Adam Husler - The Life and Times of an International Yoga Teacher

Meet Adam Husler. A yoga teacher based in England who teaches yoga around the world. Inspired by a fascination with anatomy, Adam specialises in Alignment-Based Vinyasa Yoga, informed by years of study and with Jason Crandell, and assisting him on a number of advanced teacher trainings.

Check out Adam on his website: http://adamhusler.com
Follow him on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/adamhusler/?hl=en

During this podcast we discuss topics like:

• What’s life like at the moment? 
• Traveling as an international yoga teacher. 
• Traveling with an eight month old baby.  
• The most challenging yoga experience.  
• How do you go about continuing your education in anatomy?
• Adam’s tips for teaching yoga. 
• The challenges of getting sponsorships.

Based in London, Adam teaches a robust schedule in one of the worlds top yoga studios, Triyoga, and renown gym, Equinox. On top of this, Adam leads workshops, trainings and teaches festivals continuously around the world, leaving him with thousands of teaching hours under his belt and plenty of appearances in national and international media.  

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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. Today our special guest is Adam Husler. Adam is a yoga teacher in the UK. And he has a website, www.adamhusler.com. Please check him out. He also has a podcast called Honestly Unbalanced Podcast. Follow him also on Instagram at @adamhusler. And I'm so thankful to Adam, I had a great conversation with him. I'm so excited for you to listen to this. He has a great way of just being honest and real about the yoga practice. And it's so exciting to speak with other teachers around the world and hear what they're doing and how they're navigating being yoga professionals. Earning a living and raising a family. Juggling all of the challenges that come with it in relation to marketing and promotion. And so I'm just really excited that Adam took the time. He's got a really busy schedule, but he's kind enough to join us here to share some of his yoga wisdom. I hope that you enjoy, remember, check him out on his website, adamhustler.com and can find him in all those other places that I mentioned. All right. Let's go ahead and begin. So excited to have this opportunity to speak with Adam Husler. Adam, You're joining me from England. How are you doing today?

Unknown: 2:28

Oh, good. Yeah, we've got a very busy life at the moment. We live outside of London, that bits very relaxed. But going into London is a little bit more hectic. We've got a little baby who's now eight months old.

Todd McLaughlin: 2:42

Congratulations.

Adam Husler: 2:43

Thank you. We're traveling and teaching a lot. So we got back from Ireland on Sunday evening quite late. And tomorrow morning, we're traveling to a French island called Corsica to teach at a festival. So things are quite busy at the moment. And the house is just a mess. I'm trying to juggle projects. So I'm good. But busy.

Todd McLaughlin: 3:04

Oh, man. Well, thank you so much for niching out some time to speak with me here. I really do appreciate it. I have two children as well. And I completely understand the amount of work that you're going through with an eight month old. That's so incredible.So are you what are you going to be doing when you said you go to Corsica, you're gonna be teaching at a festival?

Adam Husler: 3:24

Yes. So traveling as a yoga teacher. I think that anyone who's a new teacher, you know, you see lots of people that call themselves like international teachers and alike. And that could mean many things. Couldn't an international teacher, it could mean someone that's been on holiday once and taught a yoga class or it could be someone who's on the road. And it can be it can seem quite glamorous. And I think a lot of yoga teachers get drawn into the our new yoga teacher drawn to the idea of want to be in a traveling teacher. It's really hard work. And there's it's not that easy to do. You know, the kind of teaching that I do is you know, teaching conferences, teaching workshops, teaching trainings, this thing this weekend is actually a small, small festival. And yet it seems very glamorous. And it is it is lovely. But sometimes, especially pre COVID. When I was traveling every weekend, it was really hard like you I would fly out of London, sometimes on a Saturday morning, after teaching a class end up in some city in Europe, teach a workshop, go to bed, wake up, teach another three workshops, go to the airport, come back Sunday night. And then Monday morning would start teaching again in London. So I'm really privileged to be able to

Unknown: 4:41

send my offering out there, but it is it's pretty it's pretty hard work. And so now as a as a as a parent, I'm trying to tone it down a little bit. I've got no desire to go away for two weeks. I've got no desire to travel every weekend and when I do travel, where possible. I want to take Little baby with me and my wife with me who's amazing sound healer. So what we do kind of combines quite well.

Todd McLaughlin: 5:06

Wonderful. Are you traveling as a family together this weekend? Are you fun? Yeah,

Unknown: 5:12

this one's a funny one. So this one, actually, because sometimes festivals and conferences can pay very well. Sometimes you're doing it more for exposure that the pay is okay, but you're doing it more for the, you know, the Witch outreach. This one is actually much smaller one. And the reason I'm doing it is I've never been to Corsica. And I just wanted a little holiday, like my obligation is to teach literally two hours of yoga. So we're there from Wednesday night to Sunday. And it just means that my wife and I can have a little bit of downtime. Relax, we won't be doing any yoga. Because everything's in French, except me. Everything's in French and I don't speak French. So we're just gonna chill out. Nice little family. Family adventure. Yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 5:56

that does sound amazing. How are you adjusting to traveling with an eight month old? Like, what are you finding getting on the airplane with a baby? Do you ever have that? anticipation of like, oh, man, my baby really cries the whole way? How will I do it?

