Native Yoga Toddcast

Adam Keen - On Yoga & the Quest for Meaning

December 26, 2022 Todd Mclaughlin / Adam Keen Season 1 Episode 96
Native Yoga Toddcast
Adam Keen - On Yoga & the Quest for Meaning
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Show Notes Transcript

I am so delighted to bring to you Adam Keen. Adam is an amazing Ashtanga Yoga teacher who is constantly seeking answers and finding the big questions. He has his own podcast called Keen on Yoga and offers instruction via his  online teaching platform. During this conversation we discuss topics like:

  • how to investigate yoga practice from the angle of self care
  • the true purpose of yoga and how to access it
  • Ashtanga Yoga in the modern world
  • the benefits of Yoga on mental health
  • and so much more

Visit Adam on his website: keenonyoga.com
Find him on Youtube here: ADAM ON YOUTUBE
Follow him on Instagram: Keen_on_Yoga
Enroll in his upcoming Yoga and Mental Health Workshop here.

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LinkedIn: Todd McLaughlin

Todd McLaughlin:

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. 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 nativeyogacenter.com. All right, let's begin

Adam Keen:

Fine, lovely to be here. Thanks for inviting me. Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast, thank you for listening. Today, I have the pleasure and the privilege of bringing Adam Keen on to the podcast, I really recommend that you go to his website, keenonyoga.com. He has a podcast himself called Keen On Yoga. Also a YouTube channel and Instagram. So you can find him on multiple channels. I gain a lot of inspiration from Adam's work. I read every single post that he writes on Instagram, he's really prolific and gives you plenty of content. He writes about really deep, thoughtful and engaging Ideas. I've really learned a lot from the media that he puts out. I reached out to him and he was gracious enough to join me here on the podcast. And for that, I'm really thankful. That is what is really incredible about the yoga community. Our ability to be open to share with each other. To not be nervous about interacting and communicating with someone that we don't know from the "Man in the Moon or the Woman in the Moon." That's something that I find an incredible amount of inspiration from personally, in my own yoga practice. I do want to mention that Adam is going to be holding a yoga conference, where he'll have Eddie Stern, and some other well known yoga and ashtanga yoga teachers and practitioners on this channel, speaking about really important issues like mental health, and eating and diet, and just all these things that we are facing in our own experience of our practice and how to navigate and what is a healthy and conducive way to continue to practice and share with others. So again, I'm so thankful you are here and for your support. And I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. This is a true honor and pleasure. All right, let's go ahead and get started. I'm so happy to have Adam Kean here today. Adam, how are you? It's really always a pleasure to be the guest rather than the interviewee. And I've always said to people that try is actually easier to be a guest than it is to be an interviewee to be the interviewer I find so yeah, you know, people say this or that about oh, you know, the my interviewing style, I always say, well, I'll set you up with the podcast next time you ever go. Because it's really not easy, you know, to get that to get that balance, right. And I've done over 100 on the Keen on Yoga podcast. Yeah, maybe 150 interviews now, and I'm still still working at it.

Todd McLaughlin:

Oh, definitely. Well, on that note, you have your own podcast Keen On Yoga. I'm curious, who are your inspirations if you are to listen to another interview? Or who have you gained a lot of inspiration and their interviewing style?

Unknown:

Yeah. It's a good question. Really. I like it, guys. He put me on the spot. I mean, I only listened to the older ones. I mean, obviously, you know, we've got a shout out to Peg Mulqueen at Ashtanga Yoga Dispatch. She has been out there for several years now, so achievers, really the four runner in this. So a lot of you know a lot of inspiration from from peg obviously, a lot of respect to peg for doing and you know, starting what she did so early and getting it out there with all those teachers so early. So I listened to that over the years from when she started. You know, I listened to harmony and Russell's podcast I find Russell hilarious. You know Russell's a very funny guy and a friend and I've had him on the podcast, I find it very funny. Yeah, I know, bits and bobs. Really, you know, I looked at stuff, you know, a different interviews on YouTube. I mean, you know, Russell Brand is not bad. Sometimes. he irritates me. He has some Yeah, some quirks that are reasonable. Yeah. Is that right?

Todd McLaughlin:

That is all right. Good answer. I was just curious. Sometimes I'll, I think if I want to learn something here, let me let me listen to some of the greats. And so I was curious if there's some people that that inspire you. I hear you that. Yeah.

Unknown:

Yeah. I mean, the thing is with I mean, I don't want to derail this to talk about podcasts, and the kind of ins and outs of being an interviewer, you know, but um, it is really hard thing. And you never know how hard it is until you actually do it, you know, because you want to try and get out of the way. And the difficulty is, if you've got something to say, like me, you ended up getting too much in the way you know, and so people I admire are able to ask the questions and somehow get out of the way enough that because when you come in tune into someone I know as well as anyone else, you don't want to hear the interviewer. You want to hear the guest. Nevertheless, I tend to still speak too much in the podcast, and I always berate myself for this afterwards, I just wish I'd shut up more, you know. And so I suppose the people I respect the people that have managed to kind of corral interview and conduct it in such a manner that you don't they, they've guided it, but they're like a great waiter, you know, seamlessly at the table. They're never willing at the table, and you don't want them there. But they're always on hand when you need them. I mean, you're an English one people probably don't know, maybe do Do you know, Jonathan Ross? I don't. He's a famous. Yeah, he's a famous English interviewer. He's, he's been around many years, and he's quite good in terms of giving people space. And these are on the BBC was on television. Nice. Nice. Yeah. So yeah, that's cool. You go, oh,

Todd McLaughlin:

I appreciate that. And then, um, when did you start practicing yoga?

Unknown:

