March 11, 2026 • 37 mins
The biggest shift in your yoga anatomy might not be a new pose, but a new kind of attention.
In this episode, Michael Henri shares how he blends precise body knowledge with something harder to measure: the subtle “energy” of a room. He talks about why awareness and breath can change everything, how a simple favorite pose reveals hidden needs, and what kind of class culture he wants to create in Ubud. Expect practical insights, honest reflections, and a few unexpected rules that might challenge how you usually show up on the mat.
Episode Chapters:
00:00:00 Opening message
00:00:53 Grounding breath
00:12:43 Awareness and breath patterns
00:21:25 Community as a “playground”
00:23:17 Favorite poses: Triangle and Puppy Dog
00:26:44 Becoming a student of energy
00:28:49 Teaching phrases and class language
00:31:45 Anatomy facts in practice
00:33:01 Rules and boundaries in class
00:34:10 No phone zone
00:36:10 Closing
Mentions & Resources:
Michael Henri’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelyoga.pt/
Byron’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byronyoga/
The IN Movement Instagram: https://www.instagram/com/the_in_movement/
The IN Movement Podcast was formerly the Going Pro Yoga Podcast — and before that, the Yoga Teacher Evolution Podcast and the Rat Race Rebellion Podcast. Same mission, evolved name.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey there, before we get startedon this week's episode, I would
love to ask for your support by reviewing this podcast.
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(00:23):
and then give us some love. Thank you so much.
And let's get started with this week's episode.
Welcome to the In Movement podcast.
Today I am your host, Byron de Marseille, and across the way I
have. Michael Henry.
And we've reversed the roles today.
I'm going to be interviewing Michael and asking him about the
studio a bit. What do you think about that,
(00:45):
Michael? Should we just dive in or should
we talk about the weather or Bali or anything?
Like anything on your mind, yourheart you want to share?
Oh. No, it didn't really ground
before the podcast, so maybe I'll just take a deep breath.
If you're going to do it with me.
Those that are listening, pleasejoin in.
Let's take a big breath in together and let it go.
(01:12):
OK, cool, I'm ready to go. Let's do it.
So as you guys know, we are opening a studio very soon here
in Ubud, Bali called the End Movement.
We have two giant shallots. We have a recovery center, also
known as a spa, also has a salt magnesium pool.
What? And we, we have a restaurant as
well. We have a little podcast room
(01:34):
there. Like, you know, I'm not sure
what we're going to use it for exactly, but it could be multi
purpose and it has a nice Japanese, Japanese feel to it.
I'm quite happy with the way it looks.
I could probably go on and on and on, but the point is, is
we're going to open very soon and we are interviewing our
perspective facilitators, teachers, and Michael is one of
(01:56):
those. And so we have a little set of
questions here. I might stay linear.
I could go off the cuff intuitively and surprise him
with some questions. Let's just see how it goes.
All right, question #1 Michael, what was your first experience
with yoga? When did it shift from a
(02:16):
personal practice to something you wanted to teach?
First time I practiced yoga was in 2017 and I probably shared
this before, but I'll share it again.
And that is, it was Paul's class.
And I was here basically visiting, travelling, kind of
like a lot of people do. And I was running a lot,
(02:38):
actually doing a lot of runs, probably like 3 or 4 days a
week. And just really like I was into
the timing. It like trying to like reduce my
per mile minute and stuff like this.
And one of my friends was like, hey, why don't you come to a
yoga class? And I was like, oh, OK, sure,
why not. So he took me to a class, which
was Paul's class. I didn't know Paul obviously at
the time. And I did the class and I don't
(02:59):
really much remember much of it,but I was just like, that was
cool. That was nice.
And I was like, that guy was sweet.
It was like kind of made me feellike this was a cool thing that
I could do again. That's all I really remembered
from the experience. And then the next day I went for
a run and I noticed how open my hips were and how whenever I was
like running and like my time would had reduced by like 30
seconds per minute, mile or whatever it was.
(03:21):
And I was kind of looking at that being like, whoa, what was
that about? I was like, oh, my hips must
have really opened up. It just felt like kind of like a
gazelle running. So I was just like, oh, this
yoga thing is kind of cool, you know, and like physiotherapy, I
already knew what yoga was, but didn't actually know from like a
embodied practice. I just, you know, I'd see a
patient and I could see that they're really tight in their
body and they needed to, you know, globally work on their
(03:45):
whole system to open it up instead of giving them like
individual little exercises. I was like, hey, you guys should
probably, you know, do some yogaor maybe get into do some yoga
poses. And I might prescribe like a
cobra here and there for someone's back or something like
that. But I didn't actually know much
about it. So after that experience, I was
like, oh, maybe I should like dive into this a bit more.
(04:05):
So then I just kind of would, you know, sporadically go to a
class here and there and just went to like Marcus Wayan's
classes 'cause I was just feeling the similar vibe of
this, like power yoga stuff. And I was like, I'll just keep
doing that. And it was like fun.
That's kind of how it all started.
And then eventually I kind of really got into the yin Yang
classes, the fascia, the pulsing.
(04:26):
I could really feel the benefits.
And I would just like religiously go to again, Paul's
classes like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, he would just kind of
have all these. So that was kind of like the, I
was really into it at that point.
That was probably when I came back to Bali.
I was here for like 5 months andI was just like religiously
going to all those classes. Then I moved to Costa Rica and I
was managing a hotel with Christina and the hotel was
(04:51):
actually bought and owned by ourfriends Max and Oxana.
And when I was there, the location of the hotel, which was
an eco lodge, was like, I don't know, 200 meters from the beach
in the middle of nowhere at the jungle.
So I'd wake up at like 6:00 in the morning and I was like, I'm
just going to go do some yoga. So I'd go on the roof and I
would just practice by myself and, you know, do anything that
(05:13):
I could kind of like have pulledfrom the classes that I had
taken or just the experiences that I'd taken.
So I had done a bunch of like breath work classes and
different things. So I'd basically go up there and
do about a 90 minute whatever, yoga, asana, breathwork, laying
shavasana, just kind of like a whole little experience every
morning for like 30 days straight.
I remember kind of having this goal, like I'm going to do this
(05:34):
every day for 30 days. And then it kind of like, you
know, trickled off a little bit differently once I got past that
30 day mark. But I just kept enjoying the
practice. And I was just like, this is
really, you know, a nice experience.
And the whole time I was just thinking like, I can't wait to
go back to Bali and like, you know, get more of this, you
know, probably a very similar story to a lot of people
actually, in a lot of ways. And then I came back to Bali
(05:56):
and, yeah, just kept coming backto classes a little bit more and
stuff like that. And eventually COVID happened.
So this was in 2019. I came back to Bali this year
for basically the year which felt like a normal year.
And then, you know, right aroundthat year mark was when the
COVID things started to go down.And at that point, and then he
(06:18):
invited me to come in on the training to teach, but then also
to be a student. So I came in with the intention
of like being more of the educational, like talking about
anatomy and all that stuff, not really thinking about teaching
yoga, but I was like, it'd be a good experience for me to just
kind of learn more about yoga, add to my tool belt, if you
(06:39):
will. And so I didn't actually have an
intention of teaching at all. And I had haven't really taught
that much over the years. I've taught classes and
trainings and things like that. So to answer your question after
a long story is ultimately the process of going from my own
personal practice to teaching iskind of been a slow build of me
just really embodying and reallylearning more about the yoga,
(07:01):
not just from the asana and the physical practice, but then also
like diving a lot into the philosophy over the last few
years, especially because I'm doing a lot of trainings.
I'm surrounded by people like the Jeff, like you, Paul, Leia,
Oxi, all of these people who've been on the podcast before and
you know, doing my own personal work.
And I just feel like I'm really embodying more of the actual
(07:24):
yoga that now I can. I feel like I have a lot more to
share in a class where it's not just like the physical, the
asana, the physiotherapy, the mobility type stuff, but I can
actually like integrate more of the philosophical stuff, the
more embodied stuff. So that's kind of where I'm at
now. Nice, nice, nice to hear about
that. I kind of know most of that, but
(07:44):
it's it's nice to hear it again.And I know, you know, there's
also other things that happened in between there.
