Alexandria Crow - The Physics of Yoga

Join me for this fascinating conversation I had the chance to have with Alexandria Crow titled The Physics of Yoga. Alexandria is an inspirational and thoughtful yoga teacher. She has years of experience challenging her body and mind. Listen as she shares some of the wisdom she has found along her journey.

Visit her on her website here: https://yogaphysics.com
Follow her on IG here: https://www.instagram.com/alexandriacrowyoga/

Alexandria's Bio
My daily yoga practice has shown me how to approach my life with eyes wide open, allowing me to achieve a sense of ease and acceptance I never thought possible. Choosing to walk down this path has changed my life completely and left me more accepting of myself and the nature of reality than I ever thought possible. Challenges will always exist, but I see them clearly and quickly now, and thanks to my yoga practice, I have the tools to act with great skill.

Some topics we discuss:

• Transitioning from competitive gymnastics to yoga.
• Alignment principles and injury.
• First fascination with yoga poses.
• Is there a place for comedy and yoga?

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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. Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast, I am incredibly honored, excited, and feel privileged to have the opportunity to bring Alexandria Crow to the show and to you to your ears. And if you're watching on YouTube, to your eyes and ears, Alexandria is an incredible yoga teacher. She's been at it for a really long time. She's extremely prolific, you can practice with her via the online platforms. She is available on her website, yogaphysics.com. And I really do highly recommend that you follow her if you're an Instagram user, her handle is@AlexandriaCrowyoga, she does a great job of bringing the essence of yoga to the spotlight without showing off physical asana, you know, from this ego side, but more like, let's ask deep questions. And let's probe in on like, what is yoga? And why are we practicing? And how can we do it in a way that we make it accessible for everyone. So this is just a real honor and a privilege and pleasure. I'm so excited. Let's go ahead and get started. I'm so excited to have this chance to speak with Alexandria Crow. And how are you doing today, Alexandria?

Alexandria Crow: 2:14

Pretty good. How are you?

Todd McLaughlin: 2:15

I'm doing really well. Thank you so much for joining me. I've been looking forward to this for quite a while.

Alexandria Crow: 2:20

Yeah, my pleasure. My pleasure. Be good chat.

Todd McLaughlin: 2:23

And you're in Los Angeles. Am I correct? No, you're not. I was. I will pretend I'm still there. Now we are in Ohio. Cool. What prompted the move to go to the Midwest?

Alexandria Crow: 2:42

My partner is from this town. He had kids. And so I ended up here and hope to tap into and I ended up stuck here. So I'm here for now. Not much longer, I'm sure. But yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 2:53

Very nice. Where are you originally from LA or did you move there?

Alexandria Crow: 2:57

No, I'm from Toronto originally. So I was raised in Canada until the middle of high school. Then I lived in Arizona for a minute and went to college there. And then San Francisco then LA.

Todd McLaughlin: 3:07

So cool. Do you miss La? Yes. Very much. Nice. Nice. I was just out there like two weeks ago and hadn't been there for about 10 years. And I really loved it. It was so beautiful.

Alexandria Crow: 3:20

I lived in Venice, it was. Yeah, out of all the years and all the places I've lived is my favorite place to live, although it's changed so dramatically that Venice is not there anymore. So something to return to because it's gone.

Todd McLaughlin: 3:33

I hear Yeah. Right. Big changes. Will I hear you? I'm a fan of your what you do on social media. I think your posts are amazing. And I love that you're trying to keep yoga real. And on that note, can you share with me what that transition was for you or what got you so fired up and passionate about attempting to stay away from just showing off fancy yoga poses and getting a little bit more into the philosophy.

Alexandria Crow: 4:04

For sure. That was actually the place I started was the philosophy component. Because of my background, which most people are usually familiar with that I have this competitive gymnastics background, the physicality of it had an intrigue in the sense that it was familiar, but it was by no means my driving interest. The philosophy part was the driving force that said I had a particular skill set that was you know, fairly useful to people. And there wasn't a huge model back then to follow along with it was before social media really, I mean, there was only really Facebook and people were barely using that for yoga at all at that point. So I didn't really have a model to follow along with and just got asked to do certain things and that seemed like the trajectory my friends had been on before and they were you know, in the field for longer so I kind of was like, Oh cool. This is you know the way things work and And I didn't do a lot of reflection on here what I was participating in, or why it was one of those where you're, you know, new at something. And it's and I'm not begrudging the fact that it is kind of like an honor and a certain way to get asked to do certain things. But it was by no means my driving interest. And most people are fairly aware that I got pretty hurt. Practicing in the way that I was told to practice, I followed all the rules, I was a diligent student, you don't get to be a gymnast of that long without being really good at taking direction. And so I was quite shocked when I got hurt and didn't even know it was from practicing until quite a bit later. And that was the pivot was when I got hurt. Because my desire was not to hurt myself. I knew how to hurt myself doing gymnastics, you get really good at knowing what pain is. And then my biggest pivot was I didn't want to hurt anybody else. And so I needed to figure out what had happened.

Todd McLaughlin: 6:01

Interesting. So that to understand correctly, do you mean that while you first started getting involved in social media, you were posting a lot of pictures of you doing really advanced extreme Osuna?

Alexandria Crow: 6:14

Yeah, I did the thing that I talked about, yeah. And it was like all there was back then I didn't really understand that platform. But even when I started posting, I was talking about it was a really, it was during that injury period, and a lot was going on in my life. And my practice of yoga had gone from really not being about yoga, because it was so physical and really just perpetuating of all the patterns I had to this pivot to not being able to do any of that anymore. So I had to dive more deeply into the teachings and applying them in life and finding a technique that actually worked when I couldn't move my left leg very well. So at that point, I had stuff to say. So they're kind of those posts that then ended up taking off and becoming the status quo, where it's, you know, a picture of me doing something fancy with some very meaningful copy written below it. And I would never do that nowadays. Not that I begrudge anyone for doing it. I totally understand the motivation for doing that. But it doesn't serve the people that I want to work with. And I don't think it serves the community that, you know, I'm aiming to interact with at large, and it's certainly fairly exclusive. So I try to stay a different direction. It's just not authentic to me at all anymore. I actually feel Yeah, you're back to but I hear

Todd McLaughlin: 7:36

ya. All right. Are you open talking about what type of injury you had? Oh, totally

Alexandria Crow: 7:41

sure, no problem.

Todd McLaughlin: 7:42

What type of injury did you have?

