The Essential Elements of Yoga

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Transcript: The Essential Elements of Yoga

Season 9, Episode 1  | September 3, 2024

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Welcome to Life Time Talks, the podcast aimed at helping you achieve your health, fitness, and life goals. I’m Jamie Martin, editor in chief of Experience Life, Life Time’s whole life health and wellness magazine.

And I’m David Freeman, senior director of Alpha, one of Life Time’s signature group training programs. We’re all in different places on our health and fitness journeys, but no matter what we’re working toward, there are some essential things we can do to keep moving in the direction of a healthy and purpose-driven life.

In each episode, we break down various elements of healthy living, including fitness and nutrition, mindset and community, and health issues. We also share real, inspiring stories of transformation.

And we talk to experts from Life Time and beyond who will share their insights and knowledge so you have the tools and information you need to take charge of your next steps.

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And with that, let’s get into the show. Here we go.

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Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Life Time Talks. As you all may know, or maybe you don’t know, September is National Yoga Awareness Month, and we’re really excited to talk today about yoga, what it can do for us in our lives, how it can really impact us beyond the practice and really apply to many aspects of our lives. And to do that with someone who has just been really integral to the growth of Life Time’s own yoga programming, and as well as our teacher training program. So, I’m so excited today to have Johnny Kest with us.

Johnny is a renowned master yoga teacher and as I mentioned, the visionary behind Life Time’s yoga programming as well as our teacher training program. Johnny was featured on the cover of Experience Life magazine back in May of 2017. He also did a short series with us in the magazine really talking about kind of some of the foundations of yoga and how we can apply it in our life. And so I’m excited all these years later, it’s almost six years later, Johnny, that we’re coming back and reconnecting with you since the cover story, which was that seems like a long time ago. Does it seem like a long time ago to you?

Yeah, yeah. Time does fly fast, though. So I’m happy we’re back together.

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for being here, for bringing your knowledge in this space to the listeners of Life Time Talks, which includes many, many members of Life Time, as well as anybody who’s interested in healthy living. And I really just want to talk about the beginnings of your own yoga story, where it all began and how this has become a lifelong practice, but also a really central part of what you do in this world. So can you speak to that for a few minutes here?

Absolutely. I feel very fortunate. I was introduced to yoga at a very young age. I was 12 years old. And my father, who at that time was a practicing oral, maxillofacial surgeon, and he had been in a car accident a little earlier before that, and his back was really getting in the way of his surgeries to the point where eventually he had to have a back surgery himself.

I don’t know what the statistics are now, but back then more than 50 percent of back surgeries failed. So he ended up having at least three, if not four back surgeries. And unfortunately, none of them succeeded. And he became addicted to his pain medication, which took him down a very dark road. And I don’t know if it was ever clinically diagnosed, but basically, he had a nervous breakdown and my mom and I have three brothers, so there’s four of us, we’re all a year apart. We witnessed the tremendous amount of pain and suffering. Of course, he couldn’t keep it to himself. That actually began his road to healing. He left my mom and us and tried to figure out a way, because surgery wasn’t working. And somehow he ended up, I’m not exactly sure, but he ended up in Hawaii on the island of Maui. And he calls that his Mount Maui Hospital because that’s where he found yoga. And my mom was somehow crazy enough to send all of us out there to spend the summer with him. And he said, whatever I’m doing, you’re doing. So he took us to yoga with him. And this type of yoga was very disciplined. It was six days a week. It’s called a Shtanga yoga.

Saturdays was our day of rest, new moons and full moons. And we witnessed yoga have a tremendous healing effect on him. His back pain more or less went away. He was able to heal his back pain. And I think it was not just because of the physical benefits, but somehow yoga has a way of making you more open and vulnerable and has a way of reaching some of your suppressed feelings of perhaps anger or fear or anxiety that we feel like that was contributing a lot to him. He was very type A, he was a surgeon, very, you know, high stress. And so yoga has a way of helping you deal with your emotions and your stress in a really powerful detoxing way. So that was my introduction to yoga through, really through my father. That’s amazing. And then for you to continue to have it be a central element for you.

When did you know it was going to be, it was a passion for you and that it would in many ways be your career and what you would do and share with people? Well, you know, not probably uncommon for young kids. At first, we, you know, resisted it a bit. You know, we were pretty much, we didn’t have a choice. We had to show up every morning. I remember I had, I woke up with like a double earache and my dad said, OK, then just you just have to lie in your mat and you still have to show up.

