams: (06:08) I was getting into some really out-there stuff at like 16, 17, but it was, it was really amazing. So I followed that thread and I taught myself, I homeschooled myself. And I got into a really great university. And so I went to university, everyone told me people are more free thinking in university, etc, etc. And I thought, "Okay, great." But actually I didn't find that, I actually found that the institutionalised information had just become denser. I didn't find that people were more free thinking, I found that there were more presumptions. And especially for someone who didn't go through the IB or the international baccalaureate programme, it was really difficult for me. Eva Williams: (06:51) I had some really awakening moments, just some really jarring stuff happened where I was like, "I don't think I really belong here." And my dad moved to India that year, and so my brother and sister and I all went to see him in India. My dad's a geologist, so all around the house, ever since we were little, we'd had tumbled rocks, amethyst, turquoise, this or that. So he was always teaching us about all these crystals. So when my brother and I got to India, we saw the tumbled rocks, these beautiful amethyst, and we both took one. We were like, "Let's go to the Himalayas." Eva Williams: (07:28) He's like, "Yeah, let's learn yoga from a really old yogi." I was like, "Yeah, let's go do that." So and I was like, "Dad, I'm taking this rock with me." He's like, "If you take that, you're bringing it back. That's my rock." So I took this amethyst in my pocket and I went into the Himalayas. And I met a woman and she... I wanted to study Reiki, that was my thing. She just looked at me and she was like, "Hey, look, I'm going to give you these codes for all the different levels of Reiki, and then I need you to come back and I want you to teach my level two students." I'm like, "Lady, I just walked in here. I don't know what Reiki is yet." Tahnee: (08:01) I've got to learn. Eva Williams: (08:06) "I've got a nab at this, I had a dream on the bus. There's a lot going on right now. I don't think I'm ready to teach people something I haven't learned." But what she was picking up on was that I could touch people and feel what they were experiencing. So I came back the next day, and I was just putting my hands on people and I just explained what I could see or feel. And she's like, "You need to promise me ... " I was like, "You know what, I've heard all of this before, my friend. I have heard all of this before." So I went back to the Netherlands to university, and I was doing my 30 days. You have to do this self Reiki thing after you do Reiki. Eva Williams: (08:45) And during that period of time, I was like, "I'm not meant to be an architect, I'm not meant to be doing what I'm doing. And so I need to go." And so I gave away everything I owned and I said to my dad, "I'm free again." And he's like, "Yeah, great. You left high school twice and now you're leaving an international honours university. This is a great run you're having over here. I hope you put my amethyst back." Tahnee: (09:07) Yeah. So proud. Eva Williams: (09:10) He's like, "You'll face... " I'm joking. And he was like, "Okay, look, you've always been who you are, no one's stopping that. But what are you going to do? You should have a bit of a plan." And I was like, "Yeah, well, what do I have to my name?" He's laughing. He's like, "What do you have to your name? You're a broke student. You have nothing but a ticket home to New Zealand that I will give you until you're 22." So I was like, "All right, great. I'll take it." So I went to New Zealand for three weeks and I went for a Reiki session. And this woman, she did that same thing, she's like, "You don't need me, you need Barbara and you need Jan." Eva Williams: (09:43) And I'm like, "Okay, send me the names." So I started exploring all these different modalities of incredible light work, just incredible, incredible things while I was there. I go down to the ocean and dolphins would come and visit me, and then I'd go see the healers, and they're like, "You called those dolphins." I'm like, "Okay. All right. Let's calm down." But now I'm like, "We all call the dolphins." Now, I'm like, "Of course, I called the dolphins." Tahnee: (10:07) They're our people. Eva Williams: (10:08) My allies. They came to me in my hour of need. It was just a beautiful time. And then one day, in my heart, I just heard... I was waiting for that moment where you hear it from within, because I have a very active mind, so I can make up whatever I want to hear. But I heard Melbourne from my heart. And I was like, "Okay, that's where it's going to be." So I called my parents, I'm like, "I'm going to Melbourne." They were like, "Oh, thank God, she's got a plan." And I went there and I thought I was going to stay doing something graphic design or something design oriented, because that's a big part of my passion in life. Eva Williams: (10:42) And I found the Australian Shiatsu College, and I found my shakes. I found my Sufi shakes. And once I found these two things, everything else fell in line. Yes, I was initiated into Kriya yoga over when I was 21, which was amazing. When I was 20, still finding my feet, I hadn't found the college yet, I hadn't found my shakes yet. I used to lie in my bedroom listening to singing balls. And that was this one guy who I just loved, very camp, but amazing, but just incredible sound healer, just such an amazing heart and soul. And he would just put all this water in a bow and he'd be like, "These are the dolphin's ball, the dolphins are coming to sing us." Eva Williams: (11:26) And he would hit it and he would play it. And it was like, oh my God, this man, I don't even know where he comes from, but he's amazing." So one day I fell asleep, listening to this and I woke up and how you know YouTube just plays. And I saw this image on my screen, and I looked at it and it was this blue light and this golden man. And it just said, "The golden body of the Yogi." And I knew in that moment this is why I'm on the planet. This is why I'm on the planet. And so then I found out who that was, and that was an image of Babaji. And so then I found out about Kriya yoga. Eva Williams: (12:00) And it's interesting because when I had looked for yoga schools in India years before, the only ones that I had found that I wanted to go to were the Kriya yoga schools. And so I became initiated into the Kriya yoga lineage of the Babaji and then his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya, and then Sri Yukteswar, and Paramahamsa Yogananda. And that was the beginning of things unlocking for me. And then I found Shiatsu in oriental medicine, and I went on to study Japanese acupuncture. And then I also found a teacher, a female teacher, and she did a beautiful mixture of yoga and Daoist work with the Jade egg. And then through the studies that I was doing and her even teaching in the same building, I just made this place my home and we'd get all these amazing international practitioners. Eva Williams: (12:50) I found myself picking up exactly what I needed from that, including doula training and all sorts of things like this that were going on in the space. And then I worked at a Japanese bath house after I graduated for five years or so, I think it was, or something around that. And I really was so lucky because even if you want to rack up hours as a practitioner, it's very hard to find a place to be doing flat out work as Shiatsu practitioner just right out of school. But I was able to rack up at 10,000 hours really quickly in my first, I would say, first six or seven years of work. Eva Williams: (13:27) And then I went to Bali, I got married. I went to Bali for a honeymoon, and then I just decided I was going to move to Dubai because it was something I really wanted to do. And then about a year into being in Dubai, I was just lying in the bathtub and I just had this full download through my body. And these images came to me and all this stuff and I was just being told what to do like, "You need to write this down, you need to go and get these things." And I was told to build out a whole altar. So I had this massive altar. And I was just sitting in front of it like, "Okay, I now live in a church. What next?" Eva Williams: (14:06) My husband, he was in Iraq at the time, so he wasn't home. So I was like, "Nobody's going to know about my weird little mat?" And then when he came home, he's like, "That's a lot of candles. Do you need to light all of them at once? Are we doing a séance? What's happening here?" But as I was doing this, the spirits of these different plants I've been told to buy exactly 13 were coming to me, people were sending me things. I was finding things that I'd had in my library for a long time, I'd just never seen them with that particular glow or from that angle, that a transmission was coming through. Eva Williams: (14:41) And I basically just sat down and I wrote the 10 transmissions of level one of Golden Lotus, which is the eight extraordinary vessels and the 12 main meridians. Unless you do a practitioner training, I don't do Triple Warmer and Pericardium. So it's basically just the five elements. So water, wood, earth, metal as it were, and fire. And then the eight extraordinary. But we do the Chong Mai twice because it has the main vessel and then two other vessels. And for the purpose of female sexual cultivation, it's important actually to separate those two. And then from there, it just started unlocking, like level two became the three gates of orgasm and just the content was just pouring down. Eva Williams: (15:28) And it was a mixture between a really pure transmission I was being guided to and led to, and then a really deep weaving of just years and years. I'm very, very autodidactic because I didn't go to high school even, so my ability to sit and research and work if I have the impetus is quite high. If not, guess what? Tahnee: (15:54) Very low. I can relate to that. Eva Williams: (16:00) I'm like, "Let's have a show of hands." I'm pretty sure everyone's like, "Yeah, that's a... '' So I was able to just channel this, and then it just was really natural that these two modalities, the way it's structured is that the level one is really about working with the Yoni egg, so the Jade egg. It's really about clearing your own body, detoxing and recentralizing through the pelvis. So clearing trauma in the pelvis, opening the sensitivity of the pelvis, and really weaving in the whole rest of the body to a pelvic alignment. So beginning to really understand all of these different reflex zones that we have in the body that all relate to the pelvis. Eva Williams: (16:43) And I don't just mean the internal reflex zones of the different organ systems, I also mean really beginning to explore somatically the balance between the sacrum and the buttock and the stone and the breasts, or how there's different alignments of your pelvis and your jaw and your mouth. And there's multiple different ways that we can set up these reflexologies that allow us to have a sense that we're hinging from the pelvis. So it's very much about coming into that, and it's not supposed to be... It's supposed to basically teach you how to come into contact with your own energy, to disperse it through your whole body so that you can actually have proper tantra experiences and also to self-regulate. Eva Williams: (17:23) Because the level two work, it's almost like we go from a pelvic central model out to the body. And then the next level is all more explicit. So it's like self-pleasure practises. Or if we do like a retreat, we'll do some touch exchange practises. If you come to my clinic, I will do internal work at times, things like this. And so that's very triggering work. And I've seen, because I have been in many of these schools with sexual energy, the lack of self-regulation that is taught before highly activating practises come into play. And I didn't like that. Eva Williams: (18:02) And so while I didn't necessarily plan the way that Golden Lotus was channelled, it is a very deep reflection of the beliefs in the general that I've taken, which is that we need to prepare our body before we do all this highly sexual activating practise. Because otherwise, I think one of the big things in the tantra communities and things that's happened is, it's just become all about sex dressed up as something spiritual, you know? Tahnee: (18:26) Oh, I know. Eva Williams: (18:28) You're like, "Really? I've never come across this before." Tahnee: (18:31) I'm just laughing because I spent some time at Agama Yoga in Thailand I have never laughed so hard. We did a 10 day silent meditation and we were asked to abstain from sex for 10 days. And every day, someone would ask, "I really feel like I need to have sex today. Could I possibly not have... " I was like, "So you guys can't go 10 days without touching yourself or someone else." I've never seen anything like it. So if you love Agama, I found it a really toxic culture. It was almost high school. I was really shocked. Eva Williams: (19:10) It's infamous. It's infamous for this. My teacher went there, one of my teachers was there and she told me all about it. And then even recently, I was sitting with a friend and I was mentioning some of these things, and she was like, "Oh my gosh. One time, when I was at the very beginning of my path, I went to this place." And as soon as she said it, I knew. I was like, "I know where you were talking about. I've never been there myself, but it's infamous." Tahnee: (19:37) It was an experience. Yes, I hear you. Eva Williams: (19:37) I think that this thing is also, I think a lot of people come into tantra with a concept of partner base in mind, and the way that I was trained, particularly with my teachers in this more Sufi tradition and things like this, I never went into any of this work looking for my sexuality. I never thought I would only work with women, I never thought I would be working with birth. This was not my aim. My aim was just to heal people. I worked on everyone. And ultimately, my aim was just to find God, I just wanted to have a very deep spiritual experience or a series of those. And so that over time guided into that direction, I just saw the level of care and sobriety that was cultivated within me before putting me onto that path. Eva Williams: (20:30) The level of deep devotion and sobriety to my own self-development was paramount. And so there wasn't a sense of like there was a real sense that I wasn't allowed to just mess around, I wasn't allowed to just go to whatever workshop I wanted or something. I was really guided very strongly as to what is an integrity and what is not an integrity as far as transmissions go. And I'm very grateful for that. At least it worked for me within my system of integrity. So then basically it brought the birth of this beautiful work and I think that people love it when they do it, and I think people do feel that they can regulate themselves through it. Eva Williams: (21:12) And that work for me, very, very naturally falls into birth work. If you are learning how to move and you're learning all these different ways of detoxing and opening your body and then you're learning these three gates of orgasm, which is very specifically sent into the pelvis, so then we are really going into the semantics of the pelvis alone. If you're doing all of that work, that is the birth prep is just extraordinary. And so I developed that into a birthing programme as well, because we need more of that. I think that you're not really taught how much prep goes into birth until you're pregnant. Tahnee: (21:48) And it's really not a great time then to be exploring. Eva Williams: (21:52) No. Not at all because it's traumatic. Tahnee: (21:53) Because of your trauma. Eva Williams: (21:53) You can definitely do some work on it then, but you need some guidance and holding through that because unwinding trauma can take a really long time, the somatic body's not quick Tahnee: (22:10) Not fast, very slow. Eva Williams: (22:17) It really likes to take its time. Tahnee: (22:17) Oh man, it's so true. And I think what is so interesting about what you're speaking to though with coming into birth work, I know for me, I did muntuk's work and I was having internal work there and working with eggs and clearing those, that whole period of time was big for me. It was unpleasant in some ways and really beautiful and powerful in other ways. But I came to birth and I remember thinking like, "If I hadn't done that work, I wouldn't be able to hold myself through pregnancy and birth the way I've been able to, through pregnancy and birth." Tahnee: (22:56) And you are speaking to this sense of sobriety and this sense of strength and just the ability to hold your own energy and read your own energy and tune into it, I think that's the piece for women going in and it's like, you're going to have people try and tell you things that you have to filter through, your truth filters. You have to make decisions around your sovereignty and around your care that you probably... These are big decisions and you don't have much context for them usually. I know for me even being fairly educated, there's just stuff I was like, "Do I have to do this? What are the rules?" Tahnee: (23:32) And I think if you don't have that strong foundation, I think that's stuff golden lotus, it sounds like it just provides that container for women to start to build that trust in themselves so they can go and then really be open to what is honestly the most incredible experience you can have as a woman. I know woman choose not to birth, but for me, profound, but a lot of preparation too, I think in my experience. Eva Williams: (23:58) I think it's really underestimated how much prep it takes. And I think it's also, to understand that you've got so much content that you want to read about the spiritual, about the physiological, but also how much you've got to inform yourself around just- Tahnee: (24:13) Practical. Eva Williams: (24:14) Yeah. Just random medical stuff, because we are taught to just, if someone's wearing a white coat, they know. They wouldn't suggest it if it wasn't for your best. Tahnee: (24:23) Is that true? Eva Williams: (24:23) That's not true. And it's sad. It's so sad to acknowledge that, but that's unfortunately the truth. And so I'm in the process of putting together a programme now which really takes people, basically it's like a month-by-month programme. So you can buy the modules as a month or you can buy them as a whole. And it's got workbooks and meditations. It addresses the emotional, the spiritual, how far along your baby is and where they're growing. Eva Williams: (24:57) And it really also, for me, there's like this very strong concept of, you have the mother, you have the child, and then you have the mother-child unit, this third that's being generated and they call it mama toto in Swahili, this concept of the mother-child. And to build a bridge between these things because one of the things that I've noticed in for example, certain modalities like APA, like the pre and perinatal psychology, people who do fantastic work is that one of the main... how do I explain this for people who don't maybe come from this context? Someone asked me recently, how can you tell if your doula is a good doula? How can you choose a good doula? Eva Williams: (25:44) How many stars are there in the sky, my friend? And then immediately it came to me, I know it really... And I realised that the doula that I really, we don't even call ourselves doula's anymore because we consider ourselves more birth keepers or birth workers because the work gets so close to midwifery at a certain stage that the idea that you are not advocating for a client or all these sorts of things, it doesn't have a place when you get to a certain level of birth work. And these women, all of them speak to the baby individually to the mother. And immediately I realise, "Oh, if your doula will have an individual relationship to the baby, as they do to you, but they are there for you, to me, that's a good doula." Eva Williams: (26:38) And I know that sounds strange, but I come very much from this concept that the baby is always the most conscious being in the room, born or unborn. And so if we can begin to actually... What I would love for more women to know is that a lot of women really get bogged down with this idea like, "It's me, it's my body. Yes, my partner's helping me, but I have to carry this. I feel heavy, this baby's relying on me." And so there becomes almost a scarcity of this really deep sense of drudgery or something related, or just a deep sense of lack of support that becomes related to birth. Eva Williams: (27:10) And one of the things that I think is really important for women to understand is neither on a physiological level, not spiritual level are you alone? This baby is the one that will release the hormone that will tell your body and your stomach when to dilate. This child will send stem cells to heal your body into your blood. This child is there for you, and this child is leading this labour actually. So this child is bringing you energy and bringing you protection, and bringing you gifts of healing. And this moment is actually for you, it's not happening to you, it's happening for you. Eva Williams: (27:49) So the moment that that child is born is your rebirth as well, it is your moment to also let go and let something new come through. And I think that interconnection, that interplay is what allows women to not just trust their body, which is one of the thing that I wish more people could establish prior to falling pregnant, we should call it rising pregnant, "I rose pregnant." Tahnee: (28:14) It's beautiful. Eva Williams: (28:16) But also that they begin to trust not just their body, but the baby. So they're like, "Yeah, my body knows how to do this and this, baby's got this, I've got it. Our relationship got it and my body's got it. So this is what's going to happen." And just really leading from that place. And for many people, that might sound fantastical, but the more that we're going to understand birth, the more that we look at what's happening with the stem cells, the more that we look at the neurology and the physiology of labour itself and the more that if you have done that previously, you'll know that this is real, this is actually what's happening, that there is this very deep exchange of support. Eva Williams: (28:56) And that's what I think is the most powerful thing is when a woman trusts so innately in her body and in the child that has chosen her to take this journey, that bond is what's leading the labour. I just think that that's very powerful. So the course that I've developed is to try to assist with that, and then obviously is also bringing different movements for different trimesters because different parts of the body obviously get affected at different times, and hypnobirthing scripts and of dolphin and whale stuff going on there, because you know, our allies. Tahnee: (29:31) It's so funny all the stuff you're speaking about. With my daughter, she's five now, nearly five, but I had a dolphin come to me while I was pregnant with her in the water. And she had me through the whole pregnancy, guiding everything. I was doing body work at the time and I had this really strong download that I had to stop. And I remember contacting my teacher, who's the female teacher of Chi Nei Tsang from Mantak Chia. She was like, "If the baby's telling you to stop your stuff," and I had this golden thread with her and she was this little golden being, so probably about, I think around two dissolved completely. It got weaker and weaker over time. But just all of that stuff... Tahnee: (30:17) And I had a lot of stuff going on in my life when I was pregnant with her and she just held me like I was... I remember thinking, "I should be really stressed out right now, but I feel really safe and really held through this." And it took me a little while to realise that that was her contributing that to my experience. And I think that trust is something she gave me, which I think is a really beautiful thing. I'm halfway through my pregnancy now, I'm four months, but this pregnancies been really different for me. So it's interesting. I'm interested to see how they play out, because I haven't had that same sense of baby protection or strong baby messages. Tahnee: (31:03) But I'm interested in that space because I think it's hard to talk about that stuff as a woman, the midwives I had were very practical, wonderful women, but they were very grounded and of the earth. And you had a textbook pregnancy and a textbook birth, well done? And I was like, "Yeah, but what about all this cool stuff that's happening to me?" And they were like, "We don't want to talk about that stuff." I was like, "Okay." Eva Williams: (31:33) It's a shame actually because it's weird thing- Tahnee: (31:35) I'm glad you're here. Eva Williams: (31:35) What did you say? Tahnee: (31:38) That I'm glad you're here in the world. Eva Williams: (31:41) Dolphins are so important in birth. That's so important. People who are not getting this message, I'm like, "You guys have to... " I always tell my clients, I'm like, "Just Google." I'll be like, "Yeah, the dolphin midwives." And then everyone at the table laughed. I'm like, "Huh." Wait until you see it. Tahnee: (31:57) It's true, Hawaii. Eva Williams: (31:57) I know. And then I'm like, "Google it. You Google dolphin midwife." And people come back, "Whoa." I'm like, "Yeah, that's actually a"- Tahnee: (32:01) And wasn't they doing it in Russia, the Google something? Eva Williams: (32:05) They did, yes. Birthing to being, Alana's work was incredible. Tahnee: (32:08) Because Jeannine Parvati Baker talks about it a lot in her work, and some other people have talked about studying. Eva Williams: (32:16) I think the woman who found a birth into being, she had a centre in the Caspian sea where the dolphins would come in and people would just be freebirthing in the water, which is wild. And so we have over here, birth it's a very obstetric-run American imported system. It's pretty brutal. So we are looking at different birth centres talk of shifting some things around birth here because Dubai is like a playground in terms of, they're so open to new ideas. And people may not think of them like that from the outside, but they really are. Eva Williams: (32:56) They're so innovative and there's some very special, very, very, very special energy to the Emiratis to the Bedouin people, just something very special. So we were looking at working with a very beautiful woman whose work I incorporate a lot into mine, her name's Dr. Gallery. And she has some beautiful, gentle birth clinics in London and things like this. And she said, "Oh yes, I'd love to come out and do something with you guys in Dubai, but I only want to work with the dolphins." And she's a full OB/GYN. And I was like, "You and me, this is going to work so well." I was like, "Scrap all the land we've found, we're going to the ocean." Eva Williams: (33:43) I was like, "This is the future of it. This is the future of birth." And I think that there's a lot of beautiful places in Cairo and around Egypt as well like in Sharm El Sheikh and in the Red Sea that we might begin to also see really beautiful work with the dolphins popping up. And I know that a couple of people that I know have wanted to do things like this in the North of Ibiza, and South, but the problem is the water's very cold over there, so it's not really something that can work as well. But in these waters, when the dolphin comes to the baby, it is telling you that you are going to give birth soon. Maybe in this instance, I don't know where you were in your pregnancy. Tahnee: (34:18) No. I was heavily pregnant. My husband I got engaged there, and we got married there. It's this very special spot for us. And I was standing probably naval deep in water and it came, honestly, I was terrified. I was not like, "Oh my God." I was like, "Ah, I think a dolphin is coming at me." And it whooshed so close to me. My husband was out deep and he turned around and saw the dolphin and was like, "Whoa." And then there was a whole pod behind him. But it broke off and came and checked me out. And they can sonar heartbeats and stuff so I was thinking it must have been checking me out and being like, "What are you doing?" Eva Williams: (35:00) So what they do is when you're very heavily pregnant, if they come towards you and if they put the nose toward the belly or come very close to you, usually you're always going to give birth. Tahnee: (35:08) I thought it was going to scare me. Eva Williams: (35:08) Oh, what a lovely experience. Tahnee: (35:14) I was not like, "Oh my God." Seriously, I was like, "Holy crap, is this safe?" Eva Williams: (35:18) I know. Every time I was in New Zealand and dolphins came as well, I was swimming in the water and I just shot bowl upright and I was standing and I was like, "There's something in the water." And I'd hear these voices like, "It's okay." I'm like, "It's definitely not fucking okay." My instinct body was like, "This is not okay." And my spiritual body was like, "It's going to be okay." And every part of me was like, "That's fine, but I'm still going to stand because I can run, and those, they can swim. This is not my territory." Tahnee: (35:45) It's true. Eva Williams: (35:49) It's so true. But they can activate the labour. They can do this really strongly by communicating with the child as well. It's something very, very powerful. Tahnee: (35:58) Super cool. And the indigenous people here where we are, they believe that they are their people. Every time I've been in any ceremony or anything they will speak to the whales and the dolphins here as being ancestors. Eva Williams: (36:10) Yeah. They bring children. Tahnee: (36:14) Yeah. It makes a lot of sense. Eva Williams: (36:18) I believe they bring the children because they don't just turn up when a woman's very pregnant to assist in the physiological activation of the hormonal aspects of labour, many, many women will see dolphins on the night they conceive or at the time or just before conception. And whenever a woman's like, "Yeah, we're trying to get pregnant. Oh, I saw dolphins." I'm like, "You go have baby." I had a friend and she saw porpoises. They're not even dolphins, I was like, "You go have a baby." And they did the ultrasound and they tuned it back to that time. Tahnee: (36:49) Perhaps they're related to a dolphin somehow. Eva Williams: (36:51) I'm like, "It could be a manatees, I don't care, you're having a baby." I'm joking. Tahnee: (36:59) An orca. Let's not get too crazy. But it's okay. Tell me about this primary thing. That's interesting, because I know if you're not aware of this, I don't know if we've spoken about this on the podcast yet, so the hormonal cascade that the baby triggers in the mother, this is all these beautiful juicy hormones like oxytocin and things that, A, make birth less painful, which is a good thing. And B, obviously also the whole cascade of uterine contractions, breast milk coming in, all of these things. So the baby actually triggers that. And one of the things that happens a lot in our culture is we induce, or if there's an obstetrician that my midwife shared with me who wants to induce everyone at 38 weeks in a hospital near us. Tahnee: (37:40) And this kind of thing just terrifies me, and I have friends who've waited 43 weeks plus for their babies to come. Eva Williams: (37:48) Especially plus babies. Tahnee: (37:51) My daughter was 42 weeks on the day. And I just think, can you speak a little bit to women who might have fear around, "I'm getting pressure from my OB/GYN or my midwife to induce." I know it's a real slippery topic, but at least speak to that. Eva Williams: (38:06) No, no. It's not. I don't think it's slippery at all, I think it's underdressed. And it's interesting, I remember, so here they've got DHA, the Dubai Health Authority, has a policy around a certain time. Even if your OB/GYN is more liberal, there's a certain red tape that they can't really cross. And so I remember the first hospital birth I did in Dubai, home birth is illegal here by the way. It's actually not illegal to give birth at home, it's illegal for anyone to assist, anyone who has a licence issued by the government could get it taken away if they assist you. Eva Williams: (38:44) So if you bring in a midwife from overseas or for me, I'm not an OB/GYN or a midwife, so I'm also not really assisting people with home births here because I don't think that's necessarily a great thing to do. But if someone were in labour and it was progressing really quickly, rather than stress them out and shove them into a car, I think I know what I'd probably end up doing. But it's an interesting thing because I remember the very first one I attended, the OB/GYN was just pressuring my clients so hard and she was outside and afterwards she was crying. Eva Williams: (39:20) She's like, "I don't know what to do." And so obviously, as a birth worker, I've got 117 different things to pull out of the cupboard because I'm acupuncture, Im like okay acupuncture, we've been doing Homoeopathy week, 36 or 38 at that point, let's try some different homoeopathy, maybe something that's addressing more of the fears and emotions. Let's do massage, let's do the dirty three, hot food, a glass of wine and have some sex, all of that. And then also internal work, massage the cervix, check how it phased someone is, just at that stage of pregnancy. So we did a really beautiful ceremony of her husband and her on the bed, and I did the internal work. It was very dark. We put on music. Eva Williams: (40:10) And we just really checked out what was happening, what the engagement was. So not a vaginal exam, but just to actually see, and definitely not a sweep or something, none of that stuff I'm trained in, but just really actually to feel how the effacement was going, how the pelvis was feeling, what was actually getting caught up in the pelvic. Was there something caught up there or was she just not ready? And for me, it was really clear that she's just not ready. It's her first baby, it's 39 weeks and the baby is just not ready. It's not coming yet. Eva Williams: (40:38) I think that what's difficult about getting pressure... I remember after this situation, I gave them all these techniques. I said, "We're going to make a plan. Don't worry." And they felt better, and I went to my car and I just fucking sat in my car and cried for 20 minutes. The sense of stress and pressure, and it's not even my baby, that happens in that room when a doctor strong arms you and tells you that what they know is right, when it may not feel right for you, is so intense. And I know that doctors don't fully understand that. I know that OB/GYNs, not all of them fully understand that. I have the great privilege of working with many who do. Eva Williams: (41:17) And I remember during this labour, I was sitting out in the hallway and I was just crying. And the doctor came to me and she's like, "Why are you crying?" I'm like, "Dude, you're pushing so hard. This is ridiculous. This is going to end really not well." And then she started tearing up and sat down next to me. And she's like, "It's just a lot of pressure." And we were just having this full heart to heart, just weeping in the hallway. Like, "What the fuck?" But it managed to buy me another 48 hours for my clients, which is amazing. Tahnee: (41:46) Good work. Eva Williams: (41:52) It's so much pressure. It's so much pressure. The thing is that there's very little that actually requires induction. Things that do not require induction, your baby is too big for your pelvis, it's a big baby, your baby has passed 40 weeks, meconium has passed, the cord is around the neck. These are not reasons for induction and they're not reasons for C-sections either. It's just very intense. I think some something that people don't understand is that an OB/GYN or a medical professional on your birth is someone that you want there in an emergency situation, they have no requirement to witness physiological birth. They have none. They do not have to witness a single, natural, physiological birth as part of their training, they have to do surgery. Eva Williams: (42:48) So their whole frame of reference is coming that birth as an emergency. They have never had to sit. If you ask an OB/GYN what's a normal to long labour, I had an OB/GYN tell me that 10 hours was a long labour. I'm like, "Jesus Christ, what are you guys having? Have you got a slip slide set up out here." I was on a midwife tour recently in Aspen, someone's like, "How does labour take?" And the midwife's like, "It can take up to two hours." I was like, "What?" If it's your fourth baby and you're at nine centimetres. It's just ridiculous. Tahnee: (43:19) Wow. Eva Williams: (43:19) Yeah, I know. I know. And I always think to myself like, "Wow, I think that 40 hours of fairly active labour is long." I think that labour from early labour onward can go on for a week. That's the sort of time I'm willing to just give a woman and her body to just dilate at its pace and do its thing, and it's just unheard of. So if people are getting pressure to induce and it's funny, because we've made this thing over here and we're not doing it yet, but it's a couple of doulas and I have this, it's kind of our joke, but I also want to do it. And it's going to be for women who for partners, 36 and 37 weeks onward, and it's going to be the induction group. Eva Williams: (44:01) Basically, you all come together and we watch a funny movie or a beautiful movie about birth, and you get a glass of red wine. We're not getting hammered over here, but you get a glass of red wine. We have some food, whether it's Indian or Thai, something with a little bit of spice, a little bit Mexican or something, and you just share. And you can share if it's stressful, you can share if it's funny, we share content and information. And then if you want to stay for the second part, we teach something like certain techniques, maybe not actually internal, but certain techniques like clitoral stroking or labial massage or hip massage or things like that that your partner can do that will assist in your hips getting ready and things like that. Eva