You could have the longer version of that.
Yeah. But you know, I find it.
Yeah, it is interesting to thinkabout.
I think you're in an interestingunique position in a way.
Some people get their 200 hour and they've only been doing yoga
for six months and they become ateacher and this certificate
(08:06):
like permits them to teach yoga and now they're a yoga teacher
and they start to wear that label.
Whereas you, you've really, you know, kind of gone through a
process here and have already taught yoga, but now you're
being presented an opportunity to teach it more and kind of
being thrown in, thrown into a, to a higher level place right
(08:27):
away. And I think you've, you're
prepared for it and you've earned it.
And it'll be really interesting.Like I said, a unique situation.
You want to move this question too?
Yeah. All right.
Was there a specific teacher this might actually relate to?
The last thing, I'm not sure of it.
Was there a specific teacher or actually an experience or even a
life moment that shaped the way that you teach today?
(08:53):
Oh, so I'm kind of scanning the last several years and I would
say that it's not necessarily one particular, which I'm sure
is a somewhat of an expected answer, but I would say a lot of
the teachers that I've had the privilege to work with or learn
(09:15):
from, you being one of them. Actually, duh, I'm just kidding.
In case I wasn't known, I did my200 hour with Paul and Byron,
right? So obviously I early stages of
that part, I was learning a lot and just really like being
receptive to what you guys were doing.
And it was just like how these guys have a lot to teach me.
And I think I told you in those years, I was like, you guys have
(09:37):
been a big impact in my life. You know, this particular year
was because every year I usuallytell people if there's someone
that influences my life significantly that year, I
usually reach out to them and just let them know at the end of
the year being, Hey, just, you know, like you had a huge impact
in my life this year and I just want to say thank you.
So I remember doing that for youand Paul, I don't know if you
remember that, but it's. In there.
The Jeff, I would say has been ahuge influence on me as well,
(10:01):
just more the embodiment of justthe yoga, you know, like
understanding beyond just words,but actually like feeling into,
you know, the stories that he tells and the, the, you know,
when he talks about the Yamas and the Yamas and just like the
philosophy and lifestyle and thelens of the yoga and also just
hanging in with him casually as a friend, you know, like, and
just the way he sees the world. It's just like so inspiring.
(10:26):
And because I've been teaching in all of these trainings
alongside of him, you know, I after I'd done my my lecture, I
go and sit down and listen to his lecture, right?
So I'm just kind of like around this all the time.
So I'm just getting infused withmore inspiration and more more
knowledge to some degree, so I think.
Just to chime in because you know, sometimes when we talk
about ourselves and our experience, we forget the thing
that other people may highlight for them better, which is the
(10:49):
fact that you had a physiotherapist practice, you
know, in other countries and howthat's really going to inform
your teaching. I think at this point you might
it might be just so ingrained inyou that you forget that how
unique that is. Right, that's fair.
It's so like, it's like my, my baseline that I don't even
really think about it. I think about like the things
(11:11):
that have been growing in me more in the last few years,
whereas the physiotherapy, anatomy, Physiology,
understanding of the body, bio mechanics, like I've been
learning that since I was 18 andI'm 40, almost 2 now.
So to me that's just like it's asecond nature.
It's like I don't even have to think about it, which is like
the, you know, the sequencing tosome part, the queuing, you
know, giving direction of how tomove the body, like all that
(11:33):
stuff. Not to mention, just like how
unique I can create certain, let's say, movements with the
purpose that might be actually more from, let's say, maybe a
rehabilitation perspective, but or more so something that kind
of gets into places that people might not necessarily get into.
So I think that's some of my intention behind some of the way
(11:55):
I'm going to lead classes is going to be definitely stemmed
in some of that background of the physio, right?
Ability. Fascia.
Yeah. Cars who knows what.
Yeah. And how I kind of piece it
together into a full class experience, I think is the
physical element. And then now going back to what
I was sharing with philosophy and all these things that I've
learned from these other teachers and experiences, I'm
actually excited to smash those two together.
(12:16):
Yes, that's kind of really what it is.
Yeah, I see that too. I'm OK.
How would you describe your style of teaching in three
words? And why those words?
Yeah, it's hard to kind of not say mobility.
OK, so I'm going to say mobilityunless something else comes
(12:41):
through. I'm going to say I don't know if
the word is actually, you know what I might say.
I want to say introspective, butI also want to say more self
reflection spa. Yeah, yeah, just like kind of
more actually, you know what it is?
It's awareness, awareness of self-awareness of the body in
(13:02):
such a way where it's like, OK, I'm a teacher of the body.
And if I'm leading a class, it'slike, yes, I want to actually
have the physical benefits translate through for the
person, but I also want them to become more aware of themselves
physically, which might help with my directional, like
(13:22):
guidance. And then also finding pauses and
moments to integrate breath and that awareness.
So that's probably the thing that would kick in a bit is just
awareness. And I think the third one is
honestly breath, Breath. Yeah.
I feel pretty strong about the power of the breath in
combination with basically anything, to be honest.
(13:43):
You know, when I'm working with people one-on-one, I'm just
constantly aware of the way people breathe whenever I'm
either working with their body or just helping them to do
movements. And you know you do it in a
class setting. You just made me breathe.
Like when you said that I started being like oh shit, I
better breathe. Well, it's, it's sometimes you
don't even, you don't even awareevery breath pattern that we
(14:05):
have is different from moment tomoment because of either our
body position or some sort of memory of something can trigger
a different breath response. But the more aware we are of the
breath, the more we can influence it, change it, and
ultimately shape our chemistry is even.
For example, yesterday I had a patient or a client come in and
(14:27):
you know, was doing some, some things with her and working on
her a little bit and she was, she breathe in and that was her
pattern. She would hold her breath.
Every time she breath, she held,she breathed for at least a
second or two or three seconds. And I was like, do you know
you're holding your breath? She's like, I had no idea.
I was like, I just try to not dothat and just like breathe and
(14:49):
then let it out. And she, it's almost like it was
like I hid like a, a short circuit in her brain.
She didn't know how to do it right.
So just integrating the breath within movement and moments,
which is not nothing new, but I think I'm really tapping into
that is a really powerful element that I definitely want
to put my foot on with regards to the mobility and the
(15:10):
awareness. That's great.
I mean, with every breath, everybreath we take, every move we
make, I'll be watching you. No, but that's great.
That's great. And I'll probably add like maybe
injury prevention or some sort of thing like that for you just
because of your, your personal awareness.
If there was a fourth thing, andif this was to be, like, to
(15:35):
garner more interest for your classes and what people might be
expecting, it would be to like, yeah, like, we're going to take
care of our bodies, you know? Yeah, I'm glad you said that
because honestly, the sequences that I've made and probably will
continue to refine is really much trying to create a class
around helping people target areas of their body that need
attention. Just from my years of experience
of knowing that the majority of people have some sort of thing
(15:58):
going on with their hip, that's not necessarily like, oh, they
need hip openers. It's like, sure, you need that,
but you're also probably need some specific targeting in
combination with functional movements or poses.
That's really going to kind of help, especially with the idea
of, and this is something you and I've talked a little bit
about is or maybe not directly, but basically allowing classes
(16:20):
to help build on for someone's experience.
So it's not just like, OK, you come take this class and it's a
nice class. It's kind of like take this
class and the next class is kindof like a continuation to some
degree where. Yeah.
Exactly. So it's not just a one off.
It's like you can take it as a one off for sure, but like if
someone wants to come to a classmore regularly, they want to see
(16:41):
a progress they want to see like, you know, in a lot of
people's cases, it's the asana. I'm doing better in the asana.
Can I do this pose now better than I did before?
So I kind of like that. But to me, it's like it's less
about can I do the pose versus can I see the progress of the
smoothness of this movement, themobility of this joint, the
strength when I'm kind of transitioning from this position
to this position, or if it is like a repetition type of
(17:04):
movement and seeing how wow, this is easier, this is better,
this is stronger. And then if to become aware of
noticing how that translates into their day-to-day life for
the functional movements that they do, I think is really the
cool little experience. It's.
