238. Stop Stretching, Yogis! - Yogi Aaron

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What is the key that unlocks the door to freedom? And what does it have to do with yoga?

Yogi Aaron and I explore this and more in this insightful, provocative, and fun episode. One of the most sought-after teachers today, Yogi Aaron is trailblazing a new path in the world of yoga. He is known for his unorthodox perspectives on stretching and flexibility and how both cause more harm than good, and his revolutionary approach to yoga — Applied Yoga Anatomy + Muscle Activation™ (AYAMA) - helps people live pain-free.

• Hey yogis - should you stop stretching?! That sounds like crazy talk, but you have to hear what Yogi Aaron says about muscles, the brain, and stretching!
• What is the (shockingly!) worst yoga pose for your body?

Resources:

Freebie! http://smpl.ro/manifest-life

https://www.yogiaaron.com

Online platform: The Yogi Club

Host of the yoga podcast ‘Stop Stretching’

Author of ‘Autobiography of a Naked Yogi’ and the forth-coming book ‘Stop Stretching! A New Yogic Approach To Master Your Body + Live Pain-Free',

Co-Owner of Blue Osa Yoga Retreat & Spa in Costa Rica

00:00.00
karagoodwin
Hello and welcome to the meditation conversation. The podcast to support your spiritual revolution I'm your host Kara Goodwin and today I'll be talking with Yogi Aaron Yogi Aaron is one of the most sought after Yoga teachers today. He's trailblazing a new path in the world of yoga. He's known for his unorthodox perspectives on stretching and flexibility and how both cause more harm than good. Teachings aim to help as many people as possible live a pain-free life so they can realize yoga's true intentions. So welcome Yogi Aaron I'm so happy to meet you. Yeah, my pleasure so you are really passionate about helping people to become pain-free and I'm really curious about your unorthodox perspectives when it comes to yoga and stretching and. And um, how does this all go together. How are you helping people to become pain free. Um and and taking a different approach to yoga.

03:32.37
karagoodwin
Yeah.

03:47.87
karagoodwin
Absolutely so let's let's pull that thread a little bit in terms of helping people to find out who they are so you know in the yogic world A lot of times. There's the talk about. Um, Ego versus the higher self So is this the type of language that you're talking about where it's like a realization that you're more than this physical experience that you're having and you're more than the thoughts and so forth is that kind of on par with with that realization or is it more about. And probably it's everything but you know is it is it more around an individual and like hey what is your specific purpose and and so forth or is it kind of more of that etheric um feeling of of who we all are. You know Beyond the physical.

06:19.39
Yogi Aaron
Um, I'm happy to have you or be here. Thank you very much. Um.

06:29.64
karagoodwin
Hey.

06:44.34
Yogi Aaron
Um, ah.

06:51.68
Yogi Aaron
So I think it's first first and foremost I think it's important to clarify a really important point which doesn't get a lot of press and that is that flexibility and and stretching have absolutely nothing to do with yoga. Um, these kind of 2 ideas.

07:01.49
karagoodwin
Are.

07:09.55
Yogi Aaron
What we have seen is that they've these 2 ideas have hijacked the yoga world and what I'm trying to do is flip the script on that and get people back into what yoga is truly about which is this kind of helping people to. Go back to the source of what is their purpose in life. How can we be happy in life and for me this kind of approach this a yama approach that I've been taking which is a philosophy is an added philosophy sort of but not really. Of yoga which is that we need to be stable first you know there's one of the quotes from my teacher is that a confuse mind is not fit for the practice of yoga and we can kind of translate that into life like if we look at life people who have confusion.

07:46.59
karagoodwin
Um, yeah.

08:04.55
Yogi Aaron
It's really hard for them to get the most out of life. They're just confused. They're just don't know what they don't know and the paradigm or the philosophy of yoga is that the the key that unlocks the door to freedom is knowledge the key that unlocks the door of freedom is knowing yourself.

08:12.92
karagoodwin
Ah.

08:22.16
karagoodwin
Ah, yeah, yeah, completely. Well this is the interesting thing because of course we have ego and this is you know a lot of like there are there are plenty of lineages. Let's say.

