Yoga Talks on Pirate Radio with J. Brown
Our Guest today reminded Russell of a song he used to listen to as a young man alone painting in his studio.
Every Mother’s Son:
“Something to tell you, I think you should know
You think too fast and you love too slow, you know
You needn't feel you're the only one
This could happen to every mother's sonl.”
- Chris Smither
We caught up with J Brown, podcast creator, and host of Yoga Talks for the last seven years. With tears shed all around, J shared with us the story of how he lost his mum as a very young man. It’s a heart rending story. And, for all of us when our heart rends it is an opportunity for healing. To heal is a blessing. We just don’t often do it. I think for most of us when we are slapped in the face we take the wound, and we smoulder and burn. We thicken and take long stares.
I’m reminded of a fire we had in the late Autumn last year, on Nose Hill, here in Calgary. It burned a big swath of the hill and we were all a little worried at the time, intently staring out our car windows as the Firemen tackled the flames. It left long black streaks in the hill for the whole of spring. And, it reminded us of the closeness of that disaster each day as we took little Jediah to school.
And then the land healed.
By summer it was the greenest part of the hill. Pea-shoot green. And, beautifully rich.
So too, did our guest today choose to heal and he is more beautiful for it. We explored his roots and heard how the loss of his mother as a teenager was an important event that recalibrated the entire trajectory of his life.
J. Brown talked to us about his early life as a professional actor, dancer, and musician; yet ultimately, yoga was the discipline where his heart took root. Where he saw real truth which required no audience. The whole world is the audience for when you shine like he does. The whole world is his stage. His podcast is certainly out there in the world. And, he has been burned a few times. So we asked for his council as we haven’t been hurt like that. Which reminds us of another song:
“No, you've got it the wrong way round
You shut me up, and blamed it on the brown
Cornered the boy, kicked out at the world
The world kicked back a lot fuckin' harder now.”
- The Libertines - Pete Doherty
We also looked at how his philosophy of teaching yoga has evolved over the years from one that was highly centered around strong and advanced Vinyasa style classes, with a kick-ass play list, filled with loads of handstands and tricks, to one that embodied his lessons learned from a Swami he met during his first and only trip to India: “Slower is Stronger.”
For more than twenty-five years, J. Brown has been developing techniques to teach people how to practice yoga in a deeper and more fulfilling way.
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
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Opening and closing music compliments of my dear friend teaching Ashtanga yoga in Eindhoven, Nick Evans, with his band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.” Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.
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