December 19, 2025 • 57 mins
Brendan Smullen is a certified Ashtanga yoga teacher and co-owner of a yoga studio in Seattle, where he and his partner specialize in Ashtanga and progressive variants of this practice. With a rich background in both traditional and Rocket yoga, Brendan is known for fostering inclusive and community-driven yoga experiences. Through his teaching, Brendan emphasizes discipline, practice consistency, and the importance of community in the yoga journey. He has studied with notable instructors, including Christina Martini and Manju Jois, blending traditional teachings with innovative modifications to support diverse practitioners.
Visit Brendan here: https://www.theyogashalaseattle.com/
Key Takeaways:
- Yoga practice adapts to life changes, such as new parenthood, requiring flexibility and understanding rather than strict adherence to routine.
- Strong partnerships, whether in personal or professional life, can enhance the teaching and practice of yoga through shared goals and mutual support.
- Creating a vibrant yoga community involves fostering environments where organic connections and support systems, like meal trains, can flourish.
- Modifying traditional Ashtanga practices allows for greater accessibility and inclusivity, supporting a diverse range of practitioners.
- Sustainability in yoga practice benefits from an emphasis on personal practice and self-guided sessions, steering away from dependency on external motivation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Todd McLaughlin (00:33):
Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy
you are here. My goal with thischannel is to bring
inspirational speakers to themic in the field of yoga,
massage, body work and beyond.
Follow us at @Nativeyoga andcheck us out at
nativeyogacenter.com. All right,let's begin.
(01:04):
Welcome back to Native YogaToddcast, where we explore the
real stories, practices andpaths that shape the yoga
journey. I'm your host, ToddMcLaughlin, and today I'm so
excited to share a powerfulconversation that I had with
Brendan Smulllen. He's thefounder of the yogashala in
Seattle with his wife. Brendandiscovered yoga at a young age
(01:27):
through his own experience withanxiety, and that personal path
has grown into a deep love fortraditional practice, community
and conscious living. He is a500 hour certified teacher and
yoga educator, and his workblends discipline practice with
real world accessibility. Intoday's episode, we talk about
(01:47):
Brendan's journey, the role oflineage and consistency building
a yoga community in Seattle, andhow yoga became becomes more
than just movement. It becomes away of life. And if anything you
hear today, resonance resonateswith you, please be sure to
check out Brendan's offerings athis website,
theyogashalaseattle.com, thelink is in the description
(02:11):
below. All right, let's dive in.
I'm so happy to have this chanceto sit down, meet and speak with
Brendan. Smullen, Brendan, howare you doing today?
Unknown (02:22):
Yeah, good, good. Happy Friday. We just finished up lead
primary here at this at thestudio, the team goes out for
coffee afterwards, and so I'mcaffeinated, as we are in
Seattle, and I'm ready to
Todd McLaughlin (02:36):
go. Awesome.
Did you already practice thismorning?
Unknown (02:39):
I had a late practice.
I have a course I'm taking thisafternoon, so I'm practicing
right now, kind of a little bitmore scattered than I than I'd
like to. I also, few months ago,my partner and I have, we now
have a three months old. Sothat's that's changed my
regularity with just quite abit.
Todd McLaughlin (02:58):
Oh my gosh, congratulations. Did you have a
boy or girl?
Unknown (03:02):
We had a girl. She's lovely, no complications.
Everything was great. She'sbeautiful. Mom, super happy.
We're super happy. Parents,family, this is all really there
for us. So it's been, it's beengreat. Congratulations.
Todd McLaughlin (03:15):
That's a major life improvement. And what a
what a change, right? I rememberwhen, before I had my first son,
or my child, my first child, Iwas still going down to the
beach and doing a lot of thingson the in the ocean, and people
are like, get ready, man, you'regonna have a baby. You're not
gonna have time to do thisanymore. And I was like, Oh,
what are you talking about? I'llbe able to do all this stuff, no
(03:36):
problem. And then they were,right, you know, it things,
things do Shift, yeah, in agreat way, in a really good way,
are you getting any sleep?
Unknown (03:45):
I'm good. We've worked out a schedule that works really
well for me. So like we have,our studio is principally a
strong guy. So I'm teaching fourhours most mornings, and then my
partner and I are trading. I'mdoing childcare through the
afternoon and then helping herwhen she teaches in the
evenings.
Todd McLaughlin (04:05):
Very cool.
Brendan, that's why I'm soexcited to meet you. My wife and
I do the same thing. How do youfind it? How do you find it
working with your spouse?
Unknown (04:17):
You mean like having, like, all the all the hats on in
the relationship, partnershipand business and all that. Yeah.
I mean, I found it reallyrewarding because there's a
there's a shared mission thatyou have that kind of, that kind
of also anchors therelationship. I mean, at times,
right? You wind up talking aboutwork and in places where you
(04:38):
would rather have someseparation. But I really, I
don't think that I could havecarried community this far
without, like, a really strongpartner, and particularly
because, you know, my partner,she's Latina, and we are a
studio that's strives to beinclusive, I think, like,
(04:59):
that's, that's a strong. Anchorfor a lot of our community that
sees someone who's in aleadership role, not in like a
token way, who's guidingcommunity and supporting who
isn't majority culture here, asis kind of often with a lot of
studios.
Todd McLaughlin (05:15):
Yeah, Brendan, I can't agree more. When people
ask me, what you know, would Ibe able to do this without my
wife? And I don't think I wouldwant to try to run a studio
without her, after knowing howmuch weight she pulls and the
amount of things she does thatI'm not good at or don't want to
do, and and vice versa. So it isan incredible thing. It was
(05:36):
funny because when my wife and Istarted working and managing a
studio together, we we co owneda bikrom studio in Mira Mesa,
down in California, in SanDiego, and people said this will
either make or break yourrelationship, because we often
hear of couples that try to worktogether and they have a
difficult time with it. But Ifound it to be absolutely so
(05:57):
rewarding and incredibly I can'timagine any other way. So it's,
it's cool to hear find anothercouple that are doing the same
thing. How long have you guyshad your studio prior to your
arrival of your baby?
Unknown (06:10):
Yeah, wow, yeah. The baby's been kind of recent. So
we had Christian and I arecoming up on three years of
studio ownership on the Januarythe fourth, we celebrate our
third year. Congrats. Beforebefore that, thank you. Thank
you. Before then, we kind ofworked out of other studios,
kind of patchwork, to createMysore. Mysore stylish Tonga
(06:34):
programming, but but the changefor us, and why we decided to
move a little bit more intohaving your own spaces is
largely because it's verydifficult to convince most
conventional studios to take onHey, every morning we're going
to have this program. It's goingto be a set sequence like the
one depicted behind me, and youryour clients are going to come
(06:58):
in and do the same thing. It's areally tough it's a really tough
sell. You know, when you, whenyou're when you're talking with
business oriented folks. So wedecided just to open our own
space to support that
Todd McLaughlin (07:09):
very cool, I can't agree more. You're hitting
all the nails on the head. Yeah.
I mean, wouldn't you agree thatholding down a Mysore style a
program requires that the studioowner, either a has fallen
deeply in love with Ashtanga, orB is run by somebody who you
know is actually teaching it,practicing it, loving it, and
(07:31):
doing all of it.
Unknown (07:35):
Yeah, absolutely. And when I'm talking with with folks
in in the program here we have,we have our own training
program. Or if I'm on travel andteaching, that's one of the
first talking points that Ihave, is just that we practice
what we teach here. So mostdays, five to six days a week,
I'm practicing Ashtanga,practicing the sequences as I
(07:58):
was taught by my first teacherof the montre lineage, Christina
Martini.
Todd McLaughlin (08:09):
That's awesome.
I had a chance to interview herhere on the show, and she's
awesome, man, she Yeah, she's inMaui, I believe right now,
right?
Unknown (08:18):
Yeah, she's in Maui, yeah. And she was the, she was
the link for us. She introducedus to to to Manju and to his
daughter, satu. But yeah, interms of, in terms of, like, the
day to day discipline, with withmy sir, I just stressed that you
have to show up for yourstudents, you know, clear
(08:38):
headed. And part of that ismaking sure that you do your
practice, you clear out, youknow whatever, whatever is in
your system, whatever thoughtpatterns keep you from being,
you know, a good mirror and agood observer. And that requires
that you you practiceconsistently. So we may stress
that our teachers, they arerequired to practice with us. I
(08:59):
don't have to really have thatconversation too often with
folks, but they need to beshowing up frequently as well so
that they can, they can. Theycan teach from a place of
understanding a lot of the asanaand the pranayama techniques
that we do here.
Todd McLaughlin (09:14):
Very cool. Can you emphasize and or speak on
why you or what you notice isimportant about having the
teachers be seen by the studentspracticing and having a
practice. Can you talk a littlebit about what you've observed
there?
Unknown (09:29):
Yeah, yeah. And that's something that's that's
actually, I think, a littleunique in terms of it. So my
because, because I'm inpartnership with also an
ashangi, I practice when she'steaching. She when the time is
available. We have a kid, coolpractice when, when I'm
teaching, you know? And then wekind of, like, are jumping in
and out of the practice to takecare of, take care of our Maya,
(09:52):
our kid, but, but it's, yeah,it's incumbent on, on a stronger
teachers in order, in order topractice. And I think. It does.
It is also very helpful to pullthe veil back sometimes and kind
of dismantle that, that kind ofpower dynamic between the
teacher and the student, byshowing that you all, you're
(10:13):
also practicing and working withdifficult asana and all the all
the ripples that are underneaththat your own thought patterns
and what comes up is practice.
Very cool.
Todd McLaughlin (10:26):
How did you and your wife meet?
Unknown (10:30):
Yeah, great. We were just going over this the other
day with some of our curiousstudents. So both Christiane and
I are practitioners, not just ofAshtanga, but also of a
progressive variant of Ashtanga.
So she and I were both workingon a project for like the rocket
community to help refine certainlike teaching standards and to
(10:55):
set up sort of professionaldevelopment opportunities for
for teachers of the style,particularly the senior teachers
that have been practicing andtraining folks for a little
while. So she and I were hiredby David Kyle, who's based in
Puerto Rico. He's a he's aprogressive Ashtanga rocket
person, and he hired us for itwas like a four month project
(11:20):
we're both working on this, thisblock, interviewing rocket
teachers and talking about someof the standards and how what
rocket actually is like, whatthe practice actually is. So
Christian, Christian and I kindof got, we got to know each
other a lot during that duringthat window. And when I moved to
Seattle, I was retained for a200 hour training. And at the
(11:45):
time it was a it was a prettybig lift for me. So I reached
out to her my house, hey, youknow this, this project's coming
up. Would you like to? Would youlike to, you know, co lead on
this upcoming teacher training.
And she said yes, and shevisited Seattle a couple months
(12:06):
beforehand, and and we really,in a way, kind of like already,
like I was saying, We're missionfocused on great building yoga
and community here and here inSeattle, and from there, just
like a lot of like, love andunderstanding came out, we
decided to also start arelationship from here.
Todd McLaughlin (12:26):
Very cool. I love hearing about that. You
know, I'm finding itfascinating. I had a chance to
practice with Larry Schultz,rocket yoga founder, a long time
ago, and it was really fun. Andbecause I was very much into
Ashtanga. I appreciated hisstorylines that he shared
regarding he I remember himsaying that he really wanted to
(12:51):
be an Ashtanga Yoga teacher, andthat the Ashtanga Yoga click was
a little not accepting, maybe,of letting people teach, and so
is like very, you know, elusiveis how, when am I going to be
able to be a part of the clubwhere I can teach yoga and him
kind of going out on his own?
And really it pretty much isAshtanga, it seems like. But
just with a lot of creativesequencing and a lot of
(13:13):
intelligent sequencing, in myopinion, and I so, I've noticed
that it seems ashtangis mightmigrate over toward rocket for
the creativity aspect. I'mfascinated that you sounds like
you were introduced to therocket style and have kind of
gravitated toward the sequencingof Ashtanga. Can you tell me a
(13:35):
little bit about what yourexperience has been and some of
the thought processes behind whyyou're currently doing things
the way you are.