08:24.70
Yogi Aaron
At every level not like believing who you are not like having a feeling of who you are but being really grounded in that source in that knowledge and so that for me is is what I'm really passionate about is is.

08:39.95
karagoodwin
That the idea is to kill the ego. You know like let's kill it because it's not who you really are and and I've spent time there you know where it's like okay that's ego. That's bad I reject it you know and I'm really working on living my life beyond the ego.

08:41.20
Yogi Aaron
Getting people into that place of like I know who I am I know what my purpose is and a couple of days ago somebody asked me like you know how can you keep going after doing this for 30 years and it's like when you see that spark.

08:57.71
karagoodwin
There came a point where it it was actually kind of turned on its head where it's like well we are here on this planet having a human experience with this body and personality that is part of the deal and it's part of the toolkit that we've been given and so.

08:58.77
Yogi Aaron
Of awakening in people. Oh my God That's the most addictive thing for me ah a person awaken to their potential their real potential not just awaken to it but actually go out and do something about it. That's so exciting to me to see.

09:17.20
karagoodwin
There's a bit of a I mean I I am finding as time goes on. It's like a a yes and you know it's like yeah we we are all 1 you know that is like a metaphysical like quantum truth.

09:17.24
Yogi Aaron
People do stuff in their life.

09:30.69
karagoodwin
That we all are connected like fascia. You know we're all part of 1 big system and we have these individual expressions that we use as our tools to you know to? um, live our dharma to live our purpose. And um, and so there what again, there's was just an evolution where it's like yeah one approach is like kill the ego reject the ego get over the ego you know and it's like I don't and it and that can be done. You know you can transcend. The ego but it takes time to do that. That's like mastery and so there's there's a big layer between like learning about the difference between ego and higher self or however, that language is done you know separation and and unity and everything.

10:09.65
Yogi Aaron
Yeah I mean that's a really great question. Um I there's a lot in the yoga world that's being taught today and I would even say in the spiritual realm you know like.

10:25.72
karagoodwin
Before we actually experience that as a ah living truth and it seems that when we are like in our human form but we're rejecting the the human we're rejecting the ego we're rejecting the separation that there is that um.

10:26.26
Yogi Aaron
Um, spiritual practices and that what people are doing and there's this kind of like fixation if you will. It's probably not the best word but um, like we are one and just accept that we are all 1 and merge with universal consciousness and it's a beautiful.

10:45.38
karagoodwin
Potential for bypassing you know where it's like well I'm just a soul So I don't feel anger I don't feel pain I don't feel guilt or regret or shame because those are like ego things and and with us not actually accepting.

10:45.61
Yogi Aaron
Beautiful idea and it really is um but it's not like it's It's sort of a short term solution I guess to feeling a little better about yourself. But I don't think it really part of what is taught in the yoga sutras is. In order for us to understand who we are. We have to separate orself from everything that we think we are and and that's one and other the things I love about classical yoga The yoga ah potanjali is that it's really starting to go in and and identifying.

11:04.72
karagoodwin
That we are feeling those things you know they just can get buried instead of like processed and and accepted and and then they're hanging in there energetically? Um I don't know why I'm saying all of these things but sorry, no please.

11:23.11
Yogi Aaron
All those parts of ourselves who we think we are you know like you know I am a victim. For example, you know so many of us relate to being a victim. Well, that's not really who we are um who we are is you know this eternal self. But we can't really identify that eternal self until we identify all of those different parts of of who we think we are we forget you know one of the my teacher swami Rama said that we all wear masks in life.

11:42.31
karagoodwin
Um, yeah.

11:44.75
karagoodwin
Um, yeah.

11:55.66
Yogi Aaron
And you know and the greek root word of mask is Persona Ah, which now translates as personality but in the ancient Greece they would carry around you know actors would would literally hold a mask in front of their face and then assume a character assume a personality. And and sometimes it would have 2 or 3 of these different messs and be able to play different parts or different characters. So That's who we are as human beings is. We're playing different parts. You know, like right now I'm playing the part brought to you by Yoga. Ah.

