My guest this week is Dara Kennedy, the founder of Ayla Beauty. Having spent more than 10 years in the retail beauty space, Dara started Ayla because she wanted to combine her expertise as a product developer and curator with her passion for yoga and wellness.

I've known Dara (as her customer!) for years and the mindfulness she brings to her business is notable. Her friend and the founder of Twelve Beauty, Pedro Catala, has said that she treats her customers like her best friends -- and it's true, she does! It's part of the intention that she brings to Ayla.

On this episode, I got to ask Dara my burning questions and move fluidly from the meta to the micro topics about beauty, including:

• How yoga and meditation have influenced Dara's life and the way that she runs her business
• "Hurts so good" beauty and the ways that beauty varies from culture to culture
• Is the skin barrier really as important as social media would have you believe?
• We also talk about navigating beauty during adolescence and menopause -- two extremely challenging time periods in our beauty lives!
• How we can view our beauty identity through the lens of yoga -- with more intuition and curiosity and wholeness.

I put a link to Dara's blog that lists all of the ingredients that her curated product lines avoid, which you can find on the shownotes: www.yogalandpodcast.com/episode293

As always, thanks for listening, commenting, and sharing the podcast!

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We know that change is a part of life -- it's also a part of the constantly evolving practice of yoga.

As religious studies scholar Andrea Jain says in her book, Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop Culture, “I emphasize premodern yoga’s context-sensitivity, heterogeneity, and malleability, rather than any central quality or essence presumed by some to be present across all systems.”

In other words, yoga has always been malleable and responsive to the context in which it exists.

On this episode, Jason and I talk about how we have experienced change in yoga practice over the past 25 years. We air some of our gripes (changes in Savasana, the abundance of heat-blasted classrooms) and point out some hugely positive changes as well (think: consent, less claim-making, more integration with everyday life).

Would love to know some of your experiences of how yoga has changed, too! If you'd like to share them, subscribe to my Substack where I will start a thread. 

For shownotes, go to: yogalandpodcast.com/episode292

Thanks for listening and if you enjoy the podcast, please rate, review, & share! It's incredibly helpful to keep us going.

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Jason recently did a webinar on how to structure your classes for beginners and there were tons of requests from folks who wanted to be able to re-watch it even after the replay period. So, ta-dah! we are making it available to everyone as a two-part series! Part I focuses on the 5-part class structure that I’ve been using with my beginners for over a decade. Part II will be coming next week!

You can also watch this on our Youtube channel, which you can find at: youtube.com @jasoncrandellyoga

Lastly: If you'd like to join Jason's beginner's course, you can do so here: jasonyoga.com/beginners

And if you are interested in becoming a 500-hour RYT, you can find out more info here: jasonyoga.com/500

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We've noticed the pendulum swinging toward strength in recent years (not a bad thing), and we wanted to offer context for the counterpoint: Stretching. (BTW, This is a great companion to episode 288, 'How much strength does yoga really build?')

We take a big, contextual step back and look at:

• What is stretching?
• What are the types of stretching?
• What are some of the contraindications
• Are there still benefits and if so, what are the most effective protocols for increasing flexibility?

At the tail end of this episode, Andrea also interviews Genny Wilkinson, who is on the cusp of opening a brand new yoga and movement studio in the heart of London. Jason will be offering his hybrid 300-hour Advanced YTT there in 2023 so we were excited to learn all about Genny's vision for what promises to be a gorgeous, authentic community space.

Shownotes for this episode -- including links to the previous strength episode and to the London studio, Mission -- can be found at yogalandpodcast.com/episode291

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Many of us have an attraction/repulsion thing when it comes to learning yoga anatomy. Why is that? Anatomy reminds us that embodiment is amazing, but it can also be overwhelming and frustrating to feel like we'll never "get it all." Never fear! On this episode, Jason talks about why it's so important to learn anatomy and how to approach it so that you feel empowered and inspired.

We've got lots more anatomy content on our blog, which you can find on the shownotes page: www.yogalandpodcast.com/episode290

Also: Jason is launching his Essential Anatomy for Yoga Teachers course soon! Get on the waitlist here: learn.jasonyoga.com/anatomy

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So excited to share this week's episode with you: Jill Miller joins me for her fifth Yogaland podcast to talk about her new book, Body by Breath: The Science and Practice of Physical and Emotional Resilience. This is a book that I recommend every yogi have in their library. It gives you the full "behind-the-scenes" tour of complex relationship between the nervous system, brain, gut, fascia, and breath when we are trying to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system (aka when we're trying to "down-regulate" or "de-stress"). It also provides myriad options for working with your body and breath to build deep reserves of mental, emotional, and physical resilience.

Jill and I discuss how she continues to heal her body by building parasympathetic endurance, what she means when she says, "The body thinks in feels," how yogis can hone and deepen their breath awareness, how much breath-work we can do to feel the benefits, and what her current practice looks like.

If you order Jill's book by February 27th, you'll get a whole host of perks! Learn more at: www.bodybybreath.com

You can also join me on Substack for a month-long book club focused on Body by Breath! Jill will join us for an exclusive Q&A there, too: yogaland.substack.com

Shownotes for this episode can be found at: yogalandpodcast.com/episode289

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Does yoga build strength? The short answer is yes. But does it build enough strength? Jason and Andrea dive into this topic and answer questions such as:

• What are the three different types of strength and which type does yoga build most efficiently?
• Which regions of the body are more challenging to strengthen in yoga?
• Do you need to supplement your strength with something other than yoga?
• What about post-menopausal women, who are more prone to muscle loss (sarcopenia) year over year?

Thanks, as always for listening, rating, and reviewing!

If you'd like to study with Jason, we just published his 2023 schedule for online courses and trainings. Check out the 2023 schedule here: www.jasonyoga.com/schedule

Also, join Andrea over on her new Substack community! She's offering more podcast features and info, plus meditations, essays, and chat threads. It's a great way to support the podcast and you can subscribe here: yogaland.substack.com

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