Jeremy Strickland - Jin Shin Jyutsu in Rishikesh

Check out this discussion with Jeremy Strickland titled Jin Shin Jyutsu in Rishikesh. Jeremy practices and teaches Yin Yoga and Jin Shin Jyutsu bodywork in Rishikesh, India. Enjoy stories from the heartland of yoga as Jeremy speaks about the power and efficacy of Jin Shin Jyutsu therapy.

During this conversation Jeremy speaks about:

• How he decided to live in Rishikesh?
• Cranial sacral therapy and massage.
• The convergence of traditional Chinese medicine and astrology.
• Feeling the pulse of the heart.
• Living in the yoga capital of the world.
• The wildest thing he’s seen in India.

Jeremy's bio:
Jeremy Strickland is a yoga instructor with a 500 hr RYT certificate from World Peace Yoga School, Rishikesh, India. He brings a light-hearted approach to asana practice, lifting spirits and making the complicated simple. His background is over 20 years as a Certified Massage Therapist in the USA, with a focus on Craniosacral Therapy and the esoteric art of Jin Shin Jyutsu physio-philosophy.

Visit Jeremy on his website: https://www.yinyoga1.com

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Transcript

Todd McLaughlin: 0:33

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 @nativeyoga, and check us out at nativeyogacenter.com. All right, let's begin. Well, welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. I'm so happy that you are here. Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Jeremy Strickland. Jeremy is a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner, which is a form of manual therapy utilizing contact points or points of awareness of the pulse in the body. And he is also a yin yoga instructor. He resides in Rishikesh, India, originally from USA, he has a website, check them out at yinyoga1.com. And you can also find him on the IG the Instagram with the handle@yinyoga_jinshinjyutsu. And of course, those links are in the description. Wherever you're listening, just give a little click and I'll take you right over. So happy to have this chance to introduce you to people that are experts in the field of yoga, and bodywork from all over the world. Remember that if you would like to practice with us here at native yoga center, in the description and links below, there's a link for you to join to try two weeks of unlimited live stream yoga with us for free, you can join us for the classes that we offer to the public on a daily basis. And also every Thursday on YouTube Live, I do a free webinar where you can ask questions and so I have a different topic each week. And you can join in and ask questions via the chat box. So there's a link there as well. You can click on that, check it out. And remember to go look for Jeremy on his website. yinyoga1.com. I hope you enjoy this discussion. Enjoy some cool stories from the other side of the world. Alright, let's begin. I'm super excited to have the chance to speak with Jeremy Strickland. He's a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner, also a yin yoga instructor. And he's joining me today from Rishikesh, India. Jeremy, how are you doing today?

Jeremy Strickland: 3:13

I am fabulous. It's really exciting to be here.

Todd McLaughlin: 3:16

Oh, thanks, man. I'm really excited to have a chance to talk with you. First of all, I'm really curious. How did you land in Rishikesh India and managed to not leave?

Jeremy Strickland: 3:32

Well, all by happenstance, just before India, I was actually living in Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City, and I had been there for eight months, I was my first time living outside of the US had had a big life change just before then. And was kind of not doing much of anything, just experiencing life in a new culture, studying language and what have you. And I thought I would get a yoga teacher certificate. I practiced vinyasa and bodywork for 20 years and I have dabbled in and out of yoga classes and had a pretty decent Ashtanga experience at one point. And as I was just out traveling, I thought I should get a yoga teacher certificate so I can see if I can make something happen, you know, and I was going out with a yoga instructor at the time in Vietnam. And she told me to go to Rishikesh. And I thought where she cashing in India. Yeah. And so I just did some research and it was cheaper to fly here and do a 500 hour program than it was to do anything in Vietnam or anything around there. So two weeks later, I'm in Rishikesh, first time in India, nice and had signed up to do a 500 hour program and ended up staying because I'm familiar with the meridian system that they're using in yoga. And so the manager of the school that I was out when she found out that I knew the theory fairly well. She said you should stay and teach Meridian theory and the yoga teacher training is very cool. And so I took off after my program for a couple of months and worked in Nepal and Thailand and traveled around a bit, and was about to start looking for something and she messaged me again, she was, hey, what are you doing, she said, You should come back here and do the 100 an hour and yoga teacher training and start teaching marine theory. And I thought, it sounds like a good opportunity and came back and did exactly that at the beginning of 2019. And was teaching three, four or five classes a day couple of drop in classes, some Meridian theory in the 10 day teacher training program, up until COVID. And then when COVID happened, locked down was pretty intense here. But I didn't want to go back to the US. And so I just ended up staying nice.

Todd McLaughlin: 5:57

How did it? How does it work in relation to visa? And then with COVID? I know a lot of folks like say that move to endo or usually have to do a visa run after either a six month or one year period, because of COVID. Did that enable you to not have to do visa runs or what is your?

Jeremy Strickland: 6:20

Yeah, well before I was just on one year tourist cases. And on the US you have to leave every six months. Yeah. And then we're just do like a border run to Nepal. But when COVID happened, you they stopped making you leave the country and you did everything online for a while. Yeah. And then eventually, when they started kicking everything back in again. They gave everybody exit thesis and told people to leave God and so I left them. I was the first time and then I went back to the US for five months. That was the first time I've been back to the US and like four years. Are you around visiting family and came back like eight months ago?

Todd McLaughlin: 6:58

Are you originally a San Franciscan?