Unknown: 6:11

We've been on four flights now. So yeah, we've been to Sweden with him and Ireland. That's it? Yeah. Not particularly long flights. It's a benefit of living in Europe, you get to go to vastly different places within two hours. Yeah. So we haven't been any long flights. But on all the flights we've been on, it's been fantastic. Oh, no, he's a very, he's a very smiley, happy baby. And I think part of that of why he's so cheery, at least at the moment is, Holly and I are both quite calm. I'm a yoga teacher. She's a yogi and a sound healer. And we live in a cottage in the countryside. And we're very proactive parents, we want you to we're constantly with him, nurturing him. So and all he's known his love. Like we don't argue, particularly in our household. Grandparents are very kind and calm. And yeah, he's just a very calm social baby. And the only reason he ever really quiets is if you want his food, always tired. So it was a bit of not a nightmare. But on the way back from Ireland, it was quite late way past his bedtime. So the flight was fine. But then getting into a taxi, and then transfer, you know, that was all quite exhausting. He was quite upset by that. But that's because he was tired.

Todd McLaughlin: 7:24

Yeah, I hear ya. I hear ya. Have you mastered the art of traveling minimalism style in relation to carrying everything that you need? Or do you find that you're, you know, you have the the pram, the, you know, all the things that are going with you or have you balanced that?

Unknown: 7:41

You know, what my view is? My priority is keeping the baby safe and comfortable. That's the priority. And there's we haven't had to compromise particularly, and think, Oh, we could get to can we get the prime in? Like, if we're concerned, we just make we just make it happen. So if we're concerned about can it fit into a taxi the other side, we just get a bigger tax. Yeah. I want to I want to make sure he's comfortable in his state. So we've just bought a big Travel Cot. Actually, we had an experience in Dublin the weekend where they provided a travel car, but no mattress, and didn't tell us until we got there. So I spent the first three hours in Dublin, running around on a Friday night, buy a mattress. I thought actually let's put as much as we can. Let's put things back in our control. Even if it costs money. Yeah. Today, we just had a big Travel Cot delivered.

Todd McLaughlin: 8:34

Nice. Adam, can you share with me how you first got in contact with yoga?

Unknown: 8:41

Yeah, so this whole career was never the plan. You know, I was supposed to be a lawyer. I was training to be a lawyer. I think my first real contact with the uni so I was a boxer at uni. That's not what I studied, but I was boxing as an amateur boxer. And I think I got first introduced that, like, I was doing some modeling, like a university fashion show. And I did a bit of stretching as part of the warmup like some goal that wasn't a yoga teacher, but knew some stuff about yoga was warming up in a way that like a naive 18 year old person, what are we doing? And that's actually this stretching could be quite good. So I started to just do it. But no one else really knew I was doing it but I was doing I would guess now call it yoga inspired stretching. And I was doing that in my dorm room. Just following bits on YouTube or just reading about some stretches. I've never actually use YouTube a thing that I don't think it maybe was.

Todd McLaughlin: 9:37

I know it feels like it's been here forever. But yeah,

Unknown: 9:40

somehow I had access to some stretching. And I was doing some like yoga stretching. And I found it actually made my boxing better and my recovery better. So I wasn't really into the meditative components. When I moved back to my hometown after university are going through quite a stressful time. I didn't we didn't have my career. I've actually been going through a breakup. And I started to read lots of Hellenistic philosophies which massive overlap with yoga philosophy. And so in some sense, I was meditating. And then I thought, you know, what can I do to meet people in his home city? I was boxing, but that didn't really help meet people. Yeah, yeah. Hi, Lily. I was working in the charity sector at that point, and again, wasn't the kind of place to meet we want to go out with and have fun with and shared interest. And I thought, you know, should I do some dancing? Don't know why, or shall I go to like some yoga classes. I was still doing some informal Yoga. But I thought, Should I formalize it and start going to a class and at the place, I wanted to have some hot yoga. And I would go there half an hour, and they line the room lead my philosophy books, do my yoga, and it always felt good no matter what, I always felt really good after the class. You know, when I was at that point, like a 21 year old with an eight pack, and super fit, super athletic. And it was I was being competitive. I was trying to compete the people next to me. And the, the one woman next to me, I remember was actually part of Birmingham Royal Ballet. And of course, I couldn't win. I tried. And yeah, that's how I ended up doing it for the first time. And then I was doing it almost four times, five times a week. And yeah, and that was, how many years ago was that? I was like, 1415 years ago. Yeah, he's

Todd McLaughlin: 11:27

got hooked. Yeah. That's cool. I read that you also have been involved in some endurance events, like a long distance running race. Is that correct?