Alexandria Crow: 7:48

The I have herniations of L three, four, and five. Let me say this first. I'm fine. Now I'm totally fine. I don't do any of the things that contributed to it for that said, I can't I'm fine. Do you want to take me to an adult gymnastics class? I totally would I like downhill ski, I do extreme things still all the time, I just don't exploit my poor mobility in the way that I was as demand. So that aside, I've herniations, that l 345. As well as t 12. I have a S curve in my neck, instead of being just one singular curve. I subluxed, a bunch of ribs I subluxed. My left shoulder demoing what not to do. And my joke is always turns out, I'm right that you shouldn't do that pose that way because it will dislocate your shoulder. And I had some hip probably labor issues, as well. But the nerve pain from the herniations and the SI dysfunction, and pelvic girdle dysfunction that I I ended up with was the most painful. It was developing like three times over, I hurt myself three times over trying to figure out what was happening. So my

Todd McLaughlin: 8:59

gosh, yes, I can relate. And what was the predominant styler method that you were practicing prior to all that was it? It is this in LA I'm guessing.

Alexandria Crow: 9:11

Yeah, it was alignment driven, like alignment specific, very alignment focused, you know, quote, unquote, safe, are stronger, actually. And like in vinyasa to a degree but I had a daily Ashtanga practice at that point, but it was propped and with alignment principles. So I learned a lot about this concept of alignment through that.

Todd McLaughlin: 9:32

Interesting I kind of get the feeling, though that the intensity around the alignment is part of what wasn't working for you that I pick up on the leverage correctly. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about the confusion that that might cause for people if say, like I, you know, being a stronger practitioner and then hearing that well, stronger studies, we could then go to iyengar yoga to learn how to do the yoga properly, like where you'd actually Get good alignment, and then it's going to work for you, you know, much better you can avoid all these injuries. Can you explain a little bit why maybe why someone who's newer to yoga would be but wait, isn't alignment going to be so much better than non alignment?

Alexandria Crow: 10:12

Right? Yeah, it's the alignment style that I was taught and practiced is really the predominant one that people teach and practice these days. There's like the status quo at this point around the world. And those alignment cues are what all my work is focused off of it and changing at this point, because what they assume is a very specific body type and ability. And they're mechanically unsound in terms of how some things actually work on a physiological level. But on top of that, they just really assume this one size fits all body that has a very similar set of proportions skeletally, a very similar skeletal makeup and a very similar range of motion and ability in terms of range of motion, or ability to gain such range of motion. And so it self selects out for this really specific population of people who on the x term from the external standpoint might not look the same. But on a deeper look, they have a lot of these similar traits. And the issue that ends up happening is people like me, who can take those alignment cues in and do them because of this component called hypermobility, it's a major contributing factor because we can do that we can kind of manipulate our joints to do all kinds of things that they're not really supposed to do. So the poses will look really beautiful, you know, from the outside. But what's happening in the joints on the inside is completely inorganic, and manufactured, and your body doesn't like that your nervous system doesn't like that at all. So cumulatively, it ends up in a probably pretty bad place. And you ended up also tuning out from your intuition and your internal sensory system that tells you, you know, what's right for you, and what's wrong for you, and allows you to explore and test things to find the appropriate answer for yourself. You override that with these principles that are deemed safe. And that's a big buy in for people, right? Like they want to stay safe. So you buy in and override the system that's trying to alert you constantly that something's wrong. It's kind of a whisper for a while and then it's a shout, and then it's a you know, smacked because you

Todd McLaughlin: 12:26

Yeah, great point. When you can you think back to the first time that say you looked at a book, like, I'm just going to pick one that caught my attention early on, say light on yoga, and I see these pictures in Australian guard doing these really amazing positions. And you know, I was just fascinated by that. Like, to me it look like if I could just follow that. I would, as I get older, I just will somehow avoid all pain suffering. And that that was like going to be the answer. Can you remember the like that first fascination you had with looking at yoga poses and and what your first kind of intuition was about it.

Alexandria Crow: 13:10

It actually I didn't have a fascination with the imagery like that. Because of my background, a lot of what I saw was actually, you know, stuff that I could replicate pretty quickly. And actually, funnily enough, that particular book was, of course, part of original teacher training I took as well. And we were told not to look at it in terms of alignment or position, because we're taught that it was actually like outdated in this, there was this new way to align things that was, you know, smarter and more safe. And you know, that turns out not to inherently be true at all. But so I kind of have a funny relationship with the imagery. But I can remember really clearly always having this fascination with something that was alternative to the spiritual system I was raised in. Yeah. And I was really drawn to that there was this rebellious nature to it, it was so intriguing, because it sounded so much more up my alley in terms of how I saw the world. And I figured like, Oh, if I could figure out that and unlock that, then that'll be the thing and the commonality, I have to what you were saying is that was come by, by way of poses, right. So I thought, Oh, those deeper like spiritual components, if I do the poses, the way that these no authority figures are saying, to do them, I'm going to make my way to this state of ease that's going to eliminate this, you know, chronic anxiety and things like that, that I used to really, really suffer with. So yeah, I can relate to it that way for sure. Where it's like, oh, this is the panacea of answers through these poses.

Todd McLaughlin: 14:46

Yes. And would you say that, that that's not true. It's not that

Alexandria Crow: 14:54

not through the technique of, you know, apply? Yeah. I am a huge believer And if it works for you, I don't believe that Yogi's philosophies and teachings square with everybody's mentality, I think that that is to be really dogmatic. And other religions and spiritual systems have proven time and time again, that it's not one size fits all. And when you try to make it such, it's really detrimental. But if it does square with you the worldview and vantage point of the self and the larger construct of the world in the manifest world, it does have a lot of like liberating and freedom components to it that can bring a lot of ease and a lot of assurance and give you kind of a roadmap for how to live. But I don't think that that you get there. As often I'm not gonna indicate that some people don't get there through the alignment models. Sure. I'm sure that's possible. But by and large, I think that it's actually a hindrance and makes the path a lot longer.

Todd McLaughlin: 15:52

Interesting. I hear you what was the text that you initially got intrigued about the yoga philosophy from Orion,

Alexandria Crow: 16:02

the original one that I was like a deep doctrine. So it seems that when most people if they take a deep dive, go into western see Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. And then I was reading all kinds of stuff, you know, that was all Eastern centric, like every single, you know, new age and Eastern, they're different. But I was reading like a lot of that kind of thing and commentary on those kinds of texts. And some, yeah, the sutras was the first one, I'm by no means just enthusiast like that anymore. I think there's much more applicable, but I started, I started in that in that sutras place, for sure.

Todd McLaughlin: 16:42

Nice. What's something that you've had a few years to study it, read it, apply it, think about it, probably be maybe even challenge it? What are you pulling the most from it these days that you feel is really applicable to our current yoga world.

Alexandria Crow: 17:01

So I think that the sutras do an excellent job of explaining in a concise way, human nature in terms of pattern repetition, and the reasoning behind pattern repetition. And it does so through the explanation of the clay shows, right. So you have this, forgetting, essentially, you forget the nature of who you are, and the true nature of things, subsequently derive an ego, which we all have, and it is the fundamental components interacting here. So it's an old problem. But the parts of that ego that are out of balance or are magnetized will attract towards it, that which perpetuates that imbalance and repel the things that challenge it, or that could change it, and you do so because of fear of death. And that's essentially an explanation long ago of the, you know, addictive patterning that we're all involved in, in one way or the other. So I think that that's really powerful stuff. And especially to know that, you know, I was looking at it from a meta analysis sort of standpoint is that explanation shows up in so many different systems that this is our problem. This is what creates, this is our affliction. And if you see it in so many different places, I always think, Oh, well, there's something there that that comes through not just system, but tons of other areas of study. So I think it has a ton of relevance. And it's oftentimes, like really overlooked in favor of the eight limbs.

