What if there was an approach to fitness that didn't demand grueling workouts and pushed your body to the brink of exhaustion? Welcome to the transformative world of yoga. I'll be your guide, sharing the enlightening journey of our fellow yoga student, Jess, as we dive into chapters three and four of 'Yoga, Youth, and Reincarnation' by Jess Stern. Together, we'll unravel the benefits of yoga, how it differs from conventional exercises, and how it allows for growth without overexertion, creating space for deepening self-awareness and personal growth.

Get ready for an inspiring exploration of patience and self-awareness in developing a holistic yoga practice. Together, we'll dissect how yoga fosters a calm, unhurried approach to life, equipping us with the ability to even out imbalances caused by our daily grind. Whether you're a yoga novice or a seasoned practitioner, this episode will spark a renewed understanding and appreciation of this age-old practice. Journey with us, as we unfold the beautiful narrative of yoga fostering growth, self-discovery, and a balanced approach to life.

Overview:
This episode will provide commentary on a few illuminating excerpts from chapters 1 & 2 of Jess Stearn's book, Yoga, Youth, and Reincarnation.

Excerpts Discussed From Book:

📖 Chapter 1
“Marica: In three months, Marcia said, you’ll be a new person. I guarantee it.
Jess: I must admit I was getting rather tired of the old person–and my body seemed to be tiring of me–but there didn’t seem to be anything I could do about it short of rebirth.
Marcia: Don’t you care about staying young and vital? she urged.
Jess: I shrugged. So who’s young and vital?
Marcia: She smiled. You are a perfect subject: you’re nervous, tense, run-down, and your body, from the look of you, is about ready to give up. It is later than you think. You are not very flatting. I’m being honest–that’ ones of the requisites of Yoga. It leads to truth.” - page 1

“In Western calisthenics, one depletes his energy; in Yoga, he renews it.” - page 2

“...when I complained of fatigue…he said…with Yoga, you’d be able to work twenty hours a day…what [he] means is that you’d be full of drive and all sorts of energy.” - page 3

“In our culture we’re all much too cerebral. We have to stop thinking once in a while, so we can learn what kind of people we are and where we are going.” - page 3

“Charles: I lost twenty pounds in six months with Yoga.
Jess: Did you diet? I asked.
Charles: Not consciously. I just got detached from food…you start thinking of food as fuel, though you will still enjoy it.” - page 5

“I feel more in tune with the world, and of course I’m more relaxed from the exercises, and that helps me concentrate. I find myself looking at people, including myself, from a sort of mountaintop, and all their striving and struggling becomes so clear and evident.” - page 6

“We are in a state of senility when we can’t change either our attitudes or our bodies. Then we are drying up for sure.” - page 8

“Yoga is a method, not just an exercise. There are five basic principles. Silence is the first of these; keeping our mind quiet so thoughts can enter; then listening, so that we can learn; remembering, so that we can consider, understanding, so it will have meaning, and then acting.” - page 8

“Anger should be simulated only for effect. But real anger dissipates energies, and cause innumerable little internal explosions damaging to the body and mind. “Don’t get upset or concerned by actions of others, by criticism or flattery. Practice the detachment that comes with Yoga.” - page 9

📖 Chapter 2

“Your body is used to being treated a certain way, and at your age is in the process of ossification. Your shoulders and neck are rigid, and the arthritis that comes with the middle years is forming. Incidentally, as this rigidity disappears, the rigidity of temperament that accompanies this physical phase will also disappear.” - page 14

“You are going to be young again. Look at the people taking Yoga as you go along. None will appear old, no matter their age.” - page 14

“...Yoga [is]...aimed at bringing the individual to a full realization of his true self and his vast potentialities.” - page 14

Additional quotes discussed.

Links and Resources:

📘 Purchase book

Overview:
This episode will provide commentary on a few illuminating excerpts from Chapter 9 of Brad Stulberg's book, "The Practice of Groundedness."

Excerpts Discussed From Book:

📖 Chapter 9
“The way practice works, an anonymous Japanese Zen teacher once remarked, is that we build up our practice, then it falls apart. And then we build it up again, and then it falls apart. This is the way it goes.” - page 230

“Viewing something as a practice lends itself to continual learning, meaningful change, and integration. When you consider a pursuit as a practice, you still have acute ups and downs. But they are merely part of a larger process–and it is the larger process that matters. Not the outcome of that process, but how you go about the process itself. Outcomes are short-lived and ephemeral. More than 99 percent of life is a process.” - page 231

“...life satisfaction is largely a by-product of transitioning from being a seeker, or someone who wants a certain lifestyle, to a practitioner, or someone who lives that lifestyle.” - page 231

“...individuals who react to failure with self-compassion get back on the bandwagon more swiftly than those who judge themselves harshly.” - page 234

Links and Resources:
📘 Purchase book
🌏 Author’s website

Overview:
This episode will provide commentary on a few illuminating excerpts from chapters 7 & 8 of Brad Stulberg's book, "The Practice of Groundedness".