Yeah, straight into that one. When did I start practicing it in 1999, I think I started I was at university. And I've told this story many times, but I'll tell him, the the obvious backdrop of how I started is that I was depressed, I was studying philosophy, as most students of philosophy are. Probably, I don't know, what comes first the chicken, you know, like, whether the propensity is there with a philosophy does it but what ends up you know, often then in the, you know, in how do you call it, they call it a counselor, or the, the area where the, you know, the therapy area of the university. So I was in therapy. And then the teacher said, the therapist said, Well, you know, you and everyone else in philosophy is here as well. So, I find that kind of funny, but I also found that kind of concerning that, you know, the people that come into philosophy, obviously, or, like, Thor's the people that were had questions about life, you know, and we're using the vehicle of lucid thinking, you know, rational thinking, to work those out, and it didn't work out. And that was shocked me. Because, you know, as an 18 year old, I was 18, when I went to uni, you know, I thought it would work out, I really thought that you could think your way out of your problems in life, you know. And what I realized is that you couldn't do that. And so, so I started, you know, I thought I was going to be tai chi, and that conflicted with a night at uni, which is a good drinking night that I didn't do the tai chi. And there was a yoga class and different night, there was, you know, it was a free night, you know, non drinking. So I thought I'd gone on to that, but there's something in maybe I intuitively thought there's something in the body, right? If it can't be done through the mind, it must be something in the energy of the body, that's throwing up these negative thought patterns that I'm suffering from, you know, that could maybe be changed, like a, you know, rewiring a, you know, electrical thing or, you know, there's, you know, reconditioning a car engine or something, there's something wrong with the engine, you know, you know, that's making these thoughts happen, rather than the other way around, thinking, you know, like, if you could think more clearly, you know, then then everything would be okay. So, so yeah, I stumbled into yoga classes. Most people do. It was a hatha yoga class. It was slow, but it was challenging at the time, I was not really in good shapers. You know, as you're not when you're, you know, that that period of time when you're kind of late teens and early, you generally kind of suddenly fall off the bandwagon. You know, you know, when you're a bit younger, I was into football, I was into martial arts, certain age, you kind of you just let it go. I think when women get involved early, we're not really not that it's their fault, but they come on the scene and then that encourages bad behavior on your part and more drinking and reducing then maybe, you know, maybe you should do so. So that was my life at that time. Outside philosophy, and I was not in good shape. And I found it incredibly challenging the even happier class, I remember doing Bo Dhanurasana. And finding that was very, very painful. Same with past few months and Arsenal forward fold also incredibly credibly, almost unbearably painful. Yes. So I wasn't flexible, and I wasn't flexible at all. It just kind of struck me that this after the first class was something that I had to do, just for my own mental health, it felt like it was definitely the right thing to do, in terms of responsible thing to do, even for myself and for to take care of myself, you know, because at that time, I was also prescribed antidepressants, I was on them, you know, and I'm not gonna say anything about medication, you know, there's a whole lot of debate out there about medication. So I felt though that I didn't want to be on it forever, I felt that, you know, it wasn't something I wanted, or maybe I felt I could maybe do without them. But I couldn't maybe just come off it just like that. So that was a really another really fundamental reason to get to their yoga class and try and do something for myself, rather than just just, you know, go to the therapy and get the prescription. And, you know, then it felt rather disempowered. I felt like it was I was able to, I felt like I was out of control. And the yoga, yoga made me think, basically, on a basic fundamental level that I was doing something I'm back in control, taking control of the situation, you know, but then on my plan to, uh, to get into Ashtanga Yoga or, or become good at it in inverted commas, you know, the asanas, that kind of happened, just because I had to be dedicated for the mental health reasons to be quite honest with you. Yeah, I did it every day, from 15 minutes a day, and expanded to 30 minutes a day. And then I expanded it a bit longer. And then, after a couple of years that it was generally at that time, you know, this is the late 90s. So there was a, you know, there's, it was kind of what was called with a British wheel of yoga, which was the generally the domain of like, a certain middle aged lady, you know, at this time, you know, not not necessarily the case now, but at the time, it was, like an older lady who was made the mainstay of these classes, and they basically kicked me out in the end, and it's not really for you, young guy, I was 1920 as a bit feisty, you know, like, I was pushing, you know, then I've got to be quite into the assets as well. And they've got, you know, like, reasonably accomplished at them. And they just said, you know, like, you should try something else a bit more challenging, you know, so they didn't kick me out, like

Todd McLaughlin:

in any court or something like they thought you should get into football or

Unknown:

a different type of yoga, okay. But at this time, they still knew like, what you know, what other types of yoga are out there? You know, there was like Vinyasa or anything like that, you know, it was only like you had two choices. Hatha Yoga, this is entry one, you know, yeah, the younger yoga the pedantic one, you know, people that were hatha yoga students, but like a bit of pendant light to be there like to be specific. And you know, then what took it more seriously, maybe, I don't know. And then you had the Ashtanga people who were seen really as the outcasts. So I think they recommended me yoga Yanga yoga, more in line with the happy yoga now Ashtanga was seen as at that time even it had that kind of rappers are this is not really yoga. It's too much jumping around to athletics. Yes, I kind of got into that, you know, because someone kind of latched on my girlfriend at the time because she was doing it a bit, you know, when I was doing Yanga yoga. And I really believed in yoga yoga, but I started to get annoyed about getting all the props and setting them up and it took so long. It was a breath wet, but it was the breathing in there. You know people say oh, you know a certain point they teach you the breathing and you have to be more advanced June but anyway, I got you know, a little bit I was looking also outside that box as well. And she went to the Ashtanga class and then she goes come along one night and I was no I love it. I don't want to do the jumping I'm doing younger, like it's slow you know you stay in the postures for a long time. And you know, I don't believe that's yoga and then I went to it and I just there's a funny story because I didn't do any of the vinyasas when I refused to jump back or jump through I would just hold the posture so

Todd McLaughlin:

right off the bat you're pretty rebellious. Like right yeah.

Unknown:

Yeah, I don't like it and myself, you know, but I've always been kind of stubborn minded. So yes, I know what I'm doing is a bit too much like that. I know what I'm doing I don't like this jumping. There's not really Yoga. But you know, you know what I mean? I also I can also think again that I think that's my saving grace and after a week or so, she was going again she stopped because I backside her but she was going again whilst he was going I said I have another go at it because you know it kind of piques my in something piqued my interest in IT. I think because at the time, the guys looked there, they looked like they were really quite athletic. And I thought, well, if you want to learn something physical, you want to learn it from the people that look really well toned and physical. Like they know what they're doing with their body and the younger people not so much. You know. These guys are quite impressive. There's a 1920 year old guy to see another guy toned in do handstands and stuff like that lift themselves up into a handstand. I would quite first of all, I was dismissive like, oh, you know, it's not really yoga and then it piques my interest. And I. So I went back. And after a few weeks, I was quite hooked to be honest. Yeah, yeah, I already had to sell practice everyday. So it just was changed. I just changed one thing for the other. You know, it was Kathy yoga, and then you just got, I just changed it to ash Tanglin. You know,

Todd McLaughlin:

that's, that's cool. Adam, one thing that that made me think of is recently I had somebody come in for a class, and I said, She, It was a slower, gentler class. And she's like, Oh, that was a little bit. You know, I wish I was a little bit faster. And I said, Oh, well, you know, we offer Ashtanga classes led classes. She was oh, no, no, that's still that's still holding the poses for too long. And it always kind of, yeah, yeah. And it cracks me up that sometimes I'll hear people say, like a strongest to slow. And I'm like, Well, what, right?

Unknown:

Well, how fast can you be?

