Michael Harris ~ Falling Down Getting Up - Overcoming Your Obstacles

Join in listening to this wonderful conversation I had with Michael Harris.

Michael has been telling “sit on the edge of your seat stories” ever since his first show and tell in grade school – some stories will make you laugh - others are quite tragic that could bring any listener to tears. He shares in his #1 book, Falling Down Getting UP,  how starting in 1987, yoga helped heal him from several near fatal predicaments. 

Today, Michael is a popular yoga teacher with three certifications from Erich Schiffman, Integral Yoga and Bikram Yoga. In addition, he is an author, lifelong entrepreneur and co-founder of Endless Stages - a company dedicated to help motivated yogis, healers and entrepreneurs get their personal voice, message and story out to the world.

You can download a free copy of his powerful book at www.michaelbharris.com/book or purchase at https://bookshop.org/shop/michaelharris.com

Thanks for listening to this episode. Check out: 👇
New Student FREE Livestream Yoga Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. info.nativeyogacenter.com/livestream Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

Practice to a new class every day with our nativeyogaonline.com course called Today's Community Class with code FIRSTMONTHFREE.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga Teacher Training - In Studio and Livestream - for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

Subscribe to Native Yoga Center on Youtube.

Thank you Bryce Allyn for the show tunes. Check out Bryce's website: bryceallynband.com and sign up on his newsletter to stay in touch. Listen here to his original music from his bands Boxelder, B-Liminal and Bryce Allyn Band on Spotify.

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Transcript

0:33

Welcome to Native yoga, Todd qcast. So happy you are here. My goal with this channel is to bring inspirational speakers to the mic in the field of yoga, massage bodywork and beyond. Follow us native yoga, and check us out at Native yoga center.com. All right, let's begin. I'm in a town called Bend Oregon. 3800 feet, we're high desert is up against the East slope for the Cascades. Beautiful. I've heard so many great things about bend. And I know it's a very it's a very different environment than Eugene in my right. Oh, totally. Totally. Eugene on the west side of the Cascades in the valley is all rainy all the time. Where on the east side of the Cascades where it's dry. Yes, it does. There's high debt. Gotcha. Gotcha. We'll just so the listeners are aware you you gave me the best surprise ever because we had scheduled to do this podcast quite a while ago. I know we we've been worked we worked really hard at at finding a date that we could both To make this work, and just prior to me hitting the record button, Michael, you reminded me that you and I had met in California, Bikram yoga teacher training, and you are one of the teachers that were holding down helping teach some of the classes at at his training and, and I didn't even know that that was you. And we were scheduling this appointment. So now the fact that I'm I'm getting a chance to speak with you, because I remember you very clearly, I loved your classes. I felt like, I felt like you were a little bit you were not more than what you were more than a little bit. You were a grounding force in a really wild world. You know? And I don't know, to what level I have, you know, I'm just now getting a chance to pick your brain and find out where you are at with Bikram yoga, and what you're doing now. So on that note, can you just start telling me and filling me in on your journey? And I guess I'll be a little more specific. Kid, let's go way, way back. And can you tell me the first time you start practicing yoga, the first yoga class you ever got a chance to take? Absolutely. You know, the first time that I took a yoga class was 1988. Yes. Or excuse me, 8719 87. Say I had vascular surgery in November of 1986. I had blocked arteries. And the doctors at the time suggested that they may need to amputate my leg. And I was pretty blunt to them and saying that that wasn't gonna happen. And I ended up at a place called Pritikin Longevity Center, which is in Santa Monica smelt no longer there, that ocean and Pico right down on the boardwalk pretty close to the Santa Monica Pier. And when I first got there, I was walking on a cane I could walk literally thought about 10 feet. Cane in one hand, my other hand on the wall. Well, I could barely I could barely walk and make kind of a long story much shorter. The doctors that I was seeing in Portland for my vascular disease suggested that when I hurt is not to move my body well, and not to walk. And the doctor at the pretty concentre said when it hurts, keep walking. And in hindsight, it was a huge spiritual wake up call to me it was one of a number that I can identify over the years. But that particular one, he says get up and walk and walk through the pain. He says I just want you to go out there on the boardwalk and start walking. And initially, I was pretty scared to join that it's like what do you mean that hurt? Yeah, you know? And he said, Yes, it's gonna hurt. And he says, Just keep doing what you can do. Well, here I am. You know, 1987 that was actually March of 1987. There was a lot of women on rollerblades. And here I am. I'm a sick man. And I don't want to be a sick man. I want to feel strong and healthy. And I had already had a lot of self esteem issues and everything else that I've struggled with. And so I wanted to walk talk. So within two weeks, I went from walking 10 feet to two miles, unassisted without my cane without a wall. Wow. And the sheer process of moving my body of walking, going one foot in front of the neck, helped to build new blood vessels in my leg collateral blood vessel. Wow. So as those new vessels were being built, in addition to that, the popliteal arteries were the primary blockages were began to heal as well. So not only was I getting the collaterals, I was also getting the popliteal artery was beginning to heal. So answering your question about the first yoga class, the first yoga class was at the Pritikin Longevity Center. Now, granted, it wasn't a very vigorous class. It was mostly for people in rehabilitation of some sort. It was really known more For Weight Loss, although I wasn't heavy, I've never really been heavy in my life. So losing weight with my niche, they actually wanted me to gain weight. But there's also a plant based facility and Pritikin Longevity Center. So they said I can eat as much food as I want. So I was walking, I started doing some yoga classes in the basement, and I was eating all the plant based food I could possibly Nice. Yeah, it was good. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, that's incorrect. Yeah. Well, that's incredible. Because, you know, that's a really great story in terms of, you know, obviously, endurance and overcoming and, like you said, that fear of what do you mean, walk more, you know, I'm having struggling going 10 feet. And that whole transformation process of pushing through that. And so I'm curious, from taking yoga in the Pritikin environment there. What was your next step in relation to seeking other types of yoga? What was the evolution? How did it evolve from here? Yep. Well, I was living in Portland at the time, so I was just down there for the pretty concentre. And when I went back to Portland, I started going to a yoga class at the gym. Because I was doing the gym, I was doing the treadmill, when I first started doing the treadmill, actually, it's a pretty concentre, I was going point three miles an hour. Close, the treadmill would move. That's how slow is going. And I was struggling. But I did more at the gym. And I was also walking in a park near my house as much as I could, but they had a yoga class there. And I would not call it a big cold gym. Yoga is, you know, however you want to perceive that to be but it was a wonderful class. And at the end, they did candle gazing and I really liked it like downward dog, I would fall out of it. I couldn't, couldn't do much. But it led me to another general hatha yoga class. Diane Wilson was quite important for years. And I started taking her class. And I'm kind of jumping here ahead a little bit. I started doing a Stanga Yeah, I saw a flyer for yoga for skiers. And I hadn't skied for years because my condition and I want to get back to skiing. And somebody named Beryl Bender Burch was in Portland teach and I thought, Well, I'm gonna go to this thing and see if I can start skiing again. Well, I had what some people would call perhaps a kundalini experience and feeling the sensations in my body fine, by tears and just like opening up, you know, through this process and dive into Stanga did a lot of stuff with David Swensen and a guy named Clifford. We have a lot of people don't know who he was. He was one of the really early people. Nancy go got a lot of time with her over and Maori isn't her I would go ahead isn't her place amazing when you gotta look for like the tomato sign when you're driving up country and Maui. And everyone tells you like look for the tomato farm sign and then pull it you'll find the house of Zen right? Is it called House of yoga Zen or house of Zen. What a great little setup that little wooden barn kind of yoga studio structure on that farm. Wow, studying with Nancy is like a real tree. That's amazing. That's cool, Michael and I love David and I've never got chance to practice with barrel bento birch, but she's a bit of a legend in the stronger vinyasa world as well. Yeah. And a little bit more synchronicity with Nancy. I don't like staying in motels or hotels. So I was looking for a place to stay in apartment, a house something to rent. And I rented this place. And you know, this guy named Gary and I called him and I said, Oh, do you know that Nancy says, oh, yeah, that was about it. Couldn't say much. Well, when I got there, and it was rented apartment in his basement, do you know who Gary crafts is? Yeah, he's the isn't even like therapeutic yoga and or made it really popular in the like, I do know he is I can't think exactly. Thank you. Thank you. In his primary teachers really close to Qatar, yes. And I had no idea when I rented this place who it was. So here I am staying at Gary craft house. And also studying with Nance. Wow. Nearly 90 And it's just like, you know, I mean, totally immersed that's right I when I lived on Maui for a year, and I remember seeing that he had a center kind of upcountry area we started looking into yoga then and and I never went and but it wasn't associated with like a bodywork studio. I'm sure there's tons of bodywork studios in that area. But alright, nevermind, that's, that's really cool, man. I can imagine that. Yeah, you're staying with Gary, you're getting your butt kicked with Nancy and in a good way, but kicks butt, you know, just you know, the stock style is, at this point, I'm thinking you've made a pretty radical transformation from holding on to the wall walking 10 steps, if you're hanging out with these guys, what what what sort of if you're to give an analysis of like, what to what level are you? You know, when I say back to normal, I mean, just like to where you can, you know, you're not thinking about worrying about walking from A to B or doing your daily tasks. Where are you at at this phase? Well, a lot of my healing had happened. I was still Oh, I would say on a pain scale of one to 10 You know, I was still filling some one to maybe some threes from time to time. So kind of lower level pain, thinking that I would probably have to live with the pain my whole life. Yeah. And that's what I've done. I just, you know, just accepted that that was gonna be like that, that I was gonna have these pain times and for my whole life. Well I can jump ahead a little bit. I there was a Bikram studio that opened in 1993 and Portland. And I went there and I thought, Man, this is hot. Sweaty, this is stupid. This isn't yoga. I'm an Dongha yoga guy. Yeah, that was my thought. You know? And, you know, I would go and then you know, I would do and mostly still the stronger and I started developing a shoulder injury, my left shoulder and I went to a sports medicine clinic and they wanted to do some surgery on my shoulder. And, you know, for whatever reason, you know, I attributed to, you know, jump throughs and Chaturanga and all that kind of stuff. And I went to the Bikram class for 30 days in a row, and my shoulder injury went away. That you know, there's different intensities. In each practice with the Bikram practice. There's not a lot of, well, there's no downward dogs and there's not a lot of direct shoulder pressure and a lot of weight on your shoulders. So you can talk about cobra or something but there's, it's not even comparable in a way. So I kept doing a stronger and I go to big criminal stronger in a big room and I was making a lot of money doing some option trading decided to take a couple of years off in the mid 90s. And I wanted to study with what I consider to be a bonafide yoga master, right. Yep. But I wanted to stay in the state. I didn't want to