Native Yoga Toddcast

Jennifer Allen - Aloha & Namaste

April 11, 2023 Todd Mclaughlin / Jennifer Allen Season 1 Episode 112
Native Yoga Toddcast
Jennifer Allen - Aloha & Namaste
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Show Notes Transcript

Join us for this fascinating discussion with JENNIFER ALLEN. Jennifer is the author of  Mālama Honua | Hōkūle'a - A Voyage of Hope. She had the honor of documenting the journey and produced one of the most beautiful books. She is a yoga teacher and practitioner and here she blends her love of the Aloha and Namaste spirit into her insights.

Visit Jennifer on her website here: http://jennifer-allen-practice.com
Purchase a copy of her book on Patagonia's site here: https://rb.gy/ggc1e

  • The authorship of her book Mālama Honua | Hōkūle'a - A Voyage of Hope.
  • How she first learned about the Hōkūle'a voyage.
  • How she received permission to go on the voyage?
  • The journey from Aotearoa to Australia.
  • Yoga with professional athletes.
  • Yoga with Maty Ezraty at YogaWorks.

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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 @nativeyoga and check us out at nativeyogacenter.com. All right, let's begin. Well, you're welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. I'm so excited to have Jennifer Allen joining me today. Jennifer is a total pro. Yes, she's a professional writer. She's written this incredible book called Malama Honua, which is about the Hokulea, which you're going to hear plenty about during the discussion. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, the New Republic espn.com and nfl.com. She's also co written for a HBO comedy series. She's amazing. She's a yogi. She's been practicing Iyengar and Ashtanga yoga with some of the greats. And what an incredible conversation. I mean, ah, so cool. So cool. So thank you for joining in. I hope you enjoy this conversation. Please check Jennifer out at jennifer-allen-practice.com. I'm gonna put some links in the description below. That'll take you to some of the websites that explain the Hokulea. Also, there's going to be a link on there to the Patagonia website so that you can order a copy of this book. This book is so beautiful, the pictures that have been taken by John Builderback and the stories that she tells of speaking with the indigenous cultures that the Hokulea visits and it's journey around the world are just absolutely stunning. So wow, I feel so lucky and I hope you feel the same. Let's go ahead and get started. I'm so excited. Because I have Jennifer Allen here on the podcast today. Jennifer, how are you?

Jennifer Allen:

I'm doing great. How are you?

Todd McLaughlin:

I'm doing really good. I've been really excited about this opportunity to speak with you. The two main tracks that I want to take you down is one I want to hear. I'd love to hear about your yoga practice and your history with yoga. And also I really am excited to talk about your book Malama Honua book about the Hokulea which when I saw the book I was just blown away by it's so beautiful. And so this opportunity to actually speak with you is is just I'm so excited. So thank you.How are you feeling today?

Jennifer Allen:

I'm feeling really great. I taught this morning. And then I had a little bit of time. And I just looked at the ocean and I was like I gotta get my face on it. So I just did this little walk down the cliffs and slashed my face and the ocean. Always good to when she was off. You know one step away from like, going in.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yes.

Jennifer Allen:

I didn't want to go into my clothes.

Todd McLaughlin:

I hear Yeah. Yeah, I feel great. Because you're you're in Los Angeles is the waters a little chillier there. So if you splash some pacific ocean water on your face, I'm guessing it feels refreshing.

Jennifer Allen:

It's refreshing. Yeah, it's probably about 63 Right now 64 option.

Todd McLaughlin:

We were out there two weeks ago and Ethan my son was dying to go surfing and we brought like a little spring suit for him. And so we went down to the beach at Newport Beach. And he went in and he was like, Well, how long can I stay out there? And I said, that was his first time going into the Pacific Ocean. I said, I promise you you're not going to want to be in there much longer than like 10 minutes and that little spring so and it was kind of rainy and cold at like 730 in the morning and he did he lasted about five or 10 minutes and then he came up and he was all frozen. But I'm sure you have like a full suit. Maybe some booties.

Jennifer Allen:

No, I don't wear any wetsuit. Really when

Todd McLaughlin:

you Do you do ocean swim in the winter? Do you wait for the summer and spread?

Jennifer Allen:

In the winter? I just swim from probably may 1 to October mid October. Yeah, I have a little suit a little suit. But that's like I used that in South Africa. Yeah, I love voyage when the water was 50. And everybody thought I was nuts. No, we have to you have to go. Like if you go to a place that's near the coast, in my opinion, and you don't, you're not really there until you go in the ocean. Yeah. Yeah, just go. Well, that's, that's nice. That looks nice. It's like you have to get in good point. That's yeah, I agree. Your son he got in.

Todd McLaughlin:

He did it. Yeah, he can he? He's like, Yeah, it's the real deal. Right? Yes. And Jennifer, I have a feeling that there's a good chance that some of our listeners don't know what the Hokulea journey and or the Hokulea is. And so I'm curious if you have a synopsis that you could share that explains the idea and the beauty behind the Hokulea journey.