Jeremy Strickland: 7:01

No. Well, originally I was born in Ohio, just for a couple of years. And then I was pretty much raised in small town, Texas. Henryetta, Texas. Yeah, very cool.

Todd McLaughlin: 7:13

And you have a 2020 year bodywork history.

Jeremy Strickland: 7:18

Yeah, I stumbled into massage school when I was about 19 or 20 years old or something.

Todd McLaughlin: 7:24

That's cool. And was a story.

Jeremy Strickland: 7:29

So I actually I had when I was a teenager, I was detailing automobiles. My dad was in the car business. My whole life was a child. And so I wound up at 19 years old, I was like detailing cars, grungy, dirty work, didn't know what I was going to do with my life or anything. And my dad had started managing a bunch of PT schools at this time, and I came home one day and he had a female friend. And I was complaining about being dirty and sweaty and grungy and not liking my work. She said, almost verbatim. She said in six months from now, you could have a manicures license and be working in an air conditioned salon wearing nice clothes and holding hands with girls all day long and gray. And sure enough, six months later, I'm in a salon polishing fingernails and giving manicures and pedicures. And at one point I see a reflexology charge by the pedicure stage. And that was the first time I'd ever seen that or that concept. Yeah. And so I thought, well, I should maybe learn how to do some reflexology, if I'm giving people foot massages for pedicures or whatever. So I called the local school and asked if there was a class. And I say, Well, we talked about it in our massage training program. But we don't offer it as an individual class. And so soon thereafter, I'm signed up for the massage therapy program. And I went to that was in 1995. And so started doing just like Swedish massage and day spas.

Todd McLaughlin: 9:13

Very cool. And

Jeremy Strickland: 9:15

then at the time when I was in massage school, I met a lady named Becky, who was pretty Intune who gave me some cranial sacral therapy. Therapy sessions. Yeah. Has he got any work before

Todd McLaughlin: 9:29

I have and a little bit of training in it? Yes.

Jeremy Strickland: 9:32

Through the Upledger Institute, what did you do your

Todd McLaughlin: 9:35

you know, interestingly enough, while the Upledger Institute is right in our backyard here, where I am in Florida, Upledger is about five miles away. So there's a whole huge contingency of Upledger practitioners in the area. But there's a man named Dr. Michael Shea who I've had an opportunity to have on the show a few times now who he originally was trained under Upledger And then kind of went off on his own in the direction of biodynamic cranial sacral therapy. And he teaches workshops here at the studio. So I've done some of the kind of that biodynamic element where you know, the real soft arterial palpation and amazing stuff. But that's submit. That's so cool that you had that intro to cranium that that's a life changer for sure.

Jeremy Strickland: 10:24

Yeah. Well, it was she gave me the sessions, you know, and like the first one I really didn't like, get what was happening, or kind of, like filter was stuff move on, but wasn't too much. Yeah, two or whatever. Yeah. The second time, she gave me a session. I think I cried like, I was two years old, probably had like, crazy emotional release. And then I think the third or fourth time, I laughed, like I was tripping out. I had like, a crazy laughter experience. Yeah. I left her office and the sky was blue or, or trees were greener. And I was just like, I have to learn how to give this to other people to do this to other people. And so I did the Upledger, cranial sacral, one and two, and like 97 and 90 a night and started incorporating that my practice at the massage at the spa. Yeah. And just playing with that. And that was the first time I was like, okay, yeah, there really is like, subtle energy or something happening. You know,

Todd McLaughlin: 11:26

now, had you had you with the reflexology training that happened to that initial massage training. Did that grab you? Or doesn't sound like Yeah, it sounds like maybe the I'm sure you were interested?

Jeremy Strickland: 11:38

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But I never really got deep into like reflexology per se. Uh, huh. Yeah, just really doing like Swedish stuff. And then like deep tissue, muscular things, and then the cranial sacral I really got into that. Just because it was so effective helping people with migraines and TMJ. Yeah, yeah. Bigger stuff. And so I was just fascinated. And it's such a it's such a drug to be able to, like, yes, experience or helping people and get paid for it, whatever. And so I got curious about the story, that the energy and I'm thinking, I should go to acupuncture school. That's the story of the meridians and energy system at all. So I started reading a little bit about acupuncture, and I started looking for acupuncture schools. And Becky, the lady that introduced me to cranial sacral. I hadn't seen or heard from her in well over a year. And I was living in Austin, Texas at the time. And she calls me up out of the blue and says, I'm an Extension jitsu class, you should come check out these books. And so I go to her place. And she's showing me these tensions are two books, telling me it's the story of the meridians. And there's the safety energy locks. And you hold two places opposite above and below at the same time, and you listen for Paul's, and you wait until the pulses beat and rhythm with each other, and so forth and so on. And I wasn't necessarily interested in needles, because I'm touching people and practice anyways. Yeah, all hands on. And so yeah. I had a wild experience, she actually gave me the sheet of where these energy locks are. And I went home and I experimented with him, I signed up for my first class. And before I went to my first class, I at least wanted to know where these energy locks were, I didn't want to go in completely knowing not knowing anything. And so I laid my partner down on the floor at the time. And I have these are, they're all numbered one through 26. And so I just follow the pattern 123456 to cruise around the body. And we're about 15 minutes into it. She's laying perfectly. And I'm holding the inside of her ankle and the back of her head. And there's a huge pop, when I think I think our neighbor slammed something against the wall. We're living in an apartment complex, and I looked up and I'm like, What the fuck was that? Yeah. And I looked down and she said, that was my lower back that like water running rise, and I was holding the back of her head and her ankle. Wow. It's like, Wow, holy shit. Yeah. Yeah. And so that's really what allowed me I think when I got to the class, because I'm thinking that's like an acupressure class when I get there. Yeah. And I get there. And of course, I'm like 25 At the time I walk in and it's all older ladies in their 50s and 60s. Then the guy is talking about Jupiter and numerology. And I'm like, am I a cult? Yeah. What's happening?

