intelligent edge yoga

Let's talk about mental health and yoga teachers, since so many people who turn to yoga are seekers or individuals looking for greater wellness. Kim McNeil from Calgary, Alberta and I open the conversation - imperfectly, compassionately, and honestly.

Interested in plant medicine? This conversation with Amber Westfall of The Wild Garden offers practical advice for integrating plant medicine into your life, and reveals the potency of what we can find in our local environment.

The difference between CBD and THC, what marijuana does to the brain, how we receive it from an Ayurvedic perspective, and what you may want to think about before you host a marijuana and yoga event.

Trains of thought on being in the teacher's seat. Inspired by my recent conversations with yoga teacher trainees, we talk about a few questions around facilitating yoga classes - including whether to gently awake sleeping students in Savasana.

Heart and Bones is the result of Brea Johnson's heart work and a long relationship with yoga and inquiry, particularly into anatomy and movement as it applies to teaching asana. She joins me to wander through a bit of her history as a faciliator and studio owner, her yoga existential crisis and resulting content, and what it's like to move online.

A yogi mama with a diversity of experience in the yoga-Ayurveda world, Jennifer Hardy-Berthiaume (Jenny Bee), recently published her first book on using Ayurveda to parent with greater ease and for greater health and harmony in the household.

This week I talk about what it means to have healthy bowel movements by modern healthcare's definition, as well as Ayurveda. We learn all about what's reasonable to expect, some interesting facts about feces, the anatomy of defecation, and some practical advice for pooping well.

Part 2 of a conversation with the poetic Ayurvedic practitioner Balaram Chandra das, where we dig into some of the challenges of being a responsible teacher, models of education and how they work (or don't) in yoga and Ayurveda, as well as multiple Ayurvedic concepts, including springtime Ayurvedic concepts and care.

Meet Balarama Chandra das, one of my teachers from Ayurveda school, who is a fascinating person wonderfully capable of expanding on philosophical and Ayurvedic concepts with poetic commentary.

Exploring Sun Salutations and their mythology, we talk about how when we know something well, it brings certain good qualities and other challenges. I offer some thoughts on evolving our approach to Sun Salutations, including different approaches to cues, sequencing, and how to approach plank, wrist stability and spinal articulation in cobra.

Raised in Montreal by the original yogi-mama seeker, Hali Schwartz lives and teaches in Toronto, Canada and visits India annually. Devoted to living and sharing yoga through philosophy, chant and mantra, Hali is a dedicated practitioner who helps yogis add the philosophical framework of yoga to their path.

A Q&A on sequencing recorded from the Toronto Yoga Conference! I share quite a bit about my thoughts on abdominal strengthening (core) exercises in yoga classes, as well as when and how to teach pranayama in asana classes. The episode concludes with advice on how to integrate the things you learn in your yoga education into your teaching - especially when you feel like it's different from what you've been doing.

Western Insight Meditation and yoga teacher Dawn Mauricio brings her light, introspective approach to sincere meditation. We chat about personal practice and teaching, cultural appropriation in spiritual communities and spiritual bypassing.

Hands-on assists are a source of fear for a number of teachers who want to do the right thing for their students. I invited my friend dallas delahunt to come back and have a conversation with me about teaching hands-on.

The brilliant and indefatigable Joanne Sarah Avison, Certified Yoga Therapist, Structural Integration practitioner, and author of Yoga: Fascia, Anatomy and Movement joins me for a conversation. Joanne weaves together anatomy, history, architecture, motherhood, teaching, reconceptualizing how we talk about movement needs, sacred geometry - the list goes on! You have to listen to believe it.