Todd McLaughlin: 18:24

Yeah. Great point. Is there something that you did today that made you think this is a pattern that I keep repeating?

Alexandria Crow: 18:34

Yeah, yeah. I did. We all do, right. Yeah.

Unknown: 18:39

Yes. On a daily basis. Yeah. Exactly. Like all day, every day.

Alexandria Crow: 18:44

Worse than that, I was utilized for coursework, that autobiography, and five short chapters. It's easy to look up if people read it, but it just talks about falling in the hole in the sidewalk over and over again, and how you learn that you're participating in this falling in the hole in the sidewalk until you can walk down another street. And yeah, we do it over and over. And it's like, actually quite hilarious. it as a student that I'm working with in one of my courses that said, I'm writing another, another chapter to that. And I think it should be I walked down another street, and I ran back to the original streets threw myself in the hole in the sidewalk on purpose. Yeah, just pattern repetition after and some of that is not, you know, learning that that's predictable. And predictability is what equates to safety in our nervous systems. And that is the oldest and smartest part of our nervous systems that has kept us alive and and perpetuating as a species forever. So to think we can outsmart it somehow in full is, I think, a fool's errand, but to understand it so much better is Wow, what a vital tool.

Todd McLaughlin: 19:51

Yeah. Amazing. Good point, Alexandria. I'm curious because you've, you've had this, actually. So I have understanding of like, what time is We were talking about but when would you say like you started practicing yoga? Like, where are we going back to what year?

Alexandria Crow: 20:06

i Sorry, I was 20. So that's 98.

Todd McLaughlin: 20:09

Nice. So you've seen like this sort of transition, save somebody save somebody's just like coming into class today, I've never done yoga before. And you want to just give them a little snapshot from your perspective of how it's evolved. in that timeframe? Well, how would you paint that picture? Like, what would that how would you explain it to somebody who's brand new?

Alexandria Crow: 20:35

Well, what I would say, almost 24 years ago, at this IP, yeah, 24 years out at this point. The way that it used to be is you didn't know what you were gonna get there, none of us really had a lot of understanding, like, even imagery that we understood was yoga, right, except for maybe people sitting in lotus, like otherwise, you just didn't have this expectation around how it should look, or what would be taught or how it would be taught, it was kind of like you went and the teacher had a lesson plan that they put together, and you didn't really know why or what, and you followed along with it. And that was that. So it was really different because it the expectation of this student, I feel like now is that it's going to look a certain way that a certain things are going to be in there. And if they're not in there, it's not yoga. And I'm like, That's not where I started at all. It's not even how I was taught to teach. And so I would encourage anyone, anyone, frankly, but you know, if you're new, try to put those expectations to the side, because the form is not why the what the function is, the form is just how it looks and a tool towards the function. The function is something much, much deeper. Try to listen for that part.

Todd McLaughlin: 21:54

Yeah. Good answer. Do you? Was there like a somewhere in the middle of all that? And I know, probably the obvious thing would be social media slash YouTube slash internet connectivity was where there was this huge acceleration of seeing more and getting more imagery and more ideas. But um, how would you explain the snowball effect that where that where that transition was and what you what your thoughts about how it evolved and shifted and started pushing more towards the demonstration of asana and the exclusivity of it.

Alexandria Crow: 22:36

I mean, if we wanted to go like way back, Chris Macharia did demonstrations, right. And so there was a lot of imagery that was taken from those demonstrations back in, like the 60s 50s. So there was that element to it. For sure, and you know, ambition of proliferating yoga as well. So go back that far. It's interesting. I think it from what I've seen ologists she's, this is her area of study. It was actually Madonna being on the MTV Music Awards during that performance. When she was involved in Ashtanga that was a huge proliferator of the imagery around yoga and this look, you know, her yoga arms were like this big component to it. And then there was the magazines and social media and, and traveling yoga teachers and this kind of like celebrity ish component to it that really put it in this visual centric kind of arena that it didn't have before. And a lot of that happened because it was coming out of Southern California. And the two things were merging together, you know, there's this natural relationship between the yoga world and Hollywood, because all of us taught that we were the private teachers in my community. So there was this kind of like, merging together. And then, you know, I think a huge amount with social media and a desire to offer yoga to more people, it's very difficult for people to explain what yoga is about without using imagery, I challenge people to do that all the time. And like try to do it without using pictures of bodies, figure out new ways to do that. But I think I just there was just this natural kind of like, let's just use poses because it'll communicate that this is a thing. And it's kind of tangible. So I think that that marketing component was a huge part of it. And then you know, I mean, you've seen it it's in everything from like Capital One commercials to like whatever is people doing Warrior Two all the time. And up to I don't know why up dog and warrior two always in line, okay. Suppose

Todd McLaughlin: 24:43

What do you I think what you're doing currently for, for anyone that's not familiar with your Instagram page, you're at Alexandria, Crowe yoga, and you do a lot of posts where you'll use words so I think one attempt to What I've noticed that You have tempted to do to shift from here's me in a picture, here's a picture of me and opposed. Here's a picture of me in a pose to type out words to explain, like, what what you're getting at. So I think that's actually a really smart way to do it. That seems pretty seems like it's working to convey a message and do oh, gosh, okay, let me just keep my train of thought going here. And so, like I saw one today that was saying, about Down Dog, that down dog is like, not comfortable for everybody. And so we are hearing like in the accessibility world, like, be aware that if you just say a child's poses, like everyone just got a child's pose and relax and Child's Pose, and that's an assumption that that will be easy for everybody. Is there like a bigger meaning reason why you feel there's this real importance to point this out?