12:33.70
Yogi Aaron
And then when I hang up with you I might have to play the part of a yoga retreat center owner. It's kind of like starting to identify those different parts in our attachment to those parts and until we start to identify that.

12:48.64
karagoodwin
Which mask do I want to wear.

12:53.69
Yogi Aaron
Then we're never going to be free of that You know we can always imagine this sort of universal consciousness. But then we quickly get pulled back down into you know this kind of like earthly stuff until we start to maintain that that dual awareness of you know I'm.

13:00.68
karagoodwin
Would know.

13:12.71
Yogi Aaron
Playing this role but I'm not really that role. You know it's having that constant awareness and and for me what what? Um what we teach is the teachings of based upon potanjali that.

13:20.11
karagoodwin
Yeah.

13:30.44
Yogi Aaron
That this is like this duality if you will. There's this duality. We're not this oneness There is this duality and we need to separate ourselves from ourselves to understand ours. Ah.

13:33.64
karagoodwin
Totally it's this. It's the equivalent of like going to church on Easter you know and or even getting your butt in the pew every Sunday and thinking like okay I'm going to heaven because I did all the Sundays in church.

13:43.57
Yogi Aaron
You know there's this beautiful quote I used to say all the time I kind of got it from my teacher imagine yourself watching yourself watch yourself. Ah.

13:51.10
karagoodwin
And like but you're a terrible like horrible person to be around and you're causing so much pain to the people that love you or want to love you and and it's like well you know there's that mentality like I'm ticking the box I'm doing the things but you're you know that actual work to. To better ourselves is the is the actual part of the you know the the whole thing back to your original point of that The actual point of Yoga. You know what is it trying to do it's it's there is it there to make us stretchy.

14:10.61
Yogi Aaron
Um, yeah.

14:25.94
karagoodwin
Or is it there to connect us and to help us grow and in a different way So tell us about your approach I am so interested in in this like stop stretching. So tell tell me about this.

14:33.95
Yogi Aaron
Um, yeah.

14:50.80
karagoodwin
I like the asanas I I have historically I mean I've done many many yoga classes I have not done them for ah I haven't been to yoga class probably in a couple of years

15:03.79
Yogi Aaron
A.

15:06.14
karagoodwin
Um, but I do all'll like do some stretching when I feel like I'll do some yoga move some asanas. Um, when my body needs it or but I'll do like you know, just a few flows. You know that take me like five or ten minutes

15:18.40
Yogi Aaron
Yak.

15:24.68
karagoodwin
Right? And I really can feel like oh there's like energy needs to go in these like that's one of the cool things about yoga is like how much if we're not moving our bodies around in such a way. It's It's like.

15:37.16
Yogi Aaron
Is enough.

15:41.46
karagoodwin
The fascia like we talked about or the you know the different like how much energy is actually getting into my armpit.. For example, you know if I'm not breathing with my arms raised up and I'm stretching over. You know there are all these different ways that we're moving energy into our physical body and into the fascia. Through yoga. Um, so sometimes I'll just feel called to like oh I Really just need to like stretch and get some some fresh energy into different parts of my body.

16:17.20
Yogi Aaron
Um, asian.

16:26.19
Yogi Aaron
E.

16:38.51
karagoodwin
Yeah.

16:44.18
Yogi Aaron
Well, it used to be like oh no I was just going to say that you can see that a lot with people who you know these these stereotypical people who go and spend you know a month in a meditation center or. Even sometimes years in a meditation center. Yeah um, a tibetan monastery you know and then they go home for Thanksgiving ah, and then and then they realized like I really haven't dealt with my shit. Um, it's nice to.

17:12.53
karagoodwin
Are.

17:19.34
Yogi Aaron
Dwell in that beautiful place of bliss but it doesn't serve us you know and 1 of I think one of the most profound things that I had 2 of my teachers teach me this in different ways. But they taught the same thing. Forget about bliss don't worry about bliss don't worry about feeling estatic so many of us are are addicted to ecstasy focus on concentration make concentration your practice.

17:46.90
karagoodwin
Um, yeah.

17:54.63
Yogi Aaron
How long can you hold your attention on on something and and that's for me that's much more important and part of that concentration is coming back to this awareness that constant awareness that constant mindfulness of of.