Jennifer Allen:

Okay, for sure. So, um, in the 1970s, in Hawaii, you know, the Hawaiian language was nearly gone. For decades, hula had been forbidden in the schools do we get the you know, their culture, which is really their soul was getting more and more silence and Hokulea was created the first as an anthropological question of could. It did, the Hawaiians settled the islands intentionally, you know, there's this this theory of, oh, they just drifted there, you know. So the Hokulea was built by a few people, but one of them was an anthropologist who had studied the ancient Polynesian crafts, which were double holed, like kind of like a catamaran, you know, everything bound together, no nails, everything bound together by line, and two sales, Credit Plus sales. And it was also designed by a Hawaiian man who was a painter who had painted these, how these voyages right? And they built this Hokulea. And they said, Let's just see, let's see if we can sail her to Tahiti, which is kind of a large task, but there is a through line if you catch the winds at a certain time. And so the whole cool layout, because they wanted to do a traditionally it was sailed by a master navigator from sought to wall. And because the Hawaiians had lost their navigational skills, you know, the compass came, and then that was it, right. So they sail traditionally with by the sun and the moon, and the stars and the swells, and the birds. And since there wasn't any Hawaiian, they found a man who was a master navigator. Malpighi, Luke, and he came and taught them and he they sail to Tahiti in 1975, and she has been pretty much she made me Hokulea, which is the name of the star that is the, at the peak of Hawaii, in the sky, which means the star of gladness. And she's been sailing for 50 years now. And I had the honor to document her voyage as she went around the world. She left the Pacific and went around the world.

Todd McLaughlin:

Wow. What a huge honor how it was

Jennifer Allen:

such an honor. It's exactly the right word. It was such an honor. It was such an honor. I bet to be Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin:

So the first time I heard about Hokulea was from surfing magazines, here in Florida because of Adi cow. And learning like what a legend he was and as a lifeguard on the beaches and specifically like Walmart, Waimea Bay on Oahu. I think he saved something like more than 500 people's lives as a lifeguard which is like how's that even possible in a lifetime and, and just the legend of him sailing on the Hokulea and then it capsizing and him attempting to rescue people and him losing his life for for the sake of others, and I remember just the whole myth and legend around Eddie just seems so bigger than life and just like a hero, just a true legend. And and that was the first time I had heard about this idea of selling on the Hokulea. How did you first hear about it? What was your first interview option with learning about Hokulea.

Jennifer Allen:

Well, I'm just going back to Eddie just for a moment because it's hard to just move away from Eddie iCal

Todd McLaughlin:

No, let's just sit around Eddie for a while

Jennifer Allen:

to stay around Eddie for a little bit here. I met him when I was a teenager. Oh, ye, in passing met him. And then the next year when he sailed on Hokulea and it capsized. And he went for help. And he wasn't found. Wow. He, you know, a lot of people know that expression. Eddie would go. Yeah. And people think that it means like, oh, Eddie would take the biggest wave. And it's like, no, no, no, Eddie would sacrifice his life for his friends. So every time we voyaged or the crew voyage, or we came into a circle, there were many prayers all the time. And you had, you know, there were some people who were Mormons, and there were some who were more indigenous, you know, different, but the prayers encompass everybody. And Edie was always brought in. And, yeah, so how I first came to see Hokulea was a friend from college, I went to UC San Diego. And I was, you know, in the ocean there to a lot. He was a surfer photographer. And after college, he moved to the North Shore and was a photographer for surfer and surfing. And we've stayed in touch. It was just a passing email. Hey, what's going on? What's going on? He's like, Oh, look at this. I took a picture of this today. What is that? And the picture was just astounding. I have it here. The picture? Was this one of Hokulea. Just the passing.

Todd McLaughlin:

Oh, wow.

Jennifer Allen:

You know, oh, I was I was just taking a picture of this today.

Todd McLaughlin:

Oh, right.

Jennifer Allen:

Like, and he said, and they sail without modern instruments, and they're going around the world. And I think it'd be a great book. And I was like, you go, John, that is great. So James, John, is I go, yeah, if you need help with that proposal, like, you know, he's a photographer, he's super articulate as like that, you know, I do this writing stuff. I write books. Let me know. And I'll help you with a proposal. And he was like, No, I think it's a writer's opinion. No, no, I don't know. It's, uh, anyway. That's how that's how I first

Todd McLaughlin:

that's amazing. Wow, that makes sense. For those who are listening and not watching this conversation, the picture that you just had up Jennifer was like, the beautiful green mountains of Hawaii in the background in this incredible ancient looking boat with these beautiful Red Sails kind of cruising, you know, along the shore, it looks almost like a snapshot out of a different time period. It is. But or am is modern, obviously. But it just sums up our imagination of an ancient sort of landscape. So that's incredible is that's John is it builder back? Sound builder back right John builder back in. And because he is a legendary surf photographer, Ivan's ICBC, his photos all over the place like surfers journal, and all of our favorite surf mags. I mean, he's been a legend in the surf world in the photography world for a long time. That's so cool. So So you guys are hatching this idea. And