Great. Let's take a breath.
Every breath I take. OK, Have a move I make.
(17:28):
But we do have another question for Michael.
Hit me. All right.
What do you feel you uniquely bring to the studio through your
classes? I feel like you've already
nailed that. Yeah, I think I heard you answer
that. Yeah.
OK. So when someone walks into your
class at the in movement, what do you want them to experience
(17:51):
or feel after they walk out? Without trying to control it too
much, I would love for them to just become more aware of
themselves in whatever way that needs to be.
Maybe it's just like, oh, I didn't realize that about my
(18:12):
body because maybe I said something that was like
educational or it was just like,you know, inspired by, you know,
things like you and Paul. Like some of those introspective
questions. I would love to kind of, you
know, infuse some of that as well.
Like just like a thought of not necessarily as simple as like,
who am I? But just like what is your
relationship with keeping it alltogether or control or what is
(18:35):
your relationship with your body, but as a relationship with
your knees, you know, just kind of having a bit of that, just
like awareness of like that. Again, that's Fadiya, the self
study element. I would love for people to kind
of become more aware physically and also more aware of just like
those questions, those queries of the mind and of the body, I
think would be a cool experience.
(18:55):
Not to mention, obviously havinga nice physical practice to some
degree where they feel like I got a workout, but then also I
feel like my mind also is, you know, expanding at the same
time. Love it.
What does being part of the In Movement community mean to you?
(19:16):
So the in movement, which whenever I was asking you about
this, I think you might have mentioned this, but the the in
element, the in element, it justfeels so much especially aligned
with the last answer of the question, which is just is
really like kind of looking in learning in Word about yourself.
(19:38):
I think it's such a cool conceptoverall.
And because of the fact that this in movement is being
basically put together by peoplewho have been in the trenches,
so to speak, or have actually been doing the work.
And it's not created by this people that are like, this is a
business where we're going to crunch numbers.
(19:58):
And obviously there's elements of that, but where there's?
It's being run by yoga teachers.It's being run by people who
actually have been like doing the work, you know, versus
someone who's just like, I'm going to create a yoga business,
but they've never actually like really been in the rooms, you
know what I mean? So I think that's a really cool
element that makes me excited because it makes me feel like
(20:20):
it's a real experience that's not just going to be like a a
business, you know, it's going to be really very much
integrated into the truth of what the practices.
Then I think the other element that's really exciting for me is
the community aspect because of the fact that again, it's kind
of stems into like, it's not just like a single experience.
(20:41):
It's kind of like how do we helpthis to become more of a
continuation, whether it be through a series, whether it be
through like, you know, the space that's created and how we
do events, integration, post trainings, post workshops, you
know, these little social events, whether it be with the
the recovery center or, you know, who knows market like
(21:02):
Friday marketplace or nobody call it farmers market stuff or
anything where we can kind of have like just this integration
and community building together.I think is a cool thing that
especially in a place where there's a bit of transient
energy going through, there's still a lot of people that are
actually here and want to have more of that community
(21:22):
connection where they can kind of like go to a place and just
like hang out, you know, meet with people and network with
people, see familiar faces. And there are elements of that
already that exists. But I think that, you know,
every experience can be uniquelycreated.
And I think the fact that we have a platform or a location to
be able to build something like that and to get creative and
(21:44):
unique with how we do that, I think is it sounds really fun to
me. Feels like a playground almost,
but like an adult playground. Adult Playground.
Yeah, but not like a, not like an X-rated one.
Not an erotic way. No.
That took a turn there. More like a more like a not
going to be mindful of my words here.
(22:06):
I think that was. More of a fun and in playful
child like. Child like playful in humor.
Humor. Yeah, I agree.
It's like a sandbox where you can build your sandcastle if you
want to, and you can climb the tree and go up to the tree house
if you want to. And there's a there's like an
(22:27):
element of, yeah, anytime I think of community, it's like
staying true to like, yeah, I think of Colts a little bit like
Colts because, yeah, you're like, it's like throw out the,
the garbage, throw out the, the,the, you know, the cell, the
distractions, the cell phone, whatever it is.
And like, let's just have pure connection and, and each having
(22:49):
roles too. It's not like this is a like a
luxury hotel experience where you're just getting waited on
hand and foot. It's like, no, you have a
responsibility. Like you get to wash your own
cup, you know, after you drink out of it or something, you
know, some sort of exchange likethat.
I don't know, I just went off there, but just curious on how
that might play out as well. What's your favorite yoga pose
(23:13):
and why? My prerecorded answer is 1, but
I'm going to take an extra moment to see if it's still real
and true. So what I normally say is
(23:33):
triangle pose. I really like triangle.
It's just a it's nice. It's just a nice pose.
I don't. Know why it's very nice?
Something it's expansive, expansive, you know, it feels
like it's strength, core building, but it's also, I don't
know, there's just a lot of elements.
That I really like in my body really well.
But honestly, when I get on a mat, one of the first thing I
always want to do is puppy dog. Oh.
OK, yeah, yeah, you're a puppy dog.
(23:54):
I don't know why it's just I getthere and it's just like I feel
like it's, it's not so stressfulon like my knees, which I've had
issues. I feel like it starts to open up
my shoulders. It opens up, you know, my core a
little bit. My back kind of feels like it's
getting that lengthening withoutneeding to like support my whole
body weight like a down dog and I just really like it.
It almost feels like it's a prepfor me to get into even child's
(24:15):
pose, to be honest. I just I.
Just love you could tell a lot about somebody they they share
their favorite yoga pose. Yeah, what does it tell you
about me? I can't tell you that because
it's it's information that. Puppies.
Puppies. When you use on you, it just
means you're tight in your thoracic spine or like, or to
some level it makes you, you know, like you, you feel an ease
(24:37):
come through your body when you do that, which means maybe it
relax your neck and then you come to child's pose and rest
your forehead down. And you know, maybe it's has to
do with a little bit of that, that solar plexus heart
relational field kind of stuff. You know, that's just like, let
me just let me just go ahead andtouch on that.
What's important to me and it's how I relate to the world.
Yeah, it's also probably that I sit in this chair and do
(24:59):
podcasts and, yeah, website building.
Yeah, it could be that as. Well, so my body just needs
that. Which is also kind of a
disconnection from the relational field, right?
Because how can you relate to a fucking computer?
Yeah, you know, you can try and hopefully we'll never have to
completely do that and we don't have to rely on that as long as
(25:19):
we have humans around or pets orany living beings.
OK, So what are your, what are you currently exploring or
refining in your own practice right now?
The answer to that question is more awareness of the energetic
(25:43):
body. It's probably the vague way of
saying the deeper version of that, which is basically just,
yeah, tapping in a little bit more into energy centers within
this, within the system, the body for myself, of course.
But then also just creating moreawareness of that of others.
And then learning through basically a course that I'm
(26:06):
taking and you are also taking that is helping to give a bit
more structure to that. Because when you even just
saying the word energy centers and energy or energetic body
that can really just fall on like doesn't have like a
foundational structural support of like, what does that actually
mean? Maybe for some people it does,
(26:27):
but I found that by kind of learning a bit more about the
structure and certain models andtheories and how this can be
perceived, which actually reminds me a lot of my
physiotherapy education, which was like, let's like learn at
all the ways in which physiotherapy came to pass.
And then from that, you can kindof, you know, take it with your
(26:48):
own practice and how you want totake it.
So by kind of exploring energy in these different ways, I've
starting to really, I'm basically a student of energy
right now is what it feels like and really allowing myself to be
just that and then allowing it to kind of come through in
different ways, whether it be for my own self with my patients
(27:08):
and excitingly, hopefully withinthe class.
And just seeing how that might shift the way that I facilitate
or hold space in a room. So that's really exciting to me,
actually, Yeah. I think Einstein said something
like, you know, energy, something it's all that matters
or everything is energy, something like this.
