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Raji Thron – Stories Lived Through a Lifetime of Yoga

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Special guest, Raji Thron, shares stories from his life lived in the pursuit of yoga. Raji is full of interesting tales of adventure from his birth in India that started him on the path of yoga.

During this conversation he speaks about:

  • Living in an India as a youth.
  • What was the state of yoga in Boulder in the 70”s and 80’s?
  • Making the decision to become a yogi.
  • How he met Richard Freeman?
  • Falling in love with ashtanga.
  • Guru Barometer and respect for elders.
  • Reframing the guru/ yogi dynamic.
  • The rise and fall of John Friend.

Raji is the co-owner of  Yoga Synthesis studios and Program Director of YS Teacher Trainings, which since its inception in 1999 has had hundreds of graduates who have earned certifications. He is registered with Yoga Alliance as a E-RYT 500, lead trainer and continuing education provider and certified through International Association of Yoga Therapists (CIAYT) as a Yoga therapist.

Visit Raji at his website: https://www.yogasynthesis.com
Also on his personal website: https://www.rajithron.com
Follow him on Instagram @yogasynthesis : https://www.instagram.com/yogasynthesis/?hl=en

Todd Mclaughlin

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. My name is Todd McLaughlin. I have the pleasure of bringing Raji Thron to the podcast today. And Raji is the founder and co director of Yoga Synthesis in Ramsey, New Jersey, which was founded in 1999. Please visit his website, yogasynthesis.com. And you can also check out his personal website Rajithron.com.  And I had a really incredible discussion with Raji, I’m so excited for you to hear this. And he’s got a very rich and vast history of personal practice experience with yoga and the world of yoga. And I’ve heard amazing things about Raji years ago from a student that came and visited and I happened upon his website. And I thought, I wonder if this is the Raji that my friend Tim was talking about? And it is! All right. I’ll let him speak for himself here. Let’s get started. 

I’m so excited to have Raji Thron here today with me. Raji, thank you so much for joining me. How are you doing today?

Listen to the full episode for free here.

Raji Thron

I’m great. Thanks.

Todd Mclaughlin

Just to get started here, you’re in New Jersey. Is that correct?

Raji Thron

Well, actually, yeah, we live just over the border in New York. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Okay. 

Raji Thron

Rockland County. So pretty much like Northern New Jersey, it feels the same.

Todd Mclaughlin

Yeah, I bet. I bet I hear you. And you have a yoga studio called Yoga Synthesis. Right? 

Raji Thron

Yeah in Ramsey, New Jersey. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Wonderful. I feel like somewhere along the way, someone has come in to our studio and told me about you before. And I feel like I’ve heard about you over the years. The way that I found your website actually was I had purchased that an anatomy coloring book by I believe…. a woman that may have practiced or taught for you at your studio. 

Raji Thron

Yes, she was one of our main teachers for a while. 

That’s right. 

Todd Mclaughlin

And in the process of looking to see like, where she was, I found your website. When I saw your bio, and I was like, Wow, he looks really interesting. You have a really rich history of practice and teaching. So I’m excited to have this chance to ask you some questions about your yoga journey. On that note, can you give me a little bit of a historical perspective about how and when you started yoga practice?

Raji Thron

Well, I guess I should go back to I was born in India, in Chandigarh, and my father was a mathematics professor. He was teaching at the university in Punjab, which is in northern India. So we traveled there on a number of occasions. And the time I first learned yoga was when I turned 12. And we were living in San Diego at the time. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Wow. 

Raji Thron

And so then coming back to the United States, I kind of got into it and got really hooked. This is like mid 70s. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Nice. 

Raji Thron

That’s the short answer.

Todd Mclaughlin

That’s the short answer. That’s good. That paints a really cool picture. You learned yoga in India at the age of 12! What an incredible age to have such a  eyes opening experience.

Raji Thron

Exactly. 

Todd Mclaughlin

And then you find what type of yoga class or yoga teacher experience? What was that like?

Raji Thron

Well, in India, I studied with an old man. He was actually in his 80s. He was a friend or our family. And he, he passed away that year. And so it was what I would call a classical hatha yoga practice. And it was a very kind of intense time, as you might imagine, for me, coming from Boulder, Colorado, where we lived, where I grew up, when went back to there. That’s where my dad, you know, was teaching, was a professor. So basically, the teaching that I got from my teacher there was when I turned 12. By the way, his name was Yogendra Paul, which is kind of wild.

Yogendra Paul Yogananda. Paul. So he

was he was a yogi named Yoginder. Yeah. He was an older man, and he taught me just basic, hatha yoga. Let’s just say, that’s what I call a classical hatha yoga. Now, I know not everyone uses that terminology. I like to use that. Because, you know, when you have kind of the standard form that you might see in India, it’s not Ashtanga. It’s not Ashtanga vinyasa anyway. And it’s not Iyengar. And it’s just, you go to any town, any village, you’re gonna find yoga that has a certain in the way it’s kind of come to the modern world, modern yoga, modern India. It’s what I would call a classical hatha yoga.

Todd Mclaughlin

Can you paint a picture what a practice session with him would look like then? I’m guessing classical positions, such as like a triangle?

Raji Thron

Yeah. classical sense. Fluid is different from the Ashtanga sense. You’re probably familiar with that, like stepping back, going to cobra, upward dog. And then stepping into the lunge. You know that whole form? And then classical poses. Really actually, in the beginning, it was way less standing poses. And more just sitting, you know, doing forward bends, twists, and hip openers, some back bends, and inversions was covering a framework of these basic poses. But I mean, at the time, I was really young. 

Todd Mclaughlin

So did he try to impart any information regarding theory or philosophy? 

Raji Thron

Interestingly, after he passed, I was still living in India for a little while before we moved back to the United States. And so, I mean, he was less philosophically oriented. He was definitely oriented in a certain way, telling me about Mahatma Gandhi, and like Indian saints, and that sort of thing. Yeah. Then I met a younger man, whose name was Surindir who was a Sikh member in Punjab in India. Those are names of a lot of Sikhs. So, this guy was definitely a major influence on me philosophically. He was actually a cricket player at the university, you know, being in shape and he wasn’t doing so much yoga per se, but he did all kinds of exercise and we’d sit and he would talk to me about basically the reality of existence. And you know, how and you know, being 12 years old, is definitely it was a shaking up, transformational time for me, because there I was having come from, you know, being in this very, kind of like, what would you call it upper middle class kind of situation and maybe middle class, whatever you call it, professorial? Yes, University, you know, yeah. And going living in India, and the first time I ever really saw poverty, and, you know, living at a standard of living that was much lower than I was used to. Sleeping on cots with, with a concrete floor. Yeah. And just the whole, the whole thing of seeing India. I could look over the wall from where we lived. And, you know, there were shards of glass on the top of the wall, right. And on the other side was a slum. I could see it from our balcony, and I’d see these people like, basically living right there. So for me, there was this whole interesting Awakening on so many different levels, you know, to really the blessings of life. Knowing that life can be hard. Yeah. You know, and it’s like, how do we learn to relate, personally and collectively, to this, this existence, this human existence? So there’s a lot of conversation I was having with Surindir. Questions like why is this happening? Why are people living like this? You know, yeah. 