Todd McLaughlin: 14:44

Right so,

Jeremy Strickland: 14:45

yeah, so in essence, this art is a convergence of traditional Chinese medicine, astrology, numerology.

Todd McLaughlin: 14:58

Interesting Yeah, interesting. Now, had you had any interest in some of these more esoteric ideas in relation to numerology and or astrology?

Jeremy Strickland: 15:12

None at all? Yeah, no. And it actually took me years of actually studying to really even to start to look at it from that kind of stuff,

Todd McLaughlin: 15:22

meaning you focus more on the technique of learning the actual points and places of holding before you. Exactly. Well,

Jeremy Strickland: 15:31

exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And also, and even before I used it, or realized it was really for me. Yeah, that's not for me to give to other people. Of course, I was looking at it just like another modality to give to other people. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, surely an art of getting to know help myself. It's for me, it was on myself. And yeah, you know, I was young and dumb and slow at the time. So it took me a while to figure that out. Or to even look deeper into some of those. That's cool meanings.

Todd McLaughlin: 16:03

Can you can you explain, now that you've had quite a few years of practice and experience with that, what you think is happening? What do you what are you observing when you're practicing holding these specific points when you're working with someone?

Jeremy Strickland: 16:24

Well, I'm gonna say what's happening. But I would say like first it's an it's just an art. It's just an art. It's an art. It's an art of harmonizing relationships, if you will, Mind Body, and it is essentially the blueprint. It's the story of energy becoming Matt. Got it. And the meridians which I've never even referred to them meridians until I started teaching in yoga in Jinja. Two, they refer to them as individualized organ energy functions. And so it's again the story of energy dancing down into matter. And the whole pattern of the organ energy functions flows in a specific order. Each of the organs relates to an astrological sign. For example, Aries is long. Aries is the RAM it's about initiation and inspiration. The first thing we do when we get to Earth is receive breath. Taurus is large intestine Taurus the Bull being stubborn and immovable, possessive and the large intestine is about having and holding on to and letting go. And so each of the story of the sign the Oregon performs the same function

Todd McLaughlin: 17:57

I'm super curious on the Scorpio, what Oregon is Scorpion associated with as the kidneys interesting Yes, I

Jeremy Strickland: 18:05

agree. I create

Todd McLaughlin: 18:08

very cool what What sign are you I'm a Taurus sun sign that was that was large intestine, you said? Yes. Letting go.

Jeremy Strickland: 18:20

Something like that. So I'm not going to astrology like into any prediction or anything of that this is like astrology as physiology. Yeah. All of these within us.

Todd McLaughlin: 18:37

Is there are you noticing some sort of correlation when you are working with someone in relation to the star sign they are and the origin that it correlates and the pressure point or the are we are you calling them pressure points? Or are you calling like points of contact, or you mentioned more like a holding of the pulse or?

Jeremy Strickland: 18:58

So one thing about jiu jitsu is they're very specific with language. And it's not a pressure point, because it's not about pressure. It's about harmonizing pulses in rhythm with each other. And it's not a point because the points one dimensional, and energy logs are a sphere. So energy was spiraling from surface to core, and surface. So you're holding two of these energy locks and you're simply listening. You're at you're not doing anything. You're just being a jumper cable. The life energy that animates me and makes me alive is flowing through my right and left hands as positive and negative jumper cables.

Todd McLaughlin: 19:39

That's a cool analogy. Yeah. Interesting. Can you give an example of maybe a session or treatment that you've administered or given lately, have

Jeremy Strickland: 19:54

go back and you also mentioned like, what would it have to do with like, your sign or whatever? Please, please.

Todd McLaughlin: 20:00

I didn't mean to leave that that idea. Yeah.

Jeremy Strickland: 20:03

Maybe that you might struggle with that a little bit more than the other things. Same thing in astrology or whatever. Like that's maybe your weakness or strength type of thing

Todd McLaughlin: 20:17

that makes sense. Is there? Which point or what part of the body? So obviously, maybe someone would be thinking, well, if it's something related with kidney, would it be somewhere around the low back where the kidney is, or where does that

Jeremy Strickland: 20:35

very variable could be the kidney meridian would be from like your little toe, underneath the soul of the foot, inside the ankle, up through the groin, into the opposite reproductive organ, under the opposite kidney. So if you had a kidney stone, which kidney and bladder go together, and that's fear, you can frightened someone so much you lose control of your bladder, that's the water element, kidney stones, they would say are frozen thoughts of fear, you could hold your little toe with one hand and the top of your pubic bone with the mother. And listen to pulse and harmonizes pulses. If I want to give myself the lung flow, I'm holding just under the collarbone with one hand and the base of the ribcage with the other. And you simply listen for the pulse in both hands. And you wait until they beat and rhythm, which is another area that you go to and there's a certain pattern, there's a specific pattern for each of the organ function energies. And other

Todd McLaughlin: 21:41

interesting aspect is, is there a theory about, like you said, placing say one hand in around the collarbone the other hand, by the wherever you started the other place, you had your hand on near your abdomen and then feeling for when the pulse matches? Is there an idea that the pulse does start to match when there's light pressure placed on both points?