And yeah, I mean, what's when you say energy, you know, for
(27:29):
the people listening, it's, it'snot just energy, it's more of
that subtle, that subtle body energy, the stuff that they
might not necessarily relate to the, the rational mind thinking
of like, I got a lot of energy, let's run around the room.
I got to run, you know. No, it's more about the capacity
(27:52):
for consciousness to emerge through the subtle energy body
is from what I what I would add to that, the capacity for which
consciousness can emerge. Yeah.
So it's kind of stepping a little bit outside of the
physical stuff. I feel like I've I've kind of
got my more than my 10,000 hoursin that and it's like I love it
(28:15):
and I still, you know, enjoy being a part of that world.
But there's also another part ofme as a human that just I like
to be challenged. I like to grow, I like to learn
and evolve and energy just in this conversation itself is a
can be a complicated topic to kind of unfold.
So to me, it's like I want to kind of learn more about it.
I want to really see how much I can unpack from that.
(28:38):
What exists in the world, How are we looking at it?
How are different people lookingat it?
And I think that to me is what'sexciting is it's almost the
complete opposite of what I'd learned for so many years.
It's a nice combination, yeah, definitely can make for a very
interesting yoga facilitator or whatever you end up doing
facilitating, right? I think that's awesome.
(28:59):
OK, So what do you think some ofyour, your, I think the last
question here, what do you thinksome of your phrases might be in
yoga class? You know, like sometimes you
just develop them when you teacha lot of classes.
Like for example, one thing I say is 0 shit, what kind of what
do I say? I'll say steady breath, steady
(29:20):
mind. That's like one thing I'll I'll
throw out there every Class A couple couple times.
I feel like part of you like giggles a little bit inside when
you do. It yeah, it's just like, it's
just like it's time to say the thing you know, and familiarity
comes up and people who take theclass probably like.
He said the thing I needed again, steady breath, steady
mind. Or, you know, whether it's the
(29:42):
whole child's pose thing, we could always rest in child's
pose if you need. Or sometimes I'll be like, OK,
you can go outside and if you need to take a break, go
outside, grab a doughnut, smoke a cigarette, all good, take a
break. But if you want to practice yoga
and honour yourself and where you're at, take an energetic
step back from what we're doing,take child's pose, things like
that. What are you going to say, man?
(30:05):
You know, I haven't really thought about that too much.
I, I don't think about those things.
The classes that I have taught, I actually try to trust myself
in those moments to like let whatever comes through come
through. And I'm trying to like tap into
like what do I usually say in some of those moments?
But nothing's actually like revealing itself.
It's. More of just planting the seeds
(30:26):
so you can bring awareness to the things you start to say more
often, more than once, right? You're like, oh, that's a thing
to me. And then you start to refine it
a little bit. I had something to do with
balance. I know for sure because I do
notice balance and awareness. I do notice anytime I teach a
class I somehow end up gravitating back towards some
words in there, regardless of the theme or the structure of
(30:50):
what I'm doing. I just it always seems to
happen. It just feels very like like
this grounded element. Maybe you could just go find
your balance, your balance, yourbalance, your balance, your
balance. Find the balance between the
push and the pull. Yeah, there you go.
You know Brian Kest and I'm suresomebody took it from somebody,
but he would say that perfect place between too much and not
(31:13):
enough. Find that place between too
much, not enough. I've used that a lot too.
You can take that one. It's it's not trademarked.
So I'm gonna, I'll play around and see which ones land and then
I'll, yeah, put a little quote on it afterwards and be like
this. Is or you can say like, hey,
relax your head, you know the human skull weighs 4 1/2 point 8
(31:34):
kilos. I actually don't know.
You know what I might do actually?
Like, but there's a big ass heads in here today, so relax
your fucking head, guys. Yeah, I've.
Heard you say that. One something like that.
Who knows, maybe I'll drop some,like, anatomical facts on
people, like, you know, you can tabletop, look down at your
hand, spread your fingers wide and take your fingers parallel.
Did you guys know that you have 29 bones in your hand?
(31:55):
Just have a look at that, explore that.
Yeah. Now here's a question.
How many joints do you think youhave in your hand?
Now tuck your toes, lift your knees, hover and breathe.
Yeah. Come back to down, we're facing
dog. 89 Just kidding. Whatever it is, it's.
Actually 120, but those types ofthings may come through.
That could be cool. Well, I think I covered all my
(32:17):
questions. Anything else?
Structurally and they're like. Off the cuff, I had a couple off
the cuff ones. You did?
Yeah, the yoga pose 1. And that last one, I don't know
what would it be from? From 1:00.
It's kind of nice being on this other side.
I don't know, it's. Yeah, maybe you should, you
know, host the. Podcast, Yeah, I'm happy to do
that. We've definitely talked about
(32:37):
that. I'm excited to hopefully migrate
some of this this workshop and over to the end movement so we
can just do this before classes,you know, have a guest.
So many people come through Abood.
They would love to, to hop on a podcast.
I'm sure our listeners would love to listen to what they have
to say. People from all over the world
doing lots of interesting things.
Yeah. What kind of rules are you going
(33:00):
to set in your classes for people?
Are you going to have rules? Are you going to be like, can
they like set do selfies and setup their phones?
Are they going to, you know, like just kind of go with
whatever flow they want? Can they?
They have to do what you're saying.
Do you have a permissive vibe? Are you a little more stick,
carrot like, gentle, aggressive?So this is a great question.
(33:24):
Yeah. It's kind of like it's a very
real, like in the process of like, what is it that I want to
establish? Yeah, I don't think a phone
thing is something that I reallywant.
I don't know if that's somethingthat a lot of people want, but
yeah, that that's going to definitely stunt certain level
of awareness and breath awareness, I would say.
So I would say probably not necessarily strict, but
(33:46):
basically making it be understood that like, yeah,
there's a no phone zone kind of situation, which I think the
studio itself. Is like the way you said that.
No phone zone. Yeah, well, that's my one of my
sayings. You can say that it's a no phone
zone. Guess I like that.
Take your take your selfie now, because it's that's the end.
No phone zone, we're off to the side.
You can maybe add to that no phone zone.
(34:06):
Sounds like ETA little bit no phone zone.
Listen to my boy ET. This is a no phone zone.
This is a no phone zone. Go home if you're.
Don't take a selfie alone. Yeah, there you go.
(34:27):
So yeah, so that and then the other part of your question was?
It's just kind of the the boundaries, the rules, like what
kind of teacher permissive vibestake care it like.
Yeah, So definitely permissive elements of what I learned from
you, the empowerment structure, that permissive vibe.
I think I already kind of naturally do it.
It's kind of hard not to now once you learn it, it's almost
(34:48):
like you can't unlearn the wordsthat you say and how they land
for people. And I think the energetic
component of becoming more awareof that is makes me see that
when you say something, how it changes the subtle energy of the
room. Yeah.
So that's something that I thinkI'm just going to.
It's going to be there regardless.
So you can consider it a staple if that helps.
(35:09):
But I think the answer to that question that is a little bit
more uniquely challenging for meis I definitely like the carrot
element more. That seems more natural to me to
kind of lead people to support people in such a way.
It's like, let's kind of like move in this direction that
(35:29):
feels very much physiotherapy, like, you know, making sure
you're safe and all that stuff. But again, I've learned from
people like you and Paul that, you know, sometimes you got to
pull out the stick and give him a little.
So that's actually an area that I actually have to consciously
apply. And I've done it in the last few
classes where I'm just like, I know my natural tendency is to
(35:52):
not do this. So I'm going to do it.
I'm going to choose to do it, yeah.
For this moment, yeah. And it's not going to last
forever. But I'm going to do this like
you're going to, you know, hold this poles or I'm going to hold.
This blank hold, this goddess, don't be a little bitch.
Just breathe. Sink deeper.
Yeah. So that polarity of balancing
those two, which one I already have I think pretty strongly.
So the permissive field feels very natural to me to to kind of
(36:13):
do the carrot thing. So I think I'm just going to
pull in a little bit of that what I would call Paul energy, a
little bit more of that intensity.
