A Podcast That’s Asking the Question: “What is Yoga?”
Welcome to Yoga Brain. A platform that’s normalizing meditation, and a podcast that’s exploring yoga off your mat. In each episode, we sit with teachers, healers, leaders and great thinkers to ask the question: "What is yoga?" We ask our guests about their yoga evolution, and how they've internalized the practice as a philosophy, rather a pose. And while every guest and story is different, they all show appreciation for yoga and how it's transformed their way of being in a profound, positive way.
What makes us spiritually awakened and self-aware? What is the difference between awake and woke? Once we’re woke, do we stay up? Or are we susceptible to falling back asleep? Haley Robertson and Jennifer Martin open the conversation of the great awakening as it pertains to the individual and collective consciousness. They define popular spiritual slang, diving deep into a few terms often heard in Western yoga classes. Both yoga teachers, Haley and Jenny share stories of the start of their spiritual awareness, and how they view spirituality today. Haley Robertson is a Sound Practitioner and PsychoSynthesis Life Coach. She creates intentional spaces with instrumental sound meditations. Haley’s sessions coax participants into a state of deep relaxation which helps them tap into their soul aliveness. The show discusses the theory of oneness, seeing spirit in everything. Haley told Jenny that “everything is medicine” prior to recording, which sparked the spirit of this episode. The hosts comment on commonly used substances which are synonymous with medicine, providing perspective on what is healing, what is addictive, and what is a deadly commodity. Everything is medicine yet everything comes down to mindfulness with what we consume, call medicine, and say in conversation or in a yoga class. Everything can sometimes seem like it’s happening all at once, which is a wonderful opportunity to sit down, stay still and drop in. What does it mean to drop in? Among other cues in a yoga class, it’s the start of meditation.
Today on the show we have spiritual healer Chris Douglas, a yoga teacher and reiki master with a Pisces placement in his sun and moon. With such empathic, sensitive signs in his astrology, he has been able to navitage his emotions by utilizing the road map of his birth chart. Chris helps to explain characteristics of being a water sign and a feminine man. He describes how he’s blended the masculine and feminine as a digital creator and entrepreneur, after leaving healthcare as a nurse. He also shares traumas of SSRI withdrawals and what he’s learned through extreme stress. Though through meditation, reiki, yoga and stepping into his purpose of showcasing others, Chris has paved a path of healing for himself and his students. Thank you all for supporting the show! It brings us joy to create this podcast and it would mean so much for you to share Yoga Brain with your friends and leave us a review wherever you tune in. For workshops in Kansas City, follow us on Instagram at @yogabrainkc Sign up and come say hey at our next event at yogabrainkc.org
Wren Quinn is a mother, an herbalist, a teacher of yoga therapy, and the creator of Trauma Alchemy, a trauma-informed somatic program. Wren’s latest offerings include Herbal Communion, a course exploring the intricacies of the herbal allies that can be used to support your health, helping clients to prepare and grow with their chosen medicine. So much of our conversation stems from trauma resolution: working through trauma, opposed to working past it. We talk about the importance of seeing and making due with the hardest parts of ourselves and our past, alchemizing awareness into behaviors that are aligned with our highest self. We ask Wren about narcissists, how to spot them and protect yourself from them. We ask her about working with herbs as medicine and the lessons she's learned as a mother. Through these practices, Wren has developed a nurturing heart and a wise soul.