Jeremy Strickland: 22:13

That really doesn't have anything to do with pressure. You can you can hold very, very suddenly or very surface. Lee, you can't have also a more firm touch. Yeah, for sure.

Todd McLaughlin: 22:29

But do the is it the idea that the say the heartbeats when you feel the pulse of the circulation into that area? And if you have that ability to because I'm in the type of work that you're explaining is not easy to do? In my opinion, because I one thing I thought that cranial sacral work, like it's so subtle, that a lot of times I think to myself, is that my imagination? Or am I actually feeling something like I don't know if I'm feeling something? Or is that my mind just imagining and some curious, it sounds like this work has to be in a similar similar idea. Do Are you saying same same? And so are you at that

Jeremy Strickland: 23:13

experience that a lot in the beginning of creating and psychotherapy to you're like, Am I really feeling this? Yeah. Yeah, the person near the receiving maybe just like working with that for a couple of years. And also similar with this year, like, is that my pulse in my hand? Or is that? Yeah, yeah. But then somebody would say there's only one pulse. There's only the universal pulse. We're all happy that we're all

Todd McLaughlin: 23:39

Do you think that one thought I have about what actually is happening if I'm attempting to try to explain things, if that's even necessary, is that just that real light touch, and the fact that I'm taking my concentration and attempting to pay very, very close attention to something really subtle, that the person that's that is that we're working on? Or is receiving the work? Also gets the sense that Whoa, they're being very attentive to very subtle things that it causes the person receiving to relax and, and that's what drops us into a different state of awareness. What What are your thoughts on this?

Jeremy Strickland: 24:29

Possible? You definitely, I mean, you create a mutual vibe when you have a healing room or environment of any kind. Yeah, for sure.

Todd McLaughlin: 24:45

Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, just wanted to see what your what kind of things go through your mind while you're working. Well,

Jeremy Strickland: 24:53

yeah, lots of stuff. You're supposed to practice with a pure mind and I think what can you what the creator says? Yeah, but again, you're just you're listening for a pulse. And we're not diagnosing because we're not looking for disharmony, they'll tell you to, to focus on the person's Buddha nature. And you look to see what's challenging their Buddha nature, or whatever you want to call it, what's dimming their light, but so you're always focusing on this person's Buddha nature, and you're listening for the harmony of the universe expressing itself through this individual. And effectiveness and efficiency depends on your awareness and understanding of the art.

Todd McLaughlin: 25:49

That's cool. What Yeah, and

Jeremy Strickland: 25:52

so there's, so there's different rhythms and textures. When lung and large intestine are in disharmony, the pulse feels of oh, maybe wiry in the static or something, if it's stomach and spleen, it can feel sluggish, muddy, maybe, if it's the kidney and bladder could feel girly or bubbly. Whatever element is, screaming for attention, has a certain texture to it. That's cool. And suddenly, when you're listening in the wrist, or if you came to me and get us and received a session, you would just like simply lay down on your back, fully clothed. And first, I would listen to your wrists, both left and right, I would see if left and right are beating together in rhythm. Are they bouncing back and forth? Yeah, so it was left and right side in harmony. Just that simple. You listen with your three fingers together. And if you just hear your index fingers, it could indicate disharmony in the bus line. If you just hear your middle fingers. It's disharmony in the waistline, your ring fingers indicate disharmony in hip line. And then also by looking at how the body lays on the table, just like just like a plant grows towards sunlight, your body goes towards the source of energy that it needs up the back and down the front. Or comfort accommodates tension, wherever somebody's head is moving towards, or when somebody lays in savasana for example, if their feet are really spread apart, or if they're moving in together, you just look and see where the body is struggling.

Todd McLaughlin: 27:38

Interesting. Play. Yeah, it's

Jeremy Strickland: 27:40

not like magic, or yeah, we're not sure. There's nothing really esoteric about it. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 27:52

What, what what do you think happened on that session with your friend where you heard that pop sound, and she felt like there was some large experience in their spine somewhere.

Jeremy Strickland: 28:08

Something shifted when I have no idea. everything's lined up. There's there's many stories of many stories of some pretty, pretty drastic. After my very first class, I came back and I was working in a day spa giving a bunch of massages. And so then I would just explore I would look on every time I gave somebody a massage, I would try to find these 26 Energy locks, and tried to incorporate some of the concepts. Every time I turned somebody over, I would listen to the pulse and their wrist. And not too many weeks after I was back from my first class, a client would come in and they always asked everybody Are you here for a particular reason? And she says, Well, I just have been diagnosed with internal lupus. About six months ago. She says, I know I've had it for a couple of years now but and so I started to tell her I said well, I just got back from this class and California. It's like acupressure kinda and started to explain it to her and she said, I don't care what you do, you can do whatever you want. I said, Okay, well, you don't have time to ask then just lay on the table. And I knew that internal lupus had something to do with connective tissue, which is the muscle system has kidney bladder. And so I opened my books to those pages. And I tried to like follow along to this certain flow pattern and I'm thinking at the time this lady came in to pay for like a massage. Yeah, deep tissue massage, and I'm just sitting here like holding some spots, like not doing anything. At the end of the session, I'm like, Okay, it's, you know, how do you feel? She's like, Oh, I feel relaxed and Okay. She said I need to go to the restroom. So she goes to the restroom, and she came back and she's crying has just tears rolling down the face and said, that's the first time I've sat down and stood up and six months without any pain. Wow. Like, I was also that was also at a time where like, I didn't always believe when people told me that their headache was gone, or their side of pain was gone. When I first started doing bodywork, you know, like, I didn't know what's really believed people when they like really

Todd McLaughlin: 30:26

as if it was like a placebo effect sort of situation where people sometimes they want to believe so much that things are okay that will. Is that what?