go to India at the time and I looked around and I some of this stuff, good teachers and some of the younger teachers and who was out there but kept leaning towards deep plum and found myself writing the check for $4,000 This was the 1998 and headed down to LA to study with this crazy Bikram guy, right? Yes. Wow, hot. I know this is gonna shock you, but Bikram really pissed me off. Right? That's really good right yeah, that's really gonna shock me that he pissed you off. Oh my gosh. I mean, I can't even wait to start getting in on some of these stories. But so so yes, please tell me tell me the tell me your experience. So I jump in in you know, I'm headed to this training thinking that this yoga master dude is gonna do this final healing Not me, and I'm gonna be okay. Yeah. Yeah, all my pain. So I go in and you know, tell them a little bit about what's going on. And then we're in what's called posture clinic one day. And we're doing standing head to knee. And when I was standing on my left leg, I would get excruciating pain. That's where most of my pain would come from is my left leg. Yeah. And so I was standing there. And in posture clinic, I said, How do I modify so it doesn't hurt. And big from being paid from says no modification. No modification allowed in yoga. And I went what? Ah, yeah, you know, yeah. sitting there getting this hair comb by two beautiful women, right? Yes, absolutely. I thinking, yeah. Yeah. I'm thinking this isn't right. And I got in an argument with him after that. After and I wanted my money back. And, you know, consider I just bought a new Rolls Royce. It's not funny, but I can't, I can't help but laugh. Because having gone through the training with him, and listen to him do the same spiel of like, you know, and watching people getting so angry and so upset and say, I want my money back and him saying, I've already spent your money, I got the biggest house in Beverly Hills biggest swimming pool. I don't know how to swim in, you know, and you're just like, Oh, you're doing so rude. I mean, you're just rubbing it in our faces that you took all this money from us, and you're just like, so crazy about it. But I do want to hear more about like, how that transition for you? Or if it has or hasn't what? Keep going, please. Well, I mentioned that in one of the emails to about, I think you asked the question, What is your biggest lesson and yoga? Yeah. And, you know, in addition to, you know, no modification. You know, Bikram said, don't worry about it, forget about it, just do the yoga. And I didn't necessarily totally get that at the moment. That's why I was a little like, pissed off. What do you mean, don't worry about it like, you do? Yeah. Yeah. So for the for the next 10 days or so I was in the back of the room most of the time during class. And then one day, I'm in the middle of, of the studio. During class, I'm standing on my left leg and there's no pain. And I go all the way into the full part of the posture with your head in your knee. And there's no pain and I have tears running down my face, or it could be with a sweat, but the tears coming down, just feeling this incredible relief. And that's when I began to listen to really what Bikram was saying not not all the other stuff, but when he was really, yeah, it's, I mean, in his essence, Bikram is an incredible yoga master, regardless of all the other craziness that have happened. Yeah. He taught me so much about my life, and about healing, and about yoga, meaning some by Omer yoga teacher, he was one that really created shifts in my life. He helped me do that, in so many ways. And, again, I'll gloss over this a little bit just for sake of time. By fall of 1998, I was the first person other than Bikram to teach the workshops in teacher training. So I started teaching those. And really, for the next 30 trainings, I was either leading or teaching all the trainings. I opened a studio in Portland in 99. There's probably the 25th sequence studio in the world, something like that. One of the early ones. I opened up this studio in Bend Oregon in Oh, four. I ended up selling it to one of my teachers and then COVID happened and close it somebody else bought it. Now it's called bend hot yoga. I still teach I'm teaching tonight I teach six to 10 classes. Nice. Right now. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, I, I can't help but I hope you don't mind me asking these questions. And I you know, if you prefer not to answer, I totally understand. But I'm not You know, really curious? Well, I got a chance to meet you in 2001. And then Tamra was Bikram straining in 2002. And I went out to visit when she was there. And you were there, as well. So I got to take your class quite a while quite a few times, because you're right, you were holding down teaching in the training. I mean, just to paint the picture for those listening. I know, there's, well, I don't know how much people know. So long story short, I mean, that room was hotter than anything I've ever experienced in my life. And they're, you know, you put 300 people plus 300 plus people, mat to mat wall to wall side to side front to back in that sort of he, I mean, it's, it's an experience that I mean, it's hard to explain, because it was just absolutely grueling. I mean, you hear people that are saying, like, Well, I've been through, you know, boot camp, I've been through, you know, all these different Army and Navy and Marine training, and this is even harder. I've never experienced anything that's hard in my life. And you know, and you're in it going full. Yeah, I think I'm going to die. You know, I mean, it was, it was brutal, and you get there like, whatever time in the morning eight or nine in the morning, and you're there until sometimes midnight or later sitting on that concrete floor and doing two classes a day. So it was personally one of the most challenging experiences and and again, one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had and it got me completely fired up to do yoga and teach and, and I owe a lot to that intensity that he was able to cultivate for I think today me beings excited, still excited, even more excited about yoga than I was back then. At the same time, when I would watch, you know, him laying on girls laps, and you know, them combing his hair. And you know, there was a lot of like really kind of aggressive statements he would make toward women that really caused me to go, Oh, this guy's just a little too intense for me. And when we had, and we ran the yoga studio in Mira Mesa in San Diego, from 2003 to 2006. And, you know, I drive up to La every week and take the