Unknown: 11:40

Yeah. So this is actually the real, something's happening for me at the moment. And this is actually a topic that's on my mind in that I think suffering is really important. And when I say that, of course, we all go through suffering. Dukkha is a big part of life, we're all going to suffer. But we don't choose suffering that much anymore. There isn't that much day to day suffering, like, Oh, am I going to find food this for some people, of course, but for many people will have fairly comfortable lives. And I realized, I don't have that. Because you know, I'm now a dad. And I've got lots of work projects on. I don't do anything that really challenges me anymore. No yoga practice, and I've softened my yoga practice a little bit. And I miss that. And I miss having the ability to challenge myself and really go through a microcosm of life, let's say, Yeah, on the winning track, or one of the races, I did about 12 hours, or 12 hour 100 kilometer race. I missed that. And so that's why I used to do the things is number one, I wanted to challenge myself now loads of my lessons, Ultras and then number two is a nice way to see the world. And I guess number three, is I like to do stuff that other people couldn't done or what, what, why, but I want to try and do things that other people couldn't. And I feel that if I were if I was that age now, you know, I'd probably be doing on a much bigger level. This was all pre social media. But you know, now that fitness is on trend, you know, I look back thinking I was coming third in some of these kind of Spartan Races. Yeah. And I wish it happened now anyway. So that's why I did this kind of insurance stuff. And yoga helped me through these enjoyment things. But I want to find something now to do that can offer me that kind of challenge? I feel quite soft. Yeah. In many senses, like a bit of a soft belly. No eight pack anymore. So also, a bit weak. meant not mentally but in Yeah, I need something to kick my ass a little bit. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 13:42

Wow, I hear you on that. I recently kicked my ass really good these last three years and got involved in an event called crossing for cystic fibrosis and we paddle our paddle boards from Bimini in the Bahamas across the Gulf Stream 80 miles back to Florida. And so it's like a 14 to 16 hour event. But after this last one, I feel like I turned a corner where I suffered so much that I feel like okay, I don't want to suffer right now. So I totally understand what you're saying like I fully and I was thinking I want to push myself I want to push myself but my body after this one has gotten to a point where I started to get a little scared that maybe I went a little too far. A little too hard. Have you have you had any bouts with injury and or?

Unknown: 14:40

I know that all mushy. I'm for being

Todd McLaughlin: 14:43

a boxer. That's a serious thing to step into a ring. I just can't imagine the hub does scare the crap out of me. Yeah,

Unknown: 14:52

it's a good thing for everyone to I think do to have that. That kind of encounter. Yeah, like have someone wanting to take your head off and being You're going to get them and it brings you into the present moment more than what we're used to. Yeah, I never stopped doing those endurance events because I had an injury. It was simply time. Yeah. Boxing, running, do all these marathons and I started teaching more and more. And suddenly, I had a full time job, which is almost 60 hours and teaching 11 classes a week. On top of that, something had to go. Yeah. And the thing that went was with a fitness or fitness. So when I was teaching 26 classes a week at one point, I was still toned. I was really just quite skinny, I could do lots of arm balances, because I wasn't having any weight. But looking back at photos, I'm shocked at how Warning, warning I look. So that was the only reason it wasn't due to any injury. It wasn't due to lack of desire, it was just due to limited time. And then since then, I've been quite lucky. But I've worked hard to make sure. My job my role as a yoga teacher has grown and grown, I've taught all over the world, things are going well, or things are going really well before COVID A little bit a little bit different now. Everything's changed in the yoga world, post COVID Studios closing work international workshops, much quieter. People do more yoga from home and just not wanting to go to yoga studio anymore. There's all of these things have happened. But I think everyone should find something that helps build grip. Yeah, whatever that might be. And of course, it needs to be appropriate to the amount of time you have and your fitness level. But everyone needs something whether there is a struggle and actually to be honest. That's what I want. Some people when they do a Vinyasa practice with me. I don't want people to have fun. You know, I might tell a few jokes, blah, blah, blah. But I don't want it to be inherently a fun experience. Yeah, I think there's a lots of things you've been doing in life, that offer fun. But I think there's very things very few things you can do in life that offer you to challenge you can keep your mind and breath steady through. So that's what I want some people when they come to practice with me, I want them to find subjective challenge, regulate their reaction to that. And if they can do it on a yoga mat, they are increasingly able to do it in life.

Todd McLaughlin: 17:14

Yeah, good point. Good point, can you what was the most challenging yoga experience you can remember, in relation to feeling like, have I found my edge in my app? My, you know,

Unknown: 17:30

I don't think I ever really have. I don't think I've ever had that, of course, doing hot yoga, you're often you need to think about leaving the room, etc. So it's very subjective. And I guess it's a it's an entirely different feeling to let's say, running a marathon. And really struggling and wondering, can you literally take another step? Because you know, if you even if you're doing a very intense Asana, you know, it's just a case of putting your foot down. If you're in an environment,

Todd McLaughlin: 17:59

that's a great point.