Todd Mclaughlin

So did he have an answer for you? Did he offer you any more insight? 

Raji Thron

Yeah.

It was really into how he personally had gone off to travel around India. And he was like, he was in his 20s. And he said, he left home, he traveled around India. And that’s why he was so kind of philosophically inclined. Yeah. And he is like, yeah, you know, you get out there and you see what’s going on. And it makes you realize certain things like being a wandering Sadhu, you know, yes, you go. I think this is, this is part of what yoga, you know, in a way, the essence pointing to the essence of it is to let go of all these outer trappings. Yeah, this holding on to sit really almost anything at a certain point, you know, yeah. But, I mean, we do love our creature comforts. Yeah, it’s still, it’s definitely you know, there’s a certain pointing towards, you know, austerity are asceticism. And, for me at the time, I was questions like, What are you? So then, you know, actually, as I got further along, I realized, you know, what, what the implication was, and even now, I’m still still trying to, you know, integrate. I don’t know, I’m not sure if I’m giving you the nutshell of it very clearly. But it’s, it’s, it’s really a lot of different aspects.

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

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New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

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Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
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Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Nat Flood – Shamana Wisdom in Bermuda

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Meet Nat Flood of Shamana Circle Studio in Bermuda. Nat is the founder and director of Shamana and she weaves her history of dance, yoga, pilates and birth doula into her teaching. During this podcast hear Nat speak about:

  • Dealing with postpartum trauma.
  • What does a tongue tie mean?
  • The Bermuda Triangle and it’s history.
  • The story behind the Shamana Circle studio space.
  • How she pivoted her business during the pandemic.
  • Pilates practice before and after birth.
  • How she turned her understanding of physical rehab work into yoga.
  • How she structures her yoga certification program.

Please check Nat out at her website: https://www.shamanacirclestudio.com
And follow her on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/shamanacircle/

Listen to the full episode for free here.

Todd McLaughlin

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. I’m so excited to have you here and also to introduce you to Nat Flood. Nat is a yoga and pilates and much more than just that teacher that owns a studio in Bermuda on the island of Bermuda out in the Atlantic. She has a studio called Shamana Circle studio, and you can find her on her website, shamanacirclestudio.com, also on Instagram at @shamanacircle, and also on her personal page on Instagram at @natofshamana. Also, I do a free live webinar on YouTube every Thursday at 12pm Eastern. If you join in live, you can ask questions of which case I’m happy to answer during, and it’s recorded. So you can always check it out afterwards as well. Check in the links below for all those details. Again, remember to look for Nat at Shamanacirclestudio.com. All right, let’s get started. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to converse with Nat Flood. Nat, How are you doing today?

Nat Flood

I’m great. I’m so happy to be here and chat to you.

Thank you. 

Todd McLaughlin

This has been several months in the making because you are a new mom, or a recently, again new mom. And I know that when I reached out to you and said you can do this, but you just need a little bit of time. And so thank you so much for carving out time. I do know how busy you are and as a parent how hard it is to carve a little bit of time for ourselves. Can you tell me a little bit what it’s like being a new mom again?

Nat Flood

Yeah, my pleasure. I’m so happy to chat. Yeah, it’s amazing over and over and over again. I feel like we learned so much about ourselves over again. You know, we have maybe as a second time mom, for me, like an expectation of how things are gonna go. And of course, none of it went the way that I expected. So it’s just nice to be put in that position with new variables. I love having stuff just thrown at me and dealing with new things. So it’s been great.

Todd McLaughlin

What is an example of something that you tried to premeditate that did not go according to your plan?

Nat Flood

Yeah. So I mean, luckily for me, the second birth was so much more fluid and on the level that I wanted. I was successful, this time in my home water birth, which I’m just so grateful for, took a lot of preparation. It’s just not a done thing here in Bermuda. Not not to say that you can’t do it, but it’s not regulated, and it’s not legislated. So it’s a personal risk that we take on to do it here rather than birthing at the hospital, which is like the major option. But I did long extended breastfeeding with my first son. So we made it to about 15-16 months breastfeeding. And so I was really looking forward to the breastfeeding journey with my second and it was discovered, I kind of knew that there was a problem. He was kind of having a hard time latching on. I knew that it wasn’t right. And then we discovered a massive tongue tie issue for him decided to go ahead with revision and even with revision, he was so guarded and he would not let the dentist in there to do it. So it wasn’t successful. And I ended up pumping exclusively and bottle feeding him. And I mean he’s only nine months so luckily I have a great supply so I was able to pump in store for six months, and he’s still living off my supply. So hopefully I’ll get into a year with my with my breast milk supply. So for me that was just such a new way of thinking or like seeing motherhood you know, you especially as a business owner, it’s it was so time consuming, so body consuming.

Todd McLaughlin

Oh my gosh, I can’t even imagine. I mean, obviously, I can’t imagine being a male, but at the same time being a dad and what all goes into it. 

Nat Flood

Yeah. Oh my gosh, right. Like I remember just even if we were attempting to get a night off in the process of needing to try to have enough supplies ready to go was was a lot of a lot of extra work. A lot of extra work! Just  doing the bottle sterilizing process, oh my goodness, I never did that with my first.

Todd McLaughlin

Can you explain to me what tongue tied is? I can guess what that means. But can you further clarify? 

