The Lucas Rockwood Show

When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, the internet will explode with searches for the best diets, which yield all kinds of good, bad, and absurd advice for getting healthy and fit. Vegetarians duke it out with Paleo people, macrobiotics argue with raw foodists, and the cycle goes on and on with no obvious winner.

Even with the best intentions, 92 to 98 percent of diets fail in the long term, and by Valentine’s Day, most people have abandoned their resolutions for the eating habits they’ve always had.

So what’s a person to do? Well, what do you want to do? What will be important to you in the coming year when it comes to your diet?

Food is complex and deeply personal. It’s a question of culture, tradition, environmental concerns, ethical questions, and socioeconomic status. Over the years, I’ve become much less interested in what to eat and more obsessed with how to eat. I’ve seen people eat and live well on all kinds of diets—and no diet at all.

On this week’s podcast, you’ll meet actor, activist, and plant-based advocate Suzy Amis Cameron, who endorses a very moderate ‘one plant-based meal a day’ approach. Whether you’re a hardcore meat eater or a die-hard veg-head, it’s valuable to experiment, reevaluate your assumptions, and find a balanced diet that works for you.

Listen & Learn:

  • How Suzy founded MUSE, the only solar-powered, organic, plant-based school
  • Why hope is not a strategy
  • How our current food system is broken (by anyone’s standards)
  • How a move away from animal agriculture seems inevitable
  • Why a ‘one meal a day’ approach can be an interesting way to experiment with new diets and foods

Links & Resources:

 

 

ABOUT THE HOST

Suzy Amis Cameron is an environmental advocate, the mother of five, and the author of OMD: The Simple, Plant-Based Program to Save Your Health, Save Your Waistline, and Save the Planet.

She is also a founder of Plant Power Task Force and a number of other environmental and ethical organizations. In 2005, she founded MUSE School, a 100 percent solar-powered, zero-waste school with an organic, plant-based lunch program, in Calabasas, California.

Suzy has produced documentaries and serves on several nonprofit boards. As an actor, she has been featured in more than 25 films, including The Usual Suspects and Titanic.

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

 

Direct download: 339_-_One_Plant-Based_Meal_Per_Day_with_Suzy_Amis_Cameron.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:22pm CET

Positive thinking is great, but how do you handle yourself when your spouse is in a funk or your boss is negative every minute of the working day? With all the best intentions for the day, many of us wake up and get hit with the Fox News or CNN.com onslaught of gloom and doom, and this influence shapes our reality for the remaining of our waking hours.

Our guest this week was neck-deep in news broadcasting for years and now dedicates her research and work life to broadcasting happiness—literally.

Listen & Learn:

  • Write down 2-3 new and unique things that are positive
  • How to separate the signal from the noise in news media
  • Why 3 min of negative news per day can ruin your day
  • Happiness = the joy we feel growing toward our potential
  • How to start a conversation with a positive “top story”
  • Why compassion is a great combatant to negativity
  • How you can indeed change people

Links & Resources:

ABOUT THE HOST

Michelle Gielan is a CBS News anchor turned positive psychology researcher and bestselling author of, Broadcasting Happiness. Michelle is the Founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research and is partnered with Arianna Huffington to study how transformative stories fuel success.

She is an Executive Producer of "The Happiness Advantage" Special on PBS and a featured professor in Oprah's Happiness course.

Michelle holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and her research and advice have received attention from The New York Times, Washington Post, FORBES, CNN, FOX, and Harvard Business Review.

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Thanks to our sponsor:

Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

Visit: FOUR SIGMATIC and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

Learn More

Direct download: 338_-_Broadcasting_Happiness_with_Michelle_Gieland.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:57pm CET

As the saying goes, “You can have anything you want in life, you just can't have everything.” However, figuring out exactly what you want is often difficult, as it means compromise, sacrifice, and hard work.

With the New Year around the corner—a natural time to reflect on the year gone by and to plan for the year to come—the subject of clarity has never been more applicable. The same actions and habits that got you to where you are today won’t likely get you to where you want to go. So what next?

On this week's show, we'll look at motivation, commitment, follow-through, and the challenges of goal setting in general to help you find your purpose, get clear on what you want, and define what is standing in the way of that.

Listen & Learn:

  • The history of NLP and how it can be a useful tool for changing your emotional reaction to situations
  • Why goals should focus on desired feelings rather than desired things
  • How to avoid procrastination
  • Why trauma, pain, and fear can paralyze us

Links & Resources:

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Jamie Smart is a writer, speaker, coach, and consultant. His work focuses on the concept of clarity: the ultimate leverage point for creating more time, making better decisions, and achieving meaningful results.

He has appeared on Sky TV and on the BBC, as well as in numerous publications including the Daily Telegraph. He's the author of two books, CLARITY and RESULTS, available on Amazon or on his website.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Salt

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Thanks to our sponsor:

Molekule has completely reinvented the air purifier. From the inside out, Molekule has reimagined what clean air ought to look and feel like—unobtrusive, portable, and 100% effective.

Visit: MOLEKULE and use coupon code "Lucas" for $75 off your first order.

Learn More

Direct download: 337_-_Cultivating_Clarity_with_Jamie_Smart.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:54am CET

What if you become so focused on exercise and healthy living that it becomes an unhealthy obsession? What if you're a parent and eat a balanced diet but struggle to feed your kids well? What if yoga is giving you a hernia?

On this week's podcast, I'll do my best to answer these great listener questions and more.

Listen & Learn:

  • Risk vs.reward of yoga
  • Whether or not kids should be vegetarian
  • 8+16 meal timing
  • How to eat healthfully when your friends/family don’t

ABOUT THE HOST

In 2002, I worked for a New York City book publisher doing a job I hated. I drank seven nights a week, abused drugs, and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. For food, it was pizza and takeout—anything quick and easy to keep me going.

No one consciously decides to destroy their health, but over the years, that’s exactly what happened. I was bloated and flabby, unable to sleep without alcohol. My eyes were red and puffy, and I struggled to get excited about anything. I had so much potential, so many opportunities, but when you’re sick and numb to the world, everything feels impossible and uninteresting.

Enter yoga. A friend dragged me to a yoga studio, where I suffered through one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. In that first class, I was sweating and dizzy, unable to do even the most basic postures. I was the youngest person there, but the way I moved, I felt like I was 90 years old. I couldn’t bend forward, sit cross-legged on the floor, or balance in a tree pose. Looking at myself in the mirror, I remember thinking, “How did I end up in such bad shape?”

I hated that first class so much, I knew it was exactly what I needed—so I kept going. People assume yoga classes are meant to be wonderful, peaceful experiences. This is not true. A good class should be the most challenging and uncomfortable hour of your entire day. When you push yourself on the mat, real-life problems become lighter and more manageable almost immediately. Hard yoga = easy life.

For the next 380 days, I practiced yoga every single day. While traveling, I used audio or video recordings. If I was in a new city, I’d go to any studio I could find. When my teacher told me to take a day off to rest, I’d ignore the advice and go to a class at another studio. The same way I’d fallen in love with things that were killing me (drugs and alcohol), I’d now fallen in love with something that was feeding me and fueling my growth.

And it worked. In six weeks, I lost almost 40 pounds (and had to replace my whole wardrobe). I quit drinking and smoking altogether, and most importantly, I found a renewed passion for life that is truly priceless. I remember walking around New York, still dripping with sweat from class, with a big, stupid grin on my face as if I’d unlocked a special secret. My life was changing.

Within six months, I’d quit my job and moved to Thailand. Within a year, I was teaching full-time to packed classes in Bangkok and later, Hong Kong. I opened my first studio in 2006 and that same year began training teachers. To date, I’ve taught more than 30,000 students and trained more than 3,000 teachers in 41 countries. I love my life and my work, and as a result, I’m in better health mentally and physically than I was in my early 20s.

YOGABODY was built on practice, sweat, and struggle. It’s the physical manifestation of everything I care about in life, and my greatest hope is that some of my passion for this practice and lifestyle rubs off on you when you walk through these doors. Nothing worth doing in life is easy. Movement is more powerful than meditation. And practice is everything.

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Thanks to our sponsor:

Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

Visit: FOUR SIGMATIC and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

Learn More


Most people know more about Game of Thrones than they do about their own digestive system. They know how many nuclear warheads are in North Korea, but they don't know their Vitamin D levels or their fasting blood glucose levels. This is a problem.

The term 'mindfulness' usually conjures up the image of a monk sitting in Lotus Pose in the middle of the forest, but everyday mindfulness is just as important and often overlooked. On this week's podcast, you'll meet a mental fitness biohacker, Kasper van der Meulen, who focuses on personal growth and transformation.

Listen & Learn:

  • Biohacking 101
  • The risks and rewards of the Wim Hof Method
  • How to transition to minimal footwear and even barefoot running
  • Crafting your personal health transformation

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Kasper van der Meulen is a Wim Hof instructor, biohacker, coach, author, and speaker. He wrote the book MindLift: Mental Fitness for the Modern Mind

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Rinse Your Rice

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Direct download: 335_-_Mental_Fitness_for_the_Modern_Mind_with_Kasper_van_Der_Meulen.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:59pm CET

After your first yoga class, your hamstrings will hurt like hell. After your first day snowboarding, your wrists will ache and your bum will be bruised. After your first week struggling to play Knockin’ on Heaven's Door, your fingertips will be raw.

Welcome to the awkward and irritating world of new skill acquisition. The journey from grossly incompetent to somewhat capable is simultaneously the most challenging and most rewarding part of learning.

In the yoga studio, I see it every day. People poke their head in the door, take stock of the room, the instructor, the students, and proceed home to watch Netflix and eat Häagen-Dazs because it's easier than confronting the learning curve that awaits them. The benefit of avoidance is obvious—Netflix won’t cause you pain, won’t embarrass you, and won’t ask anything more of you—but the losses are catastrophic. Every day you spend stagnant, consuming rather than creating, it eats away at your vibrant spirit until there’s nothing left.

On this week's podcast, you'll meet author Josh Kaufman, who is obsessed with that initial learning phase. He has figured out how to break through the barriers of inertia and uncover what someone really wants.

Listen & Learn:

  • Why learning is so important to the human condition
  • The importance of pre-commitment to a phase of learning
  • Why the 10,000-hour rule applies mostly to elite athletes and musicians
  • Why great teachers are so difficult to find—and rarely teach
  • How to leverage published material to supplement great teaching

Links & Resources:

ABOUT THE GUEST

Josh Kaufman is the author of three bestselling books: The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business, The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything... Fast!, and How to Fight a Hydra: Face Your Fears, Pursue Your Ambitions, and Become the Hero You Are Destined to Be.

His TEDx talk on “The First 20 Hours” has been viewed more than 12 million times, putting it in the top 10 most viewed TEDx videos and top 100 most viewed TED Talks published to date.

Josh's research has been featured by the New York Times, BBC News, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Fortune, Forbes, Time, BusinessWeek, Wired, and dozens of other publications. Josh has been a featured speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival, World Domination Summit, Pioneer Nation, MicroConf, Bacon Biz, Stanford University, Google, and IBM.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Best Form of Sugar to Use

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Thanks to our sponsor:

Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

Visit: FOUR SIGMATIC and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

Learn More

Direct download: 334_-_Learn_New_Skills_Overcome_FearsBecome_a_Hero_by_Josh_Kaufman.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:31pm CET

Xanet Pailet was in a marriage with zero physical intimacy for more than 15 years. Most people don't go that long, but many do wait years before they openly address these issues; however, by then, permanent damage to the relationship may have already been done.

Sexuality is a definitive part of the human experience, and when it's not working, it's one of the top reasons couples split. So what's going wrong? Past trauma, self-esteem issues, guilt, shame, and a general lack of communication all contribute to the complexity of physical intimacy, so it's not surprising most people avoid the issue, if possible. Who wants to open up that Pandora's box?

On this week's show, Xanet will share her insights and expertise based on both her personal experience and decades of coaching others.