Jeremy Strickland: 30:37

I'm always I'm just kind of a skeptic ish with a lot of stuff.

Todd McLaughlin: 30:40

Yeah, yeah. Me too.

Jeremy Strickland: 30:43

Yeah, yeah. Which is so funny that like, I've ended up

Todd McLaughlin: 30:48

in a really esoteric realm of bodywork. Yeah. Well, that's I think that's probably maybe one of the saner ways to approach esoteric information is from a place of skepticism slash, you know, wanting to see tried and true results before we profess some sort of magical ability or, right. I mean, well, that's really interesting. That's pretty cool.

Jeremy Strickland: 31:21

I'm sure I'm not professing a magical ability to call myself a healer, or a yogi, or anything.

Todd McLaughlin: 31:30

Yeah. Can you a couple of thoughts I'm having Can you tell me what type of experience you had in the process of integrating yin yoga and or yoga practice and or yoga teaching with this sort of background that you have?

Jeremy Strickland: 31:54

Well, I've definitely just incorporated sometimes in my game classes, I'll add some extra holds or tell people where to hold certain fingers or things to get specific like that. But honestly, like, when I give a yoga class, I don't talk anything about meridians or anything. I just call it a meditative yoga. And I just simply guide people through the poses, remind them to breathe and be quiet. Yeah, remind them to relax. Yeah, that's the only style of yoga I'll teach. I'm not qualified. Even though I have a 500 hour. E ry, T Ashtanga Hatha. I have no business teaching and Ashtanga or hospital. But you and I can get behind.

Todd McLaughlin: 32:45

That's cool. Do Can you tell me a little bit about what type of realizations you've had living in the yoga capital of the world Rishikesh is known as being a hotbed of yoga cults culture,

Jeremy Strickland: 33:03

it's probably I'll say it might also be the gaslighting capital of

Todd McLaughlin: 33:06

the world cast.

Jeremy Strickland: 33:10

That's possible.

Todd McLaughlin: 33:12

Can you explain why you say that?

Jeremy Strickland: 33:14

Well, there's a lot of just there's a lot of yoga certificate sales. There's a lot of fake yoga. They're just here to yoga certificates. Yeah, there's a lot of just showing stuff here a lot. A lot of people look to come here to get healed. You know, and like our last. There's a lot of that happening, as well. Are some good yoga teachers. There are some authentic people here. But they're probably fewer and further between.

Todd McLaughlin: 33:47

Well, that's interesting. Did you have a rose colored pair of glasses when you arrive that you've thrown in the garbage sense? Or are you did you come? No glasses on? Were you just like seeing it for what it is? Or Whoa, what was your?

Jeremy Strickland: 34:03

You definitely did not know actually, when I got here, man. I was like two days into it. And I didn't think I could stay here. It was disgusting.

Todd McLaughlin: 34:10

It was too much. Yeah, it's,

Jeremy Strickland: 34:13

it's a bit gritty. Yeah, pretty. Yeah. And I was here for a couple of days. And I was like, I don't think I can stay here. And then just that's the teachers were really cool. There were some pretty knowledgeable teachers that were cool people and then you go out at night with cafes have the cool five people or she'll like drum circles. Okay, like, I did it. I can hang for a while. And yeah, it's an interesting place to be.

Todd McLaughlin: 34:41

You know what it was? It's

Jeremy Strickland: 34:43

just now getting back to the vibe that it was before. COVID. Before COVID was super fun. I had a great year in 2019. It's like every month there's 1000s of people from all around the world that show up to study yoga. Yeah, so like, it was just it's just fun. Yeah. And then COVID was just dead silence. And then when it did start coming back to life, it was mostly Indian tourists and a lot of younger guys drinking more parties kind of scene. Yeah. And so the vibe was a little rough. And it's just really the past couple of few months, more international travelers have been coming back.

Todd McLaughlin: 35:22

That's cool to hear. I'm feeling the same way here in Florida. I know a lot of people think, Oh, isn't Florida like the wild wild west of the East Coast where no one shut down and everything stayed the same anyway. But to be honest, no, I think it's been a global psychological experience of, of transition, and then slowly feeling comfortable, like where now someone will cough in the room. And I don't feel like there's a seismic shift of sphere just hearing a cough, like now people can cough and it's like, oh, yeah, as a cough, you know, you're not like, Oh, no. So I think it's, I felt this, I feel the same thing. I would agree. I really, I love India. I love India. So I really love the tradition, the culture. So when I say this, I want to preface that I really love India. And I, but I was thinking to myself, like locked down. How could that be when the here? How could that be possible in India, just because the population is so enormous. It's like, like, you're you're never you're always around a lot of people. So I just really couldn't even imagine how that could even happen in India. But it sounds like it sounds like

Jeremy Strickland: 36:40

the police were beating people with bamboo sticks.

Todd McLaughlin: 36:42

Wow. So like, if you went you're gonna get beat up if you go outside. Prepare for oh my gosh, now that sounds kind of heavy to like, what I mean. Yeah.

