Greetings Reader - Survival mode can take you places you never wanted to go. I never wanted to go to Huntsville, Alabama. But there I was, living in Rocket City, as culturally displaced as a native New Yorker can be. It wasn’t all bad: I got to see Metallica . . . at the Von Braun Civic Center. Yup: the city’s big arena is named after rocket scientist—and Nazi war criminal—Wernher Von Braun. But it was a great show. Survival mode can also turn you into a person you never wanted to be. I never...
13 days ago • 3 min read
Greetings Reader - Once upon a time, I was as an event videographer with just one client: the most prestigious economics think tank in Washington, D.C. Which meant I got to be a fly on the wall for talks by Treasury Secretaries, Federal Reserve Chairmen, leaders of global financial institutions, and numerous experts on the Delphic details of monetary policy, currency fluctuations, and trade balances. The one thing everyone at these talks had in common was that they all fervently believed in...
20 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader - Each of us has a unique path that leads to personal fulfillment and the satisfaction of knowing that we’re making a meaningful contribution to the world. But how do you know if you’re on the right path? And if it feels like you're going the wrong way, how do turn things around? With everything that's going on in the world right now, it's more important than ever to know what really means the most to you and how to align what you do with who you really are. That's what my new...
23 days ago • 1 min read
Greetings Reader - Our free monthly series, Community Conversations, continues next week. This month, we’re going to talk about the relationship between philosophy and ideology, specifically how impersonalism, an idea that's usually applied to non-duality in yoga philosophy, shows up in current political and economic ideologies —nationalism, capitalism, etc.—in ways that make tangible impacts in the real world. We'll look at what impersonalism is, how it manifests in a social context, why it...
23 days ago • 1 min read
Greetings Reader - I’m well past the stage of disbelief. Now I’m mad. And I want to do something. But what? So many awful things are happening so quickly that it’s hard to know what to do about any of it and easy to feel overwhelmed by all of it. Which is precisely the kind of incapacitation that this purposeful chaos is meant to induce. Grrr. Being transfixed by the daily details of decimated federal agencies, extra-judicial deportations, and national security nincompoopery can prevent us...
27 days ago • 2 min read
Greetings Reader - The whole world is in a chaotic state right now. And if you’re a yoga teacher, odds are people are coming to your classes hoping to find relief from a higher level of stress than usual. You can guide them through wringing the tension out of their bodies as they move and hold space for them to calm their minds as they sit in meditation. But there’s something else you can give them that might have a more lasting impact: knowledge from the yoga wisdom tradition. Yoga...
29 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader - I'm writing to let you know about a new live online course that I designed to help you step into a life of deeper meaning and higher purpose: The course is called Finding Your Dharma. It's a guided journey into yoga wisdom's system for discovering your true nature, defining your highest values, and living a deeply fulfilling life in alignment with your nature and values. If your not experiencing a sense of fulfillment and alignment right now, it may be because you don't know what...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Greetings Reader - The first thing I remember wanting to be when I grew up was a mad scientist. I was 3 years-old. I was watching a Superman cartoon. I didn’t think Superman himself was very interesting. But the villain, the mad scientist? I thought, “Yeah – that’s who I want to be!” It wasn’t long before I decided that what I really wanted to be was a drummer in a rock ‘n roll band. I was 7, The Beatles were blowing up the airwaves, and Ringo Starr awakened the sleeping drummer within. By...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Greetings Reader - One of the most challenging aspects of teaching yoga is integrating yoga philosophy into an asana class or workshop. Over the many years that I’ve been training yoga teachers, this skill is the one that I’m most often asked to help teachers develop. Many teachers want to offer their students some wisdom from the yoga tradition. And the people who come to classes want to feel a sense of connection when they take a live class, in-person or online. And yet, many teachers don't...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Greetings Reader - I have an ongoing game I play in my head for no particular reason. The game is called, “If I had two cats, I’d name them . . .” Jaya and Vijaya, Soochi and Moochi, Karma and Dharma, Rover and Fido, Wave and Particle, Doonakranitz and Frannakranitz, Hawkwind and Motorhead, . . . The rule (apparently) is that the names must have some kind of complementarity. And if they rhyme, I get extra credit (whatever that means). The complementarity of a doonakranitz and a frannakranitz...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read