Alexandria Crow: 26:01

Well, I, my whole drive towards it was I without knowing I can now label like my three guiding principles as a participant in this landscape. But I was always driven by them, I just didn't have a label for them. And one was, I wanted to teach yoga, like yoga yoga, rooted in the teachings, I was really interested in that part. So as much as I could, I wanted to dive into what that meant. So I wasn't, you know, just teaching physicality. Then I wanted to teach, you know, there's this set of messages that was given to me at the beginning. And I believed them that yoga is for everyone. And it's a lifelong practice. And it turns out that the methodology didn't meet that moniker at all. So I tried to I spent years merging the physical with the message, so that they meet, because I think that's a really commonplace set of ideas that people have is like, you know, this is for everyone. You see it all the time. And I'm like, Yeah, that's what we say. But that's not how classes are formulated at all. So let's talk about it. Because, you know, we're all biased towards our own experience until we learn more. So if something's really comfortable for us, we make the assumption it's comfortable for everybody. We really like something we assume other people will like it if they just give it a try. But that's not true at all. And it isn't something that you become aware of until somebody goes, yeah, like, I really don't like that it doesn't work for me. And what oftentimes happens in the yoga world is like, Oh, well, it will, you just have to keep at it. And, you know, you can use this block or whatever. And but don't worry, it'll become comfortable. But that's not true. It's just not. So if we want yoga to be for everyone, and we want them to get this depth of teaching, and this depth of material that can be really helpful for people, when it resonates, then we have to teach in a way that the methodology allows them to get there and to access that if you're in a class where you're told, just keep at it. And one day, Child's Pose is going to become comfortable for you think of all the psychological oddities that happen from that. And one of the big ones, in addition to the others is, there's something wrong with me, because this doesn't work for me. And yet the message of yoga is, there's nothing wrong with you. The problem is you think there's something wrong with you. And then you've got all kinds of weird behavior that we all have, because you think there's something wrong with you. But if you can get back to that base, place of your okay, then all that kind of, you know, stuff that you've layered on top as coping mechanism and protective mechanism and defense and whatever, would shift, maybe some and you could get back to not feeling, you know, broken or unwhole in some kind of way. So, I think there's so much to so much potential and most like, I'm good for business, even though that's not really you know, it's kind of a joke I make is I'm like people are teaching to such a small fraction of the population and so many people feel unwelcome. And we don't realize that they come and they never come back. We just read and we don't see them, right. So you just think oh, they whenever you do it doesn't register in your mind. You see the people that are there. And I'm like, Yeah, but you don't realize how many have walked in the door and never come back? Because they felt excluded. That's why not.

Todd McLaughlin: 29:09

Yeah, great point. That's a good point. My wife and I've, we have a yoga studio where we have our 17 year anniversary coming up at our studio next next week or next next Monday. Or this publishes that we've done last Monday but and we have like this like stack of all these people have come through and then sometimes I'll be looking back wow, three people showed up today and but we've had this amount of people come through over the years and why. So I like the fact that you're saying that because it's getting me to think like oh, that's actually a really good point. Because I mean, I know obviously like so much there could be so many reasons like there could be 1,000,001 reasons so to beat ourselves up that what did we do wrong? But I do I do am noticing that the more I try to take bring the excess stability and that it does feel better. Like it feels back at least if they never do come back. I feel like the attempt feels good.

Alexandria Crow: 30:10

Yeah, and that's the thing is, like you said, we can't beat ourselves up like you're, you're not going to see yourself in every place you go, or every setting or every, you know, experience, right, that not everything is going to resonate with every person. So it can be something that's completely unchangeable. And you would could never do anything about or you won't do anything about because it's just simply who you are. And you're not going to, you know, negotiate that point of yourself. But yeah, there is this big component. You know, I think it's funny when people say, like, what's the number one reason people say they can't do yoga? I'm not flexible enough. And then we say to them as a yoga community? Oh, no, no, no, that's a misconception. And I'm like, no, what if you said, this is what I choose to say, You're right. You're not right, that you're not flexible enough to do yoga, because Yoga is not the poses, the poses are a means to an end. But you are correct that if you're not one of the 20%, or under of people who are hyper mobile, then even the basic poses are going to be outside of your range of motion reach, no matter how many days a week you go, and how many years? So you're correct. You are too, you don't have the quote unquote, flexibility to do those poses. But guess what, it's not about those poses. So how about let's find a class for you, that's adaptable. And that is on this road to teaching in a different way. So that, you know, and then you present, you know, this is what yoga is, here's what the teachings are about, does that sound of interest? And they're like, yeah, that part, I liked that part. I'm like, Okay, let's find you a class that teaches that part without being left out. Because you're not hyper mobile, let's make it simple here. So I think that's such a huge opportunity. And that's gonna take time, right, because we've got her as a community, broadly, reworked the message that's been given to people over the last couple of decades, which is going to a lot of us working together, which is why I spark conversations, the way that I do, I think that's a huge thing is to say, Hey, I think this way, but if we want to change things, and if this resonates with you, then I need your help to, like I can teach you how if you don't have the tools, but I can't do it by myself. So, you know, important for all of us that are into that kind of idea. And that think that has value to provide the alternative. And to be really clear, like, hey, we do things differently than the status quo right now. And the status quo is fine. But we're doing it this way. And here's why. And if that sounds good to you, maybe come here, instead of their

Todd McLaughlin: 32:32

great point, it seems like the entire like yoga world would benefit for the fact that people actually more people could actually practice which would benefit everybody on both sides of the coin, the teachers that are hoping that they'll be busy enough to support themselves the the students hoping that they can find a class that they aren't made fun of or made to feel inferior. And so it does seem like good work. So then where are we getting? Where are we getting resistance? Like, it seems so obvious to me. So where's the resistance coming from the trade traditions like the police a

Alexandria Crow: 33:08

little bit, but I think there's loose, it's looser around that. Here's my theory. So as human beings, like we talked about the clashes, before we have this pattern, you know, anything that's become predictable and familiar, becomes our norm. And in the yoga world, so much of what's become our norm is tied to really deep stuff, to money to, you know, livelihood to positioning in terms of like our status in some kind of way, shape, or form. And I'm just going to put this on the table, because I've asked a lot of people and it seems to be a pattern, that there's a lot of people in the yoga world who are perfectionist and people pleasers and they don't want to do the wrong thing. And that's a protective mechanism. So when we needle in on hey, there's something that isn't working, there's a way that we need to change this. It might mean admitting you are doing some things, you know, not wrong. I mean, it's only wrong when you're doing it and you know, better but it's just you weren't you know, but that's how they take it. Oftentimes it's them doing something wrong. So then all the defense mechanisms come up, right, because fear of death, like on a fundamental level that change and that admission is, well who would I be? Is everybody going to think I'm a fraud? When I went through all this? I remember it really clearly. And I had no idea. So I think a lot of what happens is someone's ability to do something physical or how they teach has gotten woven into their self worth. And it needles that that Yeah, and so it's really uncomfortable. Yeah. Great. Well, there's yoga work is right. Like that's the yoga right there. You're really uncomfortable because you don't want to change. You don't want to admit that something shifted.

Todd McLaughlin: 34:49

Yeah. Great. Yes, there's the Glacia there's that road. I like this road. I want to throw myself in the hole.