Williams: (44:42) And just from 37 weeks on, everyone is welcome to just join, come, have that glass of wine, just get a move on. Do a bit of dancing, have a bit of laughter. Because the group, you share more pheromonal energy. Because that's something that isn't readily shared, adrenaline and cortisol inhibit oxytocin. So if you're stressed, you cannot go into natural labour, they inhibit one another. So if women are feeling stressed about being induced, the thing that they really need is they need to disconnect from the timeline of intensity, they really need the opportunity to disconnect from that. Eva Williams: (45:17) So if the doctor's pressuring you and says, "Okay, well take your time, but I need to see you again in two or three days." Don't go, don't go in two or three days. If they need to see you again, they can see you in a week. All they're going to do is an ultrasound and whatever, maybe a sweep. Give yourself the space that your body needs. And also, really, really, really take your homoeopathy from 36 weeks, from 36 weeks, be taking your homoeopathy and be taking just this very gentle way of beginning to release the stress on the system. Take the aconite, take the arnica. Eva Williams: (46:00) Another thing that's really important, and again, this all goes back to prep, because if you're doing everything at the last moment, you're going to be dealing with a lot. In the programme that I run, around third 30 to 34 weeks, in between this time before your GBS test, we explore different internal works. And not necessarily me doing that, but maybe it's related to sex with the husband, maybe it's related to self-pleasure, maybe it's just internal gaze and interception kind of meditation, but we start unblocking and unlocking anything that might be held in the pelvis. Eva Williams: (46:37) And then also, if you have a chiro, there's the Webster technique, or if you have a Bowen therapist who can do the sacral... There's a series of sacral releases that they can do. Anything you can do to prepare your body, to feel really good and open, speak to your cervix, ripen your cervix, yourself, speak to it, see beautiful pink light moving through it. All of these things work, they really, really work. And what doesn't work is being pressured into having a baby, it just doesn't fucking work. There's no evidence to support that it's ever worked. Eva Williams: (47:11) It's insane, even with the foetal monitoring, even that, there's the only proof that it actually has any benefit is it there's no proof. The only thing that it's actually done is increased C-section rates. And so, these sorts of things, we have to just be really mindful of what the outcome is. Is the outcome an alive baby or is the outcome an empowered woman who knows herself and knows her body and can recover in the postpartum process because she's actually connected to the child, because oxytocin is also a huge part of recovery. It's what's bringing the colostrum and the breast milk, it's what's actually involuting the uterus. Eva Williams: (47:52) So if we don't have this connection from the outside, if we're having those issues, then we also face a much longer recovery period. And that's when you really begin to see from an emotional perspective, from a body work perspective. If I see diastasis, like a herniated diastasis or something like this, for me, that's always that the woman has been opened in the birth process, but she hasn't had the closing afterwards, so she has no centre. Can you imagine what it would be doing to your back, to not have your rectus abdominis working? Basically, your back would be as stiff as a board, and that's a woman who feels that she's not supported. She hasn't been supported through that process. Eva Williams: (48:37) I don't know, this stuff is so intuitive and natural, it feels so natural to say, but we aren't there as a culture of medicine and we're not there as a culture of birth yet either, and it's difficult. And there's a way I just want to say to people, just protect kept yourself. But I actually love working with OB/GYNs and I do love working with the medical system when they get it right, and they very often, if you find the right people and places, they do get it right. I had a doula complain to me the other day about how, at this one hospital that's really great here, the midwife didn't even turn up and the baby just came out. Eva Williams: (49:17) And I was like, "Is this a complaint? This is a complaint that the baby just naturally came out and the mother caught her home own baby?" I'm sorry, I don't feel the same level of stress around this that you feel. It's so beautiful to hear about less managed births. And this is for those people who are being pushed toward induction, this is called active management, basically, of expectations in relationship to doctors. And another thing to understand is that 40 weeks doesn't really mean much. Tahnee: (49:52) So arbitrary. Eva Williams: (49:54) It's insane. I'm not standardised by that. Some hospitals do it from the first day of your last period, some do it from the last day of your last period? It's just ridiculous and there's no evidence that proves that. I think of 10% of children come on their due day. Tahnee: (50:11) Not good odds- Eva Williams: (50:12) I know, right. Yes. And everyone wants to be fucking Natalie Portman or Kate Moss or something. And guess what, 1%. You know what I mean? It's one of these expectations that we set up. We are lying to women when we tell them that they should be fitting that mould, and we are taking away from them the opportunity for them to make their own mould of what it looks like. So contentious. It doesn't actually feel that contentious, it feels really straightforward, but whatever. Tahnee: (50:39) Well, it's interesting because I think one thing for me with birth too, it felt like... I don't want to be in the feminine/masculine, for me, time when I'm in a feminine space, linear time is not a thing. It's not real, it doesn't exist and there's this just natural unfolding of things as they are. My feeling around birth was very much like we're trying to apply this very linear masculine dimension to it and it doesn't exist like that. I think this idea of 10 moons or being able to see it in this sense of it's with them and it's a flow, but it's not something that's going to happen on a day. I'm struggling with it right now, people are like, "What's your due date?" Tahnee: (51:33) And I'm, "Well, I don't know, sometime in April." And they want a due date. Well, I do know it's April 1st, but I don't believe my baby's going to come on April 1st. Eva Williams: (51:44) I can tell you what I do always is I just take the full moon of that month. And I was like, "She's not due, then she's due in the beginning of the month." I'm like, "I don't care." Tahnee: (51:56) That's when they come. Eva Williams: (51:57) The baby is now officially due on the full moon. Baby's like a full moon, that's what's happening. It doesn't mean we won't prepare and I don't necessarily calculate my weeks from that, I'll do it from that ultrasound or whatever. And the programme that we are doing is a 10-moon programme, it's 10 modules and they're 10 moons. Yeah, it's just recognising that children have a rhythm, it's not something that we can set or determine. That rhythm is related to obviously the tides of our own life. Some babies like a new moon. There's no set rules, you can't apply them one way or another, like you said. Eva Williams: (52:33) And I love this idea that, look, birth is very much about learning about abundance, about our own abundance, that we can actually create a whole other being. It's this radiant space that we enter into. Adding scarcity of time to that means that a woman feels a scarcity of space. And if she's feeling a scarcity of time and space, as these two things do manifest together within her own body, you're taking away the whole dimension and realm that she needs to live inside of during her birth, like you said. It's this feminine space. And that doesn't mean that we can't have a plan during pregnancy, it doesn't mean that certain practises won't be better at different times. Eva Williams: (53:12) It doesn't mean any of that, but it's the invasiveness of how we treat birth needs to stop. I'm working on a new project right now, and I'm very excited about it and I can't say much about it, but what I can say is that one of the main focuses of it is the removal of incredibly invasive techniques. And some of them aren't even necessarily invasive, they're just fucking disgusting like the gestational diabetes test. Tahnee: (53:40) Oh, that was the only fucking thing I did last time. And I was like, "This is the most sugar I've had in my entire adult life." Maybe as a kid, I gorged on Lollies, but other than that." That's the only time I was sick in my pregnancy was after that. Eva Williams: (53:54) Yes, so many women have said to me like, "Oh yeah, definitely, the most traumatic thing of my pregnancy was that time." Tahnee: (54:01) I was like, "Fucking hell, guys." It's like nine Coca-Colas or something. I'm like, "Great." Eva Williams: (54:07) And it's not necessary. It's not necessary because there's so many other ways to remediate or even to tell. And what was so funny is, I was with a client recently and she had to shift OB/GYNs because on her due date, the original OB/GYN is not going to be there. And so we had just gone to that OB/GYN and said, "Look, we're opting out of this." And she was ready to fight. She's like, "I don't want this person." I was like, "Just chill. I'm sure they'll be fine with it." Don't go in for a battle, that's one thing. All birth workers, everyone, just don't go in for a battle. If you have to put your armour on, do it, but don't go in for a battle. And the doctor was like, "Huh. I've been in birth for a long time and I've seen a lot of incredible advancements and devices and ultrasound and all sorts of things really. And yet they still haven't managed to make something less disgusting than that drink. That's okay. Don't worry about it." Eva Williams: (55:01) Even an OB/GYN was like, "Yeah, you'd think we'd gotten to this level, but really it's just Lucozade, sugar." And then we had to go to this other one and really communicate once again like, "Hey, the preference is for this off the table." And she just was like, "That's the most disgusting drink in the world, I wouldn't push that test on anyone." I was like, "Wow." Tahnee: (55:19) Amazing. That's a good change in culture. [crosstalk 00:55:22]. What's your rate on ultrasounds in general? I haven't spoken about this much on the podcast either, but I do get asked about it a lot, and there's the one side of it where people are like, "It's good to know and it gives you that reassurance." And then there's the other side, which is probably more of the side I'm on where it's like, "What would it tell me that actually... What benefit would that information actually give me?" So I'm curious as to your take on that as a birth keeper. Eva Williams: (55:53) Well, it's a great topic. One thing I can definitely say is, you know your body, you've done a lot of work with your body. I have also clients who are just super on it, and yet sometimes, and I'm thinking of one person specific, that if a woman, for example, has a miscarriage or something like this, even if she isn't someone who would naturally or usually lean toward wanting ultrasound or something like that in that early part of the next pregnancy, it brings an enormous amount of relief to know that everything's going healthy. Tahnee: (56:38) Reinsurance. Eva Williams: (56:38) Exactly. If you have chromosomal issues in your life, those 12 week tests, in your family, for example, or even the 20-week morphology exams, they can bring a lot of knowledge. So from my perspective, what I usually say to women when they say, "What do you think is necessary, blah, blah." I said, "The first thing that's necessary is anything that will bring you comfort. If your level of comfort and certainty and anxiety will drop with each or any of those visits, then those are the ones that are necessary, because your emotional and mental wellbeing is more important to the baby's health and growth than anything that an ultrasound is going to do to your body. That's my perspective. Eva Williams: (57:25) And then usually, they just say that the main tests that are important are your morphology, your 20, 21-week scan, and that's really just to see if there's any... For those of you who don't know, that's not really an ultrasound, it's a full building out of, they check all of the different organs. Tahnee: (57:44) It's pretty cool. I was like, "Whoa. There's a kidney and there's a... " Eva Williams: (57:53) They go in, they check all the tissues, they check the formation of the organs. This is technology that I'm grateful that we have because it can put a lot of decision making power into people's hands. And simultaneously, I know a lot of people who aren't down for it, they're like, "No way, that's even worse than an ultrasound. That's super intense for the baby, blah, blah, blah." For me, it's all about comfort. And I have had a couple birth workers recently and clients saying, they're like, "Well, I know you're very pro natural birth and this is not." Eva Williams: (58:26) I'm like, "Hang on a minute. I'm not really for or against anything, I just don't really have a role to play. If you're planning a C-section... " I know what the body is capable of, and those are personal experiences that I've had. You can't take that away from me or I cannot pretend that I don't know what the physical body can do and what we may need to train for, but can actually get what this experience can be. So I can't take that out of my being that if you know that that's available, that you gravitate toward it, but it doesn't necessarily mean that I am anti anything." Eva Williams: (59:03) I've had my time being anti epidural, and then I saw a series of Pilates teachers and yoga teachers who had super tight pelvic floors get an epidural after like 36 hours of labour, and just one hour, boom, baby was out. Really incredible experiences. Legs were still working, everything. So I can't go through the level of experience that I've had, I can't afford to fight anyone. I hate it in the birth world, I hate this, the fight that happens when people are... I believe in advocating that there's a point where if you can change that inside of yourself, you stop attracting moments to have those conversations. That's what I have found in my personal experience. Eva Williams: (59:45) And so I try to just be very, very open, and the reason is because I don't necessarily need to specify what I will and won't work with, because I really only attract people that I really will be the right person for. But I would say, if someone is just like, "I don't know what to get and when." I would just say, "Look, the most standard thing is that you have a 12-week ultrasound, you have your 21 week morphology. That puts a lot of power in your hands. Look it up, do a little bit of research." And then usually, there'll be something as a bare minimum right before your birth, like a 36-week thing, and then we'll do a GBS swab." Eva Williams: (01:00:21) And you don't have to do your GBS swab, you don't have to get that scan. You can just wait and go into labour naturally as well. But those are some of the options. And I don't believe that you need anything more than that, but I've been with women who are going every third day in the end of their pregnancy just to sit in a room for 20 minutes just to hear if the baby's safe and good. If that's wh
Are you into Yin yoga? What about Yoga Therapy? On this episode of The Yoga Pro Podcast, Nyk Danu joins us to talk about Therapeutic Yin yoga from her perspective as a yoga therapist and yinster, plus we delve into the differences between yin and restorative yoga and much more. Nyk Is a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT), Yin Yoga Teacher Trainer and Yoga Business Mentor. She has been practicing Yoga since 1998 and teaching since 2004 and in 2007 fell madly in love with Yin through Paul Grilley. Find this and all of the episodes at https://www.podpage.com/the-yoga-pro-podcast/ Topics: -Nyk's yoga journey -Her surprising introduction to Yin yoga -Nyk's definition of Yin yoga -The unique sensations offered by a yin yoga practice -The difference between yin and restorative yoga -To prop or not prop in yin yoga -How she realized her application of yin was therapeutic -Why she keeps her students working at 50-60% of their capacity -What Nyk does to keep her therapeutic yin classes trauma informed and accessible -Keeping the therapy in yin -Support for hypermobility and tissue/joint damage -Misconceptions about yin yoga -The importance of interoceptive awareness and personal agency in yoga -Differentiating instruction for multi-level classes -Contraindications of yin yoga -Why being ourselves as a teacher is so important -Making sure you teach yin effectively through training Connect with Nyk: www.nykdanu.com https://www.instagram.com/nykdanuyoga/ https://www.facebook.com/NykDanuYoga https://nykdanu.com/students/what-is-restorative-yoga/ Connect with Pamela: www.instagram.com/interoceptiveperformance https://interoceptiveperformance.vipmembervault.com Email: info@interoceptiveperformance.com Clubhouse and Greenroom: @pamelacrane Music: The State of Things (The Bouncy Song) by Rena Wren is used with permission. www.renawren.com
Es gibt viele Wege, uns selbst näher zu kommen. Unser Yin zu stärken, unsere Essenz zu spüren und Körper, Geist und Seele in Balance zu bringen. In der heutigen Podcastfolge begrüße ich die Autorin und Yin-Yoga-Lehrerin Helga Baumgartner. Sie schenkt uns einen Einblick in ihr tiefes Yogawissen und wie Yin Yoga zum Ritual der Selbstfürsorge werden kann. Schon als Teenager lernte Helga Yoga, Meditation und Entspannungstechniken kennen. Während des Studiums vertiefte sie ihre Erfahrungen und fand darin einen nachhaltigen Weg zur Stressregulierung. Heute zählt sie mit einer 650 h Yoga-Ausbildung bei Paul Grilley sowie vielen Praxisjahren und Fortbildungen zu den erfahrensten Expertinnen im Yin-Yoga. Mit zahlreichen Publikationen in Yoga-Magazinen, als Buchautorin und gefragte Yoga-Dozentin teilt Helga Baumgartner ihren reichen Erfahrungsschatz mit anderen Menschen. Gemeinsam mit ihrem Partner, dem amerikanischen Buddhisten Pema Wangchen, leitet sie die Mindful Yin+Yoga Schule, unterrichtet online wie offline und bildet selbst Yin-Yoga-Teacher aus. Yin Yoga als Weg der Achtsamkeit und Selbstfürsorge Im Yin Yoga geht es nicht nur um bewusste Körperhaltungen, sondern vor allem um unsere innere Haltung. Wir werden still, gehen in die Beobachtung und erschaffen einen Gegenpol zum Yang. Yin Yoga kultiviert das bewusste Sein. Dabei lassen wir alle Impulse einer Veränderung, Bewertung oder Aktivität ruhen und begeben uns ganz ins Spüren, Wahrnehmen und Zulassen. Gerade in turbulenten Zeiten kann uns die heilsame Kraft des Yin dabei helfen, in unsere Mitte zu finden und uns achtsam durch unser Leben zu bewegen. In diesem Sinne ist Yin Yoga vor allem auch ein Akt der Selbstfürsorge. Wir schaffen Raum im Alltag, um mit Liebe und Hingabe für uns da zu sein. In dieser Zeit, und seien es nur wenige Minuten, können wir ganz bei uns selbst sein. Und dabei ein achtsames Ritual als tägliche Quelle der Ruhe und Kraft gestalten. Die Highlights in dieser Folge: • Welche Bedeutung das Yin im Yoga hat • Warum Yin Yoga ein Ritual der Selbstfürsorge ist • Wie Du im Alltag innere Ruhe und Balance findest • Wie uns Yin Yoga tiefe Verbundenheit schenkt SHOWNOTES Website Helga Baumgartner: https://www.yinplusyoga.de/ Buch "Yin Yoga: Üben für innere Ruhe & Entspannung": https://amzn.to/3gfESnz Online-Yogastunden: http://bit.ly/2oiOjaq Mehr über Daniela Hutter und ihre Arbeit: Yin-Prinzip, Seminare, Retreats + Coachings: https://www.danielahutter.com/yin-seminare/ Blog: https://www.danielahutter.com/blog/ Newsletter: https://www.danielahutter.com/für-dich/newsletter/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Hutter.Daniela Kontakt: https://www.danielahutter.com/für-dich/kontakt-1/ Buch Das Yin-Prinzip: https://www.danielahutter.com/shop/bücher/das-yinprinzip/
Is Yin Yoga accessible? It can be! Nyk Danu, yin yoga trainer and yoga therapist, joins Kathryn to chat about responsive, inclusive approaches to the quiet practice.The intelligent edge yoga podcast was produced by Kathryn Anne Flynn; author of Teach Kind, Clear Yoga: A Guide for Practitioners and Teachers. To learn more about Kathryn, practice online, or find retreats and training opportunities, visit kathrynanneflynn.comShow Notes:Nyk Danu Is a Yoga therapist, Yin Yoga teacher trainer and, Yoga business mentor.She lives in the enchanted city of Victoria on magical Vancouver island, where she teaches Yoga MisFits; Gen Xers (and sometimes y) who don't feel at home in mainstream Yoga circles, alternative folks, rebels, underdogs, punx, introverts, geeks, and bookworms.When Nyk is not teaching Yoga, you'll find her expanding her personal tattoo collection, walking by the ocean, or curled up at home watching Star Trek or immersed in a book.You can learn more about on her website nykdanu.com/
This week, Comes a Time welcomes Denise Kaufman, musician, yogi, activist, founding member of the all-girl SF band Ace of Cups, Merry Prankster, and so much more. Having joined her first Civil Rights picket line at 14 years old, Denise found herself as a young activist in the 1960's San Francisco in the heart of the same world where the Grateful Dead came to be. Denise shares with Mike and Oteil the incredible tale of meeting Ken Kesey, “getting on the bus,” and getting her Prankster nickname “Mary Microgram.” She also explains what led to her going to music school at 33, her time teaching yoga to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and other celebrities, and opening a private school in Hawaii now in its 44th year of operation. Denise has lived many lives in one with one adventure following the next. Growing up in San Francisco during the 1960s placed Denise Kaufman at the center of a cultural revolution. Her commitment to social justice and exploratory approach to life led her to adventures in counterculture: from being arrested at UC Berkeley's Sproul Hall protests during the Free Speech Movement, to "getting on the bus” (as "Mary Microgram") with Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead; to forming the legendary Ace of Cups—an all-girl band that opened for Jimi Hendrix, The Band, and Janis Joplin; to being one of the seven founding mothers of Island School on Kauai; to studying with Robert Nadeau Shihan, Yogi Bhajan, Bikram Choudhury, Pattabhi Jois, and Paul Grilley and to teaching yoga to Madonna, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Quincy Jones, and Jane Fonda. Denise lives between Venice Beach and Kauai - playing music, teaching yoga, surfing and continuing to learn, channel inspiration and connect all those around her. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please leave us a rating or review on iTunes! Comes A Time is brought to you by Osiris Media. Hosted and Produced by Oteil Burbridge and Mike Finoia. Executive Producers are Christina Collins and RJ Bee. Production, Editing and Mixing by Eric Limarenko and Matt Dwyer. Theme music by Oteil Burbridge. To discover more podcasts that connect you more deeply to the music you love, check out osirispod.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, Comes a Time welcomes Denise Kaufman, musician, yogi, activist, founding member of the all-girl SF band Ace of Cups, Merry Prankster, and so much more. Having joined her first Civil Rights picket line at 14 years old, Denise found herself as a young activist in the 1960’s San Francisco in the heart of the same world where the Grateful Dead came to be. Denise shares with Mike and Oteil the incredible tale of meeting Ken Kesey, “getting on the bus,” and getting her Prankster nickname “Mary Microgram.” She also explains what led to her going to music school at 33, her time teaching yoga to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and other celebrities, and opening a private school in Hawaii now in its 44th year of operation. Denise has lived many lives in one with one adventure following the next. Growing up in San Francisco during the 1960s placed Denise Kaufman at the center of a cultural revolution. Her commitment to social justice and exploratory approach to life led her to adventures in counterculture: from being arrested at UC Berkeley's Sproul Hall protests during the Free Speech Movement, to "getting on the bus” (as "Mary Microgram") with Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead; to forming the legendary Ace of Cups—an all-girl band that opened for Jimi Hendrix, The Band, and Janis Joplin; to being one of the seven founding mothers of Island School on Kauai; to studying with Robert Nadeau Shihan, Yogi Bhajan, Bikram Choudhury, Pattabhi Jois, and Paul Grilley and to teaching yoga to Madonna, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Quincy Jones, and Jane Fonda. Denise lives between Venice Beach and Kauai - playing music, teaching yoga, surfing and continuing to learn, channel inspiration and connect all those around her. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please leave us a rating or review on iTunes!Comes A Time is brought to you by Osiris Media. Hosted and Produced by Oteil Burbridge and Mike Finoia. Executive Producers are Christina Collins and RJ Bee. Production, Editing and Mixing by Eric Limarenko and Matt Dwyer. Theme music by Oteil Burbridge. To discover more podcasts that connect you more deeply to the music you love, check out osirispod.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
This week, Comes a Time welcomes Denise Kaufman, musician, yogi, activist, founding member of the all-girl SF band Ace of Cups, Merry Prankster, and so much more. Having joined her first Civil Rights picket line at 14 years old, Denise found herself as a young activist in the 1960’s San Francisco in the heart of the same world where the Grateful Dead came to be. Denise shares with Mike and Oteil the incredible tale of meeting Ken Kesey, “getting on the bus,” and getting her Prankster nickname “Mary Microgram.” She also explains what led to her going to music school at 33, her time teaching yoga to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and other celebrities, and opening a private school in Hawaii now in its 44th year of operation. Denise has lived many lives in one with one adventure following the next. Growing up in San Francisco during the 1960s placed Denise Kaufman at the center of a cultural revolution. Her commitment to social justice and exploratory approach to life led her to adventures in counterculture: from being arrested at UC Berkeley's Sproul Hall protests during the Free Speech Movement, to "getting on the bus” (as "Mary Microgram") with Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead; to forming the legendary Ace of Cups—an all-girl band that opened for Jimi Hendrix, The Band, and Janis Joplin; to being one of the seven founding mothers of Island School on Kauai; to studying with Robert Nadeau Shihan, Yogi Bhajan, Bikram Choudhury, Pattabhi Jois, and Paul Grilley and to teaching yoga to Madonna, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Quincy Jones, and Jane Fonda. Denise lives between Venice Beach and Kauai - playing music, teaching yoga, surfing and continuing to learn, channel inspiration and connect all those around her. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please leave us a rating or review on iTunes!Comes A Time is brought to you by Osiris Media. Hosted and Produced by Oteil Burbridge and Mike Finoia. Executive Producers are Christina Collins and RJ Bee. Production, Editing and Mixing by Eric Limarenko and Matt Dwyer. Theme music by Oteil Burbridge. To discover more podcasts that connect you more deeply to the music you love, check out osirispod.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Inès a commencé son parcours par l'ingénierie qui est son métier depuis, dans une société de télécommunications.Mais en parallèle de son côté scientifique, elle était aussi très créative et libre. Passionnée par la danse, elle s'y est formée. Danse modern jazz, contemporaine, africaine, orientale, hip hop, Rock, mais elle découvre ensuite la Salsa et trouve en celle ci une richesse artistique. Aujourd'hui, elle donne des cours de Salsa Portoricaine et Cubaine.Mais quand le yoga est il venu dans sa vie ? Inès a toujours été passionnée de philosophie, elle lit beaucoup et s'imprègne des sujets qui l'intéressent. C'est en cela que le yoga a fait son apparition dans sa vie, pas pour une pratique sportive, mais car elle était à la recherche de la philosophie, l'encrage, trouver son alignement... elle a commencé à prendre des cours lorsqu'elle habitait dans le sud, et c'est resté car elle ressentait le besoin de cette pratique.Celle-ci s'est intensifiée au fils du temps et est devenue une véritable passion. Inès a donc décidé de se former avec Clothilde Swartley, en 2019. Elle donne désormais des cours dans des studios et en ligne. Elle a ensuite suivi 2 autres formations après celle de Clotilde, une en Yin avec Amélie Annoni et une en yoga fonctionnel avec Paul Grilley.Et depuis août 2020, elle a lancé Karma Project, un collectif alliant le yoga, le fitness, et le caritatif. Pour elle, c'est essentiel de partager cette passion qui fait tant de bien, au plus de monde possible. Quoi de mieux que de reverser des donations des cours de yoga à des projets caritatifs ? C'est le but qu'elle s'est fixée, et c'est avec une petite équipe de professeurs que Karma Project est né !Découvrez le parcours d'Ines dans cet épisode et pour aller plus loin sur son site et ses réseaux sociaux :https://linktr.ee/yogidancerhttps://instagram.com/karmaproject.fr?igshid=1j6sci6igjiq5
Today marks a special 100 episodes of the SuperFeast podcast, that's 100 episodes of inspiring conversations with brilliant humans progressing the world through health and wellness! Over the past 100 episodes, the SuperFeast podcast has had hundreds of thousands of downloads and connected with people from Nigeria to Greenland. This evolving journey wouldn't be what it is without you, the listeners, your interaction, and the energy you bring to this space. On Today's podcast our favourite dynamic duo, Tahnee and Mason sit down for a reflective conversation on the journey thus far; the most listened to episodes, the guests that filled them up, and exciting prospects for the future of SuperFeast podcasts. It's always magic when Tahnee and Mason share the mic, and with the 100th episode and a new year ahead of us, it's a perfectly aligned reason to have them back on the podcast connecting with the SuperFeast community. Tahnee and Mason discuss: Reflections of the SuperFeast podcast, looking back six years from the Mason Taylor Show to now. The evolution of the podcast landscape over this space in time. The most popular episodes/guests and the topics that consistently resonate with listeners (we've linked them all in the resources below). Health protocols in our ever-changing contemporary landscape; intentionally creating a healthy space to continue questioning beliefs, integrate opposing ideas, and move into a place of harmony, which is in alignment with every traditional system. The guests that influenced and cultivated Tahnee and Mason's introspective journeys. Navigating the newly emerging health scape where holistic traditions are being meshed with more reductionist methods. The Women's Series; Tahnee's journey through the many dimensions of experience her guests have brought and the gift of sharing space with women who have so much wisdom to offer. Future directions and Visions. Sex; a popular topic that always gets ratings. Gratitude and the value of reviews. Tahnee and Mason Taylor Tahnee and Mason Taylor (recently married!) are the founder and CEO of SuperFeast (respectively). Their mission with SuperFeast is to improve the health, healing, and happiness of people and the planet, through sharing carefully curated offerings and practices that honour ancient wisdom and elevate the human spirit. Together Tahnee and Mason run their company and host the SuperFeast podcast, weaving their combined experience in herbs, yoga, wellness, Taoist healing arts, and personal development with lucid and compelling interviews from all around the world. They are the proud parents of Aiya and Goji, the dog, and are grateful to call the Byron Shire home. MasonTaylor Mason Taylor is the founder of SuperFeast. Mason d to the ideas of potentiating the human experience through his mum Janesse (who was a big inspiration for founding SuperFeast and is still an inspiration to Mason and his team due to her ongoing resilience in the face of disability). After traveling South America for a year, Mason found himself struggling with his health - he was worn out, carried fungal infections, and was only 22. He realised that he had the power to take control of his health. Mason redirected his attention from his business degree and night work in a bar to begin what was to become more than a decade of health research, courses, education, and mentorship from some of the leaders in personal development, wellness, and tonic herbalism. Inspired by the own changes to his health and wellbeing through his journey (which also included Yoga teacher training and raw foodism!), he started SuperFeast in 2010. Initially offering a selection of superfoods, herbs, and supplements to support detox, immune function, and general wellbeing. Mason offered education programs around Australia, and it was on one of these trips that he met Tahnee, who is now his wife and CEO of SuperFeast. Mason also offered detox and health transformation retreats in the Byron hinterland (some of which Tahnee also worked on, teaching Yoga and workshops on Taoist healing practices, as well as offering Chi Nei Tsang treatments to participants). After falling in love with the Byron Shire, Mason moved SuperFeast from Sydney's Northern Beaches to Byron Bay in 2015. He lived on a majestic permaculture farm in the Byron hinterland, and after not too long, Tahnee joined him (and their daughter, Aiya was conceived). The rest is history - from a friend's rented garage to a warehouse in the Byron Industrial Estate to SuperFeast's current home in Mullumbimby's beautiful Food Hub, SuperFeast (and Mason) has thrived in the conscious community of the Northern Rivers. Mason continues to evolve his role at SuperFeast, in education, sourcing, training, and creating the formulas based on Taoist principles of tonic herbalism. Tahnee Taylor Tahnee Taylor is the CEO of SuperFeast and has been exploring health and human consciousness since her late teens. From Yoga, which she first practiced at school in 2000, to reiki, herbs, meditation, Taoist and Tantric practices, and human physiology, her journey has taken her all over. This journey continues to expand her understanding and insight into the majesty (that is) the human body and the human experience. Tahnee graduated with a Journalism major and did a stint in non-fiction publishing (working with health and wellness authors and other inspiring creatives), advertising, many jobs in cafes, and eventually found herself as a Yoga teacher. Her first studio, Yoga for All, opened in 2013, and Tahnee continues to study Yoga with her teachers Paul + Suzee Grilley and Rod Stryker. She learned Chi Nei Tsang and Taoist healing practices from Master Mantak Chia. Tahnee continues to study herbalism and Taoist practices, the human body, women's wisdom, ancient healing systems, and is currently enrolled in an acupuncture degree and year-long program with The Shamanic School of Womancraft. Tahnee is the mother of one, a 4-year old named Aiya. Resources: The Power of Menopause with Jane Hardwicke Collings (EP#77) Life-Changing Sex Makes Anything Possible with Kim Anami (EP#28) Yin Yoga with Anatomist and Yogi Paul Grilley (EP#59) Why Chinese Medicine is Failing Us with Rhonda Chang (EP#80) Ayurveda and Yoga-The Healing Arts with Myra Lewin From Hale Pule (EP#55) Reclaiming Pureness and Sovereign Living with Jessika Le Corre (EP#96) Tools For Healthy Living with Dr. Claudia Welch (EP#32) Authentic Sex with Juliet Allen (EP#31) Embodied Movement with The Movement Monk Benny Fergusson (EP#56) Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or check us out on Stitcher, CastBox, iHeart RADIO:)! Plus we're on Spotify! Check Out The Transcript Here: Tahnee: (00:01) Hi everyone. I'm here with Mason. Mason: (00:04) Hi guys. How are you? Tahnee: (00:05) Yay. And it's episode 100, which means we've made it through 100 interviews and chats with each other and others. And we just wanted to check in with you guys today because I was laughing to myself thinking about when Mason first tried to get me on the podcast and I was moy resistant as they say in Spanish. And I have really enjoyed it, actually, coming full circle and have had some amazing chats and have really enjoyed the opportunity to get clear on my voice and my interview style and how we connect with people and sharing it with you guys. Mason: (00:49) Yeah, it's been great watching you step into that side of yourself because you asked great questions. Tahnee: (00:54) So do you. Mason: (00:55) Thank you. Tahnee: (00:56) And it's really cool. I remember when I first met Mase about six years ago, he was doing a podcasting course, I think, or kind of interested in starting his own podcast or maybe you were in a mastermind group or something. Mason: (01:10) I didn't go that far. I just signed up for the free seven steps- Tahnee: (01:15) Trial. Mason: (01:16) No, just a little guide, seven steps to set up your podcast. Went and did that with... Can't remember who it was through, but it was just one of those ones. It just popped up in a- Tahnee: (01:25) An ad or something. Mason: (01:26) Yeah, it was an ad and I was like, hmm, not bad. Tahnee: (01:29) Yeah and I remember you had the Mason Taylor Show and if you're listening and you haven't checked out that stuff that was from probably five or six years ago now. And I remember having listened to podcasts, but I think it was not what they are now where they're just abundant in