Unknown (13:44):
Yeah, no, thank you. I This is one of the topics I like
to talk about when I'm on whenI'm on the road as well. So,
yeah, you described it reallyaccurately, and probably because
he practiced directly withLarry. That's you can, you can
sense like the intention waswith rocket, to make a stronger
accessible into western bodies.
So when, when folks, when folksare practicing and teaching
(14:07):
rocket? I think this is kind of,this is kind of reverted a
little bit in modern times, isthe idea is that you're creating
sequencing, sequencing andpostures that can be practiced
by by as you hit the maximumamount of people you can. So
folks that are curious about astronger, but don't, don't
(14:28):
resonate with the structure ofthis self practice and the and
the focus on, on, you know, selfguidance for practice, they have
a chance to modify in a strongerin a guided set. Now I I
resonate a little bit more withthe strong, and now, because
I've kind of found, I think thethread, or the the the family
(14:50):
within the greater, strongerpractice that that I think
accepts my teaching the most,and. Also resonates with me as a
as like for my philosophy, forfor teaching, because, because
Manju and satu and Christina aswell are teaching around making
the posture successful. So incases where you're practicing
(15:13):
with a little bit more strictguidelines around, like the
coordinates they're allowing forfolks to, perhaps not, take a
lotus position in certainshapes, take the foot under,
from reach out to the D topractice into intermediate
series, regardless of whetherthey do drop back fluidly or
not. These are things that Ithink, from a body based
(15:36):
perspective, are like very, veryhealthy choices. And I think, I
think prior, prior to thatunderstanding, I think rocket
does that as well. So there's abalance. There's a balance with
it. The thing that, the thingthat I have found over time, is
that the approach with Ashtangaand the self guided environment,
I think, is much more in linewith to go one stage up, what
(15:56):
how Christian Acharya wouldintend for practice. I think, I
think it is individualized, andI think self practice is
honestly the best way toestablish your practice. If
you're relying on, you know, ateacher, a particular class
environment, or people that aremotivating or inspiring around
you, then you're inherentlytethered to a certain
(16:20):
environment, and that canchange. That can change just
like if you're, you know you'reworking out, or you have a goal
with a in partnership and yourpartner and you are no longer in
partnership, or your workoutbuddy is no longer available on
the day that you want to workout, like your motivation is, is
is tied in with their attendanceor their their participation,
(16:40):
versus coalescing around ashared mission, which is kind of
a different way to approach it.
Todd McLaughlin (16:49):
Yeah, great answer. Brendan, love it. Man,
that's cool. I can totally seethat. What Let me see. So let's,
let's pick a pose in theAshtanga series. Let's go for,
let's go for, let's start off inthe very beginning realm. Let's
go with parvarita Trikonasana,twisting triangle. And you have
(17:12):
a student who so they step outto the right. They did the
triangle right left side.
They're coming in for theirfirst side, and their right leg,
their hamstrings are tight. Theygo to bring their left hand, and
they try to cross all the wayover and touch the floor. It
doesn't reach. And I'm curious,what is your go to way to help
educate this pose, help someoneunderstand how to practice this
(17:37):
pose. What are some of themodifications that you go to?
Typically?
Unknown (17:41):
Currently, yeah, perfect. And these are the,
these are the kind of thingsthat we teach one. One is that
let your legs don't need to befully straight in order to
emphasize a hamstring stretch,especially if they're injured or
tight. They're they're not,they're just simply not going to
straight. And that's, that'ssomething that I personally felt
when I started practicing, it'slike, wow, how do I do all these
(18:03):
How do I do all these things? Sofor a student with tight ham,
tight hamstring, perhaps one isthat you don't need to
necessarily cross the plane ofthe right leg with the hands to
feel the twist. A lot of folksare twisting with some sort of a
pelvic tilt, so their hips areare doing some of the twisting
for them. We try to emphasizekeeping like a somewhat level
(18:25):
plane, not for esthetics, but sothat you can actually use the
mid spine, thoracic spine, forthe for the twist. And so that
might mean that the left hand,in this case, is actually coming
inside your right your rightfoot. The other thing is that
arms and legs are differentproportions relative to the
torso. So you may want to, andthis is, this is accepted by the
(18:46):
Manju Manju camp. Or you maywant to use some crops. You may
want to you may want to adaptyour practice a little bit. So
put a small block down at adifferent level. Place your hand
there, not with a lot ofemphasis or weight in the hands.
Do the twist from the midst byhim as before. And then that's
most of that you can verballycue for a student. And then
(19:08):
that's where you can kind ofmake a little adjustments
manually, you know, withconsent, with the student, to
help them emphasize the twist.
And find that, find out. Nice.
Todd McLaughlin (19:19):
Yeah, great answer. I agree 100% I like the
idea, like you said, to lettingthat front leg bend, even
beyond, let's get like a chair,where you keep your leg
absolutely straight, and maybeyou put your hand on the chair
because the block is too low,right and but that's, that's a
really, that's a cool I agreewith you on that. Now, let's
(19:42):
jump ahead to something way morecomplex and wild and
interesting, like in secondseries, kapotasana, the back
bend, going back, grabbing theheels. Where are you at these
days with the concept of backbend? And how hard to push, how
not hard to push spinal, beinggentle and taking care of the
(20:07):
spine versus I gotta catch myheels. What has been your I'm
curious what your journey hasbeen, personally, and then where
you're how you're coachingstudents currently,
Unknown (20:18):
yeah, yeah. And this is the other thing is, like
practitioners, like yogapractitioners, versus the
teachers that are teaching them,like your My practice is much
different than some of thestudents that I'm that I'm
teaching, right? It's informedby me practicing the postures.
But I don't impose my bodyprivilege on other people. You
(20:42):
know, I just think that that's,that's kind of the wrong
approach. So for a very deepbackground, one of the deepest
backgrounds in the series andthe syllabus and its entirety,
kapatasana, you would, you wouldwant to make sure that students
are engaging the legs. It's a,it's a, it's a thing that that
(21:02):
we all forget about. So hips areshifting a little bit more back.
Sometimes when folks are settingup, I'm going to wind up
following this in a momentanyway. But you're you're
reaching, you're reaching backand over. And if the shoulder
mind you right, a differentrange for the for the shoulders,
the shoulders aren't available,then you may have to find some
preparatory work for folks openthere, especially for broader
(21:25):
shoulders, or for folks thatwork out a lot, they tend to
collapse in a bit here. So youhave to, you're gonna have to
coach this kind of tonicimbalance between the pets,
right and your rhomboids, yourtraps, your lats in order to
draw the shoulders back, to getthe hands, to get the hands
over. Now, what's, what's lovelyabout some of these shapes? I'm
(21:47):
glad you asked about kapatasana,because a lot of people do about
some of these, these likegatekeeper poses, is that you
have a lot of time to work onthis. You have your lifetime to
work on this. So give it a fewmonths, maybe the hands are
coming over this far or here orhere, here in time. And then
there are also preparations thatyou can do for again, for the
(22:10):
for the for the legs, use of thewall, or using the teacher to
push against the hips so thatpeople are shifting far enough
forward so they can come downideally and reach towards the
floor or the feet directly,rather than trying to kind of
crawl in there. Yeah, we do somany but, but honestly, to be
(22:32):
honest, Todd, I have to see, Ihave to see your body. Yeah,
practice a little bit.
Todd McLaughlin (22:37):
I was just thinking like, what a kind of
impossible question to answer,because it's going to be so
specific to every single person.
And I guess, where have you? Areyou currently at a phase in your
practice where grabbing yourheels in a kapatasana is a
reasonable thing to do?
Unknown (22:57):
Yeah, so I'm still really able bodied, and
thankfully, like Christian and Iare both pretty driven and
supportive of each other interms of, like, what is
accessible, in terms of in termsof like, the day to day. So I am
encouraged to meet the classiccoordinates whenever possible. I
(23:17):
have saw I have, for sure,soften on some things, though,
the main one is, is applying,applying 100% energy I would
practice. So right now I'm in aphase in my life where with,
with a really young child, wheremy practice may be sort of like
(23:37):
a 70 or 80% effort. Some days.
That might mean, you know, not alot of zest in some of the jump
backs, as much as, as much asI'm normally doing. That may
sometimes mean, you know, withtime and availability, that I'm
only doing a portion of right myprimary intermediate, advanced
series practice, and then comingback to it later on the week or
(23:59):
the next week, and trying to goa little bit further, I think, I
think it's really challenging toapply this sort of five to six
day a week practice at the sametime that you apply the same
amount of energy. Because truly,like we're especially here in
Seattle, it's gray, it's coldduring the winter, folks, energy
level naturally it falls. And Ithink it's reasonable to think
(24:21):
that your practice might, youknow, shift with you as it
should.
Todd McLaughlin (24:28):
I agree 100% Brendan, I like your logic. Now
you're holding down about fourhours of teaching every day.
Then you have to be a presentdad to a young child. I
remember, I mean, this soundssilly, maybe, but when I
remember being at homebabysitting, and I had this,
(24:50):
like, big light bulb moment oflike, oh, babysitting, that
means you basically have to sitwith a baby. You can't do
anything else. Yes, like, you'renot gonna go take a shower. You
can't really cook dinner. Imean, you, you can, but you,
everything you're doing, you'reliterally just focused on this
little, this little person, 100%and it, you know, it's, it's a,
(25:14):
it takes energy, right? It's, ittakes energy. So how are you
finding, I mean, I know you'rethree months new on this part of
it, even if you don't includechild raising and you attempt to
run a studio, keep your ownpractice going and still stay
motivated. Now you've had athird element in here, which,
(25:37):
you know, adds a big, a bigelement, how are you or what do
you go to to find motivation andinspiration?
Unknown (25:46):
Well, the principal motivators for me right now, I
do think about a lot about Amayawhen I wake up in the morning.
And what
Todd McLaughlin (25:57):
is her name?
Please.
Unknown (25:59):
Her name's Amaya. How do I spell it? A, M, a, y,
Todd McLaughlin (26:03):
a, beautiful.
Love it, yeah. Good choice
Unknown (26:07):
is she's a she's an incredible motivator, because I
want her to have a good life.
And that's like, you know, thepush for me to get up in the
morning, and then my partner,who largely is taking care of
the evenings and the overnights,with feeding and with being up.
I know that I want to, I want tomake sure that, you know, I'm
(26:28):
alert, ready for her to practiceas well. And then the other, the
other, the other piece that'sreally, that really does tether
us, and why it's really hard totalk on this without having some
of the folks from the communityhere, but our community is very
is very interconnected. Our ourpractitioners. They're in
(26:48):
partnership with each other.
They have deeper kind of lifeconversation. They travel with
each other. Their kids play witheach other. They look out for
each other. There's like, dogsitting, house sitting, meal
trains, all sorts of, like,wonderful aspects of like,
looking out for things. So like,when I when I think about, like,
(27:11):
who's going to be in the roomwhen I'm coming to teach, I'm
also in the way that I'mplanning for as an educator,
like for what I want to work onwith folks. I'm also, like,
reminded that they are showingup for this community and for
themselves, and that that motivethat's very motivating to know
that people for sure. Becausethe thing I'll just sorry Todd
(27:35):
to linger on it just for a sec,but, but the thing is, like,
like, I like, I said earlier,like, you know, if you're
coming, for if you're comingbecause you're, you're, you
know, accountability buddy, orone thing, these are things to
enter the practice. But overtime, you realize that there's,
like, something beyond that thatdoes help. And I think Sangha
right now, particularly inreally, really trying times, can
(27:57):
be quite motivating. It'sthere's a safety net that's in,
that's in some of thesecommunities, including ours,
that I think allows folks tofeel safe and to practice with
frequency.