advanced class with Bikram in rock history. And at that time, Jason was from Laguna was there and you were there you would be coming and visiting and Juan was there practicing. And I mean, that was an incredible me Cleves. I mean, there was such an amazing vibe. But then as I started to watch more and more, I was like, I got this feeling of like, Man, this guy is gonna go down and I'm gonna have his name on my sign, and I'm going to be representing and then it's gonna, I'm gonna look like I'm a part of that. And at that point, that's what caused Chairman Ida sell and come back here to Florida. And we've been in this location here at Native yoga center for the last 16 years. But I guess I guess I say all that because I just want to know where you're at with your reconciliation of the allegations about you know, the charges of rape against Bikram and him being you know, a warrant for his arrest, you know, and and that type of thing. What how, where are you at with all that? That could be a whole nother show. So let me see if I can. It could be another show and I'm willing to make the other show and I don't know if you expected me to fire those kinds of questions at you because I don't again, I I want to know I'm willing to ask I want to be respectful of of the of your where you're at with it. I'm not looking to push buttons and create a bunch of drama. No, I said I'm okay with it was talking about anything including that. You know, there's no doubt that some of what happened around all of that was it was painful, is like a lot of questioning like what is this about? Why is this happening? You know, and I was around Declan quite a bit, and I never I mean, Bikram was some of his language. wasn't always comfortable when he was talking about man or women complaint. And I never directly saw any of what came about later. I knew most of the women that were involved in some type of civil legal type actions, there's criminal investigation of which nothing came out of it. As far as I know, Bikram never had a warrant for his arrest. But he was the last civil lawsuit that he did not pay. So he would need to question for that. But it wasn't for criminal charges. It was the failure to pay on the civil litigation that occurred. Again, I mean, I haven't talked to be come in for decades. So I don't know what's going on with it today. I am in big firm. And I certainly in addition to what I told you, that happened in training, there was another situation that occurred that was extremely uncomfortable and had to do with all the one of the renditions of the franchise that was coming about, and he felt like I was responsible for the franchise not working out and which, you know, it wasn't going to work out because it wasn't going to work out. Yeah, it's not your fault. That's, I don't even know that situation, but I'm just pretty darn certain. It's not your fault. Yeah. Just based on Well, yeah, I will say, good. I mean, big from showed me how to save my ass. And he changed my life in so many ways. And, you know, I mentioned to this to you before, too, I'm 33 years sober. And prior to getting sober, I was a wild and crazy guy. And, you know, what's comes with drinking and using and all of that. And oftentimes, you know, I would do things that would horrify me today that I did. I mean, like, who is that person seems like a different person, because it was. So those actions that I used to take prior to getting sober. We're not pretty. Yeah. So I look at somebody like Bikram who may be doing some things that appear to be not pretty, I'll call it and I go, Okay, what is he going through? What is his karma? What is his lesson here? What is he need to do? Why is this happening? What about everybody else involved? So huge rabbit. But I really respect that. I think that's an important point to bring up that all of us if we look back on our past, surely there's a few things that we're not really proud of. Absolutely, that we if we've learned from it, and we are dedicated to evolving and listening and you know, being open to communicating and then I think there's space for forgiveness there. So I know I did I meet Omron I. I remember seeing I remember seeing Bikram and aamra and Deepak Chopra, all hanging out together buddy, buddy. And I did not meet Omer decide but I'm aware of aamra its engagement in the community. Prior to help me out with the name of in Massachusetts, it's Kripalu. And he was the originator of Kripalu. And, interestingly enough, I'm about to say I opened up a yoga studio or center somewhere here in like Central Florida. Kinda, yeah, somewhere else somewhere out and I haven't been to it and but please tell me what your thoughts were regarding aamra? Well, I know I'm right. And he stayed in my home. And he's actually a very wonderful man. But you know what, when he left the call us the board said you have to leave, because primarily and he'll talk about this. I'm not saying anything out of place here. He was talking about celibacy and such, and marriage and commitment and all sorts of things like that. Well, at the same time, was having a number of relationships with about 10 or 12 different women? Yes. And it caused a lot of problems. You know, and there's still people that that I know that have a lot of difficulty with it. And understandable, you know, and Onra he'll talk about it very openly, and we've talked about it and he said, for him, he says it was one of the biggest lessons that he tells his guru gave him and that he needed to move through that, you know, in that contradiction within his soul. To be able to make the changes that he needed to do to reconnect with his relationship to the universe and the energy of whatever somebody wants. That makes sense, don't you? Um, that makes sense to me that we got to go through these challenges and then realize, ooh, that fire is really hot. Or, you know. Good point, Michael. Good point. And I'll say one other thing about the big crumbs right now. Because there's a very positive side to all of how all that unfolded and fell apart and in everything else. One of the things that was very strong within the Bikram community for many years was this. strong devotion to Bikram, I'll call it you know, people wanting to not upset the master. And in all of this, and as a result of it breaking down, and I heard a little bit of what, you know, your story from going to California, Florida and all that. I think it internally caused a lot of people to reflect on who they were, and who they are, and how they can best serve the world, based on their relationship to spirit and everything else, and not based on a gurus