all spheres. It's been really cool to be involved peripherally and then more closely lately as SuperFeast podcast has evolved. And we're really excited about the next 100 episodes. Mason: (02:02) Doing the podcast five years ago, it's interesting. It's a similar feeling to when I started SuperFeast and I was like, ah, it's probably not appropriate to sell medicinal mushrooms because the market seems saturated already. And then you fast forward five years and you're like, ah, no, that was like- Tahnee: (02:20) [crosstalk 00:02:20]- Mason: (02:20) Yeah. And like five years ago I was like, oh my gosh, there's a bajillion podcasts out there, but it wasn't at the point now where it felt something where it's accessible for absolutely everyone, to do it. It didn't feel natural. It didn't feel as much stepping out on a ledge. Tahnee: (02:39) And I think, obviously, as a medium, it's just ballooned and it's been such an interesting thing to observe and we're talking the SuperFeast podcast, hundreds of thousands of downloads. People listening, I was looking at the country map before we jumped on, from all over the world from Nigeria to Greenland. I don't even know if people live in Greenland, but all over the place. It's quite wild to me to see how diverse and vast our listenership is. And even the topics that have really resonated with you guys because I guess we would not have picked them, but then looking at the statistics, we've got the semen retention and some of the episodes on sex, especially Kim Anami and Juliet Allen are really popular with you guys. And then female hormones, obviously a massive topic and one that are really of interest to the people listening to us. That's been, I think, a really interesting thing to reflect on as- Mason: (03:38) Well, the interesting thing with the SuperFeast podcast is we didn't really have a strategy, which is something. It's like, all right, we'll take 100 episode kinda settler. And in terms of, strategically, it being like a marketing tool for the business, you would've thought that we would have sat down and gone, right, we're going to do these kinds of interviews with these kinds of people, these kinds of topics, but we didn't do that at all. Tahnee: (04:07) People we're fans of or that we think would be interesting guests- Mason: (04:09) Which I think that's a huge reason. For some people, I don't know, maybe for some of you, you wanted to hear about herbs and that's something that I've strayed from, but you can see we're in some of the top podcasts. It's the Reishi one, the Chaga one, ashwagandha- Tahnee: (04:31) Cannabis- Mason: (04:32) Yeah and then then like, cannabis is a little bit different, but yeah, nonetheless, it's something that I'd love to hear from you guys if those, even if it's just like a rapid fire, me talking about a particular herbal, Tahnee talking about a particular herb, if you want to hear a little bit more about that, I'd be super stoked to jump in there and do that. But it's been part of the beauty and I think part of the reason we've been... I think we've got so much structure in many areas of life. It's been it's in the business getting more structure in place in the business. Mason: (05:07) It's nice having this open book, chaotic world and even though what I was saying is I think maybe there's a few of you listening, it'd be great to hear if you feel like more consistency is something that keeps you there, but I think it's been a huge reason why the podcast resonates with so many people is just this like open field of possible ideas and bringing the guys in and talking about Ayurveda and then classical Chinese medicine and then bringing naturopaths in. And we don't try and layer all these things on top of each other and make it fit a particular idea around health. It's just going out and exploring what's out there, which I feel like I've needed that in the podcast and it's helped me keep me motivated and [inaudible 00:05:54]. Tahnee: (05:54) Well, I think that's the bit you probably don't appreciate from the listener's perspective, but for us, running a company and being parents and life, it's a great way for us to stay really connected and to learn and to be inspired by people who are really on mission, I guess, for want of a better way of saying it and who have really devoted themselves to a particular topic or area of research. And I was thinking about the podcast that really moved me and I remember listening to Jane Hardwicke Collings, who I interviewed earlier this year, she did a piece on menopause with us and I was moved to tears by that interview. I just was so touched by her strength and her power and her capacity to capture what it is to be a woman in these transitory phases of life and- Mason: (06:44) That was number 77, The Power of Menopause. Tahnee: (06:47) Yeah. And then the other one, I was trying to think of the ones that really, really resonated. I was really excited to speak to Kim Anami and that's one that you guys have all voted is very, very popular. That was number 28. But coming back to Jane, that was one of the ones where people would stop me on the street and just say, oh my God, that podcast moved me. And everyone from young women who just birthed their first child to women in their 50s and 60s who were touched that someone had discussed those topics so openly. That was really special. And I remember being really moved by speaking with Paul, my yoga teacher, Paul Grilley, which I think he's number... We'll look that up. But yeah, that was a really special one for me because- Mason: (07:36) That's number 59. Tahnee: (07:37) He's been such a huge influence to me in my teaching and my life. And I know for you Mace, Rhonda's been a big influence. Mason: (07:47) The Rhonda Chang interview's number 80. I think it's called, Why Chinese Medicine is Failing Us. It's been interesting. It's creeping up there more and more, becoming one of those cult conversations. You can see like this month it's got way more downloads than anything else [inaudible 00:08:10] actually- Tahnee: (08:10) Still- Mason: (08:10) Jane's there still like charging away and I assume that'll get up there. I like that because I think for a lot of you who are listening, I heard some people listen to one of mine and Dan Sipple's conversations, which if you want to just hear me and my mate, who's a naturopath, me coming from Taoist perspective, him naturopath perspective, and just seeing just how those conversations run side by side, but someone shared it on Instagram recently and was like they come for the talk on gut health, the conversations and the protocols on gut health and they stay for Mason's rants about ideology. Mason: (08:50) And I don't know if you guys are still enjoying it or not whether I'm flogging a dead horse, but naturally, that's been something probably because I've been really going through some reconciliations within myself and some integrations with myself and also just really pausing to consider where in the health landscape there is room and tools being provided to people so that we're safe to go into a big rule set approach to health or a protocol, a healing protocol, and then where the skill set is in going beyond to well, what do you go to beyond that, beyond the labels and coming further into yourself and then realising that we're not going to land in a place of being sure and it's such a weird world, where we're in a completely new world when it comes to the accessibility that we have to health protocols and technologies and traditional technologies and traditional systems that it's all just experimental as anything right now. What is a healthy, ongoing space to keep on questioning our beliefs and questioning how we've integrated opposing ideas and then move into a place of it's in further and further harmony, which is in alignment with every traditional system. It's never ending and it doesn't ever stop evolving, but there is a way to surf it in harmony and stay healthy. Mason: (10:13) That's been a huge one for me this year, which a lot of you would have heard and Rhonda's conversation is probably the biggest one in number 80, Why Chinese medicine is Failing Us just because it represents something I'm close to as a hobbyist with Chinese medicine and enjoying Taoists medicine, especially, and she's someone sometimes you're like, am I crazy here? Is there actually any difference? Is there an institution when it comes to health or the Chinese medicine that's different to how it was done previously? Is this just the natural evolution? Is it in fact unnatural? Is it bad or is it good? Is it great to have options? Where's the [inaudible 00:10:57]... But it was just all meshed in. It was just Chinese medicine is Chinese medicine is Chinese medicine is Chinese medicine. It represents the wider conversation around when something that was holistic gets layered on something that's reductionist. And so that's another one, that number 80 conversation was one I had seen people writing to me and stopping me on the street going far out, Ronda's is just a firecracker, but she's just nailed it. Mason: (11:27) Am I crazy here? Is something that blurred here? We should be making the distinction that this is a new medicine and a new technology and not just pretending that we're practising the traditional style and with that, why isn't it working? And I feel that about a lot of things. I see a lot of people going down a health ideology that's got all this modern biohacking layered over it and we're like, yes, I'm doing the traditional thing and then I've watched it fail so many times and then going, okay... I'm going a little bit of a rant, guys, but this is just wrapping up my approach to the podcast. Going like, well, where does our faith actually lie? Does it lie in a system or in an ideology and a set of rules that we can identify with and that are external or is there something else that we can learn to have faith and trust in, which is self-regulating and never moving? Mason: (12:27) And that's something that that conversation and reading Rhonda's book and talking with her really helped me go, no, I'm not crazy here, there's just a little bit more of a distinction that's needed, especially when there's so much coming. There's so many new systems coming out as Western medicine goes charging forth, thankfully, in other areas, as long as it's not getting layered over and bastardising everything that we've had there. If we're able to preserve that, then that's beautiful as well. A lot of this year in the podcast has been me wiping out a lot of that confusion and learning how to navigate this new emerging health scape. Tahnee: (13:12) That's a way more complex than my year. My year was like emotions and amazing women, which I feel like that's such an interesting... I've felt that my personal journey was around this wider acceptance of the vast, many layered dimensions of experience that women have and also that everyone has and then also the themes around that. I think I've really learned to be less judgmental and to not always project my experience onto other people and not to try and always use myself as the reference. And I think it's been interesting talking to people who they're just so strong and grounded in themselves. Tahnee: (14:04) I'm thinking about Jessica Le Corre right now. I spoke to her on my birthday, on my 35th birthday, and I feel she was a bit of a gift. That was episode 96. She just epitomises to me the place I would like to step into or the place I see myself stepping into as I get older. And she really, really moved me. And also I'm thinking of Myra Lewin, the Ayurvedic teacher. I think her episode was... Looking at one up, number 55. Ayurveda and yoga and she was another one I think that really moved me. Claudia Welch, I've spoken to a lot of women who are just proper powerhouses and I think that's something that I've really... Number 32's Claudia Welch as well. Something I've really kind of- Mason: (14:58) It's one of the favourites as well. Tahnee: (15:00) Yeah. I've always said to Mase, I'm going to be a really cool old lady when I'm 60. And I think speaking to these women that are elders and even if they're only 10 years older than me, but they've settled into themselves in a way that I think young women often haven't and it's really special to share the space with them. And just so many interesting and inspiring women and men, I think have graced our microphone this year. Mason: (15:31) And that's an interesting reflection because I've definitely noticed that in you stepping into a part of yourself. I'm not sure what you mean by using yourself as a reference, not doing that as much. Is that- Tahnee: (15:46) I think just sometimes because I've had a pretty interesting, vast life experience in some ways. And I think sometimes I can try and empathise through my experience instead of just allowing that person's experience to be separate from me a little bit. And I think it's just something that as you grow up, you realise you haven't seen it all. And I'm may be not clear [crosstalk 00:16:12]- Mason: (16:12) No, no that's clear. Tahnee: (16:12) Just coming to me at this moment, but that's what I'm feeling into that I've noticed, like assumptions I've made or going into interviews with a certain assumption or certain sense of where it's going to go and then just being completely stunned in a positive way where it's just been so much richer and deeper and more powerful and more educational for me on a really personal intimate level than I would have imagined. A chat about, say, I just did one, it hasn't come out yet, about PCOS and I've not experienced that personally. And I went in with some assumptions around what PCOS is just based on my experience in dealing with it with people who we speak to and then just having this whole more vast conversation around it, I suppose, than I would have been able to have with Amanda, this TCM doctor. I think it's great. It's humbling and it's inspiring and it just constantly reminds me to stay in that beginner's mind and that Zen mind of not knowing, which was a conversation we're having last night about acting rather. Mason: (17:20) Oh, yes. Tahnee: (17:20) [crosstalk 00:17:19]- Mason: (17:20) Not losing yourself in the character. Tahnee: (17:22) Yeah, and I think you can easily get your ego really wrapped up in knowing- Mason: (17:26) Oh, in a narrative? Tahnee: (17:27) Yeah. Mason: (17:27) That's something at times I was like, all right, we've got to have a very specific SuperFeast narrative. And now the idea, for example, I remember the week after I had that conversation with Rhonda and we were really heavily exploring that area, which is something I feel like I've popped. It's like just because I'm exploring an area and really enjoying it and going in and getting good realisations doesn't mean that that's my narrative, doesn't mean that's the truth, doesn't mean that we can't explore other areas. It seems obvious, but for me, I'm such a purist sometimes. And I had that conversation with Rhonda and watching, looking at what's happened when we've used, say, Western diagnosis and Western diseases in with Chinese medicine and yet, the week after or even like you were saying, this podcast that came out before this one, is a Chinese medicine doctor exploring PCOS and that's fine and that's beautiful and I'm interested to hear about that because it's like... Mason: (18:30) I think I've [inaudible 00:18:33] what I mean there, but I feel we are really opening up and exploring on the SuperFeast podcast more and more. And that's something I did notice this year, it was just how many elders you had. You'd come away feeling really solid, just really reflected, I think, where you've been moving. And for me this year, when I've had guys on the podcast, I've been chatting to young guys. It's been Sage Dammers and Dan Sipple and Taylor Johnson and another big one was Nick Perry. But I feel that's just where I've been at. I've been trying to explore. I didn't want to be led. I wanted to be in the dark and be talking to other guys who were potentially going through that same stage of life because I needed to work it out for myself. But I can see now I'm ready to have some conversations with those guys that have just really landed in themselves as well. Tahnee: (19:34) Basically guys, this is our therapy and you're just along for the ride because I often think about that. I'm like, I'm not promoting SuperFeast, I don't have anything to sell, I just want to have a conversation. Mason: (19:46) I've started to be good and in the intros sometimes promo products and things. Tahnee: (19:50) But I'm like, it's funny because to me it feels almost separate from SuperFeast except that it informs my growth and my evolution and I know the team listens and gets value out of it and support us in the production of it. They're all engaged and [inaudible 00:20:08]. It obviously informs the SuperFeast philosophy and how we do things and often conversations are sparked from listening to the podcast on how we do things and what we can do better or how we can navigate our roles better and all these things. It's just an interesting thing to me that it feels so much less a marketing part of the business. It feels a personal exploration/soul nourishment/education piece. That's an interesting thing that I've been observing is like it's not really something I think of in a sales and marketing capacity. Even though I started thinking about it because one of our consultants placed the podcast within a marketing flow and I went, oh, I didn't even think of it that way. That's been an interesting little distinction for me this year as well. Mason: (21:04) As the business mushrooms and I'm not out doing- Tahnee: (21:11) Is that a pun? Mason: (21:13) Mushrooms and it's growing in its own way and I'm not in front of people at markets anymore and you're not helping at events talking to people. And so the podcast continues to be a way to associate all those conversations because normally people come up to the markets back in the day when I was growing SuperFeast- Tahnee: (21:35) You're having the chance. Mason: (21:36) Or when people come to you. Well, yeah, someone was like, I have an autoimmune condition. I wouldn't be sitting there just promoting SuperFeast. I'd have this huge other exploring conversation that would always need to come back to the way that we're living in general, the way the diets looking in general. Tahnee: (21:53) Totally. It's a part of a piece of a puzzle, not a silver bullet solution. And I think that's something we wanted to convey in this ramble was that we're really interested in the direction that you guys want to hear us go with this thing. We don't have a plan. We are just reaching out and when people can, we're interviewing them and we're recording stuff that we think is interesting or that people on our team find interesting, but we haven't heard a whole lot from you guys beyond the feedback. I've quit social media, so I'm not hearing from anyone, yay, but we'd love to hear from you guys about people you think we'd froth on interviewing, people you want to hear interviewed. I think as I look at the podcast circuit and there's so many of the same names popping up across all these different podcasts and sometimes I just think, it's like people just do the circuit and they do all the podcasts. And then I'm like, I want to offer something a bit more diverse and interesting, like voices- Mason: (23:00) I think Matthew McConaughey just finished doing that. Tahnee: (23:02) Doing the podcast circuit? Mason: (23:02) Yeah. Tahnee: (23:03) Well, why didn't we get him? Mason: (23:03) Good question. We got to consider ourselves being more like the ballers and go for the big fish. Tahnee: (23:08) I don't know if we're quite there yet. Mason: (23:10) No, we're definitely not there yet. Tahnee: (23:14) Matthew lived with my friend as an exchange student actually when he was 18. We have a contact. Anyway, but my preference is not to do the famous... Look, if they're famous and they kick ass and it's something I feel we could really contribute to your earbuds, but I think in general, you can find those interviews already. I want to do people that are maybe not getting a lot of publicity or that are doing the work quietly in their little corner and don't have that kind of capacity to generate fame for themselves or- Mason: (23:51) And it'd be interesting to hear, just for you guys, if you like, if you're [inaudible 00:23:54] on SuperFeast podcast and you're just really enjoying it, what you'd like to hear. This year hasn't been a lot about us because I know a lot of people want to hear from me and Tahns about what's your diet like and what's your lifestyle? and I don't know if we've been exploring, just trying to land somewhere- Tahnee: (24:19) I feel like we don't spend any time together at work. That's the biggest thing. We work together, but we both hold really different roles in the business, whereas I'm usually more in an administrative role and Mason's more in a marketing role. Our days at work don't overlap that much and I think we haven't prioritised taking this time to chat to each other in this capacity, which I think is more realistic in the new year as things have settled down a bit. COVID has been, for everyone I'm sure, disruptive to the flow and we've just landed back on our feet, I think, after that period of time. And so I feel I do podcasts at seven in the morning or late at night or around... A lot of people I speak to are in the States, so I'm often working with really bad time zones where I'm getting up really early or you're looking after Aiya It's not like we can go duck off together and record one. Mason: (25:13) I think that'd be a nice intention for us to just set or just have the intention anyway to start lapping here and there. Tahnee: (25:22) And I'm also not the kind of person who really likes sharing those things because I think it's odd, but I'm also happy to have people want to. For example, the pregnancy podcasts, which are just- Mason: (25:34) That's what I was just thinking of. Tahnee: (25:34) So popular and the prenatal preparation one and- Mason: (25:39) And the nourishing her yin, the live event, that's like, I mean that's- Tahnee: (25:43) See, those to me though require a lot of push for me to share myself and if I'm really honest, I feel uncomfortable. And I often think about what I've shared on this podcast and I feel really uncomfortable, but it's already done so... But I think it's for me, it's my own, I don't want to ever feel like people think they need to... Yeah, I just think it's one of those things where so much of it's a personal journey for me and not something I share publicly, but if that's something you guys really want to hear and Mase does get those requests a lot through his- Mason: (26:20) I think every time there's a request, it's like, look, I know you guys aren't going to have an exact diet or rule. We'll see if we can lap over because every time we do tune in, it's just a little... I think it's weird because Tahnee and I don't get a lot, a lot, a lot of time to just sit down with each other and flesh these things out outside of a podcast. And it's like, let's not have a mic between us every time we get that chance to just do that- Tahnee: (26:48) [crosstalk 00:26:48] together. Mason: (26:48) We just have enjoy be together. But there's definitely room for us to jump on and just be like, this is what the diet has done in the last year and this is where the fluctuations and this is where we're trying to land. I've definitely started sharing a little because we get asked a lot about diet and everyone knows we're not experts on that topic, but we've had a lot of interactions with thinking about the diet and so we'll see. That's not a black and white conversation, so we'll see if we can colour it in and do some sharing around that one. Definitely, I can get the feeling if there's anyone that wants to learn about any particular topics in Taoist herbalism that I can share about. Tahnee: (27:37) I've got a couple of things lined up just from my background, like yoga nidra. I've got a chat coming up with Rod Stryker next year. I have- Mason: (27:46) [crosstalk 00:27:46] he's the one that Tahnee's been learning from him, but our yoga nidra that Sophia runs on a Wednesday, so everyone's been doing it. Tahnee: (27:55) And with Nicole's teacher, whose name I don't remember, but she's amazing, too. And we have definitely got some podcasts on [inaudible 00:28:03] planned. I'm trying to get my Taois teacher Master Mantak Chia on the podcast, I'm working on it. I just think there's lots of people out there that we're connected to that would be great to feature because we know their work and we love their work. And I know Mase has Benny on regularly and Benny's a close friend of ours as well as an excellent genius of movement. What numbers are Benny if we're looking for them- Mason: (28:32) We've had Benny twice. Benny, the embodied movement one is really most popular, me and him just riffing a lot. That's why I talk in that one because we're riffing. So number 56, if you want to hear me talking with my friend, or 87, if you want to hear Benny talking a little bit less interrupted. Tahnee: (28:53) How could you not interrupt someone? Anyway, I'm sure there'll be more of that stuff. I think you and [Tanya 00:28:59] should re-record- Mason: (28:59) Oh yeah, that's a good. Tahnee: (29:00) Because Tanya's a close friend of ours, who's a permaculture lifestyle guru. Mason: (29:06) The Mason Taylor Show, we've had a really good conversation with Tanya [inaudible 00:29:11], it's called, Dancing the Patterns of Permaculture. If you can go find number eight on the Mason Taylor Show, you can tune in with us talking about permaculture and then when we get her on the SuperFeast podcast, you can see the difference and the evolution of where that conversation goes. But yeah, that's a good call. There's a lot of people on the horizon. For some reason, I don't know, I thought you guys were all sexually liberated and maybe that's why you like the sexy conversations- Tahnee: (29:42) Sex is very popular. Mason: (29:43) It's by far the top one- Tahnee: (29:46) Four or five? Mason: (29:46) That's downloaded is Semen retention. Is that because, did that get shared around in a bunch of like guys circles? Or is it women going like, hold the phone, it is possible? Authentic Sex with Juliet Allen is way up there as is Tahnee's conversation with Kim Anami. They're seriously popular. If there's any aspects around sexuality and any experts that you'd recommend us listening to, we definitely don't like... I think it's nice. We like people on the edge, but sometimes... It's interesting to know what you guys are enjoying about that. We don't particularly feel we're being naughty or taboo talking about these kinds of things, but I think, for some of you, maybe you're enjoying the fact that it feels really edgy, us talking about this kind of thing. I'm not sure why that's so popular. Sex is great. And so it's an obvious reason, but yeah, if you guys want to send us an email or anything and just let us know, you're reflecting over the last 100 episodes why you've been drawn towards particular topics and others not so much, in particular, personalities more so. It'd be really great to hear and you'd all probably notice and appreciate Tahnee's audio is way better these days. Tahnee: (31:14) That was our number one comment was fix Tahnee's audio and guys, I'm a quiet person anyway. So I'm learning to be more articulate in the microphone and I'm learning how to use microphones. Mason didn't teach me anything. He just gave me one. I'm working on it and that kind of feedback is really useful, too, because I'm new to this and we are often just making it up as we go along. Mason: (31:43) Thanks gang. Hey, reviews. I know a lot of you, a lot of you listening have left reviews, but it's the classic, it's like- Tahnee: (31:49) They always help. Mason: (31:51) Well, they're fun to read. I really like reading them when they come through. Tahnee: (31:56) We share them with the whole team, too, so that we have a Slack channel. If you don't know what Slack is, it's kind of like inter business communication system. Our whole team uses it and we have a channel called Awesome Feedback, and we put feedback from all different areas of the business. People who love receiving a love letter from the warehouse all the way up to podcast reviews or customer service feedback on how much someone's health has changed from using SuperFeast. And it's just a way for us to celebrate the success and the joy that SuperFeast brings in people's lives. We also have channels for complaints, so don't worry, we're not just totally sunshine and focusing on the positive, but we really enjoy sharing that with everyone and everyone really enjoys reading those and they always get lots of positive comments and emojis and love. Mason: (32:44) It can be specific. Sorry, it can be specific as well. You can say like, oh my gosh, this episode was great and I really loved this about Tahnee or it doesn't have to be a big, wide, general review. You can get really nice and specific there. Tahnee: (32:58) Just anything, if you want to share with us, we love it. And same if you want to email us or contact us, it's just both of our first names at SuperFeast.com.au. That's an easy way to get in touch or through the team email, which is on our website or the contact forms. You can just reach out to us and let us know your feedback and just stay in touch. Sometimes it's like talking to space. It's nice to know there are humans out there listening. And so apart from seeing that in the numbers yeah, it's a great way for us to get feedback. I think that's about all we wanted to say. Mason: (33:34) Thanks everyone. Thanks for coming along for the journey. Tahnee: (33:36) We'd be interested to hear your favourite episodes, too. Those are just some of my favourites, but if you have any that really resonated, let us know. Mason: (33:45) Always appreciate you guys sharing them. I'm still there on Instagram. When you tag favourite conversations and tag me in it, it always makes me really smile. Just thanks for making sure that the word's getting out there. Hopefully we're a nice little sanctuary of very deep diving ideas without it being a place where anyone needs to subscribe to anything in particular. I'm hoping that everyone feels very non-judged and able to just really explore interesting ideas in this and through this podcast. Tahnee: (34:25) Aho. Mason: (34:25) See you guys. Tahnee: (34:28) Bye.
Welcome to the #PracticeWithClara Podcast where Clara and Stephanie discuss philosophy, yoga, and all things related to the practice. In this episode, we interview yoga teacher and author Bernie Clark to learn more about yin yoga and the power of myth. * More about this episode: 0:50 Introducing Bernie Clark Meet Bernie Clark, a revered yin yoga teacher from the West Coast and author of several yoga books including From the Gita to the Grail, a novel on Eastern Mythology. 5:00 What is Yin Yoga, and Why Practice? Bernie touches on the benefits of a yin yoga practice, the need for balance in a society of 'Yangsters', and the difference in training on the joints between yin and yang styles of yoga. 11:39 Leading Yin Yoga Teacher Training Worldwide Bernie shares his story of how he got into teaching yin yoga and how he learned from his teachers Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley. 19:00 Tips to Enhance Your Home Practice Bernie shares his top three tips to enhance a home practice that includes alternative forms of exercise to increase strength, endurance, and mobility, in addition to flexibility. 21:41 Meditation and Inspiration from Thich Nhat Hanh Bernie sheds insight into how meditation aids his yoga practice, with inspiration from one of his teachers Thich Nhat Hanh. 26:50 Meditation is Choosing to Live With Intention Clara and Bernie share how meditation has shaped their lives through living with more intention in each moment of the day. 28:30 The Yin Mind, Navel Gazing, and the Brain The power of daydreaming and what occurs when we stop thinking and slow down; Bernie sheds insight into the neurobiology of the brain and how we heal through REM sleep. 32:06 The Mysticism Associated with Physics Bernie having come from a physics background, shares how he came to study comparative religions, mythology, and spirituality, and how these concepts relate to physics and psychology. 37:50 Debunking the Myths of Yoga Bernie comments on some of the global myths of yoga that are unfounded and untrue, and yet continue to permeate as urban legends. 39:51 From the Gita to the Grail Bernie shares how he was influenced by Joseph Campbell and the power of mythology, and how he came to write his latest book, From the Gita to the Grail. 43:00 What Mythology Adds to the Practice of Yoga Bernie shares how his teaching yin yoga and study of mythology have provided a landscape to delve deeper into specific topics of interest and learn more about the practice, philosophy, and mythology, which he then gives to his students. * Join the conversation in our community Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PracticeWithClaraCommunity/ Watch the full episode: https://practice.clararobertsoss.com/categories/practicewithclara-podcast Visit Clara Roberts Oss Website: https://www.clararobertsoss.com/practice-with-clara-podcasts/ Music by Pete Wonder: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2VrPlfk05gv9KwCCM5She5
Ich bin dankbar, dass meine Yin Yogalehrer Ausbildung bei Markus Giess von Yin Therapy am Anfang sehr Anatomie-lastig war. Wir haben gelernt und auch persönlich erfahren, dass jeder Mensch, jeder Knochenbau individuell ist. Besonders spannend waren die Bone photos, welche Paul Grilley auf seiner Webseite zur Verfügung stellt. Dadurch begreift man, dass es nicht die eine richtige Yogahaltung gibt. Stattdessen gibt es ganz viele verschiedene Variationen von einer Haltung. Genauso wie man im Auto den Sitz und das Lenkrad an seine eigene Individualität anpasst, so sollte man auch Yoga und Yogahaltungen an die eigene Individualität anpassen. Hier spielen Knochenbau, emotionaler & gedanklicher Zustand eine große Rolle. Das heißt, beim Yoga geht es um Funktionalität, nicht um Ästhetik...
What does the process of owning your yoga look like? What is the role of a yoga teacher in helping you to get there? And what is the ultimate value (or the point) to doing the work to create yoga that is uniquely yours? These are some of the things we talked about in this juicy conversation with yoga therapist and physiotherapist, Libby Hinsley. We go deep into the heart of teaching and practicing yoga guided by Libby’s wide-ranging wisdom, experience and passion. A fabulous discussion about many concepts that are dear to our hearts and our practice!We talked about...Cultivating an internal practice rather seeking to master external alignment cues - the yoga of knowing yourselfInteroceptive cues and the overlap of hyper mobility and agingShould we teach our students anatomy?Is it up to us as teachers to set the goal for the practice?Why having the perspective of anatomical variability will put a lot of people at ease.What messages we send with the language that we useWorking with chronic painHow yoga can help you answer the question, ‘what matters to me?’How yoga creates a vital space for community that is key to “heart happiness.”Anatomy bites: http://www.anatomybites.com/cuesResources & Mentions:Libby Hinsley: https://www.libbyhinsley.com/Paul Grilley’s bone gallery: https://paulgrilley.com/bone-photos/Krishnamacharya Yoga MandiramHypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
Paul Krauss MA LPC interviews Stefanie Arend about her work teaching Yin Yoga throughout Europe and the world (via the internet). Paul Krauss MA LPC and Stefanie relate the basics of terms utilized by the Yoga and Traditional Chinese Medicine communities and discuss how Yin Yoga is different from more popular forms of Yoga. Stefanie discusses how Yin Yoga and having a daily practice is being studied and has already shown many positive associations to improving both physical and mental health. For anyone interested in learning about yoga, alternative healing modalities, and how working with the body can improve mental health--this episode is for you. Stefanie Arend is a renowned Yin Yoga instructor, holistic health coach, nutritionist, and energy worker. As the first German author to focus exclusively on Yin Yoga, the yoga style taught by Paul Grilley, Arend is a bestselling author of six books, including Yin Yoga: The Gentle Path to the Inner Center and Surya Namaskar: The Sun Salutation, both of which were named Best Yoga Book of the Year in German speaking countries. Her books have been translated into five languages. Be Healthy with Yin Yoga is her first English language book. Visit Stefanie Arend at https://www.yinyoga.de/en or at her YouTube channel https://www.yinyoga.de/blog/ https://www.facebook.com/YinYogaGermany/?fref=ts https://www.youtube.com/user/Stefanie1a https://www.instagram.com/stefaniearend/ Paul Krauss MA LPC is the Clinical Director of Health for Life Grand Rapids, home of The Trauma-Informed Counseling Center of Grand Rapids. Paul is also a Private Practice Psychotherapist, EMDRIA Consultant in Training (CIT), host of the Intentional Clinician podcast, Behavioral Health Consultant, Clinical Trainer, and Counseling Supervisor. Paul is now offering consulting for a few individuals and organizations. Paul is the creator of the National Violence Prevention Hotline (in progress) as well as the Intentional Clinician Training Program for Counselors. Questions? Call the office at 616-200-4433. If you are looking for EMDRIA consulting groups, Paul Krauss MA LPC is now hosting weekly online and in-person groups. For details, click here. Follow Health for Life Grand Rapids: Instagram | Facebook | Youtube Original Music: ”Shades of Currency" [Instrumental] from Archetypes by PAWL (Spotify) “1/2” and “2/2” from Ambient1/Music for Airports by Brian Eno (Spotify) Michigan Mental Health Counselors Association is working to increase the availability of quality mental health services statewide, increasing education, promoting best practices, and working to keep Licensed Professional Counselors and other professionals accessible by the public.