Alexandria Crow: 35:00

Right, exactly. I know these polls,

Todd McLaughlin: 35:02

these holes are so comfortable. Yeah, that's a really good point. How do you I mean, because you get a ton of comments and likes on your posts? How do you navigate what to respond to? What not to what? Like, how do you keep your energy feeling positive? When I mean, I don't know, if I don't know what kind of comments you get. I don't like read all of them. Because there's so many. But I mean, I'm sure that you're getting some like ugly comments or comments that aren't, like, easy to digest, are you? Are your skin getting thicker? Are you just

Alexandria Crow: 35:36

much thicker, but I also don't get nearly that kind of commentary like I did, when I started talking about this sort of thing. There's been a dramatic shift in the landscape as a whole over the last, you know, probably three, four or five years. It was much more difficult, like 10 years ago, seven years ago, it was it was rough, you know, people would follow me and, you know, be pretty nasty sometimes about their position, but, and they would take some of it personally back then, because I was like, I'm just trying to help. And I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just trying to present a different vantage point that I didn't even know about. But nowadays, it seems like people are more aware of that, or they know that's what I'm up to. So they tend to kind of either, you know, be similar in vantage point, or if they're different. They're willing to engage in conversation. And I always have a good faith conversation if people if somebody wants to have one. And that's kind of how I keep my spirits up. Like, I'll debate you if you want to have a good faith conversation. But if you're not open to hearing, you know, I'm putting my vantage point out if you don't want to hear it, then you don't have to be here. Technically, I'm not I don't have to engage you if you're not, you know, willing to listen.

Todd McLaughlin: 36:48

That's good advice. I agree with that. That's cool. Do I saw that you love comedy, and that you're a big Dave Chappelle fan? Do. Did you see the new Chris Rock special that came out? Did Did you like it? Did you think that was good? What are your thoughts on that one?

Unknown: 37:13

It wasn't my favorite. All right.

Todd McLaughlin: 37:16

All right. You actually

Alexandria Crow: 37:19

neither here nor there about his particular comedy. It was okay. I thought there was parts that were funny and parts that weren't I'm like a huge, I've seen everything so I'm pretty crazy. Like I much preferred medelita Have you seen Kathleen Madigan's? New special? In prime? No. Oh, my. Oh, funny. Actually, all of her specials are really funny. But this new one is like I've watched it a number of times, and she actually works clean, which is not usually my speed. But oh my gosh, it is really

Todd McLaughlin: 37:58

what do you really find? What do you mean by works? Clean?

Alexandria Crow: 38:01

This isn't no cursing. No.

Todd McLaughlin: 38:03

Got it. Okay. Okay, cool. Really? At first, I thought you meant like that meant she didn't like get drunk on stage while she did it. But then she does get drunk. Fair enough.

Alexandria Crow: 38:14

She's like friends with she was she dated Louis black for a long time she's friends with? So she's kind of if not,

Todd McLaughlin: 38:20

I'll definitely check it out. I love stand up. Ken, where where do you try to insert comedy into your yoga? And or do you think there's a place for comedy and yoga.

Alexandria Crow: 38:32

And I used to be like, when I taught public classes years ago, I was that was kind of what I loved doing was making people laugh while doing that. And that's really changed, actually. Because I have a strong desire to make sure that I'm facilitating an experience that's about the participants not about me, I don't want to center myself or take the tension off of somebody's internal experience. So but sometimes I can't help myself like it just you know, if I say something ridiculous, I have to turn it into a joke. But fortunately, I spend almost my entire time lecturing at this point. And I lecture on the same topics over and over and over again year after year. So it's almost like doing a stand up routine in the sense that I'm refining material and I've got lots of opportunities to make jokes and make things light and entertaining because I'm trying to keep people's attention for like three hours at a clip, sometimes online where they're just staring at my head on a flat screen. So it's like, okay, well, how am I gonna make this interesting? So I think people resonate with jokes and humor and keeping things light when it's so heavy all the time. That's not how life is. And that's not how people really learn through and through. That's kind of how you get people to beat themselves up, I suppose. But I really liked to make things kind of light at times and make a joke of them. I do a lot of very irreverent things when I teach philosophy like I teach Patanjali like he's Larry David sometimes because he's just seems so an because it's not a q&a book, you know, the greatest question to answer, right? It's the kind of conversation that's happening. And potentially it's having a one sided conversation. But if you realize that he's actually having a dialogue, and that's how it progresses, I do it like he's having this very curmudgeonly dialogue because he's like, really, you don't like that meditation technique will come up. Firstly, not that one and eventually gets to like, just pick something and pick anything you find. That was workable, just pick something. You know. So I think there's lots of room for that kind of thing, while also having, you know, a deep respect and understanding and historical placements and, you know, cultural respect for the tax and the teachings. But I like to face light sometimes and make them funny, this have to be so darn serious all the time. That's cool.

Todd McLaughlin: 40:47

I agree, do if you were to take Chaturanga? What are some of the myths that you think around Chaturanga in relation to anatomy, indoor alignment, like for example, like, like, hug your elbows into the side of your ribcage? Yes or no.

Alexandria Crow: 41:05

Where if you have your hands placed properly. So if you don't hugging your elbows in will negate the carrying ankle structure of your arms and will then cause your shoulder blade to elevate, which will make it look like your shoulder heads are quote unquote, dropping from the side, when the teacher is observing it from the front, it will make you look all hunchy. But that's because of the placement of your hands. And that adduction of your shoulder joint that that goes with comes into like adduct immediately rotate, which goes with elevation. So if you want your elbows to hug into the sides, fine. But place your hands in such a way that that that happens naturally without you having to

Todd McLaughlin: 41:46

manufacture interesting silicone narrower hand position,

Alexandria Crow: 41:51

wider and angled, wider and angled. General, people have about 50 degrees of carrying angle per arm. So that'll mean that their elbows can be shoulder distance, but their hands in general will be depending on how many degrees of carrying angle that number of degrees wider on each side. So they have to be wider. And then I could do it for you, you're on camera. So you can do this. If anybody wants to see it. There's a free lesson on my page, or you can come and take one of my courses, but I'm here, the natural trajectory for my elbows is going to be side like, right. If I put mine to my upper arms to graze my sides, I need to

Todd McLaughlin: 42:27

Yes, that makes sense. Perfect sense. Yeah. Anyone that's just listening, if you want to see what you just did, this will be on YouTube. So it's there. That's cool. Alexandria, what about so like being a stronger person and then hearing people say like, oh, I have this pain, like right at the front of the shoulder. So often, it seems like like the long head of the biceps at the end for glenoid super cool strain. But basically front of the shoulder area. What's classic advice that you would give somebody to just kind of get them to think differently? Like maybe maybe you just don't even do Chaturanga maybe try a completely different practice or do you try to I mean, I know you could go any different angle but what are some different thoughts that you have around this like, fascination with jumping into Chaturanga? Dog Down Dog?