Listen & Learn:

  • How a sexless relationship can harm your spirit and your life
  • Why abstinence is a ridiculous idea, even in spiritual traditions
  • Why the definition of 'sex' should be broadened to include many different ways of connecting on an intimate level
  • How to navigate the challenges of modern pornography

Links & Resources:

ABOUT THE GUEST

Xanet Pailet is a certified tantra educator, sexological body worker, and somatica-trained sex coach, who has worked in the therapeutic field for more than 25 years. She's the author of the book Living an Orgasmic Life, available on Amazon, as well as on her website.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Fish Oil

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Thanks to our sponsor:

Molekule has completely reinvented the air purifier. From the inside out, Molekule has reimagined what clean air ought to look and feel like—unobtrusive, portable, and 100% effective.

Visit: MOLEKULE and use coupon code “Lucas” for $75 off your first order.

Learn More

Direct download: 333_-_The_Power_of_Pleasure_with_Xanet_Pailet_.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:21pm CET

I struggled with chronic sleep deprivation for more than a decade. During that time, I’d fall asleep in the barber’s chair. If I was talking on the phone while in bed, I’d pass out in the middle of the conversation. On airplanes, I’d be asleep before takeoff and the flight attendant would have to wake me up after landing. My world was hazy. My focus was hour-to-hour. Generally speaking, my head felt like a swamp I had to wade through to get anything done. 

A poor night’s sleep affects your mood, your decision-making, and even your appetite—but we all have bad nights. The only way to escape the occasional restless night is to live a monastic life, without kids, neighbors, construction, work stress or a partner. To live a full life, for most people, means losing some sleep now and again. And you know what? That’s fine, if you can recover.

On this week’s podcast, you’ll meet a sleep expert who focuses on high-leverage strategies, not micro-tactics to improve your sleep.

Listen & Learn:

  • How understanding your chronotype can help you optimize sleep 
  • Sleep deprivation vs. insomnia, understanding the difference 
  • Why 'sleep drive' is like hunger or sex drive—it has its own rhythm and cannot be forced
  • Why you should not force yourself to sleep earlier
  • Why you should force yourself to wake up earlier
  • How light and movement are the key to waking up

Links & Resources:

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Stephanie Romiszewski has a degree in psychology and behavioral sleep medicine. Her interest in sleep disorders began while studying chronobiology, during which time she assisted sleep research at Harvard Medical School.

Stephanie has worked in NHS clinical sleep disorder centres across the UK, diagnosing and treating a number of sleep issues, such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, parasomnias, insomnia, movement disorders and circadian rhythm disorders.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Flouride

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: FOUR SIGMATIC and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More

Direct download: 332_-_How_to_Achieve_Deep_Restful_Sleep.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:21pm CET

Mark Lukach's wife spent nearly two months in total in psychiatric wards during three different bipolar episodes. Mental illness appeared seemingly out of nowhere with suicidal thoughts, delusions, and dangerous behavior. While this story sounds extreme, I promise that someone you know and care about is suffering right now, as well. That being said, there's a good chance you can help.

On this week's show, we'll look closely at mental illness, which affects one in every four households today. My hope is that this family's story will inspire you to find the courage to deal with the darkness.  

Listen & Learn:

  • Why suicide is a huge (and growing) problem all over the world
  • Medication vs. natural solutions—what's best?
  • Why talking and listening will always be important
  • How to remove the stigma of mental illness and get help

Links & Resources:

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Stephanie Romiszewski has a degree in psychology and behavioral sleep medicine. Her interest in sleep disorders began while studying chronobiology, during which time she assisted sleep research at Harvard Medical School.

Stephanie has worked in NHS clinical sleep disorder centres across the UK, diagnosing and treating a number of sleep issues, such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, parasomnias, insomnia, movement disorders and circadian rhythm disorders.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Fermented Foods

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Direct download: 331_-_Mental_Health__A_Global_Health_Crisis.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:04am CET

Have you ever heard someone blame their weight gain on a 'slow metabolism?' It sounds logical, but what does it mean exactly? What is considered 'slow?'

When we talk about metabolic health, it's important to define what it really is. You'll quickly learn that it's multifaceted and you'll need to work separately on each area.

On this week's podcast, we'll talk with Ann Louise Gittleman, the first lady of nutrition, who has very practical advice based on decades of extensive work in health and nutrition.

Listen & Learn:

  • How to optimize your metabolism for weight loss, health, and longevity
  • Why pine nut oil is amazing for digestive problems (among other things)
  • Why many people have lower HCL and bile production as they age
  • Why bitter foods are so important

Links & Resources:

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Ann Louise Gittleman is a nutritionist, internationally recognized as a pioneer in dietary, environmental, and women's health issues. She is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author, with more than 30 books on health and nutrition. In her books, she covers a wide range of topics, including diet, detox, women's health, men's health, perimenopause, menopause, beauty, and the environment.

Gittleman holds an M.S. in Nutrition Education from Columbia University, a Ph.D. in Holistic Nutrition, and she has the title of Certified Nutrition Specialist (C.N.S.) from the American College of Nutrition. She has also been featured in dozens of TV programs, as well as online and offline publications.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Why Eat Small Fish

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: FOUR SIGMATIC and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More

Direct download: 330_-_Radical_Metabolism_with_Ann_Louise.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 5:17pm CET

If you can balance well, your yoga practice is more fun, you’re faster and nimbler, and you might even live longer. Sound far-fetched? Check it out: falls are the second leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide. 424,000 individuals die from falls globally. My balance has improved massively in the past couple years, but historically, I’ve had terrible balance. I assumed it was something I just had to live with, but I’ve learned that poor footwear, bad walking patterns, and zero balance training all created this problem—and it’s largely reversible. On this week’s Yoga Talk Show, you’ll learn about balance training for athletes and anyone who seeks optimal health.

Listen & Learn:

  • Why balance involves your: vestibular system (inner ear), proprioception (body awareness, sensation) and vision
  • How anyone can learn balance at any age using simple at-home tools and approaches
  • Why balance is a software problem, not hardware
  • How a slackline give you a “fall announcement” so land on your feet and stay safe
  • How 25% of your bones and muscles are in your feet and another 25% in your hands
  • Why slips and falls are the #1 cause of injury (and potentially death) for people over 65

Links & Resources:

 

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Jim is a lifelong innovator who was looking for ways to maintain his own athletic performance, and in the process, he created The Slackbow Balance Training System, a body and mind fitness program that can help at any age.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Iron Supplements

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Direct download: 329_-_Improve_Your_Balance_Improve_Your_Life_with_Jim_Klopman.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 11:20am CET

Everyone has some area of their life where they feel totally stuck, and it usually falls into one of three categories: health, wealthy, or relationships. It's very rare that all three of those areas of life are flowing smoothly at once time, it's usually a balancing act where family life is awesome but work is a mess, or work is cruising but your health is suffering.

Have you experienced this? On this week's podcast, we'll talk about engineering a breakthrough in your life with a counterintuitive approach.

Listen & Learn:

  • Why past trauma, pain and unresolved issues often keep you from moving forward
  • Why micro failures are better than big fails
  • How micro successes can snowball into a flurry of wins
  • Why it's so challenging to change, and why it's essential to who we are

Links & Resources:

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Nick Jankel is an author, philosopher, and professional speaker who develops tools for organizations, leaders and everyday people to transform themselves.  He is the creator of The Switch On Way a process that has been used by over 50,000 people and 50+ Fortune 500 companies across the globe and has been featured on the BBC and MTV. He is the author of two books, Switch On, and new book, The Spiritual Atheist available on Amazon.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Honey Before Bed

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: FOUR SIGMATIC and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More

Direct download: 328_-_How_to_Create_a_Breakthrough_with_Nick_Jankel_.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:09pm CET

A little girl named Charlotte was having as many as 300 seizures a week, some lasting as long as 30 minutes. Her body was frail, her health was suffering, and her parents were at their wits' end.

After every other medical intervention failed, the family tried a nonpsychoactive extract from marijuana called CBD and their lives were never the same again.

Charlotte's story was one of the first to capture people's imagination, from lawmakers to cannabis growers, and in the years since, has helped spawn an entire nutraceuticals industry around this powerful compound. On this week's show, we'll lay out the risks and rewards of self-administered CBD oil.

Listen & Learn:

  • Why most (but not all) CBD products contain little to no THC, meaning they will not get you high
  • How CBD impacts the receptors already present in your body
  • How CBD can reduce inflammation, including inflammation in your brain
  • How to make sure the product you're using is safe and healthful
  • The real legal and safety concerns surrounding CBD products

Links & Resources:

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Evan DeMarco is a sports medicine and nutrition expert, author, public speaker, and frequent guest on television and radio. As an entrepreneur, he is currently creating a functional medicine and nutritional supplements platform.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Can You Supplement Everything

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Molekule has completely reinvented the air purifier. From the inside out, Molekule has reimagined what clean air ought to look and feel like—unobtrusive, portable, and 100% effective.


    Visit: MOLEKULE and use coupon code "Lucas" for $75 off your first order.

      Learn More

Direct download: 327_-_The_Truth_About_CBD_for_Health_w_Evan_DeMarco.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 5:37pm CET

Recently, my friend returned from a family member's funeral 8 lbs heavier and asked, "What's going on?" Weight gain from stress can be clinically explained by a few different mechanisms. There is emotional eating, where you eat to distract yourself and bury your sorrows, but there is also emotion-induced weight gain, where, during a period of high stress, your psychological state chemically disrupts your hormones. This imbalance can increase (or decrease) hunger and change your body's propensity to store fat.

My friend's follow-up question was: "What should I do to lose the weight?" On this week's show, I'll share my advice (food, vitamins, and blood tests) with you. This is by no means a comprehensive solution, but it's a very simple and non intimidating starting point for a journey back to a healthy weight.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • The plus one/minus one approach to making healthy choices
  • Which vitamins are a smart choice for almost everyone
  • How to see what's actually going on with your body from a blood test

ABOUT THE HOST

In 2002, I worked for a New York City book publisher doing a job I hated. I drank seven nights a week, abused drugs, and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. For food, it was pizza and takeout—anything quick and easy to keep me going.

No one consciously decides to destroy their health, but over the years, that’s exactly what happened. I was bloated and flabby, unable to sleep without alcohol. My eyes were red and puffy, and I struggled to get excited about anything. I had so much potential, so many opportunities, but when you’re sick and numb to the world, everything feels impossible and uninteresting.

Enter yoga. A friend dragged me to a yoga studio, where I suffered through one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. In that first class, I was sweating and dizzy, unable to do even the most basic postures. I was the youngest person there, but the way I moved, I felt like I was 90 years old. I couldn’t bend forward, sit cross-legged on the floor, or balance in a tree pose. Looking at myself in the mirror, I remember thinking, “How did I end up in such bad shape?”

I hated that first class so much, I knew it was exactly what I needed—so I kept going. People assume yoga classes are meant to be wonderful, peaceful experiences. This is not true. A good class should be the most challenging and uncomfortable hour of your entire day. When you push yourself on the mat, real-life problems become lighter and more manageable almost immediately. Hard yoga = easy life.

For the next 380 days, I practiced yoga every single day. While traveling, I used audio or video recordings. If I was in a new city, I’d go to any studio I could find. When my teacher told me to take a day off to rest, I’d ignore the advice and go to a class at another studio. The same way I’d fallen in love with things that were killing me (drugs and alcohol), I’d now fallen in love with something that was feeding me and fueling my growth.

And it worked. In six weeks, I lost almost 40 pounds (and had to replace my whole wardrobe). I quit drinking and smoking altogether, and most importantly, I found a renewed passion for life that is truly priceless. I remember walking around New York, still dripping with sweat from class, with a big, stupid grin on my face as if I’d unlocked a special secret. My life was changing.

Within six months, I’d quit my job and moved to Thailand. Within a year, I was teaching full-time to packed classes in Bangkok and later, Hong Kong. I opened my first studio in 2006 and that same year began training teachers. To date, I’ve taught more than 30,000 students and trained more than 3,000 teachers in 41 countries. I love my life and my work, and as a result, I’m in better health mentally and physically than I was in my early 20s.