Gil Hedley joins Tahnee on the podcast today. Gil is an anatomist and self proclaimed "Somanaut" - a person who is "dedicated to exploring the inner space of human form". Gil has encouraged thousands of fellow "somanauts" to appreciate, explore and embody the wonders of human form through his lecture presentations and hands-on human dissection courses in the laboratory. Tahnee and Gil dive deep today, exploring the intricate nature of the of these bodies we call human. The pair share their insights through the lens of anatomy, philosophy and spirituality. This one is a bit of a mind bender folks, but in the best possible way. Tune in to be taken beyond the linear understanding of the human body into the expansive realm of universal connection. Tahnee and Gil discuss: Integral vs regional anatomy, embodied understanding vs intellectual analysis. The heart as a factual vessel not a 'pump'. Taoist sexuality and sexual anatomy. Religion and spirituality. The intricacy and non symmetrical nature of the human form. The human body as a whole, each individual as a cellular representation of the whole - the universal body. Martial Arts and the textural foundations of the body. The fascial system. Who is Gil Hedley? Gil Hedley is an anatomist and certified Rolfer who holds a PhD in theological ethics. Gil's combined interests and training have supported his personal and professional exploration of the human body, which has lead him to develop an integral approach to the study of human anatomy. Through hands-on human dissections courses in the laboratory and lecture presentations, Gil has encouraged thousands of fellow "somanauts" to appreciate, explore and embody the wonders of human form. Gil has authored a number of books, as well as produced The Integral Anatomy Series, a set of four feature-length videos documenting his whole body, layer-by-layer approach through on-camera dissection. Resources: Gil's Website Gil's Facebook Gil's Youtube Gil's Free Online Courses Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or check us out on Stitcher :)! Plus we're on Spotify! Check Out The Transcript Here: Tahnee: (00:08) Hi everybody. Welcome to the SuperFeast Podcast. Today I'm really excited to introduce Gil Hedley, who's joining us from Colorado. Hi Gil. Gil Hedley: (00:15) Hi, Tahnee. Tahnee: (00:16) Nice to have you here with us. Gil Hedley: (00:18) And everybody listening. Tahnee: (00:19) Yeah, the whole listening world. Gil is the founder of Integral Anatomy and he's a really amazing anatomist and somanaut which is a great word that I'd love for you to explain for us later if that's okay. But also you've studied theology and you have a PhD in theology. Is that correct? Gil Hedley: (00:37) Theological ethics, actually, yeah. Tahnee: (00:38) Okay. And you've done some rolfing things. You've kind of got this interesting mix of I guess the spiritual, and the tangible physical, and then obviously, like through the hands-on human dissection that you do. I feel like that's such an interesting combination of worlds to weave. But what I've seen you express, I suppose is this really beautiful and profound philosophy that I guess has arisen through your physical dissections and actual extractions of human form. But how does one go from actually doing theology, which I understand is like the study of religions and theological ethics, which is I suppose, I saw your piece on marriage. Is this around the role religion plays and how we create ethical constructs in our society. Is that right? Gil Hedley: (01:28) That's exactly right. Yeah, exactly. Looking to see the moral systems that are rooted in religions. So that's my master's degree. It was in the study of religion. My BA was also in the study of religion, and my PhD. All ethics throughout actually, I was studying ethics throughout. But basically, yeah, looking at ethics is a meta study where you look at people's ways of being in a world and trying to see how they reason about their moral- Tahnee: (02:05) Conduct sort of thing. Gil Hedley: (02:05) Conducts, and preferences, and choices, right? So.. And then theological ethics is where you look specifically to the moral systems of religious systems and ask like, "How do they come to believe that? What's their rationale for holding that position," or what have you. So actually, I brought my spirituality to the University of Chicago, certainly didn't get it from it. In fact, when I showed up, they're like, "What are you talking about God? we don't know God," because it's a very academic and abstract mental place. Gil Hedley: (02:37) That sort of intentionally drives you out of your body. My attempt to claim a body there was, was amusing I think, to my professors. I started doing Tai Chi and then I learned massage and rolfing while I was in my PhD program, in my own effort to just ground myself because I felt that although grounding was not a appreciated pursuit in my field, actually quite the opposite. I felt that it was ridiculous to try and come to moral positions or study ethics about the body, for instance, and make rules and such about the body or even evaluate rules about the body without knowing what a body is, or even living in one because it wasn't really valued to actually live in your body at the University of Chicago. I went into Tai Chi to try and just ground myself and get a little physical and explore my movement and such. I went to massage training and my rolfing training. Gil Hedley: (03:46) I got a little more body connection. I kind of realised that I couldn't speak to the body without having a more intimate understanding of the body. Before you knew it, I wasn't so much into the rolfing thing as I was into the anatomy that was helping me be a good rolfer. I sort of switched my career choice out of the rolfing upon the shoulders of which I continue to stand and into the the body exploration in the laboratory, where I found myself swimming in a universe that both terrified me and compelled me completely. Gil Hedley: (04:28) I found that when folks found out what I was doing, friends and other people, I was in a healing school as well after my rolfing training, did five years in an energetic healing school, kind of psychodynamics and energy healing and that kind of thing. My friends were like, "Teach us anatomy." I was like okay. I kind of told them what was going on in the lab. When I was in the lab, I kind of brought the energy of the healing school to that. That's much more how spirituality made its way into my anatomy laboratory as opposed to anything I ever got at the University of Chicago studying theological ethics, where I basically just fought the popes in Latin. It wasn't really particularly spiritual. Tahnee: (05:15) Well, and religion has such a history of denying the body because I mean ... Gil Hedley: (05:20) Exactly. Tahnee: (05:21) Do you have anything to say to that? Because I mean, I've got lots of thoughts on that. Gil Hedley: (05:25) Absolutely I mean the ease with which I engaged in the intellectual pursuits at the university and in graduate school was grounded, it was founded I should say, in my own disconnection to my body that was definitely fostered by my religious upbringing as a Roman Catholic. With all due respect to Roman Catholics, some of my best friends are Roman Catholics, my mum for instance, the modelling of the body in the church that I was raised in as liberal and 1960's kumbaya religion that I was raised with, still had a beloved saviour crucified, right, as the model of the body, and a virgin mother of him. So when you put those two together, you start scratching your head. You don't even have to scratch your head. Gil Hedley: (06:24) It's so deep. It goes in so deep to your psyche and to your way of moving, literally it affects how you move when your heroes, when your spiritual heroes, are naked but murdered and his mother weeping at the foot of the cross, actually never had sex, according to the story. So this is strange, and it's a strange way to model by the people you value most are void and have broken their bodies and offer their bodies as a sacrifice etc. When you take that seriously and I did, I took it so seriously, I got a PhD teaching Catholic ethics. Gil Hedley: (07:06) You get massively conflicted around your body and around your body's urges, around sexuality, around physicality, and many people just never worked through that. I've actually used the study of anatomy and the exploration of movement through something like Tai Chi for years. Then just like life and sex and family to become embodied. So that when I speak an anatomy word, it's not just an intellectual thing for me. I have a relationship with that tissue, an intimate relationship with a tissue. I know what it feels like, I know where it is. I can go there. I can call out its name and it calls back to me with sensation. So that's the embodiment that I've pursued and it's their integral anatomy. Tahnee: (08:02) So do you feel like there's this deeper sense of like introception and self-awareness, I suppose through the work that you've done, like it hasn't? Because I think a lot of people- Gil Hedley: (08:13) Yeah, I can go in there. Tahnee: (08:15) Let's go. Yeah. Because I mean, I see a lot of people. I've done a little bit of work in wet labs and stuff. It's almost like people become disconnected from the body when they do that work. It becomes this body I guess. Gil Hedley: (08:29) There's a risk of that when the approaches is regional and not integral. That's why I've developed integral anatomy because a regional anatomy, when you're parsing the body out literally into parts, bits, pieces, naming them, that's an intellectual process. It's a mental construct, and it doesn't have a whole lot to do with what's in front of you. But if you give a little time for the body to talk to you and tell it a bit about itself, and this was kind of my point as an ethicist was I keep learning about people and systems that are ordering the body around. They haven't even stopped to listen to what it has to say, or how it's organised, and what it might speak to the moral life because it's the moral life is lived, is a bodily lived experience.So what does the body speak to that? Because if the body is a gift and not a curse, then it can possibly inform the moral life rather than be its subjugated- Tahnee: (09:25) Vehicle of fear almost. Yeah. Gil Hedley: (09:28) And bedraggled partner or servant or mule as it were. Yeah, so if you're just doing regional anatomy, you really do run the risk of of getting disconnected. When you come into a lab and the body's head, and hands, and feet are wrapped, and they're faced down, and you never connect with them as even though the housing of a person but it's just like you're on day one of medical school. You're told to go in and find the integration of the trapezius muscle, meaning you have to hack a panel out of the skin, superficial fascia, deep fascia, flip the muscle over, find the nerve, then you get your A. Now, what happened to you in the process, right? Gil Hedley: (10:16) So chances are, you're disconnected or as I bring people into a room, we stand around the table holding hands in a circle. We give thanks and we bring ourselves into a state of appreciation. We acknowledge that this form is a gift, and this is came from a person who had an intention or the family who has an intention. We look them in the eye, and we sit them up, and we stand them up, even and we meet them in a vertical so that we can we can acknowledge, "Oh, this isn't just some dead body. This was someone's body." It's not a person on the table by any means. I'm not a surgeon. I don't work on living persons. Gil Hedley: (10:58) But I do work on the artefacts, and the footprints, and the old shoes of persons. I learned a lot about them as a result of that. I learned more about myself, my own fears, my own disconnections. I invite the people in the room to constantly, step up to that mirror and look in it. And see, do you hate what you see in the mirror? Do you love what you see in the mirror? Do you hate some of it and love some of it? Some of it you can't even see because it's literally outside of your ability to see. So I try and help people to see more. Then to just observe what their relationship is to what they see. Because if it's unappreciative, I'm going to work my hardest to to point out aspects of appreciation that can bring that person into a positive relationship with the gift that's in front of them and hopefully the gift that they're walking around with. Tahnee: (11:54) I had a close friend about maybe 2013, do your training in San Francisco. She sent me these emails while she was there, and it was like witnessing a breakdown, and then a breakthrough, and then this kind of rebuilding of her identity. I mean, I just looked at them again, when I knew I was going to talk to you. I remember them, they was so visceral for me when I wasn't there. I can feel how visceral it was for her and this process of spending six days, going back to her hotel alone and just processing. I think about how we're so removed from natural processes, death, birth, like all of these things. Tahnee: (12:36) I remember when I had my daughter, I had an experience meditating where I could almost feel this energy stream between her and I. Even though I was across the room from her. I remember reading in one of your posts about like fat being the fascia, sorry being the receiver like a transmitter of energy. I could feel how like my body had softened so that I could have this deep connection with her. I think those little little insights, they just they change your experience so much. How could I hate my chubbiness? If I was deeply connected to my little baby. Tahnee: (13:14) I mean, for me, that was just such a beautiful, getting even emotional talking about it. It was such a beautiful change because I've spent my whole life with eating disorders and various forms of that even if they weren't avert. That's what I saw with Kate, her respect for her body and for her students and how she was able to just see differently, I can just imagine you must have these huge transformational experiences going on every day in your work, right? Gil Hedley: (13:44) At least in my courses, I definitely set them up as opportunities for transformation and healing, I like to say that my classes are transformational, not traumatic. Because I mean, I was brought into gross anatomy laboratory when I was 17 years old in high school and in an advanced biology class. The guy who took us around the lab, at the Harlem School of Pediatry was basically like John Belushi, it was a joke. He was going to make us laugh and we did laugh, but it was simultaneously horrifying. Gil Hedley: (14:22) There were bags of feet on shelves around the room. There were hammy pelvis and legs lying on the table. He's yanking on tendons, showing, making toes move like a chicken. I didn't eat chicken for two years after that visit to the lab. It made a tremendous impression on me. When I came to study in a lab myself, I was like, the fact of the matter is that when you enter the laboratory, you actually go into altered states of consciousness, just by dint of the circumstances. Gil Hedley: (14:48) So you don't need to take anything magic to have your consciousness altered when you go into the lab. If you're brought in mindfully, with consciousness and awareness. I felt and do feel a keen responsibility when I have a room full of people in an altered state of consciousness instead of to jerk them around or mess with them, to serve them. From my Catholic upbringing, I have a service mentality. That's my ethics. That's my religion, my religion is service, right? That's the core of my own ethical structure. I do take the opportunity to serve the people in their altered states of consciousness in the laboratory for their sake, as opposed to what often happens in workshops where people are brought into altered states of consciousness and then the leader manipulates them for their own sake to take the next workshop. I hate that. I can't stand that. Tahnee: (15:55) Welcome to the yoga industry, yeah. Gil Hedley: (15:58) Yeah. It's so mean to start enrolling people when they're in the middle of their ecstatic experience. I would much rather have you calm down and realise here, and two years later think would you ever want to do that again? Most people are like, "No, that was plenty. I got that down." Now, there are the occasional people who come back and come back and back and back. Some people come every year. But they've made it their own practise. That's their own practise. I've made it my own practise as well. Tahnee: (16:27) Well, I mean, it seems like an endless task almost to try and map the body. I mean, it's so complicated. Gil Hedley: (16:38) It is. Things don't hold my attention for very long unless they're very interesting. So I found like with ethics and the moral life while I was studying that still am, I haven't stopped, observing, making observations and tinkering with my own set of ideas around how it is to be in the world and what I am in the world. What is going on here? These questions still drive me, who I am and what is my body. But when I think about how long I've been doing this for at this point, if you'd asked me, I would be like, "You're crazy." But it turns out that it really is the universe that we're exploring here. Whether you do it in macrocosm or microcosm. Gil Hedley: (17:23) I mean, I am like a kid in a candy shop in the lab every day because I'm seeing stuff, making observations, seeing details that have escaped me for all these years or details that I saw and then forgot. To be able to do that is quite a privilege, but also just speaks to the complexity of the subject. Even at the gross anatomical level, because people I mean, many people just dismiss gross anatomy like, "Oh, we already know all that stuff. That was figured out 400 years ago, right?" There it is. It's in the book. It's done there's nothing more to say. If you were getting a PhD in anatomy right now, you'd be hard pressed to find a professor who would support PhD level work and gross anatomy. No, you're going to be doing molecular biology. You're going to be working at nanometer level sizes of anatomy, cellular anatomy, gross anatomy is passe. Gil Hedley: (18:28) They'd rather have it out of the building actually because it smells and it's expensive and scary. But I have found actually that working at the gross level, I'm exploring the same questions that people are exploring at the micro level about movement and interfaces and relationships and continuities. But I find that the gross anatomical level provides a mirror for transformation that may be the microscopic level might not. You might not see yourself there quite as easily as you do when you're looking at a bedraggled old man on the table or a sweet old grandma. Tahnee: (19:06) Yeah, you see humanity reflected back at you, don't you? Gil Hedley: (19:09) Yeah. Tahnee: (19:09) I mean, I've read just recently actually read that you were talking about, you've even got theories that challenge, I guess, our gross anatomy conceptions that say like the heart is a pump, like you see it as more of a fluid. Is it that pressure dynamics, is that kind of what you're ...? Gil Hedley: (19:30) The heart is definitely not a pump. Tahnee: (19:30) Yeah. So speak to that. Gil Hedley: (19:32) By design, but the heart can be reduced to a pump, under the untoward circumstances of a stressful life. You can force your heart to become nothing but a pump to maintain homeostasis, but by design the heart is more of a, I see it as the place where the blood spins itself, where it refreshes its movement. Tahnee: (19:55) I guess centrifugal force kind of a thing is that what you ... Gil Hedley: (19:59) I think it's more about ... Well, there's that for sure, because I would say one of the primary functions of the heart is to facilitate the restoration of the vortex, the lamination of the blood and its flow as opposed to forcing it through smaller and smaller tubes that terminate 30,000 miles away and then make a 30,000-mile road trip back. That ain't happening with that little bit of flesh inside your chest. If you saw the kind of a pump that would be required to force a fluid through pipes with increasingly smaller diameters, the mathematics of it results in the need for an absolutely large machine, which is not located inside your chest. Gil Hedley: (20:43) If you've ever seen a heart lung machine, just look it up on Google, heart lung machine. It's like a big ass machine that is forcing blood. It's really the the amazing fluid dynamics and fractal form of the vascular network that's actually a reflection of the movement of fluids rather than its cause that results in the blood being drawn to the periphery and then being drawn back to the centre. Tahnee: (21:19) Like a tide, kind of? Gil Hedley: (21:21) Yeah, maybe like a tide. But there's a wonderful, wonderful Austrian naturalist whose name was Viktor Schauberger. Tahnee: (21:31) Yeah, I was about to say. Because he was all about the water needing to spin in vortex. We have an egg at home that our water- Gil Hedley: (21:37) Do you really? That's so cool. Tahnee: (21:38) Yeah. Gil Hedley: (21:39) How wonderful. Tahnee: (21:39) That's the thing. Because like nature is if you look at a coastline, it's all fractals, if you look at anything in nature, it's water streams like and the way water- Gil Hedley: (21:48) Yeah, so is the heart rhythm, the heart rhythm is fractal, we are fractal. We are mirrored best with fractal forms. We don't need a pump to make the water go around the planet or to make a vortex form in a stream nor do we need to control the streams banks. Similarly, if left to its own devices and if the heart is free, the blood will flow beautifully for your whole life. But if you resist that flow, if you resist the movement of life within you, literally through hypertension, emotional states and dietary duress is supplying your form, you can actually, I use the phrase canalyzing. Gil Hedley: (22:38) Which I mean to make a canal out of literally. So, if you put a canal and put walls, canal walls on a stream, you stress it basically. You dispermit its normal flow of movement, and yet it's still on a spinning planet. So what happens is there's friction, right? Instead of there being sort of a frictionless passage of the fluid, you have friction against the walls of the canal, which will be broken down by the fluid friction and also by the altered chemistry of the water, which when not moving in the same way has an altered chemistry. It's no different in our bodies, when we enter into emotional states that stiffen our otherwise flexible river beds, then we can analyze the path of the blood, generate friction of the blood against the vessel walls, which abraids, destroys them along with the altered chemistry, which chemically abraids them. Gil Hedley: (23:36) You have that combination of things, and then homeostasis kicks in and says, "Well, you promised to stay on this planet as long as I could keep you here, and so I'm going to proliferate cholesterol from your liver, the purpose of which is to be an antioxidant, and I'm going to take the oxidised cholesterol. I'll pack into the fissures along the vessel walls and I'm going to ... Oh well that's not enough. We're going to going to a hole in this thing eventually. So you really do want me to build a canal and your body will actually lay down bone basically," it'll calcify a literal canal, a little calcified canal inside the blood vessel. Then your blood will try and flow through that but you've created is no longer being sucked to the end and sucked back. Gil Hedley: (24:24) You're actually demanding like I said, at the beginning of the story, that your heart be a pump then, and then you'll get megalocardia, right, the heart will increase it and literally, increase in size as it worked for the first time in your life to move the blood. It never had to work before, it just happened. The ocean doesn't work to draw the rivers into it. The clouds don't work to form, and rain over the mountain tops, and soak into the soil and turn into spring water and bubble back up. There's no work involved. It's all just happening on a spinning planet, in a spinning galaxy. We are that. Tahnee: (25:03) Spinning bodies. Gil Hedley: (25:04) Yeah, we our bodies, are participating in that potential fluid movement on the planet. Unless we decide to hell no. I'm going to do it this way. I'm going to do it the hard way I'm going to resist the moment of life within me, and show it better. We never do we always show it worse. Tahnee: (25:28) I mean, it sounds like you're talking a lot to the Taoist world view. Would you say that's fair? Because it seems to be, like if we resist the flow of life a lot of this stuff, I guess is reminding me of like the Tao Te Ching and those kinds of concepts. Gil Hedley: (25:42) Yeah, there's a lot of good stuff in there, huh? Definitely. I would say when the Tao is lost, morality arises. Yeah, that's a little Tao Te Ching for you. I read it many times as a boy. Tahnee: (25:54) Yeah. Gil Hedley: (25:55) Man. I love the Tao Te Ching. I was like, "Wow, what's this all about?" Tahnee: (26:00) This idea I mean, because I have a little bit of a background in Chinese medicine too. I'm thinking like one thing, Paul Grilley who's a yin yoga teacher, I think you know him. Gil Hedley: (26:09) I know, Paul, he's pretty good. Tahnee: (26:11) Yeah, yeah. Well, he was talking recently about how one of his theories is that the fluid around the organs changes, and that gives rise to deficiency or access patterns and stuff. That makes sense when you're talking about the chemistry of the fluid. If it's altered by stagnation or by excess flow or whatever, getting flushed out too quickly, then we're going to end up with physiological effects from what had happened. Gil Hedley: (26:37) Absolutely. Tahnee: (26:39) Yeah, and then those manifest health symptoms and things, is that phenomenon visible in the fashion, not just in organs, obviously be it all through the body, right, that we'll be seeing this kind of stiffening? Gil Hedley: (26:51) Absolutely, I see. Well, what I call perry fascia I see as a fluid reservoir in our body. I like Peter Fritos word of a conduit. It's both a pathway as well as a reservoir. It's chemistry is dependent upon levels of hydration, which can be altered, but not only hydration, but the entire chemistry is altered by dehydration, right? You start to get you know, hydrogen bonding and cross fibre linking in the tissues that are designed to facilitate differential movement. When that happens, then at some level, the function is mitigated. Gil Hedley: (27:53) I don't know what percentage is required. I'm not saying dehydrated like cardboard, I'm saying like 2% of lack of fluidity and what does that do to the cells or the slipperiness of the tissue. When there's this level of drag generated mechanically throughout your body, how does that alter physiology? How does it alter movement? How does it alter mood or how does mood alter? It goes both ways, right? Tahnee: (28:24) Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's so easy for us to be either or with these things. When you start to really look into them, it's always both, there's a great F. Scott Fitzgerald, quote, it's like, the sign of advanced intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas at the same time. It's one that we constantly have to remember where we because ... You try and conceptualise these things, and it's so easy to want to know the truth which and then realistically it's always both. We're physical beings, we're emotional beings, we're spiritual beings. We're all of these things at once. I mean that idea that you say of I guess just reclaiming the body as a positive kind of a thing because I think so much of our culture like movement practises are ... I see some of the stuff people are doing, especially on social media and it just seems like it's abuse. It's like we're flogging our bodies. Gil Hedley: (29:22) Oh yeah, for sure. Tahnee: (29:24) I mean, you have some movement practise of your own. Right? Or you speak to movement quite a bit like, is there a ... Gil Hedley: (29:34) I walk. Tahnee: (29:34) Well, I mean- Gil Hedley: (29:34) I usually walk when I'm on the telephone. At the moment, I'm plugged in, I hover over cadavers in uncomfortable positions for hours a day, tormenting myself. Then I come home and collapse on a soft gushy sofa and do four hours of admin on my computer. While we make popcorn and eventually relax by watching something on Netflix. I'm pretty much in the loop of- Tahnee: (29:57) Of life. Gil Hedley: (29:59) Earlier. By the way, I think F. Scott Fitzgerald must have been a Libra. Tahnee: (30:03) I'm a Libra, so maybe that's it. Gil Hedley: (30:06) You're a Libra? I'm also a Libra, like a triple Libra. Tahnee: (30:10) Oh, no, are you? Gil Hedley: (30:12) Yeah. I'm as Libra as they get. I'm a Venusian, they're like man are from Mars and women are from Venus. Gil is also from Venus. Tahnee: (30:21) This explains a lot though because you also have the poetry and the beautiful philosophical musings, which I think is a very Libran trait to always look at the beauty in everything. Gil Hedley: (30:30) That is very true. Tahnee: (30:34) There was something you actually said. No, I think he taught a workshop on it overseas. I think a friend of mine from England went, I think that's why I knew about it. It was Sex and the Sacred Heart. Is that something you did? Gil Hedley: (30:48) That was recently, yeah. Tahnee: (30:50) I was not there, but yeah. I think a friend of mine from England who I'd done one of Paul's training's with was in attendance. Gil Hedley: (30:55) Yeah. Jo Phee. Tahnee: (30:57) I love them. Gil Hedley: (30:58) I held a yin teacher training in Berlin, actually. Tahnee: (31:02) Yeah. She had a whole bunch of you though that were pretty next level guests. Gil Hedley: (31:05) Yeah. Robert Schleipe was there. Jupp Vaanderwall, John Sharkey, and there was a gentleman, an acupuncturist fellow who I didn't have the pleasure of meeting. He was gone by the time I arrived. But anyway, yeah, When Jo says come, you got to go. Tahnee: (31:23) For someone so teeny, she's definitely got a authority. Gil Hedley: (31:27) Yeah, well, Jo's been coming to my class for years. I figured I owe her. Tahnee: (31:31) Yeah. Look, I mean, she's a wealth of information and hardworking. Gil Hedley: (31:36) She's wonderful, wonderful teacher. Yes, so I did teach a workshop called Sex and Sacred Heart. It was a kind of an experiment. I was thinking I might tour that talk. I was trying to see could I actually teach a class without my computer and without an image from the lab, and just tell stories that use toys such so I did. I did twisty tie balloons. Tahnee: (31:59) Okay. I thought you might made ... Gil Hedley: (32:01) I made a giant clitoris and a giant penis, and we had a great time. Tahnee: (32:06) Well, because one of the things my Taoist teacher talks about is how the Heart is expressed in the head of the penis and the clitoris. That's one of his big things. He's like- Gil Hedley: (32:16) I believe him. Tahnee: (32:18) Yeah. All of his work is around sex is a healing practise instead of as something to be- Gil Hedley: (32:23) Wonderful. Tahnee: (32:24) Yeah, was that the name of what you were talking about? Basically? Gil Hedley: (32:27) Well, for me, I wanted to basically offer, have a frank discussion about sexuality that wasn't so reductionistic as well. It's like well, first let me share with you some of the basic anatomy of our sexuality that may be overlooked or misunderstood because people haven't gotten that Sex 101. I found the more I talk about it, the more I realised that folks really don't know anything at all about their sexual anatomy for starters. And that's understandable, it's just not around. Where it is being taught, it's very difficult to comprehend the dimensions, the dimensionality and relationships, the anatomical structures are poured over it for years. Gil Hedley: (33:15) I think I can offer, I can make those connections with people but then also to be like, "It's not about these body parts. It's nice to know that and to be able to meet and connect with the actual qualities of our parts intimate," as I call them, but also that ultimately good sex is a function of the Heart. Not everybody wants good sex, but if you look at some people just want trashy sex, whatever you want to say. That's fine too. I'm not the judge. But in our culture, at least in the American culture which is all I can really speak to, the disconnection that we spoke of earlier with regard to our religiosity actually produces its opposite in the culture with as much or greater strength. Gil Hedley: (34:11) So to the extent that you deny, suppress, repress, revile, hate, and control sexuality, you create the largest porn industry in the world because literally, the porn industry is a function of our religion in the same way that the devil it's himself is a creation. If you have a pure God, that's only love and you and you subtract anything else from that God, you build a devil, right? If you go to the Indian religions, Kali Maas, terrifying, and sexy, and murderous and terrifying. You know what I'm saying? So it's all wrapped up into one thing. It's a little more psychologically rich. Similarly, if you banish an aspect of the human body to a lesser status. You cut off your very experience of the human body at the waist, you will not know the fullness of your Heart. Tahnee: (35:21) Even at the shoulders, like so many people who are living from above the neck, right? Gil Hedley: (35:27) Absolutely. Not even in the head. They're actually above the head. It's too terrifying to even come into the body. If you just ask people to a number, "Where do you feel yourself to be?" There will be people who will put their hand over their head. They don't feel themselves to be inside their bodies. If you've actually judged the body to be dangerous or if the body is perceived to pose a moral risk to the soul or salvation or however you want to construct it, then you're going to have a very busy porn industry. Gil Hedley: (36:15) In the same neighbourhood, because it'll be right next to the church. So there'll be the church, and then there'll be the dirty movies shop, right? Because you can't part yourself from that. You can't divide your heart like that. So for me, the is heart sacred and it infiltrates every cell, makes up to every cell of my body, the capillary network infiltrates my below the waist as well as above, it's the same Heart. I can't believe that a kind creator God would would give me a zone one of my body that was forbidden somehow or that was somehow less than any other aspect of my body. My mouth can't say to my dick, "I don't need you," to crudely paraphrase, the Apostle Paul. Tahnee: (37:14) That might be the headline. Kidding. Gil Hedley: (37:19) Yeah. You might have an establishment coming. Just saying. Tahnee: (37:22) Same intention. Gil Hedley: (37:24) Yeah, it's like the eye can't say to the hand, "I don't need you." There's nothing, there's no part of a body that is a gift that is unwelcomed or dirty or doesn't belong. And once you actually embrace the whole of the body as a gift, then you could say, "Well, then I gotta unwrap it all. I have to be open to the potential, the entire potential of this form and not just part of it." If I fall down on my knees, and literally straightened my body up and cut my pelvis, the energy off of my pelvis, above the pelvis, it's a strange thing. It's a very strange thing. Gil Hedley: (38:10) I don't feel like that justly demonstrates gratitude to the gift of the whole body. I feel that kind of, then so we actually have a culture that's split on those lines, right? And you end up, because of that split, the spirituality, actually a kind of spirituality, that splits the body in two and considers part of it great, that part of it good. That kind of spirituality literally drives the negative and empty expression of sexuality in the culture, right, because then everyone who actually goes for it is like, "Well, this, this can't be that." They're just the other side of the coin. By bringing the heart or the idea of a sacred heart into the story of sexuality is to say that we can't split our hearts in two and expect ourselves to feel whole. The heart is no less present in your [inaudible] than it is anywhere else. Tahnee: (39:16) And I mean when you're... Because that's something I think I've heard you say that even the separateness of our bodies is something you've brought into question recently. Is that something? Have I understood that correctly? Because I've been thinking about I guess, again, looking from the Taoist perspective, and even some of the tantric practises , that sacred union has been transformational for people. I've certainly had that experience in my life where I've had the good and the bad sex, where part has been really healing and empowering. That's, I guess, my current relationship,. It is like a transcendental experience where you actually do sort of dissolve almost, then there's that experience of like meditation or altered states of consciousness. Tahnee: (40:15) I mean, that's what my experience has been when I've managed to kind of unify through sex. I think that's there's a reason that subjugated because that's very empowering. You don't want to be a part of a ... You become kind of less able to be controlled, I think, when that's a part of your experience, because if you think about advertising, and politics, and all of these things, they really come out of this, these ideas. I know we're getting into deep territory, but that's been my experience. I think about if I'm repressed, and suppressed, and afraid, and don't trust myself, and don't trust my power and my body, then I'm much more easy to control. It's an act of sovereignty and liberation in a way. Gil Hedley: (40:58) That's beautifully put, I love it. Tahnee: (41:01) Yeah, well, I'm getting there. So could you flush out that idea for me about because we're all so different, and that's something you mentioned before we got on, you've been in the lab a lot lately. You've been taking apart two bodies simultaneously, and recording it so people can actually see even side to side, we're different. This is something I literally have to hit people over the head with. You won't be able to assume the same shape on one side that you do in another side in a yoga class. Tahnee: (41:29) It might be minutely different, it might be vastly different. I think people think we kind of have like those butterfly prints you do it at school when you're a kid. We're like clone from side to side. But that's not how we grow to my understanding. We kind of spiral out. That fractal nature of us. We aren't perfectly symmetrical, and none of us are perfectly- Gil Hedley: (41:52) Very true. Tahnee: (41:52) Yeah, well, none of us a perfectly symmetrical, but then you're also saying that we're very similar. So can you explain what's going on for you there? What's that line of thinking? Gil Hedley: (42:02) Well, we got a head. I have a head, we both have a couple arms, most of us do, a couple of legs, some hairy bits here and there. That's kind of like the basic map, right? Then literally to a number, every one of us kind of is a spin on that basic format that we call the human body. Gil Hedley: (42:31) But when I think about the human body, I mean, I've thought about the human body for years and years and years now. I keep kind of shifting my idea of the human body. Now when I say the human body, I tend to include yours with mine. I tend to include all the bodies as the human body. There's this body of humans on the planet. There are many, many cells to it, right? This human body, We're actually, all those human body cells that we are are governed by the same sun, the same moon, the same stars, the same spinning planet. Those are the master glands and the master physiology of the whole human species. And believe me, when the sun throws some crazy ass cosmic rays at this planet, we behave differently. When the when the moon is full, we behave differently. Tahnee: (43:33) Luna speaks. Gil Hedley: (43:35) Yeah, exactly. Our skins are producing in response to the sun, everything, whether we're hungry or tired is based on the sun. You can't get off the planet. Just try, jump. See how far you get. You snap back down like a magnet. There's substance to the space between us. Just because it's not our, our sensory habit of perceiving the content or substance of the spaces that we imagine are between us in the same way that when I went to the lab at first, I didn't really expect the muscles to be connected to each other. I mean, I knew they were connected to the bones or something, but I thought there was kind of, I don't know, maybe some juice in between them. Gil Hedley: (44:42) I didn't expect it to be a facial connection. I didn't expect it to be a substantial connection. I was basically surprised and in denial of the connection I was witnessing. Isn't that true about all of us? Aren't we surprised and in denial of connections between us? Right? Such that we keep forcing our minds to imagine ourselves separate in spite of the intimacy of our mutual connection across the planet with one another, regardless of telecommunications or whatever. There's a substance that's a continuity that is the relationship of the whole human body on the planet. Gil Hedley: (45:32) I don't really need to even stop it there. Why stop at the human body? Why not just talk about the planetary body or the body of consciousness? Right? Then you can just include everything. Why not? Because I don't know, I don't really. I'm not really a big, big bang kind of guy. You know what I'm saying? I find that to be a very amusing story. Right. Whether it be true or not, I don't even care. But I just see it as, as a nice metaphor for connection really. Right? So if you do conceive of a beginning or of a beginning that was the end of something else or a new beginning that is a very concentrated mass of atoms without so much space in between them that that spread out, formed our universe and our bodies and our stars at the star dust. Gil Hedley: (46:34) If there's any truth to physics, the proximity of those generated a mutuality such that at a distance, they remain connected in their behaviours and in their substance, even electromagnetically or however else that happens. I don't really know. But just as a story, I'm willing to ramp that up at the macro level. I can easily extend the notion to our mutual connectedness. I also know that I can feel people at a distance. I don't automatically deny that experience. Any human can, with a little practise view remotely and extend their consciousness. So the the field of consciousness that we share may be our body, may be my body. I don't say that egotistically, but as just a simple fact of reality. Tahnee: (47:37) That's very yogic. Well, that's sort of the map I've learned of what Paul teaches is actually, where ideas and energy and form, but we're all the same thing all the time. It's just we choose to perceive ourselves this way right now. Gil Hedley: (47:59) It's not the worst choice in the world, it can be interesting. Tahnee: (48:06) If you do believe we chose it, then we chose it. There has to be a reason on some level that we're here for this experience. Again, ideas and stories. Gil Hedley: (48:16) Punishment. You're being punished. You've come to the earth because you suck. Tahnee: (48:22) I heard a spiritual teacher stay the other day. He said, "You've been very naughty. That's why you're here." And it made me laugh, and it was in the time of Coronavirus. I was like, maybe it's our great punishment or something Gil Hedley: (48:38) Yeah, I don't think so. I have sneakingly suspicious that we're not being punished. Tahnee: (48:45) Yeah, I mean, my partner and I talk about these things a lot. We both feel that, I've always used the analogy of like Super Mario. I had a little Gameboy when I was a kid and it's like, why am I putting myself through this? It's because I learn and I grow and I get better. It's that self-development that motivates my life and obviously motivates yours. It's like that constant curiosity and questioning. I think that's fun. Gil Hedley: (49:13) Yeah, some of us are cursed with that drive to grow. What is that about? Tahnee: (49:20) Maybe we did something naughty. Gil Hedley: (49:21) Yeah. We must have done something naughty. Tahnee: (49:24) I have one sort of last question that which is curious to me as a movement, as somebody who I guess practises yoga asana as well as other things. You talk a lot about textures and about feeling textures. I know like bodies. Actually, I have a couple of questions in here. So I know you do like fixed dissections and then also gooey ones, which Joe and I actually talked about last year when I saw her she was saying that she'd done, like the brain was just like a puddle. It was very different to a normal brain. Gil Hedley: (50:00) Very different. Yeah. It's moving. Why is it moving? Tahnee: (50:03) So this idea that because most of us, even if we've seen anatomical models, they've been quite fixed by the formaldehyde and that kind of processing that goes on. You work with bodies that are quite fresh sometimes. We are really just sacks to goo and space and water and stuff, right? Gil Hedley: (50:27) It's pretty well differentiated in there actually. Tahnee: (50:29) Okay. Gil Hedley: (50:31) Yeah, I guess I'm not a massive goo, but tubes of goo. Is that kind of ...? Tahnee: (50:38) Yeah, well, there is a very watery quality to the body that's not fixed. There's a very, well for lack of a better word, sort of chickeny quality, cooked quality to the fixed bodies. Neither of them really capture the, the true tone of the human form and its textures. There are advantages and disadvantages to studying both. That's why I like to do them both because they're complementary rather than one better than the other. I couldn't work for seven straight weeks on an unfixed body because it would be rotten by the end of it. Gil Hedley: (51:16) The decay is too rapid and the fixed bodies, if it's done well, you can read into them the properties of the unfixed body. So the textures that I'm feeling into also represent differences, right? I can extrapolate from textures that are slightly off differences that can be palpated in the living form, right? So although the textures might not be the same, there are relative differences conveyed to the living form, whether it be a fixed or a unfixed body. can I can make use of the donated forms, the models as I call them, to interpret and read into the living body in the same way that a good tracker can read into the hoof prints of an antelope herd and pick out the the young and the weak, and walk after those hoof prints. Sure enough, come upon the young and the weak that are worn out, that just lie down and then the Bushmen of the Kalahari, just they can just dinner is served. Tahnee: (52:40) Got served. Gil Hedley: (52:43) I basically consider myself a tracker. You know, I don't I don't take the track for the being, right? I don't mistake the track for the antelope, but I can learn a whole lot about the antelope from the track. I can learn a whole lot about movement dynamics, fluid dynamics, structure function from the track that is the deceased human body. Tahnee: (53:14) So this idea of then movement, it becomes more about experiencing or developing this ability to perceive the textures. Is that what you're kind of getting at when you talk about movement practise and bringing this stuff in? Because there is that sort of Taoist idea that junk kind of congregates at the joints. I guess being dense and less full of goo perhaps, maybe is where that idea is coming from on a physical level. Gil Hedley: (53:45) The joints are pretty full of goo too actually. I just had a handful of synovial fluid this afternoon and my hand. I was like, wow, this is serious goo. Tahnee: (53:55) I guess that's more goo than what I'm imagining, because I'm imagining if there's a fluid and then a junction that's gooier, you can imagine things getting trapped there as opposed to like moving through muscle tissue where maybe there's more blood, it's more dynamic, there's more access. In my body, I can feel that those movements have a different texture and I guess a different experience. Is that kind of what you're talking to? I guess I'm just trying to comprehend how I would experience texture in my body. Gil Hedley: (54:28) Touch, just grope around. Tahnee: (54:30) Just touch it. Gil Hedley: (54:32) Yeah, just touch it. Tahnee: (54:32) Yep. I've got some rope up here in my shoulders. Gil Hedley: (54:35) Well, exactly. That's exactly right. So it's like, oh, I feel some rope up there. What's moving or not moving their? Or oh, this is kind of mushy, no matter how hard I try and contract it. What's going on there? Or when I turn this way, I feel stiff. When I turn that way, I can keep going. What does that texture feel like or what does it mean to move from my bones or what does it mean to move from my deep fascia versus my superficial fascia or from my membranes? Can I actually ... Actually when you can begin to sort of get a sense of those textures in your movement. We see this in the sort of traditional movement arts around the planet. Someone who's doing Xing Yi is moving from their sinews, from their tendons, and their deep, deep fascia. Very different than someone who's practising Aikido or something, right? Or someone who's doing Kung Fu or Karate or Taekwondo. Gil Hedley: (55:51) Those all the martial arts are actually deep explorations and moving from different textural foundations in the body and exploring their power, and the individual's relationship to the movement potential of those different layers. I find that fascinating, and fun to explore. and easy to see. For me, from my vision when I'm looking at, I'm like, "Oh, wow, that's a real muscley movement I'm looking at there," or wow, I look at my friend Russell Malphite, who's a choreographer in London and man that dude is liquid, he's just moving. He enters into the, the fluid potential, the fluid surfaces that are inherent within his body, and then he projects that out into space for all of us to witness. Gil Hedley: (56:48) Your jaw drops and you're like, wow, how can that even be? How can a person move like that? With that as your mirror, it confronts your own movement way of being in the world. This is ethics, your own movement way of being in the world which may be conserved or stiff or held in textures that are more wooden. That might be conveying a wooden mentality or a wooden religiosity or disdain for your own sexuality so that you can't actually get a wave going through your spine or an infinity wave going through your pelvis because that would be judged as seductive or something. Yeah. So that's kind of what I'm getting at. Tahnee: (57:36) Yeah, we have a friend who's, his name's the Movement Monk. But he teaches just those explorations. When I was practising them, and I heard you speak to that, I thought about it, because I mean, practising a lot of Yin. You really feel like that deep fascia, those rebound kind of sensations, and that's something I think for me, in my eyes, I think I was, must be early 20s when I first practised Yin. It was such a visceral and distinct sensation versus like the muscular action I supposed I was used to from athletics and life, and even regular yoga. I feel like we've lost a lot of that, I guess kind of exploratory function in modern movement. So it's nice to feel like maybe it's coming back a little bit. Yeah, well, that's probably a nice place to wrap up. So thank you. I mean, I really appreciate you taking the time. You must be knackered. The Australian, I don't know if that's an American word. Very tired. Gil Hedley: (58:42) Yeah, it's a very American word. Knackered, we say that all the time. Yeah. Tahnee: (58:46) Yeah. Gil Hedley: (58:46) We say, "I'm wasted. I'm so tired. I'm wasted." Tahnee: (58:50) In Australia, that means you drunk too many beers. Gil Hedley: (58:53) Yeah, that means that here too actually. Tahnee: (58:56) Yeah, so thank you so much. I really appreciate your time. Gil Hedley: (58:59) Thank you, Tahnee. Tahnee: (59:00) Yeah, I'll put all the links to your work on our webpage so that people can find you. But do you want to just rattle off your website for us? GilHedley, right? Gil Hedley: (59:10) Www.GilHedley.com, G-I-L-H-E-D-L-E-Y dot C-O-M. There's tonnes of free stuff there. So enjoy it. Tahnee: (59:16) Yeah. Gil Hedley: (59:17) Yeah. Tahnee: (59:17) Also you're on YouTube, you've got your famous fuzz speech, which I know you've probably copped a lot slack about it. Gil Hedley: (59:23) Very kind to not ask me for a whole hour about the fuzz speech. Tahnee: (59:27) I figured you've probably been there and they'll be stuff out there about it. Gil Hedley: (59:32) Yeah. It's not a problem. I'm happy to speak to that anytime. But actually I do on my website, if you join it, which involves putting your email down. I won't email you back unless you have beg me to, basically I have three free full length video courses that amount to about 16 hours of teaching an on camera dissection. That'll give you my learning curve over the years and a whole lot of cool content, then I put that up there, especially for you Australians, because- Tahnee: (01:00:02) I know. I've been dying to come for years. Gil Hedley: (01:00:06) I always feel bad. I mean, I'm honoured that the Australians come to my courses. They're always like, "When are you going to come to Australia?" I'm like, never. Just do that. Tahnee: (01:00:16) The logistics must be difficult to arrange a cadaver in another country. Gil Hedley: (01:00:20) It is. Yeah. I'm so busy with what I'm doing now that I'm not really looking to- Tahnee: (01:00:26) Yeah, expand in that way. Gil Hedley: (01:00:27) Multiply, multiply the number of times, the number of weeks I spend in the lab each year. Tahnee: (01:00:33) But don't worry we come to you. Gil Hedley: (01:00:35) Thank you. Tahnee: (01:00:35) Australians like travelling. Gil Hedley: (01:00:37) I'll be coming to you because all this stuff that I've been doing in the lab, I'm basically shooting footage for a massive online course. Tahnee: (01:00:45) Yeah, awesome. Gil Hedley: (01:00:45) Yeah, that'll take people- Tahnee: (01:00:46) Is there a timeline for that, Gil, in terms of ... Do you have a ...? Gil Hedley: (01:00:51) Give me a year, about a year, maybe less. I mean, the stuff on my website, I give away and it was just so I could learn how to make a website that could contain this massive thing that I'm building. Right now, we're shooting it. So there's a whole lot of other levels to making good education than just shooting the excellent video. I want to have it be flushed out as a whole course of study into the human body that's not exclusively laboratory based, but that has other elements to it as well in terms of exercise and exploration that can facilitate folks all over the world having a totally different experience to what it means to learn anatomy. Tahnee: (01:01:37) Yeah, I think that for me is such a gift. I mean, I'm sure I'm speaking for other people, but to not have to go through a traditional route to learn this stuff. I was looking at do I go back and do another degree and study. I'm like, I'm not going to learn what I want to learn as well. So that's really amazing we have these kind of independent options. That's something I can't imagine how much work that's been for you at the backend. So very grateful. Thanks. Gil Hedley: (01:02:11) I can't even tell you. I can't even tell you. Tahnee: (01:02:13) I mean, look, we sell herbs in a country and it's hard enough, I can't imagine what it's like moving tissue around. Yeah. I've heard some stories over the years of what you've jumped through. It's always impressed me. Anyway, on behalf of anyone out there who's listening, thank you. Yeah, I'll see you one day when the Coronavirus ends and the world is open again. Gil Hedley: (01:02:37) I look forward to it, Tahnee. Tahnee: (01:02:39) With existential experience. Gil Hedley: (01:02:39) Yeah. Tahnee: (01:02:42) All right. Thanks, Gil. Have a beautiful afternoon. Gil Hedley: (01:02:44) You're welcome. You too. Bye bye.