Alexandria Crow: 43:16

sitters push up? Is like the you think for sure. The most magical thing in the whole world the overworld I totally get it. I've been there. I know. I always laugh like this is sidenote. I remember getting into like, oh really heated debate at one point over whether the jump from down dog to Article Janasena was an inhaler. And exhale. Okay, so I've been there, I know the amount of minutia we can all get obsessed with. But for that if somebody has shoulder pain, the first thing is okay, like, Can we can we not do the thing that's aggravating it. And that could mean not doing it at all, altering it a bunch in terms of how far you go into it. But the first place I'd start is like, reposition your hands so that we start there. Because I just it's such a fascination with this pose. And there's so many workshops and all this about Chaturanga. And every time I watch a video of people doing these like breakdowns and like move the person's hands, you're futzing with their shoulder, but if you move to their hands, it would stop doing that weird thing. So it doesn't mean that everyone's strong enough to kind of hold that position or to go do so you know, a 90 degree bend or elbow or even get on the floor to hold the weight on their wrist. Like there's all kinds of, you know, compounding factors that make this inaccessible, but if someone's shoulders hurting, tell story. Scaring angle knowledge. So I had a person who took apparently a workshop with me before and then came to another workshop where I was teaching same material, and it came up at the end and he said, I have one arm that has about five degrees of carrying angle and another that has about 25. So he's got his above average one and above low average one. And he said and I realized in your initial workshop that I was placing both of my hands kind of that shoulder distance apart, wrist creases parallel the front of the map placement. And my arm that only has about five degrees of carrying angle, the shoulder on that side is totally fine. No problem with it. The other arm, my shoulder, I had like rotator cuff issues and all kinds of things he's like, so since I took that workshop, I now place my hands asymmetrically. One is wider and angled out, and my shoulder pain went away. Now, that's not going to solve it for everyone. But there's this skeletal component, this individual skeletal makeup thing that needs to be accounted for when you're fixing your hands to a place and moving, you know, multiple joints around that fixed structure. So I'm like, Okay, well, we could try to let's move your hands and see if that alleviates it. Or let's not go down into the pushup, let's hold plank, or let's do it on your back without weight bearing so that you can do all kinds of things laying down that replicate a lot of the same feelings. So if you imagine that you're holding the ceiling up with your arms, and when you're laying down, you know, you can get a lot of the resistance. So there's lots of ways to go about it. But I'd be like, if you're hurting your shoulder, let's talk about non harm, shall we? Because the pain in the shoulder is not going to be worth enduring like what do you what do you think is going to happen from hurting yourself here? Because it's not going to get you what you think it's going to get except for more pain?

Todd McLaughlin: 46:24

Great answer. I like the fact that the idea that there's this fascination with symmetry, but by allowing for asymmetry would solve or at least reduce pain, which to me seems like so important right now. Because I keep putting myself in pain every day, just in the name of the yoga practice. It just after so many years, you go, what am I even doing? So that's kind of I liked the I liked that idea of just like, it's okay, if you're asymmetrical.

Alexandria Crow: 46:57

We're all asymmetrical. It's the funniest fascination in the yoga world. Being a gymnast, we don't have that fascination at all because you have a good leg and you have a bad leg and it doesn't mean like once work. One's just your favorite side. So all your tricks are done on that side. You don't learn how to do any of the other things on your other side and you even have a like leap leg and you only really learn how to do leaps and splits on that leg. You do splits Yes, you know warm up on both sides, but you're not nearly as concerned with getting them both, you know equal. So the younger worlds would very very strange that you know you don't even have it in any other sport. You don't

Unknown: 47:37

what's it called? Baseball hitter.

Alexandria Crow: 47:40

Yeah, but but when they can hit both

Unknown: 47:43

ways. dexterous. Oh yeah. But

Alexandria Crow: 47:45

they would name right in baseball where you can just switch hitter you know where they can hit from both sides of the base like that's pretty rare right? And you know, even a pitcher of that control with both arms it's like almost not heard of the younger worlds kind of funny with that and you're not asymmetric you're not symmetrical internally even so you'd have to go back and live your whole life on the opposing side in the exact same way.

Unknown: 48:12

metrical

Todd McLaughlin: 48:12

oh my gosh, like if there's reincarnation you come back the other you know flipped over.

Unknown: 48:19

It's just a cycle event. Right?

Todd McLaughlin: 48:22

Oh, geez. Yeah, it feels like that sometimes. That's so cool. Alexandria. I I mean, I want to stay respectful of your time and I know we're kind of getting close to the hour mark. And I'm like, I don't want another whole totally off yoga topic. But if you had to vote between two these two things, pizza or mac and cheese I know the answer but what would it be?

Alexandria Crow: 48:48

That is so not fair. Mac and cheese but only if it I made it

Todd McLaughlin: 48:53

there you go I thought your your your fascination with mac and cheese is awesome. Because I think that even like poses a really interesting idea too because there's this like whole diet thing in yoga of like, along the lines of symmetry that good Yogi equals this kind of diet equals now you're good like now you're you're gonna get there and so like just that you're like owning mac and cheese the way you do. Kind of cool Don't you think? That's important? What do you what do you see in the yoga world with food and stuff like that? Is that getting better? Do you feel like some Do you see like, increased toward yogic discipline supporting food like a sorry, but like like our our the way we see our bodies and like having to be perfect and making our diet trying to be this perfect situation. What What are you saying? What do you feel?

Alexandria Crow: 49:53

Um, I try not to stay. I try to stay out of that lane somewhat in terms of like,

Todd McLaughlin: 49:59

I know So really,

Alexandria Crow: 50:00

I'll talk about it, I just mean, I Don't dabble in it enough to know what the landscape is in total at this moment. But I definitely know that there is this kind of idea that there's a prescribed diet. And that's just completely, you know, culturally misguided and misguided in general, it's just not, it's not ever been the way that it is. It's a very individual thing. And if you know, people are familiar with the Gita, they'd be very familiar with the section that talks about the Gunas and food and that it's descriptive, not prescriptive. So it's a very, very individual thing. And what could be really healthy for one person can be completely detrimental to another, like I have a bunch of allergies, that would mean that most of the ways that people think you're supposed to eat would actually like put me in great harm. So I can't actually participate that way, in a healthy fashion. And everybody's, you know, metabolism and ability to process things is really different. And I always get down to this idea of like, perfect, and like says, who, who's creating the baseline metric for what's perfect, because that assumes, there's some kind of bar that's universally applicable. And that's just not the way that things work in this world. So I, I've completely honor the way anybody wants to eat, if it works for them, I have no, I have no place to having an opinion on what somebody else is doing, if it works for them. And even if it doesn't, it's not my business, it is none of my business how somebody else eats. So that's what I kind of wish people would get into is like, yeah, it's not really your business, what somebody's putting in their body, if it works for them, or not, like they have to come to their own their own conclusions, you can offer guidance, and like what may be useful, but it's a really personal journey to figure out what works for you. And, and that goes for everything, not just food.

Todd McLaughlin: 51:58

I remember one time taking a class where the teacher walked in and kind of someone in here at me, you know, and right. And, you know, I was like, yeah, just, there's a heaviness with that, like, where you're like, on a spot that is like that you feel like is there like some sort of spotlight coming in to, like, start to pick me apart? And, you know, that's definitely something that I think if if we evolved a little past that, yeah, that would be a better place.