Jeremy Strickland: 36:55

There were there were cops were beating people with bamboo sticks.

Todd McLaughlin: 36:58

All right. All right. So okay, so you need groceries, you got to eat. What's the deal? Have you do you have like three

Jeremy Strickland: 37:05

hours in the mornings?

Todd McLaughlin: 37:06

Okay. For a while

Jeremy Strickland: 37:08

that we could go out?

Todd McLaughlin: 37:10

Was India culture. Like here in the States? We have this like, you know, I'm sure you're aware. I'm, I'm not wearing a mask. I'm only wearing a mask in this real dichotomy. Did that exist in YouTube? Where there was a lot of rebels? Or was it like a very, like, everybody's wearing a mask? And we're not even questioning it.

Jeremy Strickland: 37:28

Now, there were a lot of rebels. Yeah. Especially in the hippy, New Age community, for sure. And actually, when it started called here in Russia cash I went to go and I stayed there for six months. Got it. So that was pretty much when I got to go. It was the peak and they were doing a static dance. And it was just like,

Todd McLaughlin: 37:45

like, nothing's happening anywhere. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's awesome. Man. I know. That's what's so great about the world is like, there's just so much going so many ways to go about it. Well, that's cool. That's what I'm, I'm curious. Are I know you want to live in the moment? Maybe not thinking about the future in terms of but I mean, could you just stay in into the rest of your life? Are you are you in a zone where you're like, Man, I really think I'm gonna stay or are you contemplating an exit? What is your what are your thoughts here?

Jeremy Strickland: 38:22

I'm definitely not thinking anymore. I have not been thinking too much about the future, for better or for worse. Ever since I left us the end of 2017 I've only bought one way tickets anywhere. So far. Yeah. Yeah, I don't I don't necessarily see myself staying here for a very long time. But you never know.

Todd McLaughlin: 38:50

I don't know. I hear Yeah. What has been your experience with like Saudi culture? In Russia cash, have you? Have you gone on Slyke guru seeking pilgrimages out into the hinterland? Yeah.

Jeremy Strickland: 39:07

I'm not a goober seeker. Uh huh. Yeah, I'm more of an observer. Yeah. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 39:20

What's the wildest thing you've seen since you've been in India in relation to a Saudi culture perspective?

Jeremy Strickland: 39:29

Well, I was done with the I actually have a little film of a burial in the river. There was a guy that was living in a hut by the river for 30 something years that this cafe down here, and he transitioned one afternoon and they did a ceremony wrapped him up, but spread some ghee on him and wrapped him in some cloth, prayed and carried him out in the river and set him in.

Todd McLaughlin: 39:56

Yes. So that is interest. There's, that's a different way to do it. That we don't see that here in the States. One thing that someone the I guess there was this old school tradition you might have heard of in relation to like Viking culture where, you know, there's the body was put on a raft sent out into the ocean and they'd shoot flaming arrows and let it you know, burnin and then I recently came across people here in the states are trying to petition for being able to do different type of burials than what we're allowed to do. Because recently, someone who had passed his civil really, you can't do what you wanted. If you wanted to do something outside of the traditional norm. It's illegal, you can't. So that's a that's something that's so fascinating about India's you're gonna see things that are just done so differently from how we'll do here.

Jeremy Strickland: 40:47

Did you go to Varanasi? No, I've

Todd McLaughlin: 40:49

always wanted to I've always wanted to have you been, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Jeremy Strickland: 40:57

Yeah, watch them burn bodies, right on the river.

Todd McLaughlin: 41:01

Yeah, I know. It sounds heavy and interesting, right?

Jeremy Strickland: 41:06

Yeah. How was my sore?

Todd McLaughlin: 41:09

My sore was amazing. I loved Mysore, I had the chance to practice with batavi Joyce in 19, I'm sorry, in 2004. And my wife and I had gone there with that specific intention in mind. And as we got closer, we'd heard scarier story or stories along the way that caused us when we arrived to think maybe we're not going to do it, because we just had heard like, you can get hurt, can get beat up, like, like, just like, but but positive stories too. But a lot of people saying, you know, get ready, that's a heavy duty experience. Like if you're going in there, you know, be prepared for just really working in a level that is going to be difficult, but about yours, too. And so someone had said, look, you've come you've come all this way. And at this point, you know, who knows how much longer pathologists will be around. So you know, go for it. And we're like you, right, you know, we've we've come a long way. Let's do it. And we had a wonderful experience, you know, to be honest person I know a lot of people have had everyone has a different type of experience. But we we did have a good positive experience from my, from my perspective. Yeah.

Jeremy Strickland: 42:25

Yeah, I did have a decent Ashtanga experience probably in like 2000. And it must have been like nine or 10. I was practicing in San Francisco. And there was a couple that bought the building that I was in, and they put in an Ashtanga studio downstairs. And so I ended up trading, some body work for some Ashtanga lessons. I actually did like five morning's a week for about a year and made it all the way through the first series. Very cool. It was with a couple that I had studied with maybe his son or daughter something possibly. Yeah, very cool. Yeah, it's good.

Todd McLaughlin: 43:07

It's it sounds now like you feel a little more gravitated toward the yin yoga style of practice. Am I right?