Jennifer Allen:

so he says, it'd be a great idea for Patagonia and I said, okay, and then we looked at the Patagonia outline, and it was clear that there would have to be a writer attached. And as I was looking at it, I was like, wait. We need to ask the Hawaiians for permission to present Patagonia like this. No, no, no. So now I know a Thompson who you may have who was the president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, which the Polynesian Voyaging Society created? Hokulea he was on the canoe when when Eddie was last. Wow. And he was the first Hawaiian to sail in 600 years without modern instruments. Wow. Okay. So I had to write a letter to him. And it took me you know, when I'm a quote unquote, professional writer, it took me a month to get it right. Wow. You know, just how do you how do you put yourself how do you know what, how do I even approach this to say, do we have permission? Do I even have permission to ask for permission? Yeah, there were so many layers. I felt just like this is so large and meaningful. And this canoe is such a unifier for Hawaiian people and all of Polynesia. She has ignited the indigenous original wisdom throughout Polynesia all the way down to Easter Island. So anyway, they said yes. And then once we had the guess from them that yes, you can follow us around the world and document us. Then we Patagonia said yes, no, oh, my gosh, and weeks before they left on the start of the voyage. So it kind of

Todd McLaughlin:

legendary. I mean, Patagonia is legendary to just in the surf world for thinking about sustainability, and ecology. And right now what they're doing with developing new legs for wetsuits instead of the neoprene and all the rubber that's involved in that is just so amazing. The story of the men that started Patagonia is incredible. Like those guys are legends. So it's such

Jennifer Allen:

a great company, I believe in that companies. So, so enormously.

Todd McLaughlin:

That's all that's amazing, Jennifer, that's cool. So, I mean, so you, you've lined up this incredible sponsor, you got permission from the Hawaiians, locals, you got you have a an amazing photographer. And you have the writing skills. So what happened next? How did it begin?

Jennifer Allen:

So we began and we just we charted out what places we thought we would go. And of course, that would change, you know, and you would, you would think, like, Oh, we're gonna have a schedule, but then you soon realize, like, the whole idea of a schedule, it just depends on what the winds doing. It depends on you know, you soon realize that, like, you may think that you're in control, but nature is in control. And nature is determining when you're going to sail when you're going to fly, because we would fly to meet them when you're going to do anything really is at the the knot of nature, which is as it should be. So we we went to American Samoa, and then we went to Aotearoa, which is New Zealand, which was beyond the beyond, and I was you know, when you're when you're with the Hawaiians going to these places, they had already arranged for it to be that the communities were ready to welcome them, they made sure that the Hawaiians would say, do we have permission to come. And so the communities that met them were the people of that place. So it wasn't your usual experience. It was very, very original, the original people that people land and that ocean, and there were many times where English was not being spoken. And we were in a forest in New Zealand, a Calvary force, and the Maori language is similar to the Hawaiian language, but not the same. So they were chanting back and forth. And speaking. And I'm, as you know, I'm feeling everything because I'm feeling like I grew up in a house with many languages. My mom was from North Africa, so I'm comfortable being not understanding, okay. And just reading the feelings, but then halfway through a boy, I have to document this, I have to articulate this in English somehow, you know, and I think that's also where the yoga helped me of just like intuiting by being in the place what it is, and then afterwards, I would ask people in English was this what was conveyed? And this and this, and I was often Right. Which was incredible, because I wasn't trying to understand what's going on. I need to understand it was like, no, just experience it. What is he feeling? What is she feeling? What is she saying? What is he off? Like, just be in it? Don't try to grasp it. You know, and that's yoga too. Yeah, yes. Yeah. So I felt like a lot of things have prepared me for this project and 20 years prior, I wouldn't have been mature enough to do the project. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin:

Oh, yeah. So amazing. I have the I'm trying to paint a picture in my mind of I have had the chance to go to North Island in New Zealand, and it is beautiful. And but the and despite the experience of actually experiencing it from the indigenous side of things, I think, would be something that we never I don't even I mean, that's such an incredible honor. And how lucky to have that opportunity. Because that's such a rare, that sounds like such a rare situation, to be welcomed into that and to see that and to feel it. So pretty amazing, though I agree, because that's such a huge responsibility from your side. So to be able to try to interpret that outside of the realm of just interpretation of language, but more like you said, the feeling of it is, is just amazing as well. So then I'm curious after New Zealand,

Jennifer Allen:

so after Newseum in every place, which was different than my journalism, but in every chapter that I wrote, I would send it to the whoever I interviewed Antilla Weinstein, did I get this right? You know, don't like, if it's not right, tell me how to, you know, make it right, because this was really their story. Yeah. You know, it's not my story. You know, it wasn't a first person narrative till the end, when I sailed on the continent. So from Aotearoa, New Zealand, then they went to Australia, and we've met them along the Great Barrier Reef, and then they went up toward Bali. And then they went to Madagascar, and then they blend around the

Todd McLaughlin:

South Africa, which is harrowing, apparently, one of the most, like,

Jennifer Allen:

dangerous ships have been snapped in half. Okay, yeah. So, um, you know, imagine selecting the crew for that 32 day voyage. And we met them in Cape Town

Todd McLaughlin:

after they had made the passage, what was what was the reaction of the people like when you got a chance to speak?