Nat Flood

Yeah, so he has it’s called a sub lingual, sub lingual mucosal tongue tie. I’m probably butchering that, for anyone knows a lot about tongue ties. So it’s quite deep in the back and hard to see. And so what it means is that they can’t get their tongue up to the roof of their mouth to perform that perfect latch. So anytime he would latch on to my breast, it was a couple of sucks and a release and a release, and he could not get a good flow going. So when you have your let down, you know, he had basically trained my body to be two to three ounces of a letdown. And then he would just stop feeding. And he was actually doing something similarly to a bottle. But obviously, with a bottle, it’s a whole lot easier to get the suction, the latch going. So luckily, the tongue tie reversal, what she could do, what the dentist could do, made it a lot easier with a lot less clicking on the bottle. But he was still never able to like develop that positive relationship with breastfeeding. He was very, it was it was traumatizing for him to breastfeed. Yeah. So for us, it was like, You know what? Yes, we could have potentially gone off Island and found another dentist that would have done another revision, but like, you know what? We just whatever’s best for him. And right now, this seems to be his happy place, feeding from a bottle. 

Todd McLaughlin

So yeah, so I hear you and you just use the word off island. So on that note, I want to mention that the reason that I was able to find you is I have someone who comes to our studio that she travels to Bermuda. And she just every time she comes back, she’s just raves about how beautiful Bermuda is? That the energy there is just so incredible. And she’s piqued my interest. So in the process of finding you and a yoga studio in Bermuda, I guess I’m just really excited to actually talk to someone who lives in Bermuda. Yeah, can you tell me what Bermuda is like?

Nat Flood

For me? It’s awesome. So we’re a subtropical island that’s about 700 miles off the coast of North Carolina. So we’re like right in line with North Carolina. We are kind of the halfway in between the US and, and really like the continent of Africa, like it’s on the other side, obviously. And then we have Britain above us. So we are at an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. So kind of like how Jamaica was before they went independent, essentially. And it’s beautiful. It’s a 21 square mile island. It’s a mile wide. at its widest point. If you look at a map of Bermuda, it looks like kind of, I’ve heard it described as like a hook. Or like someone said to me recently, I had a teacher, one of my best friends came and taught here for me, back in October, she’s like, it looks to me like a witch’s finger, that’s like curling in telling you to come here, like come here, that sort of thing. So it’s a really cool shape. It’s actually a volcano, we’re living on top of an inactive volcano. And so there is like, you know, it’s just kind of the island and then everything below it is inactive volcano. So we have incredible reef surf. And then we have this insane drop off point. So all of the fishermen here, they go out to the drop off, and that’s where they do their fishing. But when they go out that far, you can’t even see the island anymore. That’s how far out it is.

Todd McLaughlin

Wow. So it’s cool. It sounds amazing. I know everything I’ve heard about it. And the pics I’ve seen have from the surf culture as well just looks like this really incredible.

Nat Flood 

It is like super hush hush to a lot of people that move here and don’t know that you can surf here. And there’s like the small contingency of surfer dudes and super surfer girls that go out and they, you know, they’re watching the weather radar, like crazy to make sure that the conditions are right and they go out and they paddle and they go for it. So it’s cool. It’s like it’s starting to become a real thing. Like people are coming here to surf.

Todd McLaughlin

Nice. So yeah, so um another reason to go I’m What drew you or When did you move to Bermuda? Are you born and raised there?

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this YouTube video. Check out: 

Free Grow Your Yoga Live Webinar – Every Thursday at 12pm EST
➡️ Click here to receive link


Native Yoga Teacher Training – In Studio and Livestream – for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Michael Harris – Falling Down Getting UP – Overcoming Your Obstacles

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Join in listening to this wonderful conversation I had with Michael Harris.

Michael has been telling “sit on the edge of your seat stories” ever since his first show and tell in grade school – some stories will make you laugh – others are quite tragic that could bring any listener to tears. He shares in his #1 book, Falling Down Getting UP,  how starting in 1987, yoga helped heal him from several near fatal predicaments. 

Today, Michael is a popular yoga teacher with three certifications from Erich Schiffman, Integral Yoga and Bikram Yoga. In addition, he is an author, lifelong entrepreneur and co-founder of Endless Stages – a company dedicated to help motivated yogis, healers and entrepreneurs get their personal voice, message and story out to the world.

You can download a free copy of his powerful book at www.michaelbharris.com/book or purchase at https://bookshop.org/shop/michaelharris.com

You can listen to the full episode for free here.

Todd McLaughlin

We’ll just so the listeners are aware you you gave me the best surprise ever because we had scheduled to do this podcast quite a while ago. I know we worked really hard at finding a date that we could both organize to make this work. Just prior to me hitting the record button, Michael, you reminded me that you and I had met in California, at Bikram Yoga Teacher Training. You were one of the teachers that were helping teach some of the classes at the training. I didn’t even know that was you when we were scheduling this appointment. So now the fact that I’m getting a chance to speak with you I am so exited. I remember you very clearly. I loved your classes! I felt like you were a grounding force in a really wild world. You know? I’m just now getting a chance to pick your brain and find out where you are at with Bikram yoga, and what you’re doing now. So on that note, can you just start telling me and filling me in on your journey? And I guess I’ll be a little more specific. Let’s go way, way back. Can you tell me the first time you start practicing yoga? What was the first yoga class you ever got a chance to take?

Michael Harris

Absolutely. You know, the first time that I took a yoga class was 1988. Yes. Or excuse me,1987. I had vascular surgery in November of 1986. I had blocked arteries. The doctors at the time suggested that they may need to amputate my leg. I was pretty blunt to them and saying that that wasn’t gonna happen. I ended up at a place called Pritikin Longevity Center, which is in Santa Monica, but no longer there. By the ocean right down on the boardwalk pretty close to the Santa Monica Pier. When I first got there, I was walking on a cane I could walk literally about 10 feet. Cane in one hand, my other hand on the wall. Well, I could barely walk. To make a long story much shorter. The doctors that I was seeing in Portland for my vascular disease suggested that when it hurt that I should not move my body. And not to walk. The doctor at the Pritikin Center said when it hurts, keep walking. In hindsight, it was a huge spiritual wake up call to me. It was one of a number of times that I can identify over the years. But that particular one, he says get up and walk and walk through the pain. He says I just want you to go out there on the boardwalk and start walking. Initially, I was pretty scared to. I was in serious pain and was nervous because the movement seem to make me feel more pain. Yet he said, “Yes, it’s gonna hurt.” And he says, “Just keep doing what you can do.” Well, here I am. You know, 1987 that was actually March of 1987. There was a lot of women on rollerblades. And here I am. I’m a sick man. And I don’t want to be a sick man. I want to feel strong and healthy. And I had already had a lot of self esteem issues and everything else that I’ve struggled with. And so I wanted to walk tall. So within two weeks, I went from walking 10 feet to two miles, unassisted without my cane without a wall. 

TM

Wow. 

MH

And the sheer process of moving my body. Of walking, going one foot in front of the next, helped to build new blood vessels in my leg and collateral blood vessels. 