Todd McLaughlin:

I think there's a little bit of a trend in the vinyasa world, at least around here. I don't know if it's elsewhere, but where you don't hold anything for longer than an inhaler. And exhale. And I don't think it's actually I don't think there's an emphasis on actually coordinating the inhaler, the exhale with them, but I think it's just boom, boom, boom, this one that one and yeah,

Unknown:

it cracked. You're right. That precedent has been set by vinyasa. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin:

I always thought it was kind of interesting to because to me, your Stanga was always like a really dynamic, challenging, like intense work. Like you said, the Iyengar style that we're kind of saying, well, that's not really yoga, because it's too fast. So to have someone come and say, like, Oh, it's just too slow. I just wonder how fast could it get? You know, like,

Unknown:

move, doesn't it? You know, like, that was the fastest one. And then yeah, it's moved on. I mean, yeah, like, then we extrapolate to the future. I mean, you know, what's gonna happen? I mean, it's like, you have to take some kind of amphetamine before you go. To make, you know, to up the ante in the in vinyasa. Now, I did a Vinyasa class once because I was I kind of just for a bit of fun to be quite honest. There was a studio and they were auditioning, and I've never done a yoga audition ever. And

Todd McLaughlin:

auditioned to teach or did

Unknown:

she okay to teach? Exactly, yeah, yeah. And they had this audition, but the thing was, you had to do everyone's classes like, so there's like 20 teachers that are Roman, and I didn't need to do this class for them. And I never really done classes for other students, I just found the maestro practice on my own led classes. But at a certain point, you know, like, you know, I've done it for a long time, my curiosity is piqued about other things, you know, like, just generally other modes of teaching and teaching in other studios. I didn't know like, some people close down. And for me, it was the opposite. At a certain point, I kind of spread out again, you know, after kind of tunneling in on my sore and how to do my so I went the other way, for reasons that we can discuss anyway. And I found myself in this audition, and you had to do everyone's class. So there was vinyasa teachers there, there was teachers doing other things there. And everyone got a five minute slot. And so I did a Vinyasa class one, so a few of them. In fact, when the teacher taught, there's like five or six teachers teaching their five minute vinyasa class, it was insane. It was it was utterly insane. I mean, I know people love the style. But I found it was like a potential car crash you're going through, there's no like, I was flailing around with wild things and turning over and this and that. And before you can try and look at the teacher, there's a new posture that's there, and you're trying to get the last one. And there's a new one going on. It's madness. I mean, actually, we say in English pissing myself of laughter, you know, because it was hilarious. But yeah, I mean, it's, you know, in terms of any kind of potential alien idea of yoga, for the sake of stability or concentration? No, it probably, probably is at that, you know, I imagine if you get quite good at the thing, perhaps it flows and more embodied state of, of being in your body very dynamically in your body, but doesn't have much to do with the the original kind of auspices of yoga really, as far as I can see,

Todd McLaughlin:

I hear ya, I hear it. Can you tell me Adam, what your experience with practicing in Mysore is?

Unknown:

Yeah, no, I loved it. And, you know, not a bad word to say but it really and teachers used to say to me, the old teachers, oh, you should, shouldn't go because it's not the same as when we went, you know, we went and there's two people in the room and now you're gonna go to go club. There's like 4050 And you know, Toby Joyce's old and he won't help you. And, you know, and I went anyway, even though these teachers are respected, you know, Teresa, my wife and I ran purple Valley yoga for for a number of years in India. So we had all these all teachers passing through them so I can pick their brains, you know, so it's kind of quite well up on different teachers, perspectives on Mysore and now you know, a lot of them would say, it's not the same you know, like, why, why go now, you know, and, and it did, and I always recommend people to go now even when it's changed again, and it's this huge hanger, I still say go you have

Todd McLaughlin:

Oh, Adam, one second. Adam, one second. I

Unknown:

was there, which you never really get the quite the feel even if you're doing but, you know, when we used to do batavi Joyce on tour or you know, shroud used to come and do these tours to London wasn't the same, you know, and as soon as you get to India, something different happens there. And I'm not really you know, I try not to veer away from hocus pocus or, or things I can't explain. But there is something a bit different about that about it there. And, and so I'm pleased I went. But you know, I think there's a time and place I wouldn't you know, the same. I feel I don't need to go forever. And if asked whether I'd go back now I'd say I won't rule it out. But I've no plans to go back current.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah, yeah, I hear it and you're in Bali. Now. Can you tell me what your experiences living in Indonesia? Do you love it?

Unknown:

Oh, it's alright. It's, it's, it makes a change. I like being warm. And I can never I don't like being cold. So I like it on that, on that front, that you're always warm. Even though we're living that we always a silly thing to enjoy about our country. But you know, and the culture is nice. You know, it's very soft. Balinese culture is very, very gentle and very, very sweet. Yeah, I mean, do I love it? I know, it's, it doesn't touch you in the same way that India always touch touch me to be honest, you know, going back to that point. And when you arrive in India, there's a certain context around your practice and the context around the yoga. And something in it, you know, which so many people find just grabs them straightaway. And although I enjoy it here, and I'm very privileged to be able to be here and work from here, it's, you know, doesn't grab me it doesn't touch me in the same way that India with digital. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin:

Nice. Nice. How long did you spend in Goa?

Unknown:

We were there for a cup of my wife ran it for three years, I joined for a couple of years I was that's where I met, I was cook, I cook in London, and I supported my yoga through cooking. So nice as I was a budding teacher. And that time, you know, in the early 2000s, it wasn't like that the career of a yoga teacher was kind of clear cut, it was like, Well, you might make some money out of it. But it wasn't really like you could support yourself. So most of us had other jobs, you know, and I taught myself how to cook basically, I was never going to be a philosopher, you know, it was got disillusioned with academia. Yeah. So I quit it, you know, after three years of my degree, and I pay myself basically from pot wash from, you know, washing dishes to running kitchens, you know, just out of an interest in food really nice. I've not really had much of a background in food when I was growing up. So as soon as I kind of got a bit older and could go out and cook for myself and experience different things, I was quite intrigued about all different foods and how to cook them, you know, like I left home really not being a No, I didn't really know how to boil an egg or anything. So So you know, like the possibility of like, learning how to feed yourself was first of all fundamental. And I started cooking for friends at university and stuff. And then somebody was interested, I was interested, you know, and then developed it and developed it. And so when I left, that was the thing I thought, Yeah, sort of fancy doing going to the kitchens and working. It seemed honest, it seems practical in a way that philosophy wasn't, it seemed like a nice thing to do to cook for other people. And it's flexible, you know, you had different hours. And you know, it was dynamic, and you had a kind of gang in the kitchen. I liked that, you know, the kind of vibe and the excitement? Yeah, I mean, it lends itself in a way with Ashtanga Yoga, you know, that kind of exciting and you know, and yes, dynamic. Physical, very physical. Yes. You know, when you're when you're in your early 20s, you know, I could practice for a couple hours and go in the kitchen and cook for 10 hours, you know, but at a certain point, I started to see that that I would maybe transition out of that because you didn't have any energy going on in the long term. I didn't have the energy for both. But anyways, long story short, I did that in London. And then I decided I'd try and transition to do other things I want to go to Mysore was a bit scared of India. So I thought if I gotta go first and do cooking on this yoga retreat, yeah, there as in the position of the cook for a while. It'd be like a soft landing in India, I find my feet to be like that, you know. So that's, that's what I did. But I never really got past that because I met my wife. And then we started running it together for a couple of years. We did go to Mysore. And we hope she came to go or we hosted in there as well. And, you know, it was a really special time and experience