Unknown: 18:01

Even if you're in the deepest warrior, too, you know, and I always say what are your two should get harder as you do more yoga, as you understand what you should be doing in the pose. But if I'm in a really engaged warrior, too, I could probably be only there for 10 full breaths, if I'm really in it. But if I went to 50%, to look at me, you wouldn't notice any difference at the pose would look the same. But the internal engagement and stretch will be different. So I guess that is where yoga is different. It's not the optimal way to find a deep challenge. Especially if you're fit and bendy and strong. Yeah, but I think for most people, there is a subjective challenge that can be offered even fact actually being still. And for a lot of people, the hardest thing is to be still in Shavasana. And that's where needed we're going to challenge but it's not in any way the same as being in a boxing ring. Yeah, winning 100 kilometers over. Like it's not the same thing. It's not better or worse. Yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 18:59

yeah. Good. Good point. Have you tried long term meditation sets?

Unknown: 19:06

So I've never done like, a meditation retreat? Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 19:12

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I've

Unknown: 19:13

never done that. Yeah, I feel. I feel a lot of things like that. People are drawn to them. When they when things are falling apart a little bit. Yeah, yeah. When they have some kind of significant change. Yeah. And I could be wrong. This could be just, you know, I'm English. And English people tend to put things down. We perhaps regulate. Yes, if you can't see what we feel as much. You know, I always feel like anyone who is from this stage, just by looking at them, or just hearing them you know exactly what's going through their mind. All the time. They're very open with English people don't tend to do that we suppress things. So I've never felt even in like deep and moments of my life, let's say, there was a moment a period where I broke up with someone, I broke my leg, I got attacked, my father passed away, I had to sell his house and deal with them, because no one that had separated. They were still friends, but they're separated. I had to deal with all this stuff. And then me and my ex took the dog, etcetera. And that was all in the space of like two months, or two months period, and then still trying to teach yoga actually still need the money, I still needed some income. And so we're running around London, Uber. And even during that, I feel that the long term yoga practice helped me respond to things as they were, and be okay with that. There was a combination of having an English stiff upper lip. But also I was served by the fact I'd had a long term yoga practice, meaning that no point did ever feel the need to like, I just need to get away. I need to just to go deep in myself, something they also didn't know of younger, I walked across the bay in some of the good the Camino de Santiago, which 800 Kilometer walk

Todd McLaughlin: 21:06

really did that. That's amazing. That's something

Unknown: 21:10

it was and that that really changed when especially for 20 year olds. Yeah, it was, yeah, even that alone was a really formative experience. So although I can see the value for many people of the personas and align, and I'd be intrigued by it, there's never been a point in my life where I've had that calling. Yeah, and it's the same thing. You know, it's like Ayahuasca trips, like, I appreciate the value of them. But I've never had to call in a partner who's always thought as well, like, think I'm okay. I don't want to risk that I don't want to like doing Ayahuasca trip and then want to leave my family. Something like that. Okay, or not? Even if things aren't good. I have things under control internally. Yes, I see the value. But yeah, and I'm sure maybe I will want to do it at some point. Yeah, I've never had the call. And

Todd McLaughlin: 22:00

I love this. I love that you said that. I think that's amazing. Because it's a really good point when things are actually going good. You know, it takes a lot of, I don't know, if we could say it takes a lot of work for things to be good. Because if things are going good, is that just us relaxing, and us not trying to make things so good. So I guess when it is good, you just don't want to mess with that. And I do agree with you about that. Well, in relation to the the you know, plant medicine experience, you know, there is that risk that we'll have some sort of realization that might cause us like, we have to change everything, or we've got to do everything differently. And so I really am enjoying hearing you that you feel that way. That's that's a that's a good place to be.

Unknown: 22:47

Yeah. And I really think it's just due to a long, long term self work. And I said, the contributing factors and beyond having a loving family and like, we're martial arts as a very young person, boxing, probably from the age of 18, to 27, and B being working hard as a boxer pushing myself every day. And having that athletic mindset to run all over London. A work ethic that's come from maybe my Catholic Irish background, the guilt if you're not working hard for me, studying philosophy from the age of 18. And then doing doing yoga, really, from the age of kind of 19, in some form of all of these things have really helped. And I'm never a fan also of quick change. I think in the modern world, people want things quick. And if people want to do a yoga teacher training, after six months of doing it again, people want to learn a handstand in a three hour workshop and be good at it. Understand that everyone wants things quick. You know, you see people come back from something like yoga teacher trainings, coming back, like putting themselves on a pedestal as if they're super spiritually superior to everyone else. If you're only you've been in Bali for three weeks, that's you haven't you haven't seen profound change. You're actually I think, biggest change in life. It doesn't look good. It doesn't look dramatic. It's just in the background consistently done. Every day, every minute. That's where the real work happens. And it isn't glamorous. Yeah. Or photogenic.

Todd McLaughlin: 24:30

Great point. Adam. I love it. I you love anatomy. How did how do you go about continuing education in anatomy what I feel like personally, I love anatomy and I have to keep studying it to remember it. Doo, doo. Where are you at with say your intellectual understanding of anatomy and then your actual experience of anatomy.