You have to go to your mat. it didn’t matter really what condition we were in. We had to show up every day. So we resisted at first, but it was such a wonderful community of people that were practicing yoga that you felt sort of somehow embraced. And then my dad, of course, wanted to, he felt he experienced the benefits and wanted to learn more. So he made a trip to India just within a few years. I was about 15 years old. And he took me and my younger brother with him to India for three months. He pulled me out of high school. And that was probably what really, when you asked that question, when did I know? That sort of, that trip really, I felt changed by it.

That’s amazing. And how has your practice evolved over the years from those early days of practicing Ashtanga you mentioned? And you’ve had to have made it your own in certain ways. So what does that evolution looks like?

Yeah, well, when I came back home from India, my gym teacher at high school said, why don’t you share with the class what you learn? So my very first opportunity to teach yoga was at 15 to my gym class once a week. She had me share some sun salutations and some of the Ashtanga yoga postures that I was talking about. And that was like my intro to teaching. after I just shared it with whoever was willing, whoever was interested.

When I was in college, my roommates, whoever I could get to practice, because I didn’t really want to lose it. And it’s hard to do on your own every day. somehow by sharing it kind of motivated me to keep it and develop it. I got to a point where I took it to, I don’t know if you remember in the 80s, but aerobic studios were very popular. They were popping up all over the place. So I went to an aerobic studio and I said, would you like to offer a yoga class once a week?

And they were a very popular, successful aerobic studio. And they said, OK, why don’t you give us an audition? Why don’t you come in and teach us, show us what you’re going to teach the class? So I taught them the Ashtanga. And they’re like, this is way too difficult. This is way too hard. So that’s why I had to kind of go back. They said, come back next week and make some adjustments, make it a little bit more accessible.

That’s when I sort of started to develop my own style is when I was more or less rejected from the aerobic studio because it was too intense. How would you describe your style? Like if there was a way you had to say like it’s a mix of X, Y and Z or whatever, I mean it’s Ashtanga and fill in the blank for you. Yeah, so this style is, I really like to think it is really well integrated because it has warm-ups, has long holding postures, it has yin postures, which is seated long holding postures, it has flow, know, warm-ups, sun salutations, it has meditation. So it’s really interrogated. All those parts that I just mentioned, if you go to India, they’re all offered, but they’re offered as their own. You can go and you can get meditation, you can go and into some styles of yoga, which all they do is hold postures for a long period of time. But there was never this integration. So I sort of took what I learned and integrated it so that it has really all the parts that you want to feel like you got some fully integrated, wholesome exercise experience.

Love that. I am just back from a recent trip where I was able to do a Life Time class that I know that you’ve inspired. We’re going to get to that later in our conversation. But it did, as I think, as I hear you describing it and I think about the class that I just took, it did have all of those elements into it. It had kind of those more robust flows and moments, but we ended with this meditation. We had these long postures within it it was like all the moments that really in the end, they kind of challenge you physically, but also mentally as well. And I think that leads me into my next question, because we know that yoga is a modality that has both physical and mental elements within it. And we want to really talk about those mental benefits, because I think we know it’s moving our bodies. We know it’s those things. But how does yoga really benefit where we are from a mental and mindfulness standpoint, really? And why do you think that’s so important in this practice and how it differentiates it from others?

Well, that’s really what, if you practice yoga long enough, really, most people do come in through the doorway marked physical. They want, you know, that yoga body, strong, flexible, fit body, but people end up staying because of the mental benefits, the focus, the self-awareness that is developed. If you go to a yoga class, you often will leave with a greater awareness within the framework of your body than you have.

And to me, that’s priceless, because the more self-aware you can become, and I guess we’ll probably talk about this a little bit later too, but the greater your presence becomes. And you become really aware of even your old habit patterns where you can start to break them and literally change your behaviors and change your relationships in a positive way.

How you interact with people, how you show up in the world, right? I mean, it feels like it just, having been practicing, I will admit on and off for many years, I know that when I’ve been more consistent with my yoga practices, I do feel very, I feel more embodied, but not only where my body is in space, but how I’m connected with people as well, or with the interactions I’m having in the world. So I don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s kind of how my experience has been when I’ve personally been more in a consistent practice of yoga.