Todd McLaughlin:

are there. That's amazing. I had to go before it's pretty amazing there. Did you so your first intro to India was going up and then you start exploring that other part? Yeah, gotcha. Can you give me a little bit of your take your take on like us Sometimes I hear people say that go was the liberated state of India that you know, thing more things can fly and go than other parts in terms of, you know, you'll walk down to the beach and people will be in bikinis and doing the Western thing, and you'll have maybe some Indians hanging out, gawking, you know, like, what's going on here. And, yeah, can you give me your

Unknown:

more like that? It's like, Well, I think there's a little bit of kind of vibe about go with the end of my last year. Yep. Sorry. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, I was gonna say, I think with Indian communities, I think that go there. I think there is a bit of a vibe of what goes on in Ghana stays in Ghana, you know, there's a little bit of, you know, you can Las Vegas. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You can kind of chill out of it, you know, and it's not back home, where there's, the community might be a bit more stringent. And, you know, and obviously, there's all these Westerners that have, you know, kind of posthumously, I don't know what the scene is less question now. But obviously, in the 60s 70s, there was a huge hippie vibe down in Goa. So, you know, there's still of that, that kind of vibe, which is there. Yeah, maybe the place lends itself to it, the kind of geography that the, you know, the kind of vibe there. Yes, it's a lovely state, very different to Mysore, obviously, a lot more fun, because you've got the beach and you know, you can kind of go around in the kind of palm groves and the motorbike, and you know, nice, so you're kind of stuck in a town. Really? Yeah, not not so fun, you know, kind of biding your time until the next next morning where you go practice again. So, you know, in terms of, yeah, enjoyment, obviously, goal is way more fun. And that's, yeah, but in terms of the yoga, I mean, obviously, myself, yeah, there's a place that I, you know, got fond of, because we went there for for many years, that was in the end what so many of us, you know, and people still do, obviously, you know, you plan your year or a month around mice, or, you know, you go, you do your teaching, and then you take your three months, and you go to my store, and you get your kind of teeth, you know, you get taught and you get the top up, and then you go back and teach and you know, we did that for for a number of years, you know, nice, nice until Yeah, I suddenly kind of gets in the way and something changes. Life. Yeah,

Todd McLaughlin:

good point I saw yesterday, your, your posts on Instagram are amazing. You do an incredible job, Adam, I look forward to them. I don't know how you've gotten so good at around. You're a great writer. So clearly, you're taking a lot of time to compose these posts. So first off, I don't see how you have enough time to do what you're doing in terms of how long it would take me to try to do it, you're doing so good job there. I think the subjects that you're touching upon, are incredibly important. And you always get me to think so your philosophy your love, for for philosophy definitely comes through. So I feel like I learned something every time. I really enjoy the fact that you really cut in on the issues that are not spoken about a lot, or maybe are uncomfortable to speak about or challenging to talk about. Just yesterday, I saw that you wrote sometimes we mistake the finger for the moon and astanga. And I'm curious if you can elaborate on what your thinking around that or what you mean by that.

Unknown:

Yeah, I mean, let's first say that, I think more than anything, I mean, I still have the same wish for the Socratic wish, let's say for truth. Right. Like, you know, Socrates was that was a question. He was an inquiry. He was encouraging. You know, he wasn't saying he got anything, but he was just encouraging other people to think out of the box, you know, the young people of Athens, going around asking difficult questions, I think just encouraging them to follow that their thinking through and see if it worked for them or not, you know, and see if it made sense. And, you know, when followed through or not. So if you follow through the asanas, you know, it's like, well, where are these details going to get you the specific details gonna get, you know, or if we follow through the way that we stretch or we, you know, if you've fallen through the way of pulling out of yourself, for example, if you follow that to the nth degree, the rip your shoulder out of your joints, is that what? So is that extrapolating out of that, is that the idea that in progress means more and more stretching out of yourself? Until what until you end up with a ligament issue or a tendinitis because you've overstretched? Right? Right? So, you know, it's just, I guess, I have the same frustration, as you know, like, kind of someone who loves philosophy, would it just wanting us all to think together and just be honest with ourselves, you know, for the sake of everyone else, you know, really because, because dishonesty as we can see, like not, it's not necessarily mentor, it's not necessarily on purpose, but it creates so many difficult circumstances for people, right. So, we find, you know, the teachers coming back from Mysore and they've had this great experience but maybe they're not followed it through enough and and kind of contextualize what it means for the everyday person you know, And there's always details in Mysore, which mean that you, you're on program, you know, you belong to the club, you know, you point your toe here, you know, a provisioner can ask, and I dare, dare you jump back without looking up inhaling and exhaling, you know what I mean? Like, you know, right, like, there's certain points, you know, like, you know them that you have to do those ways. And that shows that, you know, the score in terms of the Mysore tradition. Now, you know, that, you know, that's not the ultimate method of yoga, the ultimate method of yoga isn't stylistically about whether you do one thing or another, it's it goes deeper than that, and those details end up just, they end up being taken just as one more way to just belong, you know, and I think we obviously have a fear of not belonging, and we have a fear of going on our own and exploring on our own without the backing up of, of an institution or, you know, right. That's the ultimate thing is the courage to stand alone and look alone, rather than just one more attempt to subscribing to the status quo, right. Because, you know, when I've done it, you know, I was super, and I can say, all this, because I did it, you know, I went there. And I, without meaning to, to be quite honest with you, but I was always a bit rogue, as you identify from the, you know, I was always going to those teachers who are a little bit more put hands down here, do that there, you know, but it's actually my wife, who's more on program, she'd got this relationship with SRAP, through hosting him at Pebble Valley. I met him in a more intimate scenario, when he was teaching a small group at Pebble Valley, we struck up a, you know, a personal relationship at that time, because he was there for weeks, you know, without all the students around him. And so I got into this kind of Mysore etiquette, you know, and then you go to Mysore, and all your peers are there and you know, like, you know, then everyone's kind of like, well, you know, you're doing pretty good there, you know, is that ego comes in, you know, and yeah, so I, you know, went down that rabbit hole with the details and with the small details and taking those details for ashtanga yoga but, but we look really are what it is. It's, it's the same as the tantric Hatha Yoga originally you find in data Tres, yoga, shastra, whether you've got, you know, Mahamudra Maha VEDA Maha Bandha, you know, you've got breath, posture, and looking place, you know, it's sorry, yeah, done this right. bunda posture and distinct. So it's the same, you know, and those are, that's the fundamental engine of what you're doing is the asset. And sometimes the small details that can help you come from the outside in, but I think all too often those small details are taken for the method itself. But that, you know, and then just as a way of belonging to that Ashtanga club, you know, with what is encouraging, is it a subjective experience of oneself in an embodied sense, in a more whole sense in a more pleasurable sense than what we had? You know, the bottom line, you know, and, yeah,

Todd McLaughlin:

do Do you still feel like you're in the club?