Unknown: 24:57

And there was I thought you said that because there's massive difference. And I think I often see in deep yoga anatomy teachers, people that call themselves anatomy specialist, and they are they know so much about the body. But they sometimes become a bit detached from what it's like to actually teach a class and teach normal people. And you have to balance that out. So you can have all the anatomical knowledge in the world. But what you describe is only if you're teaching, often teaching someone who has the same anatomical knowledge in the world, and has a strong bendy body. Let's take an example of putting your foot on the knee in Tripos. Okay. So for years, people have said, Don't do it, don't do it, it will you know, it will hurt them. They don't do it. But then now people are saying the opposite. Like I've been taught thing, actually, it's fine. It's stupid to secure any yoga teacher that tells you that is bad. But actually, the answer is neither of those things. Because yes, the knee can twist. And the knee can take force from the side. But there's four other places on the leg, you could put your foot more effectively, if you put your foot on the inner calf or the inner thigh, you can really let the leg push back with a good amount of force, which will then help you externally rotate the top leg a little bit more, there's just no need to put it on the knee. And actually, if someone is a little bit weak in that area, and doesn't have a good grasp of what's going on in their body, maybe something could go wrong. And that's and that's sometimes a difference. So I am a big fan of anatomy knowledge. But I think my speciality is trying to take genuine anatomical understanding, and help people teach in a more informed way that it's less likely to hurt people and is more likely to keep their students safe. Yeah. Okay. And what I try and take into account is the average student. Yeah, often the average student doesn't even know what their bicep is, but don't need to be a lot of people. If I say if I said to them, you know, be mindful of not dropping and compressing your Supersprint Artus. Wonderful if i Yes, let's say the transition from what were your three to half moon. Most people's that is add for a long time. But then as a whole wave, no, it's fine. Your body can do that. Because

Todd McLaughlin: 27:22

according to do that hip rotation, just as someone listening will understand like some warrior three, you're bouncing on your say, your right leg, your left legs behind you, your arms are forward, and then you'd put your right hand on the floor and then lift your left hip up when you were saying that the argument is that long term that can be bad on the hip? Well, that's

Unknown: 27:43

what a lot of so a lot of people say you shouldn't ever teach that. Yeah. And then there's a lot of counter now saying, No, it's fine. Any teacher that tells you you shouldn't ever teach that as a bad teacher. And and actually, it's, again, more nuanced. But if, on that standing leg, my belief is if you bend the leg, turn on the glutes, stabilize that area, then turn out you're probably fine. But most students won't do that. They'll lock the leg, and then try and clunk it, which actually probably isn't the best thing. Yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 28:14

for the cartilage, right? Like, you hear about hip replacements. And we, we start to wonder when we hit our 60s and 70s, like, is the stuff we're doing now? What kind of effect will it have down the road?

Unknown: 28:26

I think if I worked with a student every day, I would let them do that kind of transition. Because then I got strong and stay wouldn't have a good understanding. Yeah, average drop in class.

Todd McLaughlin: 28:35

Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown: 28:36

I think there's just so many other things we could do. Yeah, we don't need to. So that's my view of yoga anatomy is that, you know, I'm constantly learning I'm trying to, I try and learn from other modalities as well, because there's often a lot of dogma in yoga. So I'll look at people who videos teaching. And I think one The one thing I would say to anyone listening in terms of increasing your knowledge of anatomy, relative to to yoga and moving the body, really make sure you look at who you're learning from. Okay, can anyone commit anything on the internet? Now? Anyone can PITINO call themself a doctor? Not? Not doctor? Let's say that nutritionist? Like there is no guidance or who can call themselves a nutritionist or not. You have one nutritionist that has studied a degree and did a PhD. And someone else has done an online course for two weeks. Yeah. You just have to be very careful. Yeah, yeah. Good

Todd McLaughlin: 29:28

point who you're

Unknown: 29:29

saying with yoga teaching? Yeah. If you go to some places, all you need to do is keep breathing for two weeks. And you get a yoga certificate you

Todd McLaughlin: 29:40

need to do is keep breathing. You could have gone to a training you had to do is keep breathing. And you have his paper and you didn't have to listen. You didn't have to. You didn't have to absorb information. You didn't maybe you have to go into yoga you that's hilarious, dude, I love it.

Unknown: 29:59

You just have to You just have to be careful you're learning. And where possible, kind of look into that background a little bit.

Todd McLaughlin: 30:05

Yeah, great point, Adam. I saw a photo that you have on your Instagram, where it was, it's a cool visual. It's like overhead, it looks like you're teaching in a large yoga event, the mats are lined up perfectly. Everyone's in the pose nicely. And it's kind of looking down. When you're teaching a large event like that. What are you thinking, you know, in relation to everything that you've, you've spoke about, like, if you get to work with someone on a daily basis, and you feel confident that you're able to convey the information that you think will be helpful for them, then you feel comfortable, bring them into that, say, Warrior Three to two halfmoon shape? When you're leading a larger event like that, where you have no, you know, you haven't had a chance to talk with everybody and find out what's going on. With them personally, how do you structure your class? And what kind of things are you thinking about in relation to that?