18:03.22
karagoodwin
Um.

18:09.40
karagoodwin
Yes, I Yes I've been there too I've I was doing a ton of yoga and I started feeling ah pain in my back and I start and then I started taking yoga medicine where I was like oh well clearly I've got something I need to work out in my back and.

18:12.28
Yogi Aaron
That duality of like yes I'm projecting an ego but what kind of ego. Do I want to project I mean we they go? Yeah, exactly what? what mask do you want to wear Swai Rama my teacher said do the work so that you make your personality a pleasant 1

18:27.60
karagoodwin
Yoga will help me and it did not. Ah.

18:31.70
Yogi Aaron
Ah Wow I mean what a profound statement because so many of us have very unpleasant personalities and owning a yoga retreat Center I can't tell you how many yoga I'm doing air quotes for people who are listening yoga people come and have really nasty personalities.

18:42.95
karagoodwin
Emotional lips but okay.

18:51.92
Yogi Aaron
And so it's like you know you're not really doing the work. You're drinking your coconut water and thinking that's making you spiritual, but that's not you got to do the work and and face yourself and so.

18:59.69
karagoodwin
Yes.

19:12.72
Yogi Aaron
Um, yeah.

19:24.80
Yogi Aaron
Um, yes, and.

19:27.81
Yogi Aaron
The fifth.

19:33.63
Yogi Aaron
Yeah, yeah.

19:57.68
Yogi Aaron
Yeah, yeah.

20:10.23
Yogi Aaron
Um, so I didn't read about you if you actually do yoga. Do you actually have you done have you done much yoga like us and practice. Yeah.

20:33.18
Yogi Aaron
Okay.

20:49.22
Yogi Aaron
Um, just if I get moving a little bit.

21:10.77
Yogi Aaron
You have.

21:42.60
Yogi Aaron
So I Thank you for sharing that by the way it's yeah and I think that's one of the biggest boons of Yoga Asana um that I know that you're probably,, you're more into meditation which is great which is fantastic. And part of how yoga Asna developed or or came about is just recognizing like not everybody can sit still you know and and and be with themselves and.

22:03.63
karagoodwin
And okay, well thank you for that. So is that is it like is the foundation of that a Yama practice or technique is it is it yoga I mean are you kind of combining the asanas with.

22:13.83
Yogi Aaron
I think it's important for listeners or for people to also know like without judgment I say this without judgment. Although it sounds Judgy um that ah it's your ah inability people's inability to sit still has nothing to do with body.

22:21.53
karagoodwin
The Mat technique or.

22:29.97
Yogi Aaron
And it's all about the mind you know and not being able to be still in mind and and there's a lot to unpack there and and so the ancient Hatha yogis recognize that truism that not not everybody a had enough time to sit still for a long period of time or b.

22:43.48
karagoodwin
When.

22:49.11
Yogi Aaron
Couldn't sit still and and then C also realize that we can access the divine qualities of of the eternal within our body and so kind of understanding all of those things. That's how the science of Hathi yoga.

22:53.55
karagoodwin
Really.

23:05.62
Yogi Aaron
Started to be developed you know fifteen hundred years ago more or less and um where I come into this fast forward 5000 ah is that i.

23:17.74
karagoodwin
So Why is that. I Don't want to put you on the spot. But I mean I Love Child's Pose. It feels great. Yeah.

23:23.72
Yogi Aaron
Started doing yoga when I was about 18 because I wanted to become more flexible and um quickly I started injuring myself and that kind of process. So the solution to injuring myself was to do more yoga I'm not like. Bull enough I'm not stretching enough.

23:49.45
Yogi Aaron
Um, yeah.