TM

Wow. 

MH

So as those new vessels were being built, in addition to that, the popliteal arteries where the primary blockages were began to heal as well. So not only was I getting the collaterals, I was also getting the popliteal artery to begin to heal. So answering your question about the first yoga class, the first yoga class was at the Pritikin Longevity Center. Now, granted, it wasn’t a very vigorous class. It was mostly for people in rehabilitation of some sort. It was really known more for weight loss. Although I wasn’t heavy, I’ve never really been heavy in my life. So losing weight wasn’t my challenge, they actually wanted me to gain weight. But there’s also a plant based facility at Pritikin Longevity Center. So they said I can eat as much food as I want. So I was walking, I started doing some yoga classes in the basement, and I was eating all the plant based food I could possibly eat.

TM

Nice. 

MH

Yeah, it was good. 

TM

Well, that’s incredible! That’s a really great story in terms of endurance and overcoming, like you said, that fear of working into the pain. Having that question like, “what do you mean…..walk more?” That whole transformation process of pushing through that. I’m curious, from taking yoga in the Pritikin environment there. What was your next step in relation to seeking other types of yoga? What was the evolution? How did it evolve from here?

MH

Yep. Well, I was living in Portland at the time, so I was just down there for the Pritikin Center. And when I went back to Portland, I started going to a yoga class at the gym. Because I was doing the gym, I was doing the treadmill. When I first started doing the treadmill, actually, was at Pritikin Center. I was going point three miles an hour.  As slow as the treadmill would move. That’s how slow I was going. And I was struggling. But I did more at the gym. And I was also walking in a park near my house as much as I could, but they had a yoga class there. And I would not call it a gym yoga, you know, however you want to perceive that to be, but it was a wonderful class. And at the end, they did candle gazing and I really liked it. When they would have me do downward dog. I would fall out of it. I couldn’t do much. But it led me to another general hatha yoga class. Diane Wilson was quite important for years. And I started taking her class. And I’m kind of jumping here ahead a little bit. I started doing Ashtanga Yoga. I saw a flyer for Yoga for Skiers. And I hadn’t skied for years because my condition and I want to get back to skiing. Somebody named Beryl Bender Birch was in Portland teaching and I thought, well, I’m gonna go to this thing and see if I can start skiing again. Well, I had what some people would call perhaps a kundalini experience and feeling the sensations in my body. Like tears flowing and just like opening up. Through this process and diving into Ashtanga I did a lot of stuff with David Swenson and a guy named Clifford. A lot of people don’t know who he was. He was one of the really early people. Nancy Gilgoff. I got a lot of time with her over in Maui. 

TM

Isn’t her place amazing? When you gotta look for the tomato sign when you’re driving up country on Maui? Everyone tells you like look for the tomato farm sign and then pull it you’ll find the house of Zen right? Is it called House of yoga and Zen or house of Zen? What a great little setup. That little wooden barn kind of yoga studio structure on that farm. Wow, studying with Nancy is like a real treat. That’s amazing. That’s cool, Michael.  I love David Swenson. I’ve never had a chance to practice with Beryl Bender Birch, but she’s a bit of a legend in the Ashtanga vinyasa world as well.

MH

Yeah. And a little bit more in synchronicity with Nancy. I don’t like staying in motels or hotels. So I was looking for a place to stay in apartment, a house something to rent. I rented this place. And you know, this guy named Gary and I called him and I said, Oh, do you know that Nancy? He says, oh, yeah, and that was about it. Didn’t say much. Well, when I got there, and it was rented apartment in his basement, do you know who Gary Kraftsow is?

TM

Oh yeah, he’s one of the famous teachers of Viniyoga. 

MH

One of his primary teachers was really close to Desikachar. I had no idea when I rented this place who it was. So here I am staying at Gary Kraftsow’s house. Also studying with Nancy. Wow. It was just like, you know, I mean, totally immersed.

TM

That’s right. When I lived on Maui for a year, and I remember seeing that he had a center in the upcountry area when I started looking into yoga. I never went but I remember his place was associated with a bodywork studio that always looked so interesting to me. That’s really cool. I can imagine that. Yeah, you’re staying with Gary, you’re getting your butt kicked with Nancy and in a good way. So at this point, I’m thinking you’ve made a pretty radical transformation from holding on to the wall walking 10 steps, if you’re hanging out with these yoga legends? Were you “back to normal” at this point? Where are you at at this phase?

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this podcast episode. Check out: 👇
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Carley Smith – Yoga & Healthy Eating with the Fairy Gutmother

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I had an amazing conversation with Carley Smith about gut health during this podcast. 
Carley Smith, aka Fairy Gutmother, is a Nutritional Therapist, Certified GAPS Practitioner, and Registered Yoga Teacher. Carley became interested in health and nutrition after being diagnosed with Lyme disease and using food as medicine emphasizing gut health to help heal. 

Visit Carley’s website at fairygutmother.com You can also follow here on IG here.

During our conversation she spoke about:

  • How she was able to heal herself from Lyme disease through 
  • how she was able to learn what foods are best for her
  • how yoga has played an integral part in her healing process
  • why she is passionate about helping others
  • and so much more!

Below is a portion of the transcript from our conversation. Remember you can listen to the full episode for free here.

Todd McLaughlin

I’m so excited to have Carley Smith here with me in studio today. And Carley is a nutritional therapist, a certified GAPS practitioner and a registered yoga teacher. And she will explain what the GAPS practitioner is here in a moment. But Carley, thank you so much for coming in.

Carley Smith

Thank you so much for having me.

TM

Well, it’s a pleasure. I’ve had the chance to meet you from taking classes here. I then learned that your career is helping people with gut health and that you have a website called https://www.fairygutmother.com. Correct? And also, we can find you at the same handle on Instagram @fairygutmother. I’m guessing the other social media channels are under the same name very as well? So on that note, can you tell me what your specialty is what what you focus on when helping people?

CS

Sure. So I work with people to help them restore their health through the gut. That is through diet and lifestyle changes. I truly believe gut health is the foundation for our health. It’s where nearly the entire immune system is located. So basically helping people to optimize the health of the microbiome, putting, you know, bringing in different foods that help do that. And then supplements as well.

TM

Nice. And you’re also a registered yoga teacher. So are you currently teaching classes?