Todd McLaughlin (28:09):
Oh man, isn't it amazing how powerful it is to
see people benefit from the yogapractice and to I can't tell you
how much I know. I had a friendcome in this morning who comes
and does a private and I feltlike I could genuinely say to
him, I love my job so much. Likewe had a bit of a challenging
(28:32):
situation with a big expensethat we have to cover for our
studio. And maybe a little whileago, I would have been, like, a
little stressed out about comingup with that some to fix, you
know, the situation. And withthis particular situation, I
found myself feeling like Idon't even care. I'll be able to
cover it. I'll figure it out.
Because I love doing this somuch it is so it is so
(28:56):
rewarding. So I love hearing, Ilove hearing that you're feeling
that too. And can you talk alittle Can you tell me a little
bit about you said the word mealtrain, and that, just like, made
me think, Well, what a cool ideato set up some sort of way to
integrate the community on alevel of like, Hey, I don't know
how I'm going to be able to makedinner tonight. Or what did you
(29:18):
mean by that? What evolved foryou? Or what are you talking
about when you say that?
Unknown (29:25):
Well, yeah, so, so folks, folks, cook for each
other. They bring food in foreach other.
Todd McLaughlin (29:31):
Very cool. So you actually like what they'll
bring, like a not like apotluck, but you're saying like
Susie will say, Hey, I make goodlasagna. And then someone will
say, I want some, and she'llbring some forum or or more,
like, you guys take turnscooking dinner for each other.
Yeah.
Unknown (29:49):
So, so it's, yeah, it's not organized like a, it's not
organized like a, like aprogressive supper. I think
that's, that's the the one. Butwhen folks are out, when they're
sick, uh. And most recently,like when Christiane and I were
at home with with Amaya, likeour first two weeks of of meals
when we were when we were out,we're all provided by the
(30:10):
community. Our students came byand they would drop off like a
healthy meal, a lot of thembased on recipes that their
parents made for them duringchildbirth. We have a lot of
women who've gone through Child,child childbirth in the studio.
And so these are, these are,like, home, home recipes for,
like, healing and for healththat we're we're enjoying, like,
(30:34):
during that window that'shappened a few times before. You
know, folks have surgeries.
Folks are they're out for, youknow, medical for, for some sort
of medical situation where we'lllook out, bring food to take
care of dogs or pets or whathave you. Those are all kind of
like this, this like, kind ofmentality of, like, share the
(30:56):
surplus, like, if you have, ifyou have time available to you,
and there's a need, right, makea meal for someone, or look out
for someone. And the thought is,you know, that that that kind of
feeds into the collective, andthen there's a little bit more
energy for someone else to takecare of someone. So it's a, it's
an exchange that we've, we'vecreated with the community.
Well, really, that the communityis created for itself that helps
(31:18):
to kind of sustain things.
Todd McLaughlin (31:22):
I love this Brendan. It's making me feel a
little bit like we have thisidea of nuclear family, you
know, you're, you're in yourhouse with your wife and child,
and and then I'm over here, andand then we have this idea of
communal living, which, youknow, we have one big house, and
we all live in that one houseand share the jobs. And I, I'm
(31:45):
getting the feeling like you'resomehow blending the two in a
fairly organic and useful way.
Are you? Am I getting it right?
Yeah.
Unknown (31:55):
And honestly, like, a lot of that hasn't been really,
like orchestrated, like our,I'll just speak briefly on,
like, probably our biggestcommunity event. As we go, we go
for coffee pretty much everyweekend with each other, like
three days for a day, Friday,Saturday, Sunday, different,
different availability, andfolks coming in those different
days, depending on theirschedule. But that that was all
(32:17):
because one of our students waswas doing mock interviews with
another one of our students onduring her office hours. So she
was posting up at a coffee shop.
And our other student would comeand they would, they would talk
through, okay, if you're lookingto re enter the field, you know,
(32:38):
these are some things youshould, you should look at, and
they would ping some questionsoff of each other. And because
that that space was, like,assigned as, like the office
hours, people were like, well, Iwant to go to office hours too,
if you hang out. And so then acouple more people will come,
and then we went, and then itjust became sort of a community
event natively. We didn't reallypush it. I mean, we I like
(33:01):
coffee a lot, so I wasinterested in going regardless.
But, you know, it's like that,that that that motivation was,
was more, hey, let's because weoften practice on our own. And
the guided classes, I don'treally entertain conversation
during the class. So that was achance for folks to for folks to
to get to know each other alittle bit more. And because of
(33:24):
that, again, a lot of trust anda lot of lot of giving that have
Todd McLaughlin (33:29):
come out of that. Very cool. Yeah, that
makes sense. Great idea. Whatother ideas can you share?
Unknown (33:38):
Yeah, so if you're, if you're and I hope, I hope some
people I do, I do really thinkif I had to have a soapbox to
stand on for this podcast, thinkI think folks that are looking
to start community around selfpractice, my suilish Tonga is
look for ways for folks toconnect organically and just be
(34:01):
an enabler. The thing is, a lotof times, you know, you'll have
in your minds, you know, like,oh, this will be like, a really
good thing to do, because, like,the something I want to do, and
that's, that's great. Butthere's, there's, there is a
there is a distinction, I think,as we, as we look at a more
community based model and lesslike a teacher driven model for
these sorts of spaces, there's alittle bit of grace for like,
(34:26):
what those ideas are, becausefolks will come up with them
when they feel they feel safeto, like, share their idea. It's
the same way, like in gradeschool or whatever you're like,
scared to raise your hand infront of the class or whatnot.
People will come up with theseideas natively, like we did a
camping trip together. I didn't,I didn't design that. My partner
certainly is not, is notinclined to camp. It was her. It
(34:49):
was her first, and probably onlytime she went camping with us
and and it was, it was overall,really good, but not something
that I would have. I would. Havecome up with just the teaching
team decided, Hey, we shouldhave an event. And all we did
was, you know, hey, put thesignage up. We'll put it in our
newsletter, we'll put it in ourour messaging or whatnot. And
(35:11):
you know, we didn't getanything. We didn't really get
anything out of it. It was justthat the event, the event is
just a really good, healthy foryour community.
Todd McLaughlin (35:19):
Nice, as opposed to say, this is a
retreat. It costs this much, buyyour space and let's go, and I'm
gonna make I'll benefit revenuewise. I like, I like what you're
saying, yeah, it's just that.
And then that way maybe, likeyou said, more the community
actually organizes it, versus itbeing such a now, you have
another job to do. Brendan, youhave to, like, organize this big
event that's cool. Yeah, that'sa great idea. So where do you
(35:42):
think this motivation andinspiration has come from? Is
this something to facilitatesuch a strong community
gathering experience, as well asin Ashtanga space? Is this
because you experienced thisyourself, practicing with
Christina on Maui. Or is itbecause you just thought, oh my
gosh, we have a need for this,like I did it, you know, how
(36:05):
Where do you see, if you try totrace a little bit of a thread
of of your interest throughoutyour life and years, that that
you're here, where you're doingwhat you're doing now?
Unknown (36:18):
Yeah, yeah, there I have a lot of motivator or I
have a lot of inspirations forcommunity builders. Christina,
absolutely, is a very strongcommunity builder, and she
welcomed us in with open arms inour community when we started
practicing with her. So I thinkthat she's a very strong
exemplar for what it's like tolead, but also allow for kind of
(36:42):
organic things within the spaceshe has, there's, there's a lot
of other team building thingsthat are happening with her. I
would say the other, the othermotivator for me, in terms of,
in terms of, like the community,community building aspect, is
here it's kind of a localproblem, but in Seattle, if
(37:03):
folks are a little bit siloedbecause they're there to some
degree or another, experiencingseasonal affect, and they have,
they have challenged by the bythe gray weather. And for me,
this practice, because you're upreally, it's helping you to
regulate circadian rhythm. Ithink that's really of service
to folks here. And yeah,unfortunately, because because
(37:28):
of the seasonal affect, folkstend to not be as friendly
during those times. So it's alsoa reminder that even though it
is kind of challenging and youhibernate a little bit, that
we're still humans, and we'restill here to connect with we're
communal animals, so we just, wejust provide a space for folks
to remember
Todd McLaughlin (37:46):
that, yeah, that's cool. I have heard that's
a real thing. My sister wasliving in Seattle for a while,
and she really found itchallenging. She found it
challenging. And I've heardabout it, and I just kind of
thought, oh yeah, that'sinteresting. You know, here in
sunny Florida, you're like,Well, okay, that's a nice idea.
But I hear that's a real dealthing, right? Being in the gray
(38:07):
for a while, can can affect you,can affect the mood?
Unknown (38:11):
Yeah, yeah. And I think, I think the other piece
to mention is, and Christiansnot here to say, her piece
around this, but like, also,like, like, as a Latina, she,
you know, she's from a culturewhere it's like, very warm and
welcoming. You are. You're withfolks all the time, always in,
always in community. You'rewelcoming of like, the friends,
(38:35):
cousins, like neighbor orwhatnot, like comes to the comes
to the family gathering as well.
So it's a very, it's like a veryintegrated network. So I would
say that a lot of the communitybuilding, also, I think, has
come out of an extension of herunderstanding of that, and my
appreciation as a as an Anglo oflike that, that approach, like
every time Latin America, it'sbeautiful.
Todd McLaughlin (38:59):
That's cool. I have an idea for you, Brendan, I
think you need to write a bookabout community building.
Unknown (39:08):
Thank you. It's funny because someone was telling me
that the other well, tellingChristiane and I like, I think
it's our story at this point.
Yeah, maybe, maybe I can put alittle, put a little hand print
or something in there too.
She's, she's been a big I
Todd McLaughlin (39:21):
was just gonna go, I was gonna ask you, do you
have you read a book that youcould recommend that highlights
some of the things you'retalking about, which then made
me think, you know, it actually,maybe Brendan should write the
book. But have you come acrossa, come across a a book that
highlights this subject, that'sthat's interesting. I don't even
know if there's a book outthere. I'm going to look, when
(39:43):
we're done, see if there'ssomething I love reading about
these sort of things. So I wasjust curious if you came across
something, it's like, buildcommunity, like a resource to
kind of say, Hey, you guys, thisis important. Let's build
community. Let's focus on this,because it's something that
maybe if we don't put a 10.
Attention on it. It just won'tit might not happen naturally. I
mean, I do believe a lot of thisstuff does occur naturally, but
(40:05):
I like the fact that you'reputting this sort of attention
on it seems important, like yousaid, especially today, because
there's a lot of division. So Ithink anything we can do to get
people together is a wise move,Certainly.
Unknown (40:20):
Certainly. Yeah, a couple titles come to mind, but
they're not books I personallyhave read. So I can't recommend.
I can't recommend. I'm superbacklogged on my on my reading.
Todd McLaughlin (40:30):
Yeah, it's gonna be a little while before
you can have time to do.
Unknown (40:33):
I don't have an abundance of free time right
now, but that's that's also anexcuse, like I am, I'm reading.
I'm reading right now, a littlebit on, kind of like mindful
masculinity, but that's notreally related to what we're
talking about here.
Todd McLaughlin (40:47):
Can you say that again, mindful masculinity?
Yeah.
Unknown (40:53):
So as I'm going to be new, as I'm going to be this is
a, this is a book that actuallywas gifted to me. My my mother
in law gifted to me at her lasttrip. She came up for two months
to help take care of the kid. Soat night, I've been, I've just
been, I've been reading a littlebit from it. I've just, I've
just started a few days ago, andit's been, it's been nice to
(41:14):
kind of examine from, from,from, from a perspective of,
okay, how are we reinforcingsort of, like gender norms,
like, what are what? How do weidentify as I, as I start to
identify as, as a father. Now,it's still like, kind of like
insane to me sometimes toremember, wow, yeah, I have
this, this tiny, tiny humanthat's, that's, that's, that's
(41:36):
tied to me genetically and andbonded. And how do I, how do I
provide for flexibility in termsof like, expression, so, like,
you know, like, not necessarilypre determining, like, how she
wants to view the world, or howshe wants the world to view her.