YOGABODY was built on practice, sweat, and struggle. It’s the physical manifestation of everything I care about in life, and my greatest hope is that some of my passion for this practice and lifestyle rubs off on you when you walk through these doors. Nothing worth doing in life is easy. Movement is more powerful than meditation. And practice is everything.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Rinse Tea Rinse Rice

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: FOUR SIGMATIC and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More

Direct download: 326__-The_Food_Vitamins__Blood_Test_Episode_with_Lucas_Rockwood.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:20pm CET

I receive questions from listeners every day. On this week's Q&A show, I'll answer a few of them, with topics ranging from flexibility for seniors and what technically breaks a fast to Xylitol and Vitamin K2.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Is it possible for people over 60 to increase their flexibility
  • Is Xylitol really healthy
  • Does drinking soy milk/espresso count for fasting
  • Is Yin Yoga safe for your joints
  • What is Vitamin K2 good for

ABOUT THE HOST

In 2002, I worked for a New York City book publisher doing a job I hated. I drank seven nights a week, abused drugs, and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. For food, it was pizza and takeout—anything quick and easy to keep me going.

No one consciously decides to destroy their health, but over the years, that’s exactly what happened. I was bloated and flabby, unable to sleep without alcohol. My eyes were red and puffy, and I struggled to get excited about anything. I had so much potential, so many opportunities, but when you’re sick and numb to the world, everything feels impossible and uninteresting.

Enter yoga. A friend dragged me to a yoga studio, where I suffered through one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. In that first class, I was sweating and dizzy, unable to do even the most basic postures. I was the youngest person there, but the way I moved, I felt like I was 90 years old. I couldn’t bend forward, sit cross-legged on the floor, or balance in a tree pose. Looking at myself in the mirror, I remember thinking, “How did I end up in such bad shape?”

I hated that first class so much, I knew it was exactly what I needed—so I kept going. People assume yoga classes are meant to be wonderful, peaceful experiences. This is not true. A good class should be the most challenging and uncomfortable hour of your entire day. When you push yourself on the mat, real-life problems become lighter and more manageable almost immediately. Hard yoga = easy life.

For the next 380 days, I practiced yoga every single day. While traveling, I used audio or video recordings. If I was in a new city, I’d go to any studio I could find. When my teacher told me to take a day off to rest, I’d ignore the advice and go to a class at another studio. The same way I’d fallen in love with things that were killing me (drugs and alcohol), I’d now fallen in love with something that was feeding me and fueling my growth.

And it worked. In six weeks, I lost almost 40 pounds (and had to replace my whole wardrobe). I quit drinking and smoking altogether, and most importantly, I found a renewed passion for life that is truly priceless. I remember walking around New York, still dripping with sweat from class, with a big, stupid grin on my face as if I’d unlocked a special secret. My life was changing.

Within six months, I’d quit my job and moved to Thailand. Within a year, I was teaching full-time to packed classes in Bangkok and later, Hong Kong. I opened my first studio in 2006 and that same year began training teachers. To date, I’ve taught more than 30,000 students and trained more than 3,000 teachers in 41 countries. I love my life and my work, and as a result, I’m in better health mentally and physically than I was in my early 20s.

YOGABODY was built on practice, sweat, and struggle. It’s the physical manifestation of everything I care about in life, and my greatest hope is that some of my passion for this practice and lifestyle rubs off on you when you walk through these doors. Nothing worth doing in life is easy. Movement is more powerful than meditation. And practice is everything.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Raw, Cooked, Boiled, Fried

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • PrepDish - is a healthy meal planning service. When you sign up, you’ll receive an email every week with a done-for-you grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. You’ll save time and have amazingly delicious meals.

    Visit: PrepDish and use coupon code “yogabody” for your first 2 weeks for FREE

    Learn More

Direct download: 325_-_Too_old_to_stretche_-_Xylitol_got_you_down.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:27pm CET

People joke that they 'laughed so hard they peed their pants.' However, this is a real problem called stress incontinence—a symptom of pelvic floor dysfunction.

The pelvic floor is a complex group of muscles, fascia and connective tissues at the base of your spine that is crucial for bladder control, posture, sexual function, and the health of many vital organs. 

So what's the problem? Maybe you gave birth to two kids and never resumed your pre-kid exercise routine. Maybe you are 45 years old and haven't done a proper squat since you lifted weights with your buddies in college. For dozens of reasons, modern lifestyles lead to atrophy of the pelvic floor that can manifest overtime into very serious health issues.

On the flip side, a strong, toned pelvic floor will help your posture, sexual performance, spinal health, and bladder control. In yoga, you'll feel the difference in almost every pose, and in your everyday life, you'll notice changes throughout the day.

On this week's Yoga Talk Show, you'll meet a kinesiologists who will help demystify this often overlooked region of the body.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • What the pelvic floor is and why it is important to both women and men
  • Why incontinence and prolapse are huge (and growing) problems
  • Why posture starts at the base of the spine
  • How to strengthen and tone your pelvic floor with daily, 10-minute exercises

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Adrianne has a degree in kinesiology, with an emphasis on exercise science. She has certifications in Pilates, yoga, the Yoga Trapeze, Zenga, and Barre, among others, and specializes in spinal conditions, pelvic floor issues, and fascial tissue. She served as the fitness specialist at the NASA Langley Research Center and currently runs an eating disorder center in California.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Palm Oil

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: FOUR SIGMATIC and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More

Direct download: 324_-_Demystifying_the_Pelvic_Floor_with_Adrianne_Flinn.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 5:20pm CET

A stage hypnotist convinced my friend Burton that he was an undercover spy and needed to find a clue hidden in the forest. There were 600 people in the audience, but Burton was all in. He raced off the stage, returning 10 minutes later, covered in sweat (clearly he had been running around campus), at which point he proudly displayed the ‘clue’ he'd found.

If I didn't know better, I would have thought Burton was a paid actor. The experience was disturbing and I immediately put hypnosis in the ‘weird party trick’ category of my brain for the next 20 years. That is until I learned about hypnosis as a real-world, clinically proven method of therapy.

Hypnotherapy is a largely unregulated industry, similar to yoga, which means there are some amazing, highly trained therapists, alongside a boatload of charlatans. Hypnosis also has a big PR problem because most people associate it with stage shows and tricks, not realizing that clinical efficacy for the treatment of phobias, anxiety, addiction and even pain are very compelling.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How lifelong mental patterns can sometimes be broken through hypnosis
  • What the difference between stage hypnosis and hypnotherapy is
  • For which challenges hypnosis shows the greatest efficacy
  • How to choose between self-hypnosis, hypnosis recordings, and in-person therapy

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Grace Smith is on a mission to make hypnosis mainstream. A renowned hypnotherapist, Grace is the founder of www.gshypnosis.com, the world's number one hypnotherapy hub, as well as Grace Space Hypnotherapy Certification School.

Grace is a regular guest on CBS's hit show The Doctors, and her work has been featured in The Atlantic, Marie Claire, Forbes, MindBodyGreen, Buzzfeed, Bustle, InStyle and more.

Grace's private clients include celebrities, CEOs, professional athletes, and government officials. She has given keynote speeches and workshops at Procter & Gamble, SummitLive, Women Empowerment Expo, Ritz Carlton, PSEG, Soul Camp, Verizon, and HypnoBiz.

She is the author of a new book, Close Your Eyes, Get Free, which you can find on Amazon or Grace's website.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Tanins

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • PrepDish - is a healthy meal planning service. When you sign up, you’ll receive an email every week with a done-for-you grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. You’ll save time and have amazingly delicious meals.

    Visit: PrepDish and use coupon code “yogabody” for your first 2 weeks for FREE

    Learn More

Direct download: 323_-_The_Truth_About_Hypnotherapy_with_Grace_Smith.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:02pm CET

Think of your body as a three-legged stool with an electrical body (your nervous system), a bacterial body (your microbiome), and a chemical body (your endocrine system). These three legs are largely responsible for your health and well-being, and if one leg gets whacked out from under you, you'll likely fall on your face.

Today, let's focus on your chemical body: your hormones. These chemical compounds influence everything from your waistline to your mood, and our modern world is filled with all kinds of toxins that lead to imbalances.

Did you know that most plastic water bottles contain estrogen-like BPA compounds that can cause weight gain, or worse? Did you know that many skin care products and soaps contain estrogen-like parabens that can get absorbed through your skin and lead to infertility? On this week's Yoga Talk Show, you'll learn why our generation is often estrogen dominant—and what we can do to fix it.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why too much estrogen can make you fat, sick, and infertile
  • How sauna treatments can help detoxify xenoestrogens
  • How genetic testing can show you how to manage estrogen
  • How xenoestrogens have ended up in everything from water bottles to skin care products
  • Why plant-based estrogens can also impact some percentage of the population
  • How to optimize your household, lifestyle, and product choices for hormonal balance

ABOUT OUR GUEST

DR. ANTHONY G. JAY is a scientist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Jay earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Boston University School of Medicine. He is the president of the International Medical Research Collaborative, a non-profit organization based in Boston that trains medical students from around the globe.  Dr. Jay is also the CEO of AJ Consulting Company, which specializes in scientific consulting, speaking, and personalized DNA analysis.

He is the author of the book Estrogeneration: How Estrogenics Are Making You Fat, Sick, and Infertile. He also has a podcast called Chagrin & Toxic podcast you can find on iTunes or in the show notes.

 

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Raw Dairy

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: FOUR SIGMATIC and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More

Direct download: 322_-_Estrogeneration_with_Dr._Anthony_G._Jay.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 1:50pm CET

The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your relationships; and yet, for most of us, being in relationship is hard. Most of us find it challenging enough to get our own lives in order, so when you share children, finances, loves and loss with another person, it's never a linear path. What about sex? What about religion? What about independent needs and wants?

On this weeks, Yoga Talk Show, you'll meet Allen Wagner, a couple's therapist with his feet firmly planted on the ground. He shares his best insights for getting your head out of your phone and into the heart of the one you love.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How many romantic relationships devolve into roommate relationships
  • How to fight fair, versus fighting with pain triggers
  • How to determine deal breakers from minor differences of choices and preference
  • Why therapy can be used by both strong and broken people, for both short and long term objectives
  • Why mental health and mental health care is stigmatized

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Allen Wagner is a marriage and family therapist based in Los Angeles. He specializes in working with individuals and couples. He helps people with anxiety, depression, and challenges.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Raw Vitamins

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • PrepDish - is a healthy meal planning service. When you sign up, you’ll receive an email every week with a done-for-you grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. You’ll save time and have amazingly delicious meals.

    Visit: PrepDish and use coupon code “yogabody” for your first 2 weeks for FREE

    Learn More

Direct download: 321_-_Why_Relationships_are_So_Hard_with_Allen_Wagner.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:34am CET

This concept of "a pill for an ill" has led hundreds of millions of Americans to take prescription medications every single day. Antidepressants for mood, opioids for pain, and proton pump inhibitors for stomach problems—the list goes on and on. Modern medicine is truly a blessing, but it's gotten out of hand; and in many cases, we've neglected the safer and more obvious choices that are right in front of our faces.

Movement is medicine: running, dancing, stretching, and skiing.

You sweat and smile, your heart races, and you feel peace when you're done. We all feel better when we move, and yet, we don't do it enough. Why? When exercise is such a sure thing with unmatched health benefits, why does Netflix and Haagen Dazs often win our attention?

On this week's Yoga Talk Show, you'll meet an Olympic Athlete whose parents opted out of the psychiatric drug route and instead threw him head first into swimming and diving. He's on a mission to share his "movement is medicine" concept with the world, and it's something we call need to hear.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How at just two years old, Leon was already unmanageable
  • How swimming, diving, and gymnastics calmed him down and gave him focus
  • How this physical outlet turned into a passion, and eventually and Olympic legacy
  • How you too can find your happy place doing a movement or exercise practice you love

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Leon started swimming and gymnastics from the age of two and took up competitive diving when he was eight. By age 11, he was a national champion. Leon represented Great Britain at three Summer Olympic Games and was a member of the Great Britain team for 16 years.

Among his many awards, he's won a Bronze medal in the the 1999 European Aquatics Championships and a Silver medal in the men's 10 meter platform at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. In the  2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, he won the Silver medal in the men's synchronized 10-metre platform.