CS

I’m not currently teaching but I do weave yoga into my protocols with my clients. I think it blends very nicely in with gut health, because it’s kind of that lifestyle aspect. I tell people gut health is not just a diet, it’s a lifestyle. Stress is just as damaging on the gut as junk food. And that’s what clinical research actually says. So I love the way that yoga brings in that way to mitigate our stress levels, but also kind of gives the gut a little internal massage, helping to kind of increase that motility and just overall health of the gut.

TM

Nice. Have you always been, air quote a “health nut?” Or did you have something happen to you in life that kind of pushed you in the direction of paying extra attention to your health?

CS

Yes. So I’ve always been interested in health and nutrition and I always thought I was healthy but I ended up getting Lyme disease in 2014. Well, I’ll back up, I was probably sick for a year or two before that I finally found out and was diagnosed in 2014. But my whole experience was why I completely shifted the way that I view health and wellness. And like I said, I thought I was healthy. But after learning about gut health where nearly your entire immune system is located, and you know, I implemented a gut healing protocol. I was able to completely reverse my symptoms from Lyme. Based on just focusing on gut health completely changed my perspective on health and wellness, and what’s important and what actually is healthy as it relates to the gut.

TM

Wow, when you were diagnosed with Lyme disease, what was the treatment that was prescribed to you via the Western field?

CS

So at that time, it was mainly just antibiotics. So you go on a heavy dose of antibiotics for a prolonged period of time. And that’s basically the route I took at that time. I really wasn’t aware of any alternative therapies that are out there. So now I’m so much more aware of different modalities and treatments that are available for Lyme. But at that time, it was just straight antibiotics. And then that felt like it was doing more harm on my body than good. Because you’re obviously you’re killing the good and the bad bacteria with that. So I went off of all that medicine. And that’s when I started doing research and learning about gut health.

TM

Nice. What did you start implementing? What were some of the first things that you began to utilize in your research and study?

CS

So the first thing I did was the GAPS diet, which stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome. And so that’s really all about healing the gut. It’s an elimination and reintroduction diet. So you’re eating a lot of nourishing foods that help to heal the gut lining, and then obviously, eventually repopulate the gut with beneficial bacteria. So you’re cutting out a lot of, obviously, any processed foods and sugar, things like that. But you’re really just focusing on bone broth, which was a huge part of my healing journey, animal meats and proteins and cooked vegetables. Foods that are going to be very easy to digest. And then as time goes on, you can slowly start incorporating more foods and more raw foods.

TM

What were the main symptoms that you felt when you had Lyme disease? It sounds like you had Lyme disease for over a year before diagnosed? What were the symptoms you were feeling? When that was happening before you even knew what was going on?

CS

Yeah, I mean, it honestly felt like my body was abducted by an alien. Like I had absolutely no control over my emotions. I forgot where I lived, driving home from work. And that’s really when I had to kind of just confine myself to my apartment. I couldn’t really leave. I was scared. Like a brain fraught with fog. I was like completely disoriented. I had no clue or recollection of where I lived. I didn’t know where to turn to or where I was. There was a whole neurological and cognitive dysfunction and I was just completely affected. 

TM

Are those common symptoms that most people that have Lyme disease experience? 

CS

Yes! A lot of brain fog, mental illness and loss of cognitive function. That’s a very big part of Lyme disease. And that I think is one of the hardest things about Lyme is that it is so difficult to diagnose and why it’s so misdiagnosed. Because there are so many symptoms of Lyme, in connection with that I also had a lot of issues with my hormones. So I was menstrual bleeding for about four months straight, and no one could figure out what was going on. The doctor just eventually told me to go lay at home in bed with my feet up. And that’s not a very common symptom. So I think it’s hard to, for people to get diagnosed, because there’s so many different things that people experience. I never noticed a tick bite, or anything like that. The thought is that perhaps I had that several years ago, and then a long period of stress weakened my immune system. And that’s when the disease flourished.

TM

When you started taking the antibiotics, did you feel a little better? Did that work on some level?

CS

It might have a little bit, initially, but I really was so sick that I couldn’t tell. And then there were so many other issues that kept popping up from the side effects of the antibiotics, that it felt like they were doing more harm than good. So it was hard to kind of pinpoint and truly that dietary change of shifting more towards a gut healing protocol was where I felt the biggest shift in my health. My memory was one of the first things to come back. I started to think more clearly I felt like I had a better control over my emotions. I was able to recall more information and just just felt better overall.

TM

I’m just I’m trying to replay what you said. So you started with bone broth and eliminated almost everything else. You start off with bone broth as the basis for the diet? And then you said slowly implementing easily digestible foods like animal protein? And greens as well and vegetables, fruits, or no? Are you trying to eliminate carbs, the sugar from the carbs and that type of thing? 

CS

Yeah, so it’s basically on the veggie side, it was a lot of winter squashes, and everything is cooked. I know…. nothing raw, it’s a little bit harder to digest those foods, than the cooked meats and vegetables. That was a big thing, the animal proteins, what you’re looking to do with the proteins in the bone broth is really extract all those nutrients that help to support and heal the gut lining. So with those animal fats, and proteins are one of the most important things that you can do to help with that.

TM

So being a yogi, and into yoga culture, where we are pressed in the direction of a “Ahimsa”, or non violence and vegetarian diet. And what are your thoughts regarding implementing animal proteins? In relation to that theory and approach that one should be vegetarian?

CS

Yes, so you can absolutely still focus on gut health, with a more vegetarian approach. And I have a recipe for a vegetarian broth on my website. And basically, what you’re thinking, what you want to think about is pulling those nutrients from those vegetables that are helpful in healing the gut lining, and one of those is L glutamine. You can even just buy L glutamine in a powder form. And that’s very helpful in maintaining the integrity of the gut lining. So you can make a broth with lots of those vegetables like carrots, and beets, very high and L glutamine. Thinking again, about extracting those nutrients. One of the biggest proponents for gut health or components of gut health is fiber. So fiber feeds the good bacteria in the gut. So once the gut is healed, and a way to maintain that optimal gut health is just by, you know, adding in more fiber into your diet. In fact, the entire plate really should be plant based, lots of fiber, and then you can fill in, you know, the remaining parts of that. But as far as the animal base, I mean, for me that really helped. Those animal fats and proteins were one of the biggest things I think that helped my cognitive function and repair the gut lining. But if that’s not something that fits in, and I will note that it’s important to make sure that you’re sourcing those sustainably and that the animals are pasture raised and grass fed. Work with a local farmer and rancher is super important. But if that’s not something that works for you, that doesn’t mean that you still can’t heal the gut. There are other ways to get those nutrients.

Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for reading this blog post from this podcast episode. Check out: 👇
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New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

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Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com
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Sara Webb – Meditation is Medicine

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Engage your listening senses with this conversation I had the pleasure of having with Sara Webb. Sara Webb is an author, inspirational speaker, and meditation healer empowering seekers to go from stress to success. Her life mission is to inspire people to access the power within themselves by teaching pocket-sized meditation techniques to improve daily happiness so people can bring the best versions of themselves to their own lives.

Visit Sara’s website at www.sarawebbsays.com
Check out Sara’s new book here: Amazon – Balboa Press – Barnes & Noble

Listen to the full conversation for free here.

During this conversation we discussed:

  • the importance of daily meditation
  • her passion for public speaking in the corporate environment
  • how to build trust after being harmed
  • how Sara has been able to recover from little “t” and BIG “T” trauma in her life
  • the role recovery has played in her healing journey
  • her books and her writing process
  • the importance of yoga practice in her life

And so MUCH more!

Remember to visit Sara’s website at www.sarawebbsays.com
Also don’t forget to check out Sara’s new book here: Amazon – Balboa Press – Barnes & Noble

Below is an excerpt form the conversation I had with Sara.

Todd McLaughlin

What is an example of a public speaking event that you’ve done recently.

Sara Webb

I’ve done all manner of things. I do a lot of corporate events, working directly with business owners and managers in order to help their staff deal with stress. I mean, a lot of times, we don’t realize the great power that we have with our breath. 

If we can realize that when we’re in that fight or flight mode, that we’re not breathing properly, we’re not breathing from the belly. That’s a physiological, ancient physiology that we have carried over from when we were hunters and gatherers. You know, this autonomic nervous system that we have breeds for us, and beats our hearts and controls our sweat glands and salivary glands and blinking. But when the sympathetic nervous system is activated, that’s what we typically call the “fight or flight.” We begin chest breathing from the upper part of our chest, which is really great if we need to actually fight or flee. 

But when it’s traffic and deadlines, and our bosses and our spouses and our kids, it can really build up and flood our blood with cortisol. We’ve heard some about that, and people are now pushing pills to get rid of cortisol when really, if we could just get in touch with what’s going on in our bodies, and learn how to belly breathe we can fix this problem. This is such an easy, portable, free way to tap into what’s going on in our bodies. And then people can learn how to process stress and actually ground themselves in where they are, especially in the workplace. 

We have to work around people who maybe aren’t our favorite people. And so I do a lot of corporate trainings during the week. My wife is a dentist and so I got started doing that at her corporate gatherings. I do conferences and private conferences. I’ve done sweet 16 parties. I mean, I’ve spoken at sober retreats, you name it, I’ve done it. And I really just enjoy interacting with people in that way. Where they always come away and they say, wow, I really think I learned something new. I think that there’s a couple of simple facts that most people don’t understand about meditation. 

Because as I mentioned, that’s my real passion. I kind of trick people into learning about meditation by talking about stress, because meditation is that wonderful way for us to get rid of our stress. And I am just such a seeker, I wanted to know, why is it that meditation works. And I’ll give you a couple of facts….. all around us at every single moment, it doesn’t matter if we’re on top of the hill, or in a busy street the scientists have calculated that we have access to about several billions of bits of data. And the human brain is pretty amazing and can process around 11 million bits per second. But we’re only conscious of between 40 and 50 of the 11 million bits per second that our brains and our bodies have access to. So I did the math there, that means we’re conscious of .04% of everything that’s actually being processed by our brains and our bodies. And 99.96% of everything that’s available to us is being processed by our subconscious. 

Now we have five senses. And we have 11 million sensory receptors, the 10 million or so of the sensory receptors are dedicated to one sense, our eye site. So if you want to access to 99.96% of information that’s already inside of you shut off access to 10 million of the 11 million sensory receptors, ie. close your eyes and go inside. That’s where the magic is, that’s where the subconscious can begin to bubble up. 

Because we’re literally getting into the brainwaves where our subconscious lives, if we only stay in beta and beta is stressed, then we’re not going to ever be able to have access to that. The only time during waking hours when we drop into that subconscious state, which is the theta wave in between alpha and delta, which is where most meditation is. Deep sleep is theta. 

When some people are stressed, they like to drive, or they like to go and work on something that is repetitive. That’s because when we drop into repetitive things our subconscious is in control because you don’t have to think about it anymore. That allows the subconscious to bubble up, but our eyes are still open. And so think about how much more powerful it is to actually close the eyes, and then go inside.

Todd McLaughlin

Yeah, good point. That’s interesting. Can you give me an example or an idea of when you decided or felt that you wanted to heal the trauma that you had experienced? Was there some sort of catalyst that I mean, I’m guessing that there probably was something inside that said, “Okay, I realized something has happened. But I’d prefer just not to look at it.” What was the catalyst that helped you to turn that corner and feel like you wanted to be brave and process and heal and go through the therapy to come out the other side?

Sara Webb

Great question. I mean, I’ve always known about what happened. It’s just that I repressed it, I told my sister I did not go to the police, I barely told anyone much less dealt with it myself. When I began to get sober, which started in the end of 2018, I didn’t actually succeed with continuous sobriety until the end of 2019. So it took me a little over a year, almost a year and a half to actually be sober, and then an event would happen and we have this in the general collective that like, alcohol can be used to de-stress, which is an absolute lie. It actually causes stress in the body. So it took me a little while, but once I started playing with sobriety and had bouts of sobriety, I realized most poignantly that I needed alcohol in order to be intimate with my now ex husband. And I knew what even though I was gay, through college and a little bit after college, I called myself bisexual, and I only dated women, but I repressed that because I wanted to have a baby and I knew that my very strict Southern Baptist parents would not accept me for who I am. And to this day, they do not accept me for who I am. So in answer to your question, yeah, when when we get sober a lot of people deal with anger that is kind of unexplained. They’re just not really sure why, but it’s because we have been repressing by drinking. And then we have no outlet to numb with. I didn’t have that initially. 

But what I did have was when I got re-married, and we started blending households, because I have a biological child, she has two you know, that’s, that’s no joke. And I started noticing that my go to response was anger, which, and I put out a reel on this recently, you know, usually anger is, is not actually a primary emotion, it’s a secondary emotion. And it indicates that there’s hurt underneath either sadness or fear usually. 

So I started seeing a transpersonal interpersonal hypnotherapist in order to deal with the anger. And that’s when memory surfaced. And I was able to deal with them in a really beautiful way. It wasn’t immediate, and it certainly wasn’t easy. But healing requires injury and healing hurt. The result is always worth it.