"My approach and my goal in my religious practices is to have a mystical experience. I do not believe that I need to be a perfect human being before I have that mystical experience. I believe that you can have a mystical experience as an imperfect human being." - Paul Grilley The post Paul Grilley: Psychology, Spirituality, and Yin Yoga appeared first on Josh Summers.
Growing up in San Francisco during the 1960s placed Denise Kaufman right in the center of the cultural revolution. Her commitment to social justice and exploratory approach to life led her to adventures in counterculture: to being arrested at UC Berkeley's Sproul Hall protests during the Free Speech Movement, to "getting on the bus” (as "Mary Microgram") with Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead; to forming the legendary Ace of Cups—an all-girl band that opened for Jimi Hendrix, The Band, and Janis Joplin; to being one of the seven founding mothers of Island School on Kauai; to studying with Robert Nadeau Shihan, Yogi Bhajan, Bikram Choudhury, Pattabhi Jois, and Paul Grilley and to teaching yoga to Madonna, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Quincy Jones, and Jane Fonda. Denise lives between Venice Beach and Kauai - playing music, teaching yoga, surfing and continuing to learn, channel inspiration and connect all those around her. aceofcups.comdenisekaufman.comeastforest.org
"If the snake is still in you, then you have to transmute that into a higher function. And that's where philosophy and introspection are incredibly important." - Paul Grilley The post Paul Grilley: The Evolution of Consciousness appeared first on Josh Summers.
Tahnee speaks with her beloved Yin Yoga teacher Paul Grilley on the pod today. Paul is the founder of the modern form of Yin Yoga. Paul has a deep passion and interest in Anatomy and Chakra Meditation and has been teaching and practicing yoga for decades. Along with his wife Suzee, Paul has trained thousands of yoga students and teachers across the globe and is an absolute specialist in his areas of interest. Today we explore the traditional foundations and teachings of yoga, what is has come to mean in our modern and westernised society. We delve into anatomy, Taoist philosophy, the concept of Qi and bust a few myths around the practice of asana. Whether you're an established yogi, a yoga beginner or just curious, today's chat will offer you a grounded and insightful view of the practice that is yoga. Tahnee and Paul explore: Paul's path to yoga, how he got to where he is today. What yoga has become in the west. The underbelly of the yoga industry; power, influence and hierarchy. The rise of Yin Yoga; why it has become so popular in western society today. Complementing Yang yoga with Yin. Yin Yoga as a platform for introspection. The power of the hold; stillness as a transformational element in the practice of Yin Yoga. Qi, the intelligent and creational force - "maintaining form without disfunction is Qi" - Paul Grilley. Anatomy and range of motion; the impact a persons skeletal structure has on their ability to achieve certain poses in asana practice - "different shaped bones will have different ranges of motion, because every reasonable range of motion eventually the bone hits the bone it's pivoting against." - Paul Grilley. Whether there is enough education in modern 200hr teacher training courses. Who is Paul Grilley? Paul Grilley has been teaching Yoga since 1980 and his special interest is the teaching of Anatomy and Chakra Meditation. He is the founder of Yin Yoga in its modern form and has trained thousands of yoga students and teachers with his wife Suzee Grilley. Paul and Suzee practice yoga postures in the style of Paulie Zink and pattern their philosophy on the writings and researches of Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama - a yogi and scientist from Tokyo, Japan. This philosophy integrates the Taoist meridian and acupuncture theories of China with the yogic and tantric theories of India. Paul and Suzee live in Ashland, Oregon. Resources: Paul's Website Paul's Online Anatomy Course Paul's Chakra DVD Paul's Anatomy DVD Paul's Yin Yoga DVD Paul's Chakra Book Paul's Yin Yoga Book Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or check us out on Stitcher :)! Plus we're on Spotify! Check Out The Transcript Here: Tahnee: (00:00) Hi, everyone. Welcome to the SuperFeast Podcast. Today, I have Paul Grilley with me. Paul is the leading Yin Yoga innovator, and one of the top Yin Yoga teachers in the world. He and his wife, Suzee, trained 1,000 of students around the world, and he's also the author of two books, The Yin Yoga Principals and Practice Book, and a Yogi's Guide To Chakra Meditation, which was just published this year. He also has a whole bunch of educational videos, and an online course available, which we will put next to the show notes. I know many of you out there are yogi's, I'm really lucky to call Paul my teacher so I am really greatful to have him here today. Paul thank you for joining us on the SuperFeast podcast. Paul Grilley: (00:44) I am happy to be here. Thanks for having me. Tahnee: (00:47) I was curious if you could go back to the start, I know your a boy from Montana, and always interested as to how people find yoga. Would you mind sharing that with us, today? Paul Grilley: (01:01) I found yoga reading the book, Autobiography of a Yogi. That was the summer of 1978, I believe I got that right. Yeah. No, maybe '79, '78? '78. Anyway, a long time ago, and that book completely blew my mind. I had no idea that this kind of stuff, what really looked spiritual traditions were, I sort of grew up a Christmas time, Christianity family, meaning that's the only time we ever really thought about it. Paul Grilley: (01:38) I was not indoctrinated in any type of religious or spiritual teaching, and I got interested in sort of the human potential. I was 20 at the time, 19, 20, and I was reading things about what people could do under hypnosis, or I can't remember some of the other things I was into. I asked a guy in my town who I thought might know about such things, and said, "I'm really interested in the yoga mind over body thing," and he says, "Well, here's a book you should read and he gave me a list of two or three books, actually, and the Autobiography was the one book that was readily available to me, and I read that, and I was just completely shocked, sort of like how can you get through life and not be exposed to these ideas? They seem incredibly important. Tahnee: (02:24) [crosstalk 00:02:24]. Paul Grilley: (02:25) It was reading the Autobiography of a Yogi is what got me into yoga. Tahnee: (02:29) From there, in the late '70s in the states, I know it from my historical studies that yoga wasn't exactly super popular, most of the exposure people had was kind of probably more that traditional... Almost the sannyasin kind of a thing where it was a community of people practicing together. How did you even get to be a yoga teacher then if you're reading a book in Montana. Paul Grilley: (02:57) That was actually an accident. What happened I was, I enrolled at the community college near me, and I was taking an anatomy courses, and I was trying to study anything Indian, and I got a couple Hatha Yoga books, some very simple Hatha Yoga books of the time, and I thought I'd study anatomy to sort of bolster my understanding of what I was doing. That was, again, right soon after that same summer, and I was talking about yoga to friends of mine, and trying to get them interested in doing it, and working out with me. Paul Grilley: (03:33) I essentially was like the gym rat, it's like, "Do you want to work out with me?" You know? We were talking about it, and a woman there, Sandy, I can't remember her last name, she says, "Oh, I've done a little bit of yoga before, but I've got this book at home, it's kind of like a comic book, it's maybe not as serious as maybe what you study, but I could bring it in," and I'm like, "Look bring it in, I don't know that much about yoga, I'm just getting started." It turns out it was Bikram Choudhury's Introduction, or Beginning Yoga Class, and it is a big picture book, but at the very front of that book is a picture of Bikram's guru, and Bikram's older brother was Paramahansa Yogananda, so I thought, oh, my God this is it, this is the Hatha Yoga lineage that must be very closely related to what Yogananda was teaching, because look it's his brother who did this. Paul Grilley: (04:27) Like a lot of people do, you sort of spin this fantasy story God's talking to me, oh, my God, first he led me to Yogananda, and now he's led me to Yogananda's lineage of Hatha Yoga, I spun this story instantly, and I wondered my way down to LA to see what Bikram Yoga was about. Bikram at the time was teaching in Beverly Hills, and he was one of, and I'm not a sociologist, so I could be off about this a little bit, but there might have been four studios in the greater LA area of 10 million people, there might have been four, there could have been others, but those were the only ones I was aware of, so even in the hot bed of counterculture LA yoga was not a popular thing, and so it was surprising to me to go to a studio where he was teaching four classes a day, sometimes five classes a day in a studio setting. Paul Grilley: (05:26) That was totally new to me. In fact, I don't think aerobics had spread to Montana. Aerobics existed in California, but where I was from, I didn't know what an exercise class was, "What do you mean exercise class," that made no sense to me. I get going to the gym, lift weights. I get, go play football with your friends. What is an exercise class? It was a double whammy for me to see, one, wow, a lot of people are doing yoga, and two, and they're doing it in this exercise class format, and so I just sort of drank that in about, wow, you can actually earn a living doing this, and so I sort of fell into teaching Hatha Yoga like that. Tahnee: (06:12) You were teaching Bikram when you were there or.... Paul Grilley: (06:15) Yeah. I taught, at first I taught, well, I wasn't there very long, I was there about, I'm a little hazy on the dates, but maybe I was there 18 months, or something, and we had a huge falling out, and I stopped teaching his system after we had this huge falling out. I don't really know why, I just was sort of like, all right, I'm not going to teach that anymore, I don't like him, so I'm not going to teach that system. Tahnee: (06:41) I can imagine at that time there would have been a lot of, I don't know his ego was substantial. Yeah. It would have been a lot of stuff going on and brewing, because I mean... Paul Grilley: (06:59) It doesn't surprise me, well, it does surprise me a little bit how bad that scandal has become, it's kind of shocking, but looking back the seeds of his behavior were readily apparent, it's just that sometimes you get shocked about how far it goes. Now, that you're reading about, you know this was 40 years ago, so now 40 years later you see how far it goes, you go like, "Oh, my God," it's like, what was a sprout of not very good behavior patterns has evidently, if you can believe people, and I do become an impenetrable force of unbelievable bad behavior. Tahnee: (07:35) This is a small segway, but I think that's something I've noticed in yoga is that what you're already quite strong at can be cultivated if you don't have a lot of discernment, and even a good teacher who can kind of keep you in check, so if you naturally have the tendency toward perhaps power, and charisma, and control, those things can become very strong. Is that something you sort of seen, or would agree? Paul Grilley: (08:02) I think so, absolutely. I see it, I see the parallel in the martial arts, as well. I think, I'm trying to not speak in cliches, but they've been thrown around so much, it's the dynamic, it's the social dynamic of the one person in charge has all the answers, or he comes from the tradition that has all the answers, and there aren't many options. It's kind of like, well, you better stick with this teacher, or you're not going to get a chance to learn this, whether it's yoga, or Aikido, or Jujitsu, it's sort of like they kind of have a lock on the market, and I think that leads to detrimental human relationships. Paul Grilley: (08:44) I think, I've seen many sort of arcs of started with good intentions, and then it went bad. I've seen that repeated several times. If I'm honest, and I introspect on my own behavior I can see where, if I hadn't been married, and had someone constantly checking my behavior you can sort of see where little tick here and there, and that pattern of speech, or behavior, or mannerism would have grown into something not very spiritually productive, let's say. Tahnee: (09:18) So that makes me think if people are in these careers, and industries where they can be merging spirituality and work, and they're also making money out of these ideas and concepts, and I lot of the time isolating themselves at the top, or surrounding themselves with people that are kind of yes man for want of a better word, I mean I feel like it's such a tricky thing to navigate as a beginning student or even someone who kind of, like you were saying, in the middle of their career going well this is the path, how do I, how do I navigate it? I Think there's so few voices of reason in yoga, and to me when I first met you and Suzee, which was in 2013 I thought... I was like, wow these guys are actually living yoga right, you were the first people I've known in the yoga community with maybe one exception, that I thought was truly embodying what I thought yogic principles were, and actually kind of keeping themselves humble and in check, and trying to really look at the function and purpose of why we would practice. Tahnee: (10:28) I think when you start yoga your kind of thinking, I'm going to get more flexible, and I'm going to get healthier, and all of these various things, and then there's almost like this cult of yoga once you get into it. I kept watching teachers abuse students physically, and even emotionally and energetically, it was this really toxic culture. I wonder, you were in LA in kind of I guess the hot bed of this, because I knew you worked at Yoga Works, which is really the foundation of modern yoga in a lot of ways, I thought they created, the foundation to teacher trainings all around the world. Did you see that kind of stuff brewing like you did with Bikram, or was it not that obvious at the beginning? How did we end up where we are? Is my question to you. Paul Grilley: (11:18) You know, I think that's been part of human nature, and human relationships forever. I think that's when I look back, and I read books, and read between the lines of what is, or is not said about cultures from a long, long time ago, all the way up into a 100 years ago, to 50 years ago, to today, I think that is, I think that's human nature, I think that there are forces in the human group psychology that I think create hierarchy and I think that can be good, or it can be bad. Paul Grilley: (11:53) I think what it gives me an appreciation for, this might be overstretching it a bit, but it makes me appreciate what people had to go through 400 or 500 years ago to break the grip of the church. Then, to break the grip of divine right of kings. It makes me really think about that humanist movement, and what they were probably rebelling against. They probably weren't rebelling against the teachings of the church, they were rebelling against the behavior of the monks. That's my understanding of it. Paul Grilley: (12:28) Yeah, there was intellectual debate about I don't believe this, or believe that anymore, but I don't think that starts wars or revolutions. I think what starts wars and revolutions, political, and religious is people get fed up with the behavior of the people who run things. To me, it's cliché, the idealistic communist, socialist gorilla over throws the dictator, and becomes a dictator. How does that happen, over and over and over again? Idealistic guy throws over that dictator and he becomes a dictator. Tahnee: (13:06) Yeah. Paul Grilley: (13:06) I just think you go, okay, it's written large across history, and I think if it's written large across history it's got to be something innate in human nature, and these are not isolated historical events, politically, and religiously, they are the pattern, and so I think anything that repeats itself over and over, east, west, north, south, whatever it's got to be something rooted in human nature, and something rooted in we just fall into these hierarchical positions. Paul Grilley: (13:34) I've wandered a long way from your question, but if you ask me, did I see then at Yoga Works, seeds like this, it's hard for me to point to my colleagues. A lot of whom I respect, and didn't go that way and say, "Oh, yeah, it was all there," I just think I could answer that question by more honestly that I think those seeds are in all of us, and I think that you have to be conscious in your effort, and repetitive in your effort not to fall into this unhealthy hierarchical relationship, because I have seen it, and it's been projected onto me, the students themselves start to assume this hierarchical relationship, and pretty soon you're going, "How did we get here, I didn't start out with this idea." I'm not trying to point the finger at anyone at Yoga Works, those were very dedicated yoga people. Paul Grilley: (14:36) I think it's a human problem. I think that's why it's a good thing, it's not my thing, but I think it's a good thing that when you go to business school they teach you the psychology and sociology of organisations. I was never exposed to that in school. I was not interested in large things I thought that had nothing to do with what I wanted to do in my life, I'm just a simple guy, I just want to exercise and do yoga, but it's not true, you can't interact with human beings without being in some type of sociological bond, some type of sociological group expectation, and even though I led a pretty simple life, it's not a corporate life, it's not a large thing that we've tried to create, and we haven't tried to create an empire. I'm allergic to that kind of thing. Paul Grilley: (15:25) Nonetheless, in our dealings with students, and others it's like there's got to be some type of formation. There's got to be some type of usually not consciously expressed hierarchical this is how we do things. I think it's inevitable. I think that you need a leader. I think that you need people who are charismatic, and good speakers to lead classes, but I think somehow they themselves must submit to holding themselves in check to others. I think that it's always been like this, and I think it'll always be like this. Paul Grilley: (16:03) I think if there are yoga teachers out there listening I would just put the bug in your ear that whether you have egomaniacal desires, or not, whether you want to form an empire or not, these pressures exist around you, and within you, and it might be a petty little kingdom that you develop, or it might be a big thing, but either way it's just be aware that there are, it seems to me, it is my honest opinion that there are forces in human nature, and in human society that are constantly trying to push us towards these dysfunctional hierarchical organisations. Tahnee: (16:43) Is that not the purpose of yoga though to become aware of that?. Paul Grilley: (16:48) I think so. I mean, to me, the purpose of yoga is trying to uncover all kinds of unconscious things within you, that to me is what yoga is. Is you're trying to become aware of what are called the vrittis in your chitta, and some of them are very obvious, and some of them are very, very deep. Yeah. I think that you're trying to become aware of these things. It's just that you don't read about these issues in the ancient books. If you're trying to get help in keeping yoga a healthy male, female, teacher, student, group class paradigm, you're not going to get any help from Patanjali. You know? You're not going to get any help from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Paul Grilley: (17:33) None of that is discussed in those textbooks. It's like, you need to sort of look around, and take advantage of the human struggle, and the modern scientific objective study of human organisations, and take it in. I think it's something that needs to be added to the modern yoga curriculum, and it's inevitable, the whole me too thing, as it filters into the yoga world, look, you don't read anything about me too in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. None of this stuff is discussed. Those are just manuals of practice of introspection, but in the modern era when you got essentially we're recasting yoga as a group activity, with groups comes these issues, and there was no discussion of how to form a group in the ancient yoga books. Tahnee: (18:32) Was yoga practiced in groups, do you think, or more individually? Paul Grilley: (18:37) I think that yoga's always had a huge varied background. I think you could answer yes, and you could answer no to anything that you throw up. I don't think there's evidence from what I'm aware of. I don't think there's evidence that it's like it is today, that everybody come one, come all, young, old, male, female, suited for it, not suited for it, let's just all get together, and sweat in a room together. I do not think that's how it used to be done. Tahnee: (19:13) Sort of unchartered territories in a lot of ways. Paul Grilley: (19:17) That's kind of the heart of this rant, is that just we need to, all of us need to be aware of that there are pressures to form hierarchy, there's an authoritarian streak in human beings, and I think it's a good thing, because that's how things get done. I think people who create new things, they tell people what to do, so there's a voice guiding things, but like everything in life, that's a good thing, and that can become an abusive antiquated out worn structure in relationship. Tahnee: (19:54) Wow. Your someone who has created a new thing, and I know that it's also an old thing, I'm speaking to Yin Yoga, and I started teaching in 2012, and I would have one class a week on the schedule of about 40 classes, and it would have maybe 10 to 20 people in it on average. I see now that there was studios dedicated to Yin Yoga, there are hundreds of thousands of people around the world attending classes every day, it was a very short period of time, it's had exponential growth, what drove you to first of all create it and then can you try to explain for us why you think it's become so popular. Paul Grilley: (20:45) I created it, that's a hard word, created- Tahnee: (20:49) I know. Sorry. Paul Grilley: (20:53) I was still pursuing as late as 1998, '99, 2000, no, that's not true, I'm 10 years off, I was still pursuing trying to be a flexible superstar yogi in the late '80s, and I came across Paulie Zink, and his work, I saw him do an interview show on a local access television thing, just a very low budget curtain against the wall interview, and he was being interviewed as a martial arts champion, and Paulie I think was two or three times world champion in martial arts, I can't member exactly what setting, and he was being interviewed as a martial arts champion, but he was constantly deflecting the interviewer into well it's my yoga that prepares me to do this, it's my yoga that keeps me flexible. Paul Grilley: (21:46) He would take these softball questions about martial arts, and doing things, and he would take them and turn them into yoga, and I go, well, this is interesting, here's this martial arts guy talking about yoga, and then he demonstrated his yoga, and I thought, wow, he's incredibly facile, he's incredibly flexible, and I would say right now he has great skill and ability. I didn't have those conceptions back then. I go, wow, not only is he a pretty cool guy the way he talks, but he's incredibly facile, and then he described his yoga, which was Yin Yoga, it was minutes at a time, postures on the floor, and I thought, oh, I've been doing yoga for about 11, 12 years now, or I guess maybe it is nine or 10 years, anyway, but every form of yoga that I had done I would see now as, oh, that's a form of Yang Yoga, it's weightlifting, but it's a different routine, and this is weightlifting, but that's a different thing, here's something that's not even weightlifting, here's something that's stretching. Paul Grilley: (22:46) That was the comparison in my mind, I thought, oh, this is why even 10 years into my practice there are things that I can't do, and so I thought maybe this is the magic thing, this is the magic thing I've been missing is do it slow, do it relaxed, do it for minutes at a time. That's what got me started was just the simple pursuit of range of motion. After a year or two things start to get a little hazy as you look back, I started to realise, no, this was not going to make me a superstar, either. I was not going to be able to put my butt on my head, balanced on my elbows, this is not going to happen, but the practice itself felt so good that I was okay, I was disappointed, I thought this was my last hurrah, I've been at it since I'm 20, now I'm almost 30, and it's like I ain't going to be a poster boy for this practice. Paul Grilley: (23:45) There was disappointment that what my fantasy was of what a yogi, a dedicated yogi could achieve was a fantasy, but the satisfaction was I discovered a practice that really made me feel good, so I slowly, begrudgingly let go of my ambitions to be a star, but I kept and held onto a practice that I really enjoyed doing. That's how I came to it. I came to it with one ambition to become flexible, then actually just really enjoyed the practice and said, this feels great. Tahnee: (24:25) Sometimes it does feel great, so do you think that alone is why it's become so big around the world, or do you think it's more to do with... I always kind of call it the opposite side of the practice, so that counter to all of the activity of in our daily lives, is that more, do you think the core of why it's become so popular? Paul Grilley: (24:48) You've said two things, and I agree with them both. I think that it feels good to do the practice. That's it. It feels good to do the practice. I don't think its intellectual arguments, or theoretical arguments or anything have won the day, I spent 15 years doing that. I don't think it won the day, I think what won the day is people did it, and they liked it, and it fel good, and they kept doing it. Paul Grilley: (25:13) I think the other part of your question is do you think it's just because it's the Yin to the Yang practice, and I think that's true, too, because I believe, I can't prove this, but I believe that if we didn't have such a strong exercise culture today, that it wasn't culturally acceptable all over the world to spend time exercising, very vigorously, it wasn't like that a 100 years ago, if that wasn't such a big thing in our culture, I don't think Yin Yoga would be as popular today. Paul Grilley: (25:46) I just think that Yang is going to be the popular form of yoga for the foreseeable future, and I think because we live in cities, and urban environments that's probably the way it should be, and that's why it's that way now. But, that culture is so big, and as that culture ages, that Yin Yoga is just going to come up. I think it'll always be maybe numerically the weak sister to Yang, but I think at some point they're going to get closer in popularity, and I just think it is natural that if you have a strong vigorous healthy practice that you need to purify your body, and to calm your mind, if you have a strong Yang practice, then you're going to want to compliment it with a Yin practice. Paul Grilley: (26:32) I think it makes sense that the Yang sort of came first and led the way in the western world, modern incarnation of yoga, I think it makes sense that Yang came up that way, because we're in a stressed out sedentary urban culture, and you need Yang Yoga to counteract the stresses and demands of that culture. But, now that's becoming established, I think that Yin Yoga now is going to be more popular, and that's why it gains popularity so quickly. Paul Grilley: (27:05) To round this up, I think for both reasons, there's a lot of Yang, it's very well established, you can get it anywhere, you can get it in many forms, not just yoga, but in all forms of exercise, and now because that is well established doing Yin really makes you feel good, and there's a big contrast between the two, so I think that in and of itself is a great practice, and as a counter balance to Yang it's value is even seen more immediately effective for people. Tahnee: (27:33) I think that's something that maybe is misunderstood in the general population around, it's kind of this idea of Yin or Yang over the time that I hear people talk about and I don't think people appreciate how much you and Suzee emphasize that yes you do still need to do the Yang practice and you still need a form of activity, and even your teacher Doctor Motoyama who was like a Shinto priest was like you've got look after your physical body right, is that something you guys have always been myth busting with people? Paul Grilley: (28:07) Say that again? Tahnee: (28:08) Do you feel like that's kind of a myth that you guys have to bust around it's not Yin or Yang? Paul Grilley: (28:15) No. I was unaware that was an issue, because that's why we chose the word Yin Yoga, because to us it's like Yin Yoga, that's only half the equation. What do you mean Yin? Where's the Yang part? I mean, that's one of the reasons why we chose that as a name for this style was it's half of the equation people. That's why we didn't call it Taoist Yoga. In the very, very early years I called it Taoist Yoga, because that's what Paulie Zink called his yoga, but Paulie Zink has whole Yang side to his yoga, and so when I went out there just doing Yin Yoga, which was my specialty, I thought it's really not accurate to call it Taoist because it doesn't have both elements in it. Paul Grilley: (29:00) Yeah. I'm a little surprised that people would think it would be one or the other, I mean, the very name of it implies its Yin, it's half, it's a part of the equation of mental and physical health, where is the Yang. Yeah, I'm a little surprised that people might think it's one or the other. What I would say to those people is different people have different needs of how much Yin to how much Yang and it maybe that you're a type I want to have dominantly Yin in my life, and a little bit of Yang, but someone else is going to tilt that scale exactly the opposite way, they need to dominate Yang exercise regime, whether that's yoga or something else, and a modest amount of Yin, and I think that changes by personality, and I think it also changes as you age over time. Yeah, I'm a little surprised that anybody would argue that it's Yin or Yang, I think that's just kind of weird to me. Tahnee: (29:56) We hear some interesting things in yoga. That brings me to this idea of function, which I think is obviously a foundation or principle of your and Suzee's teachings, it's something that I think we really, again, I guess talking really broadly as humans, but we're often looking for that one size fits all approach, that thing like you're saying that's going to turn you into that yoga superstar, or we have herb business, you know that herb that's going to make me healthiest person in the world, or enlighten me, or whatever people's reasons are for coming to certain things, and I certainly have in my practice have realised that it's so different from day to day, and moment to moment, and what I need, and there's this kind of introspection and cultivation of awareness that is required, and we call it sovereignty, the ability to kind of self govern, and I feel like Yin is quite unique, it was certainly for me it was one of the portals into which I was able to cultivate some of that awareness, I suppose. Are you able to.. I don't know if you agree with that statement, and I'm curious as to whether you have any rationale, I have some ideas as to what I think it might be, but I'm curious to hear your take on why Yin would be so uniquely geared towards cultivating states of awareness? Paul Grilley: (31:22) Because I think it's so slow, and so ecstatic, and so sedentary. I think essentially you're doing a postured meditation five minutes at a time. Get in this pose, stay for five minutes, get in that pose, stay for five minutes, and I think that a lot of things pass through your mind, a lot of sensations come and go in five minutes time. I think it's tailor made for introspection. Again, that doesn't mean it's superior to Yang Yoga, but Yang Yoga you've got a lot of stuff going on, man, you're breathing, you're moving, you're counting your breaths, you're doing a vinyasa in between, you hit it, you hold, you're onto the next thing. Paul Grilley: (32:00) That sort of practice is let's build up to a big savasana at the end. But, Yin is let's feel what we're feeling right now, for five minutes, don't look away. Don't