Jennifer Allen:

Well, what's amazing too, is so people know, well, definitely to agree that the canoe is a cannon, right? The Archbishop and his daughter, but what's amazing, what's was always really fun was there were people that knew the canoe was coming in. Right? And other people who would just be like walking by and they would go, what the heck, like, you know, just step into the ceremony, like, suddenly it's like, Why are these people? What is that? What is that vessel? You know, no matter who you were around the world, people would just stop and just be like, mesmerized, and then often, like, choked up and weeping. Because there's such a purity to that. Yeah, right. Yeah. And so, you know, we say, Oh, well, they will do what, you know. So South Africa, and then they crossed the Atlantic and had never experienced they never sailed through fog. Alligators said, well, the navigator training, and they went to Brazil, and then we met them up in Cuba.

Todd McLaughlin:

Wow, pretty incredible. The photo and the book of the Cuba picture with that castle and the moon in the boat. Oh, my gosh, that just looks like it's iconic. Yeah.

Jennifer Allen:

It was just incredible. So we met them in Cuba. And then they went up the east coast of our country, our continent. And we met them in New York for World Oceans Day, and they had a presentation at the United Nations. And then, and then they came back down. And then we squeezed in. Galapagos, I squeezed in whatever it was, the deadline got kind of crazy. At the end, I had to finish the book. And then I had to go to like I had usually I was taking three to four months to write a chapter because I needed to like, do y'all come home to yoga, whatever. And then suddenly, it was like, No, you got to do you have to write the last two chapters in three weeks?

Todd McLaughlin:

Oh, gosh. Yeah.

Jennifer Allen:

Right. You know? Okay. So Galapagos, and then nine, oh, a Thompson had a had a family emergency. So he hit the crew that he was training these people in their 3028 30. He put the canoe in their hands. There were some original crew members on board who also for safety, but and then they navigated to Rapanui Easter Island, which taught me that and then from there, that we met in Tahiti and then I sailed from one island to another and Tahiti. And then they sailed home.

Todd McLaughlin:

Wow, around the world journey. This is 2013 to 1714 to

Jennifer Allen:

2017 and the leg that I sailed on, had five the earth General crew members, as well as FBI cows nephew. And what was can you? Yeah, they told me I was gonna be on the phone. I was like, no, no, like, okay, but to some, like get the place to somebody else like, I don't need the place like, I don't need the spot on the committee. Why don't you know? No. And then the captain didn't even respond to me I was like, Okay, you just say thank you and get on. And and what we were doing there was before they left on the voyage, before they leave on any voyage, they go to a little Atoll in Tahiti called right, and then go to the MRI, which is like a temple and sacred temple. And they asked permission from those leaders. And those leaders gave them a PO Haku, which is a stone and they said, This stone has the mana the energy of this place, take it around the world with you, and we'll be with you. And at the end of the voyage, bring it back to us. Maybe don't bring it back. Don't come back. Oh. So are so we were bringing the poha coupe back.

Todd McLaughlin:

Wow. And you got to go on that. You got to sail on that leg of the trip

Jennifer Allen:

on that leg of it. Cheese. And there's more stories than that. But I have to just have to put the bid. Do you see how it all?

Todd McLaughlin:

Oh my gosh, yes. Yes. You know, I'm saying yes. So can you explain some of the feelings that you had in that on that sale journey knowing that you're with, you know, the legends, some of the originals? And, yeah,

Jennifer Allen:

well, you know, honestly, as such, I love swimming in the ocean. But you know, I have gotten seasick. Great. Oh, I didn't get sick. But that was my thing was like, a little nervous. Yeah, a little nervous. And then getting nervous makes you sick. Right? So it was a little you know, I'm correct, sir. Was like I just don't want to be in the way. You know, it's like, John's finally here. And she's like, You know what I mean? So we, so I was nervous about that. But then some other people were feeling bad. Feeling sick. So I was like, Okay, we're all okay. We're all humans. And it was just it to talk with these original crew members. on Hokulea, about their original, their first early voyages of the 70s this one man I was speaking with, I said, you know, you guys were radical. Like, you guys were like, you guys were like taking a stake and just like sticking it in the land, you know, by doing a Hokulea by just going like, Oh, this is ours. And we're reclaiming it. Yeah, he goes, he goes, you No, he goes, removing steak from our heart. And then, and then you hear something in the sale, and you go, the wind is shifting, and suddenly, it's pouring rain, with the sun. You know, like, things like that. And just these moments of just and now suddenly, everybody's trying to take down the sails and change the sails and it's like this, and then it's, and somebody's singing a song. You know, it was it was pretty. It was pretty, it was pretty incredible.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah, you know, I know that movies like marijuana from Disney might be, you know, stereotypical on some levels and stuff like that. But I think what it tries attempts to portray is this deep communication with nature. And do did you have moments where you felt like you were getting a sense of the ability to communicate with nature in a way that maybe would only be inspired by being around people that are in the process of actively communicating like that and that you got a chance to see something that you can't really access unless you're around people that take it deeply like that?