Yeah, well, you know, we all take over 20,000 breaths every single day, but almost every single breath goes by unnoticed. We’re not aware of it. So just that self-awareness where you start observing your breath, like when you’re speaking to me in this conversation we’re having, I come to my breath because that way I can relax and really not just listen to the words you’re saying, but actually feel them and fully be present. And so that self-awareness of one’s breathing is really transformational. To that end, one thing that you have said is that yoga in many ways is a breathing class first, because that is so central to all of these pieces. Can you speak to that for a bit?

Yeah, I’ve had students come to my class, and it happens almost every class I teach where they’ll come and they won’t be able to practice very much. They’ll just lie in their mat. And I say, that’s all you do, is just consciously breathe for the whole hour you will leave here feeling changed. And something happens, it’s the breath, conscious breathing doesn’t just purify your blood with oxygen, it actually can help eradicate stress and tension. It can purify your mind. So in almost every case, I don’t remember even one single case where someone has come to class for a full hour and breathed deeply, who didn’t leave feeling lighter and freer, healthier and happier.

Well, right. And then when you know that that breath has that impact when you’re intentionally focusing on and can use it as a tool in other moments of your life one of the pieces that you did for Experience Life several years ago was “Breathe Like a Yogi” and how do I bring that into a stressful moment at work or bring it into another you know a scary moment of some sort, I feel like we often go back to take a breath in those moments of life that are hard.

I think it’s, but when you practice it, becomes a little easier to do that. I mean, would you agree? Like, how do you see people taking that from the yoga practice into life?

Yeah, you just said it’s a practice. That’s why we go to yoga class because most of us are an automatic pilot. We’re running from the time we get up in the morning. We literally run until we crash at the end of the day. The yogis say from the time we take birth, we literally run, we race to our graves. So the breath actually acts like a break.

It slows you down, it allows you to catch yourself so you can really feel each moment before it slips by. And the breathing, as you probably know this, is one of the only systems in the body that is both voluntary and involuntary. That it’s controlled by the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. So when you observe the breath, you’re actually observing the deepest level of your mind. And that’s where all our problems are. That’s where all our insecurities are. That’s where all our suppressed feelings of shame and tension. So that’s the same place where you can begin to release it, to come out of it. And that’s why the breathing is so important.

Yeah, think that acknowledging that the role within sympathetic and parasympathetic is so important because it’s one thing that we can choose to come to and put focus on. I can’t necessarily choose to slow my heart rate necessarily, but I can use my breath to have an influence over that, right? Like I can come to that breath and choose like, OK, I’m gonna slow down right now. And whether I do it full nasal breathing or use, you know, through the mouth as well. I mean, there are different ways to do that. Do you have a favorite breathing technique that you go to or that you was like, this is the base practice that I want everyone to know how to do?

Well, one of the breathing techniques that I like is to take a deep breath in and right when you reach your fullness, try to take in a little bit more. So you get that extra and then hold it for a count of five and then exhale all the way out. And do that like three or four times. It’s a great way to deal with stress and tension. So you take a deep breath in and then when you think you’re full, you try to get in a little bit more, hold it. And then exhale at it out. I love that.

And I love that it doesn’t cost us anything. It’s like this free resource to us whenever we’re willing to pay attention to it. So come back to it whenever we can, right?

Absolutely.

So one of the other things I want to talk about, and you already alluded to this word as presence. And one thing that you’ve said in the past is like your presence is a present. And in yoga, learning to be present in this moment is really a gift when we give it to ourselves. So why is presence important and how is it a skill that people can build through yoga? I think we’ve kind of even already alluded to this already because of the breath in those pieces, but how does that build upon it?

Yes. that’s a really, probably one of the most important things in yoga is learning how to live in the present moment. They say that 90 percent of our thoughts are the same exact thoughts we had yesterday, that where most of us are living in the past or we’re living in the future. And there’s a book by Eckhart Tolle called The Power of Now. And he speaks to that a lot. It’s a really wonderful book. If your listeners or viewers are looking for a couple of resources, the James Nestor book called Breathe is a great resource as far as breathing. And then as far as presence goes, Eckhart Tolle’s book, The Power of Now, but is again, being really gentle with yourself, but learning how to keep coming back to the present moment. Because there’s a tendency to constantly be reacting to what has happened in the past or worrying about what’s going to happen in the future. And so the only way to truly relax is to come to the present moment.