look away. It's right here, right now. I think that's why Yin develops that, because you literally have the time, you literally can notice change, I think that's the biggest thing. One of the techniques I'm sure Tahnee you've been through it, you know we've been together several times is one of the biggest things you can do to a naïve person is have them do a spinal twist lying on the ground, have them do a simple spinal twist, I don't care what it is, one leg, two legs, do a spinal twist for 30 seconds, each side. Paul Grilley: (32:42) Now, how do you feel? Now, do a spinal twist for five minutes, each side. It's a world of difference, and you can feel your bod likey let go, and then 90 seconds later, let go again, and then maybe go through three of those cycles, and then when you've held that spinal twist for five minutes, and I'm repeating this for your listeners that you might try this, coming out of a five minute spinal twist no matter how simple it's actually mildly distressing. It's like, oh, my god, I think I hurt myself. Paul Grilley: (33:17) Then, you unwind on your back, and you have this, am I hurt? Did I just hurt myself? And it's like, no, I'm okay, and then you sort of have these layers of progression of coming back to normal. Then, you go, okay, I think I'm all right, I think I can do the other side now without injuring the disc in my back. I think that Yin Yoga is tailor made for introspection, because you're still enough, you're not efforting, you're still enough, you're still long enough, that's put it that way, you're still long enough to feel these progressive changes. Paul Grilley: (33:53) I think once you get that, once you get this like, wow, that just changed, it's totally different than how it was two minutes ago, I think that's what hooks you. I think that's, at least that's what hooked me, and my feedback with people over the years that's what gets you, it's like, I feel the change, not just a little bit of change, but maybe several plateaus of change, and it just naturally draws you in. What is changing? Is it muscle relaxation that I was hanging on to? No, I think I'm muscular relaxed. Was it as we know now, it could be fascial or that kind of thing, but I think that three to five minute hold of even a simple posture takes you through progressive change. Paul Grilley: (34:35) I think that sort of draws you in, and all of a sudden your yoga doesn't become a rote,gokay do this, now do this, it becomes like, oh, wow, that's really tight today, oh, God, yesterday was so easy, what's going on? Now, I feel it up in my upper back, and yesterday it was my lower back, and all these things just come up and all of a sudden you're introspecting, because every day is different, and every five minute pose is different. I think it's without much needed guidance from the teacher, you sort of just get drawn into what's going on. I think that's the great strength of Yin Yoga is that it's sort of a built in doorway to physical and then mental emotional introspection. Tahnee: (35:24) I call it the gateway drug to meditation. Paul Grilley: (35:28) I agree. I think it's true, because I've seen it. I already had a meditation practice before I started Yin Yoga, but I've seen it over and over again people who didn't have much of an interest in meditation, or it was, "Yeah, I do it because you're supposed to." Then, over time the Yin Yoga leads them into an interest in pranayama, and other subtle practices. Tahnee: (35:55) What about Qi then? I know that you've moved away from this idea of Taoist, but you're still heavily influenced, in my opinion, anyway, by a lot of the Chinese Medicine kind of Taoist ideas, even to the point where instead of saying prana you guys use the word Qi in your teachings. Where is this idea of Qi? What is Qi? If I am a yogi and and I'm starting to practice Yang or Yin Yoga, what am I feeling when I've got all these sort of changes that are beyond the physiology, can explain that for us. Paul Grilley: (36:32) That's a hard one, but I think it's a key element. I think it divides the personal beliefs of the practitioner, and the limits of modern science, and I think you're at the bleeding edge there of is Qi just a superstition? Because there is not a physicist on the planet who's trained to believe that there's Qi. I don't think doctors, my understanding of it is they're trained to believe in Qi. That's a futuristic superstition. Paul Grilley: (37:08) It's like when you start talking about Qi you have to ask yourself, are you flying in the face of all your modern university education? Is it something you believe? Have you adopted that language simply because you're parroting what came out of the tradition that you learn from? I think it's an important thing to sort of introspect about, and I'm sure that's why you formed the question. I believe that there is forces, we can call it one force, you can call it Qi, but there are several forms of it. I believe it is a force unrecognized by modern medicine, and modern physics, and I believe it's an intelligent force that creates human form, and maintains it. Paul Grilley: (37:47) It's too deep a philosophical thing to go too much into it other than to say, mechanical forces cannot account for form, they cannot account for arms, and eyes, and teeth, and legs, it can't have account for zebras, giraffes, and hummingbirds, and it cannot account for the human form. There's an intelligent guiding force, or forces, or energies in the body that western medicine does not yet recognise. Now, I think independent medical practitioners, independent human beings who outside of their medical education have come to believe there is such a thing as a healing life force in the body. Paul Grilley: (38:27) I'm not denying that there are healers, genuine physicians, and nurses, and people who believe in a healing force, but they don't get it at medical school. What they get at medical school is biochemical theory, which is not a healing theory, it's a mechanical structural theory. I don't want to slander the healers, and the health givers out there by saying they don't believe in Qi, because it wasn't in their medical curriculum, I'm just saying it's not an accepted force, it's like, it's not electricity, it's not magnetism, it's not the strong, or the weak nuclear force, and it's not gravity. Paul Grilley: (39:08) What is it? I believe that Qi, you can feel it in your body, you can feel it move, and that the argument that what you're feeling is blood move, or nerve change, I believe is inadequate to the description that I'm not an expert in physiology, but I know enough that some of what, oh, that's the blood you're feeling traveling from your head to your back, or that's a nerve thing, and I go, "No, I know the pathways, I know what a nerve feels like, and the speed of propagation, and the sensation are not a nervous pathway, so not at nervous speeds of conduction, and the travel, they don't just have a sharp impulse or shock," so I there are things that I think would be boring, and technical to get into, but to my satisfaction the electrical nervous impulse, or blood, quote on quote, movement does not adequately describe the full movement of Qi. There are experiments, for example that Doctor Motoyama, my teacher did that stretches this much, much further. Paul Grilley: (40:18) You can edit this out, if this goes too deep into what your interest is, but I put this to your students to consider. Doctor Motoyama found a way to measure the electrical potential of the meridians, objective measurement, repeatable measurements of how much energy, capacity is in your meridians, or how it conducts electricity. He found a way to measure that. Now, electricity is not Qi, but what he found was that the ability of a meridian to hold electrical energy, or the direction of electrical energy, or the speed of propagation of that electrical energy was changing all the time. He wondered why, but one of the things he did, after he's now established an ability to monitor the meridian energy let's say in your body, then what he did is he took a subject like you, and he put you in what's called a Faraday cage, which is concrete, copper and lead, it's a room in which no electric magnetic forces can enter, which it's called a shielded room. Paul Grilley: (41:26) So Tahnee, you'd be in there, and we'd be taking you through wires through your fingers and toes, we're taking measurements of your meridians, the electrical potential of your meridians, then we have a Qigong master outside of this shielded room, and not a queue from us, you don't know it, but a queue from us, the experimenter, he starts quote on quote, sending you his Qi. Now, if it's electrical, or it's magnetic it can't penetrate the room, and yet you can make a mark on the tape, tapes an old fashioned term now for scientific instruments, but in the old days when you had tape we could make a mark on the tape of when did the Qigong master start projecting his Qi at Tahnee in the room, and you don't know that he's projecting the Qi, there's a silent hand signal, he starts projecting his Qi, and we can monitor how your meridian energy changes and builds up as he projects his Qi. Paul Grilley: (42:26) One, we're proving that he can transmit Qi to you, and two it cannot be electrical or magnetic, because it wouldn't penetrate into the room that your sitting in, so that's incredibly important experiment. It's incredibly important to think, and it's worth repeating over and over, you're sitting in a room and we're measuring your bodies reaction to an energy that's being projected to you, and it cannot be electrical, and it cannot be magnetic. What is this energy? That to me is Qi, and Doctor Motoyama did several things to sort of discriminate. He wrote booklets, and published several studies about how whatever Qi is, it's not electrical or magnetic, but it influences the electricity and the magnetism in your body. Tahnee: (43:28) You say the purpose of yoga asana, also is to harmonise the flow of Qi in the body. Right? Paul Grilley: (43:38) Yes. Tahnee: (43:39) Irrespective of Yin or Yang... I guess we are speaking more to Yin in this interview, how is this happening, and again I know the answer to this question, but I'm curious to hear you explain it to our audience, where especially in yoga focusing in on these areas, so if you accept this idea of Qi that it stagnates, sort of what's happening in our practice that helps to liberate this Qi, and what.. What does harmonizing the Qi actually do for us? Paul Grilley: (44:11) The second part of your question is the easiest part, what does it do for you? The theory of acupuncture, and Ayurveda, and yoga is that it keeps you healthy, it's the difference between a cell that you're growing in your kidney, replacing a kidney cell, and that cell becoming a cancer cell. That's happening a billion cells, I think, every second in your body. Why not, we just get riddled with cancer? Why don't we grow eyeballs in our liver? How do cells know and do what they do? How do they integrate? All of that stuff that maintains form without disfunction is Qi, so that's the result of harmonising your Qi. Paul Grilley: (44:47) The first part of the question is what are we doing that's harmonising the flow of Qi? Well, this is highly speculative. I'll throw it out there to you. Qi in the body is stored and transmitted through the structure of the fluid in your body. The idea that the fluid in your body is like fluid in a glass of water is wrong, the fluid in your body is held in a structured shape, and it's more like a gel in your body. I believe the life process that these gel like threads or channels that penetrate all the tissues of your body, they get thicker, and denser, or they thin out, and become watery, depending on whether they're holding Qi, or releasing Qi. Paul Grilley: (45:43) The example I would use to you is that we wake up in the morning, just say you're healthy, you wake up in the morning, and you feel that you're rested, you feel that you are refreshed, we say that you're jelled up, you're more jelly, the Qi is now sort of organized, the fluid in your body, and you've got a lot of potential in you, but it's a little hard to move. First thing in the morning you feel rested and everything, but it's like, oh, God, I got to go out and run now? It's like, how about another cup of coffee. Paul Grilley: (46:15) It's kind of like the idea of getting started on whatever your exercise regime is, is slightly daunting, even though you're well rested it's like, well, because you feel what we would call jelled up, your kind of all potential, it's kind of like I'm like a candle, I'm all wax, and I don't have any liquid wax, or I don't have very much liquid wax, and for a candle to burn enough of it has to be liquid to be burned up off the wick, so you're up, you're jelled up, you're mostly candle solid wax, and you don't have very much liquid wax. Then, you go out and you start running, and what we're saying is the Qi now is slowly starting to relax and be released by the gel, the gel was holding that energy form. Paul Grilley: (47:02) When it releases that energy, it loses its form, it takes energy to hold that form, so you start that whole candle now that was stiff and hard in the beginning, that's all spread through your body, it's starting to loosen up, it's starting to become warm, and now about 20, 30, 40 minutes into our exercise routine you feel great. You're not exhausted yet, and your past the I'm so stiff, I'm so heavy, you're right in the sweet zone, much like I'm still rested, I'm not exhausted, and that goes on depending on whether you're 20, or 50, and what kind of shape that you're in, that goes on for a magic period of time, 20, 30, 40, 50 minutes, whatever it is. Paul Grilley: (47:44) Then, you start to get to the other end of the spectrum where it's like I'm getting worn out now, and you get to the end of your routine or the end of your day, your face is swollen, your hands are swollen, your feet are swollen, you're like, why? Because once that gel, and all the other parts, and tissues in areas of your body now goes to fluid, because it's releasing this energy, but as it releases it, it's melting, it's going into fluid, well, it's going to follow the laws of gravity, and it's going to go out to your fingers, and out to your toes, and sort of fall out of your organs, kind of thing. Paul Grilley: (48:22) That's why at the end of the day when you're exhausted your feet are heavy, your legs are heavy, your hands are swollen, your tired, and you have no energy. You've gone from I'm stiff, I'm sort of full of potential, I'm stiff, and all gelled up like a waxy candle, [crosstalk 00:48:41] balance of the wax is melting, but I have the reserve, and as it's melting its giving me energy, but then you reach to the point where most of it now has gone from wax to solution. There's no energy left in that. It's spent its energy to get to that soluble state. Paul Grilley: (49:00) Now, your sort of like, maybe you're really bendy, you're all hot and sweaty, maybe if we massaged you, you'd bend all over, but you don't got any Qi, it's like, oh, God, then you go through that cycle again. The next cycle is I rest, I eat, and some magic happens where I get gelled up again, and the Chinese tradition would say, you're building your Qi. You get all gelled up again, and you're ready for the next day, and that life is getting gelled up, holding energy, using that energy to think, and work, and breath, and walk, and talk. Now, you don't have any energy. Getting gelled up, and blah, blah, blah. That's the long introduction to how does Yin Yoga help harmonise the flow of Qi in your body? I believe that when you do sustained stresses on the fascia of your body, you're making it much, much more easy for your body to re-gel again, so think of, it's hard to have an exact analogy, but think of a wet paper straw, and think of it all kind of pinched and crushed down on itself, because it was stiff in the morning, but now it's all soggy, and wet, and collapsed. Tahnee: (50:23) You've met my toddler... Paul Grilley: (50:23) Now, you want to reinflate this straw, and stiffen it again. If you just lay down the Qi can do that, if you just lie down, we assume you're eating well, we assume you're getting good rest, the Qi will do that. The Qi will literally push that straw back open, stiffen it up a little bit, and now you're ready for the next day. I believe pretty literally there's more to it than this, but I think what Yin Yoga does is that it pulls the straws apart, they want to collapse, and pinch down on themselves, it pulls them apart to make it much, much easier for the Qi in your body to reinflate, refill, and get those straws back up to speed, so you're relieving the Qi of having to physically unfold, and un-pinch the straw, you're doing it. Paul Grilley: (51:29) By you using some cleaver mechanical vectors you're speeding along a process that might be as efficient, particularly if you're injured, or you're unbalanced in your physical activity, which most of us are. I believe that's literally what Yin Yoga is doing. That it is speeding up, it is making it easier for your tissues to reinflate and become gel like again, and hold the Qi. Tahnee: (52:01) Is Yang Yoga doing that to any degree in your opinion is it purely spending Qi? Paul Grilley: (52:11) But, you don't do Yang Yoga all day, and when you're done you can recover, and I think what Yang Yoga might do better than Yin Yoga is you need to squeeze, and twist the straw, and you need that because toxins, and free radicals, and ions, and waste products they kind of get stuck into the straw, and what Yang Yoga does very well is lets rhythmically contract and pull, and contract and pull, and force blood, and fluid with the rhythm of your heart through this tissue that it literally cleanses and purifies those tissues, which may be Yin Yoga by itself wouldn't do. We don't have subtle enough experiments yet to decide that, but my subjective experience of that is that Yang Yoga sort of rinses you out, it's kind of like you need to, the wash rag, I notice that not every culture has wash rags, but- Paul Grilley: (53:11) If you had a wash rag, every once in a while you have to completely soap it up and rinse it out two or three times, that's called cleaning the rag, and I think that's what Yang Yoga does very, very well. Is that it may be in a way better than Yin Yoga. At least for certain tissues of the body. It's like you need to flood under pressure these tissues, and pulse, and alternate to literally shake free and pull out of you the inevitable build up of toxins, and waste products that are the result of living. I think that you need that rhythmicity, I think you need that effort, I think if you don't raise your blood pressure on a regular basis, you're just asking for your arteries to deteriorate. Paul Grilley: (53:55) I think by raising the blood pressure, and relaxing the blood pressure, and rhythmic cycles throughout the weeks and the months, but it keeps your vascular system incredibly healthy. I think, again, its complimentary thing. I think that Yang Yoga is better at moving fluid into and out of the tissues, get new nutrients in, get waste products out. I think Yang Yoga is better at that than Yin Yoga. But, I think Yin Yoga is better at relaxing, and reinflating, and allowing this build up of necessary energy that manifests itself biochemically, electromagnetically later, so it's the inhale, it's the exhale. Paul Grilley: (54:38) Yin to me is mentally it's sort of like the exhale, but I think physically I think Yin is the inhale. Mentally, it's the relax, but physically it's just rejuvenate, let's not kill ourselves anymore, let's just massage ourselves back into shape. I think Yang Yoga is the opposite. I think mentally Yang Yoga is this inhale, and driving, but physically it is the let's wash these tissues clean. I think there's a great balance there in the Yin and Yang effects on the fluid in your body. Tahnee: (55:15) I think that's a beautiful analogy for me, because that's exactly how I experience it subjetively as well. I'm curious though because we haven't really ever touched on what your really famous for, which is your bones, and your sort of thoughts of the human anatomy, which is kind of, I mean, I think slowly sort of penetrating, I still hear some interesting things in yoga classes. We haven't really, I think a lot of people come to yoga with this idea that they're going to improve their range of motion, they're going to get fit, and flexible, and all of these things, which kind of sound like really good ideas from the outside, but my experience in my own practice and working with many people, students, now, is that actually extreme range of motion is not really that beneficial for many people, like Cirque du Soleil performers, perhaps with the exception. Tahnee: (56:13) That most of us aren't actually designed to do extreme poses, but what we see in a lot of the kind of more modern yoga texts is not enstirely accurately representing what yoga asana's have been designed to do, which is along the lines of what we discussed already, harmonizing the Qi, for the practices of meditation, and all these things, so I think when we're looking at what people can expect from yoga, and from learning with Paul Grilley, we're seeing it's a lot to do with learning our own personal boundaries, but it comes to this understanding of this almost intellectual experience, I suppose of understanding mentally what's going on, why I can achieve certain poses, I think that relaxes the mind in a certain way, and allows Qi to really harmonise. Certainly that was my experience. So you've taught in LA, you've taught in Yoga Works, you've met Paulie Zink, at what point did anatomy come in? You said you studied anatomy really early, which I didn't realise, at community college you were saying. So how did you come to realise that our bones are different? and first of all it seems bleedingly obvious when you say it out loud, but why is this idea not more readily accepted yoga in your opinion, Paul Grilley? Paul Grilley: (57:45) So are you asking me when I came to it? Tahnee: (57:48) I had like three questions in that. I'm curious as to you, how you came to recognise that we all have different bones, what that meant for you as a practitioner, and then what that means for us as practitioners, how you kind of feel that it's relevant to a yoga practice, now? Why? I'm super curious as to why it's not part of the marketing of yoga, I guess. It's like yoga is really sold on this idea of, hey, look on Instagram, look how great everything is, come and learn to stick your leg over your head. It's almost like lure them in and then tell them actually that;s not going to happen. Paul Grilley: (58:39) To me, the anatomical interpretation of yoga was with me from the beginning, because that was my study, and that was my interest. The bones, particular, I didn't come across that until about 1996, or something like that, '97. Somewhere in there, somewhere in 1996, '97, so I've been at it 18 years. Maybe? The story is I was at a laboratory, that was a dissection laboratory, there really wasn't a lot of dissection was done there, it was a nursing program at the college in Ashland. Paul Grilley: (59:22) I was actually there with a friend who was helping the professor clean his office, the professor of anatomy, who ran the nursing anatomy, biology section of the college there was retiring, and my friend was helping him in his office, and so I just sort of tagged along, there wasn't much for me to do as they were emptying textbooks, and putting them in boxes, and stuff, so I'm sort of wandering through this college laboratory, and I see some boxes, because all the shelves and cupboards were open to see what was the professors, and what was the schools, well, one of these boxes had three femur bones in it. I go, "Wow, this is really cool," so I take these three femur bones out, and I put them on the table. Paul Grilley: (01:00:04) You got to remember I'm already 40, 38, and I've got a strong anatomical background, and training, and reading, and I see these three femur bones on the table, and they're all completely different, they couldn't be more different, they're even different color, for one reason one of the bones was black, I don't know what was in this guy's diet, but I just remember like, wow, that's weird, but anyway three femur bones, and they were completely different in language I know now, tortion, and things like that, I go, whaaaaaat? Why didn't no one ever tell me about this? Paul Grilley: (01:00:46) I literally went home thinking, well, maybe they were in that box, because there three very special femurs, and they were displayed as, look how weird some people are, so I literally got on the internet, which was pretty new in 1996, '97, '98, I found a store that was in the Berkeley, California area right in the bay area of San Francisco that sold human bones. It was a nature store, mostly they sold snakes, and agates, and bird skeletons, but they had a stock of human skeleton, old bones. Paul Grilley: (01:01:24) I went down there, and I asked the guy, "Can I see your box of femur bones," because I had seen femur bones before, and he had like two boxes, and they're just a collection of bones. There must have been I don't know 40 at least femur bones, or at least 20 specimens all together, but they were not associated with what femur bone went with what femur bones, just a box of femur bones, and I just laid them out in his store, I had them all over the table, because I wasn't really sure what I was looking for, but then I just stared, and stared, and I go, oh, wait a minute, and I started to see the differences in the bones, and I think I bought, I still have them, six, maybe eight femur bones. Paul Grilley: (01:02:03) I took them back home, and took pictures of them, and I said, "What is the deal with these bones? What does this mean?" It became clear to me by manipulating a skeleton, I had plastic skeletons, too, I thought, oh, the bones hit, and if the bones hit, and that's what limits the range of motion, then different shape bones will have different ranges of motion. That was an epiphany for me. They're like, different shape bones will have different ranges of motion. Different shaped bones will have different ranges of motion, because every reasonable range of motion eventually the bone hits the bone it's pivoting against. Paul Grilley: (01:02:41) That was the ah-ha, so now I have this box of femur bones, six of them, took pictures of them, and I started to lecture two of them, like look how different these bones are. Then, eventually over time I grew that collection, and I got some scapula bones, and some humorous bones, it was the femur bone that was the big breakthrough. It was the femur bone that was like sort of my guiding star. It was a lucky break to do that, because so much of yoga is trying to move your femur in a certain way, to do the splits, or to do the lotus posture. Then, later I extrapolated that to the other bones of the body, but the femur bone was the thing that's sort of my golden key that pulled me in, and it was because I saw that box of bones by accident in that laboratory. Tahnee: (01:03:31) Amazing. It's not just even the extreme shapes though, it's basic beginner poses, like warriors and vīrabhadrāsana shapes, lunges. I had a woman write to me the other day saying, "I can't keep my hips square in downward facing dog, and when they ask me to lift my leg to the sky," and I thought oh well you know you probably can't extend that far so you hit external rotation and... and she's like "oh no, no, no what's happening, I'm just not flexible enough" I think a lot of us studying Yin with you, but this idea is not unique to Yin Yoga, it extends out to all kinds of styles of asana and to other movement practices, whether you're at the gym trying to do a squat. I remember my first training with you, you said to me, "you should not do deep squats young lady, under load because you've got long femur bones," and I remember going, what? Because my knees always hurt. when I did that. Leverage right? Tahnee: (01:04:37) It kind of sometimes frustrates me that this is only taught in a Yin capacity, and even when I've taught on 200 hundred hours trainings I sort of teach it, and then I see the students still not really getting it across the board, because I'm usually just teaching the Yin componant. Yeah. I'm just curious to, I guess in your practice if you're not being exposed to anatomy, and even a lot of yoga teachers are not studying anatomy, do you think yoga teachers the need to study anatomy to be effective Hatha Yoga teachers, or do you feel like we can kind of skip around that, and trust that students aren't going to injure themselves, because I see a lot of injuries, repetitive stain injuries from people trying to push themselves into the shapes they can't do? I'm just curious as to your thoughts... Paul Grilley: (01:05:24) I think that you can be a very good yoga teacher, and really not know anatomy very much, but as soon as you the yoga teacher or the students are pursuing extraordinary ranges of motion, then there's going to be a tragedy. I know a lot of people, colleagues, and friends of mine, they don't know very much anatomy, but they don't push people. How they teach is they let people find their way, and then when you look at the other side of the spectrum where there are teachers like they've been trained to tell you exactly how wide your feet should be, or the angle of your back foot, in vīrabhadrāsanayour and for them, they're totally mistaken, that student is never going to do the thing that you're asking them to do, but fortunately the postures they're teaching is that students probably aren't going to get hurt, either. Paul Grilley: (01:06:22) A student might get frustrated not being able to keep their hips square raising their leg in downward dog, but they're not going to get hurt. A student might get frustrated because I can't turn my pelvis over my front leg, and keep my back foot on the ground. They might get frustrated doing that, but they're not going to get hurt. You need to have a volatile situation of the teacher doesn't know anatomy and the limitations of the skeleton, and either they're teaching a style, or they have a student, students, who are trying to do these extraordinary ranges of motion. Paul Grilley: (01:07:04) I think that's why you're going to have repetitive and injuries, and overstrain is in those circumstances where the student has a real ambition to get better, and so I think a teacher, if a teacher teaches a course where I'm not pushing you to do the splits, maybe you'll never do the splits, I have many friends, and many colleagues who are marvelous inspiring, charismatic yoga teachers, and they're not killing people in their classes, and they don't know much anatomy. But, either by luck or by training, or whatever, they also understand that you can't push everyone into all these different poses. Paul Grilley: (01:07:48) Some people can do them, some people can't. They don't know why, they just know that the experience has taught me it doesn't work. Yeah. I'd like to say that everyone should take my anatomy course, but I think the reality is that's not feasible, and the reality is that you can be a very good yoga teacher, and as long as you are the student that's not trying to pursue aggressively an extraordinary range of motion, you're not going to get hurt. You might get frustrated, but it ain't the worst thing in the world. Tahnee: (01:08:23) I guess that's the kind of Yin and Yang of experience, because a lot of us when we begin teaching yoga we teach from our own experience, expecting everyone else to have this unique experience, which obviously doesn't work, and then as we get older we start to, even if you don't have a concept on why, we start to realise well a lot of these things actually don't work in my body but my student can do it from the first day they come to class. So maybe I'm just going to hang out in the middle here, I think I see that happen a lot as people mature in the practice. Tahnee: (01:09:02) I was going to ask you, it's such an interesting time, this is kind of my last question, with the way yoga's being taught now, it's this 200 hour go and get it... I guess this came up from a question I was asked recently with someone, "I've done my 200 hour like I don't think I need to do any further training," and I was kind of like triggered and was like, "what are you talking about?" But, there's this idea that we receive everything we need to know in a 200 hour yoga practice
"Technique can only take you so far... you gotta have the courage to go beyond your tradition and step off." - Paul Grilley The post Paul Grilley: Suffering and Samadhi appeared first on Josh Summers.
"The goal of yoga is to abide in your true nature... If you are not abiding in your own true nature, then you are identifying with the vrittis in your consciousness, and that is suffering." - Paul Grilley, paraphrasing Patanjali The post Paul Grilley: The Tao of Paul appeared first on Josh Summers.