Jennifer Allen:

Yeah, it's kind of like it opens it's like this veil is lifted, you know? And like once you can see you can see that we were in New Zealand and this may sound really trippy but it was and we

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah, like trippy still.

Jennifer Allen:

It's not a big deal. I'm not gonna be able to convey it as trippy as it was, but everywhere we stopped the New Zealand we would cut like we stopped like, let's just pull over and go to like a restroom. Right and we will we will come out of our separate restrooms going. Did you see the hand The faucet and everything was made of a shell. And like, there was just this attention to detail, right? And we came out. I remember like, oh, because we've been driving a while and we didn't have a GPS, you know, which was just seemed to be the way we traveled a lot. You're just like, well, let's just go toward the sun. Let's just figure that out. And we just sat down on the grass. And there was this hill, and I just go looking at this hill, and it's these rocks. And it sounds it was I just go I go Gemma, I go check out those rocks. Like, tell me that that's not living. Tell me that's not living. Like, it was like, it wasn't like, I don't I can't even explain what it was. But these rocks were like, ancestral. You know, they were like the you know, in Easter Island and Rapanui. It was it was like that. And they were just at the end, it was just, you know, and then you did it. And then you start going. I wonder what that's really called. I wonder what that hill is really called? No, everybody's forgotten. What the name of what does that help? What are those rocks? You know? So now when I look at landscapes, like I look at Catalina Island, I'm like, what's it really called? Was that isthmus called? What does it symbolize? Yeah, you know, I don't just go Oh, yeah, it's a bay where you put your boat like, what? Like, you start to see the larger landscape, and you also start to see how much we've ruined it. Yeah. And that's really hard when I would come back from these places. And I would just come to LA, thank God, there's the ocean, I would just go, Oh, my God, we've covered everything, some that we just thought, oh, we'll fix this. We'll just put cement over it. We'll just put cement over it. We'll just add more cement on top of the cement and fix it so we can get somewhere. And it's it's, it's a it's hard. You know, it is. It's a hard reality. Right. But once a once you've seen, you know, once you've sort of been kind of awakened in a way. Yeah, you just start noticing, and wondering like, what was this originally, before we came before? Yeah, we lost it. Listen, yes, yeah.

Todd McLaughlin:

This sounds like potentially, you're a dreamer, as well. Jennifer, do you see a way back?

Jennifer Allen:

Do I see a way back? Like how we can reclaim you mean,

Todd McLaughlin:

make amends in somehow?

Jennifer Allen:

Well, I think people are starting to, you know, I think I think it's just start to like, listen and see. What are these practices, you know? I mean, it's, it's really just, I don't know, I'm, we all once came from somewhere. You know, long, long, long ago, we all came from, that was a thing in Africa to like, people were crying every day. I wept every day. I was not prepared for that. My mom was from North Africa, South Africa, it's a whole different. And, you know, we all came from there. And then we man migrated out, you know, but we lost the touch. So I think the way back is by listening to people who are still close to it, yeah. We went to a conference. It wasn't really in the United States, or I wouldn't call it a conference. But it was a gathering of people in South Africa. And these two, it was different. Different nations, right? Like tribes, but nations. And these each tribe nation, each people presented their champion Hawaiians presented theirs. And then there was this to a man and woman who were so old, in their 90s. And they were the last two people to speak that language. And their chant was barely a whisper. barely hear them. And it was so when you lose your language, when you lose what your real last name was. When you lose your sense of where you came in the earth or your relationship to the earth, you're losing a deep sense of yourself. And so I think that the indigenous path that people are starting to listen to, can help can mix with science. You know, it's not just throw it all away, but you can't go backwards, but you can listen and incorporate. Yes, no, yeah.

Todd McLaughlin:

Well said. Yeah, that's great insight. That's really cool. Jennifer I'm so excited to have this opportunity. I and then when I, you know, I just heard Oh, she's so I'm really thankful to Jen Taylor and Harriet Harris for introducing me to and for setting this up. And they said, Oh, she's a yogi. And then when I got a chance to see your website, Jennifer dash Allen dash practice.com. I, then I saw Oh, she's an Ashtanga yogi. And then I read that you practice with Chuck Miller and Maddie is Roddy and my, my wife, Tamra got a chance to practice with Chuck before, but I wasn't able to. And I have friends that lived in Santa Monica that used to practice with him and the stories that would come out of their absolute just love for the experience of practicing at Yoga works when it was just a room in Santa Monica was there everyone was just like always legendary. You know, it's so great. So amazing in there. Can you tell me a little bit about your history with yoga and how you got into Ashtanga and then what you're currently up to?