It’s interesting you say that in another episode that we just recently recorded, we were just talking about that, how, you know, when we’re living in hindsight, how we miss so much of what’s right in front of us and the little joys and the little things that can bring more meaning into our life. Because we can’t change the past, but we can affect right now and the next day and the next. So I love that, like being more on that. Even building upon that further, you you talk about equanimity, you know, it’s another foundation of yoga. Why does that matter? It’s a little bit about bringing more calmness and composure into our lives and into challenging situations. So how does yoga support that piece of it?

It’s really not enough just to be present, just to be aware, just to be awake. That’s really important. But if you’re present and aware, but you’re constantly reacting to what you’re aware of, you know, for many of us, the present moment is painful. It’s difficult. It’s uncomfortable. We’re unhappy with maybe in the present moment. So that’s important to be present. But then the second, it’s like two wings of a bird. You need both to be equal strength and equal size for the bird to fly. One wing is the awareness, the presence, but the other wing is the equanimity, the calmness, the balance. And where that equanimity really comes from is your understanding that whatever you’re feeling right now is impermanent. It’s bound to change. When you can feel that impermanence, then you can say to yourself, OK, let me just see how long this lasts without getting overpowered by fear or doubt or anger. Let me just see how long this will last. Right. And I think what’s so important about that is instead of being reactive, it gives us a moment of pause, I think, within it to acknowledge the feelings we’re feeling and not try to shove them down. I think so often you mentioned like the present moment could be really hard, but to fight against it, know, versus being in it, being present could only make it harder. So how do we find the acceptance of that and be okay with the knowledge that this too will change?

Like you said, there’s no such thing as permanent. One of my favorite mottos as a parent is, especially in the early days of being a parent was like, this is temporary. And that was, was both for the good and the bad. Like when my girls were really little and I wanted like, I wish they could stay like this forever. It’s like, so enjoy it right now. Like, I love this. And also in those moments when I was like, this phase needs to end, I’m over it. Like, this is temporary. So I think that applies here. You know what I mean? That’s just, how do you apply it to parenting and all these other aspects.

It does because one of the leading causes of early death in our country, if not the world, is suicide. And whatever they’re feeling at the moment, they feel like it’s permanent. And they push so hard against it because it’s so dark, it hurts so much. They push so hard that they’re willing to take their life. So if somehow they could know that whatever they’re feeling is bound to change and just come to their breath and find some equanimity and let’s just see how long it lasts. So important to give that tool. say, you know, the best weapon you can ever give yourself is not a gun, it’s your own equanimity, your non-reactivity. That will really save your life. Right. Because if we are always reacting, we can’t have a real awareness of where like of the possibility for change, I think, right? No, you think it’s you start believing you under the illusion that this is never going to go away. This is permanent. And if you end up believing that it’s in a delusion, but if you end up believing it, can be very dangerous.

Yes, I think it’s important. And we will put resources for people about even just like if you know somebody who’s struggling in life or has anything, has alluded to anything tied to suicide. We’ll put some resources for that in the show notes too so people have that, but also share some resources as you’ve mentioned already, Johnny. I want to keep moving because there’s so many pieces of yoga that just apply across our life, but one thing that people talk about and it is an element of yoga that you’ve alluded to already is meditation and how that’s part of this kind of philosophy that you’ve brought to Life Time and that you use in your practice. Many people hear the word meditation and they are intimidated by it. They think it’s sitting still and silence. And for some people that’s really appealing, but like I said, for other people, it’s not. So you have often said that the highest form of yoga is meditation. Can you explain that a little bit and how that looks in practice potentially?

Yeah. So all this yoga postures that we’re doing, all this yoga breathing, the whole intention of it is to go to the deepest level of the mind, to purify the mind and to move into stillness, to move into, you might even say silence, to move into real calmness and balance. That’s the goal. Yoga means the union of opposites. So the asana and the pranayama, the breathing yoga postures, end up moving you into stillness, into meditation. That’s the goal. So when we say it’s the highest form of yoga, if yoga is really working, you end up feeling really calm and balanced in your life. I want to ask this is kind of going into my own personal experience with yoga, but there have been certain practices that I’ve done where it’s almost this I feel like I almost get to that point, but I’m like, is this really it? And so I’m gonna ask you about it.

There’s it’s like almost this in between state where the mind is very clear and open, but it feels restful is how I would describe it. Like I feel like I’m aware, but also at rest and I can take it in without reacting again.