Alexandria Crow: 52:27

I agree. I agree. I don't think that that's you talk about like creating a really weird power dynamic, you know, in a setting. And, you know, like I was saying before, I'll use myself as an example. I'm allergic to nuts, and wheat and soy. And coconut is, you know, like tree nuts, it all of them. So it makes that kind of idea really difficult. And I've tried all kinds of different things, but my body actually thrives really well on a pretty, you know, pretty specific, like set of things, I'm not terribly concerned about what I eat, like, you know, I don't really overthink it in that way. But you know, I can't get away with not eating animal protein, I get sick. And I have so few options. And it's really privileged honestly, to say, you know, you should eat a certain way like that it'd be that became very obvious having lived in Toronto, and LA and San Francisco. But then traveling places, when you have a really specific dietary need or like lane that you're trying to stay in good luck, like, that's almost impossible in certain settings, unless you're going to travel with a cooler and like, after a week, you can't bring all your food on the road. And then you're expecting people in those locales to somehow attain or like to even engage with some kind of dietary system that is, you know, available in LA, because they happen to have all that kind of thing for one reason or the other. But it's just not really reasonable. And there's there's sitting there setting and city and so then what does it say? Like you're saying that they're not morally sound or making good decisions like that doesn't seem, it seems like a vast amount of privilege and judgment, that's probably not yet really very useful.

Todd McLaughlin: 54:12

Good point. I remember being at a workshop and then going out to lunch, and I was like, hungry, so I got something to eat. And the person said, Oh, but you're a yogi. You don't need to eat. And I just, I just thought, Man, that's another really strict standard a whole bit, like nicely.

Alexandria Crow: 54:33

And I do not begrudge anyone if if anyone's listening to this and you're one of these people that have done this to me, I do not hold you in any ill regard and I actually find it very funny. But when I was traveling, like every weekend, oftentimes the you know, that went to the studio and wanted to go out to dinner or the you know, there'd be like a group dinner or something. And more often than not, they'd want to take me to the vegan restaurant and I chuckled because I'm like I'm actually not even allowed in these because I have a nut allergy. And it usually says, You like if you have another allergy like basically get out. Okay, I can, I can't really make this work, but it's okay, we can go here and I'll just get something later. It's no big deal, but they were always like, Oh, really? And I'm like, well, here's why. And yeah, oh my gosh, I never even. Yeah, so and don't eat oh my goodness that's like the don't drink water. Like don't sweat a pound and a half of sweat out but don't you dare touch that water bottle I'm like in what other setting? Would you ever tell a person who is dehydrated to not drink water? I get the idea like it was this aesthetic practice of you know, discomfort and whatever I'm like, Yeah, except you're telling your body to overcome a fight flight freeze mechanism that is telling you that it's dying and in water is vital for survival. And so, you know, what are you really experimenting with, especially if you don't have the understanding of all that. And then as soon as that system kicks on, now you're in coping mechanism, city and your, you know, prefrontal cortex like offline and everything. It's just not a great face to face. Like, oh, it's such a weird set of things we say in the yoga world. And I, you know, we all have said ridiculous things and not inspected them, myself included, but

Todd McLaughlin: 56:23

I hear ya, I hear you. I another one I heard recently was maybe we should be careful about saying where are a yogi or Yogini? Maybe we should say I'm a yoga practitioner or yoga teacher? What are your thoughts on that kind of debate about? Because I guess the idea is that if I say like, oh, because I went into one yoga class, I'm a yogi that that values the tradition of something that has this really deep historical and practices. So then if I, you know, what do you what do you think about that?

Alexandria Crow: 56:59

I have a funny thing with those words, just because they don't they don't have historical context. So is yogin. Right, really. And so I never felt. I mean, I don't begrudge people who call themselves that. But it's just not something I've ever used. I don't call people Yogi's or yoginis. And I don't call myself that. But you know, I would always kind of encourage people to look at like the text call, practitioners of yoga is like people that live by that yoga guns, or you know, of the Saudi tradition. But I just call myself a student of yoga and a teacher of

Todd McLaughlin: 57:37

cool yoga. That makes sense, that seems to cover the bases. Yeah,

Alexandria Crow: 57:41

yeah, I'm a student of it. I'm trying to interact with this material and understand it better and better. That's it and then trying to teach people the parts of it that I do understand from where I understand it right now.

Todd McLaughlin: 57:51

You have a lot of learning opportunities that we can join in with you via online, you made mention that around about the time that this has been published, that you'll have a course coming out about philosophy and and that you're striving or aiming in the direction of covering some of the philosophical components that maybe aren't covered in the yoga teacher training. Can you talk a little bit about what you hope to cover during that course?

Alexandria Crow: 58:15

Yeah, so that course is called Yoga student training. So it'll reopen it's been going on for a few years now. And one of the things from all the travel that I did in asking all the groups that I worked with a bunch of questions over and over to kind of get a baseline pattern of what was happening was what their experience was with certain kind of classical teachings and texts. And what I learned was that my experience in teacher training and subsequent experience after that was really different than the norm, that I had been exposed to all of that in their entirety. And there was a lot of deep diving into that a lot of community interest in it, I, you know, sat through those lectures over and over and over again. But by and large, what people get in teacher training is like barely any investigation of the sutras or the Gita or any of the other subsequent texts. And that's really hard to teach yoga that's rooted in the teachings and to really know what you're teaching and why you're teaching it. So you can formulate the how really wisely. And you know, there's oftentimes a little dabble here or there, but not the totality of the, of the text. So there's that. And then there's people who's, you know, signed up for teacher training, who were hoping to learn what yoga was about. And they learned how to teach the poses, but they never learned why. So there's this really deep desire to learn these teachings. So the course is this year long, deep dive into both those texts. And we actually make our way through both of them three times over by the end in their entirety, and it's combined with that practice component. So not only is there lecture and group discussion every month, but there's also practice and you get to engage with the teachings in real time in a really kind of different way than People are used to, that's really founded on investigating one's relationship to the philosophical teachings in real time. That then translates to, you know, daily life. So, yeah, that course has been really, really fun to teach for the last couple of years, the the transformation and understanding from beginning to end is more remarkable than I could have ever hoped, people just have a really good grasp on those, those texts, at least from like a, you know, I know where I sit in relation to them. Now I know how much more I have to learn. But I've got a grasp on these concepts. And I know what I'm trying to do in a practice now and why, and how this could apply to my daily life. And that's just really pretty cool to see. And it ends up seeping into people's teachings by accident as well. So it's called student training, but it's actually mostly populated by teachers usually, and yet, everybody's welcome.

Todd McLaughlin: 1:00:51

That sounds amazing, I want to join, that's a really fun one, what is an example of a daily practice exercise that you would associate or put in with the study of the Bhagavad Gita.