Jennifer Allen:

Yeah. So my first yoga was actually at Jeeva Moltke in New York with Sharon Gannon and David life. And it was in the 80s in the basement of a church with about six people. yoga mats, you know, this is really like, there wasn't the clothing. You know, and I don't know, I saw a flyer, something like, like Cafe Yoga, you know, East Village, and I went to that class. And I, I mean, I'd stepped into another world entirely, right. And it was just Sangha. I mean, I didn't even know what it was called. And I just sort of, you know, I was a dancer and an athlete. So I know how, like, I know where my shoulder is. Like, I have some sense of like, body awareness. So I was able to follow along. And it was two hours, because that was basic. That's how long classes were then our 45 minutes to. And, um, I got out there. And I lived in the West Village. Block, and I was like, I need a cab. I was like, I was so spaced out. I was just like, Man, I can't.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah, I need some help. To get

Jennifer Allen:

by I don't know what I don't know. I think it was villages that way. But I need some blowing trash. And I need to get out of here. And so I took a capital. And then I just kept going back. And then I they moved to a bigger space. And then I moved to LA. And then I just so happened to find Yoga works. And it was, you know, Mati was more ion gar. And Chuck was Ashtanga. And both very different teachers. And Eric Schiffman. Was there too at the time? And got Stryker? Oh, wow. Brian cast? There was maybe, you know, like,

Todd McLaughlin:

I mean, the original crew. Yeah, it was.

Jennifer Allen:

When I studied with Chuck, there was just maybe just 10 people, right. And I just, you know, through the Shandra, Anyang guard, you really learn, you know, I younger, teaches you placement in a way, and how to use props to help your placement. And Ashtanga is more like, this is where you are and just deal with it. You know, put your arm over your head, put no put your hand flat on the floor, and then look up and just deal with the fact that you can't move. You know, there's a benefit to both of like, Make space, like allow yourself some space to move. And then there's a benefit of just going like, No, this is where you are. They're both, so I did both. And then I moved to San Francisco and I went to this one class and ended up being Ronnie, you know, it's just like I was so I've been so lucky. So lucky. And so the way and so that was you know, over 30 years ago, and I'd gotten certified twice since then. The last time with Annie carpenter who was a student of MADI and Chuck. Um, so I teach still, because I love it so much. And I have such a long, deep history with it. And I've worked with, I've worked with a lot of sports teams because I grew up with sports. My dad was a professional football coach. And I was very competitive. I mean, the reason I kept going back to yoga is like it really pushed my buttons, you know, we're just going to sit here and sit here. So you know. So my how I teach probably incorporates itself All vinyasa. I mean, you just go with what the studio is gonna call it, right. But it, it incorporates a lot of alignment and mindfulness. I studied with Chuck a couple years ago when he was in LA, and it was all teachers in there pretty much right. And the first day, we did Tadasana, after three hours,

Todd McLaughlin:

oh my gosh. Just held just held.

Jennifer Allen:

No, no, he did it because the pressure was building so much in the room like you couldn't for three hours. Like he would be like you for five minutes, he would talk you through it. And then he would just go okay, rest. And you'd be like, it was it was incredible. But he would just he would talk about it. Like he would talk about the alignment. And then he would say like, what are you going toward? Like, where's your energy moving toward? Is that moving you more towards your center or like then he would talk philosophy. And it was unbelievable. Wow, it's unbelievable. And, you know, some people just didn't come back the next day. It was like, I wanted to do handstands. I want to do this. I was like, No, we're gonna do mountain pose. We're gonna talk about mountain pose. It was It was unbelievable. It was so good.

Todd McLaughlin:

That's so good. That's amazing, Jennifer. Yeah, I think that's what's so incredible. It's setting with these teachers that really practice like they truly practice that wasn't just a fashionable like, let me take a weekend course and teach and I haven't really practiced like, and getting in their presence, you know, you just feel it from It sounds similar to the way you were explaining, arriving in a different place on the Hokulea. And how you just had to feel it. And I think like that old school history from India feels like similar, similar to that old school Hawaiian feeling that that sometimes, if we're lucky enough to get a little chance around it, you go, wow, there's there's something so much bigger than me here. That's amazing. That's so cool. Did you ever get a chance to stay with Tim Miller down in San Diego?