That carrot I think is going to,I'm sorry, the stick I think is
going to help the balance out mystyle.
Yeah, for sure. Well, that's it, man.
Thanks for the contributions. Letting us and all the listeners
know what what they can look forward to.
(36:35):
And they attend your classes at the end movement.
Yeah. And I'm sure some recordings
will come on as well. So some online options, some
offerings will be happening moreand more.
Keep your ears and eyes tuned into what's next.
And anything you want to say before we sign off, I'm going
in. Oh yeah.
(36:56):
Oh, I think that's it. Signing off.
Hey there, before we get startedon this week's episode, I would
love to ask for your support by reviewing this podcast.
We want to share yoga with as many people as possible and this
free resource, this podcast is one of the ways that we can do
that. And the best way that you can
help support us is by giving us a review.
So if you go to Apple Podcast orSpotify or whatever podcast
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(00:23):
and then give us some love. Thank you so much.
And let's get started with this week's episode.
Welcome to the In Movement podcast.
Today I am your host, Byron de Marseille, and across the way I
have. Michael Henry.
And we've reversed the roles today.
I'm going to be interviewing Michael and asking him about the
studio a bit. What do you think about that,
(00:45):
Michael? Should we just dive in or should
we talk about the weather or Bali or anything?
Like anything on your mind, yourheart you want to share?
Oh. No, it didn't really ground
before the podcast, so maybe I'll just take a deep breath.
If you're going to do it with me.
Those that are listening, pleasejoin in.
Let's take a big breath in together and let it go.
(01:12):
OK, cool, I'm ready to go. Let's do it.
So as you guys know, we are opening a studio very soon here
in Ubud, Bali called the End Movement.
We have two giant shallots. We have a recovery center, also
known as a spa, also has a salt magnesium pool.
What? And we, we have a restaurant as
well. We have a little podcast room
(01:34):
there. Like, you know, I'm not sure
what we're going to use it for exactly, but it could be multi
purpose and it has a nice Japanese, Japanese feel to it.
I'm quite happy with the way it looks.
I could probably go on and on and on, but the point is, is
we're going to open very soon and we are interviewing our
perspective facilitators, teachers, and Michael is one of
(01:56):
those. And so we have a little set of
questions here. I might stay linear.
I could go off the cuff intuitively and surprise him
with some questions. Let's just see how it goes.
All right, question #1 Michael, what was your first experience
with yoga? When did it shift from a
(02:16):
personal practice to something you wanted to teach?
First time I practiced yoga was in 2017 and I probably shared
this before, but I'll share it again.
And that is, it was Paul's class.
And I was here basically visiting, travelling, kind of
like a lot of people do. And I was running a lot,
(02:38):
actually doing a lot of runs, probably like 3 or 4 days a
week. And just really like I was into
the timing. It like trying to like reduce my
per mile minute and stuff like this.
And one of my friends was like, hey, why don't you come to a
yoga class? And I was like, oh, OK, sure,
why not. So he took me to a class, which
was Paul's class. I didn't know Paul obviously at
the time. And I did the class and I don't
(02:59):
really much remember much of it,but I was just like, that was
cool. That was nice.
And I was like, that guy was sweet.
It was like kind of made me feellike this was a cool thing that
I could do again. That's all I really remembered
from the experience. And then the next day I went for
a run and I noticed how open my hips were and how whenever I was
like running and like my time would had reduced by like 30
seconds per minute, mile or whatever it was.
(03:21):
And I was kind of looking at that being like, whoa, what was
that about? I was like, oh, my hips must
have really opened up. It just felt like kind of like a
gazelle running. So I was just like, oh, this
yoga thing is kind of cool, you know, and like physiotherapy, I
already knew what yoga was, but didn't actually know from like a
embodied practice. I just, you know, I'd see a
patient and I could see that they're really tight in their
body and they needed to, you know, globally work on their
(03:45):
whole system to open it up instead of giving them like
individual little exercises. I was like, hey, you guys should
probably, you know, do some yogaor maybe get into do some yoga
poses. And I might prescribe like a
cobra here and there for someone's back or something like
that. But I didn't actually know much
about it. So after that experience, I was
like, oh, maybe I should like dive into this a bit more.
(04:05):
So then I just kind of would, you know, sporadically go to a
class here and there and just went to like Marcus Wayan's
classes 'cause I was just feeling the similar vibe of
this, like power yoga stuff. And I was like, I'll just keep
doing that. And it was like fun.
That's kind of how it all started.
And then eventually I kind of really got into the yin Yang
classes, the fascia, the pulsing.
(04:26):
I could really feel the benefits.
And I would just like religiously go to again, Paul's
classes like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, he would just kind of
have all these. So that was kind of like the, I
was really into it at that point.
That was probably when I came back to Bali.
I was here for like 5 months andI was just like religiously
going to all those classes. Then I moved to Costa Rica and I
was managing a hotel with Christina and the hotel was
(04:51):
actually bought and owned by ourfriends Max and Oxana.
And when I was there, the location of the hotel, which was
an eco lodge, was like, I don't know, 200 meters from the beach
in the middle of nowhere at the jungle.
So I'd wake up at like 6:00 in the morning and I was like, I'm
just going to go do some yoga. So I'd go on the roof and I
would just practice by myself and, you know, do anything that
(05:13):
I could kind of like have pulledfrom the classes that I had
taken or just the experiences that I'd taken.
So I had done a bunch of like breath work classes and
different things. So I'd basically go up there and
do about a 90 minute whatever, yoga, asana, breathwork, laying
shavasana, just kind of like a whole little experience every
morning for like 30 days straight.
I remember kind of having this goal, like I'm going to do this
(05:34):
every day for 30 days. And then it kind of like, you
know, trickled off a little bit differently once I got past that
30 day mark. But I just kept enjoying the
practice. And I was just like, this is
really, you know, a nice experience.
And the whole time I was just thinking like, I can't wait to
go back to Bali and like, you know, get more of this, you
know, probably a very similar story to a lot of people
actually, in a lot of ways. And then I came back to Bali
(05:56):
and, yeah, just kept coming backto classes a little bit more and
stuff like that. And eventually COVID happened.
So this was in 2019. I came back to Bali this year
for basically the year which felt like a normal year.
And then, you know, right aroundthat year mark was when the
COVID things started to go down.And at that point, and then he
(06:18):
invited me to come in on the training to teach, but then also
to be a student. So I came in with the intention
of like being more of the educational, like talking about
anatomy and all that stuff, not really thinking about teaching
yoga, but I was like, it'd be a good experience for me to just
kind of learn more about yoga, add to my tool belt, if you
(06:39):
will. And so I didn't actually have an
intention of teaching at all. And I had haven't really taught
that much over the years. I've taught classes and
trainings and things like that. So to answer your question after
a long story is ultimately the process of going from my own
personal practice to teaching iskind of been a slow build of me
just really embodying and reallylearning more about the yoga,
(07:01):
not just from the asana and the physical practice, but then also
like diving a lot into the philosophy over the last few
years, especially because I'm doing a lot of trainings.
I'm surrounded by people like the Jeff, like you, Paul, Leia,
Oxi, all of these people who've been on the podcast before and
you know, doing my own personal work.
And I just feel like I'm really embodying more of the actual
(07:24):
yoga that now I can. I feel like I have a lot more to
share in a class where it's not just like the physical, the
asana, the physiotherapy, the mobility type stuff, but I can
actually like integrate more of the philosophical stuff, the
more embodied stuff. So that's kind of where I'm at
now. Nice, nice, nice to hear about
that. I kind of know most of that, but
(07:44):
it's it's nice to hear it again.And I know, you know, there's
also other things that happened in between there.
You could have the longer version of that.
Yeah. But you know, I find it.
Yeah, it is interesting to thinkabout.
I think you're in an interestingunique position in a way.
Some people get their 200 hour and they've only been doing yoga
for six months and they become ateacher and this certificate
(08:06):
like permits them to teach yoga and now they're a yoga teacher
and they start to wear that label.