Unknown:

Well, I suppose, probably, if you ask Jirachi probably say no, about I haven't been kicked out. Yeah. So you know, it's like, you know, I don't seek to be honest, I don't you know, as much as I write about it, I write about because I haven't seen much of a discrepancy to be honest between now and like, I finally found a metaphor the other day, you say I spend time in a post, and I do, but I would do anyway, because I was always frustrated philosopher ever since I kind of quit philosophy for cooking. You know, I was always still thinking and questioning, you know, and that was me from a kid, you know, my mom used to say, oh, so we have some quiet time me now, you know, because I always ask the question, she always say, I used to ask why. Everything was why, you know, they're still what I'm doing now. Yeah, just asking why. And I don't have the conclusions. But I just want us all as much as possible, to ask the questions for ourselves. Because I think in that manner, is how we get to be more open, more sharing, and more and more caring people. They're kind of opening up the questions and tolerating, as I found out recently trying to tolerate and, and be respectful to each other. And, you know, just, yeah, just just allow other people's opinions were like, kind of jumping, jumping on closing down discourse, because I think that's a dangerous thing as well, you know, yeah. So coming back to the original point, sorry, I see myself as not having a really any problem with the, the Mysore traditional aspects of it. And what I'm saying now, I mean, it's a language the metaphor I was I was meaning to mention is that you've got a language you know, the language right, and then at a certain point, you know, when to break the language, but first of all for most people, yeah, I mean, getting them up to speed with the grammar is more sensible than just getting them into recite to you random, random phrases, and then not they don't know what's behind the phrase, right? You know, like, they might know how to order a coffee, you know, they don't know the verb by want and how to say you want to he wants to we want you know, like blah, blah, blah, right. So, the structure is good, you know, know the structure, learn the language, learn the conventions, and then know how to use it or not and how you want to use it and when you want to use You're not even going to Mysore I'm not going to start busting out are the things that things that aren't my sort of start right. i My main teacher was Mark Darby in the end structurally speaking, you know, in terms of practical acid instruction, Darby is for me, you cynical, none of instruction, he's wonderful. And forever grateful for for his instruction, he recommends holding the foot, you hold the foot and you pull across, right? I really think that's very, very useful as an instructor, would I do it in my story? The rubber strap? No, I wouldn't do that. Because, I mean, he's class, I'm doing it the way that with the wrist and the way that everyone's doing it. I mean, when I'm outside the class, then I use that language in a different way, just like in the old fashioned sense, you know, not now, because everything's so casual these days, but used to go into a bank, you know, you need to go into the bank, and you're, you have a certain language, and if we speak, you know, respectful respectfully to the bank manager, or the cashier, you know, what I mean? Because you are, in a sense, where you've got to be respectful, right, you know, and then when you're out in the street, you change your language, and you know, like, accordingly, yes, the same, I think without, without there being any contradiction.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah. Do you when you're working with a new student? I'm gathering, you're working with the structure of primary series? Are you trying to convey the institution with this questioning aspect? At the same time? Are you trying to build a balance of

Unknown:

a coup? That's a great question. Yes, I'm always trying to empower the students, right. And that's what I felt was so lacking in some of the teachers who, as much as I love them, and many of the old teachers that I worked with, I felt that there wasn't enough empowerment of the student necessarily, you know, and it was big for me, I always felt like what we ultimately want is to the student to come into their own power and decide for themselves, right, I mean, the courage to stand alone, the idea of cavallier I like a lot, you know, because that is it in life, you know, we always want to shelter behind other people's instructions, and, you know, you told me what to do. And for a certain while, you know, that's not a bad idea, you know, um, there's got to be some hierarchy of knowledge somewhere, you know, to learn anything, but, but at a certain point, that also becomes redundant. And one wants to encourage the student to go off and take some autonomy, and face the fear and doubt, and uncertainty of doing that, you know, for them, because a lot of that comes in, you know, and questioning, then come visit, it's easy to go to my store, right? You will get you go to my store, you learn the sequence in a way that is taught there, and you go back and you practice it. Job done, you know, easy, no questions, no questions. That's not really yoga. I mean, yoga is grappling with these difficult questions that you know, about life, you know, like, and I think the asthma practice should somehow if it's going to be used, you know, in a deeper way than just a sloppy, weird gymnastics, there has to somewhat mirror or, or prompt or prod, this kind of questioning for us, you know, yes. So yeah, I mean, it's a great question. And, yes, I can't not be me, you know, and I think that was a real change that was happening before the pandemic, and it came around more during this this time, which I think was quite pivotal for a lot of people in one way or the other, you know, I came more into just thinking, fuck it, you know, I'm sorry, I'm just going to be myself. A certain point, you know, like, you can't be you know, like, It's too tiring to be a mini clone of Sharan, you know, walking around in the skirt towel. And, you know, like, counting in the Indian accent, you know, like, which I again, I kind of did that, you know, because I was afraid, you know, because, because I wasn't confident in my own teachings, you know, and I didn't want anyone to point me out or, you know, anyone that has impostor syndrome, whatever job you do, you know, yeah, it was fulfill your lacking, you know, and at a certain point, I just thought, you know, what, I'm gonna be me. And I'm gonna relate honestly, to the person in front of me as me in terms of just wanting to show them how they could use it for themselves in their life, and encouraging support their process. And that's the end of the story. You know, there's some people it's relevant to teach them the classic ways, especially if they're saying, I'm gonna go to Mysore, and I'm gonna want to do this, and I'm, you know, I'm teaching already and I'm maybe wanting to teach Ashtanga Yoga, but maybe they're not, you know, right. I'm gonna go to Mysore blah, blah, blah. So you go, Okay, right, like, what teach you the nuts and bolts of how to do the silver service, right. Like, for other people, they say relevant, the silver service, right, they're coming, you know, they're maybe they want to do 40 minutes a day. And you know, and better this a bit of that, you know, and teaching them that will just put them off or, or be irrelevant or be inappropriate for their daily life and what they need, you know,

Todd McLaughlin:

yes, yes. Great answer, you know, and one thing that you inspire me with is that you are extremely, it seems to be very honest about personal issues. Yeah. And that's not easy. Well, to speak from my own experience. Like I feel like I grapple with that in terms of how much to talk about and Where to hold some sort of privacy? How do you how do you navigate that? Like, do you have any exercises that you do before you write, say, a post? Like,

Unknown:

it should do? I should do? Do you know what I do? out there? You know, I mean, like, I did that the start, you know, what I really found is that, now I write something, right, this is what I do, like I write, like, I've got, like, 10 different things I'm writing, you know, like, and I'll go back, and I go back, and I go back on each one, you know, over a period of days, you know, like, and they're all coming to fruition, you know, because they're only, like, a few paragraphs or whatever, each time, you know, but I do go back and keep going over those paragraphs and taking things out, I think, just, you know, yeah, not relevant or, or, you know, might be, incidentally, if I can catch them, you know, like, I didn't want to put anyone's back up, you know, and I want everyone else, you know, like, you want, you know, you want people kind of, you know, like, on your side listening, rather than, you know, being being triggered and going away. That's the last thing I want. You know, like, as far as I was so unhappy with a recent post I wrote that got people's backs up, you know, that really wasn't my intent. And I still think it's a relevant question. I just, which one is that?