Jennifer Allen:

No, I had been. I think I took one class with him. He was subbing for somebody at YogaWorks. Nice. That's cool. You know, yeah. And you know, there was one time and we used to practice facing one another. Two rows facing one another. It's so good. I mean, I often think to some of my classes, like, I'm just gonna make it like, I think people would,

Todd McLaughlin:

let's do it. Yeah. Even though it's like totally against the grain. But don't look

Jennifer Allen:

at him. Do you know what I mean? Like this one class, you know, people think Yogi's have to be smaller this or that, like, we have all like, I think the world and Instagram has all these ideas of what yoga is and what Yogi's are, yeah. And I closed my eyes, and there was nobody across from me. And I was like, great, you know, I was like, crate, you know, was really quiet. And we were all seated. And you know, when some people come in late, and they like, drop their mat, drop their keys, they make so much you open their eyes, and they're like, not these very large people. I opened my eyes. And after this, like five minute meditation, Kareem Abdul Jabbar sitting across from me, he came in and didn't make a sound. No. And then, because he was so tall, he couldn't, you know, the ceiling was he had it, like, used his arms like this, because it's sort of gone through the ceiling. And then when you do the one legged, you know, to the house up and stuff, and I was like to decide if he would have done it, he would have knocked like eight of us out. But like, some of the stuff was hard for him, watching his humility. And watching the grace in this very large person who's large, I think he's seven foot is not

Todd McLaughlin:

that maybe even taller. Yeah, I think

Jennifer Allen:

very large human being that has to make his way in the world and be grateful and humble. Yeah. No, it was it was. It was unbelievable. I mean, you can you can learn yoga. In so many ways. It doesn't just have to be in the room, in the studio on your mat. You know,

Todd McLaughlin:

I That's amazing. Jennifer, I I know, we don't have enough time for me to take you down the track of another book that you wrote. I think that involves you talking about growing up with an NFL Coach dad. So maybe, if I'm lucky enough, I could have you back on on the show. And we could go down another, you know, hear more stories, more yogis. More stories about it, but what are you when you were with athletes with yoga, and maybe professional athletes, what some? What sort of reaction do you get? What sort of approach do you take?

Jennifer Allen:

Um, you know, what's the great thing about athletes is they're already they're already aware of their body and their body parts, right? So there's already that awareness. I'm, I'm really working, I work with a lot of guy teams. And I have three brothers and I have three sons. I'm very comfortable in a room full of 25 soccer players, it doesn't. But I'm really working with their minds. In a way of just like, well, let's, you know, when you hit the obstacle, how are you reacting? Like, what are your emotions? And how, you know, so watching when you get to the difficult poses, which might just be playing for two minutes or side plank for two minutes? How are you respond? How are you reacting emotionally? And is it helping you? So it's, it's a different? It's like yoga, I'm trying to, they're getting a stretch, but they're also learning how they react to conflict, which is what competition is, it's enforced conflict, right? But in yoga, it's conflict with yourself, in a way, like my shoulder, I'm, like, well, is that helping it like having this debate with your shoulder? Or you don't have to say, so I've talked, I talk a lot about that. And, and it's really great for them to do something that isn't what they usually do together. I think it unifies them in a different way, too. And they all they, you know, some of the first they come in and you can tell they're just, you know, there's coaches making this video. Okay. And within 10 minutes I worked on really, I do some really hard just core stuff. Yeah, like really hard courses, you you've won their attention. You know, and you've kind of earned their, or their attention in a way to buy. Because if you just ask them to lay down to do no stretch, if they're just going to space out, I want them to be focused. Like you have to be in a game.

Todd McLaughlin:

Amazing Jennifer do did growing up with a professional coach, Dad, did he ever sit you down and say, Hey, Jennifer, let me tell you a little bit about my strategy. With coaching a team. Do you feel like you learned any of that from him? Or maybe just more intuitively around him kind of the way like you're expressing learning by just not understood?

Jennifer Allen:

He? Well, he was known as a really great psychologist, but he never, we never ever talked football. Yeah. We're like, now that you asked that. I know that never. So I think it's just it's just watching myself learn yoga. Yeah, you know, because I was I was a sprinter, you know, so I'm all about like, shoot the gun. I gotta go. I gotta go. I gotta go to shoot that gun. Right. So I already have the focus, but just I'll just run a fast, straight line as fast as I can. And so to have to, like, down dog, you know, I remember it took me 10 years to like, accept it. Doing this again,

Todd McLaughlin:

except the downtime.

Jennifer Allen:

We just did that. We're doing it again. I was that person. Yeah. Yoga. Yeah, this inner dialogue, like, Are you kidding me? I was like, no, just do it. I also have incredible discipline, right? I'm very, I have a lot of self discipline. So that's what I love. That's what kept me coming back. Yeah. And athletes have a lot of self discipline to so if you can, you know, approach it as a sense of a discipline and it's a self discipline. You know, that, that really resonates.

Todd McLaughlin:

That's amazing. I mean, anytime I see someone put together a book, I or read a book and think about what the process would be to actually get organized enough to put a book together. I always just think that seems like Superman or Superwoman coordination organization, that type of thing. Focus. It seems like you were born with that. You must have been, or is it all called? It's a combo?