Whereas you, you've really, you know, kind of gone through a
process here and have already taught yoga, but now you're
being presented an opportunity to teach it more and kind of
being thrown in, thrown into a, to a higher level place right
(08:27):
away. And I think you've, you're
prepared for it and you've earned it.
And it'll be really interesting.Like I said, a unique situation.
You want to move this question too?
Yeah. All right.
Was there a specific teacher this might actually relate to?
The last thing, I'm not sure of it.
Was there a specific teacher or actually an experience or even a
life moment that shaped the way that you teach today?
(08:53):
Oh, so I'm kind of scanning the last several years and I would
say that it's not necessarily one particular, which I'm sure
is a somewhat of an expected answer, but I would say a lot of
the teachers that I've had the privilege to work with or learn
(09:15):
from, you being one of them. Actually, duh, I'm just kidding.
In case I wasn't known, I did my200 hour with Paul and Byron,
right? So obviously I early stages of
that part, I was learning a lot and just really like being
receptive to what you guys were doing.
And it was just like how these guys have a lot to teach me.
And I think I told you in those years, I was like, you guys have
(09:37):
been a big impact in my life. You know, this particular year
was because every year I usuallytell people if there's someone
that influences my life significantly that year, I
usually reach out to them and just let them know at the end of
the year being, Hey, just, you know, like you had a huge impact
in my life this year and I just want to say thank you.
So I remember doing that for youand Paul, I don't know if you
remember that, but it's. In there.
The Jeff, I would say has been ahuge influence on me as well,
(10:01):
just more the embodiment of justthe yoga, you know, like
understanding beyond just words,but actually like feeling into,
you know, the stories that he tells and the, the, you know,
when he talks about the Yamas and the Yamas and just like the
philosophy and lifestyle and thelens of the yoga and also just
hanging in with him casually as a friend, you know, like, and
just the way he sees the world. It's just like so inspiring.
(10:26):
And because I've been teaching in all of these trainings
alongside of him, you know, I after I'd done my my lecture, I
go and sit down and listen to his lecture, right?
So I'm just kind of like around this all the time.
So I'm just getting infused withmore inspiration and more more
knowledge to some degree, so I think.
Just to chime in because you know, sometimes when we talk
about ourselves and our experience, we forget the thing
that other people may highlight for them better, which is the
(10:49):
fact that you had a physiotherapist practice, you
know, in other countries and howthat's really going to inform
your teaching. I think at this point you might
it might be just so ingrained inyou that you forget that how
unique that is. Right, that's fair.
It's so like, it's like my, my baseline that I don't even
really think about it. I think about like the things
(11:11):
that have been growing in me more in the last few years,
whereas the physiotherapy, anatomy, Physiology,
understanding of the body, bio mechanics, like I've been
learning that since I was 18 andI'm 40, almost 2 now.
So to me that's just like it's asecond nature.
It's like I don't even have to think about it, which is like
the, you know, the sequencing tosome part, the queuing, you
know, giving direction of how tomove the body, like all that
(11:33):
stuff. Not to mention, just like how
unique I can create certain, let's say, movements with the
purpose that might be actually more from, let's say, maybe a
rehabilitation perspective, but or more so something that kind
of gets into places that people might not necessarily get into.
So I think that's some of my intention behind some of the way
(11:55):
I'm going to lead classes is going to be definitely stemmed
in some of that background of the physio, right?
Ability. Fascia.
Yeah. Cars who knows what.
Yeah. And how I kind of piece it
together into a full class experience, I think is the
physical element. And then now going back to what
I was sharing with philosophy and all these things that I've
learned from these other teachers and experiences, I'm
actually excited to smash those two together.
(12:16):
Yes, that's kind of really what it is.
Yeah, I see that too. I'm OK.
How would you describe your style of teaching in three
words? And why those words?
Yeah, it's hard to kind of not say mobility.
OK, so I'm going to say mobilityunless something else comes
(12:41):
through. I'm going to say I don't know if
the word is actually, you know what I might say.
I want to say introspective, butI also want to say more self
reflection spa. Yeah, yeah, just like kind of
more actually, you know what it is?
It's awareness, awareness of self-awareness of the body in
(13:02):
such a way where it's like, OK, I'm a teacher of the body.
And if I'm leading a class, it'slike, yes, I want to actually
have the physical benefits translate through for the
person, but I also want them to become more aware of themselves
physically, which might help with my directional, like
(13:22):
guidance. And then also finding pauses and
moments to integrate breath and that awareness.
So that's probably the thing that would kick in a bit is just
awareness. And I think the third one is
honestly breath, Breath. Yeah.
I feel pretty strong about the power of the breath in
combination with basically anything, to be honest.
(13:43):
You know, when I'm working with people one-on-one, I'm just
constantly aware of the way people breathe whenever I'm
either working with their body or just helping them to do
movements. And you know you do it in a
class setting. You just made me breathe.
Like when you said that I started being like oh shit, I
better breathe. Well, it's, it's sometimes you
don't even, you don't even awareevery breath pattern that we
(14:05):
have is different from moment tomoment because of either our
body position or some sort of memory of something can trigger
a different breath response. But the more aware we are of the
breath, the more we can influence it, change it, and
ultimately shape our chemistry is even.
For example, yesterday I had a patient or a client come in and
(14:27):
you know, was doing some, some things with her and working on
her a little bit and she was, she breathe in and that was her
pattern. She would hold her breath.
Every time she breath, she held,she breathed for at least a
second or two or three seconds. And I was like, do you know
you're holding your breath? She's like, I had no idea.
I was like, I just try to not dothat and just like breathe and
(14:49):
then let it out. And she, it's almost like it was
like I hid like a, a short circuit in her brain.
She didn't know how to do it right.
So just integrating the breath within movement and moments,
which is not nothing new, but I think I'm really tapping into
that is a really powerful element that I definitely want
to put my foot on with regards to the mobility and the
(15:10):
awareness. That's great.
I mean, with every breath, everybreath we take, every move we
make, I'll be watching you. No, but that's great.
That's great. And I'll probably add like maybe
injury prevention or some sort of thing like that for you just
because of your, your personal awareness.
If there was a fourth thing, andif this was to be, like, to
(15:35):
garner more interest for your classes and what people might be
expecting, it would be to like, yeah, like, we're going to take
care of our bodies, you know? Yeah, I'm glad you said that
because honestly, the sequences that I've made and probably will
continue to refine is really much trying to create a class
around helping people target areas of their body that need
attention. Just from my years of experience
of knowing that the majority of people have some sort of thing
(15:58):
going on with their hip, that's not necessarily like, oh, they
need hip openers. It's like, sure, you need that,
but you're also probably need some specific targeting in
combination with functional movements or poses.
That's really going to kind of help, especially with the idea
of, and this is something you and I've talked a little bit
about is or maybe not directly, but basically allowing classes
(16:20):
to help build on for someone's experience.
So it's not just like, OK, you come take this class and it's a
nice class. It's kind of like take this
class and the next class is kindof like a continuation to some
degree where. Yeah.
Exactly. So it's not just a one off.
It's like you can take it as a one off for sure, but like if
someone wants to come to a classmore regularly, they want to see
(16:41):
a progress they want to see like, you know, in a lot of
people's cases, it's the asana. I'm doing better in the asana.
Can I do this pose now better than I did before?
So I kind of like that. But to me, it's like it's less
about can I do the pose versus can I see the progress of the
smoothness of this movement, themobility of this joint, the
strength when I'm kind of transitioning from this position
to this position, or if it is like a repetition type of
(17:04):
movement and seeing how wow, this is easier, this is better,
this is stronger. And then if to become aware of
noticing how that translates into their day-to-day life for
the functional movements that they do, I think is really the
cool little experience. It's.
Great. Let's take a breath.
Every breath I take. OK, Have a move I make.
(17:28):
But we do have another question for Michael.
Hit me. All right.
What do you feel you uniquely bring to the studio through your
classes? I feel like you've already
nailed that. Yeah, I think I heard you answer
that. Yeah.