This is something that I have a lot of opportunity to practice on, but that’s been my experience. And I found like, how do I stay here longer? Because it feels so good. It is just this open space. So I’m curious if that is that how people would describe that feeling? I don’t know. That’s for me, my personal experience.

That’s beautiful. Absolutely. What I hear when people really reach the state of meditation is exactly your words, this expansive open space to be at where they can literally rest their mind and they feel almost like infinity. Like there’s no boundaries, everything expansive and free. Yep. And I know when I’ve had those moments, I’m like, I want to stay here. Like how do I stay here longer? And I’m almost like, I don’t want it to end knowing that the next prompt might come any time. It’s like, I just want to be here and now. That felt like ultimate presence to me anyway in my personal experience.

Well, and the confusion is, is that people think when they meditate that they’re supposed to have no thoughts, that they’re supposed to have immediately this wide open space. But really, no, meditation is dealing, it’s just coming into your breath and you’re not doing anything, you’re not letting go of your thoughts. When you come to your breath and you sit quietly, eventually it takes some practice, but your thoughts begin to let go of you. They let go you and that’s when you start feeling this rest and and wide open space that we talk about. But so many people think, you know, I have to do it. I have to let go. I have to stop this thinking mind, this racing mind. No, you just keep coming back to your breath, to your flow of bodily sensations, and you will find eventually your thoughts let go of you.

Yeah. That’s so interesting. have, think so many, so often I think of those moments that I’ve had and I’m like, oh, I need to practice more so I can get there more often. Cause it just, like I said, it just felt so, it was peaceful, but also really aware and alive.

Yeah. Like if I’m going to meditate, I try not to listen to music right before, because the song will play over and over again in my head.

Interesting.

And eventually it does go away, but you just got to come to your breath.

So it’s kind of like your thoughts just coming, keep playing over and over again. Just don’t give them importance. Let them be like background music. You just keep coming back to your breath. So when I teach meditation to children, I call it A, B, C, A, you’re aware of your breath. B, you’re balanced, you’re not reacting. So when you’re aware and you’re balanced, then you get letter C, which is what?

When you’re aware and you’re balanced, then you get, you said this already, you get choices.

I was gonna say choices are conscious, yeah.

But when you’re reacting, you don’t have any, you’re like a prisoner. So A, you’re aware, you’re balanced. C, then you get these choices. And then letter D, then you can take the proper decision. I love that. And I love like how accessible that is, both for children and adults alike to think of that in mind as a way to kind of understand what the intention is here.

Now I want to go to that practice as soon as we’re done here today. You had said earlier, yoga, it comes from the Sanskrit word, meaning to yoke or come together. So it’s about unity. And another element we want to make sure that we talk about today is how that matters in relationships. How can yoga affect our relationships, both with ourselves and with others?

Very good question. To be in a healthy relationship, you have to experience that health yourself. And so taking time out of your day to strengthen your mind and your body will put you in a position where you can then be present for someone else. You can become a better listener, a better friend. And so that’s why I always say yoga, the real translation of the word yoga means relationship, how to be in relationship and come out successful. And there’s no greater, more important relationship than the one between your mind and your body. When that relationship is wholesome, when that relationship feels nurtured, then of course, everybody around you will feel those positive healing vibrations. Everybody around you will benefit.

That makes total sense. There’s a lot of people who have yoga in their lives, who practice yoga on a regular basis and love it. Is yoga for everybody? Because for some people they might think yoga is not for me. It’s over here. It’s this other thing. I mean, in my view, I’m like, I think yoga is for everybody. It’s just depending on what style works for you. But what’s your take on that?

Depends what kind of mindset you have. Some people kind of have this fixed mindset where they think, my body cannot bend that way. know, I’m stuck, or and they have this kind of fixed mindset where there’s no way I’m going to get any better. I’m going to get any more stronger or flexible. But if you have this growth mindset where you think, let me try it. I was a little tight today, but let me keep coming back to it. So I do feel like yoga with a proper mindset is for everyone.