Cet épisode vient compléter notre approche de la souplesse, dans l'épisode #37 "Ma méthode pour Gagner en souplesse". Bref, ici on parle des études de Paul Grilley sur les compressions et des écrits de Bernie Clark sur l'étude du corps. Adaptons notre pratique à notre corps, et non l'inverse! BERNIE CLARK : Votre corps, votre yoga https://amzn.to/2VkjlA7 PAUL GRILLEY : Anatomie for Yoga https: /amzn.to/2vbykSs Article de Janvier 2005 : https://www.yogaanatomy.org/tension-or-compression-the-fundamental-distinction/
Topics Are you confused? Join the club! Yoga Energy’s Power Yin courses can be found here: 50-hr Advance Power Yin Training Blended Format (https://squareup.com/store/training-courses/item/hr-power-yin-training-blended-format) Yin yoga is Taoist yoga and possibly the original hatha yoga that the ancients used to practice Restorative yoga is fairly new, designed by contemporaries such as Iyengar Paulie Zink, a contortionist, was the main person to introduce Taoist yoga into the United States Paul Grilley was the next main influence on bringing Taoist yoga to the West Sarah Powers changed the name of Taoist yoga to Yin yoga What is the difference between a yin pose and yang pose? Yin yoga is not Iyengar based yoga which means yin yoga is not restorative yoga For those of you who remember anusara yoga, yin yoga is not alignment based yoga, so anusara teachers, quit yelling at us When you are practicing proper yin yoga you should be experiencing moderate to intense discomfort while in the pose When you are practicing proper restorative yoga, you should be extremely comfortable while in the pose The source of the moderate to intense discomfort during yin yoga is key Both a yin yoga practice and a restorative yoga practice have one thing in common and that is heating up the body in preparation for the specific practice We created hot yin for our hot yoga studio Out hot yin was created using the concepts of John Barnes, Gil Hedley, Paul Grilley and Gerald Pollack The water has four phases, not just three The key to phase transition of our fascia is pressure over time which generates heat You can help support our Podcast by giving as little as $1 per episode, our PayPal account is here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=7FDYKCGSKL3NL&source=url (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=7FDYKCGSKL3NL&source=url) May we all be well, adapt and thrive! - Tim and Vie Resources Brought to you by Paleo Ayurveda - Ayurveda Designed for Thriving Our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/c/asktimandvie (https://youtube.com/c/asktimandvie) Paleo Ayurveda's Training Library can be found at: https://squareup.com/store/training-courses (https://squareup.com/store/training-courses) The Spartan Mind Strength Calendar: https://spartanmindstrength.com/events (https://spartanmindstrength.com/events) For YA & AAPNA Registered Instructors Earn non-contact CEUs here: https://squareup.com/store/training-courses (https://squareup.com/store/training-courses) Disclaimer All information provided here is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not to be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action should be taken solely on the contents of this Podcast. Please consult your physician or a qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health and well being or on any opinions expressed within this Podcast. You assume all responsibilities and obligations with respect to any decisions, advice, conclusions or recommendations made or given as a result of the use of this Podcast. Support this podcast
Mason and Tahnee come together on the podcast today, to take a dive deep into the wonders of Qi, the second Treasure in the Taoist system. In the West most of us are familiar with the concept of Qi being energy, however the Taoists understood Qi in a more expansive context. Today we're excited to explore the philosophy and application of the Qi Treasure and to introduce our SuperFeast family to our new baby - The QI blend! Tune in to get the full download and learn how these beautiful Qi herbs can help you activate your potential and feel truly vibrant. Tahnee and Mason explore: Classical Chinese Medicine vs modern acupuncture application and diagnoses. Qi as a force present in all things, tonic herbs included. Dis-ease as a manifestation of blocked/stagnant Qi - "the only time we get ill is when our Qi is blocked" - Tahnee Inherited physical, emotional and mental patterns as factors that can interfere with an individual's free flow of Qi. Personal practice and Qi cultivation. Constitutional typing and Five Element Theory. The new SuperFeast QI blend. The relationship between Qi and Blood. The Taoist concept of humans being the bridge between heaven and earth. The Three Treasures; Jing, Qi and Shen. Qi as a subtle but transformational force. The self healing capacity of the body. When and how to use the QI blend. Wei Qi and external environmental pathogens. Who are Mason Taylor and Tahnee McCrossin? Mason Taylor: Mason’s energy and intent for a long and happy life is infectious. A health educator at heart, he continues to pioneer the way for potent health and a robust personal practice. An avid sharer, connector, inspirer and philosophiser, Mason wakes up with a smile on his face, knowing that tonic herbs are changing lives. Mason is also the SuperFeast founder, daddy to Aiya and partner to Tahnee (General Manager at SuperFeast). Tahnee McCrossin: Tahnee is a self proclaimed nerd, with a love of the human body, it’s language and its stories. A cup of tonic tea and a human interaction with Tahnee is a gift! A beautiful Yin Yoga teacher and Chi Ne Tsang practitioner, Tahnee loves going head first into the realms of tradition, yogic philosophy, the organ systems, herbalism and hard-hitting research. Tahnee is the General Manager at SuperFeast, mumma to reishi-baby Aiya and partner to Mason (founder of SuperFeast). Resources: Yi Jing - The Book Of Changes Rhonda Chang Digesting The Universe Book Karma and Reincarnation - Dr Motoyama Book The Power Of The Five Elements - Charles Moss Book Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or check us out on Stitcher :)! Plus we're on Spotify! Check Out The Transcript Here: Mason: (00:01) Hello, lovely people. I'm here with the lovely Tahns. Tahnee: (00:04) Hi. Mason: (00:04) So we wanted to tackle one together on this beautiful Saturday morning. We're in the podcast room. We've had torrential rain overnight, so the Qi of the land is absolutely pumping. It's conductive out there. And we thought it'd be a really good, beautiful time to chat to you guys about the concept of Qi. Obviously we've got a little bit of an understanding in the West of what's Qi? Qi is energy, everything's Qi. And we wanted to go a little deeper into the nuance. We're going to talk about, Tahns is definitely going to be going in through everything that she's studied with yoga, Taoism, anatomy and all her, everything else, Tahns will go into it. Being an abdominal masseuse, being a Yin yoga teacher. Mason: (00:47) Tahns works with Qi a lot, and is developing a really nice understanding of this huge concept. And so we're going to be looking at what Qi is in the body. Going to be looking at how many different layers and variations there are. But also then we're going to be looking widely in the body, in the three treasure system of Taoism. That's a bit more of a macro view of what Qi is in the body. We're going to be looking at what it is, how to cultivate it, in that context. How Qi herbs work in the body, because one thing I think you guys, you should be understanding by now is that Taoism is appropriate for the lifestyle. Yes, We're talking about there's Taoist's, hermits in the mountains, just going on doing nothing but Qigong all day, living off one grain of rice. And then the rest is tonic herbs and spring water and constantly meditating. Mason: (01:39) But the concept of Taoism, they can cross over to a mother of four, simply being able to manage her health and her family's health through some very basic principles. So Qi can get incredibly complex when you go into all the different ways that it can be deficient and rebel in the body and so on and so forth. And so there's that clinical understanding of Qi, we can get a little into that, and how it's represented. But then there's a very accessible, I guess, conversation around Qi that we want to be having at the same time. So no matter how much time you have or interests you have, you're going to be able to get a dialogue. Tahnee: (02:23) Yeah, hopefully we keep it in the accessible realm today. Mason: (02:27) Well I like getting inaccessible as well because it's interesting and I think it's nice as well just to have that context for everyone to reaslise, you don't have to remember all this. And at any point that it gets, if you're dealing with something heavy internally at any point it gets too much and you reaslise you can't retain it, there are practitioners, and we like teaching you how to find particular practitioners. I'm down the rabbit hole when it comes to acupuncture and that. I'm down the rabbit hole of Rhonda Chang stuff and finding a practitioner that it's actually ... I think it's getting more and more difficult to find an acupuncturist that's actually practicing what Rhonda calls Yi, actual medicine that isn't layered over with Western, basically biochemistry or Western symptomology. But that's- Tahnee: (03:09) Or pathology. I'm studying Health Science degree, majoring in acupuncture at the moment actually. And it's interesting how little we really touch on the more shamanic aspects I suppose of Chineseedicine, which is definitely what I'm more interested in. And as someone who's received acupuncture for a long time, the people that are more versed in that are definitely, in my opinion, more effective practitioners for me. So yeah, it's interesting to think about that, and even in terms of when we're talking about herbalism, what we do at Superfeast, to taking a herb that has a lot of Qi, and has a lot of intention in terms of its cultivation, its processing, versus taking a lot of just things you can buy over the counter. I'm thinking about this little compressed tablets and all that stuff that are... You can take them and they can have an effect for sure. But I don't have the same connection to them that I do to the Taoist Tonic Herbs. It's a really interesting nuance for me and something I'm exploring. Mason: (04:18) But you can feel, in a clinical setting, it's more steely. It's more, and especially when it gets symptom, when it becomes pathology based, and symptom based, it's very much okay, this is the diagnosis and... Unfortunately it's going, it's starting with ... I think what we're talking about guys before we jump into Qi, and yes we're going to talk about the Qi blend, and Qi herbs and all these kinds of things. But these tangents are why we get the big bucks. So we're talking about if we start with, okay, you're having headaches, so we start with the symptom and then we go, hh, there's four different types of headache. There's going to be a hot headache and a cold headache, and a deficient headache. Mason: (05:10) And I'm not an expert on this, I'm just enjoying it because it's slightly anarchist from what the current Western Chinese Medicine looks like. It's not Yi, it's not medicine, it's not traditional medicine. It's washed into this Western approach where it's what's the symptom? Okay. Oh, you've got, gosh, I don't know, you're nauseous. Okay. Generally the pattern is it's going to be one of these four or five different types and we're going to find it and then we're going to treat you by hitting, via the dictation of what we know to use. If it's this type of nauseousness we're going to use these points and this herb. Mason: (05:52) So there's this tendency for a lot of practitioners these days to be, feel tickled by the fact that yeah, wow, I found someone had a headache and I had options in how to treat them because everyone's different. But it's still a textbook version of treatment. And just going through Rhonda's stuff. She's just, it's still not medicine. It's still not proper Chinese Medicine, based on the classics. The classics would be doing a 100% ... Well we don't know, you don't make any assumptions. We just go in and find what's going on within the Yin Yang- Tahnee: (06:27) Individual treatment. Mason: (06:28) Very, super individual. There's, what's going on within the Yin Yang, and what's going on within the five elements, the Wu Xing. And so in that sense, there's no rules ever. And it's hard, because it's hard to commodify that, it's hard to bring people into- Tahnee: (06:46) Well it's hard to systemise and teach that. And I think when you look at the history of anything that gets codified and systemified ... I don't know if that's a word. You lose a lot of the nuance that when you work one-on-one with someone and learn something in a oral tradition based on apprenticeship and just doing the thing with supervision. That was what really got lost in China when Mao Zedong came through and he really created these colleges, these places to go and study acupuncture. And you could do... Or Chinese Medicine I should say, not acupuncture, the whole scope of practice that they decided would be most useful for treating the masses of China. And that's what we've inherited. And there's people Rhonda doing amazing work, trying to keep the old tradition alive. Tahnee: (07:34) And I think that's certainly where you and I lean toward, in our interests. But I can sort of see how you have to learn, you have to go to school because there isn't really another way to do it. But then you have to take responsibility for actually going and immersing yourself in the art of healing, which is a really different thing. And it's the same with the Che Nei Tsang I do. I learned with Master Chia and I've had lots of friends go and study with him after receiving treatment from me. And they're Oh my God, when I got there it was totally different to what you do. And it's yeah, because I'm bringing my whole life of experience, all the things I've done, all the different trainings I've taken. Tahnee: (08:16) When I work one-on-one with someone I'm bringing that plus my own Qi and my own Je ne sais quoi, every individual has their own special gifts. So I think you can't ever copy someone else, but you can definitely learn from other people. And I think as long as we remember that these things are both a science and an art, then we can be really ... It's the same with the herbs. So we would get, people write to us and they say I have a headache or I'm exhausted. Well we can only give a general answer to that because we're not seeing you. We're not talking to you. We're not investigating your history and really our duty of care, to do that over the internet or the phone is not there. We can't manage and support that. But that's where a practitioner- Mason: (09:00) Well it's not even- Tahnee: (09:01) Well that's where a practitioner is so useful because that therapeutic process of sitting down with someone, having them hear you and witness you and mirror you, and then also treat you. I think that's really powerful, and especially if they're an educator or there's someone that's going to help empower you toward your own understanding. Those are the best kinds of practitioners. And if you find one, hold on because I have had people that I've worked with for five or six years because they've just done so much for me in terms of getting me to be my own practitioner. To become responsible and sovereign for myself and you outgrow them over time for sure. Tahnee: (09:39) There's probably three people I've outgrown but I really, I value them so much as teachers. I think that's just the constant journey of life is wherever you are in your path, find the people that can support and nourish you. Know when to let go, know what to integrate and transform it yourself. A lot of this stuff we're talking about today is really relevant to this. Qi, it's that ability, once we start to get everything flowing and harmonise then, if we're talking about treasures, we've got strong Jing, we've got strong Qi, then we've got strong Shen and we're really potentiated and in our Dharma in the world, to cross our traditions a little- Mason: (10:16) Well not cross, but put them next to each other. You can have them next to each other, it's fine. Tahnee: (10:19) Well they're actually very similar. And I teach yoga, definitely with a huge, I guess, eye on the Taoist tradition because I think what the Taoists do is describe the subtle body really well, and describe the alchemical processes that happen. The yogis talk about it as well, but it was quite secretive and because of Muslim invasion and all sorts of things it got a little bit lost. So it's really cool to look at it from both sides. And if you believe that we all are incarnated spirit, which is what these two traditions point to, and that the purpose of our lives is to fully embody our spirit in this physical form. It's not to ascend, it's actually to descend the spirit and to have that spirit fully animate and penetrate this organism and its expression in this life, that's Dharma. Tahnee: (11:10) That's this idea of us living our true path. And that could be everything from nurturing a child, to creating an empire. There's so many, and it doesn't have to always be a positive Dharma, because depending on our karma, and the things we bring, we may have different things we have to express. But I think when we look at this idea of potentiating the human, which is what we're doing here, at the end of the day it's yeah, we want to be really conscious of how we choose to work with people. The kinds of information we choose to integrate into our home practice, into our culture. It's something you talk about all the time, this idea of creating culture, and these are constantly slippery conversations. It's never black and white. It's never, I'm this, because this is the Yi Jing, right? Everything changes. The Book of Changes is the foundation of Chinese Medicine. It's this idea that nothing stays the same. Mason: (12:08) It's a good point. If you go and find a practitioner, you go, have you studied the Yi Jing? Tahnee: (12:13) Well yeah, I think it's definitely not, to my knowledge, taught very extensively in acupuncture school, in inverted commas. But yeah, I think this curiosity, but you can go study the Yi Jing, it doesn't have to be this mysterious, this thing. And if you're interested we'll put it in the show notes about the YI Jing. I'm just making a note to do that. Mason: (12:34) Well, I feel like, sorry to butt in, the reason that it's brought up a little today, because I think we're going to be talking about a lot of concepts of Qi, and within this system when we're coming from a Western system, and when we're interacting with, especially at the moment new waves of Chinese practitioners, sometimes we don't see a lot of effectiveness. I think that's fair to say. Tahnee: (13:04) Yeah. Mason: (13:04) And I think what I want to bring up is that one, we're not putting the complete expectation on you here to be able to immediately affect your own Qi. However, at the same time we're talking about, this is so beyond proven and effective. And just because... You talk about it as well Tahns, when women going through menstrual issues, which can be blockages of Qi and you go and see a practitioner and it doesn't work. You haven't gone to someone who's practicing Yi medicine, and that's just the reality. And Rhonda talks about this all the time, a lot of the practitioners... And I just want to make sure everyone listening is just, we're trying to give you enough space and opportunity, what I call, to activate the placebo. Mason: (13:45) These Qi herbs, whether we're talking about tonic herbs, or whether you know what, there's some more severe stuff going on. Maybe the general tonic herbs aren't going to do it and you need to go to a practitioner that's going to get a little more nuanced. These things, they just work. They work. For thousands of thousands of years they've been working in the most complex system. At the moment, now, even in Chinese Medicine hospitals in China, they've got a Heart department, the Kidney department- Tahnee: (14:14) The stroke department, I just found one last night, what I wrote you, I will tell you about this later. Mason: (14:19) Which is interesting, but there's no stroke in Chinese Medicine. Tahnee: (14:24) No, but they don't, they just say, if you come with these things, we can treat you as an individual in our hospital. Mason: (14:30) No, they don't. That's what's happening. Sometimes it's happening. They're not doing that a lot at the time. They're having, well I'm going to treat you for- Tahnee: (14:37) Oh, that's when they're mashing up the Western piece- Mason: (14:38) No, they're it's a Western thing, and the prejudice is, in certain instances Western Medicine is just going to be more useful. And more and more and more I see how amazing ... Don't get me wrong, I see how amazing Western Medicine is and how incredible, to an extent, drugs are and can be. And I can see how people need an institution. But that's the placebo of the Western Medicine. It's so compartmentalised and institutionalised and there's theoretically all these safety checks, which is an absolute bullshit... On its own it's amazing, but it's unwarranted faith that they're being given by the population. Mason: (15:17) But the whole prejudice, although the whole, subconsciously for a lot of people, even in these Chinese medical hospitals is that a lot of the time the Chinese Medicine just isn't as reliable. Where it's, from what I'm understanding, not that I understand it necessarily, but I'm awakening my own reality. You saying it's shamanic, and then shamanic is scary therefore that mustn't be effective, That must be very ambiguous and we're calling in spirits to do the healing verse... Of course that's not the case. The real old Chinese Medicine, especially in relating to what our Treasures are and nourishing our Treasures through Qi herbs and a lifestyle that's generating our own Qi, we're generating our ability to have our Qi go through phases of transformation constantly so we don't have blockages. Mason: (16:07) This is extremely effective and it's not this thing that's, well it's not actually, not as reliable as Western Medicine. Western Medicine might be really reliable to get you back to a somewhat normal state for the next couple of years without actually dealing with your core problems. And if you're going to go to real Chinese Medicine though, you need someone really working closely with you, and educating with you, and going deep into what your issue is. And we just don't have time for that in an institutional level. Tahnee: (16:37) Well I don't think it's unique to Chinese Medicine, but I think when you look at all of the ancient traditions, it was very much around community based model and individual personalised care based on diagnosis that really took into account the whole organism. So it's talking about symptom management, which is what Western Medicine is really good at versus healing or, you talk about with Rhonda's work. This idea of true medicine, which is more to do with... My teacher always says, you're trying to put yourself out of business as a practitioner. So you're trying to get the person to the point where they are self managing and they're sovereign in their health and they'd only need to see you maybe seasonally, maybe once every couple of years just to check in and make sure everything's going well. Tahnee: (17:26) And as educators, that's something that I'm really passionate about, for me anyway, I don't want to speak for you. But the more people expose themselves to different ideas without judgment, without needing to make something right or wrong, it gives you this capacity to hold, that F. Scott Fitzgerald quote, hold multiple opposing ideas at the same time. So the Chinese Medicine says there's a universal force that is animating and that turns this sack of fluid and chemicals into a body, And when it goes away, we become chemicals and fluid again, and we dry out, and we dissolve and we become food for the bugs and bacteria. Right? So this is the foundation of Chinese Medicine. It starts with this underlying idea of universal consciousness. Western Medicine doesn't have a underlying theory. It starts with pathology, Mason: (18:17) Well that's fine. But as long as it's kept in its little place over there. Tahnee: (18:21) Yeah. But that's what I'm saying. I think as a culture we have gone, Oh, okay, we're going to worship the altar of modern science, but we forget that it has limitations. And similarly, Chinese Medicine has limitations. It's great to have a sterile surgical environment to operate in a car crash situation- Mason: (18:41) Absolutely. Tahnee: (18:42) Yeah, I know you know this, but I'm just trying to explain it for people that are listening. If I am in a car crash, I want to go to Western hospital for my immediate treatment and then I'd love to go to a Chinese doctor to maintain and improve my health over time. It's this idea of childbirth, in Chinese Medicine that's an opportunity to get healthier. And in Western Medicine it's, cool, you had a baby, see you later. We don't ever want to see you again, basically. They might check in on you for six weeks or however long the process is. Tahnee: (19:10) And so there's this two very different ways of looking at health, really. One is coming from a educative... And almost a faith based type of health that the natural state is health. That's what I feel is for me the big difference. Whereas Western Medicine is almost, things are going to break all the time and we're just going to keep patching them up. But it's the roof is going to collapse one day. You can't just keep putting screws in and polls in, and bandaging shit up and expecting it all to stay there. It's going to just all fall down one day. Tahnee: (19:45) And so that's where I think I prefer to sit in this idea that, we are by design, whether it's intelligent design or evolutionary design, I don't know, but we are by design healthy, and we are by design moving always toward health. And the only reason that ever happens is because our Qi gets blocked in some way. And it's either emotional or physical or mental, either we have a thought recurring that creates a blockage or we have an emotion recurring that creates a blockage, or we have some physical- Mason: (20:16) Something structural. Tahnee: (20:17) Mass. Yeah, that creates a blockage. Mason: (20:18) Yeah, or even the Qi blockages from parent to child, you'll see a hunch or something go from mother to a daughter and that's going to create- Tahnee: (20:28) Yeah, inherited. Mason: (20:29) Inherited, and that creates a blockage in an organ, that's going to create an emotional pattern or expression. Tahnee: (20:33) It's 11:11 everybody just letting you know. But yeah, I think, for me, just that idea even of inherited physicality is so interesting, because if learn how our parent thinks, and how our parent relates to the world, then we model that and then our bodies express that as well. So I find that really interesting when you look at, I used to teach yoga to people in families quite regularly and you would see that the genetic, it's not even the structure is inherited, it's the mental and emotional weight is inherited. And you would see that manifest, and you would see how they would react and respond in similar ways to things. And that's one of the things I love about yoga, is because it offers us this opportunity to hold space for ourselves, to examine that and decide whether or not we really want to carry that on. Tahnee: (21:30) Because, sometimes those things are great. Sometimes we have power house parents who are super rad and really give us a lot of gifts and help us to really express our own unique gifts. And sometimes we have people that really just pass on a lot of trauma, and a lot of suffering. And this idea of, and Chinese Medicine talks about this too, around the ages of 28 to 30 is this transition out of the ... Jung's work in particular is really interesting on this stuff. And he took a lot of that from the Indian and Chinese traditions. But this idea that we start to release our parents and we start to forgive them for what they couldn't offer us. And then we take responsibility for what we need to manifest to really fully become ourselves as we move into our 30's and 40's. And I think that's, we don't talk about that much in our culture. There's a lot of blame and there can be a tendency to just go to therapy and to stay in this loop. And I love therapy, don't get me wrong. I think it's really powerful, but I think you have to graduate from therapy at some point. Mason: (22:30) Well, this, a lot comes back to the concept of why you'd have a practice to cultivate Qi, and move Qi, and why you'd be moving every day and why you'd be working on your emotions, why you'd be taking Qi tonics, why your diet is appropriate for you to cultivate Qi. Because if you've got this Qi moving, Qi needs to transform, that's why if anyone, if you are relating to your body in a stagnant Western model, if you're trying to be optimal, if you're trying to be balanced. There's just no such thing as a stagnation. Everything is constantly moving and moving into these stages. Moving into that place when you're 30, or if you're going to therapy and you're identifying these patterns and things that you've picked up from your parents. If you're healthy, if you've got strong Jing foundation, and Qi is said to be in the Treasure system, the child Jing, if your Qi is moving, then you're going to be able to actually transform things internally. That's the alchemy. As long as you keep on moving, I think that's what you were leaning to as well. Tahnee: (23:26) Yeah. Well that's what I think is super important because I think sometimes people just keep bumping up against themselves and they get stuck. And that's what I mean about, sometimes these external things, therapy or yoga, or meditation, all these things, they can almost become traps where we continue to validate ourselves through the external thing that we do. You can see that a lot in the spiritual community where it's okay I don't the way I was brought up. I'm going to really change that and then I'm going to push back against that culture, instead of really integrating the parts of you that are really from that culture. And this is a lot to do with that shadow work that Jung talks about. But we need to have really strong Qi, and strong Shen to do that work. Tahnee: (24:11) And a lot of the time when we're pushing back against something all the time, we waste a lot of our energy and this is our Qi, and so we don't have a lot available for healing. Even for clear thought, it's this idea of when we're depleted, which can be exhaustion, that's Jing Qi, because this is always, this was really confusing for me when I was first learning Chinese Medicine, it was Qi, Jing Qi, this Qi, that Qi, Yi Qi, so many Qi's. Mason: (24:36) Gu Qi, Kong Qi- Tahnee: (24:37) But everything is Qi. Yes. Everything, you're Qi, I'm Qi, matter is Qi, the bookshelf is Qi. Mason: (24:37) The laptop is Qi. Tahnee: (24:37) Yeah. But then the force is Qi, and this is where the idea from yoga of Shiva and Shakti is really helpful for me, because if you think of Shiva as form and Shakti as ... I'm sorry, Shiva is consciousness and Shakti is form. So this idea of the union of consciousness and form is the expression of Qi in the manifest world. So we see in this 3D reality form because of Qi, and because of its interactions and from that Yin and Yang in the five phases, this is this snowball I guess of creation. And then when we want to transform our Qi, we have to really engage those two forces. We have to engage the Shakti, which is more the Jing. The Shakti is the reproductive force. It's that cellular force that regenerates and if you want to have healthy cells and not have cancer, and all of these things, it's, yes strong Jing, strong Shakti. Tahnee: (25:43) I actually read a really interesting study last night. This is a small tangent, but they studied, I think it was a hundred and something people who had Alzheimer's, and they were looking at the types of patterns, because you know how you were saying before that a headache can be Liver Yang, it can be this, it can be that. So they looked at the percentage of people with which patterns, and 100% or maybe, it might have been 99%, a hundred people of 110 or something, had a Kidney deficiency, basically a Jing deficiency. And then on top of that they had extra things. So it's 70% had a Liver thing, and this many had a Spleen thing and whatever. Tahnee: (26:24) But nearly everyone had a Jing thing. And I was isn't that interesting? We talk about brain function all the time, we talk about this ability to maintain the health of our brain, which is the sea of marrow in Chinese Medicine, which comes and originates from the Kidneys. And this simple study, just looking at the patterns of every person with that, every single one of them, nearly, had a Jing deficiency. Mason: (26:49) And what I was alluding to before, just so there's a clearness in tonality, having those kinds of patterns, just being recognised that normally if this, it's going to be a Kidney at the source of it. What is limiting and what Tahns isn't talking about is going, oh okay, so if you have Alzheimer's, we treat the Kidneys this way. That's a Western model. That's starting, so if you're going to an acupuncturist ... I'm not throwing shit at anyone, they're probably going to be able to be effective, but let's just say me going in my new cracked out, reading Rhonda Chang stage. Mason: (27:24) If you go to an acupuncturist and they're I treat diabetes, I treat Alzheimer's. That's what I specialize in. Just be careful because in that instance of we see a pattern most of the time with Alzheimer's, being there's a Jing thing. Well you can map that back to the sea of marrow that Tahns is talking about, being governed by the Kidneys and the Kidney Water. But then being able to go out, if there's rules that arise through studies, then you're stepping outside of medicine. Mason: (27:58) Australia is stepping outside of the Chinese Medicine. You need to be able to recognise patterns and then be able to make sure that you can go in and break all rules if necessary, in treating what's personally going on within that person's Wu Xing element. Because why is that going on within their Kidneys, for some it might be, they've been around too much Fire burning up their Water. There might be the Spleen, it might be a Spleen thing, Spleen might be- Tahnee: (28:22) Yeah for sure. Mason: (28:23) So anyway, just wanted to put that caveat just in case anyone was confused by my tonality before. Tahnee: (28:28) Yeah. Well I think, I guess if we can just make it clear that each individual gets treated, not the disease. There's no pathological identifying, often in the translations of the texts it will be febrile diseases. But at the end of the day we're looking at, what is this individual pattern, what is this individual treatment plan for the person presenting in front of us. And it will change in time depending on the season, depending on the state of their life, depending on all sorts of things. So how you would treat someone when they're pregnant is going to be very different to how you would treat them when they're not pregnant, because their body's operating in totally different states of- Mason: (29:09) Yeah. Which is really annoying for a Western mind. Tahnee: (29:13) Well, I think it is a different head. And I know for me it took, I think it took me a few years to really be able to put on a Chinese Medicine hat and- Mason: (29:25) You almost have to be in a bit of a parasympathetic state to be able to rest and digest actually what, the gravity of just that personalisation. Tahnee: (29:32) Yeah. Well there's a book that I read recently that I really loved, which I felt really encapsulated a lot of the stuff I learned and- Mason: (29:39) What's that? Tahnee: (29:40) It's called Digesting the Universe, I brought it for you. Mason: (29:42) Yeah, that's right. Tahnee: (29:44) But yeah, he talks a lot about just this idea of literally digesting the universe. This capacity about bodies, not just to digest the food that we eat and the air that we breathe and all of these things. But also to digest our purpose, our emotions, the energy coming from the universe. That's the purpose of the human is to sort of be this bridge between heaven and earth. And it's a really powerful mission, I suppose. And where, I guess this gets pretty esoteric, and we probably should start talking about Qi a bit more, but it's this super important thing because it's well, if we're looking at why we want to be strong and healthy, why are we want to cultivate Qi? Tahnee: (30:33) It comes back to this idea of so we can really embody our full potential in our time here. So we aren't just fighting with ourselves and suffering. There's a certain amount of challenge involved in every life of course, but we can meet it with grace, or we can meet it with more pain and more suffering. And so I think this is, for me, this idea of the Triple Treasures is a really powerful one in terms of just how to best move through life in a graceful way, I suppose. Because it's Jing, that foundation, the form, the structure, Qi, the animating force, the metabolism and the movement of energy in the body- Mason: (31:13) And emotions. Tahnee: (31:14) Yeah, and emotions and thought. And then Shen, the ability to really be tapped into the higher source of consciousness or whatever, in the 3D reality. Not needing to go live in the astral plane. Because the Taoist Masters can do that, my teacher can go astral travel till the cows come home, but- Mason: (31:33) And then the cows are come home Master Chia, I'm bloody hungry mate. Tahnee: (31:38) Yeah. And my other teacher, Paul's teacher, he would do a lot of healing in the astral, he would work a lot with spirits and ghost and- Mason: (31:45) [crosstalk 00:31:45] that was? Tahnee: (31:46) Dr.Motoyama, I'll put his links to his books in the show notes. Mason: (31:51) So that's especially around karma. Tahnee: (31:53) No, he did a lot of work, actually scientific work in measuring the Meridians- Mason: (31:58) Oh that's right, he was the groundbreaking right? Tahnee: (32:01) Well his work hasn't been accepted by mainstream science yet, but he put people in ... I've got an interview with Paul coming up so I won't tell the story too much because listen to Paul. But yeah- Mason: (32:10) Paul Grilley that is. Tahnee: (32:11) Paul Grilley. Yeah, he put people in the Faraday cage and had the Taoist Masters on the outside and on the inside, so a Faraday cages impermeable to magnetic and electrical force. Right, so if you're in a Faraday cage, you're isolated, there's nothing can get through to you. And they had machines in there that would measure Qi, and they were able to see that the Taoist Master could transmit his Qi through this Faraday cage, which is wild because you can't send an electronic signal through there. You can't send a mobile signal through there, whatever- Mason: (32:42) Were they picking it up as an electrical signal? Tahnee: (32:45) They have really sensitive equipment that can measure Qi. So he divides this thing called the AMI, which measures the Meridians. And Paul and Suzee both had, they were both attached to it, and he could use this machine to tell what people's constitutional weaknesses were. So his was heart, Dr. Motoyama's, and he died of a heart thing in the 80's- Mason: (33:03) Well he predicted that before that? Tahnee: (33:04) Yeah, in his 40's of something, he was, ah that's my weakness, that's how I'm going to go. Mason: (33:09) That's even our acupuncturist, even just relating to what type of constitution are you? In that Charles Moss style of what's going to dictate, are you a Fire constitution, are you a Water constitution, and then associating that somewhat with where your constitutional deficiency is. That was an interesting thing for me. Where's your constitutional deficiency? If you're deficient there, that's essentially ... You're going to die of something, and that is going to be a dictation of what constitution you have. Tahnee: (33:41) Yeah. And I think what's cool when you know that is, this is what John, our acupuncturist says to me all the time, he's live in your element. So it's actually, even if it's your weak... Not that it's your weak spot, but you'll feel best in your element, but you'll also, that will be where you'll show imbalance as well. So I'm a liver constitution. And so for me, moving fast, being creative, thinking, ideas, those things will really stimulate me. Getting shit done, that's my constitution, and when I'm in that, when I'm full of blood and full of Qi and rested and juicy, my upward Yang can express. But if I start to deplete that, then I'll get Heat, then I'll get digestive stuff, then I'll get my Kidneys tapped out, which is all related to this Liver system getting overwrought. And me overdoing my constitution. Tahnee: (34:39) So it's learning to embody the gifts of your constitution without flogging your constitution, I suppose. Mason: (34:48) Yeah. Tahnee: (34:49) A fire person might be really charismatic and great at speaking and really enthusiastic and able to bring all the joy. But if they overdo it, they're going to get depressed and tapped out and want to hide from everybody. So there's this Yin and Yang, I suppose, of the constitution embodiment as well. But I love these ideas, Ayurveda has prakruti and vikruti, which are your foundational constitution and then what you're currently out of whack in. So I might go and get acupuncture for my Spleen if I'm out of whacking in my Spleen, but my underlying constitution is Liver. And often the acupuncturist will still treat the Liver Channel as well because ... and this is what Rhonda talks about a lot, if someone's a Livery person, you can treat the Spleen, but it's not going to do as well as if you actually treat the Liver and the Spleen, or just the Liver in some cases. Mason: (35:39) Yeah right, that's what Charles Moss talks about a lot as well. That's what, what's his name? That was- Tahnee: (35:43) Wellesley. Mason: (35:43) Wellesley's, not Matt Wellesley- Tahnee: (35:48) I can't remember. Mason: (35:48) Anyway. Tahnee: (35:48) John Wellesley's maybe. Mason: (35:50) Wellesley, whether ... I'm not complete- Tahnee: (35:53) 1. Wellesley he is. Mason: (35:58) The J stands for, Jay Wellesley. I'm unsure of the effectiveness of his work. All I know is the work, that Power of the Five Elements book by- Tahnee: (36:15) Charles Moss. Mason: (36:15) Charles Moss is super interesting. So I don't know whether it actually works too well, but I assume it does, in some instances. But their thing is find the constitutional deficiency, or typing, and then just treat it. And if you treat it, you're going to create such a dam release of Qi that it's going to essentially clear up other blockages. I think that's a very simplistic, I think however there's so much truth to be able to, you need to know where to go, where's the pinnacle point? Where's the king or queen pin that you can just hit? And then, at the same time, go and find where the almost symptomatic deficiency is, and then treat it that way as well. Until you can get back to that constitutional deficiency. Tahnee: (37:00) Yeah. Well I think this is where, if we look at Qi and for example the Qi blend, it gets interesting because ... So we have a culture of anxiety and overthinking and doing a lot and worry and- Mason: (37:12) Not being able to digest the universe. Tahnee: (37:14) Yeah. And at this particular time, especially, we've just had crazy bushfires raging through Australia, it's flooding now today, the M1 is flooded, which is the big highway near where we live. So this is within three or four months we've had a bushfire and now we're having a flood. And so these things challenge our ability, they challenge of Shen, right? They challenge our ability to understand and integrate, and so they can really deplete us, because we're trying to hold on and- Mason: (37:43) Make meaning. Tahnee: (37:44) Make sense of these things, which really comes through our