That's also, that's alsoincumbent on me to determine,
(41:59):
you know, like, how was Iraised, and how, how was I
reinforced in terms of, like,those, those gender
Todd McLaughlin (42:04):
norms, yeah, oh, I know, man, one of the
biggest things in the wholeworld is when you become a
parent and then you takeintrospective look at the way
that we view the way our parentsraised us, we then start to,
either knowingly or unknowingly,do the exact same thing. And the
awareness that comes fromwitnessing doing the things that
(42:26):
our parents did, that we did notlove, really appreciated in the
time, but then all of a sudden,going, well, this makes more
sense. Now, I kind of understandwhy they did do that with me,
you know. And so it's Wow. Man,what a journey. Well, that's
cool that you're that you'rereading, you know, getting some
insights that I'm with you. Man,I love reading books. When you
get into a new project, like,especially parenting, you're
like, maybe there's someinformation out there I could
(42:48):
pick up on that's going to makethis a little easier, slash,
make me more productive at whatI do. Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Very,
very cool. Can you, can you talka little bit about I haven't had
an opportunity to meet and orpractice with Manju yet, and I'm
really excited, because I justorganized to do a podcast with
(43:08):
satu, his daughter, and so I'mexcited for that. It's coming up
next month, but, um, I reallywant to practice with him. I've
only heard incredible thingsabout him over the years. And so
can you share a little bit oflight, shed a little bit of
light on what your experiencehas been, and what why you would
(43:28):
recommend somebody to gopractice with him and or his
daughter, satu?
Unknown (43:33):
Yeah, absolutely. And we hosted satu in the in the
fall. She's wonderful. I enjoythe podcast. Enjoy, enjoy the
time. She's such, she's such awealth of knowledge. Yeah, I
would encourage folks topractice with Manju to see kind
of his perspective, givenremember that his timeline, he
(43:55):
practiced directly withKrishnamacharya. So that's
really, it's kind of aninteresting perspective. You
can, you can ask him about, Ithink, for folks that are
looking to practice with him, heis a little bit, I think,
selective in terms of, like, whohe wants to teach at this phase
of his life, because he has beenteaching for so long, and
because he does host in his Homethe practice. So you're, you're
(44:21):
in an environment when you'repracticing with him, no more
than 12 or 15 people that can,that can practice in the space
at one time. So it is quiteintimate. You can really feel
his presence, his observation,his adjusting is very sound.
He's very in tune with your bodyand breath, and the the sessions
(44:44):
that follow, like he he'susually teaching a little bit of
pranayama. There's some somemantras and chanting, and then
we'll have a little bit of timeto talk about the philosophy to
do, depending on if you're ifyou're practicing, or if you're
coming in as a teacher. He'llsometimes show some of the
adjusts. So, yeah, I would, Iwould ask Satya more about that
(45:05):
process. Because it's, it's not,it's not just like open, open
source, it's, it's, it's a yourequest and you talk about your
experience. And it just, he, he,especially in light of, you
know, recent shifts in theashango world, he's just very
mindful. It's like he doesn'twant a sudden influx of folks
coming into his home topractice. It's my understanding
(45:27):
that that he would rather have asmaller, more concentrated
community with with that'sthat's value driven, like he is
then, like a really broadfollowing, like he's pretty
quiet in terms of like he has ahe does have a social media
handle, but I've never seenanything on there, like, it's,
it's, it's, it's, it's, it'smore so a space where you're,
(45:50):
you're going for subtlerefinement, and to have some
time to hear from him about hislike, hearing from him about,
okay, what was it like topractice, you know, with patavi
was it like to practice withKrishnamacharya? These are, this
is like, incredible that thisknowledge is like, avail is
like, available to you. So,yeah, I would encourage folks if
they're interested, but, but,you know, come in with some
(46:11):
humility. That's, that's, that'smy, my biggest learning lesson,
right? When I started a strongguy was so strong headed, and so
like, I am like this. And, youknow, I show up a certain way,
and I had to, had to be strongevery practice. And it's just
not this. Life is just not thatlife, unfortunately, is going to
(46:32):
teach you something aboutimpermanence, and part of that
is how you, how you, how youshow up. You have to be, you
have to be understanding withyourself.
Todd McLaughlin (46:40):
Yeah, great, great advice. Brendan, that's
cool. I appreciate it. I didn'tknow that. I actually was
unaware of the method that he'steaching currently that so
that's good to know. Does hehave you ever invited him to
teach a workshop at your studio,or is he not really interested
in doing the whole travel gigright now?
Unknown (46:58):
Um, he does, he does travel. I haven't approached him
about this. I'm just very happy,personally to be invited into
practice. I do think, I dothink, though, and you should,
you should, you should talk totalk to about this, because she
is a strong voice for the forthe community, and she has a lot
(47:19):
of integrity. And what she doesis talk to her about what
carrying on this, this legacy ismeant for her, because she
really our community. You know,in light of this last year,
there's been a lot of shifts inthe ashanga world. I'm not going
to name them, and I don't reallywant to talk about them
directly, but she provided a lotof reassurance to like the
(47:39):
community about what whatthey're doing, the path that
they're on, when she was hereand really held space in a way
that I think is kind of beyondher years, but it's quite
incredible.
Todd McLaughlin (47:49):
Very cool. I appreciate all that insight.
Thank you so much. I am youknow, to take you down one more
road before we wrap it up, theworld of yoga philosophy, in my
opinion, is so vast and rich, soobviously we have a whole
lifetime to pick up what we canget from here and there. Can you
(48:12):
share a little bit about what,what strand or aspect of the all
the knowledge that comes fromthis tradition is really
resonating with you these days,and or a little bit of a
timeline of your evolution ofyou know, a lot of people jump
in first with yoga sutras, andthen maybe they read Bhagavad
(48:34):
Gita. And then, if they keepgetting more interested, maybe
they go a little further. And soeither what's really exciting
for you right now or youroverall trajectory that you've
taken over the years?
Unknown (48:48):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, that's good. It has shifted
quite a bit. So I started interms of the philosophy with the
sutras. I think it's a prettycommon track for folks to define
it that way. And I guess, Iguess my first few reads were
the way that many folks rightapproaching like an
(49:11):
institutionalized religion. It'slike the word is the word, and
that's how it is. And then, asI've kind of gone back on that,
I've also seen, okay, there areinterpretations, there's
commentary, there's a lot ofdiversity of opinions around,
around the sutras, and thenthere are some things that sort
of, like, you know, like, youknow, like the cities and like
(49:36):
being able to grow and indifferent size or shrink. It's
like, okay, if I were to takethis all quite literally, you
know, I might be approachingyoga with my yoga practices a
bit differently. I've been I'vebeen inspired most recently
because I have a pranayamameditation teacher who has been
teaching me a little bit ofAdvaita Vedanta, a. Been
(50:00):
inspired most recently by RamanaMaharishi and his teachings. So
I've been reading some of hisdiscourse with his students, you
know, talking about theperception of reality, focusing
(50:23):
on kind of this, this spacebetween stimulus and response,
and really, the understandingthat space is most of what's
occurring, I think, has reallyallowed me to find more peace
and ease with life. So, sothat's, that's, that's, that's
(50:44):
not exactly in line with the,with the with the teaching for
the sutras, and it's notsomething that I usually am
working with our trainees here.
But it's, it's, it's definitelybrought me a lot of ease lately
to just kind of watch thescreen, watch the projections of
what's going on, watch my ownthoughts, what's going on and
(51:07):
and to just be a little bit moreat ease with the with the fact
that, from a very objectivestandpoint, I'm just here, I'm
seated, and I'm breathing, youknow, that's, that's, that's the
reality of what's going on.
Everything else is kind ofillusory, like where our
response, oh, this is hard. Or,you know, our thoughts quickly.
(51:29):
I know you're everyone whomeditates is immediately
resonates with it's like I havea thought on the thought, Oh,
I'm not meditating, okay, thethought there and be able to
drop in more efficiently hasbeen it's been really wonderful.
It's been a great practice.
Nice.
Todd McLaughlin (51:44):
Brendan, awesome man. I appreciate
hearing all that. Thank you somuch for sharing that. Yeah, you
know, I love podcasting so much.
And I just have to say that Ithoroughly enjoyed this. I love
meeting another yoga teacher,practitioner, dad, studio owner,
lover of philosophy and humble,humble, human. What a pleasure,
(52:05):
man. I really appreciate youtaking time out of your day and
your busy schedule, and I justwant to thank you. I really
appreciate this opportunity, andI really enjoyed this Thank you.
Unknown (52:20):
Thank you. Thank you, Todd. I appreciate what you're
doing. The way that you're kindof gathering is, you know, to
your question earlier, like whatyou know, like what books you're
reading, or how are you buildingcommunity? You're doing it.
You're already doing it, andthat's wonderful. And I think
the folks, I think, I think thefolks online, are really, are
really appreciating the thecoalescing it's happening around
(52:42):
around this, they're learning alot, and they're appreciating,
you know, some of these guests,you for hosting them. So thank
you so much your time in thisendeavor. It's a big endeavor.
It's a huge endeavor, and you'retaking a lot of time, a lot of
your lot of your limited time,right to do this is wonderful,
wonderful.
Todd McLaughlin (53:00):
Well, thank you so much for noticing. And I had
a realization this week, becauseI've, I'm, I'm a very once I
start doing something, and I geton a routine, I like, I really
stick to it. And so I try to doone every single Friday, and
with Thanksgiving holiday, and Igot a little behind on getting
(53:25):
it's a big process to reach outto people, have them say, Yes,
find a time that actually works,and then have it all work out
where we show up at the righttime and everything. And so I
came to I haven't missed aFriday, and it's been a year, a
little over a year, I've beenreally, really focused on it,
and then I missed a Friday. AndI had so much, I had so much,
(53:48):
like, what's right? What to saythis? Like, I was like, I can't
miss a Friday. And I was like,No, man, you can definitely miss
a Friday. Like, Well, come on,what are you even doing to
yourself? You're like, this isjust for fun, right? Isn't it
for fun? And I thought, Yes,this is just for fun and
education, and just keep itlight like and I take I this is
a pattern that I've watchedmyself do with with everything,
(54:09):
with practice, and then evenwhen I got into podcasting, it
became like another form ofpractice for me. So I just want
to say thank you foracknowledging that it is. It
does take quite a bit amount oftime and having the one week
off, like today's Friday. So Ialways publish Friday morning.
So like I said, I'm not doing itthis Friday. I'm gonna wait till
(54:29):
next Friday. And it was Thursdaynight, and I didn't have to do
all the work I have to do to getit ready. And my wife and I were
hanging out, and I kind of went,Wait a minute. This is kind of
nice. I'm kind of digging notdoing an episode this week like
this is amazing. So, um, I justwant to say thank you for
noticing, and it is fun and butI just wanted to say all that,
(54:51):
just because it's classic howyou know life is. So, um, thank
you, Brendan. I reallyappreciate and I can't wait to
share this. And I. Hope to cometo Seattle. I've never been to
Seattle, and I'm a huge grungefan, so man, to go and tour and
see where Kurt Cobain lived andall that stuff. Ah, dude, that'd
be an awesome trip. And I hopeto come practice with you. I'd
(55:13):
love to come out to your studio,or if you're ever in Florida,
please let me know. I know we'reon the opposite ends of the the
country, but we'll, maybe we canmake it work someday.
Unknown (55:23):
Yeah, I'd love that.
Yeah, please. And there's amillion venues for like,
they're, they're really small.
Venues were intimate with the,with the with the the show scene
here. So like, you really, it'sgreat that would be included.
Make it. Make a week out of it.
Come out.
Todd McLaughlin (55:39):
Thank you.