24:00.80
Yogi Aaron
So a lot of people go we'll go oh but you have negative emotions in your back, you need to deal with that or you've got negative feelings or or emotional hips and I don't even know what that means but emotional hips. Ah. Ah, you got to open that up and let your hips release and and believe me it took me you know I can laugh at this and I'm not laughing at people I'm I'm really laughing at myself for the record because I just I'm in in shock at like some of the pseudoscience that I used to think about. And so anyway it took me 25 years to figure out and what happened was I ended up in a surgeon's office about five years ago who was telling me that I probably would need a spinal fusion in my lower back and that was like a huge wakeup call for me. That I was like this this can't be happening like I'm I'm the type of person that really focuses a lot on my alignment on the type of person that is very particular about my body and my health and my mind and. That was kind of like a moment I flipped started flipping the script and to make a long story short I started studying a technique called muscle activation technique which was developed by Greg Roskoff and it's a whole kind of methodology which I'm not going to get really deep into but the whole premise.

25:34.53
Yogi Aaron
Is around and there's a few things that are the premise but 1 of them is that we want to reestablish or re-fortify or strengthen the the brain to muscle connection and so you might say well yogiarin isn't. You know yoga really about developing a stronger mind-body connection and that that is true. We are developing sort of more of a peripheral awareness if you will but every time we stretch. We're actually diminishing that proprioception. That we have that biomechanical proprioception where the brain knows where a muscle is in space and so every time what I started to learn an m mit muscle activation technique was every time we're stretching. We're actually diminishing.

26:22.92
karagoodwin
That is fascinating. Thank you because I am sure over the course of you know, many many years I have heard teachers encourage you like to do child's pose throughout the day if you need to.

26:24.32
Yogi Aaron
That connection we're actually in some cases even breaking that connection between brain and muscle and you might notice Kara that when you you do child's pose and if you kind of like just have to stand up right away. It's kind of like you have to put 1 hand on the floor.

26:41.38
karagoodwin
So because it is kind of a restful pose and you know that they they see benefit in that way. So that's really it's very provocative Aaron yeah.

26:41.39
Yogi Aaron
The other hand come on to all 4 slowly put your hands on your knees and come up because you don't have any strength you don't have any I think it's a good way of putting is force output the muscles are not contracting and contracting on Demand. And so you kind of have to rely on your hands and your knees to start slowly coming up. Um, and I started realizing like this is not good I Want my students leaving more stable but also personally I know that I'm feeling more stable and if I stretch I feel not the same.

27:09.46
karagoodwin
Aaron Gt aaron gt ah ah air aon yogi Aaron Ghent the

27:17.38
karagoodwin
Um, no I'm I'm not trying to correlate those but I just I'm just playing I'm just playing with your with your name. That's that's fun. Okay, sorry.

27:17.47
Yogi Aaron
So I started to kind of translate what I was learning in mit and saying how could we bring this into the yoga world and that's when I started creating a Yama applied Yoga anatomy and muscle activation to muscle activation.

27:35.81
karagoodwin
He.

27:39.10
Yogi Aaron
Um, the fifth.

27:43.87
karagoodwin
Yes.

27:51.50
Yogi Aaron
No no, it's not combining with ma at all what I'm not what I'm teaching is not mit what I've done is gone in and go okay well what are the main muscles. So there's a few different paradigm shifts if you will the first. Paradigm the first principle of a yama is stop stretching and if yours can take anything from this podcast um with me the two things is stop stretching and stop doing child's pose because that it's just the worst thing you can do it out of. All the yoga asanas it is the worst yoga pose to do I mean there's a lot of bad yoga poses but that one is at the top of the list because everybody does it and it just makes you disabled it makes you from a neuro muscular perspective. It impairs you. At such a profound level. Ah oh gosh oh gosh. Okay, so you you it does feel. Ah, um, there's so many there's such a list of reasons. Um. I'll try and give them as quickly as I can. The first reason is that the number 1 issue which most people face in today's world is discompression in the lower back and this discompression is caused by discarniation.

29:19.51
karagoodwin
Um, and then.

29:22.45
Yogi Aaron
Which is pressing into a pain receptor nerves and causing lower back pain. So what we actually need to do is start to get people more into extension more into like you know how you look at the spine the lower back and there's a beautiful sea curve there.

29:29.76
karagoodwin
That and so-called.