relations relationship to what the guru thinks you need to do. So, you know, all the centers opened up, you went from Narita to Florida, and you've unfolded into this great studio and this great way of teaching. And I can give example of example, an example of somebody would say, Well, what is true for me what is right for me? Do I want to keep teaching yoga, with this name with this studio with this style? Do I want to, you know, be a TV star? Do I want to do something else? So it caused that motion within different people to see what was true for them? You know, and I did the same thing, you know, and like, even the franchise stuff, and, and all that. I mean, we had signed franchise agreements, Ambassador agreements, and I had told my brother, which was a franchise expert, you know, I said, if this doesn't work out, I'm gonna go hike in the mountains, write a book and coach people. Well, guess what I started doing? Right. And so it's like, I think it made the community so to speak, even though it's fractured some stronger on the individual level. Does that make sense? Well, that's beautifully said. I love that you brought that up? Because that was that's just so poignant. And yes, and I think that the fact that you're bringing to light that in all darkness, there is light, you know, like, out of out of what seems like the dark night of the soul, you know, like, that questioning process of like, and I loved how you've been kind of mapped out? Do I even want to teach yoga anymore? Do I even want to teach yoga under this umbrella anymore? Do I even want to practice anymore? What am I even doing? Like? Why? What is my motivation? And I think that you're right, I think you're absolutely right. And you know, what's interesting is, you know, after a while, while we were holding down the Ashtanga studio, tamarind, I traveled to Mysore and started practicing with batavi Joyce and had a really wonderful experience in India with him. And in the past few years, there's been, you know, there are out there are similar allegations that are different to Bikram in their own way, but similar in that, there is people that are hurt, you know, and so, um, and I had that again, dark night of the soul of like, what keeps happening I keep going from guru to guru, and each group keeps ending up being not as perfect as I wanted them to be. And kind of like, you know, like, when you said, you first went into the Bikram class, you that he's just going to heal me, I'm gonna, like, you know, all my pain will be absolved. I'm just gonna, like, this is gonna just be it. And then it was like the total opposite experience in some ways, right? And experiencing that, that sort of interest interaction. And so I just love the fact that you're spinning it down the direction of look how many look how much good stuff is coming out of this, though, in that process of introspection and really looking at it and being willing to ask these questions. So I really appreciate that. So yes, I do. I do understand what you're saying. Thank you. Yeah. I really think that's what yoga is. It's not about perfect photo or the, you know, perfect heads and the or perfect Chaturanga or anything else it's, you know, connecting ourselves and connecting ourselves and recognizing our relationship to the universe. We don't need to do a posture I mean, like you mentioned Deepak calm right? And Bikram. You know, I set up the three masters workshop on the Big Island. Organ monologic that was going on. And so I would sit in the same room with the three of them. And the four of us again Bikram Deepak and armrests, talking about yoga, and all of that. And, you know, I'm read basically saying, you know, well, was there one posture for postures to start? You know, so this big discussion ensued about that there's a discussion about whether downward dog was really a posture. I've got an old Indian yoga book that says downward dog is strictly prohibited by the yoga sword. Yes, you know, just having this. I look back at that, those times pod and then just thinking, wow, I really was doing all of that. And just seeing that, and, you know, you look at Deepak onward and Bikram and they all had challenges with all their eggs and women. You know, all of that stuff, all of them. John frand. And I mean, it's, oh, yeah, part and parcel and I'm thinking shit, I missed out. You know, it's just like, Yeah, you know? I mean, that jokingly, I know, I know. This. It's just like, wow, okay. Well, did I really miss all that? Did I really not see that? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's a good. That's a. That's a that's something worth pondering right there. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah, I mentioned that big lesson again. Don't worry about it. Forget about it. Just do the yoga. Yeah. And I guess while while you're speaking, I gotta, well, there's two things I definitely want to hit upon before we close what we got. We still have some time. So I'm not worried about that right now. But I really want to hear about your book. So I'm going to come back to that in just a moment. In relation to one of the questions that you had originally, when studying with Bikram was that you know, you had you asked, How can I modify? The answer was you don't modify you do it, you you just push on it and go right. And so you know, and obviously, this has been since you know, 20 years, since you and I have met and our bodies are changing. They've changed, they're different, they're unique. They're, maybe they're better, maybe, maybe, maybe not. And, and so I'm curious, like in terms of the modification, I've really been kind of leaning in the direction of loving teaching gentle yoga, loving, giving people props, and, and just kind of like taking it similarily that like, you know, just come in and just move and just breathe and even if you have to lay down the whole time, just make it in the door. Or if they're signing up online sign up online and be at home and use your to use that platform and an opening up to wow if you have some back pain. Because I remember in Campbell pose, Bikram just being like and push and push and push and push, push and push and so I was pushing, but I wasn't. I was just letting my knees flare apart. I was jamming all this pressure into my low back and around my sacrum and and then a little later on, someone gave me the advice will here try to draw your knees and do a little abduction a little internal rotation of the thighs and and then my back started feeling better because I wasn't. I was recruiting musculature from another area in the body to get stronger that I was going