Brendan, I can't wait. Have agreat day. Brendan, thank you so
much for sharing your story,your heart and your wisdom with
us today. It's so clear thatyour path from personal healing
to community leadership isdeeply rooted in service and
authenticity. If you'd like tolearn more about Brendan his
classes and his trainings. Youcan visit the yogashala
(56:01):
seattle.com and exploreeverything the yoga Shala
Seattle has to offer. And thankyou to everyone listening to
native yoga Todd cast. If thisepisode supported you, inspired
you, or gave you a newperspective, please take a
moment to subscribe. Leave areview, share it with someone
who you think could benefit fromthe conversation until next
(56:22):
time, keep showing up, keepbreathing, keep walking your
path with intention. Namaste,native yoga. Todd. Cast is
produced by myself. The thememusic is dreamed up by Bryce
Allen. If you like this show,let me know if there's room for
(56:44):
improvement. I want to hear thattoo. We are curious to know what
you think and what you want moreof what I can improve. And if
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(57:06):
share it with your friends. Rateit and review and join us next
time you for you.
Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy
you are here. My goal with thischannel is to bring
inspirational speakers to themic in the field of yoga,
massage, body work and beyond.
Follow us at @Nativeyoga andcheck us out at
nativeyogacenter.com. All right,let's begin.
(01:04):
Welcome back to Native YogaToddcast, where we explore the
real stories, practices andpaths that shape the yoga
journey. I'm your host, ToddMcLaughlin, and today I'm so
excited to share a powerfulconversation that I had with
Brendan Smulllen. He's thefounder of the yogashala in
Seattle with his wife. Brendandiscovered yoga at a young age
(01:27):
through his own experience withanxiety, and that personal path
has grown into a deep love fortraditional practice, community
and conscious living. He is a500 hour certified teacher and
yoga educator, and his workblends discipline practice with
real world accessibility. Intoday's episode, we talk about
(01:47):
Brendan's journey, the role oflineage and consistency building
a yoga community in Seattle, andhow yoga became becomes more
than just movement. It becomes away of life. And if anything you
hear today, resonance resonateswith you, please be sure to
check out Brendan's offerings athis website,
theyogashalaseattle.com, thelink is in the description
(02:11):
below. All right, let's dive in.
I'm so happy to have this chanceto sit down, meet and speak with
Brendan. Smullen, Brendan, howare you doing today?
Unknown (02:22):
Yeah, good, good. Happy Friday. We just finished up lead
primary here at this at thestudio, the team goes out for
coffee afterwards, and so I'mcaffeinated, as we are in
Seattle, and I'm ready to
Todd McLaughlin (02:36):
go. Awesome.
Did you already practice thismorning?
Unknown (02:39):
I had a late practice.
I have a course I'm taking thisafternoon, so I'm practicing
right now, kind of a little bitmore scattered than I than I'd
like to. I also, few months ago,my partner and I have, we now
have a three months old. Sothat's that's changed my
regularity with just quite abit.
Todd McLaughlin (02:58):
Oh my gosh, congratulations. Did you have a
boy or girl?
Unknown (03:02):
We had a girl. She's lovely, no complications.
Everything was great. She'sbeautiful. Mom, super happy.
We're super happy. Parents,family, this is all really there
for us. So it's been, it's beengreat. Congratulations.
Todd McLaughlin (03:15):
That's a major life improvement. And what a
what a change, right? I rememberwhen, before I had my first son,
or my child, my first child, Iwas still going down to the
beach and doing a lot of thingson the in the ocean, and people
are like, get ready, man, you'regonna have a baby. You're not
gonna have time to do thisanymore. And I was like, Oh,
what are you talking about? I'llbe able to do all this stuff, no
(03:36):
problem. And then they were,right, you know, it things,
things do Shift, yeah, in agreat way, in a really good way,
are you getting any sleep?
Unknown (03:45):
I'm good. We've worked out a schedule that works really
well for me. So like we have,our studio is principally a
strong guy. So I'm teaching fourhours most mornings, and then my
partner and I are trading. I'mdoing childcare through the
afternoon and then helping herwhen she teaches in the
evenings.
Todd McLaughlin (04:05):
Very cool.
Brendan, that's why I'm soexcited to meet you. My wife and
I do the same thing. How do youfind it? How do you find it
working with your spouse?
Unknown (04:17):
You mean like having, like, all the all the hats on in
the relationship, partnershipand business and all that. Yeah.
I mean, I found it reallyrewarding because there's a
there's a shared mission thatyou have that kind of, that kind
of also anchors therelationship. I mean, at times,
right? You wind up talking aboutwork and in places where you
(04:38):
would rather have someseparation. But I really, I
don't think that I could havecarried community this far
without, like, a really strongpartner, and particularly
because, you know, my partner,she's Latina, and we are a
studio that's strives to beinclusive, I think, like,
(04:59):
that's, that's a strong. Anchorfor a lot of our community that
sees someone who's in aleadership role, not in like a
token way, who's guidingcommunity and supporting who
isn't majority culture here, asis kind of often with a lot of
studios.
Todd McLaughlin (05:15):
Yeah, Brendan, I can't agree more. When people
ask me, what you know, would Ibe able to do this without my
wife? And I don't think I wouldwant to try to run a studio
without her, after knowing howmuch weight she pulls and the
amount of things she does thatI'm not good at or don't want to
do, and and vice versa. So it isan incredible thing. It was
(05:36):
funny because when my wife and Istarted working and managing a
studio together, we we co owneda bikrom studio in Mira Mesa,
down in California, in SanDiego, and people said this will
either make or break yourrelationship, because we often
hear of couples that try to worktogether and they have a
difficult time with it. But Ifound it to be absolutely so
(05:57):
rewarding and incredibly I can'timagine any other way. So it's,
it's cool to hear find anothercouple that are doing the same
thing. How long have you guyshad your studio prior to your
arrival of your baby?
Unknown (06:10):
Yeah, wow, yeah. The baby's been kind of recent. So
we had Christian and I arecoming up on three years of
studio ownership on the Januarythe fourth, we celebrate our
third year. Congrats. Beforebefore that, thank you. Thank
you. Before then, we kind ofworked out of other studios,
kind of patchwork, to createMysore. Mysore stylish Tonga
(06:34):
programming, but but the changefor us, and why we decided to
move a little bit more intohaving your own spaces is
largely because it's verydifficult to convince most
conventional studios to take onHey, every morning we're going
to have this program. It's goingto be a set sequence like the
one depicted behind me, and youryour clients are going to come
(06:58):
in and do the same thing. It's areally tough it's a really tough
sell. You know, when you, whenyou're when you're talking with
business oriented folks. So wedecided just to open our own
space to support that
Todd McLaughlin (07:09):
very cool, I can't agree more. You're hitting
all the nails on the head. Yeah.
I mean, wouldn't you agree thatholding down a Mysore style a
program requires that the studioowner, either a has fallen
deeply in love with Ashtanga, orB is run by somebody who you
know is actually teaching it,practicing it, loving it, and
(07:31):
doing all of it.
Unknown (07:35):
Yeah, absolutely. And when I'm talking with with folks
in in the program here we have,we have our own training
program. Or if I'm on travel andteaching, that's one of the
first talking points that Ihave, is just that we practice
what we teach here. So mostdays, five to six days a week,
I'm practicing Ashtanga,practicing the sequences as I
(07:58):
was taught by my first teacherof the montre lineage, Christina
Martini.
Todd McLaughlin (08:09):
That's awesome.
I had a chance to interview herhere on the show, and she's
awesome, man, she Yeah, she's inMaui, I believe right now,
right?
Unknown (08:18):
Yeah, she's in Maui, yeah. And she was the, she was
the link for us. She introducedus to to to Manju and to his
daughter, satu. But yeah, interms of, in terms of, like, the
day to day discipline, with withmy sir, I just stressed that you
have to show up for yourstudents, you know, clear
(08:38):
headed. And part of that ismaking sure that you do your
practice, you clear out, youknow whatever, whatever is in
your system, whatever thoughtpatterns keep you from being,
you know, a good mirror and agood observer. And that requires
that you you practiceconsistently. So we may stress
that our teachers, they arerequired to practice with us. I
(08:59):
don't have to really have thatconversation too often with
folks, but they need to beshowing up frequently as well so
that they can, they can. Theycan teach from a place of
understanding a lot of the asanaand the pranayama techniques
that we do here.
Todd McLaughlin (09:14):
Very cool. Can you emphasize and or speak on
why you or what you notice isimportant about having the
teachers be seen by the studentspracticing and having a
practice. Can you talk a littlebit about what you've observed
there?
Unknown (09:29):
Yeah, yeah. And that's something that's that's
actually, I think, a littleunique in terms of it. So my
because, because I'm inpartnership with also an
ashangi, I practice when she'steaching. She when the time is
available. We have a kid, coolpractice when, when I'm
teaching, you know? And then wekind of, like, are jumping in
and out of the practice to takecare of, take care of our Maya,
(09:52):
our kid, but, but it's, yeah,it's incumbent on, on a stronger
teachers in order, in order topractice. And I think. It does.
It is also very helpful to pullthe veil back sometimes and kind
of dismantle that, that kind ofpower dynamic between the
teacher and the student, byshowing that you all, you're
(10:13):
also practicing and working withdifficult asana and all the all
the ripples that are underneaththat your own thought patterns
and what comes up is practice.
Very cool.
Todd McLaughlin (10:26):
How did you and your wife meet?
Unknown (10:30):
Yeah, great. We were just going over this the other
day with some of our curiousstudents. So both Christiane and
I are practitioners, not just ofAshtanga, but also of a
progressive variant of Ashtanga.
So she and I were both workingon a project for like the rocket
community to help refine certainlike teaching standards and to
(10:55):
set up sort of professionaldevelopment opportunities for
for teachers of the style,particularly the senior teachers
that have been practicing andtraining folks for a little
while. So she and I were hiredby David Kyle, who's based in
Puerto Rico. He's a he's aprogressive Ashtanga rocket
person, and he hired us for itwas like a four month project
(11:20):
we're both working on this, thisblock, interviewing rocket
teachers and talking about someof the standards and how what
rocket actually is like, whatthe practice actually is. So
Christian, Christian and I kindof got, we got to know each
other a lot during that duringthat window. And when I moved to
Seattle, I was retained for a200 hour training. And at the
(11:45):
time it was a it was a prettybig lift for me. So I reached
out to her my house, hey, youknow this, this project's coming
up. Would you like to? Would youlike to, you know, co lead on
this upcoming teacher training.
And she said yes, and shevisited Seattle a couple months
(12:06):
beforehand, and and we really,in a way, kind of like already,
like I was saying, We're missionfocused on great building yoga
and community here and here inSeattle, and from there, just
like a lot of like, love andunderstanding came out, we
decided to also start arelationship from here.
Todd McLaughlin (12:26):
Very cool. I love hearing about that. You
know, I'm finding itfascinating. I had a chance to
practice with Larry Schultz,rocket yoga founder, a long time
ago, and it was really fun. Andbecause I was very much into
Ashtanga. I appreciated hisstorylines that he shared
regarding he I remember himsaying that he really wanted to
(12:51):
be an Ashtanga Yoga teacher, andthat the Ashtanga Yoga click was
a little not accepting, maybe,of letting people teach, and so
is like very, you know, elusiveis how, when am I going to be
able to be a part of the clubwhere I can teach yoga and him
kind of going out on his own?
And really it pretty much isAshtanga, it seems like. But
just with a lot of creativesequencing and a lot of
(13:13):
intelligent sequencing, in myopinion, and I so, I've noticed
that it seems ashtangis mightmigrate over toward rocket for
the creativity aspect. I'mfascinated that you sounds like
you were introduced to therocket style and have kind of
gravitated toward the sequencingof Ashtanga. Can you tell me a
(13:35):
little bit about what yourexperience has been and some of
the thought processes behind whyyou're currently doing things
the way you are.
Unknown (13:44):
Yeah, no, thank you. I This is one of the topics I like
to talk about when I'm on whenI'm on the road as well. So,
yeah, you described it reallyaccurately, and probably because
he practiced directly withLarry. That's you can, you can
sense like the intention waswith rocket, to make a stronger
accessible into western bodies.