29:39.96
Yogi Aaron
Most people don't have that C curve anymore because they're too busy sitting and sitting is starting to put this the lower back into Flexion. So when we look at child's pose if a person is already dealing with lower back problems. Then child's pose is just making it worse by pushing the discs further into the pain receptor nerves perpetuating the herniated disc. In other words where what a better pose an alternative to child's pose which is much healthier. Much better. Is pose sometimes referred to as crocodile pose where you're lying on your stomach and it's in a prone position. It's your line on your stomach and you would put your hands on top of each other or your forearms and rest your forehead onto onto the forehead of.

30:20.43
karagoodwin
Okay I love that you are just flipping it because you are obviously if you're contracting one part of the body The the other side is opening up but you're not focusing on over the you know overstimulating over overstretching and.

30:35.14
Yogi Aaron
Forearm or the back of the hand so that's the first reason the second reason is that you really want to focus. We need to get people's glutes engaged and we need to get the lower back engaged so we need to create more extension and those those extensions is what actually helps to keep the.

30:40.36
karagoodwin
Yeah, that's fascinating.

30:53.93
Yogi Aaron
Find in place so that we're supporting the lower back properly and then the third thing that we're doing is we're actually forcing the soas as well as hip plexers to overcontract in the front of the body. So the soaz is your number 1

30:58.19
karagoodwin
Ah.

31:12.25
Yogi Aaron
Hip Flexor and then you have the you know the other hip flexctor flexers the rectus more is the iacus etc and so and you have all of the abdominal muscles. So all of these muscles are shortening beyond what their capacity is this is all disrupting. This proprioception between the brain and the muscle and the brain no longer knows where these muscles are if you keep repeating this over and over and over and shutting. You're shutting down these muscles over and over they ended up staying in this almost. Shut down state if you will which is not how you want to be running or going through life.

32:05.91
Yogi Aaron
Um, yeah, sure.

32:21.69
karagoodwin
Um, no be small. Yeah.

32:22.91
Yogi Aaron
I I mean without trying to without sounding arrogant I really am I'm I'm sorry arrogant arrogant Aaron Aogant ah hey I'll be the first to admit I have a huge ego since we were talking how to you.

32:41.99
karagoodwin
Wow Yeah, you would think that if you were really into yoga for a long time. You would be kind of protecting those parts more you know through the practice. So that's really interesting. Thank you? Well I do want to I Want to.

32:52.68
Yogi Aaron
But but no, that's okay without sounding Arrogant I really am on the bandwagon to start teaching yoga teachers more about muscle function. It's just we're just not taught.

33:01.58
karagoodwin
Tell people how to learn more about you but before we get to that? Um I would love to hear your 5 tips for living a successful and meaningful life.

33:11.46
Yogi Aaron
In our yeah, you know we have a lane and we're supposed to within that lane learn something about anatomy. Unfortunately the people that taught us about anatomy know nothing about anatomy. And sometimes those people would bring in other people to teach about anatomy and but we don't ever retain it and that's the applied part of applied joke anatomy and muscle activation is that my goal is not just to teach people about anatomy but to make it more functional to make it more. Experiential so that we can apply it into a practice. So for example, like you know you've done yoga postures before and a famous one is Triponasana and and so this kind of goes into another part of of the a yama principle so one stop stretching. Stop doing a child's post number two start working on activating so stop stretching start activating and what that means is like if you're coming into Triangle Pose we don't actually talk ah anything about opening up the side of the body. We're actually focusing on.

34:17.55
karagoodwin
The window.

34:22.99
Yogi Aaron
What are we engaging here? Well what we're engaging is our lateral obliques are sitting right here. Let's feel them bring your hand here now Crunch over to the side you feel those lateral obliques engage. Great engage it a little bit more and a little bit more.

34:37.18
karagoodwin
I Yeah, you're like I'm laughing. But I mean it stop. Ah.

34:38.85
Yogi Aaron
You're improving those muscles ability to contract and contract on Demand you're improving those ability those muscles ability to shorten properly and and within their own range of motion not like forcing.

34:54.60
karagoodwin
Oh that's awesome. So.