Alexandria Crow: 1:01:02

So it's not as specific as like a single teaching, that's I actually take, like, all the concepts in their totality, and ask people to kind of investigate them in real time. But for example, if I've been doing when I teach, a lot of times I compare and contrast between the model people are used to and the actuality of you know, how a certain pose might work. If you were to look at it from a mechanically sound standpoint, and within a reasonable range of motion. So we do all kinds of investigation of different joint positions and movements and, you know, building blocks of certain poses, but they don't have an understanding of what pose we're doing yet. I'm building it without their expectations getting in the way. So they'll create, you know, their version, let's say very simply of Tadasana. But they'll have no idea it's Tadasana yet, because they're just investigating it from all these qualities of experience. And then I'll label it and say Tadasana, but their feet aren't in the place that they usually put them and their you know, arms aren't where they usually put them. And you know, it's all different. And I'm like, and they get all like, and the glaciers come online, and here we go. Go ahead and do it the way that you usually do it. Okay, now how about see if you can get out of that habit and back into investigating it in real time. And sometimes they can. And sometimes they're trapped in that old position. And they, you know, they feel all of this attachment coming up. And, you know, sometimes people say I had one participant say, last week, she was like, I was so angry at you the first practice, because I wanted it to be a certain thing, and you were teaching it different thing. She's like, and it was so funny to watch me like arguing with you in my head about how things should be. And she's like, and now what I realized is, those are all my expectations, and all of my preconceived notions, and I was uncomfortable with things being a little bit different. She's like, uh, now I don't look at it that way, like I've just show up, and I know, I can do whatever I want. And I can turn my camera on or off. And I don't have to do what you say. But I choose to actually follow along with you pretty often at this point, because, you know, it's, I'm willing to show up for something a little bit different, I don't have those expectations of it having to look a certain way. And that's a looseness and a difference. And there's a real depth to it, just like I'm investigating, you know, not just how my muscles fire but this internal experience. And, you know, people say things like that. And that's really cool that that's there's the philosophy happening, like in real time, right from the last lesson, and translating to life. So that's kind of how practice works.

Todd McLaughlin: 1:03:30

Very cool. Can I ask you one more question. All right. You made mention that the challenge that you saw, say, like 10 years ago, when you started to bring up these different ideas like hey, maybe we could make it more accessible, or let's look at this or a good, let's examine that, and that it's getting easier. So you're seeing like the fruit of your work and or, you know, other people joining in and helping to build that community around that. So what is your vision for what you dream of even beyond or maybe doesn't need to go beyond? But what is your vision for what you'd really like to see, like, if you could really, really shake things up.

Alexandria Crow: 1:04:14

I can wave a wand and have a world that I want. Totally, at this point, just for

Todd McLaughlin: 1:04:19

fun, like I know, I know, it's dreamy, and fantasy world, but like

Alexandria Crow: 1:04:24

my world, actually, you know, the place I actually like legitimately aim at without, with looseness, knowing It'll never work the way you want it to. Or things don't happen the way you want them to, is that I would like to normalize classes that are accessible and allow for people to investigate these teachings through physicality through their bodies, but in a way that doesn't necessarily utilize the poses people are familiar with in the way that they're familiar with it can but it doesn't have to it's really loose and open kind of a return. into that, you know, you're you're showing up this day, and you're gonna go on a ride with the teacher and you know, interact with the narration that they're creating that day, and you get to make choices around the story that they're presenting to you. And I'm not aiming to eliminate those physically demanding flashy classes. I just would like the public to understand those aren't better than a class that isn't that an A class that, you know, does physical demand in a different way or is, you know, quieter or gentler, that there's actually, yoga is not measurable from an external physical standpoint, one's understanding and ability to integrate it in their life is is an internal job. And I would just like that to be the norm that people understand. So when they look at a schedule, they pick the class that resonates with where they are with yoga, not where they are with pose accomplishment. And for that to really be like a clear message that people have

Todd McLaughlin: 1:06:00

great answer that that actually seems achievable to, like that way that wasn't too fantasy orientated. That seems. grounded. Yeah. Yeah. Like,

Alexandria Crow: 1:06:13

to the norm. Like,

Todd McLaughlin: 1:06:14

what? Yeah,

Alexandria Crow: 1:06:15

you know, it's a funny thing right now, right? I've always joking with people and like, there's no better time to teach yoga, because there's the most novel thing you can teach right now is like a yoga classroom 20 years ago.

Todd McLaughlin: 1:06:32

Yeah, good point. Good point, that's actually makes me feel good. And that takes pressure off. me like, relax, I can just relax.

Alexandria Crow: 1:06:44

Yeah, I'm like, people just want simple things that help them to have a moment with themselves, you know, even if that moments uncomfortable. Yeah, like, internally uncomfortable. I have a friend in Salt Lake City that owns a studio there. So Steve is there's a shout out for him that he's a social worker and a therapist, and that he has this really great safe space, yoga studio and therapy. Practice. And he said, you know, this whole thing about people wanting to leave class feeling better, and feeling happy, this whole pressure that we have around that he's like, I that's, I really wish that would stop. He's like, That's not realistic, that my therapist standpoint, that's not realistic. He's like, you might come in pissed, and you might leave knowing you're pissed. But at least that's real. And it's acknowledging what's happening in the present, and you're actually with what's going on rather than avoiding it or perpetuating it. And isn't that what it's all about. And I was like, that's, that's why we're friends. That's why we're right there. So, you know, I wish that that was kind of like how the teacher mindset was, Is your job isn't to entertain people or to make them happy. Your job is to teach yoga classes rooted in yoga, and it can be really simple. And it can be, you know, very inclusive and very accessible for people. And that might not be the one that has 200 people in it. But that's a really different place to be that 200. Person one is an entertainment show. And that's a different kind of, there's a clinging and a process to that as well, there's like a whole thing around it. So don't think that that comes with some kind of liberation or some kind of ease, that's a whole other animal to wrestle with. So why not go with, you know, something that feels really, you know, true to and really rich to you, you know, even if it's the one that has, you know, 10 people in it, but they keep coming back, and they keep liking what they're doing, and you see them understanding what you're talking about, like, yeah, it has a lot to it.

Todd McLaughlin: 1:08:41

Very cool. Alexandria, I'm so thankful for you to do this with me. I respect your work greatly. When I wake up in the morning, I get a chance to look at social media I look for I hope she posted something because I always feel like they're just really honest, and real conversation. So thank you keep keep going. Keep going. Yeah, keep going with it. It's amazing. So and then, you know, just just to be down to earth and accept my invitation to do this. And you know, that's really cool. You know, so I really appreciate that. You know, thank you so much, you know? Yeah, well, hopefully it'll be next time. I'll reach out to you around anytime. Thanks, Elgin. Alexandria. Appreciate it. Of course. Native yoga podcast is produced by myself. The theme music is dreamed up by Bryce Allen. If you liked this show, let me know if there's room for improvement. I want to hear that too. We are curious to know what you think and what you want more of what I can improve. And if you have ideas for future guests or topics, please send us your thoughts to info at Native yoga center. You can find us at Native yoga center.com And hey, if you did like this episode, share it with your friends, rate it and review and join us next time