So when, when folks, when folksare practicing and teaching
(14:07):
rocket? I think this is kind of,this is kind of reverted a
little bit in modern times, isthe idea is that you're creating
sequencing, sequencing andpostures that can be practiced
by by as you hit the maximumamount of people you can. So
folks that are curious about astronger, but don't, don't
(14:28):
resonate with the structure ofthis self practice and the and
the focus on, on, you know, selfguidance for practice, they have
a chance to modify in a strongerin a guided set. Now I I
resonate a little bit more withthe strong, and now, because
I've kind of found, I think thethread, or the the the family
(14:50):
within the greater, strongerpractice that that I think
accepts my teaching the most,and. Also resonates with me as a
as like for my philosophy, forfor teaching, because, because
Manju and satu and Christina aswell are teaching around making
the posture successful. So incases where you're practicing
(15:13):
with a little bit more strictguidelines around, like the
coordinates they're allowing forfolks to, perhaps not, take a
lotus position in certainshapes, take the foot under,
from reach out to the D topractice into intermediate
series, regardless of whetherthey do drop back fluidly or
not. These are things that Ithink, from a body based
(15:36):
perspective, are like very, veryhealthy choices. And I think, I
think prior, prior to thatunderstanding, I think rocket
does that as well. So there's abalance. There's a balance with
it. The thing that, the thingthat I have found over time, is
that the approach with Ashtangaand the self guided environment,
I think, is much more in linewith to go one stage up, what
(15:56):
how Christian Acharya wouldintend for practice. I think, I
think it is individualized, andI think self practice is
honestly the best way toestablish your practice. If
you're relying on, you know, ateacher, a particular class
environment, or people that aremotivating or inspiring around
you, then you're inherentlytethered to a certain
(16:20):
environment, and that canchange. That can change just
like if you're, you know you'reworking out, or you have a goal
with a in partnership and yourpartner and you are no longer in
partnership, or your workoutbuddy is no longer available on
the day that you want to workout, like your motivation is, is
is tied in with their attendanceor their their participation,
(16:40):
versus coalescing around ashared mission, which is kind of
a different way to approach it.
Todd McLaughlin (16:49):
Yeah, great answer. Brendan, love it. Man,
that's cool. I can totally seethat. What Let me see. So let's,
let's pick a pose in theAshtanga series. Let's go for,
let's go for, let's start off inthe very beginning realm. Let's
go with parvarita Trikonasana,twisting triangle. And you have
(17:12):
a student who so they step outto the right. They did the
triangle right left side.
They're coming in for theirfirst side, and their right leg,
their hamstrings are tight. Theygo to bring their left hand, and
they try to cross all the wayover and touch the floor. It
doesn't reach. And I'm curious,what is your go to way to help
educate this pose, help someoneunderstand how to practice this
(17:37):
pose. What are some of themodifications that you go to?
Typically?
Unknown (17:41):
Currently, yeah, perfect. And these are the,
these are the kind of thingsthat we teach one. One is that
let your legs don't need to befully straight in order to
emphasize a hamstring stretch,especially if they're injured or
tight. They're they're not,they're just simply not going to
straight. And that's, that'ssomething that I personally felt
when I started practicing, it'slike, wow, how do I do all these
(18:03):
How do I do all these things? Sofor a student with tight ham,
tight hamstring, perhaps one isthat you don't need to
necessarily cross the plane ofthe right leg with the hands to
feel the twist. A lot of folksare twisting with some sort of a
pelvic tilt, so their hips areare doing some of the twisting
for them. We try to emphasizekeeping like a somewhat level
(18:25):
plane, not for esthetics, but sothat you can actually use the
mid spine, thoracic spine, forthe for the twist. And so that
might mean that the left hand,in this case, is actually coming
inside your right your rightfoot. The other thing is that
arms and legs are differentproportions relative to the
torso. So you may want to, andthis is, this is accepted by the
(18:46):
Manju Manju camp. Or you maywant to use some crops. You may
want to you may want to adaptyour practice a little bit. So
put a small block down at adifferent level. Place your hand
there, not with a lot ofemphasis or weight in the hands.
Do the twist from the midst byhim as before. And then that's
most of that you can verballycue for a student. And then
(19:08):
that's where you can kind ofmake a little adjustments
manually, you know, withconsent, with the student, to
help them emphasize the twist.
And find that, find out. Nice.
Todd McLaughlin (19:19):
Yeah, great answer. I agree 100% I like the
idea, like you said, to lettingthat front leg bend, even
beyond, let's get like a chair,where you keep your leg
absolutely straight, and maybeyou put your hand on the chair
because the block is too low,right and but that's, that's a
really, that's a cool I agreewith you on that. Now, let's
(19:42):
jump ahead to something way morecomplex and wild and
interesting, like in secondseries, kapotasana, the back
bend, going back, grabbing theheels. Where are you at these
days with the concept of backbend? And how hard to push, how
not hard to push spinal, beinggentle and taking care of the
(20:07):
spine versus I gotta catch myheels. What has been your I'm
curious what your journey hasbeen, personally, and then where
you're how you're coachingstudents currently,
Unknown (20:18):
yeah, yeah. And this is the other thing is, like
practitioners, like yogapractitioners, versus the
teachers that are teaching them,like your My practice is much
different than some of thestudents that I'm that I'm
teaching, right? It's informedby me practicing the postures.
But I don't impose my bodyprivilege on other people. You
(20:42):
know, I just think that that's,that's kind of the wrong
approach. So for a very deepbackground, one of the deepest
backgrounds in the series andthe syllabus and its entirety,
kapatasana, you would, you wouldwant to make sure that students
are engaging the legs. It's a,it's a, it's a thing that that
(21:02):
we all forget about. So hips areshifting a little bit more back.
Sometimes when folks are settingup, I'm going to wind up
following this in a momentanyway. But you're you're
reaching, you're reaching backand over. And if the shoulder
mind you right, a differentrange for the for the shoulders,
the shoulders aren't available,then you may have to find some
preparatory work for folks openthere, especially for broader
(21:25):
shoulders, or for folks thatwork out a lot, they tend to
collapse in a bit here. So youhave to, you're gonna have to
coach this kind of tonicimbalance between the pets,
right and your rhomboids, yourtraps, your lats in order to
draw the shoulders back, to getthe hands, to get the hands
over. Now, what's, what's lovelyabout some of these shapes? I'm
(21:47):
glad you asked about kapatasana,because a lot of people do about
some of these, these likegatekeeper poses, is that you
have a lot of time to work onthis. You have your lifetime to
work on this. So give it a fewmonths, maybe the hands are
coming over this far or here orhere, here in time. And then
there are also preparations thatyou can do for again, for the
(22:10):
for the for the legs, use of thewall, or using the teacher to
push against the hips so thatpeople are shifting far enough
forward so they can come downideally and reach towards the
floor or the feet directly,rather than trying to kind of
crawl in there. Yeah, we do somany but, but honestly, to be
(22:32):
honest, Todd, I have to see, Ihave to see your body. Yeah,
practice a little bit.
Todd McLaughlin (22:37):
I was just thinking like, what a kind of
impossible question to answer,because it's going to be so
specific to every single person.
And I guess, where have you? Areyou currently at a phase in your
practice where grabbing yourheels in a kapatasana is a
reasonable thing to do?
Unknown (22:57):
Yeah, so I'm still really able bodied, and
thankfully, like Christian and Iare both pretty driven and
supportive of each other interms of, like, what is
accessible, in terms of in termsof like, the day to day. So I am
encouraged to meet the classiccoordinates whenever possible. I
(23:17):
have saw I have, for sure,soften on some things, though,
the main one is, is applying,applying 100% energy I would
practice. So right now I'm in aphase in my life where with,
with a really young child, wheremy practice may be sort of like
(23:37):
a 70 or 80% effort. Some days.
That might mean, you know, not alot of zest in some of the jump
backs, as much as, as much asI'm normally doing. That may
sometimes mean, you know, withtime and availability, that I'm
only doing a portion of right myprimary intermediate, advanced
series practice, and then comingback to it later on the week or
(23:59):
the next week, and trying to goa little bit further, I think, I
think it's really challenging toapply this sort of five to six
day a week practice at the sametime that you apply the same
amount of energy. Because truly,like we're especially here in
Seattle, it's gray, it's coldduring the winter, folks, energy
level naturally it falls. And Ithink it's reasonable to think
(24:21):
that your practice might, youknow, shift with you as it
should.
Todd McLaughlin (24:28):
I agree 100% Brendan, I like your logic. Now
you're holding down about fourhours of teaching every day.
Then you have to be a presentdad to a young child. I
remember, I mean, this soundssilly, maybe, but when I
remember being at homebabysitting, and I had this,
(24:50):
like, big light bulb moment oflike, oh, babysitting, that
means you basically have to sitwith a baby. You can't do
anything else. Yes, like, you'renot gonna go take a shower. You
can't really cook dinner. Imean, you, you can, but you,
everything you're doing, you'reliterally just focused on this
little, this little person, 100%and it, you know, it's, it's a,
(25:14):
it takes energy, right? It's, ittakes energy. So how are you
finding, I mean, I know you'rethree months new on this part of
it, even if you don't includechild raising and you attempt to
run a studio, keep your ownpractice going and still stay
motivated. Now you've had athird element in here, which,
(25:37):
you know, adds a big, a bigelement, how are you or what do
you go to to find motivation andinspiration?
Unknown (25:46):
Well, the principal motivators for me right now, I
do think about a lot about Amayawhen I wake up in the morning.
And what
Todd McLaughlin (25:57):
is her name?
Please.
Unknown (25:59):
Her name's Amaya. How do I spell it? A, M, a, y,
Todd McLaughlin (26:03):
a, beautiful.
Love it, yeah. Good choice
Unknown (26:07):
is she's a she's an incredible motivator, because I
want her to have a good life.
And that's like, you know, thepush for me to get up in the
morning, and then my partner,who largely is taking care of
the evenings and the overnights,with feeding and with being up.
I know that I want to, I want tomake sure that, you know, I'm
(26:28):
alert, ready for her to practiceas well. And then the other, the
other, the other piece that'sreally, that really does tether
us, and why it's really hard totalk on this without having some
of the folks from the communityhere, but our community is very
is very interconnected. Our ourpractitioners. They're in
(26:48):
partnership with each other.
They have deeper kind of lifeconversation. They travel with
each other. Their kids play witheach other. They look out for
each other. There's like, dogsitting, house sitting, meal
trains, all sorts of, like,wonderful aspects of like,
looking out for things. So like,when I when I think about, like,
(27:11):
who's going to be in the roomwhen I'm coming to teach, I'm
also in the way that I'mplanning for as an educator,
like for what I want to work onwith folks. I'm also, like,
reminded that they are showingup for this community and for
themselves, and that that motivethat's very motivating to know
that people for sure. Becausethe thing I'll just sorry Todd
(27:35):
to linger on it just for a sec,but, but the thing is, like,
like, I like, I said earlier,like, you know, if you're
coming, for if you're comingbecause you're, you're, you
know, accountability buddy, orone thing, these are things to
enter the practice. But overtime, you realize that there's,
like, something beyond that thatdoes help. And I think Sangha
right now, particularly inreally, really trying times, can
(27:57):
be quite motivating. It'sthere's a safety net that's in,
that's in some of thesecommunities, including ours,
that I think allows folks tofeel safe and to practice with
frequency.
Todd McLaughlin (28:09):
Oh man, isn't it amazing how powerful it is to
see people benefit from the yogapractice and to I can't tell you
how much I know. I had a friendcome in this morning who comes
and does a private and I feltlike I could genuinely say to
him, I love my job so much. Likewe had a bit of a challenging
(28:32):
situation with a big expensethat we have to cover for our
studio. And maybe a little whileago, I would have been, like, a
little stressed out about comingup with that some to fix, you
know, the situation. And withthis particular situation, I
found myself feeling like Idon't even care. I'll be able to
cover it. I'll figure it out.
