Bill Brown was 41 years old when he took his first yoga class, and the experience moved him to tears.

You’ll hear why in this conversation, as well as how Bill wound up directing an organization that brings yoga to thousands of incarcerated men and women around the world.

This is the second of three conversations in our Prison Yoga Project series; Bill expands on the group’s work (discussed last episode with founder James Fox) as well as his own compelling personal story.

Bill also talks about:

• How yoga can help people with trauma and dissociation

• Gaining trust when facilitating yoga classes in prisons and jails

• How stress builds in the body over time and how yoga can help guys work through that

• How yoga helped Bill deal with anger in a much healthier way

• Using the force of the ground in your yoga practice

• How Prison Yoga Project has scaled and has even begun working with corrections officers and other staff

James Fox is the Founding Director of the Prison Yoga Project, which he started in San Quentin and grew to 17 states and beyond.

In part one of a three-part series on prison yoga, James tells Derek about the program's origins (he started in a single juvenile detention center); the unique challenges and opportunities involved; and the story of a participant whose rehabilitation and parole was inextricably linked with the yoga practice he learned while behind bars.

James also talks about:

• How yoga helped him get over back pain from running

• How Prison Yoga Project scaled through word of mouth, teacher training, and their book

• How men and women in prison tend to react to first trying yoga

• The trauma-informed approach they've developed

• The role yoga played in a parole hearing for a participant serving a life sentence

Friend of the show Johnny Gillespie joins Derek to talk about the men's yoga retreat he's hosting in February, called “The Way of the Empowered Man."

Johnny is a certified meditation and yoga teacher and the founder of Empowered Wellness Studio. He's also run about 30 retreats in his career.

Johnny and Derek talk about:

• The value of retreats and why there aren't many yoga retreats for men

• The activities and schedule at a yoga retreat

• How yoga can complement weightlifting and other fitness regimens rather than replacing them

• The concept of the "Empowered Man"

• The Kripalu Yoga Center in Western Massachusetts, where Johnny's retreat will be held

In 2017 Derek sought out Alison West, one of the most recognized and respected yoga instructors in the industry, for his 200-hour teaching certification and his first step out of the pain, tension, and overall chronic imbalances that dogged him for over five years.

It was Alison who helped introduce Derek to the infinite potential that yoga offers for developing agency and awareness in navigating the deep challenges with our twisted, asymmetrical, and complex bodies and tapping into the mind-body connection.

Alison West, Ph.D, E-RYT, C-IAYT is director of Yoga Union and the Yoga Union Backcare & Scoliosis Center, and has been teaching yoga for over thirty years. Prior to opening Yoga Union in 1996 she studied at the Sivananda center and at Jivamukti in New York, as well with Eddie Stern and Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India.

During her education and path she continued studying Iyengar Yoga for alignment, working in particular with Kevin Gardiner, the late Mary Dunn, and, later, Genny Kapuler. Alison has also traveled to Pune to study with the Iyengars. She furthered her meditation studies with TKV Desikachar at a retreat at Colgate University in 1993 and went on to the Shambhala trainings in NYC. Her spiritual teachers include Ramana Maharshi and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

She is currently writing her first Yoga book, Yoga for Backcare, which will be followed by Yoga for Scoliosis.

In this episode, Derek talks yoga with two of the most impactful college lacrosse players to emerge from upstate New York in the 1990s: his former teammate and good friend, Todd Burnham – a two-time All-American and 1993 National Champion at Hobart College; and Casey Powell, a four-time All-American and 1995 National Champion at Syracuse University.

Todd Burnham is an expert litigator, entrepreneur, author, and leadership coach who is a founding partner of Burnham Law – an elite litigation firm in Colorado with a team of top-rated experienced associates and paralegals focusing on family law, civil litigation, personal injury, and many other services for those in need in the states of Colorado and Wyoming. In 2022, Todd published his best-selling book Comeback: Epic Rebound Strategies for Business or Personal Adversity, a guide on transforming trauma into triumph through his breakthrough findings and unique insight into six easy-to-execute tactics that have helped countless individuals rebound from adversity more powerful than before.

