In 2015 Phil Sussman was a captain in the US Army who fractured his spine in two places during a training exercise. After struggling through the physical, mental, and existential pain of his trauma, and in his words “hitting rock bottom,” his wife suggested he give yoga a shot. Soon after that first class, Phil’s nascent practice began to not only pull him out of his pain and suffering, but also gave his life meaning and purpose again, ultimately leading him to create a brand, community, and movement called American Yogi.

Johnny Gillespie is the founder and owner of Empowered Wellness Studio and the creator of The Balanced Athlete®, a functional fitness program that teaches people how to mindfully move their bodies in a safe and more integrated manner. In addition to being a registered 500-Hour teacher with Yoga Alliance, he is credentialed and certified in strength and conditioning (CSCS), personal training with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (CPT), and a meditation teacher trained by David Nichtern, senior teacher in the lineage of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In this brief but packed discussion, Johnny shares his passion and perspective on yoga, fitness training, Buddhism and finding the right yoga teacher and practice.

Former emergency room physician, Dr. Ken Starr, got introduced to Bikram yoga in 1996 while doing a rotation as a fourth-year med school student at Stanford. In this conversation, Ken, a board-certified addiction medicine specialist, shares how the adaptability of yoga can be a resource and solution for working through the emotional and physical stress that manifests in the body.

Sit or lie back and let Chelsea Duke, owner of Glow Yoga of Eugene, take you through a short guided meditation that helps anyone reconnect after their practice, or any time when they need a moment to check out - and check in.

Chelsea Duke, owner of Glow Yoga of Eugene, has been leading a range of yoga instruction and training with the athletic department of the University of Oregon since 2013. In our conversation Chelsea shares how she’s incorporated a style of yoga focused on joint mobility, injury prevention and restorative practices to help men’s teams dominate their game, and lives, on and off the track, field, court, and course.

Michael Susi is the director of global wellness at LinkedIn where he created and scaled its health and wellness program to meet the needs of sixteen thousand employees. In this conversation, we talk about his path from coaching and training to leading wellness at the world’s largest professional network and how he reimagined the wellness program by designing initiatives around the pillars of thoughts, breathing, hydration, nutrition, movement, and rest – aspects that are found among the many qualities of yoga.

Ten tips from Derek to jumpstart your practice and get yourself on the path to becoming a stronger, wiser, and more balanced self before you know it.

The second of two interviews with Dr. Dan Bornstein, associate professor in the department of health, exercise, and sport science at the Citadel, the military college of South Carolina. Dan leads one of the only graduate degrees in the nation designed to meet the growing demand for exercise science specifically designed to work with military personnel and first responders – those considered tactical athletes by occupation. In this conversation Dan speaks to the mind-body benefits of yoga and shares how the integrated fitness progress programs used by top sports athletes has influenced the training for special operators and is now becoming a basis for holistic health and fitness for all members of the military.

Greg May is the Director of Athletics at Saint Thomas Academy in Minnesota and a former college hockey player who has coached at the top high school and college programs in the country including the University of Minnesota, where he was director of hockey operations. After highlighting his experience working with the Gophers, Greg goes into detail sharing how yoga became a key component of off-season conditioning as well as in-season training for his high school teams and the impact it made on many of his players both physically and mentally.

Andrew Stackhouse found yoga nearly fifteen years ago as a means to complement his path to sobriety and was instantly hooked on the physicality of the practice as well as its humbling and empowering qualities. “Stack” shares his well-earned perspective from being dragged to yoga by his wife to ultimately becoming a teacher and co-owner of a studio in Southern California and defies the image of the typical male yogi with his motorcycle-riding, Metallica-listening and energy drink-fueled presence, and yet also personifies everything that is the 21st century man: thoughtful, experienced, and committed to sharing the practice of yoga with everyone at The Center Studio.

Derek Sabori got into yoga as means to recover and balance out his jujitsu training and got hooked by the physical practice and the intellectual challenges in pulling off an advanced inversion called parsva bakasana – more commonly known as side crow pose. Soon his passion and appreciation for the benefits of yoga lead him to found a yoga apparel company called Kozm and creating a killer pair of hemp, cotton, and lycra shorts that have become an instant hit.

With three decades as a high school physical education teacher combined with thirty years of service in the Navy and Army Reserve, Craig Shimel has amassed a ton of perspective and knowledge around life, community, service, and fitness. In the mid-1990s he helped pioneer the integration of functional movement and yoga in youth fitness after teaching himself simple sun salutations exercises by watching Rodney Yee’s beginner’s yoga VHS tapes in his living room.

Bolsters, blocks, belts, chairs, and even walls can safely offer support for weak muscles and unstable joints as practitioners navigate nagging injuries and challenging yoga poses (“asanas”). Combined with an experienced Iyengar teacher, the use of props can also help unlock a subtle, unexpected awareness within. Today’s guest is Andi Wirz, a friend and native of Switzerland who has been teaching the Iyengar method for twenty years and led classes at two of the most respected backcare studios in the country, Samamkaya and Yoga Union.

I met Tom Strachan during the high-flying dot-com boom days in the early 2000s while working for Akamai Technologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was his passion and dedication to yoga that inspired many of his colleagues to try yoga, and thankfully I was one of them. In our conversation, Tom shares how Bikram yoga helped him cope with his early days of sobriety and speaks to the many benefits of having an on-going practice as he enters his 50s.

The first of two interviews, Dr. Dan Bornstein is an associate professor of the department of health, exercise, and sport science at the Citadel, the military college of South Carolina, and the director of the Center of Performance, Readiness, Resiliency and Recovery (CPR3). He leads one of the only graduate degrees in the nation designed to meet the growing demand for exercise science specifically designed to work with military personnel and first responders – those considered tactical athletes by occupation. In this conversation, Dan shares how a significant back injury in his youth ultimately led him to yoga and his interest in musculoskeletal health and physical fitness while also shaping his commitment to public service and giving back.

With over thirty years in the fitness industry, Steve Safrit is the owner and founder of SoFul Yoga and a co-founder of The Forum Gym in Salisbury, North Carolina. He is a passionate advocate for yoga’s many benefits for the mind, body, and spirit. His path began in 2001 when he earned his 200-hour teaching certification as a means of complementing his weightlifting regimen and karate practice and he now teaches at gyms, pediatric centers, health fairs, schools, and churches.

Curt is the director of the center for innovation at the Fessenden School and a long-time friend since college. Curt shares his path for how he got into meditation in high school and how his practice helped him manage stress-related back pain while making a career shift from financial services into education.

Bryan Wymbs is a lawyer in North Carolina who got into yoga over fifteen years ago. He shares his experience taking his first class at a local gym and how the non-competitive practice of yoga helped provide balance in his life, particularly in managing stress and focusing on the moment.

Derek met Alaska native David Demers while playing lacrosse for the Portland Ales in Oregon during the late 1990s. Dave shares how yoga helped him manage chronic lower back issues that he struggled with since his college days and allowed him to keep playing lacrosse and hockey well into his 50s. 

Bill Rexford is a longtime coach, teacher, and athlete who had a successful career playing lacrosse both for Dartmouth College and at the top level of club leagues. Rex talks about how yoga came into his life in the 90s as a high school coach in Oregon and how it helped him navigate the realities of past injuries and roadblocks with intentionality, both in his practice and his life.