In 1998, Leon invented the what was then considered the World's most difficult dive. Taylor now works as a public speaker, presenter, conference host, BBC commentator and mentor to members of the British team. He's the other of a book called, Mentor.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • How Much Water to Drink

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: http://www.foursigmatic.com/yogabody and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More

Direct download: 320_-_Movement_as_Medicine_with_Leon_Taylor.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:17pm CET

There are more than 10 times as many microbe cells in your body as human cells, but interestingly, we're exposed to our first bacteria at birth—and from there, the process begins. While two humans are almost identical genetically, their microbiomes can be dramatically different, which accounts for differences in the way they digest food, the way they smell, and even more dramatic differences such as their hormonal response.

Microbiome research is fascinating, but still in its infancy. Supplement-makers are quick to label ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria, but they are cherry-picking a couple dozen strains from thousands—many of which are still unknown. Advances in lab testing will likely give average people like us the greatest health advantages in years to come; there are already amazing options available to early adopters.

Enter microbiome testing.

How does it work? You send in a stool sample and get back a detailed report showing exactly what is growing inside you. This can be information overload, for sure, but even with the limited research currently available, you can learn a great deal about how your unique bacterial body functions.

On this week's show, you'll meet the founder of Viome, a company on the forefront of microbiome testing.  

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why the food that is great for you could be kryptonite for someone else
  • How your bacterial body can affect everything from your mood and digestion to your hormones and sleep patterns
  • Why lab testing empowers average people to better understand their bodies and maintain a healthy lifestyle

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Naveen Jain is an entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder of several successful companies, including Viome, Moon Express, Bluedot, TalentWise, Intelius, and InfoSpace. He is a regular contributor to Forbes, WSJ, INC, and The Huffington Post.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Peanut Oil

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Yoga International, a community of 300,000 students learning about yoga, meditation, and mindful living from hundreds of expert teachers. It has more than 1,000 classes, the most popular of which are 30 Classes in 30 Days Challenge, The Busy Yogi Challenge, and Yoga to Soothe Sciatica with Doug Keller.

    Yoga International is offering listeners of the Yoga Talk Show a free Essentials of Yoga Therapy course when you sign up for a 30-day trial membership.

    Learn More

Direct download: 319_-_Why_Youre_Only_1_Human_with_Naveen_Jain.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:46pm CET

I feel I’ve let you down. I’ve hosted pretty much every renowned breathing expert in the world on this podcast, and yet most of my listeners are still not sure exactly how yoga breathing works. On this week’s show, my goal is to break down the fundamentals of yoga breathing in a way that you can easily remember and apply to your practice.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How all breathing practices are either water, whiskey, or coffee
  • Why it’s easy to get confused with gurus and brand names
  • Why most of us over-breathe (and what to do about it)
  • Why the most popular breathing techniques tend to be too extreme
  • How to incorporate all three breathing patterns into your life

ABOUT THE HOST

Lucas Rockwood is a yoga teacher trainer, digital nomad, green food junkie, and serial entrepreneur.

With a formal yoga training background in Hot Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Gravity Yoga, and the Yoga Trapeze, Lucas has studied with some of the most well-respected teachers on the planet. His most influential teachers (all of whom he studied with personally) include Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Paul Dallaghan, Alex Medin, Gabriel Cousens MD, and SN Goenka.

Lucas founded Absolute Yoga Academy in 2006, one of the top 10 yoga teacher training schools in the world with 2,000 certified teachers (and counting) and courses in Thailand, Holland, United Kingdom, and The Philippines.

In search of nutritional products designed specifically for achy yoga students’ bodies, Rockwood worked with senior nutritional formulator, Paul Gaylon, and founded, YOGABODY Naturals, in the back of his yoga studio in 2007. The company has gone from strength-to-strength and is now an internationally-renowned nutrition, education, and publishing organization serving 81 countries.

In 2013, Lucas founded YOGABODY Fitness, a revolutionary new yoga studio business model that pays teachers a living wage and demystifies yoga by making the mind-body healing benefits of the practice accessible to everyone.

A foodie at heart, Lucas was a vegan chef, and owned and operated health food restaurants prior to diving deep into the yoga world. Lucas is also a highly-acclaimed writer, radio show host, TV personality, business consultant, weight loss expert, and health coach.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Marshmallow

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Yoga International, a community of 300,000 students learning about yoga, meditation, and mindful living from hundreds of expert teachers. It has more than 1,000 classes, the most popular of which are 30 Classes in 30 Days Challenge, The Busy Yogi Challenge, and Yoga to Soothe Sciatica with Doug Keller.

    Yoga International is offering listeners of the Yoga Talk Show a free Essentials of Yoga Therapy course when you sign up for a 30-day trial membership.

    Learn More

Direct download: 318_-_Yoga_Breathing_Lesson_Water_Whiskey__Coffee_with_Lucas_Rockwood.mp3
Category:yoga -- posted at: 12:52am CET

During the summer between 8th and 9th grade, I watched my classmate Jeff go from about 125 lbs to 180 lbs in six weeks. This scrawny, video game nerd turned into a force to be reckoned with through a combination of hard gym workouts and anabolic steroids he bought from his older brother. I'm not sure if you've ever seen a transformation like this firsthand, but it's not something you easily forget.

Enter hormones. They can make you skinny or make you fat. They can give you hot flashes, make you tired, or make you feel young and vital. Your ‘chemical body’ is responsible for how you look and feel most of the time, and yet it's often out of whack. Hormonal imbalance used to be rare and mostly found in older people, but these days you can find kids with massive hormone imbalances at any school around the world. So what do we do?

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How hormones can impact just about everything
  • Why birth control pills, food, stress, age, and environment can all affect our chemical body
  • How hormone theory is only a century old
  • How hormone research is still new and developing

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Randi Hutter Epstein is a medical writer, author, and journalist. She has written for publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post. She is also a lecturer at Yale University and an adjunct professor at Columbia University School of Journalism.

She is the author of two books: Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank (2010) and AROUSED: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything (2018).

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Low Fructose Fruits

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Yoga International, a community of 300,000 students learning about yoga, meditation, and mindful living from hundreds of expert teachers. It has more than 1,000 classes, the most popular of which are 30 Classes in 30 Days Challenge, The Busy Yogi Challenge, and Yoga to Soothe Sciatica with Doug Keller.

    Yoga International is offering listeners of the Yoga Talk Show a free Essentials of Yoga Therapy course when you sign up for a 30-day trial membership.

    Learn More

Direct download: 317_-_Understanding_Arousal_with_Randi_Hutter_Epstein_.mp3
Category:Nutrition -- posted at: 5:31pm CET

Have you ever used a scalp massager made of long, thin wires? For most people, it causes quite the sensation, sending tingles from the back of their neck down their spine. Or maybe you have this reaction when someone whispers in your ear? This pleasurable response to specific auditory and visual stimuli is known as autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), and is likened to meditation.

ASMR is exploding on the internet right now because it is deeply relaxing, extremely pleasurable, and can serve to relieve anxiety and depression in some cases.

The ASMR movement is mostly made up of YouTubers and DIY fanatics, but there are also a handful of researchers out there gathering information about the real, therapeutic benefits of this response.

On this week's show, you'll meet Craig Richard, PhD, the founder of ASMR University.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why ASMR might be helpful to relieve stress and anxiety
  • Why ASMR audio tracks could be more effective than the viral videos online
  • How this deeply relaxing, neck tingling sensation can help you relax

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Craig Richard, PhD, first learned about ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) in 2013, but has been experiencing its triggers and effects since childhood. In 2014, he launched ASMRUniversity.com to encourage and report ASMR research and to provide helpful resources to assist with the further understanding of ASMR.

Craig is the cofounder of the ASMR Research Project and has produced several ASMR podcasts. He is a professor in the department of biopharmaceutical sciences at Shenandoah University, School of Pharmacy in Winchester, Virginia and the author of a new book, Brain Tingles, available soon on Amazon.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Chili Peppers

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Yoga International, a community of 300,000 students learning about yoga, meditation, and mindful living from hundreds of expert teachers. It has more than 1,000 classes, the most popular of which are 30 Classes in 30 Days Challenge, The Busy Yogi Challenge, and Yoga to Soothe Sciatica with Doug Keller.

    Yoga International is offering listeners of the Yoga Talk Show a free Essentials of Yoga Therapy course when you sign up for a 30-day trial membership.

    Learn More

Direct download: 316_-_How_to_Trigger_ASMR_Brain_Tingles_with_Craig_Richard.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 4:47pm CET

Chronic pain—the most common of which is back pain and digestive pain—affects as many as one in four people. Pain plays a crucial role in the body as a clear sign that something is injured, diseased, or in need of extra care. However, when pain becomes chronic, many times the pain signals sent to the brain no longer correspond with any kind of dysfunction. The pain is literally all in the brain, and faulty neural wiring can ruin your life.

When people are in constant pain, they will try anything: yoga, meditation, acupuncture, cannabis, and, of course, opioids. Sometimes these solutions work, sometimes they don’t, but statistics show that chronic pain is a problem that's getting worse, not better. So what can we do?

On this week's Yoga Talk Show, we will explore a new type of noninvasive, nondrug treatment for pain that involves electrical stimulation to rewire problematic neural connections, otherwise known as Scrambler Therapy®.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why 100 million Americans have chronic pain
  • Why pain can be present with or without any underlying condition
  • Why the threat-neural matrix complicates your pain
  • Why all pain is in the brain, and the solution to all chronic pain is rewiring this mind-body neural fail

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Brendon is the co-founder and CEO of Radiant Pain Relief Centres in Oregon, where he uses an exclusive, FDA-cleared technology called Scrambler Therapy® as a safe and simple way to change the mind-body perception of pain.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Lectins

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • PuraTHRIVE- Discover the breakthrough nutrient delivery system that combines nature and technology to maximize absorption, potency and bioavailability. PuraTHRIVE provides high-quality, guaranteed products that enable people to lead healthier lives. It helps empower people to thrive physically, mentally and spiritually!

    Visit https://purathrive.com/yogabody to get exclusive 10% off for Yoga Talk Show Listeners

    Learn More

Direct download: 315_-_Chronic_Pain-_Is_it_All_in_the_Brain_with_Brendon_Lundberg.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 4:07pm CET

Have you ever seen a yoga student, runner, or CrossFitter with weird crisscrossed tape on their knees? Have you ever experienced knee pain that kept you from doing your favorite activities? Aside from back problems, knee pain is the most common issue I see in my yoga studios, with the inevitable question being what to do about it.

On this week’s Yoga Talk Show, you will meet physiotherapist Lee Herrington, who works with high-level athletes to correct movement dysfunctions, and help them manage and overcome knee pain. His recommendations are very simple, but not at all intuitive.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Movement is medicine, you must move to heal
  • For better or worse, our knees (and the rest of our bodies) will wear out over time, our job is to manage that gracefully
  • Why anterior (front) knee pain is the most common and how alignment in yoga and all other activities can greatly reduce the risk of injury
  • How to ‘treat the man, not the scan’ when dealing with knee pain
  • Why performance backward thinking is helpful for knee pain

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Herrington is a physiotherapist, senior lecturer in sports rehabilitation at the University of Salford Manchester, and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers. His work focuses on the treatment and rehabilitation of sports injuries, specifically anterior knee pain, hamstring injuries, Subacromial Pain Syndrome (shoulder impingement), the ‘rugby’ shoulder, and rehabilitation following knee surgery (principally ACL reconstruction).

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Food Causing Pain

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • PuraTHRIVE- Discover the breakthrough nutrient delivery system that combines nature and technology to maximize absorption, potency and bioavailability. PuraTHRIVE provides high-quality, guaranteed products that enable people to lead healthier lives. It helps empower people to thrive physically, mentally and spiritually!

    Visit https://purathrive.com/yogabody to get exclusive 10% off for Yoga Talk Show Listeners

    Learn More

Direct download: 314_-_Deep_Dive_into_Knee_Pain_with_Dr._Lee_Herrington.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 3:53pm CET

Your tight hamstrings, stiff hips, and locked up spine are not going to find freedom on their own—you have to train for mobility. When your body is tight, it affects everything, from your standing and sitting posture to your stride, but when you increase your range of motion, it feels as if you’ve added an extra room onto your home. Flexible bodies feel free, youthful, and energized. However, getting started with training can be frustrating.