Because I love doing this somuch it is so it is so
(28:56):
rewarding. So I love hearing, Ilove hearing that you're feeling
that too. And can you talk alittle Can you tell me a little
bit about you said the word mealtrain, and that, just like, made
me think, Well, what a cool ideato set up some sort of way to
integrate the community on alevel of like, Hey, I don't know
how I'm going to be able to makedinner tonight. Or what did you
(29:18):
mean by that? What evolved foryou? Or what are you talking
about when you say that?
Unknown (29:25):
Well, yeah, so, so folks, folks, cook for each
other. They bring food in foreach other.
Todd McLaughlin (29:31):
Very cool. So you actually like what they'll
bring, like a not like apotluck, but you're saying like
Susie will say, Hey, I make goodlasagna. And then someone will
say, I want some, and she'llbring some forum or or more,
like, you guys take turnscooking dinner for each other.
Yeah.
Unknown (29:49):
So, so it's, yeah, it's not organized like a, it's not
organized like a, like aprogressive supper. I think
that's, that's the the one. Butwhen folks are out, when they're
sick, uh. And most recently,like when Christiane and I were
at home with with Amaya, likeour first two weeks of of meals
when we were when we were out,we're all provided by the
(30:10):
community. Our students came byand they would drop off like a
healthy meal, a lot of thembased on recipes that their
parents made for them duringchildbirth. We have a lot of
women who've gone through Child,child childbirth in the studio.
And so these are, these are,like, home, home recipes for,
like, healing and for healththat we're we're enjoying, like,
(30:34):
during that window that'shappened a few times before. You
know, folks have surgeries.
Folks are they're out for, youknow, medical for, for some sort
of medical situation where we'lllook out, bring food to take
care of dogs or pets or whathave you. Those are all kind of
like this, this like, kind ofmentality of, like, share the
(30:56):
surplus, like, if you have, ifyou have time available to you,
and there's a need, right, makea meal for someone, or look out
for someone. And the thought is,you know, that that that kind of
feeds into the collective, andthen there's a little bit more
energy for someone else to takecare of someone. So it's a, it's
an exchange that we've, we'vecreated with the community.
Well, really, that the communityis created for itself that helps
(31:18):
to kind of sustain things.
Todd McLaughlin (31:22):
I love this Brendan. It's making me feel a
little bit like we have thisidea of nuclear family, you
know, you're, you're in yourhouse with your wife and child,
and and then I'm over here, andand then we have this idea of
communal living, which, youknow, we have one big house, and
we all live in that one houseand share the jobs. And I, I'm
(31:45):
getting the feeling like you'resomehow blending the two in a
fairly organic and useful way.
Are you? Am I getting it right?
Yeah.
Unknown (31:55):
And honestly, like, a lot of that hasn't been really,
like orchestrated, like our,I'll just speak briefly on,
like, probably our biggestcommunity event. As we go, we go
for coffee pretty much everyweekend with each other, like
three days for a day, Friday,Saturday, Sunday, different,
different availability, andfolks coming in those different
days, depending on theirschedule. But that that was all
(32:17):
because one of our students waswas doing mock interviews with
another one of our students onduring her office hours. So she
was posting up at a coffee shop.
And our other student would comeand they would, they would talk
through, okay, if you're lookingto re enter the field, you know,
(32:38):
these are some things youshould, you should look at, and
they would ping some questionsoff of each other. And because
that that space was, like,assigned as, like the office
hours, people were like, well, Iwant to go to office hours too,
if you hang out. And so then acouple more people will come,
and then we went, and then itjust became sort of a community
event natively. We didn't reallypush it. I mean, we I like
(33:01):
coffee a lot, so I wasinterested in going regardless.
But, you know, it's like that,that that that motivation was,
was more, hey, let's because weoften practice on our own. And
the guided classes, I don'treally entertain conversation
during the class. So that was achance for folks to for folks to
to get to know each other alittle bit more. And because of
(33:24):
that, again, a lot of trust anda lot of lot of giving that have
Todd McLaughlin (33:29):
come out of that. Very cool. Yeah, that
makes sense. Great idea. Whatother ideas can you share?
Unknown (33:38):
Yeah, so if you're, if you're and I hope, I hope some
people I do, I do really thinkif I had to have a soapbox to
stand on for this podcast, thinkI think folks that are looking
to start community around selfpractice, my suilish Tonga is
look for ways for folks toconnect organically and just be
(34:01):
an enabler. The thing is, a lotof times, you know, you'll have
in your minds, you know, like,oh, this will be like, a really
good thing to do, because, like,the something I want to do, and
that's, that's great. Butthere's, there's, there is a
there is a distinction, I think,as we, as we look at a more
community based model and lesslike a teacher driven model for
these sorts of spaces, there's alittle bit of grace for like,
(34:26):
what those ideas are, becausefolks will come up with them
when they feel they feel safeto, like, share their idea. It's
the same way, like in gradeschool or whatever you're like,
scared to raise your hand infront of the class or whatnot.
People will come up with theseideas natively, like we did a
camping trip together. I didn't,I didn't design that. My partner
certainly is not, is notinclined to camp. It was her. It
(34:49):
was her first, and probably onlytime she went camping with us
and and it was, it was overall,really good, but not something
that I would have. I would. Havecome up with just the teaching
team decided, Hey, we shouldhave an event. And all we did
was, you know, hey, put thesignage up. We'll put it in our
newsletter, we'll put it in ourour messaging or whatnot. And
(35:11):
you know, we didn't getanything. We didn't really get
anything out of it. It was justthat the event, the event is
just a really good, healthy foryour community.
Todd McLaughlin (35:19):
Nice, as opposed to say, this is a
retreat. It costs this much, buyyour space and let's go, and I'm
gonna make I'll benefit revenuewise. I like, I like what you're
saying, yeah, it's just that.
And then that way maybe, likeyou said, more the community
actually organizes it, versus itbeing such a now, you have
another job to do. Brendan, youhave to, like, organize this big
event that's cool. Yeah, that'sa great idea. So where do you
(35:42):
think this motivation andinspiration has come from? Is
this something to facilitatesuch a strong community
gathering experience, as well asin Ashtanga space? Is this
because you experienced thisyourself, practicing with
Christina on Maui. Or is itbecause you just thought, oh my
gosh, we have a need for this,like I did it, you know, how
(36:05):
Where do you see, if you try totrace a little bit of a thread
of of your interest throughoutyour life and years, that that
you're here, where you're doingwhat you're doing now?
Unknown (36:18):
Yeah, yeah, there I have a lot of motivator or I
have a lot of inspirations forcommunity builders. Christina,
absolutely, is a very strongcommunity builder, and she
welcomed us in with open arms inour community when we started
practicing with her. So I thinkthat she's a very strong
exemplar for what it's like tolead, but also allow for kind of
(36:42):
organic things within the spaceshe has, there's, there's a lot
of other team building thingsthat are happening with her. I
would say the other, the othermotivator for me, in terms of,
in terms of, like the community,community building aspect, is
here it's kind of a localproblem, but in Seattle, if
(37:03):
folks are a little bit siloedbecause they're there to some
degree or another, experiencingseasonal affect, and they have,
they have challenged by the bythe gray weather. And for me,
this practice, because you're upreally, it's helping you to
regulate circadian rhythm. Ithink that's really of service
to folks here. And yeah,unfortunately, because because
(37:28):
of the seasonal affect, folkstend to not be as friendly
during those times. So it's alsoa reminder that even though it
is kind of challenging and youhibernate a little bit, that
we're still humans, and we'restill here to connect with we're
communal animals, so we just, wejust provide a space for folks
to remember
Todd McLaughlin (37:46):
that, yeah, that's cool. I have heard that's
a real thing. My sister wasliving in Seattle for a while,
and she really found itchallenging. She found it
challenging. And I've heardabout it, and I just kind of
thought, oh yeah, that'sinteresting. You know, here in
sunny Florida, you're like,Well, okay, that's a nice idea.
But I hear that's a real dealthing, right? Being in the gray
(38:07):
for a while, can can affect you,can affect the mood?
Unknown (38:11):
Yeah, yeah. And I think, I think the other piece
to mention is, and Christiansnot here to say, her piece
around this, but like, also,like, like, as a Latina, she,
you know, she's from a culturewhere it's like, very warm and
welcoming. You are. You're withfolks all the time, always in,
always in community. You'rewelcoming of like, the friends,
(38:35):
cousins, like neighbor orwhatnot, like comes to the comes
to the family gathering as well.
So it's a very, it's like a veryintegrated network. So I would
say that a lot of the communitybuilding, also, I think, has
come out of an extension of herunderstanding of that, and my
appreciation as a as an Anglo oflike that, that approach, like
every time Latin America, it'sbeautiful.
Todd McLaughlin (38:59):
That's cool. I have an idea for you, Brendan, I
think you need to write a bookabout community building.
Unknown (39:08):
Thank you. It's funny because someone was telling me
that the other well, tellingChristiane and I like, I think
it's our story at this point.
Yeah, maybe, maybe I can put alittle, put a little hand print
or something in there too.
She's, she's been a big I
Todd McLaughlin (39:21):
was just gonna go, I was gonna ask you, do you
have you read a book that youcould recommend that highlights
some of the things you'retalking about, which then made
me think, you know, it actually,maybe Brendan should write the
book. But have you come acrossa, come across a a book that
highlights this subject, that'sthat's interesting. I don't even
know if there's a book outthere. I'm going to look, when
(39:43):
we're done, see if there'ssomething I love reading about
these sort of things. So I wasjust curious if you came across
something, it's like, buildcommunity, like a resource to
kind of say, Hey, you guys, thisis important. Let's build
community. Let's focus on this,because it's something that
maybe if we don't put a 10.
Attention on it. It just won'tit might not happen naturally. I
mean, I do believe a lot of thisstuff does occur naturally, but
(40:05):
I like the fact that you'reputting this sort of attention
on it seems important, like yousaid, especially today, because
there's a lot of division. So Ithink anything we can do to get
people together is a wise move,Certainly.
Unknown (40:20):
Certainly. Yeah, a couple titles come to mind, but
they're not books I personallyhave read. So I can't recommend.
I can't recommend. I'm superbacklogged on my on my reading.
Todd McLaughlin (40:30):
Yeah, it's gonna be a little while before
you can have time to do.
Unknown (40:33):
I don't have an abundance of free time right
now, but that's that's also anexcuse, like I am, I'm reading.
I'm reading right now, a littlebit on, kind of like mindful
masculinity, but that's notreally related to what we're
talking about here.
Todd McLaughlin (40:47):
Can you say that again, mindful masculinity?
Yeah.
Unknown (40:53):
So as I'm going to be new, as I'm going to be this is
a, this is a book that actuallywas gifted to me. My my mother
in law gifted to me at her lasttrip. She came up for two months
to help take care of the kid. Soat night, I've been, I've just
been, I've been reading a littlebit from it. I've just, I've
just started a few days ago, andit's been, it's been nice to
(41:14):
kind of examine from, from,from, from a perspective of,
okay, how are we reinforcingsort of, like gender norms,
like, what are what? How do weidentify as I, as I start to
identify as, as a father. Now,it's still like, kind of like
insane to me sometimes toremember, wow, yeah, I have
this, this tiny, tiny humanthat's, that's, that's, that's
(41:36):
tied to me genetically and andbonded. And how do I, how do I
provide for flexibility in termsof like, expression, so, like,
you know, like, not necessarilypre determining, like, how she
wants to view the world, or howshe wants the world to view her.