OK. So when someone walks into your
class at the in movement, what do you want them to experience
(17:51):
or feel after they walk out? Without trying to control it too
much, I would love for them to just become more aware of
themselves in whatever way that needs to be.
Maybe it's just like, oh, I didn't realize that about my
(18:12):
body because maybe I said something that was like
educational or it was just like,you know, inspired by, you know,
things like you and Paul. Like some of those introspective
questions. I would love to kind of, you
know, infuse some of that as well.
Like just like a thought of not necessarily as simple as like,
who am I? But just like what is your
relationship with keeping it alltogether or control or what is
(18:35):
your relationship with your body, but as a relationship with
your knees, you know, just kind of having a bit of that, just
like awareness of like that. Again, that's Fadiya, the self
study element. I would love for people to kind
of become more aware physically and also more aware of just like
those questions, those queries of the mind and of the body, I
think would be a cool experience.
(18:55):
Not to mention, obviously havinga nice physical practice to some
degree where they feel like I got a workout, but then also I
feel like my mind also is, you know, expanding at the same
time. Love it.
What does being part of the In Movement community mean to you?
(19:16):
So the in movement, which whenever I was asking you about
this, I think you might have mentioned this, but the the in
element, the in element, it justfeels so much especially aligned
with the last answer of the question, which is just is
really like kind of looking in learning in Word about yourself.
(19:38):
I think it's such a cool conceptoverall.
And because of the fact that this in movement is being
basically put together by peoplewho have been in the trenches,
so to speak, or have actually been doing the work.
And it's not created by this people that are like, this is a
business where we're going to crunch numbers.
(19:58):
And obviously there's elements of that, but where there's?
It's being run by yoga teachers.It's being run by people who
actually have been like doing the work, you know, versus
someone who's just like, I'm going to create a yoga business,
but they've never actually like really been in the rooms, you
know what I mean? So I think that's a really cool
element that makes me excited because it makes me feel like
(20:20):
it's a real experience that's not just going to be like a a
business, you know, it's going to be really very much
integrated into the truth of what the practices.
Then I think the other element that's really exciting for me is
the community aspect because of the fact that again, it's kind
of stems into like, it's not just like a single experience.
(20:41):
It's kind of like how do we helpthis to become more of a
continuation, whether it be through a series, whether it be
through like, you know, the space that's created and how we
do events, integration, post trainings, post workshops, you
know, these little social events, whether it be with the
the recovery center or, you know, who knows market like
(21:02):
Friday marketplace or nobody call it farmers market stuff or
anything where we can kind of have like just this integration
and community building together.I think is a cool thing that
especially in a place where there's a bit of transient
energy going through, there's still a lot of people that are
actually here and want to have more of that community
(21:22):
connection where they can kind of like go to a place and just
like hang out, you know, meet with people and network with
people, see familiar faces. And there are elements of that
already that exists. But I think that, you know,
every experience can be uniquelycreated.
And I think the fact that we have a platform or a location to
be able to build something like that and to get creative and
(21:44):
unique with how we do that, I think is it sounds really fun to
me. Feels like a playground almost,
but like an adult playground. Adult Playground.
Yeah, but not like a, not like an X-rated one.
Not an erotic way. No.
That took a turn there. More like a more like a not
going to be mindful of my words here.
(22:06):
I think that was. More of a fun and in playful
child like. Child like playful in humor.
Humor. Yeah, I agree.
It's like a sandbox where you can build your sandcastle if you
want to, and you can climb the tree and go up to the tree house
if you want to. And there's a there's like an
(22:27):
element of, yeah, anytime I think of community, it's like
staying true to like, yeah, I think of Colts a little bit like
Colts because, yeah, you're like, it's like throw out the,
the garbage, throw out the, the,the, you know, the cell, the
distractions, the cell phone, whatever it is.
And like, let's just have pure connection and, and each having
(22:49):
roles too. It's not like this is a like a
luxury hotel experience where you're just getting waited on
hand and foot. It's like, no, you have a
responsibility. Like you get to wash your own
cup, you know, after you drink out of it or something, you
know, some sort of exchange likethat.
I don't know, I just went off there, but just curious on how
that might play out as well. What's your favorite yoga pose
(23:13):
and why? My prerecorded answer is 1, but
I'm going to take an extra moment to see if it's still real
and true. So what I normally say is
(23:33):
triangle pose. I really like triangle.
It's just a it's nice. It's just a nice pose.
I don't. Know why it's very nice?
Something it's expansive, expansive, you know, it feels
like it's strength, core building, but it's also, I don't
know, there's just a lot of elements.
That I really like in my body really well.
But honestly, when I get on a mat, one of the first thing I
always want to do is puppy dog. Oh.
OK, yeah, yeah, you're a puppy dog.
(23:54):
I don't know why it's just I getthere and it's just like I feel
like it's, it's not so stressfulon like my knees, which I've had
issues. I feel like it starts to open up
my shoulders. It opens up, you know, my core a
little bit. My back kind of feels like it's
getting that lengthening withoutneeding to like support my whole
body weight like a down dog and I just really like it.
It almost feels like it's a prepfor me to get into even child's
(24:15):
pose, to be honest. I just I.
Just love you could tell a lot about somebody they they share
their favorite yoga pose. Yeah, what does it tell you
about me? I can't tell you that because
it's it's information that. Puppies.
Puppies. When you use on you, it just
means you're tight in your thoracic spine or like, or to
some level it makes you, you know, like you, you feel an ease
(24:37):
come through your body when you do that, which means maybe it
relax your neck and then you come to child's pose and rest
your forehead down. And you know, maybe it's has to
do with a little bit of that, that solar plexus heart
relational field kind of stuff. You know, that's just like, let
me just let me just go ahead andtouch on that.
What's important to me and it's how I relate to the world.
Yeah, it's also probably that I sit in this chair and do
(24:59):
podcasts and, yeah, website building.
Yeah, it could be that as. Well, so my body just needs
that. Which is also kind of a
disconnection from the relational field, right?
Because how can you relate to a fucking computer?
Yeah, you know, you can try and hopefully we'll never have to
completely do that and we don't have to rely on that as long as
(25:19):
we have humans around or pets orany living beings.
OK, So what are your, what are you currently exploring or
refining in your own practice right now?
The answer to that question is more awareness of the energetic
(25:43):
body. It's probably the vague way of
saying the deeper version of that, which is basically just,
yeah, tapping in a little bit more into energy centers within
this, within the system, the body for myself, of course.
But then also just creating moreawareness of that of others.
And then learning through basically a course that I'm
(26:06):
taking and you are also taking that is helping to give a bit
more structure to that. Because when you even just
saying the word energy centers and energy or energetic body
that can really just fall on like doesn't have like a
foundational structural support of like, what does that actually
mean? Maybe for some people it does,
(26:27):
but I found that by kind of learning a bit more about the
structure and certain models andtheories and how this can be
perceived, which actually reminds me a lot of my
physiotherapy education, which was like, let's like learn at
all the ways in which physiotherapy came to pass.
And then from that, you can kindof, you know, take it with your
(26:48):
own practice and how you want totake it.
So by kind of exploring energy in these different ways, I've
starting to really, I'm basically a student of energy
right now is what it feels like and really allowing myself to be
just that and then allowing it to kind of come through in
different ways, whether it be for my own self with my patients
(27:08):
and excitingly, hopefully withinthe class.
And just seeing how that might shift the way that I facilitate
or hold space in a room. So that's really exciting to me,
actually, Yeah. I think Einstein said something
like, you know, energy, something it's all that matters
or everything is energy, something like this.
And yeah, I mean, what's when you say energy, you know, for
(27:29):
the people listening, it's, it'snot just energy, it's more of
that subtle, that subtle body energy, the stuff that they
might not necessarily relate to the, the rational mind thinking
of like, I got a lot of energy, let's run around the room.
I got to run, you know. No, it's more about the capacity
(27:52):
for consciousness to emerge through the subtle energy body
is from what I what I would add to that, the capacity for which
consciousness can emerge. Yeah.
So it's kind of stepping a little bit outside of the
physical stuff. I feel like I've I've kind of
got my more than my 10,000 hoursin that and it's like I love it
(28:15):
and I still, you know, enjoy being a part of that world.