On this week’s show, you’ll meet physical therapist Jen Esquer, who will share her whole-body, 24-hour approach to movement freedom.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How to sprinkle mobility training throughout the day rather than trying to fit in one monster session of stretching
  • Why consistency is so important for mobility training (and the weekend warrior mentality doesn’t work)
  • Why it’s crucial to have a healthy range of motion in poses such as squats, backbends, and hip flexion movements

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Jen Esquer has been involved with movement her entire life. She has worked as a gymnastics coach, a Pilates instructor, and eventually became a physical therapist. Today, Dr. Jen works in private practice, both online and offline, empowering people to heal themselves.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Pili Nuts

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • PuraTHRIVE- Discover the breakthrough nutrient delivery system that combines nature and technology to maximize absorption, potency and bioavailability. PuraTHRIVE provides high-quality, guaranteed products that enable people to lead healthier lives. It helps empower people to thrive physically, mentally and spiritually!

    Visit https://purathrive.com/yogabody to get exclusive 10% off for Yoga Talk Show Listeners

    Learn More

Direct download: 313_-_The_Mobility_Method_Find_Freedom_in_Your_Body_with_Jen_Esquer_.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 12:30pm CET

My balance has always been terrible. It didn't matter if I was on a skateboard, a balance beam, or in tree pose in yoga; I've always found it incredibly challenging to stay steady. Some people are just better at balance than others, but when I was about 30 years old, I realized my extremely-high arches and tight calves were largely to blame. Today, I still have excessively high arches, but I've managed to stretch and relax them down dramatically, and it's improved my running and walking gate as well as my yoga practice tremendously.

Most importantly, I know that strong and flexible feet will  positively impact the health of my upstream joints long term.

On this week's Yoga Talk Show, you'll meet Dr. Emily Splichal. A podiatrist and movement expert whose research and teaching around foot health is the best I've found. I just finished her book and am excited for you to meet here.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Joint Coupling: why the foundational foot connection and alignment to the floor has cascading up-stream effects into the knees, hips,  spine and more
  • Tissue Stress Threshold: the breaking point where you over-stress your feet to the point of pain and in
  • Foot-to-Core Sequencing: why proprioception and neuromuscular awareness is key to healthy walking, sports, and movement patterns
  • At-Home Exercise: "Short Foot" exercise to strengthen, heal and restore food health

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr Splichal is a Podiatrist, Human Movement Specialist and Global Leader in Barefoot Science and Rehabilitation. Originally trained as a surgeon through Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, NY and Mt Vernon Hospital in Mt Vernon, NY Dr Splichal has a deep appreciation for the role of surgical intervention as it relates to orthopedic pathology and offers an un-biased second opinion on the appropriateness of surgical recommendations.

She is the author of, Everyday Is Your Runway: A Shoe-Lover's Guide to Healthy Feet & Legs, Barefoot Strong: Unlock the Secrets to Movement Longevity

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Curry Powder

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • PuraTHRIVE- Discover the breakthrough nutrient delivery system that combines nature and technology to maximize absorption, potency and bioavailability. PuraTHRIVE provides high-quality, guaranteed products that enable people to lead healthier lives. It helps empower people to thrive physically, mentally and spiritually!

    Visit https://purathrive.com/yogabody to get exclusive 10% off for Yoga Talk Show Listeners

    Learn More

Direct download: 312_-_Barefoot_Strong_with_Emily_Splichal_.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 5:55pm CET

My six-year-old son will approach the person behind the counter at the grocery store and ask, “Do you have anything for kids?” At the doctor’s office, he’ll ask, “Do you have any candies?” He doesn’t break eye contact and his voice is steady, without a shred of insecurity, and it works. People give him things everywhere he goes. This is the power of confidence in action, and it’s remarkable to watch. I don’t take credit for it, he came out this way; but I have come to believe that confidence is a skill that can be learned. Since confidence is a meta-skill that makes pretty much all other skill acquisition easier, this is something we should all train regularly.

On this week’s Yoga Talk Show, you’ll meet a woman who wrote the book, Confidence Creator. Her story and her no-nonsense approach can serve anyone at any age

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Fired from your career job? Try this...
  • Sexually harassed at work? Stay strong
  • Why doing hard things is the bedrock of confidence
  • How confidence can be learned and developed just like any skill
  • The importance of journaling for self-awareness and growth
  • Simple steps you can do right now to build confidence in your life

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Heather Monahan started from very humble beginnings growing up in Massachusetts, and built a successful career in sales working in real estate and radio in multiple states. Her recent work is focused on coaching and training in the “Monahan Method” and self-confidence is the cornerstone of this approach. Her new book, Confidence Creator, is available on Amazon.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Kombucha

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: http://www.foursigmatic.com/yogabody and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More

Direct download: 311_-_Confidence_Build__Develop_It__with_Heather_Monahan.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:13pm CET

If you go to any convenient store, you'll see dozens of "energy" products including bars, drinks, and snacks. Most products are loaded with sugar or caffeine—or both. In the short term, they'll certainly give you energy, but in the long term, they send you spiraling down. High energy is at the cornerstone of health, but we often neglect the very root source of energy—our cellular energy created by the mitochondria. On this week's, Yoga Talk Show, you'll learn how cellular energy can be pivotal for full-body health and wellness.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why these organelle produce ATP which is energy at the cellular level
  • How your lifestyle can impact your mitochondria
  • Why excessive eating creates reactive oxygen species (ROS) and depletes energy
  • Why fat is 15x more efficient than sugar at creating cellular energy
  • 4 supplements to boost mitochondria: L-Carnatine, CoQ10, D-ribose, magnesium
  • Why low mitochondria can impact fertility

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Warren L. Cargal, L. Ac. specializes in age-related diseases tied to diabetes, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative issues, and cancer. He is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist and is also founder and clinical director of Acupuncture Atlanta. He is the author of the book, Your Mitochondria: Key to Health and Longevity. He has practiced Chinese medicine for over 20 years. You can learn more about his site

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • GMO Soy

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: http://www.foursigmatic.com/yogabody and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More

Direct download: 310_-_Mitochondria_-_Key_to_Health_and_Longevity_with_Warren_Cargal.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 1:38pm CET

Back in 2002, when I couldn’t make it to a studio, I would play an old cassette tape and practice to that in my bedroom, hotel room, or even outdoors wherever I was. At-home practice has always been part of my yoga experience, but I’m the type of introvert that gets energy and inspiration from being alone. I’m naturally driven, and I’m harder on myself than any teacher has ever been; so when people asked me how to develop an at-home practice, I always struggled to answer until recently when I’ve compiled my thoughts and observations.  

Over the years, I’ve learned some very specific things from my students that make at-home practice success more probable, and I’ll share them all with you on this week’s Yoga Talk Show.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why practicing in an old, ragged t-shirt might be hurting your motivation
  • Why the advice to “just do what feels good” is a flawed approach
  • How to setup a home practice room
  • How to keep your practicing going on the road
  • Audio/video classes: do they work?
  • Why social support is key

ABOUT THE HOST

Lucas Rockwood is a yoga teacher trainer, digital nomad, green food junkie, and serial entrepreneur.

With a formal yoga training background in Hot Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Gravity Yoga, and the Yoga Trapeze, Lucas has studied with some of the most well-respected teachers on the planet. His most influential teachers (all of whom he studied with personally) include Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Paul Dallaghan, Alex Medin, Gabriel Cousens MD, and SN Goenka.

Lucas founded Absolute Yoga Academy in 2006, one of the top 10 yoga teacher training schools in the world with 2,000 certified teachers (and counting) and courses in Thailand, Holland, United Kingdom, and The Philippines.

In search of nutritional products designed specifically for achy yoga students’ bodies, Rockwood worked with senior nutritional formulator, Paul Gaylon, and founded, YOGABODY Naturals, in the back of his yoga studio in 2007. The company has gone from strength-to-strength and is now an internationally-renowned nutrition, education, and publishing organization serving 81 countries.

In 2013, Lucas founded YOGABODY Fitness, a revolutionary new yoga studio business model that pays teachers a living wage and demystifies yoga by making the mind-body healing benefits of the practice accessible to everyone.

A foodie at heart, Lucas was a vegan chef, and owned and operated health food restaurants prior to diving deep into the yoga world. Lucas is also a highly-acclaimed writer, radio show host, TV personality, business consultant, weight loss expert, and health coach.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Quorn

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • SeatGeek - Buying tickets can be complicated and confusing, but there is a better way to buy – with SeatGeek. SeatGeek is the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every type of live event. Whether you’re searching for a last minute deal, planning a night out with friends, or need to find the perfect gift, SeatGeek helps you find the best seats at the best prices – fully guaranteed.

    Just download the SeatGeek app and enter promo code ‘YOGA’ today. That’s promo code ‘YOGA’ for $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase.

    Learn More

Direct download: 309_-_How_to_Develop_an_At-Home_Practice_with_Lucas_Rockwood.mp3
Category:yoga -- posted at: 5:38pm CET

Most health and diet books focus on reducing your waistline but neglect the most "mission critical" part of your entire body: your brain. The 3 lbs, watery, fatty mass between your ears needs to be fed well and cared for, but most people don't give brain health the attention it deserves.

Meet Dr. Lisa Mosconi, neuroscientist and author, and learn how your brain health can be dramatically influenced by food and lifestyle.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why your body can survive on many foods, but your brain is much more picky
  • The importance of essential fatty acids for brain health
  • Why the brain's saturated fat and cholesterol is created by the brain and stored in the brain from childhood—not affected by diet
  • Why too much Omega-6 from seed oils is a problem for inflammation
  • Why a 2:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is ideal (while most people get 20+:1)
  • Why we need around 4 grams of omega-3's per day
  • Why the brain needs glucose for neuron synthesis and balance
  • Why alcohol enters the brain and dehydrates your brain

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Mosconi holds a PhD degree in Neuroscience and Nuclear Medicine, and is a certified Integrative Nutritionist and holistic healthcare practitioner. She is the Associate Director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC)/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital,

She is an adjunct faculty member at NYU and the University of Florence. Dr. Mosconi has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers in medical journals. Her new book, Brain Food: the Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power we'll talk about today.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Cinnamon

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • SeatGeek - Buying tickets can be complicated and confusing, but there is a better way to buy – with SeatGeek. SeatGeek is the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every type of live event. Whether you’re searching for a last minute deal, planning a night out with friends, or need to find the perfect gift, SeatGeek helps you find the best seats at the best prices – fully guaranteed.

    Just download the SeatGeek app and enter promo code ‘YOGA’ today. That’s promo code ‘YOGA’ for $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase.

    Learn More

Direct download: 308_-_Eating_for_Brain_Power_with_Lisa_Mosconi.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 4:48pm CET

Following the advice of parents, counselors, and health care providers, millions of women take hormonal birth control starting in their teenager years to avoid unwanted pregnancies, regulate their periods, or to control acne.

But what if you gain weight, lose your libido, and get depressed? What then?

The FDA warns that hormonal birth control could increase the risk of cancer and heart disease too (among other things), but this "fine print" is rarely discussed but potentially life changing. So what do you do?

On this week's Yoga Talk Show, we'll explore good old fashioned cycle charting—but with a modern twist. Grab your cell phone and a cheap thermometer, and you can now gain very accurate insight into your menstrual cycles in about five minutes per day.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) can be just as effective as any other form of birth control
  • How to get started with a basel therometer, a phone, and 5 minutes a day
  • Why even many IUDs now are still using hormones
  • The risk vs. reward of messing with your body's hormones

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Magdalena Wszelaki is a Certified Holistic Health Coach whose own health journey started from a personal crisis. She is in remissions from Graves’ and Hashimoto’s and managed to reverse estrogen dominance and heavy metal toxicity. She is a Vipassana meditator and a Level II Reiki practitioner. She coaches people with thyroid and endocrine imbalances.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Activated Charcoal

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • SeatGeek - Buying tickets can be complicated and confusing, but there is a better way to buy – with SeatGeek. SeatGeek is the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every type of live event. Whether you’re searching for a last minute deal, planning a night out with friends, or need to find the perfect gift, SeatGeek helps you find the best seats at the best prices – fully guaranteed.

    Just download the SeatGeek app and enter promo code ‘YOGA’ today. That’s promo code ‘YOGA’ for $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase.