Unknown: 30:56

So I think the first my first answer to that is that every yoga class you teach, really is an open level yoga class. And you know, even if you ask for injuries, you've got no way of knowing everything that's going on in everyone's body. So that's what I mean, when I talk about the average reasonable person, when you teach a class, you unless it is a one to one, you just have to work out what's going on for people by observing them, and trying to make sure you're giving cues that are supporting everyone, and giving cues that don't suggest hierarchy. Like can good people do this, better people do this, if you do that, do this, you instead offer invitation to go further. That's one thing I would say to that. That's good advice. I love teaching big events. That's probably my favorite style of teaching. But it is a bit of a combination of yoga teaching plus entertainment. In bigger that one is actually a really big museum in the UK for Equinox. And, you know, most people weren't there for the yoga, particularly they were kind of, but it wasn't like a yoga conference. You know, it was a cool event in a cool museum where they got early access to a gallery. So what I'm doing is just teaching an all level class, where I recycle a few jokes, and just do what I can to make sure everyone is kind of safe. And everyone has a bit of stretch of most areas and a bit of engagement and a bit of sweat. Yeah, that's that's kind of all I want in that situation. You know, when you're teaching a big conference style class, you know, people are really there for the yoga. So you are and I will often say the beginning guys, you know, you've all read the description of this workshop, you will know what you signed up for. Adapt as you need, but I'm going to presume your to Sunday, we know what you're doing. Yeah. It's not often the intro with that.

Todd McLaughlin: 32:46

That's a great answer. When you're leading teacher trainings. Now some gathering, there's probably, well, you've had a chance to see what's going on in the yoga world. What works, what doesn't? What is your what are you putting your emphasis on with the students? Like what are you finding, you want to impart the most, your trainers and trainees?

Unknown: 33:06

My preference is teaching. CPD is actually so shorter form, CPD is my preference.

Todd McLaughlin: 33:14

And it can you define CB, CP? Continuing Education.

Unknown: 33:18

Oh, thank you. So, patients are not thrilled with our training. It's not 200 hour, but eight hour 50 hour 100 hour mentoring, etc. Yeah. What I tend to want people to explain it, I don't want to teach people the Adam hustler yoga strategy. What I want people have to learn, but what I want to cultivate is an ability to ask why and what you know, and a lot of people I think a lot of teachers, new teachers teach in a certain way, just because that's what they've been told to do. And in their tune with our training, they were told that this is the only way. And they give cues without understanding why they're given that cues. They teach poses without really understanding what the pose is trying to do. It almost becomes just like a shape replication. So I want people to actually ask why, and what and be critical of the way they teach me as I am of myself all the time. So that's what I'm cultivating through my trainings. I don't I don't care if piano teacher like me or not. But I want people to have intention for everything they do and say in class.

Todd McLaughlin: 34:25

Nice, good answer. What philosophy Are you intrigued by currently?

Unknown: 34:33

So over the, over the years, a little bit stoicism? I was interested racism. Yeah. It was cool. Long.

Todd McLaughlin: 34:39

Before it was cool before. I'm reading. I'm reading the daily stoic right now. And yeah, I know. It's trendy right now. So you were on to it.

Unknown: 34:49

50 years ago? Yeah. I started off with Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. Yeah, it helped me so much. And bizarrely, when I first started yoga On that teaching, I was like, shall I be Adam hospital yoga? Or shall I call my website like stoic yoga? Yeah. That was genuinely thought I was going to be like the stoic yogi. That's a good. I like, oh, maybe actually, that's a little bit of cultural appropriation because I am fusing two cultures. And maybe that's actually not the best idea. But anyway,

Todd McLaughlin: 35:23

good point. Oh, all right. Yeah.

Unknown: 35:29

But it I didn't think that at the time. So that's, that's always captured my attention a little bit. I'm doing something at the moment. There's an online program called heroic, heroic. I forget the name of the guy who runs it. But what he does is he takes books in the philosophical world, the motivated books are designed to make your life better in some sense. And he breaks them down, he does notes on them. He a lot of these books are philosophy books. So at each day, I'm exposed to a new philosopher or a new book that is interpreting philosophy. When you guide to live life. That's, that's a single, heroic, and I'm really, really into that at the moment. Very cool. I guess the biggest influence in my life right now perhaps, is the school of life. It's called by modern philosopher, Alain de Botton. So he is, yeah, he's written some way, it's actually not aligned along. But he's written some really good books about religion and the like. But then he created a thing called School of Life, the idea being that in the Hellenistic philosophy era, most of philosophy was telling you how to live. And then then it went a very different direction, and character guards and chopping. It all went in a very different direction. It was all about like questioning the existence and the like. And actually, he said, This is missing in the modern world, using kind of philosophy to help us live in a better way. So the book I'm reading at the moment, is how to be a good enough parent, by the School of Life. Nice, which is incredible.

Todd McLaughlin: 37:11

Thank you for the recommendation, I got to check it out. That sounds really good.