But there's also another part ofme as a human that just I like
to be challenged. I like to grow, I like to learn
and evolve and energy just in this conversation itself is a
can be a complicated topic to kind of unfold.
So to me, it's like I want to kind of learn more about it.
I want to really see how much I can unpack from that.
(28:38):
What exists in the world, How are we looking at it?
How are different people lookingat it?
And I think that to me is what'sexciting is it's almost the
complete opposite of what I'd learned for so many years.
It's a nice combination, yeah, definitely can make for a very
interesting yoga facilitator or whatever you end up doing
facilitating, right? I think that's awesome.
(28:59):
OK, So what do you think some ofyour, your, I think the last
question here, what do you thinksome of your phrases might be in
yoga class? You know, like sometimes you
just develop them when you teacha lot of classes.
Like for example, one thing I say is 0 shit, what kind of what
do I say? I'll say steady breath, steady
(29:20):
mind. That's like one thing I'll I'll
throw out there every Class A couple couple times.
I feel like part of you like giggles a little bit inside when
you do. It yeah, it's just like, it's
just like it's time to say the thing you know, and familiarity
comes up and people who take theclass probably like.
He said the thing I needed again, steady breath, steady
mind. Or, you know, whether it's the
(29:42):
whole child's pose thing, we could always rest in child's
pose if you need. Or sometimes I'll be like, OK,
you can go outside and if you need to take a break, go
outside, grab a doughnut, smoke a cigarette, all good, take a
break. But if you want to practice yoga
and honour yourself and where you're at, take an energetic
step back from what we're doing,take child's pose, things like
that. What are you going to say, man?
(30:05):
You know, I haven't really thought about that too much.
I, I don't think about those things.
The classes that I have taught, I actually try to trust myself
in those moments to like let whatever comes through come
through. And I'm trying to like tap into
like what do I usually say in some of those moments?
But nothing's actually like revealing itself.
It's. More of just planting the seeds
(30:26):
so you can bring awareness to the things you start to say more
often, more than once, right? You're like, oh, that's a thing
to me. And then you start to refine it
a little bit. I had something to do with
balance. I know for sure because I do
notice balance and awareness. I do notice anytime I teach a
class I somehow end up gravitating back towards some
words in there, regardless of the theme or the structure of
(30:50):
what I'm doing. I just it always seems to
happen. It just feels very like like
this grounded element. Maybe you could just go find
your balance, your balance, yourbalance, your balance, your
balance. Find the balance between the
push and the pull. Yeah, there you go.
You know Brian Kest and I'm suresomebody took it from somebody,
but he would say that perfect place between too much and not
(31:13):
enough. Find that place between too
much, not enough. I've used that a lot too.
You can take that one. It's it's not trademarked.
So I'm gonna, I'll play around and see which ones land and then
I'll, yeah, put a little quote on it afterwards and be like
this. Is or you can say like, hey,
relax your head, you know the human skull weighs 4 1/2 point 8
(31:34):
kilos. I actually don't know.
You know what I might do actually?
Like, but there's a big ass heads in here today, so relax
your fucking head, guys. Yeah, I've.
Heard you say that. One something like that.
Who knows, maybe I'll drop some,like, anatomical facts on
people, like, you know, you can tabletop, look down at your
hand, spread your fingers wide and take your fingers parallel.
Did you guys know that you have 29 bones in your hand?
(31:55):
Just have a look at that, explore that.
Yeah. Now here's a question.
How many joints do you think youhave in your hand?
Now tuck your toes, lift your knees, hover and breathe.
Yeah. Come back to down, we're facing
dog. 89 Just kidding. Whatever it is, it's.
Actually 120, but those types ofthings may come through.
That could be cool. Well, I think I covered all my
(32:17):
questions. Anything else?
Structurally and they're like. Off the cuff, I had a couple off
the cuff ones. You did?
Yeah, the yoga pose 1. And that last one, I don't know
what would it be from? From 1:00.
It's kind of nice being on this other side.
I don't know, it's. Yeah, maybe you should, you
know, host the. Podcast, Yeah, I'm happy to do
that. We've definitely talked about
(32:37):
that. I'm excited to hopefully migrate
some of this this workshop and over to the end movement so we
can just do this before classes,you know, have a guest.
So many people come through Abood.
They would love to, to hop on a podcast.
I'm sure our listeners would love to listen to what they have
to say. People from all over the world
doing lots of interesting things.
Yeah. What kind of rules are you going
(33:00):
to set in your classes for people?
Are you going to have rules? Are you going to be like, can
they like set do selfies and setup their phones?
Are they going to, you know, like just kind of go with
whatever flow they want? Can they?
They have to do what you're saying.
Do you have a permissive vibe? Are you a little more stick,
carrot like, gentle, aggressive?So this is a great question.
(33:24):
Yeah. It's kind of like it's a very
real, like in the process of like, what is it that I want to
establish? Yeah, I don't think a phone
thing is something that I reallywant.
I don't know if that's somethingthat a lot of people want, but
yeah, that that's going to definitely stunt certain level
of awareness and breath awareness, I would say.
So I would say probably not necessarily strict, but
(33:46):
basically making it be understood that like, yeah,
there's a no phone zone kind of situation, which I think the
studio itself. Is like the way you said that.
No phone zone. Yeah, well, that's my one of my
sayings. You can say that it's a no phone
zone. Guess I like that.
Take your take your selfie now, because it's that's the end.
No phone zone, we're off to the side.
You can maybe add to that no phone zone.
(34:06):
Sounds like ETA little bit no phone zone.
Listen to my boy ET. This is a no phone zone.
This is a no phone zone. Go home if you're.
Don't take a selfie alone. Yeah, there you go.
(34:27):
So yeah, so that and then the other part of your question was?
It's just kind of the the boundaries, the rules, like what
kind of teacher permissive vibestake care it like.
Yeah, So definitely permissive elements of what I learned from
you, the empowerment structure, that permissive vibe.
I think I already kind of naturally do it.
It's kind of hard not to now once you learn it, it's almost
(34:48):
like you can't unlearn the wordsthat you say and how they land
for people. And I think the energetic
component of becoming more awareof that is makes me see that
when you say something, how it changes the subtle energy of the
room. Yeah.
So that's something that I thinkI'm just going to.
It's going to be there regardless.
So you can consider it a staple if that helps.
(35:09):
But I think the answer to that question that is a little bit
more uniquely challenging for meis I definitely like the carrot
element more. That seems more natural to me to
kind of lead people to support people in such a way.
It's like, let's kind of like move in this direction that
(35:29):
feels very much physiotherapy, like, you know, making sure
you're safe and all that stuff. But again, I've learned from
people like you and Paul that, you know, sometimes you got to
pull out the stick and give him a little.
So that's actually an area that I actually have to consciously
apply. And I've done it in the last few
classes where I'm just like, I know my natural tendency is to
(35:52):
not do this. So I'm going to do it.
I'm going to choose to do it, yeah.
For this moment, yeah. And it's not going to last
forever. But I'm going to do this like
you're going to, you know, hold this poles or I'm going to hold.
This blank hold, this goddess, don't be a little bitch.
Just breathe. Sink deeper.
Yeah. So that polarity of balancing
those two, which one I already have I think pretty strongly.
So the permissive field feels very natural to me to to kind of
(36:13):
do the carrot thing. So I think I'm just going to
pull in a little bit of that what I would call Paul energy, a
little bit more of that intensity.
That carrot I think is going to,I'm sorry, the stick I think is
going to help the balance out mystyle.
Yeah, for sure. Well, that's it, man.
Thanks for the contributions. Letting us and all the listeners
know what what they can look forward to.
(36:35):
And they attend your classes at the end movement.
Yeah. And I'm sure some recordings
will come on as well. So some online options, some
offerings will be happening moreand more.
Keep your ears and eyes tuned into what's next.
And anything you want to say before we sign off, I'm going
in. Oh yeah.
(36:56):
Oh, I think that's it. Signing off.
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