    Learn More

Direct download: 307_-_Natural_Birth_Control_with_Victoria_Zimmerman_.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 1:18pm CET

You’ve got questions, and I’ve got answers…. join me for this week’s Yoga Talk Show special “Q&A Show” where I do my best to help listeners. On this week’s show, we cover: my recommending reading list, food allergy testing, 18+6 Meal Timing, vaccines, yoga problems and plant-based pitfalls.

------------

ABOUT THE HOST

Lucas Rockwood is a yoga teacher trainer, digital nomad, green food junkie, and serial entrepreneur.

With a formal yoga training background in Hot Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Gravity Yoga, and the Yoga Trapeze, Lucas has studied with some of the most well-respected teachers on the planet. His most influential teachers (all of whom he studied with personally) include Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Paul Dallaghan, Alex Medin, Gabriel Cousens MD, and SN Goenka.

Lucas founded Absolute Yoga Academy in 2006, one of the top 10 yoga teacher training schools in the world with 2,000 certified teachers (and counting) and courses in Thailand, Holland, United Kingdom, and The Philippines.

In search of nutritional products designed specifically for achy yoga students’ bodies, Rockwood worked with senior nutritional formulator, Paul Gaylon, and founded, YOGABODY Naturals, in the back of his yoga studio in 2007. The company has gone from strength-to-strength and is now an internationally-renowned nutrition, education, and publishing organization serving 81 countries.

In 2013, Lucas founded YOGABODY Fitness, a revolutionary new yoga studio business model that pays teachers a living wage and demystifies yoga by making the mind-body healing benefits of the practice accessible to everyone.

A foodie at heart, Lucas was a vegan chef, and owned and operated health food restaurants prior to diving deep into the yoga world. Lucas is also a highly-acclaimed writer, radio show host, TV personality, business consultant, weight loss expert, and health coach.

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: http://www.foursigmatic.com/yogabody and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More


When we think about toxins in our food and environment, most people assume the risk is "cancer," and that's true; but the more immediate risk is often hormonal imbalance. Common addictives in foods and skin care products can disrupt your natural endocrine balance and lead to everything from thyroid problems and infertility to weight gain and depression. This is a huge and growing problem, and the solution includes diet and lifestyle choices that aren't always obvious.

Health coach, Magdalena Wszelaki shares her personal story of overcoming both Graves and Hashimoto's Diseases as well as her professional advice for finding balance.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why thyroid issues are often a symptom of autoimmune conditions
  • What blood tests to check your thyroid (TSH, Free T3 & T4, TPO & Anti-Tg)
  • Why estrogen dominance is a huge problem for both men and women
  • Why estrogen dominance is a huge problem for both men and women
  • How to eat a PFF (protein, fat & fiber) breakfast to start your day right

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Magdalena Wszelaki is a Certified Holistic Health Coach whose own health journey started from a personal crisis. She is in remissions from Graves’ and Hashimoto’s and managed to reverse estrogen dominance and heavy metal toxicity. She is a Vipassana meditator and a Level II Reiki practitioner. She coaches people with thyroid and endocrine imbalances.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • A1C Test

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: http://www.foursigmatic.com/yogabody and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More

Direct download: 305_-_Balance_Your_Hormones_With_Magdalena_Wszelaki.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 5:57pm CET

Here is one of my favorite interview questions: "What did you get in trouble for most when you were 12 years old?" The answer often reveals more about who someone really is than an hour-long conversation. Why? Because the things we do that drive people crazy are often the things that define us; and with the right application, the things that enable us to shine our brightest.

What if your weaknesses were your greatest strength? What if your weirdness made you wonderful? Our guest on this week's Yoga Talk Show reveals how this works.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why your weaknesses might be your superpower
  • Why it's foolish to focus on your weaknesses, and why you should instead focus on your strengths
  • Why "perfect" and "balanced" don't exist so we should not go looking for them
  • Why almost any personality type can find a way to excel at something

ABOUT OUR GUEST

David Rendall is an author and sought-after speaker with clients that include: The US Air Force, Australian Government, and Fortune 50 companies such as Microsoft, AT&T, United Health Group, Fannie Mae, and State Farm. David has a doctor of management degree in organizational leadership, as well as a graduate degree in psychology. He is the author of four books: The Four Factors of Effective, Leadership, The Freak Factor, The Freak Factor for Kids, and Pink Goldfish.

Prior to becoming a speaker, he was a leadership professor, stand-up comedian, and nonprofit executive. David is also an athlete competing in ultramarathons and Ironman triathlons.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Lemon in the Morning

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • SeatGeek - Buying tickets can be complicated and confusing, but there is a better way to buy – with SeatGeek. SeatGeek is the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every type of live event. Whether you’re searching for a last minute deal, planning a night out with friends, or need to find the perfect gift, SeatGeek helps you find the best seats at the best prices – fully guaranteed.

    Just download the SeatGeek app and enter promo code ‘YOGA’ today. That’s promo code ‘YOGA’ for $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase.

    Learn More

Direct download: 304_-_Your_Weakness_is_Your_Superpower_With_David_Rendall.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:06am CET

Colin was on the beach in Thailand and decided to try Fire Poi (fire dancing). A few minutes later, he got tangled up, caught on fire, and burned 25% of his body so badly he was bedridden for months. A former athlete, he was devastated to learn that he might never walk properly again.

Fast forward a couple years... Colin not only walks, but he runs, cycles, and swims. He quits his job and becomes a professional tri-athlete competing in 22 countries. As if this wasn't enough of an accomplishment in and of itself, he then climbed the highest peaks on all 7 continents and hit both the North and South Poles setting two world records.

O'Brady defines what it means to push beyond your limits, and his story and inspiring work will make you want to set an audacious goal for yourself.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How Colin burned 25% of his body in a random accident
  • How the "butterfly effect" can potentially help you transform from "stuck" to "success"
  • How Colin completed the "Explorer's Grand Slam" where he climbed the seven tallest peaks on all 7 continents and hit both the North and South Poles
  • How he started a non-profit off the back of his twp world records

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Colin O'Brady was born in Olympia, Washington and grew up as an athlete playing soccor and swimming. Col placed first overall amateur at the 2009 Chicago Triathlon and later represented the United States in triathlon competitions in 22 countries and on six continents.

He is now a world record holder who climbed the 7 highest peaks on all 7 continents. He's the founder of, BEYOND 7/2, an organization that inspires the next generation to dream big and succeed through dedication to healthy life choices

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Autophagy

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Visit: http://www.foursigmatic.com/yogabody and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

    Learn More

Direct download: 303_-_Push_Beyond_Your_Limits_With_Colin_OBrady.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:35am CET

The world’s bulging landfills mirror our bulging waistlines; and the toxic chemicals we pour down our drains end up in our water supplies, food systems, and eventually into our own bodies. Environmental issues that were previously reserved for special interest groups are now urgent global concerns.

As our planet grows to nine billion people, how will the oceans, the forests, and the people survive and thrive?

On this week’s, Yoga Talk Show, you’ll meet an activist who walks his talk in extreme ways. Rob Greenfield biked across the country (twice!), hitched from South American to California (three times!), lived off the grid in a mini house for year, and scrounged food from thousands of dumpsters. He takes his mission very seriously, and his message is clear and simple: your action matter.  

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why Americans create an average of 4.4lbs of trash per day
  • How Rob hitch-hiked from South America to San Diego with no money
  • Why there is no “one answer” for the environmental problems of the world
  • Why diversity is the key to environmental and cultural balance

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Rob Greenfield is an adventurer, environmental activist, humanitarian, and dude making a difference. He is dedicated to leading the way to a more sustainable and just world.

Rob is the creator of The Food Waste Fiasco, a campaign that strives to end food waste and hunger in the U.S. He has dove into more than two thousand dumpsters across the United States to demonstrate how nearly half of all food in the U.S. is wasted while 50 million (1 in 7) Americans are food insecure.

Rob has cycled across the U.S. twice on a bamboo bicycle bringing his message of sustainability and earth-friendly living to the United States. His first bike ride across the U.S. is also now a book, Dude Making a Difference.

In 2016 he landed in Rio, Brazil without a penny in his pocket on a mission to travel to Panama, 7,000 miles and 7 countries away, relying on the goodness of humanity. This adventure is a six episode series called Free Ride on Discovery Channel playing worldwide. His travels have taken him to 6 continents and 40 countries.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Lemon for Iron Absorption

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Four Sigmatic - drinking mushrooms and superfoods can be now delicious and easy-to-do with Mushroom Superfood Blends, and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believe in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion's Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

    Learn More

Direct download: 302_-_Save_the_Planet_One_Person_At-a-Time_with_With_Rob_Greenfield.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:25pm CET

Have you ever heard someone say, “Flexibility doesn’t matter!” or “Stretching makes you weak!” For some reason, the misinformation about flexibility training is rampant, and many students are confused what to do about their locked-up hips, tight hamstrings, and stiff spines. How do you safely and effectively increase your mobility?

Since 2007, flexibility training has been a huge part of the YOGABODY world, and we’re revisiting this perennial topic this year with new and updated research and practices. Join Yoga Talk Show host, Lucas Rockwood, for a 101-guide to flexibility training on this week’s episode.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why “time under passive tension” matters for flexibility
  • Safety myth vs reality of stretching
  • Ideal schedule and timing for mobility gains
  • Nutrition and recovery
  • Realistic expectations and gains

ABOUT THE HOST

Lucas Rockwood is a yoga teacher trainer, digital nomad, green food junkie, and serial entrepreneur.

With a formal yoga training background in Hot Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Gravity Yoga, and the Yoga Trapeze, Lucas has studied with some of the most well-respected teachers on the planet. His most influential teachers (all of whom he studied with personally) include Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Paul Dallaghan, Alex Medin, Gabriel Cousens MD, and SN Goenka.

Lucas founded Absolute Yoga Academy in 2006, one of the top 10 yoga teacher training schools in the world with 2,000 certified teachers (and counting) and courses in Thailand, Holland, United Kingdom, and The Philippines.

In search of nutritional products designed specifically for achy yoga students’ bodies, Rockwood worked with senior nutritional formulator, Paul Gaylon, and founded, YOGABODY Naturals, in the back of his yoga studio in 2007. The company has gone from strength-to-strength and is now an internationally-renowned nutrition, education, and publishing organization serving 81 countries.

In 2013, Lucas founded YOGABODY Fitness, a revolutionary new yoga studio business model that pays teachers a living wage and demystifies yoga by making the mind-body healing benefits of the practice accessible to everyone.

A foodie at heart, Lucas was a vegan chef, and owned and operated health food restaurants prior to diving deep into the yoga world. Lucas is also a highly-acclaimed writer, radio show host, TV personality, business consultant, weight loss expert, and health coach.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Acrylamide

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • FreshBooks - a cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Freshbooks automates tasks like invoicing, organizing expenses, tracking your time and following up with clients in just a few clicks.

    It is also offering now Yoga Talk Show listeners a free 30 days trial.

    Go to freshbooks.com/yoga and enter “yogapodcast” in how did you hear about us section.

    Learn More

Direct download: 301_-_The_Flexibility_Show_with_Lucas_Rockwood.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:04pm CET

Meet the man who top Athletes like, Cristiano Ronaldo, consult with to make sure they get optimal sleep: Nick Littlehales. Sleep quality makes a huge difference in optimal sports performance and overall health, but most people are simply trying to log more hours—and most of us fall short of our goals. Nick's approach is much more practical, realistic, and takes into account individuality of body type, chronotype, and environment.

I've had half a dozen sleep experts on the Yoga Talk Show, and for me, Nick's advice is the most actionable and practical.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why synthetic bedding is probably the best choice
  • Which sleep position is ideal
  • How to count cycles in a week, no hours in a night
  • Why most mattress companies are just smoke and mirrors with made-up terms and medical-sounding jargon that is useless
  • How to create a real sleep den

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Nick Littlehales is an elite sport sleep coach to some of the biggest names in sports including British Cycling and Team Sky, international footballers, Rugby players, Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Nick has 30 years of experience in the world of sleep science and has spent the last sixteen years working with elite athletes.

Many of his clients are household names in the sports celebrity world, and they hire him to optimize their sleep because sleep matters for performance, health, and just about everything else. Nick is the chairman of the UK Sleep Council, and the author of the new book, Sleep: The Myth of 8 Hours, the Power of Naps, and the New Plan to Recharge Your Body and Mind

You can learn more at his site: https://www.sportsleepcoach.com/

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Coffee While Fasting

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • FreshBooks - a cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Freshbooks automates tasks like invoicing, organizing expenses, tracking your time and following up with clients in just a few clicks.