Because like we said, you can, I’ve taught chair yoga. I’ve taught just breathing. It’s really universal because you’re not, you ask people to pay attention to their breath and their bodily sensations, everybody can do that. So it depends. The hard part is to help the person understand, get the proper mindset. If they don’t have meaning, if there’s no meaning, then they’re not going to suffer. And yoga is difficult. Yoga, you will feel the pain and strong, intense sensation. So if you don’t understand why you’re going through it, then you’re probably going to quit and run away. One of the big challenges for a really good yoga teacher is to be able to share yoga in maybe five, 10 different ways depending on the mentality of the person. So that you can speak to that person where they actually feel understood and then motivated to try.

And I imagine that that is, you know, I think about yoga teachers, our instructors are often in front of large groups of people, all people coming with all levels of experience in many cases, not all. So how do you do that and still connect? I mean, it’s one to many in that case, but you’re still aiming to connect one to one. And how do you as an instructor who’s been doing this for a long time, nurture those one-on-one connections, even when you’re in a larger setting, to make sure that people feel seen as where they are right now?

Great question, that takes some experience. But when you do, when you’re teaching, this is why we don’t, in this particular style, it’s fairly unique to our style, we don’t have a yoga mat. We’re not modeling the postures because we want to be able to actually see the students practice and speak to them where they’re at. So even if I have a class, let’s say 300 students, I’ll find the student that’s having the most difficulty and I’ll find the student that is just flowing effortlessly.

My idea is when I’m teaching is to be able to speak to both of them. And then I, I somehow speak to everybody. Yeah. So I call them, I call them beacons. I look for beacons, even the student that’s in child pose that hardly can move. They’re a light. They’re someone that I need to speak to. And even that student that’s balancing on one pinky toe, I also need to speak to them to make sure they find their edge. I, when I’m teaching, I don’t focus on my own practice. I focus on the students. I look at the ones that are falling off the edges on either way and bring everybody together. I love thinking of them as beacons of light in their own right because we need all of those lights, right, in different ways. you know, they’re inspirations in their own right for us as teachers and as learners in those spaces, but for the other practitioners with them too.

I love that.

Yeah, sometimes I will learn the most from the students that actually have some trauma or some injury and they’re open to sharing it. And I watch them practice and I’ll learn so much as a teacher.

I’m just thinking about this practice I mentioned that I was recently in with, it was a bunch of women who are all Life Time team members that I was in. It was a really beautiful experience. And afterward I was talking to one of my colleagues who was in attendance with me and she was saying, goes, I don’t do yoga, but I’ve done this now four or five, six times. She goes, I’m starting to get it. And it was really this moment where I was like, as someone who has loved and embraced yoga in various stages of my life in different ways, I was like, yeah, that’s what it is. It’s that return to it where you start to see the connections. It’s not just about the body. It’s not just about the mind. It’s the connection. And when you start to feel that. And I saw that in this recent practice and I was like, that’s really cool. Because it was all of us. your point, there was a beacon on both ends in that class. And to be able to see how people were embracing it where they were was really cool.

Jamie, you’re sounding like a yoga teacher. You sound like you’re a really good one.

Well, thank you. I was a prenatal yoga teacher several years ago.

OK.

I did prenatal yoga back in the day. And actually, it’s funny you say that because after this yoga practice the other day with it was with studio leaders, it was a few other people from Life Time. And one of the women came up to me, she goes, I think you need to teach. And I said, that’s one of my goals in life is to get back to teaching yoga. So that’s, it’s on my bucket list is to get back to it.

Yeah, I’m feeling that. I feel like that’s your calling. just, really understand it deeply.

Oh, one of my things I love.

You’re obviously editor of an amazing magazine and you’re reaching so many people, but it seems like you’re also just right there with yoga.

Yeah, it’s one of those things that if I need to, whenever I’m back there, I’m like, oh, this is where I need to be spending more time in my life. So I’m getting these nudges that are pushing me there. You know how that goes in the universe.

This universe needs more healers, more storytellers and teachers.

On that note, I mean, as you’re saying, you’re like kind of alluding, I’ve never done the long form yoga teacher trainings or things like that beyond for prenatal yoga. But I think you have brought so many of the things that you’ve developed over the years to Life Time. And that’s really what’s ultimately been behind many of our LifePower yoga classes and the styles that we teach. How did that all come to be that you came to be connected with Life Time and to be able to bring that and share that in a way that it’s become the influence for many of our programs across all of our athletic country clubs?

I was holding some big conferences, yoga festivals and conferences and taking this particular style that I developed on the road. And fortunately, we crossed paths with you may remember Kimberly Spreen.

Yes, I know that name. I remember that name.