weakened and dumping on my back. So my question for you is how do you work with this balance between push and push? And hey, wait, let's modify. Yeah. One of the way that I teach is a reminder to anybody with within their practice to do what you can according to your ability to given moment, in any given time, there's different levels to that there's the physical level of what that is, and what you can do and what you're not able to do at the time. And the mental, emotional, spiritual level of what you're able to do at the time. I think that there are different practices that involve deeper modifications, blocks, straps, all those different things, kilos, and all of that, and I think that's great. And within the big crumbs, you know, I learned in that particular way. And, you know, within the Bikram practice, you know, my primary thing is normal breathing. Most people and most teachers don't understand normal breathing in the sense of the Bikram yoga, but it's breathing like we are breathing right now is normal breathing at 23. You know, it's just, we're breathing normal right now. So can you maintain a posture? Or can you go into whatever posture that you're performing at the time and maintaining your breath, just like we are now. physical sensations, emotional sensations, your knee, your argument with your partner yesterday, the person that cuts you off in traffic, whatever it might be. And we, in our practice, just remain calm being observer and not react. And it's my experience within this type of practice within the Bikram practice that when you do that, that doing what you can according to your ability to get moment, any given time, you may go to a certain point in that set. You might be able to go further. But that's all you can go right now. Because of your shoulder because of your mind because of your knee. Because of your spirit, whatever it might be. Yeah, you know, because it's all like to think wonderful soup. It's like a flock of 1000s of birds that are flying in the air and whooping and all these different directions. You know? Yeah. And that's what what it's like, yeah. And, you know, I come to feel that. And this may sound crazy to some of the listeners that the Bikram practices one of the most gentle practices out there. I mean, the whole craft true, though. Yeah. So for some reason suboxone for 14 to 16 minutes of savasana. Yeah. That's so true. I know. There's, I mean, without a doubt, there's brilliance in that sequence in the sequence. I mean, there's no doubt from a healing perspective and cool, well, great answer. I love that perspective. And I love the visual of the birds. Yeah, because I love watching huge flocks of birds and the way they make those patterns and shapes and, and then the thought of like, how my, like you said, like, the the mental, the emotional, the physical, the spirit, the all these different elements are swirling like that, in a way. So that was a great, that's a great visual, I love that view. The other visual that's similar to that is a school of fish. And you know, they got, you know, you can have all the fish schooling, going around, and there's a shark swim, swimming through them and trying to eat them, but they're able to turn their bodies to not getting eaten. So they're getting constantly challenges is they're moving to the water. You know, and it's nature, it's the way that we our bodies are designed in the same way I my experience is that it ebbs and flows and it slopes and it dies and does all these things. I agree that love that one too. Thank you for keeping it in the natural realm. I'm really I'm really excited Michael to hear about your book. i Sorry, I have my notes here. So I make sure I stay on on cue but falling down getting up. Can you tell me a couple things I would like to know first, like you mentioned that your one of your dreams was and then you've achieved it to go and write your book. And can you tell me a little bit? A What's it about and be your process? You know, how did you how did you go about this? Well, I'll say first book was in my mind for about 12 years or something like that. You know, thinking about I'm gonna write this book and go write this book. Finally I made a commitment to write the book within 90 days and it took 79 days to write it He's. And I would often go to Starbucks or some local coffee shop and sit there for two hours and go for two hours every single day. I was the guy in the corner and this laptop typing. That was me. Yeah. And I, the book was done. And it was edited. I showed up in New York for a media event wasn't about me. But it was a media that that I was interested in, started talking to some guy standing next to me, I had no idea who he was. It was on a Friday. And he said, I want to publish your book. And I was telling about my book. And I said, Well, who are you? He says, Well, I publish books. I said, Okay. So by the following Wednesday, we had a publishing agreement in place, I'd never submitted a manuscript to any publisher, I was thinking that was going to have to do with 50 times, you know, getting rejected, rejected, rejected. And wow. It's just like, it just unfolded like that. Right? Yeah. The story of the book. And this is, I think, important I want, you know, like all the listeners to really hear this, because, you know, in today's world, there's so much going on, and there's so much energy within our atmosphere, with all sorts of different things going on, whether it's wars, whether it's floods, whether it's political arguments, whether it's just agreements with friends and family, I mean, on and on and on. And there's all this swirling energy. And since the beginning of time, man has healed from passing stories from passing wisdom, verbally. That's how we learned yoga primarily, through that verbal instruction, and then experiencing it within our own being. And I think that the power of stories right now is so vital. And we need to get our stories out there. So like what you're doing, Todd is huge, having this podcast, having all these different people coming in talking about their stories, what they did, how they heal, how other people can heal. And so there's places in the world that don't have the ability to tell stories, they'll go to jail if they do. So, I feel like it's our responsibility to maintain that passing of the true wisdom, of healing, of connecting of interacting, bringing spirit into our lives, and recognizing that the spirit is there. And so, again, I mean, I get really passionate about that, you know, I've almost got tears my eyes, because I just think stories are vital. And our bodies tell our story, we