Unknown: 37:15

They've got someone they've got so much, so much content out there. Now. None of it's by any kind of named individual anymore. It's just by the School of Life.

Todd McLaughlin: 37:24

Excellent. I can't wait to check that out. When I was driving in this morning, I am listening on audible to a tale of two cities by Dickens. And I haven't read him before. And it's narrated by a British narrator and really well done and pulling me into like, I guess, a 1900s. Bretton No, late 1800s. Wow, just the idea of the horse and buggy. going up a hill in the midst in the in the just made me think why I got me excited because I was like, Cool. I'm gonna get to talk to somebody who lives in England. Can you share a little bit about your appreciation for growing up or having that heritage? What it feels like to grow up in England in relation to like, historic history? And where you all

Unknown: 38:16

are? My house was built in the 1750s.

Todd McLaughlin: 38:18

Wow, how she lived in the cottage that you talked about? When you say cottage and in the country? And, and you know, haven't

Unknown: 38:26

you seen the film The holiday? That popular Christmas film is coming Drs. It's quite old. Now

Todd McLaughlin: 38:32

Jude Law. sounds so familiar.

Unknown: 38:35

It's a kind of film Jack Black was played every year. Okay, Christmas, but that's actually the British section of it. Because half bit in Britain half in the States. Yeah. is actually where we live.

Todd McLaughlin: 38:46

Oh, what? In the town in the area that you live? Yeah, I'll check it out. I'll go watch.

Unknown: 38:53

I can obviously being brought up in every country that's in any country, that's all you know, that becomes your norm. But you know, as someone that has traveled a lot, I really appreciate the history. That's all around us in most British cities, you know, of course, someone you are. If you go to London, every built all the streets like a lot of the plant in the streets in London, or like in America, it's all grids. In London, it makes no sense. Like it was all the streets and like the land was split up by I forget which King it was. But they split it up and such and it's pretty much stayed the same. So all these roads it kind of weave in and out that make no sense everywhere. It's been the same way for like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, hundreds of years. And then you look around and we've seen beautiful modern buildings and you'll see a building that's 400 years old. There was just so much depth to living in this country. And you know, of course there's lots of poverty as there is in every country. But, you know, there's many people that don't get to go out there immediately. Where the moment you leave a city like London, and you explore, you know, the beautiful, beautiful villages that the country is scattered with. And there is no way I would I would rather live in the UK particularly well I am now. I love this. I live in a place called Sully is a county but 40 minutes for a train ride from London. But sometimes to drive into London next half an hour. There's no one in the world. I'd rather live beautiful rolling hillsides, we have vineyards, so many old stunning properties, true English villages, nice pubs, people that say hello to each other. There's no way I would rather live in the world.

Todd McLaughlin: 40:42

I love that picture you painted I've never been so I can't wait to I can't wait to go. I've landed in the airport. But my wife doesn't let me count airport landings as actual country visits.

Unknown: 40:54

I'd like to go through passport control.

Todd McLaughlin: 40:56

I lived in London for 20 minutes now. Getting that

Unknown: 41:02

if you can. It's a it's a marketplace. And there is nowhere. There's nowhere like it on earth. You know, I always say because I travel a lot to a lot of cities. There's no other city I could live in except London. It's either London or the countryside. There's no city, I could live in that always compare it to London.

Todd McLaughlin: 41:23

That's cool. Man. I am so thankful for you to niche out some time to chat with me. And you were so gracious. I, you know messed up our times. I was here early. And then you know, I you you stuck in here with me while I was now late for you. So that is really appreciated. Because you know, and you don't know me from the man on the moon, you're willing to, to do this interview with me. Can you speak a little bit though, from an inspirational side, you have a podcast as well. Can you share a little bit about what you enjoy about podcasting, what you've learned through the process and any maybe trade secrets or tips that you'd be willing to share with myself and listeners.

Unknown: 42:07

So what I say first and foremost is to really make a podcast successful, it is kind of a full time job. And we don't do that. So our podcasts, I think could get so big and have so much more reach. We just don't have the time to push it. But one of my guests and acquaintances called Chris Williamson. You know, when I first met him, like five years ago, who's plugging the podcast, his podcast called Modern wisdom. And he was doing five episodes a week, wow, five episodes a week. And then we were recording all the videos pushing it out there building his skills to become a better podcaster. So he would do what you want to do. He did like stand up comedy courses in Hungary courses, etc. To become better at what he does. So cool. He researches each guest. And lately he was he was a guest on the Joe Rogan podcast. Wow. And he's had guests like Jordan Peterson on, he's just booming. Hi, Charles. You've seen him on an Instagram video or like you've seen his face Chris Williamson. And so I think to really make it it is a full time job. And most podcasts don't get beyond episode 10. Yeah, yeah. Most don't last a year. Yeah. Because it is work. And often you don't see that men and people talk about getting sponsored. But the reality is I want unless you're really pushing it. It's very hard to get significant sponsorship. Yeah, unless you have investors initially. And then equally actually, I'm going to be big a bit a little bit negative, like, Instagram isn't the best place to promote it. Like you know, for me, if I post for any podcast episode on my Adam hustler Instagram, that post dies at no one sees it compared to other posts. No one's interested in the tech space. It looks like a flyer. No one because it's very, very hard to build.