OK. And I was invited to come and do a training for Life Time. And it was like a snowball just got bigger and bigger and bigger. And before we know it, we partnered and now Life Time at that point didn’t really have a yoga brand. It was pretty generic, you know, Life Time, they want to become the best and strongest at whatever they’re doing. So they really wanted to focus in on, on yoga and this more edgy and integrated form of yoga that I was bringing. So I’m just really grateful to be able to share it on such an incredible platform.

Yeah. And you recently, back in June, National Yoga Day, you were actually in the Twin Cities. You were able to lead, as you mentioned, you said a large class. There were what, 200 plus attendees who came to the National Yoga Day event held at the Target Center in Minneapolis. What is it experience like that like for you as a teacher to see those people come and to see that community of people gathering to practice together?

Well, it was interesting because I was told that nobody’s going to go to downtown Minneapolis. No one’s going to go to the Target Center. It’s too far. No one lives down there. It’s not going to do it. And so I was really so blown away by the support. And there was actually over 300 people that paid for a spot to practice and be together. And it was an incredible turnout and it was just really a beautiful experience. And I was able to bring the same style of yoga that I’ve been bringing to Life Time for now over 12 years that we call it the seven doorways. And which again involves, I don’t know if we have time to go over the seven doorways, but it involves those integrated parts we were speaking about earlier.

Yeah. I mean, do you mind briefly just kind of walking us through what those seven are just so people know?

Yeah. So if you’ve taken a LifePower yoga class, you’ve experienced the seven doorways and the first doorway is called sacred space. And that’s what you allow the students to come as they are, not as you want them to be, not as they even think they should be, but as they are.

If they just had a cigarette, then let them feel that. they’re feeling a little low energy, that’s OK. If they’re upset about something, just let the students come as they are. Sacred space, we’re not trying to fix anybody or change them. It’s very much a non-judgmental place, where I’ve had students come to class after losing a parent, and all they could do is just lie on their mat and we don’t try to fix them, change them. It’s just a space where they can allow themselves to be and feel what they’re feeling. So that’s called sacred space. It’s very important. And you can weave that through the entire class, but at least the very first few minutes, maybe even five minutes, you allow a student to come as they are. As they are, not as you want them to be. So that’s the first doorway.

Then once they feel like, OK, I’m OK, I can be as I am, then you may introduce the second doorway, which is called igniting your spirit. And all the ancient languages, the word for spirit is the same exact word as the word for what? I’m trying to, I don’t even know. Breath. Breath, OK. I was like, I’m on the spot. I’m not gonna be able to do this. So that’s when we really invite students to start to pay attention to their breathing. Breathing through your nose, breathing through your mouth. We ask students to pay attention to their breathing and then even begin to ignite it, begin to increase your inhales, your exhales, moving into some pranayama, which is a real gentle way to get their students to go from outside to inside. It’s an incredible bridge that everybody must cross over from thinking to feeling, from intellectualizing to being intuitive and internalizing. So you get people to cross over that bridge from outside to inside through breathing. That’s the second doorway. Then the third doorway is called lighting your fire. And those are basically warm-ups where you connect breath with movement, breath with movement. Sun salutation letter A, sun salutation letter B, sun salutation letter C.

This is lighting the fire. This is the third doorway where you get students to start to warm-up, to get the blood flowing, circulating, oxygenating from head to feet. Very important. So probably the most important and longest part of class is the warm-ups, allowing people just to breathe and move and start to warm-up. And then the fourth doorway we talked about earlier is the long holding postures. We call them logs, where you, you’re physically challenged, you’re using your big muscle groups like chair pose and warrior one, but you’re holding them for one, two, three minutes and it’s really challenging and you’re falling out of it and you’re coming back into it and you’re coming to your breath and you’re shaking, you’re trembling. These are the long posture, we call them stoking the fire. That’s the fourth doorway, stoking the fire.

I love that.

Once you light the fire through the warmups and you stoke the fire through the long holding postures, then the fifth doorway is then you move into the yin postures, the long holding resting postures. So you’re not using any muscles at all.

In fact, you’re going beneath the muscle tissue into the connective tissue, which the yogis say our emotional body really likes to hide and live is in the connective tissue.

So that’s the place, the doorway where we often will see students have the biggest emotional releases in the yin posture. Because we’re not muscling it anymore. We’re going deeper into where we suppress our feelings, into our hips, into our low back, into our connective tissue. And they say all our issues are in those tissues.