Todd McLaughlin:

Which, which one was oh

Unknown:

my god, we want to go Oh, is about this Harvey Joyce and sexuality stuff, you know, though, you know, it's always gonna be a hot button. And maybe I got overconfident to think that I could navigate it. But, you know, I got caught out, you know, and I wasn't the skillful of my writing as I could have been, you know, when people pointed that out, you know, and I take it on the chin and say that, you know, things could have been said that in a more skillful manner, you know, but the topic is still of interest to me, you know? And, and where does the line story coming from kind of rambling? Where does the line get drawn? I mean, I go around, and I look at the host again, and again, I'm not taking out any personal content, I think the only thing I would be frightened of people doing is pointing out me, is inauthentic, that we're not as I've revealed too much, or it's too personal. There's no line there. To be honest. I'll say, I feel empowered, perhaps I should be honestly want to have come to the point with my yoga practice, where it's kind of just how far can I just be utterly immediate to life, utterly transparent to life, and another and another person. And the more unhappy I got, what I realized is the more I was hiding behind teacher, my teacher, leanness, my practice my role and position, and cutting back on back and back. And then at a certain point, it all crumbled. And I wanted to take those layers down and just come so I was raped by the person, and right by life itself. And good answer, as far as I can. Yeah. And that's as far as I can kind of get to, in terms of a search for truth really is like, how close can I be just to utterly real and utterly nothing to hide? You know? And more close, I get to that, the more I kind of feel that maybe that is a yeah, that there's something. There is something in that.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah, that's great advice. I love that. Thank you. And when you mentioned earlier about the process of if you think it all the way through, and if you're practicing Asana, and you made mention that, you know, your, if I take my body, my shoulder so far that if I'm going to go all the way through eventually it's going to

Unknown:

separate or something's Yeah, exactly.

Todd McLaughlin:

And in terms of, say, the philosophical practice, and you kind of made mentioned already, too, that, you know, if I overthink something, and I keep overthinking it, that maybe that is the equivalent of not necessarily the body snapping, but the mind snapping. Have you have you had any close calls with mine snapping.

Unknown:

I think, also, to be honest, before the yoga, before I started a more embodied practice that is stunning. I mean, intense character, maybe you can recognize that. So when I got into philosophy, by the time I got to university, I'd read all the everything, all the basic philosophy texts are out there, you know, some modern philosophy stuff, you know, that I hadn't read, you know, there's so much modern stuff out there, but all the essential works of philosophy. You know, it's kind of from the ancient Greeks to you know, the existentialist, you know, British empiricists. I've done all the work, you know, and yes, I think my mind was close to snapping at that point. And that's how really, I felt frightened at that point. And that's why I got into yoga because of this anxiety welling up that I just felt like something could snap in the mind. You already did that, you know, and then the end. The funny thing is that then at the end, it came full circle it kind of interestingly, I think because at some point I I think the intensity of yoga reached a crescendo as well. And I think that can also be encouraged by a certain methodology of practice where, you know, you reach the Advanced Series and you're doing even without reaching advanced, even second series, there's lots of leg behind the head, it does something weird, the energy of the spine, you know, we put the leg behind the head isn't, you know, I'm not gonna say it's gonna raise Kundalini, it might or might not, you know, but there's something intense in the nervous system, when you put the leg behind the head, you know, and you're doing that day in day out, especially in my sort of being, you know, and having, you know, that energy there, you know, and I got up to a level where I was the advanced B series in my sort of, you know, so, you know, I don't know, I think I said in another post, I believe, batavi, Joyce said, you know, this yoga can be crazy making, you know, and they can be, I think, without contextualization, without a context within which to frame Massena, and just going on ASP. Net, ASP and ASP. Net and pushing and pushing. Yes, not just me, but many people, it sent you a bit, it sends you a bit crazy. Because the energy of the body, you know, it's just too much. So in the long term, I kind of think that I'm rest reticent to, to revise that, that degree of of fastener for any period of time for people, because, you know, if you look at the traditional take on it, you know, they never, the Indians never really originally did it to that intensity ever, you know, maybe a couple of days, and then, you know, it's like, oh, you know, holiday? Oh, you know, they are, oh, you know, 30 years old, too old. Now, you know, like, you know, it's only the Westerners that got hold of it in a stupid way, just kind of made it some things, you can do some spirit of competition, intensity, and upping the ante and taking it literally, whereas it was never taken. So literally, you know, and we never had anything else around that. Right. Like, if you look at the are everyone even now you go to India, in the morning, the puja, you know, all the day festival, you know, you know, holiday in their life, you know, there's so much there, and then so then it's just a small part of the whole, yeah, we don't have anything else. So, you know, when people like me, you are in need of something in need of meaning in life. And I wanted to use it like that, like, so I got my teeth into it. Like, I've got my teeth into philosophy. And, yeah, by the time I was 3738, pushing so much into those advanced series, all this time lag behind the heddle, you know, yeah, I felt like my mental health was jeopardized once again, just as much as it had been when I was just in my head. Yeah, just in my body now, you know, because then, then it was like, oh, you know, don't we, you know, like, nothing needs to be done, there's this mentality and nothing else needs to be done. Don't think about it, just do the asna. You know, like, that's enough. You know, like, don't ya inquire about anything else in life, right, just go home. And, you know, it's too one track, and it's too out of balance, you know, and it's too physically demanding, I think, for the long term period. It's like, I don't think it was ever expected by batavi. Joyce, originally, that people would actually go home and do that shit every day. Like, you know, I mean, like, you go and do it in my soul for a little bit with here, but I don't expecting people to go home and practice to that level, like, you know, for the rest of us. Right. Yeah. And, and the older teachers didn't do that, either. You know, I know, that they, you know, like, there's this conversation that was recounted to me, like, you know, by a teacher sitting around the table, and they're done. There's a bunch of old teachers, and you know, and one of them says, you know, like, I hadn't been there for a while. It was practicing in a garage at all the time goes, you probably just was teaching it in the US. And they said, do you do that every day? You know, and that, you know, most of them they should know, you know? Well, yes. When he's here, yes. You know, when in my saw, yes. But, you know, like, for most people, more bounce perspective when leaving Mysore, I think is appropriate. And to that end, you know, circling back with my recent post, a more balanced structure of teaching the normal, everyday person, right, who isn't a high school student, you know, because otherwise they're strangled gets a bad rap, you know, it's when we're going back to the ultimate thing with this method. And it's great because it has this linking of mind to breath and it's so easy to follow. And it's so easy to do because you don't have to think about it and it does produce a real rapid a rapid experience of something different. Yeah, but I think it can be taught to litigious Lee to literally that it's off putting and it's such a travesty. It's such a shame when so many people who could have enjoyed it in such a manner have been taught in such a rigid manner in a literal manner where they just been off put like being told crazy shit, you know, I've been told Oh, you're too fat to do marry Charlson, or D or you can't you know, if you can't bind in either bad Padma, you've got to stop and lie down. You know, that'd be craziness. Like stuff like that, or even can't stand up for a backbend, no second series when those graduated back bends of this first part of Second Series. So obviously helpful for your harder, urban Dhanurasana. And if people made the effort again, it's about inquiry. You know, if they made the effort, they would realize that though the other Dhanurasana originally came at the end of the second series, intermediate series, no, it never was there at the end of primary. Yeah, yeah. This is a more recent interview. So what is tradition in the first place? Again, I don't come with answers, you know, and, but I just want everyone to ask oneself questions. And I think the more you ask yourself question, the great place to be, is to be uncertain. Because that makes you humble. When you're uncertain, right? You're humble. And the best thing that happened to me was this 3738 years old period, when I got to that stage and the number of personal circumstances came to fruition were suddenly this certainty about, you know, almost kind of cult cult like certainty about Shanga being the great white savior, and you're at being kind of godlike, really. And I had it, you know, there's, like, the best of them. There kind of came crumbling down, you know, and I had all these doubts and uncertainty, and I became a human again, and became highly relatable. I became interested in relating to someone. And that became a more humble again. So how old

