Interviews on The Everyday Sublime

Interviews on Josh Summers' podcast, The Everyday Sublime: Shedding Light on Yin Yoga and Mediation.

Oren Jay Sofer: Trauma, Somatic Experiencing, and Integration

“Pack your rain gear before you leave home,” says meditation teacher Oren Jay Sofer. In this episode, Oren explores how we can “pack” tools of stability, balance, and non-attachment, better preparing us to face the inevitable foul weather of life.

Sebastian Pucelle: For the Love of Silence

Talking shop with Sebastian Pucelle, we roll up our sleeves and discuss potential interpretations of the Sanskrit word “nirodah” and what those interpretations mean for your practice.

Sebastian Pucelle: The Purification of Mind

Sebastian Pucelle describes meditation as a process of purifying the mind. Meditation isn’t so much about attaining anything in particular as much as it is a process of letting go of things that distort and disrupt one’s life.

Sebastian Pucelle: The Attitude of Stillness

Often in meditation, students can get frustrated by their mind’s difficulty in following the meditation instructions. Sebastian Pucelle, the wonderful French Yin Yoga teacher, suggests that the two most important aspects of a meditation practice are one’s intention and attitude, not the specific technique, per se.

Dr. Daniel Keown: Acupuncture and Placebos

The therapeutic encounter between a practitioner and patient is, in many regards, the most important part of a healing relationship. This encounter is another way of referring to the placebo effect. But far from being ineffective, all good healers try to maximize this effect. According to Dr. Daniel Keown, acupuncture is one of the most sublime forms of the therapeutic encounter.

Dr. Daniel Keown: Jellyfish, Channels, and Qi

How alive are you? This isn’t a question that Western Medicine frequently asks, but according to Dr. Daniel Keown, this question is at the heart of Traditional Chinese Medicine. And the quality, quantity, and circulation of our Qi determines the potency of our “aliveness.”

Dr. Daniel Keown: The Channels of Chinese Medicine

What is Qi? What are the channels of Chinese Medicine? What is fascia? These questions and more are taken up by Dr. Daniel Keown, explained with lucid brilliance. For anyone interested in Chinese Medicine, this is a must-listen.

Oren Jay Sofer: On Nonviolent Communication

Talking about difficult topics is not easy. Often we get trapped in patterns of reactivity and experience a clash of viewpoints. Oren Jay Sofer offers ways to move past through these impasses in learning how to identify the underlying needs being expressed – the needs that connect us to our shared universal human longings. From this sense of connection, collaborative dialogue becomes possible.

Oren Jay Sofer: On Mindful Communication

All too often, meditation is seen as a panacea for all that ails us. But meditation practice alone is not necessarily enough to smooth out the strife in our interpersonal conflicts. For this we need training in communication strategy – ways to escape the blame game and move towards a deeper understanding of shared needs and goals. In this episode, Oren Jay Sofer lays about a mindful approach to nonviolent communication.

Bernie Clark: Your Sacroiliac Joint

Bernie Clark shares how his thinking about exercise has shifted from an emphasis on mobility to an emphasis on stability. This is important to how we think about what we’re doing in all forms of physical yoga.

Bernie Clark: Developing and Aging Bodies

In our youth, we’re more Yang and need to work on strength and stability. As we age, we become more Yin, and therefore need to spend more time working on maintaining our mobility.

Bernie Clark: Spinal Neutrality, Symmetry, and Asymmetry

In the second episode of a 4-part series, Yin master Bernie Clark unpacks the important concept of spinal neutrality and he explores how to think about symmetry, functional asymmetry, and dysfunctional asymmetry in the body.

Bernie Clark: Your Spine, Your Yoga

In the first episode of a 4-part series, I welcome Bernie Clark back to the podcast to discuss his new book, Your Spine, Your Yoga. In it, Bernie talks about the main themes in the book including the importance of stability over mobility in the health of our spines.

Jason Siff: The Role of Remembering on the Path

In this final installment of my 3-part conversation with Jason Siff, we explore tricky Buddhist concepts of anatta (non-self) and nirvana. And we consider that present moment awareness is not sufficient for the development of deeper wisdom and understanding in one’s life. For that, memory is required.

Jason Siff: The Insight of Experience

In many styles of meditation, if we hold too tightly to meditative instructions, we may unintentionally cut many things out of our meditation practice. In part two of my 3-part series with Jason Siff, we explore letting more things “in” to your meditation, and not letting go too quickly.

Jason Siff: Thoughts Are Not the Enemy

In meditation, all too often, people struggle with their thinking, and feel badly that they can’t stop their “monkey mind” from thinking so much. Meditation teacher Jason Siff offers a kinder, more compassionate approach to working with one’s mind in meditation.

David Lesondak: All Things Fascia

I talk with David Lesondak about his new book, Fascia: What it is and why it matters. David is rapidly becoming a rock star in the fascial world, having extensive work in structural integration, as well as having attended and presented at many of the Fascial Congresses.