go into a yoga posture, we can tell a story, you know, right there from that particular plot. So, I was briefly about the book. You know, friends told me, Oh, I should write this book. Eriko, you know, I also had a water skiing accident when I was a child and had 6% of my livery move, gallbladder, cracked ribs, collapsed lung, and I slipped into a coma for attendance. And as I was coming out, I had a near death experience. And I didn't want to come back. I didn't want to come back to my body. I wanted to stay where I was. And so I was reaching out. They told me that my time wasn't done yet. I needed to go back. And I came back. And I came out of my coma, and I woke up. So that's really kind of the beginning of the book. Yeah. And, you know, a lot of people that have near death type experiences will come back. And Nina Murjani, which had cancer and her cancer completely went away and had a near death experience and came back and had this enlightening experience. I suppose I did, too, but my Lightning Experience manifested itself in anger and frustration and addiction. You know, I was mad at the universe. I was mad at God, you know, just like, how could you send me back here, you know, and my self esteem, you know, just suffered, you know, just sucked, you know, and knew that I evolved and had my other surgeries and my vascular and started doing yoga. Everything moved and shifted, you know, and I feel and here I am. I mean, it's been 51 years since my waterskiing accident that I wasn't supposed to survive. It's been 35 years since my vascular surgery since I wasn't supposed to survive. And I I'm still here. Apparently I'm not done yet. Right? Yes, I think that is. That's a reasonable assumption. Yeah. All right. So the story is about that journey of actually just I was 1971, I won the Junior Championship upon golf. But 12 years old, I was a hotshot golfer as a hotshot water skier. And, you know, it dives a little bit into all of that, and into starting to drink and use. And, you know, that's kind of the first part of the book is, you know, all of that pain and suffering that happened. And then the last part of the book, really starts diving into my opening into yoga and how yoga helped me evolve. So yoga helped me forget about how yoga taught me how to, don't worry about it. Forget about just do the yoga. Yes. And, you know, I'm on the organic, I don't know a lot of these yoga terms. You know, I know a lot of the names of the yoga postures, you know, our friend, Jason, he didn't know the Sanskrit names. He could only he only knew the English name of the pastor, but he was one of the most incredible teachers you could ever have. Right? I'm glad that we have that shared connection of knowing Jason, Jason was yogi who had a studio in Laguna Beach, and he just was special and just amazing. And wow, wow, remarkable. And he passed away, just unexpected. For me. It was unexpected. I didn't know anything. And when I heard he passed, I was that was a tough one. For me. It's hard when anyone we know passes, but I just remember thinking, Wait, Jason, like, how could that be? You know, like he was superhuman in some way. But teaching yoga to the gods. Yeah, he must be. I really believe that. I think you're right. Yeah, I do. Yeah. That kind of aura about them. Absolutely. Wonderful. Yes. Yeah. That's amazing. I mean, wow. I mean, I've had a smile the whole time listening to you, because I didn't know we had this connection. And so I just, we, we met via a different platform and, and started, you know, with our correspondents, I just didn't even know. So once it dawned on me who I'm getting a chance to speak to, I can't believe it. Michael, this is so cool. Man. I love this opportunity to connect with you. Because I loved your classes when you taught and I just thought you brought like this, this like totally grounding energy. In a really difficult, challenging environment. So I just feel so lucky right now to get to talk to you. I love the fact that you're bringing up. I'm still here. I think that's really important. I mean, whenever I'm going through a tough time, and I can get into that space of really appreciating like, this might be my last day. If this is my last day. What's my daughter gonna think of me? My son's gonna think of me and my wife gonna think of me, what are you gonna think of me, Michael, you know, like, if this is my last day, you know, I'm so glad I get a chance to, like, connect with you. I we get a chance to connect here and random and I didn't, didn't know this was gonna, I didn't expect this. So I feel really, I do feel there's some serendipity going on in life right now. I mean, I know there's always serendipity whether I can see it or not. But this opportunity, personally, to get to talk to you feels like feels that so Um, okay, well, on that note, where else can we go? What other angle is there out there that Well, I like the fact that you brought up self esteem issues because I had such a beautiful experience this morning. And I that I had that I feel I was teaching this morning. And of course, I'm not going to name names and anyone local. You know, I don't think she would mind if I bring this up. But when she came in the door, and I just had that feeling of I just want to go over and just give a quick hug, you know, and I don't normally do that because I just figure you know, just be professional or whatever. And so and she opened up really quick about I wasn't going to come because I have self esteem issues and I think that just self esteem issues you know, and I just said oh please it's you know that when you're here that that's not an issue. Nobody that's only you thinking that it's nobody else you know what I mean? Like You are so welcome here to do Whatever you need, and I'm definitely not thinking that what I'm thinking is I'm so proud of you, because you're really working hard here, you know, and so, um, I think that that's an important element because I noticed it myself, when I get those negative mental patterns going of, you know, just grinding myself down about my body, my body, you know, how I feel about myself. And so I'm glad you brought that up, can you share any more about that, and what you do to keep the perspective, fresh and, and healthy. Left me, I want to mention two different things, which is coming up for me right now. The first one is like, at least within, you know, the Bitcoin rooms, there's mirrors. And, you know, oftentimes students will come in, and they'll stay in the back of the room, because they don't want to get up front and see themselves. And that's okay. And that's the process