Todd McLaughlin:

are you? How old? Are you now? How

Unknown:

am I lose track, you know, as you get over 40? It's like, you don't want to count anymore. I think I'm 43. When I posted recently, my mom told me I was I was a year younger than I thought I was happy to hear that, you know, but no, I think I actually am 43 now.

Todd McLaughlin:

So then 3743, six years ago, six

Unknown:

years? The last?

Todd McLaughlin:

What was the what do you think? What do you think the catalyst was for the crumbling the breaking down of the wall? What was the Yeah,

Unknown:

because it was really a special time. And it was like, I think for anyone listening, I think it's a good point to say that what you think is the worst thing in the world. If you stick with it cannot often be the best thing that ever happened to you, you know, I mean, so I thought the worst thing the world, I'd be pushing a, you know, more and more nickel with shoulder in the end shoulder completely went, couldn't do anything, you know, in practice, perform through injury and modify, blah, blah, this time, couldn't do anything shoulder, so messed up, just from almost one day to the next could not practice at all, something seriously wrong with it, you know, never got an MRI, Never, not really interested in that, you know, not interested in surgery, just you know, like, okay, can't practice, right, just can't do anything, you know, and then even coming back to it can't do the same as I could, catastrophic, but somebody's based their life and, you know, your ability, as sad as it was their ability and, you know, in essence, so there was that, we'd also started a business, a flailing Business, Health would shock me, my wife, that was, you know, not, it didn't go well. And we had to close it. And we, you know, it was a sad thing, we lost a bunch of money, and it was heartbreaking. And then all and then my wife got breast cancer, you know, and so it's one thing to the next, the next my, my grandmother, who I was steely bond with, she ended up kind of going kind of senile, and we had to put her in the home. And, you know, there's all these things at the same time, and they produced a meltdown, really sum it up. And I'd laugh now, but it was it was a terrible situation and a very dark time. And if for some reason I managed to turn it around, not by by me, I think but by grace of God or whatever something was, you know, happened that it was turned to the goods, you know, I could have gone and cried about it, you know, and all these things and wallowed in it. And maybe I did that for a while. And at the end of that, I thought, well, what am I going to do with this? Because something in me remembered why I started yoga in the first place, which has to do with not to do with what I could do in the Asperger's. That kind of rabbit hole came later it was to do with inquiry again, and to do with connecting to something in myself and to do with the question of the other really, like, what is this other person in the world? Right? Like, you know, like, I remember I used to go see, you heard of Ramana Maharishi, sorry, not Ramana you obviously heard of him. Ramesh Bowser car. You heard of him? I have not? No, he was an advisor guy from Mumbai, that and Advaita guru has died a few years ago, right? And used to do satsangs in his in his flat, and we went to see him. And I remember him saying, you know, the problem is that me I'm happy when I'm at home having a coffee or my own washing numbers. But when I step out of my door, the problem is other people. Right? That's when I start to get irritated. And that's the problem. Right? So how do you deal with other people? This is the way you're phrasing that really stuck with me. That's the truth. Right? Like, you know, we always think the problem isn't us. But when we come into contact with other people, then the mess starts to happen. You know, like we start to doubt ourselves and we start to get frustrated with the other So it was like, Well, that was the question as well as like, well, what is this? Practice? Yes. And teaching? Yes. In relation to the question of the other, what how do they relate to my life? You know, and what is it that I got to do? What is the meaning of my life in relation to them? You know, is it just, you know, is it just it is this, I mean, the most basic level is, is it, you know, like, just teach this yoga and like, you know, like, it's, they pay me and, you know, like, right, like, you know, like, you know, like, what was was my interest in them? You know, like, what am I doing? What am I? What do I want for them? You know, yeah, what I like to contextualize this, so it's really meaningful for them, right? So they, you know, they just get to put their leg behind the head for a few years, like me, and then have to let it go, because they got, they got old or they got injured or whatever, the sooner or later, you know, it's like, you know, it doesn't go on forever, right. So what, that's like the yoga philosophy, right? Like, Krishna is not saying, like, you know, like, Oh, you do this now. And it'll be good for a few years, you know, you know, like, you'll get famous, you know, kill all those people in battle. You know, he's asking for a serious solution, a permanent solution. What is the permanent solution?

Todd McLaughlin:

Oh, man, that I hear. Yeah, I love I love everything. You're saying. This is epic. I, I was I was driving home yesterday and listening to a Neil Young song. And he had a line that said, the same thing that can keep you alive can kill you in the end. And so as I was driving, I was like, Well, wait a minute, but yoga, can yoga kill me? And I was like, Well, I feel like it keeps me alive. Like, I feel like I put certain amount of emphasis on it that this is gonna this is like, the everything. And I associated that with the leg behind the head. Catching your heels the Yeah. And it started to feel like it's killing me. You know, like, so it's interesting. I don't think yoga is gonna kill me in the end. I think it's gonna keep Yeah. Feed me. I know. You're gonna be alive. Yeah.