Jennifer Allen:

Well, I'm pretty organized. I have a pretty organized house, put my creative processes, organized. And organized. So I have a I teach writing workshops, and I teach yoga and so some of my yoga students have taken my writing workshop when I go out. This may seem a little like bipolar, but let it be like it's totally, it's totally so I think I like the yoga to contain things. I like the order to contain things then once I right it's like you really got to, you know, like stand in that forest and just like feel it, right. So but when you're given material like I was given when you're, if you have the skills to write and you have the experience to listen and to observe, because yoga is observing It's awareness. Writing is observing. Reporting is observing and awareness like noticing like, Oh, his shoes, not tied to say money. It's like a detail the details. That's Mati, the details. And then you're given material. That's amazing. It's like, the job is to just not mess it up. You know what I mean? Like, just, I mean, I was given amazing material. I was put in amazing places. Just don't miss like, just be aware. Yeah, it's not about you. Yeah, the damn dogs not about you.

Todd McLaughlin:

That's great. I love it. I don't want to take us down a sad path. But I am curious. Were you heartbroken when you heard about Matisse passing in Japan?

Jennifer Allen:

Yeah, I I was actually going to study with her. Like, right after that in LA, and I had gone back and studied with her a couple times when she came to LA. And I, I was, I was, I was shocked. But I was also like, in awe of how clean her exit was. You know, I mean, as Chuck said, it's like, the her container just couldn't contain all her energy, you know. And it was, it was a loss of knowledge. You know, I mean, there's never there. There's not another teacher like her, you're not going to I mean, I was watching a video this morning of her teaching. It's just, it's, nobody's going to have that nobody else is going to do that. I mean, we're all original, right? But she was able to really share that and convey it and go around the world. So personally, I was sorry for the yoga community, for me, for everybody who wants to learn how to actually do things from a classical way. But for her, it was like, Man, how clean? Yeah, like, you taught a workshop. You know?

Todd McLaughlin:

I mean, that's beautiful. Yeah.

Jennifer Allen:

I'm saying like, I mean, I don't know exactly what happened. She must have just had I don't know what happened.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah. I didn't hear the details either. Yeah, no, but

Jennifer Allen:

you know, it was swift. There was an unknown. Which is, you know, when you is, as you get older, you go. Yeah, that's pretty clean. It's hard on everybody around and my dad was, my dad was a quick, unknown setting up. It's really hard on the people around them. But then as you get older, you just go man who just like, like, oh, and then yes. Play, you know,

Todd McLaughlin:

what are your thoughts about now we're getting a little deeper about, like this idea of the yogi having the idea of getting some sort of intuitive understanding that, oh, oh, I'm being called. It's my time. Let me lay down or let me sit and let me sit in padmasana. And, like, have the MaHA Samadhi like the Alright, it's now my time. I'm ready. It's time ready to exit? You know? Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Allen:

I mean, I don't know. I mean, I think people probably do know it's time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's the ultimate goal. The ultimate let go.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah. Good point. Good point. Well, the good news is we have another day. We have another day to converse. And I'm so thankful for this opportunity. Jennifer, I, you're fascinating. You got it. You have some amazing stories. And we probably haven't even really gotten started yet. But I want to be respectful of your time. And thank you so much for for niching some time out for us. And I mean, you shared so many great little tidbits of wisdom and insight. Is there anything that pops in your mind in relation for a great way to close our, our conversation today? A great way to close because I'm at a loss. I don't know what to say now. No kidding. But But yeah, I'd like to hear what pops in your head. Yeah.

Jennifer Allen:

Namaste and aloha. Honestly. They're both a reverence for the other. You know, and I think when you're saying like, what's our way back to understanding indigenous or, you know, I think it's, it goes like being respectful each way you No. And I mean, I just wonder what it would be like if everybody in the in, you know, in the US said to each other, Namaste when they saw each other, you know, and meant it or Aloha. When it's implemented, you know a lot of people do mean Hi, how are you, you know, but just took that time and that presence to Aloha. Namaste, I think it would be I think we would be in maybe a little bit of a better place. Yes. Yeah. And I appreciate you. I so enjoyed talking with you. So, thank you for dialing me up and pulling me on. Great.

Todd McLaughlin:

Awesome, Jennifer. I think I think I figured out the title for the for the podcast is going to be namaste and aloha. Yay, I like that. All right. Well, I will stay in touch. And I can't wait till next time next summer in California. I definitely want to come take your class, but you have to promise me that. You're only going to make me hold some a CTE or Tadasana. Just like if I show up just like oh, today we're all gonna face each other. And the only pose we're doing all right. All right. You promise all right. The other people in the class might not like it, but I liked the idea of that challenge. I love it the simplicity of just

Jennifer Allen:

to stay on there

Todd McLaughlin:

Thanks, Jennifer. Well, I aloha and namaste. Native yoga Tod 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