that's happening. And over the years, I've seen these people move from the back of the room, a little bit closer to a little bit closer to, they want to be in the front of the room. And I see their lives change. And I see what they were in yoga changes from, you know, complete covering to hardly wearing anything, maybe a little too little sometimes this in the mirror, that ability to see themselves for who they are. And to love themselves to have that self love. And I went through that process I didn't like myself, I hated myself, and I went from the back of the room to the front of the room. And it's so powerful when that happens, because it's also reflected outside of the room in those people's lives, their relationships to their work, just who they are, right. So to yoga, it's really powerful that you don't need a mirror for that, the physical mirror, and, you know, that's been my primary teaching environment. mirrors can be powerful, very powerful. And then the other thing that I mentioned, you know, I've talked a lot about not being able to walk and having self esteem and struggling and I'm not good enough. And you know, that woman on a roller plate is really good looking. And she'll never liked me because I can barely walk, you know, all those types of things. One of the things that I do with where I live, and I know that some of it has to do with some of those underlying issues for me, is I made a commitment earlier this year that I was going to hike up a beautiful week. And I go out and mostly read mute remote viewing, very few of them have any trails on them on and off trails kind of guy and I'll go with a buddy or two or something. And I'll go in, I'll climb up to the top of that view. So I'm breaking this idea that I'm not good enough just by being able to walk to say, Hey, I'm stronger, I can do this. I've made it to the top of another mountain and I can see other mountains and I can see the beauty of where I'm at. And it's just like that practice is like a yoga practice growing up abuse and in every Butte is different. And you know, it's been really powerful for me this year. You know, because self esteem issues, I don't think they go away. I just think that we can make other attributes of ourselves more parents. Right? Yeah. But like, that self esteem that I had on, you know, walking down the boardwalk in Santa Monica going as low as I could to, that's still there. You know, yeah, the energy shifted in move, but that experience is still there. But today, I can have these experiences that express my stronger self esteem, my self love, by confidence in myself, you know, in all those different things through my yoga practice, to hiking up abuse through helping a child, you know, could be all sorts of different things. Knowing that I have spirit with me, not behind me, not next to me, not in front of me, but with me. And that that spirit is helping to guide me to be at the highest and best service I can. And when I recognize that, then I know I'm okay then I know that my self esteem is lower, so to speak, then the Spirit Excellent answer. Both of those are great. Oh, everything is yoga. Especially, I know I want to go, I want to come out to Oregon and go climb some buttes. Many I just like, there's endless. It's just like, it's so beautiful. I want to go with that one. And I like Google Maps, trying to figure out how to get there. Most of them are hard to get to remote. You know, I'm watching a show on TV called 1883. And it's, you know, this going on the wagon trail across America, and they're headed for Oregon, and the Oregon Trail. And, man, what a what an experience to land there. I can imagine that's cool that you're still there. And you're loving it up. It sounds like yeah, you know, Michael, I just, I'm so thankful for this opportunity to talk. And I, I would, I hope that we can do this again. And I'm excited to release this episode. And for everyone listening, please check out Michael's website and social media. And you're gonna see the links in the description below. Michael, is there anything else that you'd like to share before? As a parting as a parting favor? No. As a as a way of saying goodbye, and hello. What's coming up is mentioned that I'm gonna mention again. Don't worry about forget about it. Just do your yoga. There we go. Yeah, have a good life. No. Yeah. And let's be all part of sharing our stories and, you know, moving into an energy that's supportive, and loving for all of us, even when we fall. That's amazing. When you mentioned earlier that there's people that can get arrested for telling their story. That's a powerful idea. And I agree with you 100% like to the for this opportunity for us to share and to hear your story is just an amazing opportunity that maybe we're taking for granted. We don't maybe we don't realize that it's an option. It does take a little bit of guts to talk our story. But I'm really I feel like you're you're blazing the trail here. I want to read your book. Where can we get it? Where can we get a hold of your book from? Well, one of the things that I don't do it on all the shows I'm on but if anybody goes to this will be in the links below to is Michael B harris.com. Forward slash book, The Oh kick, you won't find the link on the main page of the website. That's a backlink. But you can go to that link and download the book for free. Very cool. So invite anybody that wants to is to download the book for free. And it's it's actually 10 years since the book originally came out. And you know, it's still relevant, you know, it's still selling 100 copies a month or something like that. I talked to my publisher the other day, and so it's still relevant, and it's amazing, and that's cool. It's still helping people. I guess. I'm not sure yet. You're not through yet. And I'm excited that that hopefully everyone listening will check it out and through this medium. We'll keep we'll keep spreading it around here. Yeah. Awesome, Michael. I'm gonna I'm gonna send you an email here and stay in touch. And once again, thank you. I'm so excited. Thank you. All right. Take care. Native yoga podcast is produced by myself. The theme music is dreamed up by Bryce Allen. If you liked this show, let me know. If there's room for improvement. I want to hear that too. We are curious to know what you think and what you want more of what I can improve. And if you have ideas for future guests or topics, please send us your thoughts to info at Native yoga center. You can find us at Native yoga center.com. And hey, if you did like this episode, share it with your friends, rate it and review and join us next time