Todd McLaughlin

Wow. Well, I appreciate you being so honest and sharing your story. That’s incredible. I think it’s empowering, because I know that there’s obviously a lot of us who probably have experienced trauma. Well, I guess, like you said, there’s the “big T” and the “little t.” So would you say that everybody has had some sort of “little t” trauma? Like, for example, someone made fun of us on the playground? A million or two different things that have happened could have happened. How many of us have experienced the “big T” trauma? What do you think the percentages are? I mean, like half the world, a third of the world, one in 100? Because I just wonder that sometimes it seems like I don’t know that anybody could get through life without having some type of “big T” experience. But maybe that’s because if I do have experience, then I think well, maybe probably everyone has. Perhaps it’s a smaller minority a smaller group of people that have. Do you have any insights into that?

Sara Webb

I wish I had the statistics! I’m definitely going to look it up. But even if we just look at, like, reports of sexual trauma with women, it’s one in three. And I didn’t report and I know a lot of other people who didn’t. So if you just look at that, it’s a high percentage. And and let’s not diminish that “little T” trauma. 

Because it’s all relative, and vibrationally, if we just look at it. So everything that happens in our lives before the development of the prefrontal cortex would start around the age of 10. So everything from pretty much ages, like four to eight is when our brains are in that meditative state, we haven’t gone up into beta. Around the age of 10, is when we really fully start to inhabit beta. 

Everything before that our brains take in as beliefs, basic beliefs about how the world is so for somebody like me, I saw people drinking, I grew up outside of New Orleans. I mean, drinking is just what people do. And I’m sure that’s for a lot of the world, you know, it’s just it’s very common. And so one of the beliefs that I had is that alcohol is safe. And if you have a “little T” trauma, “big T” trauma, some uncle that habitually made fun of you, a person on the playground who did something that could be seen as traumatic when it’s done, even once or twice, we can carry that vibration that belief with us into our adulthood and continue to attract those things into our lives. Because it’s something that we need to heal.

So it doesn’t matter if it’s seemingly small, it might be perpetuating itself as to a lack of abundance in our lives or a thinking that no one likes us. Then that can continue to play out in the workplace. And, you know, social groups, it doesn’t matter where it is. Because we’re basically here to heal.

Thanks for reading this blog post from this podcast episode. Check out: 👇
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New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com
Please share this episode with your friends, rate & review and join us next time.

Rick Olderman – The Confluence of Yoga & Physical Therapy

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Check out the most recent episode of Native Yoga Toddcast with Rick Olderman. You can visit Rick at his website https://rickolderman.com. Enclose is the transcript from an excerpt of our conversation. You can listen to the entire episode for free here.

Todd McLaughlin

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. I’m thrilled that you are here and excited to introduce to you Rick Olderman. Rick is a physical therapist, personal trainer and Pilates instructor. He’s authored several books, and he speaks and teaches people in this trade. I’m going to link all of the information in the show notes below, the easiest way to get a hold of them is to find him at rickolderman.com. I’ll put the links in where you can find his series of books that are available. Also, he has trademarked a method called Fixing You, which he has home courses, and basically a bunch of information for us as yogis, bodyworkers and professionals in these fields. So without further ado, let’s go ahead and get started. 

I’m really excited and honored to have Rick Olderman here with me today. Rick, how are you?

Rick Olderman

I’m great. Todd. I’m so excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

TM

Thank you. Can you tell me where you’re located?

RO

I’m located in Denver, Colorado.

TM

Nice. How’s the weather there right now?

RO

You know, we had a really hot summer, but surprisingly it is cooling off a little bit. Now it’s only in the 80s. This past week has been unusually cooler considering it is still summer. 

TM

That does sound nice. Yeah, very cool. I’m excited to have a chance to talk to you because you have a background in physical therapy, you own and run a clinic and are a personal trainer and a Pilates instructor. You’ve written books and you guest speak. And so one of the things I noticed when reading over your information is that after graduating from physical therapy school, you found that when you got out into the real world that you weren’t fully prepared for dealing with the pain that people experience. So I’m really excited to hear what you’ve learned over your years of work and research. On that note, what is some of the things you learned along the way that helped you to be able to successfully help people with their pain? What differs from your initial protocols to you current approach to pain management the you are utilizing?

RO

Yeah, well, you know, prior to physical therapy school, I had back pain myself. And I thought, oh, I’m gonna go to PT school and get the insider secrets. And, you know, I was that guy who raised his hand. Anytime they asked for a volunteer for a back pain demonstration of some sort, I was just like, okay, fix my back, I am ready to go. But it never happened. And what I learned was that the focus in PT school was on the structures that become damaged, rather than why they become damaged. And so we were taught to treat those structures, rather than treat why they were damaged. And after, as you mentioned, after I graduated, that’s why I was feeling like a complete failure. Anybody who had any kind of chronic issue, you know, I can help sprains and strains. That’s pretty easy, but chronic issues, I was hit or miss. And so and it was because of this and my intuition was that we have everything to do with why we’re having pain. But that’s not how we’re taught in school. We’re just taught to look at the structures that are painful and treat those structures, make pain go away and done. Yet it didn’t work out in the real world. So that’s what led me on this journey. It’s really interesting figuring out the “why’s” behind pain.

TM

And what what were the steps that you used and or took to discover the answer?

RO

Yeah, well, it was very difficult as well you know. I was sunk into a deep depression because of it. Because I really thought this was my calling. And I couldn’t believe that there, there wasn’t a lot more information about the “why’s” in pain. But anyway, I discovered Dr. Shirley Sarmad, who is an instructor out of Washington University in St. Louis. And she is, her whole focus is movement impairments that create pain and how to solve those. And that was a great starting point. And then, along the road, I also uncovered Thomas Meyers’ work with Anatomy Trains, and Dr. Robert Treat’s work with fascia. And then also, lastly, I discovered Thomas Hanna’s work with neurological reflex patterns in the body that contribute to chronic pain. And it turns out that all three of these different researchers, unbeknownst to each other, pointed to the same three patterns of dysfunction that caused almost all back pain. And so what I did was I ended up integrating these and then adding more into it, because none of them really went into the movement habits that were creating these patterns of dysfunction. So that’s what I’ve been teasing out and doing in my clinic and for the last 25 years, and it’s been pretty successful. Yeah.

TM

Wow, that’s amazing. Can you explain those three main characteristics that you saw each of these instructors or practitioners were teaching you?