Casey Powell is considered one of the best to ever play the sport of lacrosse and has spent his professional career traveling the world playing, teaching, and helping spread the game. After Syracuse, Powell became a globally-recognized athlete, playing 15 seasons professionally in the MLL and NLL, and was selected to play on four US National Teams – captaining Team USA in 2006, 2011, and in 2015. He is a member of the Upstate Lacrosse (NY) and the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and the owner/director of CP Lacrosse which runs camps, clinics, and tournaments nationally. Along with his brothers Ryan and Michael, Casey is a founding partner of Powell Lacrosse.

In this episode, Dean Pohlman, the founder of Man Flow Yoga, shares his path with yoga and the idea to launch an online yoga training program targeted to men who are new to the practice. In this informative discussion, Dean shares how he first stumbled into yoga as a senior in college, the physical benefits of yoga and how it complements any fitness program, and the impact on the lives of many guys. Since launching in 2013, his fitness-oriented, non-spiritual Man Flow Yoga program has sold numerous DVD and online subscriptions, and has amassed over 400,000 subscribers on YouTube where you can access many curated yoga programs to address a range of health and fitness objectives. In addition, Dean has sold over 35,000 copies worldwide of his 2018 book Yoga Fitness for Men: Build Strength, Improve Performance, and Increase Flexibility. Man Flow Yoga has been featured in Muscle & Fitness Magazine, Men’s Health, The Chicago Sun, New York Magazine, and many more major news media outlets.

Introduced to the basic principles of Hatha Yoga by his father while growing up in Little Italy, it wasn’t until his mid-twenties that Frank Mauro began exploring asana postures and the philosophical underpinnings of the practice. In the 1990s, New York was in its heyday with studios opening across the city and giving birth to a new generation of conscious and creative yoga teachers, including a young Frank Mauro. His curiosity and interest in yoga ultimately led Frank to his first teacher training with the internationally recognized Sivananda Yoga Center and then eventually with many world-renowned teachers including Richard Freeman, Rodney Yee, Eric Schiffmann, Judith Lasater, and later in Manhattan with Cyndi Lee at the Om Yoga Center. Frank currently teaches at NY Loves Yoga Studio in the upper West Side of Manhattan.

We have invited back two of our most popular guests, Johnny Gillespie and Neil Taylor, to explore 'What is Yoga?' Johnny, Neil, and Derek discuss several themes around known aspects of the physical practice – including alignment and balance; however, the guys also hit on more subtle themes, such as skillfulness, connection, vulnerability, and wisdom that most probably don’t consider when rolling out the mat.

Neil Taylor is a bodyworker and a meditation and yoga teacher, in the Boston area, and Johnny is based in Wilmington, Delaware. He is the founder and owner of Empowered Wellness Studio and the creator of The Balanced Athlete, an online and studio-based functional fitness program that teaches people how to mindfully move their bodies.

In this special bonus episode, Larry Milburn shares several stories about his work teaching men Yoga. You can also listen to Larry's full episode, titled "Reckoning Poses and Working Out the Gunk with Filmmaker, Podcaster, Yoga Instructor Larry Millburn" for more of Larry's insights, advice, and stories.

In 1995 Larry Millburn wandered into the Center for Yoga in Los Angeles not knowing what he was looking for and the path ahead. Sensing he needed to find a healthier approach to balance out some bad habits he told the studio owner at the front desk that he was looking to get “out of his body” to which she replied, “No, you need to get into your body.” In this conversation, Larry shares his long path with yoga beginning in his early 20s as a young actor and musician, and how he later reconnected with the practice in 2005 when he needed to fill a void in his life. Eventually, his curiosity, practice, and path lead him to become a deeply committed and passionate yoga teacher at Charym Yoga Studio in Connecticut. And when not on the mat in his reckoning pose, Larry can be found hosting his Roadie Free Radio podcast and leading yoga classes on Follow Your Drishti.

Highlights from over forty interviews, this episode is a great companion listen for any new or seasoned practitioner with offerings ranging from how yoga has helped overcome back issues to real break-through experiences on a deeper, personal level. If you have any doubts about your practice and are looking for some reminders on why you found yoga, pop this string of hard-earned wisdom on your favorite Bluetooth speaker and roll out the mat.