34:54.79
Yogi Aaron
Them to overshorten if you will or the other side to over lengthen. So It's a complete reversal instead of like when you're coming into a forward bend number one I Never teach people to try and touch their toes. That's just not in my. You know languing. In fact, when I tell people to fold forward. Always usually set it up by telling them to bring their hands behind their back. But we're not focused anymore on the hamstrings or lower back Muscles. We're focused on the quads and focusing on. The Torso The the rectus of dominus the the trunk flexers if you will So Let's get those muscles engaging properly and now we're going into movement and we're holding we're doing ranges of motion that are natural within our own body's range rather than.

35:40.86
karagoodwin
I oh wow I love that I mean it's so true I just actually yeah, ah yesterday I think it was I interviewed um somebody named juni and.

35:49.94
Yogi Aaron
It being forced.

35:53.69
karagoodwin
She's a breast cancer survivor and she was talking about how you know you get diagnosed and basically like everything stops a lot of people stop working and everything goes into healing and the the management of it and.

36:07.59
Yogi Aaron
Yeah car I was talking to this yoga teacher just the other day and she said she said well we but don't we want to stretch it all and I said well why do you want to stretch and she said well.

36:10.17
karagoodwin
Um I shared on that podcast like my dad is actually in the hospital right now he had heart surgery on Monday and we're recording this on a Thursday um, and it it. You know it's true like it's just everything has stopped. It's like all hands on deck to you know like.

36:24.26
Yogi Aaron
Now you've put me on the spot haven't you. But if you ask yoga teachers like why you want to stretch and she actually gave this answer when she thought about it for a second. She's like well I just want to feel open and spacious and you know and all of those things but you you know muscles have a 2 jobs.

36:30.56
karagoodwin
Ah, how are things moment to moment. How are things now. Um and you know his life for sure has stopped. My life has also you know been altered from a daily perspective. Um, and so it's the same. It's the same if you're in pain.

36:42.69
Yogi Aaron
Muscles move bones. So if you're out shopping like let's bring it into real world. So we're out shopping for groceries. We have a couple of grocery bags. We need to lift those grocery bags up and we need to hold them and then take them to the car if your muscles aren't working. You can't lift those grocery bags.

36:50.38
karagoodwin
Your yeah, your whole everything is kind of continuously getting drawn to to that pain. How do I manage it? How do I get through it. How long is it going to last you know the fear that it causes and and all of that. So.

37:02.42
Yogi Aaron
Or if the proper muscles aren't working and you lift those grocery bags up other little muscles start to take over and in the yoga world. 1 of the most common things since I'm talking about grocery bags right now that way injuries that we see is in the shoulders like rotator cuff rotator cuffs getting so.

37:08.89
karagoodwin
Yeah, so Pertinent. Oh Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, he's done beautifully. But and that's the thing like we've had best case scenario the whole way. So we've been really really fortunate. But even that being said, it's still like everything stops.

37:22.18
Yogi Aaron
Ah, torn like the super spinadas or the Terry's minor and why are they getting torn because the big muscles are not doing their job because they're just permanently in a shutdown state due to all of this overstretching so muscles muscles move bones and muscles hold joints in place.

37:33.81
karagoodwin
And and it's the same and his is you know acute. So it's not going to keep going. You know we'll be. We'll hit you know, get over this hump and be back to normal but you know if you're dealing with chronic pain that just it affects everything all day until you're yeah, not pain.

37:42.70
Yogi Aaron
And so if you want these muscles to be holding joints in place. Do you really want them open in space. No you want them to be able to shorten and pull you know, ah the joints and the bones in so that the joint to stabilize one of the most common to I think one of the.

37:52.30
karagoodwin
In pain anymore. So well thank you for that. Um, tell people how they can connect with you How they can learn how to do the Yama Ah yeah, no is that right? a Yama yes and how they can learn more.

38:02.50
Yogi Aaron
1 of the 2 most common surgeries many yoga teachers senior yoga teachers have hip replacement and knee replacement and I've had friends that have had both. Ah.

38:20.50
Yogi Aaron
Come.

38:28.40
Yogi Aaron
You're welcome.

38:42.67
karagoodwin
Um, one world.

38:44.62
Yogi Aaron
Sure, um, so I think the first tip is that I wake up every morning and ask myself am I living my purpose and how can I live more fully in my purpose. And the answer changes by the way day to day but doesn't always have to be the same It's not like 1 thing but there is also that perpetual awareness of like I am going here. This is this is the direction I'm going and you know.