RO

Yeah. So, you know, Dr. Solomon’s work is known as a classic physical therapy where, you know, we analyze movement. We look at tight or weak muscles associated with that movement impairment. And then we fix those tight or weak muscles, and also change a little bit about how they’re moving. Because movement also creates tight or weak muscles, it works both ways. Right? Tight or weak muscles cause movement impairments and moving impairments cause tight or weak muscles. So you have to fix both of those things. And so that’s what her focus was. But I learned that I realized that while my outcomes became much better, they were limited. And so I started looking, you know, further away and thinking, hey, you know, there’s got to be something else here. And that’s when I discovered Thomas Myers, because we had been taught about fascia, but we hadn’t been taught in depth about fascia. And that’s when I discovered his Anatomy Trains. He teaches the fact that we have these super highways of fascia that run through a body. And they, we have a back line that runs from the head to the bottom of the foot. Same with a lateral line down the side, we have a spiral line, we have a front line of fascia. And all of these lines can be dissected as one contiguous piece of tissue from the body. So they’re all, you know, very connected. And fascia is connective tissue. But it’s also highly nervous innervated to as well. So then, after I read his book, I realized, oh, he helped me understand how things further away from pain could be along that line of fascia that I would need to address in order to solve pain, kind of like a spider web, you know, you can hit a little twinge, you know, a little piece of webbing further away from the center. But the spider in the center still feels that little twinge. And that’s the way it is in the body, too. Then I started treating things further away from the sources from where the pain was being experienced, and I had better outcomes. But then I also ran into these certain people that seemed to have a battery that was charging their bodies to create tension in these patterns of dysfunction that I was uncovering, and that’s what I learned about Dr. Thomas Hanna’s work. Again he identified the same three patterns of dysfunction. And his focus was on decreasing the neurological tension that’s been that’s charging these patterns of dysfunction. So combining all three of these, I was just like, boom, that’s when I really saw the miracles happening in my clinic. 

I highly recommend listening to the full podcast discussion. You won’t want to miss the rest of Rick’s story. Remember you can listen to the full episode for free here. https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com/950785/11318741-rick-olderman-the-confluence-of-yoga-and-physical-therapy

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Day 29 – No Shave Yoga event – #yogabeardsunite – Reflections of the Way I Used to Be

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Day 29 – No Shave Yoga event – #yogabeardsunite – Reflections of the Way I Used to Be  
One thing that is fun about participating in No Shave November is that it reminds me of my carefree ways back in the days. We can still be “carefree” and show we do care.
No Shave Yoga Event is a group of yoga teachers who have banded together to help spread the word, grow hairy, raise money and inspire health through the practice of yoga. Our fundraising team is called Yoga Beards Unite and we aim to raise as much awareness about men’s health and money for those in need by the end of November. Please help us achieve our goal by donating to our team page at https://www.no-shave.org/team/yogabeardsunite. When you post on social media please tag us to show your support and share our/your story to help us in our endeavor. Together we can make a difference! @adampolhemusyoga @brianmilleryoga @davidmiliotis @gregnardi @juankgalan @nativeyoga @willduprey

Day 25 – No Shave Yoga Event – #yogabeardsunite – Prana Wind

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Day 25 – No Shave Yoga Event – #yogabeardsunite – Prana Wind  
In yoga culture, prana is the word that describes the energy that is associated with air. Prana often refers to the relationship between our breath and our personal sense of vitality. Vayu, the lord of the wind, is considered the primal force that generates life and can be harnessed through our breath. Today in South Florida the wind is “cranking!” The wind has the ability to stir our emotions and can breath some life back into our senses. Sometimes people feel unsettled by the wind, however it is possible to harness that anxious sensation and turn it into zest for life and renewed vigor. If it is windy where you are, go outside and stir your prana a bit by enjoying the wind.

  
No Shave Yoga Event is a group of yoga teachers who have banded together to help spread the word, grow hairy, raise money and inspire health through the practice of yoga. Our fundraising team is called Yoga Beards Unite and we aim to raise at least $1500 by the end of November. Please help us achieve our goal by donating to our team page at https://www.no-shave.org/team/yogabeardsunite. When you post on social media please tag us to show your support and share our/your story to help us in our endeavor. Together we can make a difference! @adampolhemusyoga @brianmilleryoga @davidmiliotis @gregnardi @juankgalan @nativeyoga @willduprey

Day 21 – No Shave Yoga Event – #yogabeardsunite – The Event

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Day 21 – No Shave Yoga Event – #yogabeardsunite – The Event  
We have seen an increase of support, enthusiasm and donations over the past few days for which we would like to extend our appreciation. If you are in South Florida come and join us for The No Shave Yoga Event at Native Yoga Center on Sunday, November 22nd at 12pm-1pm. We are offering a Native Yoga class that is donation based of which 100% of the proceeds will benefit no-shave.org. Everyone who attends will be entered in our raffle of which we have several gifts being given away. We would like to thank the team at Lululemon for donating some gift cards. High Point Paddle for donating an adventure paddle tour for 2. Raw Juce is going to bring free organic juice for everyone post practice. Native Yoga Center will also be giving away class gift certificates. If you would like to donate prior to arrival you can do so on our Eventbrite page. Those that live outside our area can donate to our Yoga Beards Unite team page. You can also just show up and donate at the the door. Everyone is welcome, male, female, old, young, flexible and stiff. Together we can make a difference!
No Shave Yoga Event is a group of yoga teachers who have banded together to help spread the word, grow hairy, raise money and inspire health through the practice of yoga. Our fundraising team is called Yoga Beards Unite and we aim to raise at least $1500 by the end of November. Please help us achieve our goal by donating to our team page at https://www.no-shave.org/team/yogabeardsunite. When you post on social media please tag us to show your support and share our/your story to help us in our endeavor. Together we can make a difference! @adampolhemusyoga @brianmilleryoga @davidmiliotis @gregnardi @juankgalan @nativeyoga @willduprey
Special thank you to @lululemon @highpointpaddle @rawjuce @no_shave_november

Day 17 – No Shave Yoga Event – Bhakti 

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A little Bhakti a day can keep the doctor away!

Follow these amazing Yogis this November for the No Shave Yoga Event @adampolhemusyoga @brianmilleryoga @davidmiliotis @gregnardi @juankgalan @nativeyoga @willduprey #yogabeardsunite 

Help us raise awareness about men’s health and donate to https://www.no-shave.org/ or join our Fund Raising Team called Yoga Beards Unite at https://www.no-shave.org/team/yogabeardsunite