That's also, that's alsoincumbent on me to determine,
(41:59):
you know, like, how was Iraised, and how, how was I
reinforced in terms of, like,those, those gender
Todd McLaughlin (42:04):
norms, yeah, oh, I know, man, one of the
biggest things in the wholeworld is when you become a
parent and then you takeintrospective look at the way
that we view the way our parentsraised us, we then start to,
either knowingly or unknowingly,do the exact same thing. And the
awareness that comes fromwitnessing doing the things that
(42:26):
our parents did, that we did notlove, really appreciated in the
time, but then all of a sudden,going, well, this makes more
sense. Now, I kind of understandwhy they did do that with me,
you know. And so it's Wow. Man,what a journey. Well, that's
cool that you're that you'rereading, you know, getting some
insights that I'm with you. Man,I love reading books. When you
get into a new project, like,especially parenting, you're
like, maybe there's someinformation out there I could
(42:48):
pick up on that's going to makethis a little easier, slash,
make me more productive at whatI do. Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Very,
very cool. Can you, can you talka little bit about I haven't had
an opportunity to meet and orpractice with Manju yet, and I'm
really excited, because I justorganized to do a podcast with
(43:08):
satu, his daughter, and so I'mexcited for that. It's coming up
next month, but, um, I reallywant to practice with him. I've
only heard incredible thingsabout him over the years. And so
can you share a little bit oflight, shed a little bit of
light on what your experiencehas been, and what why you would
(43:28):
recommend somebody to gopractice with him and or his
daughter, satu?
Unknown (43:33):
Yeah, absolutely. And we hosted satu in the in the
fall. She's wonderful. I enjoythe podcast. Enjoy, enjoy the
time. She's such, she's such awealth of knowledge. Yeah, I
would encourage folks topractice with Manju to see kind
of his perspective, givenremember that his timeline, he
(43:55):
practiced directly withKrishnamacharya. So that's
really, it's kind of aninteresting perspective. You
can, you can ask him about, Ithink, for folks that are
looking to practice with him, heis a little bit, I think,
selective in terms of, like, whohe wants to teach at this phase
of his life, because he has beenteaching for so long, and
because he does host in his Homethe practice. So you're, you're
(44:21):
in an environment when you'repracticing with him, no more
than 12 or 15 people that can,that can practice in the space
at one time. So it is quiteintimate. You can really feel
his presence, his observation,his adjusting is very sound.
He's very in tune with your bodyand breath, and the the sessions
(44:44):
that follow, like he he'susually teaching a little bit of
pranayama. There's some somemantras and chanting, and then
we'll have a little bit of timeto talk about the philosophy to
do, depending on if you're ifyou're practicing, or if you're
coming in as a teacher. He'llsometimes show some of the
adjusts. So, yeah, I would, Iwould ask Satya more about that
(45:05):
process. Because it's, it's not,it's not just like open, open
source, it's, it's, it's a yourequest and you talk about your
experience. And it just, he, he,especially in light of, you
know, recent shifts in theashango world, he's just very
mindful. It's like he doesn'twant a sudden influx of folks
coming into his home topractice. It's my understanding
(45:27):
that that he would rather have asmaller, more concentrated
community with with that'sthat's value driven, like he is
then, like a really broadfollowing, like he's pretty
quiet in terms of like he has ahe does have a social media
handle, but I've never seenanything on there, like, it's,
it's, it's, it's, it's, it'smore so a space where you're,
(45:50):
you're going for subtlerefinement, and to have some
time to hear from him about hislike, hearing from him about,
okay, what was it like topractice, you know, with patavi
was it like to practice withKrishnamacharya? These are, this
is like, incredible that thisknowledge is like, avail is
like, available to you. So,yeah, I would encourage folks if
they're interested, but, but,you know, come in with some
(46:11):
humility. That's, that's, that'smy, my biggest learning lesson,
right? When I started a strongguy was so strong headed, and so
like, I am like this. And, youknow, I show up a certain way,
and I had to, had to be strongevery practice. And it's just
not this. Life is just not thatlife, unfortunately, is going to
(46:32):
teach you something aboutimpermanence, and part of that
is how you, how you, how youshow up. You have to be, you
have to be understanding withyourself.
Todd McLaughlin (46:40):
Yeah, great, great advice. Brendan, that's
cool. I appreciate it. I didn'tknow that. I actually was
unaware of the method that he'steaching currently that so
that's good to know. Does hehave you ever invited him to
teach a workshop at your studio,or is he not really interested
in doing the whole travel gigright now?
Unknown (46:58):
Um, he does, he does travel. I haven't approached him
about this. I'm just very happy,personally to be invited into
practice. I do think, I dothink, though, and you should,
you should, you should talk totalk to about this, because she
is a strong voice for the forthe community, and she has a lot
(47:19):
of integrity. And what she doesis talk to her about what
carrying on this, this legacy ismeant for her, because she
really our community. You know,in light of this last year,
there's been a lot of shifts inthe ashanga world. I'm not going
to name them, and I don't reallywant to talk about them
directly, but she provided a lotof reassurance to like the
(47:39):
community about what whatthey're doing, the path that
they're on, when she was hereand really held space in a way
that I think is kind of beyondher years, but it's quite
incredible.
Todd McLaughlin (47:49):
Very cool. I appreciate all that insight.
Thank you so much. I am youknow, to take you down one more
road before we wrap it up, theworld of yoga philosophy, in my
opinion, is so vast and rich, soobviously we have a whole
lifetime to pick up what we canget from here and there. Can you
(48:12):
share a little bit about what,what strand or aspect of the all
the knowledge that comes fromthis tradition is really
resonating with you these days,and or a little bit of a
timeline of your evolution ofyou know, a lot of people jump
in first with yoga sutras, andthen maybe they read Bhagavad
(48:34):
Gita. And then, if they keepgetting more interested, maybe
they go a little further. And soeither what's really exciting
for you right now or youroverall trajectory that you've
taken over the years?
Unknown (48:48):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, that's good. It has shifted
quite a bit. So I started interms of the philosophy with the
sutras. I think it's a prettycommon track for folks to define
it that way. And I guess, Iguess my first few reads were
the way that many folks rightapproaching like an
(49:11):
institutionalized religion. It'slike the word is the word, and
that's how it is. And then, asI've kind of gone back on that,
I've also seen, okay, there areinterpretations, there's
commentary, there's a lot ofdiversity of opinions around,
around the sutras, and thenthere are some things that sort
of, like, you know, like, youknow, like the cities and like
(49:36):
being able to grow and indifferent size or shrink. It's
like, okay, if I were to takethis all quite literally, you
know, I might be approachingyoga with my yoga practices a
bit differently. I've been I'vebeen inspired most recently
because I have a pranayamameditation teacher who has been
teaching me a little bit ofAdvaita Vedanta, a. Been
(50:00):
inspired most recently by RamanaMaharishi and his teachings. So
I've been reading some of hisdiscourse with his students, you
know, talking about theperception of reality, focusing
(50:23):
on kind of this, this spacebetween stimulus and response,
and really, the understandingthat space is most of what's
occurring, I think, has reallyallowed me to find more peace
and ease with life. So, sothat's, that's, that's, that's
(50:44):
not exactly in line with the,with the with the teaching for
the sutras, and it's notsomething that I usually am
working with our trainees here.
But it's, it's, it's definitelybrought me a lot of ease lately
to just kind of watch thescreen, watch the projections of
what's going on, watch my ownthoughts, what's going on and
(51:07):
and to just be a little bit moreat ease with the with the fact
that, from a very objectivestandpoint, I'm just here, I'm
seated, and I'm breathing, youknow, that's, that's, that's the
reality of what's going on.
Everything else is kind ofillusory, like where our
response, oh, this is hard. Or,you know, our thoughts quickly.
(51:29):
I know you're everyone whomeditates is immediately
resonates with it's like I havea thought on the thought, Oh,
I'm not meditating, okay, thethought there and be able to
drop in more efficiently hasbeen it's been really wonderful.
It's been a great practice.
Nice.
Todd McLaughlin (51:44):
Brendan, awesome man. I appreciate
hearing all that. Thank you somuch for sharing that. Yeah, you
know, I love podcasting so much.
And I just have to say that Ithoroughly enjoyed this. I love
meeting another yoga teacher,practitioner, dad, studio owner,
lover of philosophy and humble,humble, human. What a pleasure,
(52:05):
man. I really appreciate youtaking time out of your day and
your busy schedule, and I justwant to thank you. I really
appreciate this opportunity, andI really enjoyed this Thank you.
Unknown (52:20):
Thank you. Thank you, Todd. I appreciate what you're
doing. The way that you're kindof gathering is, you know, to
your question earlier, like whatyou know, like what books you're
reading, or how are you buildingcommunity? You're doing it.
You're already doing it, andthat's wonderful. And I think
the folks, I think, I think thefolks online, are really, are
really appreciating the thecoalescing it's happening around
(52:42):
around this, they're learning alot, and they're appreciating,
you know, some of these guests,you for hosting them. So thank
you so much your time in thisendeavor. It's a big endeavor.
It's a huge endeavor, and you'retaking a lot of time, a lot of
your lot of your limited time,right to do this is wonderful,
wonderful.
Todd McLaughlin (53:00):
Well, thank you so much for noticing. And I had
a realization this week, becauseI've, I'm, I'm a very once I
start doing something, and I geton a routine, I like, I really
stick to it. And so I try to doone every single Friday, and
with Thanksgiving holiday, and Igot a little behind on getting
(53:25):
it's a big process to reach outto people, have them say, Yes,
find a time that actually works,and then have it all work out
where we show up at the righttime and everything. And so I
came to I haven't missed aFriday, and it's been a year, a
little over a year, I've beenreally, really focused on it,
and then I missed a Friday. AndI had so much, I had so much,
(53:48):
like, what's right? What to saythis? Like, I was like, I can't
miss a Friday. And I was like,No, man, you can definitely miss
a Friday. Like, Well, come on,what are you even doing to
yourself? You're like, this isjust for fun, right? Isn't it
for fun? And I thought, Yes,this is just for fun and
education, and just keep itlight like and I take I this is
a pattern that I've watchedmyself do with with everything,
(54:09):
with practice, and then evenwhen I got into podcasting, it
became like another form ofpractice for me. So I just want
to say thank you foracknowledging that it is. It
does take quite a bit amount oftime and having the one week
off, like today's Friday. So Ialways publish Friday morning.
So like I said, I'm not doing itthis Friday. I'm gonna wait till
(54:29):
next Friday. And it was Thursdaynight, and I didn't have to do
all the work I have to do to getit ready. And my wife and I were
hanging out, and I kind of went,Wait a minute. This is kind of
nice. I'm kind of digging notdoing an episode this week like
this is amazing. So, um, I justwant to say thank you for
noticing, and it is fun and butI just wanted to say all that,
(54:51):
just because it's classic howyou know life is. So, um, thank
you, Brendan. I reallyappreciate and I can't wait to
share this. And I. Hope to cometo Seattle. I've never been to
Seattle, and I'm a huge grungefan, so man, to go and tour and
see where Kurt Cobain lived andall that stuff. Ah, dude, that'd
be an awesome trip. And I hopeto come practice with you. I'd
(55:13):
love to come out to your studio,or if you're ever in Florida,
please let me know. I know we'reon the opposite ends of the the
country, but we'll, maybe we canmake it work someday.
Unknown (55:23):
Yeah, I'd love that.
Yeah, please. And there's amillion venues for like,
they're, they're really small.
Venues were intimate with the,with the with the the show scene
here. So like, you really, it'sgreat that would be included.
Make it. Make a week out of it.
Come out.
Todd McLaughlin (55:39):
Thank you.
Brendan, I can't wait. Have agreat day. Brendan, thank you so
much for sharing your story,your heart and your wisdom with
us today. It's so clear thatyour path from personal healing
to community leadership isdeeply rooted in service and
authenticity. If you'd like tolearn more about Brendan his
classes and his trainings. Youcan visit the yogashala
(56:01):
seattle.com and exploreeverything the yoga Shala
Seattle has to offer. And thankyou to everyone listening to
native yoga Todd cast. If thisepisode supported you, inspired
you, or gave you a newperspective, please take a
moment to subscribe. Leave areview, share it with someone
who you think could benefit fromthe conversation until next
(56:22):
time, keep showing up, keepbreathing, keep walking your
path with intention. Namaste,native yoga. Todd. Cast is
produced by myself. The thememusic is dreamed up by Bryce
Allen. If you like this show,let me know if there's room for
(56:44):
improvement. I want to hear thattoo. We are curious to know what
you think and what you want moreof what I can improve. And if
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