Jeremy Strickland: 43:17

Yeah, I'm definitely not a I don't have a hardcore yoga practice. For sure. I'll maybe like bust out some sun salutations or do something here and there. type of thing. Yeah, yeah. Which has been my style. I've always been just, like, hit a random class here and there type of thing. I just did the whole year of Ashtanga and think because it was there in the basement of the building. Okay, I'm gonna do it, you know, what, what's this thing about? And so that was, it was pretty good. It was really good. But you know, at the end of it, it was just like, it's a big commitment. timewise like two hours in the morning. And actually, that's when I bought my first piano and thought I'm just gonna practice for two hours in the morning and start studying music Yeah, and stuff. And a transition into that. And it also I had some wrist issues. Because I was also doing body work at the time. So that was just a lot of action on the wrist and things.

Todd McLaughlin: 44:25

Good point. Well, I like the way that you are looking at it from practical perspectives kind of like look, I need my wrist to be strong for this other thing I'm doing and I like music. So let me just transition my time over into this and just kind of move around here and see see what's going to help help me feel like I'm in a healthy space.

Jeremy Strickland: 44:48

Yeah, and I just also just do really like the yen because I'm kind of full power and every other aspect. Intense you know, like, yeah, It's good to come down

Todd McLaughlin: 45:02

what has or is your experience in the world of meditation and or different meditation technique that you've explored over the years?

Jeremy Strickland: 45:13

My, when I meditate, it's simply just breath. And incorporating Chinchin Jitsu, hold your energy locks, that's all mudras, if you will, when you're holding your energy locks, you could call that a mudra, or holding one of your fingers or toes. Something with your third year.

Todd McLaughlin: 45:39

So it has sounds like with gentian Jitsu, you are able you can do this on yourself.

Jeremy Strickland: 45:47

It is a meditation, for sure it isn't Yeah. of yourself and others when you're either giving it to yourself or giving it to someone else. If you're giving someone a session, you're meditating on their divine nature and listening for their perfect harmony.

Todd McLaughlin: 46:04

Is there an authority on Jin Shin Jyutsu, like say, I want to go to the top top dog of, of the technique is there somebody in China or America or India that, you know, is is popular with this or, you know, making

Jeremy Strickland: 46:26

the story Jinshan Jitsu, is that there was a guy by the name of Gera MRI in the early 1900s, that was born in Japan, born into a family of medical practitioners who are pretty well connected. And he came down with a life threatening illness that his family couldn't help him when he requested to be taken to his their family cabin, where he meditated for seven days and held these mudra hand positions, different and motor positions, and experienced extreme heat and extreme cold and came down and it was relatively well. And so he dedicated his life to studying these mudras these hand positions. And because his family was connected, he had access to the Imperial archives of Japan. And there's a book called the coda key, which is the record of ancient happenings. And so apparently, this information is decoded from the Kojiki. And then there was a, an American born Japanese woman named Mary Burmeister, who went to Japan sometime around World War Two, and to visit family and her family was going to study with this man, Jerry MRI. And so when Mary showed up, he asked her if she wanted to take a gift back to America. And just out of politeness, she said, Yes, she ended up staying a few extra years. And then when she did leave to come back to the states, they corresponded by letter for 20 years, and then she began teaching classes in the 60s. And then there were like three main instructors, Wayne Hackett, Philomena Dooley and Muriel cart Carlton, and they were the three or four teachers for a while until the 70s or 80s maybe and there's probably 40 instructors now and one of jerem arise. Sons I believe are students is in Japan. Koto sensei is his name somebody could go to that's cool. Yeah, there are a few people but that but the it's recommended never to study anything from just one person. I've never studied anything from just one person. I like that. Myself. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 48:56

It seems like there's a there is an old school India idea of you only study with one person. Yeah. So I love hearing that. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like a cult. Ish. You got to stay open. Yeah.

Jeremy Strickland: 49:19

What's it just could be my personality thing or whatever? I don't know. But I'm not into following Yeah. Yeah. I'm not into it's even it's so there's a lot of cliquishness and stuff. Yeah. And this communities

Todd McLaughlin: 49:34

Yep. Agreed. Do you feel a sense of responsibility because of your love for this type of craft, too? Keep it non cliquish and accessible? Well, there's

Jeremy Strickland: 49:58

definitely a responsibility Need to Be humble with it? Yeah. Yeah. doesn't belong to me. For sure. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 50:07

Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Very cool, Jeremy.

Jeremy Strickland: 50:14

But I would like to have my own called one day

Todd McLaughlin: 50:19

like a little bit in the back of your mind you just just like a little desire to have a following so that you, you, so that's great. You wanted to create someone to bring you your dinner for you won't even have to like go get the food you could just like,

Jeremy Strickland: 50:35

yeah, it's great to have community. For sure.

Todd McLaughlin: 50:40

I know. You're joking. I hear Yeah. That's cool. What other I mean, while I have you here, I'm what other What else do you got for me? What else have you seen? You've been able to travel bet. What was Vietnam? Like? I've always heard great things about Vietnam. I've had someone come back recently and say, Ah, I did this, like multicountry stops, trip. And Vietnam was absolutely amazing. You got to spend eight months. So usually, if you spend eight months the grass is always greener is not the case when you get that much time. But what are your thoughts? Yeah,

Jeremy Strickland: 51:16

I've actually stayed a lot in Ho Chi Minh City, which is a crazy city. It's like 10 million people or something. Wow. There's, there's also a pretty decent international crowd there. But the Vietnamese that you know, they're it's a younger population. And they're just really cool. I mean, like, Westerners, they want to learn to speak English. People are super friendly. The food is delicious. And expensive. The weather's nice. The motorbike culture is fine. The streets are crazy. Yeah, that's

Todd McLaughlin: 51:47

cool. It's good. You mentioned language study, while you referenced your stay in Vietnam. Did you attempt to learn some Vietnamese?