Excerpts Discussed From Book:

📖 Chapter 7
“...pushing your body teaches you to experience pain, discomfort, and fatigue and accept it instead of immediately reacting to it or resisting it.” - page 175

“When you develop a movement practice it is likely there will be times when you are uncomfortable. These times not only make your body stronger, but they give your mind safe and controlled opportunities to practice acceptance, to practice staying grounded during distress.” - page 177

📖 Chapter 8
“Your inner way of being influences what you do, but what you do also influences your inner way of being.” - page 206

“Simple changes…can be extremely powerful–precisely because they are so simple. We often make things more complex than they need to be as a way to avoid the reality that what really matters for behavior change is consistently showing up and doing the work. Not dreaming about it. Not thinking about it. Not talking about it. Doing it.” - page 213

“Complexity gives you excuses and ways out and endless options for switching things up all the time. Simplicity is different. You can’t hide behind simplicity. You have to show up, day in and day out, and work toward your desired changes. Your success hits you in the face. But so do your failures. This kind of quick and direct feedback allows you to learn what works and adjust what doesn’t.” - page 213

“Shift from needing to be an all-star athlete to exercising for its mind-body benefits. Stop measuring workouts. Don’t worry about training for any specific goal. Don’t let physical activity be another thing [you feel you]...need to be great at all the time. Realize the self-imposed pressure in this domain…is not serving [you] and let go of it.” - page 212

Links and Resources:
📘 Purchase book
🌏 Author’s website

Overview:
This episode will provide commentary on a few illuminating excerpts from chapters 5 & 6 of Brad Stulberg's book, "The Practice of Groundedness."

Excerpts Discussed From Book:

📖 Chapter 5
“In his 1959 book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, the sociologist Erving Goffman delineated what he called our “front stage” and our “backstage” selves. Our front stage selves are the ones we bring to social situations or when we’re trying to delude ourselves. They tend to be performative, as if we are playing a specific role for an audience. Our backstage selves represent who we are when we stop acting, when we don’t consider how we’ll be perceived by others or measure ourselves against some kind of arbitrary bar of perfection, against the illusory standard of heroic individualism. Our front stage and backstage selves are not binary. Most human behavior lies on a spectrum between these two extremes. But when someone spends too much time playing their front stage self, particularly when there is a wide gap between their front stage and backstage selves, distress usually follows.” - page 117

“By knowing that you don’t know everything, that you don’t always have it together, you come more–not less–robust and grounded. You become stronger and more confident. Social scientists refer to this paradox as intellectual humility, which can be understood as confidence gained by owning one’s limitations and not being overly concerned with being the best or having power over others.” - page 127

📖 Chapter 6
“When you start to experience chronic loneliness, your baseline perception of threat increases. Think back to evolution: if you didn’t have a group surrounding you, the pressure to stay safe and secure would fall solely on your shoulders. You’d constantly be scanning for danger, perhaps even forgoing sleep. Unfortunately, someone who feels constantly under threat and is worried about themselves has a harder time being empathetic toward and connecting with others. This initiates a vicious cycle, causing even more loneliness.” - page 145

“Many digital technologies offer us the illusion of connection while eroding the real thing.” - page 149

“It is a rare blessing to connect with someone on this deeper level, to forge a bond with a kindred spirit.” – page 165

Links and Resources:
📘 Purchase book
🌏 Author’s website

Overview:
This episode will provide commentary on a few illuminating excerpts from chapters 3 & 4 of Brad Stulberg's book, "The Practice of Groundedness." 

Excerpts Discussed From Book:

📖 Chapter 3
“Stoic philosopher Seneca warned against getting caught in a cycle of business idleness, or as he said, all this dashing about that a great many people indulge in…always giving the impression of being busy [while not really doing anything at all]” - page 58

“We often think about the potential value of what we’re adding to our plates, but we rarely consider at what cost…In other words, it is important to remember that whenever you say yes to something you are saying no to something else.” - page 64

“People often think about the number of years in their lives. But perhaps more important is the amount of life, the amount of presence, in those years.” - page 72

“Make a not-to-do list.” - page 83

📖 Chapter 4
“...what so many executive[s]...do when they first take on large leadership roles…we endeavor toward significant goals. We want results now. We want to feel comfortable and in control, to problem-solve and fix things.” - page 88

“Humans suffer from what behavioral scientists call the commission bias, or the tendency to err on the side of action over inaction. If we don’t see results, we get impatient and feel a strong urge to do something–anything–to expedite our progress. But often the best thing we can do is nothing–staying the course, tweaking as we go, and letting things unfold in their own time.” - page 99

Links and Resources:
📘 Purchase book
🌏 Author's website

Overview:
This episode will provide commentary on a few illuminating excerpts from chapters 1 & 2 of Brad Stulberg's book, "The Practice of Groundedness."

Excerpts Discussed From Book:

📖 Chapter 1
“...heroic individualism: an ongoing game of one-upmanship, against both yourself and others, paired with the limiting belief that measurable achievement is the only arbiter of success. Even if you do a good job hiding it on the outside, with heroic individualism you chronically feel like you never quite reach the finish line that is lasting fulfillment” - page 5

“...examine an interesting paradox: why letting go–or at least holding more lightly–outcomes such as happiness and achievements, and instead focusing on building a durable foundation of groundedness, is the surest path to becoming happier and more successful.” - page 22

“...principles of groundedness don’t just go against societal norms, but they may also go against your personal habit energy, your past ways of being and doing…the inertia of what you’ve always done is real-and it can be quite strong…living a grounded life is an ongoing practice.” - page 22

📖 Chapter 2
“Only when I acknowledge and accepted the very thing I wanted neither to acknowledge nor to accept could I start taking actions that would make my situation better. You can’t work on something in a meaningful way if you are fighting it at the same time.” - page 31

“It’s okay, even admirable, to set a high bar, but–and this is a big but–you need to be present and accepting as you strive. Instead of wanting things to be different and then being disappointed when they are not, you need to be with your reality as it is, not just for the highs but for the lows too. Only then can you take wise action to bring about the kind of change that you desire.” - page 32

“...must close the gap between their reality and their expectations…learn to confront and overcome this difficulty; in essence...learn to practice acceptance.” - page 33

Links and Resources:
📘 Purchase book
🌏 Author's website