39:11.32
karagoodwin
Oh that's awesome and on your book on the cover of your book I see a couple of doggggies and I think on Instagram I've seen your doggggies or doggie a dog are there 3 dogs there are 2 dogs and a cat. Oh.

39:17.85
Yogi Aaron
Is what I'm doing today supporting that endeavor. Um I also use affirmations every day I really believe very strongly. Um I used to be really into affirmations and I got away from it and the pandemic. I really got back into it because I again concentration I had to start focusing my mind and affirmations are great tool to focus our minds. Um, another great tip is moving your body. Do do some body movement every day. It's just.

39:35.36
karagoodwin
Oh wow.

39:41.67
karagoodwin
Yeah I think I saw a very endearing post on Instagram not too long ago of you did something with yoga and your dog or so I can't remember now but I just remember going oh that's something.

39:53.42
Yogi Aaron
It's so important I think I gave one of the tips already stop doing child's stop stretch. No seriously stop stretching.

40:02.80
karagoodwin
I'm an animal person too I've got a dog and 2 cats. So a little that the opposite of your book cover there. Oh my gosh aren't they, there's they make life just so awesome I love it.

40:12.24
Yogi Aaron
Ah, it's bad yogi stop stretch. Ah um I haven't stretched in 5 years and I'm more happy here now in my body than I've been in a long time. So um, and then the last one is start activating start start.

40:20.79
karagoodwin
Well I have had so much fun Yogi Aaron thank you so much. Thank you I mean you have given me so much to think about in terms of yoga and what we're actually trying to do with yoga. Um.

40:31.37
Yogi Aaron
Activating your muscles learn How to you know, get excited about taking care of yourself because we've only got one body and one of the one of the reasons why I'm so passionate about teaching people the a Yama methodology or teaching people about muscle activation in general is just.

40:35.92
karagoodwin
So I'm really grateful. Thank you for coming on today. Absolutely.

40:50.57
Yogi Aaron
So If we're in pain which so many people are you know, forgetting about the mental pain. That's a whole other conversation I'm talking about physical pain so much of our energy goes into managing it and if you can free up that energy Imagine what you could do with it. You know. And that's what I want to help people with.

41:56.35
Yogi Aaron
Yeah.

42:40.37
Yogi Aaron
I'm sorry you're going through that and your blessings to your dad and I hope he feels better sooner or gets better sooner I know it's ah it's a bit of a recovery process. So.

42:54.30
Yogi Aaron
Um, yeah.

43:01.41
Yogi Aaron
Yeah.

43:20.76
Yogi Aaron
Um, yeah, you know.

43:34.53
Yogi Aaron
Um, yes, so just ah, incidentally a yama um, a y a m a um I didn't come up with like the yama was. I came up with applied yoga anatomy and muscle activation that I realized a yama and then I started like thinking about because I know a little bit about sanskrit. It basically loosely means freedom mosha freedom moksha would be like a synonym of it like but more like a freedom in this kind of in this in this world right now. Or another definition is unrestrained like your're unrestrained life. So but the number one way I would say is ah look just go to Amazon Search stop stretching and you'll find me, you'll find my podcast I'm also on Spotify. It's an a park series. Um, my podcast. It's it's more like in a documentary storytelling podcast if you will go to my website. Yogiarin.com go to Youtube and search yogiar and I'm all over the play. Ah.

44:47.15
Yogi Aaron
Visit.

44:54.37
Yogi Aaron
There's there's 2 dogs and a cat but at blue os in my home in Costa Rica I'm a huge animal lover lover I love cats. We've had up to 5 cats sometimes and 4 dogs and we've used to have chickens and pigs. But that's another story. Um, I just love animals in my life and my dogs are my my heart. Ah.

45:31.98
Yogi Aaron
Um.

45:36.20
Yogi Aaron
Um, ah, beautiful. They are. They are our best therapists. Um, yes, yes.

46:09.76
Yogi Aaron
You're very welcome. Thank you for having me I appreciate it.

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