Jeremy Strickland: 51:59

Well, when I was there, I wanted to give it a good shot, for sure. And I just got decent ordering food and doing some basic stuff. It's a tonal language. So yeah, it was a bit difficult, but I definitely gave it a pretty good effort. And on that note, I really haven't studied much Hindi or anything. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Big language.

Todd McLaughlin: 52:26

And English is so widely spoken. In India. It's amazing. Right? Like, and

Jeremy Strickland: 52:32

yeah. And also when I came here, and I was doing the 500 hour program, so I only had so much bandwidth. And then the fact that everybody does speak English anyway. And I didn't really think I was gonna be here for very long, much less.

Todd McLaughlin: 52:45

Yeah. Have you encountered some students in your process of leading the teacher training where you're at that see you and go, Wow, I want to live here, too. You're so lucky. How are you able to do this? Have you had encountered any of that? Or is that? Sure.

Jeremy Strickland: 53:04

There's a lot of it. And I think a lot of people really like have, they want to come here and they want to make something happen? And it's I think it's really difficult for a lot of people. Yeah, for sure.

Todd McLaughlin: 53:15

What would be the most difficult thing that you've encountered then in relation to that? Well, just

Jeremy Strickland: 53:22

the just having a stable place, you know, that's decent, and just sometimes getting things done. Yeah. And yeah, it can be a long

Todd McLaughlin: 53:33

getting things done like something logistical like a like, let me go to the post office and buy some stamps to mail or

Jeremy Strickland: 53:41

anything like that.

Todd McLaughlin: 53:45

Yeah. You're trying to catch a bus and they're like, alright, we'll be there at 10am on Tuesday, and then by Thursday at 12pm. It shows Yeah, you you have to have patience if you're going to travel around India, right?

Jeremy Strickland: 54:04

For sure.

Todd McLaughlin: 54:06

Yeah, yeah.

Jeremy Strickland: 54:09

Yeah, I've had some good motorcycle rides. Run through Nepal a couple of months ago.

Todd McLaughlin: 54:16

Wow. That's like for you motorbike around around Nepal.

Jeremy Strickland: 54:21

Yeah, from here to all the way through Nepal and back.

Todd McLaughlin: 54:25

How many miles did that cover? A kilometer

Jeremy Strickland: 54:28

how many miles was like four days? Four days? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it was such an adventure man going through so many different terrains.

Todd McLaughlin: 54:38

I, I bet I mean, I did you have any mishaps?

Jeremy Strickland: 54:45

Nothing too crazy. I had to turn around and go back once there was a highway was flooded out and the whole town was kind of like standing on both ends of the highway, you know? So I had to go back a couple hours, but not Even like mechanically or anything,

Todd McLaughlin: 55:03

did you do that solo or with a friend?

Jeremy Strickland: 55:06

I did it solo. It actually wasn't even intentional. I thought it was going to be a two days I went to just do a border tempo Bossa, which is like six and a half hours. And ever since COVID They stopped having immigration at the border. So you can't you can only come in on the ground through Sonali. And I didn't. Because I've done it before. Unfortunately, I had like nothing going on, you know. So as soon as I crossed in, I was like, I'm coming back through tomorrow. And there's like, No, you have to go out. So no, like, I was like, man, cuz it was like a nine hours further. But yeah, it was cool. And I ended up riding through like a Tiger Reserve and just some really cool scenery. And

Todd McLaughlin: 55:45

that's cool. Now, are you are you posting pictures on your Instagram? Not? Yeah,

Jeremy Strickland: 55:55

I'm super shy about social media. I've really been off of social media for a long time, like not even scrolling or anything. I mean, technically, I started an Instagram account, whatever, 10 years ago, and I think I posted like three or four pictures and never touched it again. And then just a couple of months ago, I finally just built a website. It's super basic.

Todd McLaughlin: 56:16

And which is yen yoga. one.com. Correct.

Jeremy Strickland: 56:20

Yes. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm gonna offer these like Meridian theory, courses online, which I have just gotten certified to give continuing education units for registered yoga instructors. Very cool. That's cool, too. Yeah, we can talk about Meridian theory. And

Todd McLaughlin: 56:45

are you planning to do them via the zoom?

Jeremy Strickland: 56:48

Yes, yeah, I can. Nice.

Todd McLaughlin: 56:52

How, how are you going to structure this?

Jeremy Strickland: 56:55

I don't necessarily. What's that?

Todd McLaughlin: 56:56

How are we going to structure the programs like weekend long? three hour session week long. What is your strategy for the time commitment?

Jeremy Strickland: 57:05

I'm really not sure. I was thinking just like a couple hours a day for a few days in a row. Cool. Or maybe a weekend course I could do.

Todd McLaughlin: 57:15

And all that information is on yin yoga. one.com. Yes. All right. Cool, man. I'll definitely check that out. Awesome, Jeremy. Well, I appreciate you taking time to speak with me. We're coming in around about the one hour mark here and I am so thankful for you to etch out some time. Do you have any other thoughts ideas that you'd like to present before we turn the corner toward closing?

Jeremy Strickland: 57:56

The only thing to do is to be

Todd McLaughlin: 58:06

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.

Unknown: 58:56

Well, yeah,