Unknown:

Yeah, yeah, clearly, well, you've traversed? Yeah, sorry, is that I started because of my situation. With Theresa, my wife, and the general medicine. And I started trying to research other things, you know, like, what's his, you know, like, that led me down the rabbit hole of homeopathy. So I trained it on and people are gonna hate this, oh, he's talking about all this stuff. And now he's telling me is that only bad? Well, it makes the, you know, I have some I have time for it. Now having trained in it, you know, like, I believe all of it, you know, I have doubts with it as well. But you know, there's some stuff to be said about it. And one thing they often say is that it's all about the dose degree of the dose, like, what is the, and they have this thing where they say the poison is the medicine and the medicine is the poison, like, so it's all about the dose. And the same with Ashtanga for a while, that dose needed to be a certain level, right? You know, and that kept me pulled me from what I consider reasonable mental health challenges in my early 20s, you know, like I was, you know, I felt like, I was losing my mind, you know, and so, for the sake of everyone, for the sake of myself, you know, really, it kept me sane, and it kept me from drinking myself into oblivion, which was what was happening, otherwise self medicating with, with alcohol and with medication, you know, and so it was wonderful, and it forever grateful. But that point, that point, that medicine, which was, you know, was so valuable, that I felt almost felt it was a duty to dedicate my life to sharing it, you know, because it has saved my life, probably literally, you know, like, you know, you see on the hinge down now, what do you imagine I own changed, you know, I was with templates to Guinness, and you know, and always medication, right? Yeah, the fully unhinged, so. But at that point, you know, like, it protected me too much like from other people, and it became like a comfort blanket, you just do your practice, and then you don't have to do anything else in the world. And you can just go back and you know, you know, spend all day just like looking after yourself, and then go off and teach them, you know, it became the poison, you know, and also the poison because at a certain point, like Chuck Milan member saying to me, when I was in my heyday, actually, a certain point, you got to let this go. And if you don't contextualize it to something deeper and broader than just asking it, it's gonna be really, really painful for you. You know? And it was, yeah, it was and you see people now, I mean, sorry, I'll let you go in. That'd be like just like, you've talked to me about how painful it is to when you've been attached to doing all those things. And I see people come to my classes and there's such pain but just such a taxing to still get the leg behind the head anyway, or still catching and we see this in mice all the time. People It's hideous back trouble, still feel like because if they don't catch them, they've not done their duty, or, I don't know, it's a weird loop of mindset to get into and one that I can't fully articulate, but I've been there, you know, yeah. Do you Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin:

Do you think that's okay, do you think we can still call the Sangha yoga and remove that

Unknown:

I'm not doing those things. Yeah. You can Yeah, yeah. No, I there's no discrepancy or, or contradiction in my mind. You know, if someone's young, and they're able, and they want to go to Mysore, I'm not going to go, Oh, don't don't do leg behind the head. So you know, like, oh, it might hurt. Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna go with Yeah, totally, like, get into it like I did I, you know, I put a hand standing between every posture, like, you know, like, and I would encourage people who want to be dynamic to be dynamic, you know, as long as it's not as long as they're hurting themselves, right. But on the other hand, I mean, like, once it comes a point, when it's, you know, one's getting older ones injured, or one simply not in doesn't want to be in the shape that you need to be in to be. So up there with practice, you know, because it takes a certain level of conditioning, right, like, you know, yes. And then you then you treat, you treat it accordingly. There's a method behind the essence and like this finger pointing to the moon, or like, I'd say about the poison the medicine, there's a method behind the essence is grasping the method, which I call the inner stretch, you know, which is the generally the the pulling towards oneself, the use of the shape to get the diaphragmatic breathing, right to understand the use of the diaphragm, which I suggest is what the bundler is looking for, is really the engagement of a full body experience related to diaphragmatic breath, and the holding of the body in a certain postural shape. So you're not in a bundle of abundance sake, there's, that's that's ridiculous. Like, you know, like that bundle has a reason it's not, it can't be the cause. And the effect, you know, that the bundle is the cause and effects, and its effect for me is diaphragmatic breath, you know. So, this is the method. This is the deeper teaching, and whether you pointed toe here, or can put your leg behind your head or catch your ankles, it's irrelevant. And for most people, leg by in their head and catching ankles, is inappropriate, you know? It's not to say that it's not, it's, then it's inappropriate for everyone. Of course not. But we've got to realize that when Tiger Joy was teaching this method, originally, he was teaching it to very young people, you know, and then when the kids, you know, when the kid I say the kids are, like, two mice are originally you know, like this Swensons and then David Williams and stuff, super young, and I was young doing it, you know, I mean, like, you know, because we deny age now, oh, it doesn't matter, you know, like, we're not old tonight, you know, like, we don't get old, like, look at me when I'm 50 and I'm still doing this, like this great. If that's the case, you know, like some people are proud, you know, Darby was the same, you know, like neath about like a freak of nature. But for most of us, right, as we get older, like shit happens in the body does age and there's being honest and realistic and going, Well, I still love to do this practice. But you know, if I keep putting my leg behind my head, I'm gonna end up in a wheelchair. I mean, yes, yes. You know what I mean? It's just being like, sensible like that, you know, and still, nothing has changed. Nothing has changed with the yoga has only gone deeper for me, actually, having taken out that the emphasis on the having taken the emphasis out on the, on the, let's say, the peak of the iceberg. Yeah, now you can kind of go down and look at the iceberg below, because you're not focusing anymore on like, oh, just the shiny Summit, which is distracting because it's all shiny and looks nice. But now you can look at you know, like what's below it? Because no longer distracted by that little shiny peak.

Todd McLaughlin:

Oh, yes. Man, I want to be respectful of your time. And I hope for you that's listening over. You have to go check out Adam, your podcasts. You have YouTube channel? Definitely follow Adam on Instagram. Um, is there anything Adam? I know, it's, you know, to, to bring it into a close here. Is there anything? I think we've covered some great subjects. And I just want to say, Yeah, I do, I just think and I really had a great time, this is really fun. For me. I'm so excited. I've been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks now. So keep keep doing what you're doing. Because I benefit a lot from reading your posts. I apologize if I don't get a chance to comment and every time but I really do read every one of them from from top to bottom, and you do an amazing job. So I think you know, that conversation can continue there. But I'm Do you have anything that you'd like to finish with or close with?

Unknown:

Oh, I think I've said a lot. But I just want to say if anyone is sick of me, I'm really sorry. I know, I'm out there a lot, you know, and it's you know, the big mouth. I mean, you know, it's just for the sake of, of this kind of BMI born and I've got about about you know, like using Yoga, you know, in the deepest sense to be cared for for all of us, you know. And so, yeah, I also want to say, you know, on the other side, but people like you that have got anything out of it, you know and say that to me, I mean, it just means so much to me, and I'm so deeply touched in it. Yeah, you know, yeah, really, you know, I can't say enough how much it makes my life worthwhile, you know, basically. And, you know, and that means a lot to me. So yeah, thanks for having me on. And I'm sorry, if I talk too much, and, you know, really appreciate it if, if anything I say is meaningful or relevant to anyone else. No, because I think all we've got, you know, all we know, for sure, that we've got in this life, you know, is to share ourselves with each other, you know, and whatever that means, you know, and keep trying to expand out outwards, expand outwards, in care into each other, and an interest interest, you know, and so I hope I'm in any small way, encouraging that and if I am then I'm, I'm so grateful to be in the position to be able to do that.

Todd McLaughlin:

Thank you, Adam. Well, you're an inspiration to me, man. I really appreciate it. Three, thank you. Until Until next time,

Unknown:

yeah. Next time.

Todd McLaughlin:

Native yoga Todd cast 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