    It is also offering now Yoga Talk Show listeners a free 30 days trial.

    Go to freshbooks.com/yoga and enter “yogapodcast” in how did you hear about us section.

    Learn More

Direct download: 300_-_Sleep_Better_Perform_Better_Live_Better_with_Nick_Littlehales.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 12:16pm CET

The world is getting fat at an alarming rate. Two in three adults are overweight or obese, and excess weight is correlated with every degenerative illness across the board. While some overweight people are in perfect health, it's rare and often fleeting as the downward spiral is very predictable—and it happens fast.

Here's what you need to understand about the global weight problem. It's not about lack of willpower or discipline, that's an ignorant and uninformed excuse. It's not about lack of exercise, though sedentary lives certainly don't help and movement is always a good thing.

The real problem is imbalance: emotional, hormonal, and nutritional. We in a time when stress levels are through the roof, social support systems have crumbled, and most of the food available is various forms of lifeless carbohydrates.  

So what do you do? How do you find balance in an imbalanced world? I've had the good fortune of unfettered access to some of the leading minds in health and wellness over the past 10 years, and I'll share my best learning with you on this week's Yoga Talk Show.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Manage your stress or don't bother
  • Fix your social circle or don't bother
  • 8+16 meal timing
  • Throttle your carbs
  • Baseline your protein
  • Eat healthy fat

ABOUT THE HOST

Lucas Rockwood is a yoga teacher trainer, digital nomad, green food junkie, and serial entrepreneur.

With a formal yoga training background in Hot Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Gravity Yoga, and the Yoga Trapeze, Lucas has studied with some of the most well-respected teachers on the planet. His most influential teachers (all of whom he studied with personally) include Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Paul Dallaghan, Alex Medin, Gabriel Cousens MD, and SN Goenka.

Lucas founded Absolute Yoga Academy in 2006, one of the top 10 yoga teacher training schools in the world with 2,000 certified teachers (and counting) and courses in Thailand, Holland, United Kingdom, and The Philippines.

In search of nutritional products designed specifically for achy yoga students’ bodies, Rockwood worked with senior nutritional formulator, Paul Gaylon, and founded, YOGABODY Naturals, in the back of his yoga studio in 2007. The company has gone from strength-to-strength and is now an internationally-renowned nutrition, education, and publishing organization serving 81 countries.

In 2013, Lucas founded YOGABODY Fitness, a revolutionary new yoga studio business model that pays teachers a living wage and demystifies yoga by making the mind-body healing benefits of the practice accessible to everyone.

A foodie at heart, Lucas was a vegan chef, and owned and operated health food restaurants prior to diving deep into the yoga world. Lucas is also a highly-acclaimed writer, radio show host, TV personality, business consultant, weight loss expert, and health coach.

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • FreshBooks - a cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Freshbooks automates tasks like invoicing, organizing expenses, tracking your time and following up with clients in just a few clicks.

    It is also offering now Yoga Talk Show listeners a free 30 days trial.

    Go to freshbooks.com/yoga and enter “yogapodcast” in how did you hear about us section.

    Learn More

Direct download: 299_-_Everything_I_Know_About_Weight_Loss_with_Lucas_Rockwood.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 5:09pm CET

LISTENER QUESTIONS! Is borage oil any good? What do you do with heart rate variability data? My kid is sweating like crazy, what do I do? How do I get started on a vegan diet? Are oats any good for breakfast? How do I beat chronic yeast overgrowth? My joints are popping, now what?

Your questions, my answers on this week's show!

Go a question yourself? Send us a voicemail...

------------

ABOUT THE HOST

Lucas Rockwood is a yoga teacher trainer, digital nomad, green food junkie, and serial entrepreneur.

With a formal yoga training background in Hot Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Gravity Yoga, and the Yoga Trapeze, Lucas has studied with some of the most well-respected teachers on the planet. His most influential teachers (all of whom he studied with personally) include Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Paul Dallaghan, Alex Medin, Gabriel Cousens MD, and SN Goenka.

Lucas founded Absolute Yoga Academy in 2006, one of the top 10 yoga teacher training schools in the world with 2,000 certified teachers (and counting) and courses in Thailand, Holland, United Kingdom, and The Philippines.

In search of nutritional products designed specifically for achy yoga students’ bodies, Rockwood worked with senior nutritional formulator, Paul Gaylon, and founded, YOGABODY Naturals, in the back of his yoga studio in 2007. The company has gone from strength-to-strength and is now an internationally-renowned nutrition, education, and publishing organization serving 81 countries.

In 2013, Lucas founded YOGABODY Fitness, a revolutionary new yoga studio business model that pays teachers a living wage and demystifies yoga by making the mind-body healing benefits of the practice accessible to everyone.

A foodie at heart, Lucas was a vegan chef, and owned and operated health food restaurants prior to diving deep into the yoga world. Lucas is also a highly-acclaimed writer, radio show host, TV personality, business consultant, weight loss expert, and health coach.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Nutritional Density

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • FreshBooks - a cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Freshbooks automates tasks like invoicing, organizing expenses, tracking your time and following up with clients in just a few clicks.

    It is also offering now Yoga Talk Show listeners a free 30 days trial.

    Go to freshbooks.com/yoga and enter “yogapodcast” in how did you hear about us section.

    Learn More

Direct download: 298_-_Special_Edition_Listener_QA_with_Lucas_Rockwood.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:48pm CET

Have you ever heard someone say, "I'm an idea person... I like to start new things, but I'm not the person who finishes them?" You know who does finish things? Winners. Starting is not hard, or interesting, or worth celebrating. Day 92 of your new exercise program, that's celebration time. Year 6 in your new career, that's party time.

On this week's show, we'll talk about getting stuff done, finding your dream job, and focusing on stacking successes (not failures).

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why you can achieve more by lowering (not raising) your goals
  • Why "fun" is so important on the way to your goals
  • Why it's not always helpful to let others know (publicly) your goals and ambitions
  • How to start with baby steps as you move toward progressively bigger things

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Jon Acuff is the author six books including his most recent: Finish: Give yourself the gift of done. For over 20 years he’s helped big companies tell their stories, including: Home Depot, Bose, Staples, and the Dave Ramsey Team. He’s spoken to hundreds of thousands of people at conferences, colleges, companies and churches. Featured regularly on national media, Jon has been seen on CNN, Fox News, Good Day LA among others.

You can learn more at his site: www.acuff.me

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Chaga

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • FreshBooks - a cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Freshbooks automates tasks like invoicing, organizing expenses, tracking your time and following up with clients in just a few clicks.

    It is also offering now Yoga Talk Show listeners a free 30 days trial.

    Go to freshbooks.com/yoga and enter “yogapodcast” in how did you hear about us section.

    Learn More

Direct download: 297_-_How_to_Get_Stuff_Done_with_Jon_Acuff.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:12pm CET

It's Friday night. You're home late from work and desperate to sleep, and yet you can't. You're tired but wired, overworked but over-stimulated. Cortisol has been pumping through your veins all week, and it's not so easy to turn it off.

So what do you do?

Most people turn to crap foods, alcohol, pills, and binge-watching television series. Why? Because they work. In the short term, they make you feel better; but long term, most of our autopilot stress management techniques turn into self-destructive vice.

On this week's Yoga Talk Show, Dr. Mike Dow will share his experiences healing patients with brain fog, busted brains, and general overwhelm. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, but adding healthy stress management tools to your life is always a great idea.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How mega-dosing omega-3's helped Dr. Mike's brother recover from a stroke
  • Autogenic therapy: a self-talk, self-hypnosis method for fixing brain drain
  • How to use progressive muscle relaxation to relieve both physical and psychological stress
  • Why our typical toolkit for managing mental and emotional stress is flawed

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Mike Dow is an author, psychotherapist, and the host of lots of different television shows. He makes regular appearances on Dr. Oz, Dr. Drew On Call, The Talk, Wendy Williams, Rachael Ray, Nightline, Good Morning America, The Doctors, The Talk, and Today.

He is the author of many books including The Brain Fog Fix, Healing the Broken Brain, and his most-recent book, Heal your Drained Brain.

His books are on Amazon and you can learn more at his site:

www.drmikedow.com

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Collagen

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • FreshBooks - a cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Freshbooks automates tasks like invoicing, organizing expenses, tracking your time and following up with clients in just a few clicks.

    It is also offering now Yoga Talk Show listeners a free 30 days trial.

    Go to freshbooks.com/yoga and enter “yogapodcast” in how did you hear about us section.

    Learn More

Direct download: 296_-_How_to_Heal_from_Brain_Drain_with_Mike_Dow.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 4:37pm CET

Many people think mineral deficiencies only occur in the developing world where food is scarce; but the reality is that most people are deficient in at least a few vitamins or minerals. Our soils are over-farmed leaving our foods nutrient poor, so even people eating the highest-quality of foods are susceptible to imbalances.

Enter: magnesium.

It's the 8th most abundant mineral on earth and affects everything from bowel regularity and cramps to sleep quality and digestion. It's found in nuts, seeds, greens, and even rice—and yet, most people only get about 1/2 their daily recommended allowance from food alone.

For yoga students, magnesium is one of the top minerals (right up there with sulfur) as it helps muscles relax and balances the nervous system—both essential for bendy bodies. On this week's Yoga Talk Show, you'll learn why magnesium deficiency is so common, and more importantly, some very simple tests to fix it safely at home.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why most people only get about 200mg of magnesium per day
  • How magnesium dosage will self-regulate by sending you to the toilet if you have too much
  • Why magnesium is essential for ATP (energy) production
  • How to get tested for magnesium deficiency
  • Recommended dosage: up to 600 mg/day of magnesium citrate (orally) or 2 cups of Epsom salts in a bath

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Carolyn Dean is a medical doctor and naturopath. She has authored and co-authored over 35 books including The Magnesium Miracle, IBS for Dummies, Hormone Balance, Death by Modern Medicine, and 110 Kindle books.

She graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 1978, holds a medical license in California and is a graduate of The Ontario College of Naturopathic Medicine – now the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) in Toronto. She served on the board of Governors of the CCNM for six years.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Polyphenols

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • FreshBooks - a cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Freshbooks automates tasks like invoicing, organizing expenses, tracking your time and following up with clients in just a few clicks.

    It is also offering now Yoga Talk Show listeners a free 30 days trial.

    Go to freshbooks.com/yoga and enter “yogapodcast” in how did you hear about us section.

    Learn More

Direct download: 295_-_Magnesium_-_Top_Mineral_for_Yoga_Students_with_Carolyn_Dean.mp3
Category:Nutrition -- posted at: 5:07pm CET

Do you have a friend or family member losing their short-term memory, losing their mental "edge", and just generally slowing down in terms of brain function? If so, this week's Yoga Talk Show delivers insight into neurodegenerative problems and what you can do about them.

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's are among the top 3 causes of death worldwide. Toxins, inflammation, and high sugar diets are among the many causes; but fortunately, we have better tools than ever for prevention and reversal of problems. On this week's Yoga Talk Show, you'll meet Alzheimer's thought-leader, Dr. Dale Bredesen.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How cheap genetic testing shows you if you have a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's Disease
  • Why neurodegenerative illnesses are now in the top 3 leading causes of death internationally
  • How meal timing and ketosis can prevent and help reverse problems
  • Why inflammation is a disaster for brain health
  • Why 21st century medicine must focus on data, quantified self, testing and tracking

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Bredesen is an expert in the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases and is best-known recently for his work with Alzheimer’s disease specicically. He's the author of a new book, The End of Alzheimer's. He graduated from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC and has held faculty positions at UCSF, UCLA and the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Bredesen directed the Program on Aging at the Burnham Institute before coming to the Buck Institute in 1998 as its founding President and CEO.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Complete Protein

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • FreshBooks - a cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Freshbooks automates tasks like invoicing, organizing expenses, tracking your time and following up with clients in just a few clicks.

    It is also offering now Yoga Talk Show listeners a free 30 days trial.

