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:

• J. Brown's Podcast on iTunes
• J. Brown's Site
• Train with Lucas
• YOGABODY Supplements & Products

Got Questions?

• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
• Or write to us: podcast@yogabody.com 

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

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:

• James "Iron Cowboy's" Website
• Redefine Impossible Book

Got Questions?

• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
• Or write to us: podcast@yogabody.com 

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

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:

• Paul's website
• Clean Meat Book Website

Got Questions?

• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
• Or write to us: podcast@yogabody.com 

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

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:

• David Linden's Site
• David's Books on Amazon

Got Questions?

• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
• Or write to us: podcast@yogabody.com 

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

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:

• Center for Mind-Body Medicine
• Unstuck Book

Got Questions?

• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
• Or write to us: podcast@yogabody.com 

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