Todd McLaughlin: 44:00

Do you think? Do you love it? I'm cool. I'm sorry.

Unknown: 44:05

I was gonna say I love it's such a I love the conversations we have. Yeah. And it's so when you do podcasts, you forget that people listen. So it's a traveling Suunto. I love that episode. Oh, right. You forget anyone's actually been listening to it. But there's no real interaction. So it's such a delight when people say they've listened to it. And it's such a treat to have conversations with incredible people. So yeah, I absolutely love it and will continue doing it for a long time. I do wish I had time and resources to actually push it harder.

Todd McLaughlin: 44:38

Yeah. I hear you that's, it is really fun. I feel like I started my ride on March of 2020 when the pandemic was like officially real, and I feel like it helped me get through that period because I was able to speak with teachers all over the world. And you know, my wife and I have a studio here in Florida. We just celebrated our Our 17 year anniversary yesterday, the studio and you know, there was a, I didn't want to let the studio go. And so to be able to hear what other people are doing around the world, for me, it was like an incredibly therapeutic experience. So I love doing this and, and I love, I'm so appreciative that you're willing to share with me, you know, and talk with me like that. I think it's an amazing thing, when to reach out to somebody who, who you don't know. And have them say, yeah, like, that's, to me that builds faith in the world, you know, or in humanity. That was

Unknown: 45:36

me. I wouldn't, I wouldn't ever say no. To things. Yes. I will say no to some things. But if it's a genuine conversation, if people are asking me to advertise their stuff for no money, yeah. And I get that quite a lot. You know, but it's not really yogic, you have you to one payment, sort of the yogic of you to charge money for that. So yeah, in those situations, when people want to use something I've built for free. I say no, honestly, to charity. But if people are just wanting conversations in good faith, I'm always happy to always always, always happy to have that. And I think he's no, it's not all about money. No, we're not. We haven't become yoga teachers, because we want to be millionaires agree. Although I think maybe increasingly, some people think the yoga teaching lifestyle is a glamorous one. The reality is for many yoga teachers, it's really hard life. Yeah. You know, many of the people we've seen Instagram probably are making Okay, money through different means. But the average yoga teacher is probably finding things quite hard. Yeah. Because the worst way to make money as a teacher is to teach in a studio. But it's really important to teach and I still teach in the studio, because it's how I grow as a teacher. It's how I connect to students. Yeah. But and I think it should be low, pay small because there isn't much money coming in. Right, slowly. It's not like yoga studios are making millions of pounds. Yeah, most yoga studios are probably breaking even. But the reality is, you know, teaching yoga studios doesn't earn a lot. Getting privates can be quite hard. relatively unstable, teaching corporates, finding them, again, can be hard. It's quite competitive. So I love teaching yoga, and I'll continue to teach it. But I think yoga teachers need all the support they can get. And if I can offer any of that, through channels like this, or just through social media. That's a wonderful thing.

Todd McLaughlin: 47:31

Thank you, Adam. It is greatly appreciated. I have a bunch more questions, but I want to respect your time. In closing, is there anything you would like to any stoic wisdom? beyond what you've already shared? It doesn't have to be stuck. Community kind of wisdom. Is there anything you'd like to say, in closing for for our listeners,

Unknown: 47:55

I would say make sure we're doing this a lot lately, try and find places that make you feel insignificant. In a really in a good way, in a good way make you realize that you are just a temporary wave in this ocean, which is often kind of an analogy used in the Buddhist world, that we are all just waves that pop up for a brief period. But we're all part of the ocean. We all kind of wait brief waves with an eager. But yeah, finding things or places that make you feel insignificant, that could be going into a dark area. And looking at the night sky. It could be you know, standing on the edge of the ocean, just looking at things that bring you all in that sense thing, especially if you live in a city, you can become a little bit self absorbed. If you're if you don't access big green space. If you can't see the stars, if all you see the buildings around you, then you can think the world revolves around you a little bit. So I think to put things in perspective is important. And yeah, finding all through stuff like the ocean or the stars or the mountains I think is a really valuable thing. I think it's important we keep that in check. everything into perspective, all your worries, it puts into perspective what your ego in check. It's so valuable in so many ways.

Todd McLaughlin: 49:15

Awesome, Adam, this has been such a pleasure, man. I am really appreciative to have this chance to meet you and I hope to travel to London. And when I do, I'm definitely going to come look yeah, come take class. And thank you. All right, man. Thank you so much. Until next week. Yeah, yeah. All right. You too. Thank you. Native yoga Todd cast is produced by myself. The theme music is dreamed up by Bryce Allen. If you liked this show, let me know if there's room for improvement. I want to hear that too. We are curious to know what you think and what you want more of what I can improve and if you have ideas for future guests or topics IX 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