    Go to freshbooks.com/yoga and enter “yogapodcast” in how did you hear about us section.

    Learn More

Direct download: 294_-_The_End_of_Alzheimers_with_Dr._Dale_Bredesen.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 2:47pm CET

"I just want to be happy..." is something you've probably said one thousand times. You want to be happy at work, at home, with your partner and friends—but what does that mean?

You've no-doubt felt "happy" while walking on the beach on a warm summer night at sunset, but if you're like me, you've also felt "happy" in a sweaty, controlled mess on your yoga mat—so what's going on?  

Happiness is something we're all seeking and yet almost no one can define. No wonder we struggle to achieve it. On this week's Yoga Talk Show, you'll learn about the four chemicals responsible for happiness, and more importantly, how to cultivate them.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why social status & pride are important for serotonin
  • Why the stress hormone cortisol can kill your chances of happiness
  • How early life patterns can influence (but not predict) your habits today
  • Why people get addicted to "runner's high"
  • How to choose healthy ways to trigger happy brain chemicals

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD, is the founder of the Inner Mammal Institute. She's Professor Ammer-ita at California State University, East Bay, and author of I-Mammal, Habits of a Happy Brain, and The Science of Positivity.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Healthy Oils

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • FreshBooks - a cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Freshbooks automates tasks like invoicing, organizing expenses, tracking your time and following up with clients in just a few clicks.

    It is also offering now yoga talk show listeners a free 30 days trial.

    Go to freshbooks.com/yoga and enter yogapodcast in how did you hear about us section.

    Learn More

Direct download: 293_-_Unlock_Your_Happy_Brain_Chemicals_with_Loretta_Breuning.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:39pm CET

It was Christmas 2001. I was 23 years old, and I woke up in the back of ambulance after convulsing in a grand mal seizure in front of my parents. I'd managed to wobble through the previous 3 years in steady haze of drug and alcohol abuse, chronic sleep deprivation, and borderline mania, but that holiday season, I bottomed out.

There was no more hiding the truth from myself. I was in trouble.

I wish I could say that I've always loved yoga, health and wellness—but that's not my story. I took my first swig of gin straight from the bottle at age 13, and I loved it right away. No learning curve. I was never drawn to lotus position or meditation halls in those days. Early in my life, I was obsessed with escaping the overwhelming anxiety and restlessness of my own brain.

My yoga story is one of running away from pain, of channeling negative obsessions into positive ones, and finding a toolkit that made me feel well, every time. I turn 40 this year, and as strange as it sounds, I'd never shared my story in its entirety with anyone because it continues to be a deep source of shame for me. With few exceptions, shame is a pretty useless feeling, so I'd like to share my story with you on this week's Yoga Talk Show. My hope is that if you're at a crossroads or a crisis point now, you can perhaps connect with my "rock bottom" story and begin to find your North Star as I did.

------------

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Lucas Rockwood is a yoga teacher trainer, digital nomad, green food junkie, and serial entrepreneur. With a formal yoga training background in Hot Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Gravity Yoga, and the Yoga Trapeze, Lucas has studied with some of the most well-respected teachers on the planet. His most influential teachers (all of whom he studied with personally) include Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Paul Dallaghan, Alex Medin, Gabriel Cousens MD, and SN Goenka.

Lucas founded Absolute Yoga Academy in 2006, one of the top 10 yoga teacher training schools in the world with 2,000 certified teachers (and counting) and courses in Thailand, Holland, United Kingdom, and The Philippines.

In search of nutritional products designed specifically for achy yoga students’ bodies, Rockwood worked with senior nutritional formulator, Paul Gaylon, and founded, YOGABODY Naturals, in the back of his yoga studio in 2007. The company has gone from strength-to-strength and is now an internationally-renowned nutrition, education, and publishing organization serving 81 countries.

In 2013, Lucas founded YOGABODY Fitness, a revolutionary new yoga studio business model that pays teachers a living wage and demystifies yoga by making the mind-body healing benefits of the practice accessible to everyone.

A foodie at heart, Lucas was a vegan chef, and owned and operated health food restaurants prior to diving deep into the yoga world. Lucas is also a highly-acclaimed writer, radio show host, TV personality, business consultant, weight loss expert, and health coach.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Boost Immune System

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Trapeze Teacher Training -- For passionate yoga students who love inversion yoga, this is an exciting opportunity to train with YOGABODY, the leading educator and manufacturer of inversion slings worldwide. The Yoga Trapeze is the most-popular yoga inversion sling ever with over 100,000 students in 81 countries. Despite the ever-growing demand, there are hardly any professional instructors - until now.

    We’re now accepting applications for The Yoga Trapeze Certification course where you’ll learn how to teach both group and private lessons for beginning and intermediate students.

    Learn More

Direct download: 292_-_My_Untold_Story._Yoga_Drugs__Alcohol_with_Lucas_Rockwood.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:36pm CET

During the World Financial Crisis of 2008, James Lawrence's mortgage business went belly-up, and he started running, cycling and swimming. He channelled his pain and struggle into training, and became a professional athlete in middle age. His preferred race? The Ironman: a 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles cycling, and 26.2 miles running—all in one day. As gruelling as that sounds, James decided to do 50 Ironman races, 50 days in a row, in all 50 U.S. states. They call him the "Iron Cowboy," and he lives up to his name.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • Why there's no such thing as a dream that's "too big" as long as you have enough time to make it happen
  • Why fatigue is an injury
  • How it's now more-possible than ever to become a professional athlete
  • The importance of having a good coach

ABOUT OUR GUEST

James is originally from Calgary, Alberta Canada. He grew up a wrestler and later got into endurance racing to escape the stress of Corporate America. After losing everything in 2008, James turned to his new found passion for triathlon racing and went on to break two world records within three years. In 2015 James completed 50 Ironman distance triathlons, in 50 days, in each of the 50 United States -- The 50-50-50. His first book, Redefine Impossible is available on Amazon.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Bell Peppers

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Trapeze Teacher Training -- For passionate yoga students who love inversion yoga, this is an exciting opportunity to train with YOGABODY, the leading educator and manufacturer of inversion slings worldwide. The Yoga Trapeze is the most-popular yoga inversion sling ever with over 100,000 students in 81 countries. Despite the ever-growing demand, there are hardly any professional instructors - until now.

    We’re now accepting applications for The Yoga Trapeze Certification course where you’ll learn how to teach both group and private lessons for beginning and intermediate students.

    Learn More

Direct download: 291_-_Push_to_Your_Limit__Beyond_with_James_Lawrence.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:35pm CET

At age 23, I was overweight, drinking too much and smoking constantly. I was stuck in life and wanted a new one, so I finally got up the courage to attend a 10-day meditation retreat just before my 24th birthday. I'd booked and canceled the same retreat once before, and it was a big deal for me to get on the bus from New York City out to rural New Jersey to do nothing...

... But it turns out, it led to a big turning point in my life. Many changes I experienced were subtle and played out over months or even years, but one change happened instantly. I stopped eating animal foods.

During the retreat, they didn't serve any meat, so I just kept up with it afterwards, and I felt great. I started reading books and going to lectures. Back then, most of the smart people in nutrition all believed that a low fat, no-meat diet was the best way to go for health. So I was sold.

Fast forward 15 years later, I'm still eating this way, but I'm no longer naive enough to think that just cutting burgers from your diet is going to fix your health (in fact, sometimes the opposite is true). But I am absolutely certain that the way we eat today is not the way my grandkids will eat. Our foods system is beyond broken, it's a total disaster.

Enter: lab-grown meats. Just like it sounds, this is fish, chicken, and burgers grown from cloned and cultivated cells. It might sound gross, but it also might save the planet. My guest on this week's show just wrote a book about this next revolution in food, CLEAN MEAT.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How clean meat is safer than factor foods
  • How clean meat, like clean energy, is way better for the environment
  • Why many foods we eat today are weird if you stop to think about it—so why not this?
  • Why the future of food is probably a lot less convenient than chickens, pigs, cows, corn, rice, wheat and soy

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Paul Shapiro served for 13 years as a spokesperson and vice president for the Humane Society of the United States. He is the founder of Compassion Over Killing, a TEDx speaker, and an inductee into the Animal Rights Hall of Fame. His first book, Clean Meat, is available on Amazon.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Maca

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • The Yoga Teachers College offers master-level training for those looking to build a career as yoga professionals. Our trainees benefit from the best of modern learning technology combined with old school apprenticeship. Graduates walk away with the skills, confidence and experience needed to become not just teachers, but community and business leaders as well.
    Whether your goal is to teach part time locally, travel and lead workshops internationally, or to open your own studios, The Yoga Teachers College will support your career every step of the way.

    Learn More

Direct download: 290_-_Lab-Grown_Clean_Meat__the_Future_of_Food_with_Paul_Shapiro.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 8:00pm CET

You probably know that infants that don't receive enough cuddles, hugs, and physical affection suffer from all kinds of developmental problems—the first two years are the most critical, and this is why the first thing a doctor does with a newborn is place it on the chest of the mother or father. But what about middle-aged people? And what about at the end of life? It turns out touch is still crucial to health and wellness, and yet in our modern, physically disconnected society, many people are deprived. On this week's show, you'll meet a neuroscientist who specializes in the importance of touch and how you can use this knowledge to improve your life.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • How there is no such thing as a touch or sensation without emotion—they are always inseparable
  • Why high fives, back slapping, and social touch improves sports teamwork and performance
  • Why we tend to prioritize external touch sensations when internal touch is just as important
  • How touch deprivation is "highest risk" in infants and elders

ABOUT OUR GUEST

David J. Linden, Ph.D., is a Professor of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His laboratory works on the cellular substrates of memory storage and recovery of function after brain injury. He served as the Chief Editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology. He is the author of The Accidental Mind (2007) and The Compass of Pleasure (2011), and his most recent book, Touch: The Science of Hand, Heart and Mind.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Zinc

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • The Yoga Teachers College offers master-level training for those looking to build a career as yoga professionals. Our trainees benefit from the best of modern learning technology combined with old school apprenticeship. Graduates walk away with the skills, confidence and experience needed to become not just teachers, but community and business leaders as well.
    Whether your goal is to teach part time locally, travel and lead workshops internationally, or to open your own studios, The Yoga Teachers College will support your career every step of the way.

    Learn More

Direct download: 289_-_Why_Touch_Matters_in_Everything_with_David_Linden.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 4:45pm CET

I've spent most my career researching, studying and teaching physical health and wellness only to realize that mental health is the big elephant in the room. In many cases, diet and exercise help, of course; but depression, anxiety and trauma wounds can dig so deep that a more comprehensive, mind-body approach to healing is needed.

On this week's Yoga Talk Show, you'll meet a pioneer in Mind-Body Medicine who has worked with everyone from war-torn refugees to leaders of state. His insights into the mental health pandemic will help you and those you love better manage emotional challenges.

------------

Listen & Learn:

  • 15% of the adult population has clinical depression
  • Why some depression is reactionary and totally expected while chronic or clinical depression persists past reasonable triggers
  • How something as simple as a nutritional deficiency in vitamin D or omega-3's can trigger depression
  • When does empathetic behavior become enabling behavior for depressive tendencies?
  • 3 types of meditation: concentration, mindfulness, and expressive

ABOUT OUR GUEST

James S. Gordon, MD, a Harvard educated psychiatrist, is a world-renowned expert in using mind-body medicine to heal depression, anxiety, and psychological trauma. He is the Founder and Executive Director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine and a Clinical Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at Georgetown Medical School.

Dr. Gordon served as the first Chairman of the Program Advisory Council to NIH’s Office of Alternative Medicine and as Chairman of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy under Presidents Clinton and G.W. Bush. He is the author of, Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

  • Truvia

Links & References from the Show:

Got Questions?

Like the Show?

  • Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

  • Health I.Q. — Yoga Podcast is sponsored by Health IQ, an insurance company that helps health conscious people like runners, cyclist, weightlifters and vegetarians get lower rates on their life insurance. To see if you qualify, get your free quote today at healthiq.com/yogabody or mention the promo code YOGA when you talk to a Health IQ agent.

    Learn More

Direct download: 288_-_Why_Were_Depressed_and_What_to_Do_About_It_with_James_S._Gordon.mp3
Category:Health -- posted at: 4:30pm CET

1