Spleen, Spleen Stomach pairing. I'm just going to say Spleen now because it's easier for me. But this Spleen organ, which is the digestion and transformation of the things that we take in, which is everything from food and water and stuff, but also information, ideas- Mason: (38:04) And heavenly Qi. Tahnee: (38:06) Yeah. And so when we're looking at how we use Qi herbs and what, it's with Jing, so many people are exhausted and they're burning the candle at both ends, so by working on the Kidney Channel, they get results. But if you understand your constitution, I'm constitutionally Liver, so I'll take Liver herbs all the time, and then I'll have things Jing and Qi herbs regularly, because they support the main organs that support or draw from my Liver. Right? Tahnee: (38:39) So just from my understanding of the elements, I just know that if I stay in that triangle, it really helps me to stay balanced. Whereas other people might be more Heart, Lung, Tiver people. So the different constitutions are going to have different combinations of formulas that work well for them. And if you look at all the longevity formulas, they were really working with the Triple Treasure herbs, the Jing, Qi, Shen herb's and they were working, probably in my opinion, with herbs that were good for their constitutions. You look at the guys that lived on He Shou Wu and Ginseng, yeah they were using these herbs to really bolster their capacity to hold Qi in the Meridians. And so what we're looking for is to get stronger. Tahnee: (39:23) And to get stronger is, I think of this as the great analogy that, I don't know who taught me this, but it's always stayed with me, You want to increase your capacity to hold more bandwidth. So it's if you dig a channel and run water through it, if it's only shallow and you put a lot of water through, it just floods out and you can get quite unwell from that, putting too much Qi in too soon. So people that do Vipassana and lose their marbles, which happens, they hadn't built the Qi capacity, the Pranic capacity to hold what they were- Mason: (39:57) What's coming through. Tahnee: (39:58) What's coming through, yeah. Mason: (39:58) The same with plant medicine, you see people just- Tahnee: (40:01) It's just getting electrocuted. It's just too much energy through a system that wasn't designed to hold. Mason: (40:06) Too much insight. Tahnee: (40:06) Yeah. And you can't integrate it because it's too much too soon. So what we look at with herbs and meditation and physical practice, and this is why if you look at Chinese Healing, it does include not just herbs, but Qi Gong, it includes breathing practices. It includes acupuncture, massage, meditation's, these kinds of things- Mason: (40:26) Taoist yoga. Tahnee: (40:27) Yeah, because we have to work on the multidimensional experience in a multidimensional way. So just to meditate all the time is going to put you out of whack, but just doing exercise all the time and never meditating is going to put you out of whack. So you need to find the middle ground between all these things, and it's going to be a little different for each individual as well. But this is what we're looking to do. So when you start taking tonic herbs, you take a little and you just let your body adjust and you start to open up to that. And it's the same with QI blend, right? Tahnee: (40:59) This is going to nourish the Spleen, it's going to nourish the Lungs, it's going to support the capacity of the body to draw energy, which means you're going to have more available energy, but you don't want to go crazy hard on that at the beginning. You want to make sure that you just ease into that. And in time your body will get used to running more Qi through the Meridians. Which you can think of the Meridians if you need a physical analogy, as the spaces in between the tissues and the bones. So they're correlated to the fluids that run through the fascia. Tahnee: (41:29) And if you look up extracellular tissue, extracellular matrix, look up fascia, F-A-S-C-I-A, you can have a look at this gelatinous gooey substance that exists inside of the body. And the theory at the moment is that this is where the Qi runs, because when you look at the myofascial Meridians and what the Taoists, where the Chinese and the Taoists lay it out in the Meridian points, they correlate to these fascial lines in the body. And they're individualised to each person. So again, you'll look at an acupuncture book and it'll say, this point is too C-U-N, Cun from the midline or whatever, but that's going to be based on the individual's body and their size. So for someone who's a giant like me, it's going to be slightly different to someone who's really small and compact, their Meridian points will be closer together. Tahnee: (42:18) And it's just on account of that the scale of their body is different. And so you want to look at increasing your capacity to hold energy. And this is where we, in our lives, use movement practice. We use breathing practice, we use herbs, we use good food. We use rest, because all of these things allow the body to grow and change. And this is the purpose of life, right? Is to learn to be with change, be with the Tao, with the flow of life, and to become really capacitated and powerful and strong in ourselves. Tahnee: (42:51) And so I think this blend really excites me because I think, when we look at children, when we look at our culture of poor digestion and the amount of people that have crap digestion is just out of control. And when you look at this ability to digest life, and as a metaphor for digestion, it's well yeah, if you're having digestive problems, what aren't you digesting? What in your life, this was a huge one for me. I, in inverted commas, can't eat gluten and certain things and it's a lot to do with, for me it was a lot to do with working through the emotional as well as the physical stuff that was required for me to be in a capacity to digest and to receive and to take in nourishment from what I was eating. Tahnee: (43:39) And so when we work on our Qi, we work on strengthening the Organ Systems involved in that. And that's the Earth Element. This is, Rhonda talks about it as a soil, and it's tending our garden, it's creating a really fertile bed in which to plant the seeds of our Dharma to spring forth. And I feel it's a really foundational, if you look at a lot of the ways the five phases are drawn, the Earth is in the center. It's the middle of it all, and it's the beginning of the all, and the end of it all, we begin in the soil and we end in the soil. Tahnee: (44:11) And if you look at chemical matter, which is what we are, we're carbon based life form, the soil is full of carbon. It's this idea of composting, transforming the food with heat into nutrition for the body. There's our alchemical transfer- Mason: (44:26) In a big bag of bacteria. Tahnee: (44:29) Yeah, where- Mason: (44:31) That's the human body I'm talking about. Tahnee: (44:32) And soil, soil is bacteria, we're bacteria. There's a lot of correlation when you look at these analogies they chose were really, really good. They really encapsulated something that is so easy to understand and so simple, but has such depth. And that's what I find so inspiring about it. Because I feel like sometimes the more I learn, the more I reaslise how simple it is. Mason: (44:54) Well that's it, the simplicity is what there is. And that's why, it's an interesting thing. I watch my own Western mind, even to an extent wanting to go and carve it up and explain it. What does it mean? And what were they meaning by that? Ah, now it's almost validated, because I can see that correlation between soil and the human microbiota. And that's really interesting, I've made a mental connection. But in your mind, you're essentially going to be able to go take yourself further into a sympathetic state. You're not dropping down feeling, rest and digesting place, which is where healing happens. And so you see where this ineffectiveness of modern Chinese Medicine starts coming through because we need to make it all mental verse. Just being able to sit in the simplicity, which is where we're going to need to be sitting in our households working on our Qi for decades and decades and decades. Mason: (45:43) Does it make sense for us to go, right, I'm going to use these Qi herbs because I know that QI is an electromagnetic force and it gets collected in this part of this spleen, not the actual Spleen element, the actual spleen organ, and I have to know about the spleen organ and I need to know about its relationship to the pancreas. It's not realistic when you're just trying to enjoy your life and spread more awesomeness. To an extent, going into, specialisation is interesting and it's good, but the simplicity, what you're talking about there, is just, that's always what's going to make this accessible and then allow there to be consistency. Mason: (46:15) What you were talking about before with heavenly Qi, I think it's got everything to do with the Qi herbs. It's got everything to do with these herbs, Codonopsis, White Atractylodes, and Poria and Astragalus, in that humans being the bridge between heaven and earth is what, it's a core in many philosophies and it's a core Taoist belief, which is, just being a metaphor in itself. I don't mind it just been that. So we've got that relation, so it's Tian, Ren, Di, it's sky, human, earth, and each of those, they're Three Treasures in themselves. Right? Mason: (46:52) And so we see, same as with Shiva being that Yang and being that consciousness, and then that Qi, humanity being associated with that treasure of Qi. And then we see the Shakti being that earth and that Yin, it makes sense. It's the same as, Pachamama being mother earth and earth, and Pachacarma, that father son in the shamanic circles. But you can see then there's Three Treasures in, for sky we see sun, moon, stars, humans, we see Jing Qi Shen, and then for earth see water, wind, fire. So they've got their own Jing, Qi ,Shen. Mason: (47:31) But humans sit in the middle, We are most appropriately, if we're going to be a bridge, Qi is going to encapsulate us the most. And that's why you, we see ... that's why I'm excited to have more and more Qi blends coming through just in our little, and being able to educate about Qi and the cultivation and Qi and movement Qi in our little circle. In our little circle here, because Jing has been such a focus because everyone's been I need energy. Everyone's been so exhausted and so that's not a place to start. You need a foundation, you need an actual ... You need to be connected to say the gas, you need wood to burn in order to actually have digestion, or to have immunity. To have physicality, to have the possibility for your skeletal system to stay appropriately strong throughout your life, for your knees to stay strong, so you don't just start deteriorating, which we see. Mason: (48:22) Celebrating Western Medicine, but everyone's deteriorating at 60 years old. And that's well that's what happens, the thinning of the artery wall, that happens when you're 60, we can hold that off a little. But that's not what I believe is the normality. But at the same time that Jing, once you've got a lifestyle where you're not leaking that Jing, as we know, well where do we move? That's why a lot of the Taoists would be, Jing herbs would be there, in their circulation. The less stressed they were, the less they had to continue to take Jing herbs, you would take them every now and then. Mason: (48:59) Maybe water was, they have a Kidney Water constitution. And so that's why they enjoy it. And maybe sometimes they just putting a little extra money in the bank by taking a Jing herb. But a lot of the time you're going to see them sit. A lot of people sit, in their tonic herbal practice, on Qi herbs longterm. Okay, so why is that? Because it's the bridging force, it's that bridging Treasure. And yes, we're going to be talking about how digestion wise, the Spleen Earth system is what is taking in food, and able to cook and ferment our food. It somewhat controls that metabolic fire, and our ability to then extract what we need from what we're eating. Especially if you're eating a diet, something that's appropriate for you and your diet. Mason: (49:49) You were speaking to that before. It's why you've personally had to move away from a bit of a vegetarian diet, because you need lots of blood, and if you don't have lots of Blood, your Liver is going to be deficient in Blood because it stores, and you see things go wrong. That's why you can't go into this Chinese medical, Western compartmentalise, symptomatic external idea based of how to treat. The same way you can't go into external diets, this diet's correct, just with some nuance. You can't start with ideology, you can't start with institutional thinking. You need to start ... and you can't just go, offhand, but everyone's individual, everyone needs to personalise. Yeah, you do. But that's where you absolutely need to start with no prejudice in terms of how that person needs to live. Whether it's in a medical system or whether a dietary system. Mason: (50:44) But in that nature of us being that middle treasure, and that bridge, it's why, also with this lifestyle that we've got a movement practice that's moving out our Jing. We're increasing our ... What was the analogy you were using, in terms of you don't actually have the bandwidth. We need to slowly, with consistently, through a good diet, good Qi herbs, through our, whatever it is, you're own type of meditative practice, and breathing practice. Even just breathing well, they don't need to be real clinically done either, it's just a lifestyle that's hopefully not too stressed out. So you can breathe. You don't need to be this monastery, two hours a day practicing yogi. Mason: (51:32) I think that's another big thing, there's too much pressure. Find your own way. You can go your own way, with finding how to cultivate your Qi, without prejudice of what it's going to look like. So in that sense, we're in a rest digest place, so that we're able to actually digest the food that we're eating. But once we're in that place where our lifestyle is becoming extremely individualised, but it's visceral, it's felt. I'm moving, not because the CrossFit person or the Ashtanga yoga person, or whatever it is, they told me to move that way. I'm connected to my body and how I'm going to move myself and move my Qi. And that's going to increase your bandwidth. All of that, allows you to digest the universe because you're moving your Qi, and you're cultivating Qi, and that's all you need. Mason: (52:22) We don't need to theoretically understand the in's and out's of how the universe is working, in order to do this. It can't be done solely, or even in a dominant sense, in this mental framework and especially within a sympathetic nervous system turned on. Fight or flight, which we're all doing. We're all fighting. We're all fighting to justify our existence, especially with social media. Definitely feeling that come up in myself recently, trying to personalise more and more. Just nuances of it, but can you really just sit in a rest and digest place? Then you're actually going to be able to cultivate some Qi. Mason: (52:58) When you start cultivating your Qi, you're actually, and through the Qi herbs they're going to be focusing on your Spleen Earth and your Lung Metal, to make sure that you're getting a lot from your food, get a lot of Gu Qi from your food, and a lot of Kong Qi from the air that you are breathing. And then beginning to cultivate that electromagnetic charge within those organ systems, but then also unifying those two daily forms of Qi so that that can, in the Yang form, be distributed into your subcutaneous tissue, into your surface Meridians. That's known as your Wei Qi. And so that's what keeps you protected. Mason: (53:34) And then also down into your deeper Meridians, the 12 major Meridians and beyond. To actually nourish your tissue, or to nourish your organ system. Sorry. And in that sense, when you can get a lifestyle flow going down that route, you're drawing less and less and less and less and less on your Jing in order to get through the day. And more and more and more via your movement practice, breath, food, Qi herbs, right? You're drawing on, you're increasing your capacity and your bandwidth to utilise daily Qi. And the idea is, you get so good at that, which is, this is where the Taoism comes in, whether it's for everyone or not, but you can actually start then creating so much, and cultivating so much that then that can percolate down and start to be stored as Jing. Right? Because remember Jing is just Qi. They're not completely different things. It's just different- Tahnee: (54:25) It's our chemical form of Qi. I think there's ... I can't remember the numbers, but there's in one of the Taoists alchemy texts they talk about, it takes seven whatever's of Qi to and make one whatever of Jing, I don't know if you can remember the? Mason: (54:41) No. Tahnee: (54:41) No. And the same with, that much to create Shen, it's this really huge process of refinement. And one of the things I think that's really important to think about, is that idea of exhaustion, if you're going through the day and by three or four you're completely knackered and you still have to push through. Let's say you have small children, we know all about this, you have to push through till eight or nine until they're finally in bed and you can start to unwind and rest. Then you've basically just used all your Qi by three, and you're now tapping into your reserves. And this is having to go into a savings account every week to live. You're going to run out of cash at some point. And that's when we hit that exhaustion that people contact us about. Mason: (55:27) Yeah. Can I talk to ... Because there's a nuance there that is, I think it's useful for people, just remembering, you, may have been working on your Jing for a long time that you might get to that three o'clock or that four o'clock and you feel fatigue. So for that fatigue or that fatigueness in your limbs, mental fatigue, that's more closely associated with that treasurer of Qi. Tahnee: (55:51) Yeah, like heaviness. Mason: (55:52) Yeah. Tahnee: (55:52) And even, if you imagine sagginess ... I don't know how to best explain this, but you know when you've been on a plane for a while and your feet get fluidy and heavy and swollen and stuff, that's because your Qi is stagnating, is not able to circulate, and you've run out of battery power, I suppose, to move your Qi. Mason: (56:14) And there is, don't mistake that for the fact that when you get to three to five o'clock, it's bladder time in the Organ Wheel, and that is a time for less intense energy. Tahnee: (56:28) Yeah, but that's where you would have a yoga nidra, or go have a cup of Qi, and do a meditation or something that recharges you. Mason: (56:37) Absolutely, do a ... That's what I did, I went live yesterday on Superfeast, and I was having a little rebound, and I had my afternoon Qi. But just to, you might have your lifestyle dialed in where you don't become exhausted necessarily. It might take a few months of you not really changing until you really actually start going, shit, I'm getting exhausted here. So in that instance, it's a perfect time to be working with these Qi herbs, right. Verse, if you are actually exhausted and you need external stimulus to give you willingness to get up and get going. That is a Jing deficiency, and you need to use lifestyle and Jing herbs. And that's when you potentially need to make big changes in your life in order to ensure that you're not leaking your Jing. Mason: (57:25) But it's almost, with Qi, it's almost a little harder, because the subtlety, you can't just do a 30 days of Qi and then completely change the direction of the way your emotional patterns work, and the way you've constructed your workflow and all these kinds of ... you can't just do, 30 days of Jing, people get off stimulants, get on Jing and then can feel completely recharged, in terms of what it's it changes their lives. My gosh, I'm not leaking Jing, you were able to do something. Mason: (57:57) Qi is, it's more subtle. It's more transformational and rewarding in the end, but it takes that little more consistency. It's less extreme, but the rewards of you altering your lifestyle in minute ways. Oh, I need to do a little less exercise, a little less, more of that exercise. I need to alter my diet. So this is where it challenges ideologies, right? So when you're Jing deficient, you open yourself up to ideologies, because you don't have a foundation of who you are, and what you are. But then once you've plugged that Jing deficiency, you've still got those identities externally attached to ways your parents lived, the way we live in the West, the way a liberal voter lives, a way a vegan lives, or a carnivore lives or whatever it is. Mason: (58:45) But in the Qi stage, when you're cultivating more and more Qi, you are personalising more and more for yourself. So you need to know yourself and understand yourself. And that can be confronting, because you need to know yourself emotionally. I'm definitely confronted by it, it's difficult work. You need to start understanding what's actually going to work for you. So it's going to challenge every prejudice that you had about yourself and every little external identity grab that you had. So just know, that's where you're really getting alchemical internally, when you get to this point when you can sit in the middle and cultivate that Qi. And when you do have that Qi flowing and cultivating, through these things that we're talking about, that's when you naturally, your flame gets bigger, and your light, your Shen, you can start actually really learning some deep things about yourself. And learning from life experiences and bringing that forth in your own wisdom, which is your Shen. Tahnee: (59:42) I think, what I'm really thinking about while I listened to you talk about that is, this idea, I think we were talking about it before, not in the podcast, but before we came on, but about, how basically the idea is to become a wise child. And if you look at a child, if they have an emotion and they're permitted to have it, it just gets expressed. They have a tantrum, they kick, they scream, it lasts for five, 10 minutes and then it's done. And then they're hey, can we go play in the muddy puddle, or whatever. And it's, that energy hasn't been stopped in their body and it hasn't created a blockage. Tahnee: (01:00:24) And what we do as adults, over time, and we learned this from childhood, and thi
Yin yoga is one of the fastest-growing and most practised styles of yoga worldwide. Hear its origin story straight from the source as we sit down with Paul Grilley, the founder and developer of yin yoga as we know it today. During our chat, Paul walks us through yin yoga's three threads (anatomy, practice and … read more The post Paul Grilley on yin yoga: triyoga talks episode 29 appeared first on triyoga.
About this Episode: Joe and Paul discuss concepts in anatomy and philosophy as they relate to yoga. Paul details his thoughts on "the rebound", which is a key concept in his teaching of physical yoga. As the conversation deepens, Paul explores deeper concepts of yoga philosophy and shares his own personal beliefs. About Paul: [...] The post Yoga Anatomy and Philosophy: Paul Grilley appeared first on Icewater Yoga.
Introduction 2:12 Experience in improvisation and vintage dance instructor. Uses these skills in her yoga teaching. It was a natural progression to move to yoga from these other skills, and yoga fulfils performance and movement for Natasya 3:40 Adds dance movements to the beginning of class to have people start to feel into their bodies. Start with table top and moving and experimenting with movement within the pose 5:40 Students learn to individualise for their own bodies according to the precepts of Bernie Clark in Your Body, Your Yoga. How Does yoga make you feel, don’t force people into poses. 6:30 Promoting inclusiveness in her studio. Doesn’t teach a certain style or brand. Students come from word of mouth because people are comfortable coming and can be themselves. Gives lots of variations, lots of different levels of yoga. Beginner classes provide the basics so that students can attend any class and feel comfortable. Yin Yoga by Paul Grilley also promotes letting your body find the way. Allow our body to tell us what is right. 10:15 Yoga videos are available. Encouraged by Yoga with Adrien videos to make her own. New endeavour: meditation and transformational online courses. What to affect change as a positive result in students’ lives. Asking what can I bring to the yoga video world that reflects me. Videos are based on loving our bodies, loving ourselves. Loving our authentic person and speak in our authentic voice. Meditation will be the jumping off point to start self-love and healing. All online courses will have a meditation component. But stilling the monkey mind will not be the purpose but rather to acquire a sense of acceptance using meditation. 15:35 Anticipating releases of videos starting with a 6 week course in February 2019 at the latest. Current thinking for the videos will be based on planting the seed concept. Guided meditation to plant the seed to self-love, what are the blocks to self-love, forgiving yourself and others, and then planting more seeds to encourage self-love. Also includes exercises, group, journaling, etc. 19:34 Includes the Hawaiian ritual forgiveness of Ho’oponopono. Realising you are the cause of everything you see in the world, recognising that, asking forgiveness . One form is: I’m sorry, I love you, Please forgive me, Thank you. Accepting responsibility for everything you see is acknowledging we are all one. 23:28 Teaching Yoga to Toddlers Have to go with the spirit of the day, Always manages to get them into svasana. Its very improvisational, take kids on a journey and the kids develop the story. Contact Details: yoga videos www.youtube.com/c/theyogapantrywithtash website: www.theyogapantry.com Courses: www.natasyayusoff.com (send ideas for courses) Insta: #the_motivational_yogi FB: theyogapantry Resources: Bernie Clark Your Body, Your Yoga Paul Grilley Yin Yoga Ho’oponopono – Hawaiian ritual of forgiveness
Hey Superfeasters, today marks the inaugural SuperFeast podcast and we are super stoked to say the least! SuperFeast founder Mason Taylor shares airtime with his work and life partner, Tahnee McCrossin. In today’s introductory podcast, Mason and Tahnee cover everything you need to know about SuperFeast, themselves and what you can expect from this epic podcast. This includes how SuperFeast was born (literally from Mason’s mum’s spare room) and explore an umbrella view of the herbs, what they are, how to integrate them into your daily life and the countless benefits that arise from working with the herbs. “It’s not just about putting a powder in your smoothie it’s about connecting with the energy of something from the earth that has its own intention and its own consciousness” - Tahnee McCrossin In today’s episode we will cover: Who are Mason Taylor and Tahnee McCrossin? The personal journey that lead to SuperFeast’s creation in 2011 Why we are so into medicinal mushrooms Adaptive herbs and how they support and nourish the bodily systems (our core philosophy) Why we chose to work with herbs that support conscious and constitutional shifts Learning about the magic of these herbs knowing they’re not a silver bullet Tonic herbs are aligned with natural rhythms and long term health upgrades The herbs have their own intention and connection to the source We love our SuperFeast community! Why we source herbs Di Tao Purity of SuperFeast herbs – wild and no fillers SuperFeast core values and intentions Reconnecting with an ancient herbal system The crazy benefits of sourcing wild and semi-wildrcrafted herbs Practical uses for the herbs and daily integration About Mason Mason Taylor is a wellness educator, host of The Mason Taylor Show podcast, professional speaker and retreat facilitator. He is a passionate tonic herbalist and founder of Australia’s leading tonic herb and medicinal mushroom provider, SuperFeast. Mason is dedicated to teaching people of all walks of life how to embrace and benefit from the healing forces of nature as they create a unique and dynamic health philosophy. A long and happy life is the intention. Mason also brings a refreshing and cheeky sense of humour to his talks, podcast, and life, because longevity relies on a good belly laugh. About Tahnee Tahnee McCrossin is a student of the body, weaving the ancient healing traditions of Yoga and Taoism with somatic exploration and modern scientific understanding into an integrated system that supports longevity and self-healing of the body-mind-spirit. Through her work as a yoga and meditation teacher, chi ne tsang practitioner and health researcher, she is striving to reunite the modern body-mind with the spiritual and psychological wisdom of the ancients. She is grateful to be a current student of Mantak Chia, Paul Grilley and Michael Tierra. Resources SuperFeast Websitesuperfeast.com.au (sign up to the epic SuperFeast newsletter for 10% off your first order!) SuperFeast Instagram@superfeast Mason Instagram@maysonjtaylor Tahnee Instagram@tahneemccrossin SuperFeast Phone1300 769 500 SuperFeast Emailteam@superfeast.com.au - got any podcast ideas? Let us know ☺! What are tonic herbs? https://www.superfeast.com.au/blogs/superblog/tonic-herbs-what-are-they What is Di Tao? https://www.superfeast.com.au/blogs/superblog/what-is-di-tao Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes.
Today at SuperFeast headquarters, Mason and Tahnee talk all things Taoist tonic herbalism. What the heck is Taoism? Don’t worry, by the end of this discussion, you’ll be all over this ancient philosophy (especially when it comes to herbal practice!) SuperFeast prides itself on respecting the ancient tradition of tonic herbalism that emerged through the Orient and respecting the ancient wisdom from those before us. Mason and Tahnee dive deep into how the ancient tonic herbalists lived and how we, the modern human, can learn and incorporate these practices into our daily lifestyles. Exactly how does our current Western lifestyle affect us? The lifestyle which disturbs our circadian rhythms and promotes us being out of flow with the natural cycles of nature? Short answer - degeneration and ageing; we’re here to change that. Listen to join us on this mission. In this episode you will learn: Taoist tonic herb philosophy Macrocosm vs microcosm of herbalism Why women should have as much sex as they like The formula for good Qi flowing through the body What Qi is and how it animates you Our approach to diet Why we search for the path of least resistance in health and herbal practice Why an adaptable mind allows for epic health How to become a ‘somanaut’ through the tonic herbs Why separation from nature is the root cause of illness How to prevent having “flabby” immune systems Transformation through these herbs Why we’re dropping reishi bombs of consciousness around the world Why longevity isn’t an overnight phenomenon We provide good quality, epic, non-irradiated wild herbs - based on Di Tao principles Tonic herbs are multi-directional and their benefits accumulate over time Quick overview of the three treasures Qi, Jing and Shen - more in future episodes! One of the missing links in Western philosophy, the energetics of herbs About Mason Mason Taylor is a wellness educator, host of The Mason Taylor Show podcast, professional speaker and retreat facilitator. He is a passionate tonic herbalist and founder of Australia’s leading tonic herb and medicinal mushroom provider, SuperFeast. Mason is dedicated to teaching people of all walks of life how to embrace and benefit from the healing forces of nature as they create a unique and dynamic health philosophy. A long and happy life is the intention. Mason also brings a refreshing and cheeky sense of humour to his talks, podcast, and life, because longevity relies on a good belly laugh. About Tahnee Tahnee McCrossin is a student of the body, weaving the ancient healing traditions of Yoga and Taoism with somatic exploration and modern scientific understanding into an integrated system that supports longevity and self-healing of the body-mind-spirit. Through her work as a yoga and meditation teacher, chi ne tsang practitioner and health researcher, she is striving to reunite the modern body-mind with the spiritual and psychological wisdom of the ancients. She is grateful to be a current student of Mantak Chia, Paul Grilley and Michael Tierra. Resources SuperFeast Websitesuperfeast.com.au (sign up to the epic SuperFeast newsletter for 10% off your first order!) SuperFeast Instagram@superfeast Mason Instagram@maysonjtaylor Tahnee Instagram@tahneemccrossin SuperFeast Phone1300 769 500 SuperFeast Emailteam@superfeast.com.au - got any podcast ideas? Let us know ☺! Mason and Tahnee are learning with Michael Tierrahttps://planetherbs.com/ Shen Nong The Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Farmers-Materia-Medica-Translation/dp/0936185961 Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes.
Ninja master Simon Yeo Sensei joins the podcast to describe what ninjutsu is and isn't, the middle aged peak and the dangers of old teachers, ninja history, Hatsumi Sensei, traditional vs. modern martial art, the pros and cons of sparing, ground fighting, reality testing, the art of lying, throwing stars (obviously), swimming with armour, health, 1-1 training, excellence, intuition, sensitive, self- in marital arts and the flow zone. A martial arts geek out! Simon's dojo: http://www.yeodojo.net/ Simon's book: http://amzn.eu/5UI61L5 Stealing Fire boo: http://www.stealingfirebook.com/ Paul Grilley: https://youtu.be/ve_GUyEHdfI Rokas's aikido channel (aikido vs. MMA): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3IwxR2Ar-I
Listen in as Dr. Michele interviews fellow Yin Yogi Michael Banks, and hear two yin yogis discuss why yin yoga is our favorite. Both Michael and Dr. Michele have been trained as RYT 200 yoga teachers with extensive training in Yin Yoga Levels I and II as well as Restorative Yoga Levels I and II. Michael believes every body is a yoga body, and if you can breathe, you can practice yoga! His focus is more health-based than performance-based, with an emphasis on alignment and anatomy. He uses props to assist with alignment and to help individuals better understand their own bodies. His goal is to create a space where individuals, regardless of mobility or physical challenges, can grow and heal from the inside out. Michael received his teacher training at the TheraYoga Studio in Montrose, CA, with Samantha (Sam) Joseph-Akers and Addie de Hilster. The training was based on Modern Hatha Yoga, which encompasses the physical asana practice and is the umbrella term for most styles of yoga practiced in the West. Sam and Addie developed the TheraYoga Method, whose lineage descends from the practice of T. Krishnamachary, who could be considered the father of modern yoga. Krishnamachary also practiced Ayurvedic medicine and combined this science with yoga in his therapeutic approach. Sam was taught by Kelly Wood, who was taught by Gurmukh Kalsa, who was in the direct lineage with Yogi Bhajan, Judith Lasater, Leeann Carey, Doug Keller and George Haas. Addie was taught by Bernie Clark, Leeann Carey, Paul Grilley (who was key in the development of Yin Yoga) and Sarah Powers, who coined the name “Yin”. Show Notes: 1. Find out how both Michael and Dr. Michele found yoga and, more specifically, yin yoga in their 40's or later after establishing their careers in fields outside of the yoga community. 2. Yoga is for anybody at any age! 3. Could yoga be the anti-aging secret? 4. Props are amazing! Even the wall is a great prop to use in yin yoga and restorative yoga. 5. The difference between yin yoga and restorative yoga. 6. What is the yin "high"? 7. For athletes and strengthening, yin yoga is the way to go. For healing from injuries and trauma (including emotional trauma), restorative yoga is the way to go. 8. What prompted you to create Yin Zone? Michael can be found online at www.yinzone.com, by phone at 708-218-7396, and by email at Michael@yinzone.com. Michael is currently accepting new private yoga clients. Dr. Michele can be found online at www.drmichele.com or by email at dr@drmichele.com. Dr. Michele is currently accepting new 1:1 coaching clients as well as group coaching clients. To schedule a free health assessment with Dr. Michele, use this link drmichele.com/schedule.
Show Notes: Join Dr. Michele as she interviews Bernie Clark on all aspects of yin yoga and yoga anatomy. Bernie has been traveling the yogic path for over 35 years, starting with a daily meditation practice that he established in his mid-twenties in order to deal with stress in his business career. In his early forties, he was introduced into the physical practices of yoga through Hatha yoga, which assisted him greatly in his meditation practice. He has a degree in physics and spent 30 years as a senior executive in the high tech, space industry, but he also continued to feed his intense curiosity about psychology, mythology, anatomy and philosophy, which culminated in his writing several books about yoga, mythology and anatomy. Today, Bernie is a yoga teacher and edutainer, offering teacher trainings and workshops in Vancouver, Canada. He continues to write books and maintain his website YinYoga.com. Bernie Clark is one of the world's leading trainers of Yin Yoga and the author a several books - The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga and most recently Your Body - Your Yoga. We discuss Bernie's transition from working in a fast-paced corporate company to teaching yoga relatively late in life. He shares his wisdom of Yin yoga and meditation, how to teach students to practice according to their own body, and the skillful means in which teachers can facilitate this. Topics Covered on today's show: As a yin yogi myself, I’ve read your books and followed your career for a while now so this interview is very special to me. Thank you again for agreeing to come on the show. Can we hear your STORY of how you came to love yin yoga and transition into a yin yoga career. For the listeners who don’t know what the difference is between yin yoga and other forms of yoga such as vinyasa or even restorative, can you tell us a little bit about the differences? Here are two things you may not know about me yet: Although I am a foot and ankle surgeon and Ayurvedic health coach, I majored in anatomy and physiology at UCB. So anatomy is one of my favorite things to talk about. I’m a student and more recently an assistant teacher of Joe Barnett, who is a senior student of Paul Grilley, and in their teachings and trainings we discuss anatomy for hours. So I would love to have a discussion with you about anatomy and why it’s so important in the study of yoga, both in yoga teacher trainings and in regular classes at yoga studios…because I think we have all been instructed by teachers that our foot isn’t in “perfect alignment” etc. Another thing that we have in common is that we both really found yoga in our early 40’s so I think we should talk a little about why yoga really is for every one, every body type, and all ages. I often hear things like “I can’t do yoga, I’m not flexible enough.” Can you speak on that a little and tell us how you respond when a potential student says that to you. Maybe we can touch on the “fuzz” or the connective tissue or fascia here as well and why this is so important for people to understand. Can you tell us about your latest book “Your Body, Your Yoga” and why a book like this is so important, especially for yoga teachers? Can you tell us a little about your personal yoga practice, what times of day do you find it most beneficial for a yang practice vs a yin practice? And does it matter that much? Do you recommend it for others or do recommend people do what feels best for their body? I would love to take a training or at least a class with you someday. If I make it up to Vancouver, I will definitely sign up! For others who want to train with you or take a class, can you let them know where to find you? And also let us know WHAT IS NEXT for Bernie Clark? Your new book or anything else we can look forward to? Notable Bernie Clark Quotes: “God doesn’t keep a list of who can do a deep forward fold.” – Bernie Clark “…that’s what we’re trying to in yoga, just become healthy- not super flexible.” – Bernie Clark "In a yang pose, we engage the muscles and stretch them. In the yin practice, we relax the muscles; we aim our intention into the joints and the deep tissues wrapping them, not the more superficial tissues of the muscles or skin." – Bernie Clark Books Written by Bernie Clark: The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga Your Body, Your Yoga YinSights From the Gita to the Grail ---------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Information and Important Links for Bernie Clark: Here's Where You Find Bernie: url -www.yinyoga.com Contact Information and Important Links for Dr. Michele: This episode was brought to you by the Body Wisdom 10 Week Coaching Program. If you have questions about the Coaching Program or about how you can make lifestyles changes to improve your health, sign up for a free health assessment call with me here: drmichele.com/schedule Namaste, Dr. Michele Here's Where You Find Dr. Michele: website - drmichele.com email - dr@drmichele.com twitter - @doctormichele facebook - @doctormichele instagram - @drmichele
Tahnee and I are back at it again discussing our experience in becoming new parents. After the huge success of our last 2 part series, we have been inundated with requests for a follow-up, and so here we are with an 8 &1/2 month old bubba sharing all we've learn and felt since last time. There are many gems in this chat around physical health, however, the bulk of the conversation lies in the juicy psychology of making the mental and emotional shift to being parents. This has been by far the greatest aspect of our journey as new parents and we're just grateful to have an opportunity to reflect upon it. In this chat you will learn: The new world of post-partum parenting and nourishing jing Breast massage and post-partum ovarian breathing Placenta encapsulations practices and varying methods The long term significance of exposing new babies to natural elements The wild brain of the new Mother verse the executive brain Acceptance and reflecting on your new role as a parent Challenging the cultural dynamic of the fathers and mothers roles in parenting Nurturing and cultivating Yin around your babies infancy Post-partum work/life balance Sewing the seeds early to mold a long term relationship with your children as babies Crying as a sign of expression and communication rather than danger Finding fusion in rhythm between you and baby Tahnee McCrossin is a student of the body, weaving the ancient healing traditions of Yoga and Taoism with somatic exploration and modern scientific understanding into an integrated system that supports longevity and self-healing of the body-mind-spirit. Through her work as a yoga and meditation teacher, chi ne tsang practitioner and health researcher, she is striving to reunite the modern body-mind with the spiritual and psychological wisdom of the ancients. She is grateful to be a current student of Mantak Chia, Paul Grilley and Michael Tierra. Websites: Mama's medicine (placenta encapsulation) http://mamasmedicine.com.au/ Books: Mutant Message Down Under – Marlo Morgan Respectful Parenting – Janet Lansbury Enjoy! Links and show notes can be found at http://masonjtaylor.com/blog/ This podcast is brought to you by SuperFeast, the online store bringing you the greatest immune enhancing, hormone balancing and performance lifting tonic herbs.
Pranamaya interviews Paul Grilley, the leading Yin Yoga innovator and teacher. Paul has trained thousands of students and has created the preeminent Yin Yoga video: Yin Yoga Foundations of a Quiet Practice as well as the standard in many yoga teacher trainings Anatomy for Yoga Paul discusses his upcoming online training on Functional Anatomy as well as his journey through Yin Yoga.
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