As you’re saying that it’s so interesting, I feel like there’s that moment between those long holding, the stoking the fire where you’re like, okay, I’m resting. But then there’s it’s a release, right? That happens when that happens. Like when you’re out of those long holding to the restful long holding, there’s a release that happens there. And I think you’re getting to that. I’m like, I’ve felt that before I’m relating to that, because I know that’s, I feel like I’m at rest. But like, there’s a lot of things happening in there.

Yeah, kind of think of it. Sometimes we explain it like a garden hose. You know when you bend a garden hose and the pressure is building, building, building, building, and then you open it back up and you get this whoosh.

Yep.

That’s exactly it. So that’s the fifth doorway. Then the sixth doorway, we’re almost through. There’s seven doorways. We’re almost there. The sixth doorway after the long holding yin postures, the resting, is really closing, is finishing. And we finish, always, we always finish with Shavasana. So where you become absolute dead weight where you just rest your mind on your natural normal breath. And you just let nature take its course. And that’s Shavasana, where you almost become like a puddle after a heavy storm. From shape to shapeless, you let just the earth absorb your being. You let the earth support your body weight completely.

Love it.

And the seventh doorway, the final doorway, if all the other doorways really if you were able to knock at them, the seventh doorway just naturally swings wide open. You don’t even have to try. And that’s the doorway of love of gratitude.

Yeah, of kindness. You just have you almost feel like what you were talking about that wide open space. Yeah, you just feel a sense of love and peace. Yeah, like that love, peace, appreciation elements of it, right?

Gratitude, you know, it’s it’s hard to, if you were in a fight with someone, it’s hard to stay in a fight. You just don’t feel like holding on. You know, if you get into an argument with someone, bring them to a yoga class. By the end of yoga class, you’ll be kissing and making up. Well, right, and it’s also, it’s like, if I came in there upset with somebody and I went through all these doorways, it’s kind of like at the end, like, that really wasn’t worth that energy. Like it’s time to move forward, right? Versus hang on to something like that, yeah.

I can relate to that. A lot of times you realize that it wasn’t really even about them. Yeah. It was about you. Which isn’t that the truth for so many things, right? It often comes back to what is this reflecting back about myself that I’m having this reaction or this moment? So yeah, you stop really trying to blame and change others and you just feel like, this is the work. This is it. It’s always it comes back to me, right? What can I do? So for someone who is just like they’re curious about trying yoga, they haven’t done it before. Where do you suggest that they start? Where do they come to from a very beginning beginner mindset within this? Is it the breath? Does we start there or is it what, how would you bring them in? The way we teach these classes, just come to a class. Yeah. And if that’s all you do is consciously breathe that first class, beautiful. Come as you are. You know, a lot of times we think that we have to like, be good at something and we set up these walls, these barriers that stop us from experiencing real growth. So I would just say come to a class. Life Time has at least five or six different places to start, but any of them are worth trying.

Yeah. Just come to your mat and do like, again, meet yourself where you are. I love that.

And then Life Time is going to have some, and I think they have some stuff up on their app already on the Life Time app for yoga and meditation, but we’re going to be creating a lot more content there coming up. so, like you said, September is a great month to start. You know, it’s the fall. Letting go, the leaves are coming off the trees. It’s time if you’re carrying any excess baggage or layers, this is a really good time to just start to peel, to let go. And so September is a great month just to really get yourself started in yoga.

There it is. Like, let’s use the seasonality and what nature is kind of guiding us towards already in many ways. mean, nature is such a good guide if we’re willing to slow down and pay attention to that too, and how can we embrace that in this given moment. So Johnny, anything you would want to add before I have one last surprise question for you? My colleague David Freeman is not here. He’s usually the one that does this. So I’ve just got one and it’s really not too crazy. So I’ve got you covered.

OK, I know David. He’s a fun guy. I’m a little nervous now.

Anything you want to add about yoga or anything in particular you want people to know before we get to that?

No, no, think that hopefully if they’ve watched this, they’re inspired to keep growing in their practice and sharing it with others.

100 percent. Great. Well, my question to you is very straightforward. You know, as somebody who’s been practicing a long time and has been through all sorts of different, I’m sure, mindsets and stages and challenges in your own life, is there a pose that to this day continues to challenge you. That’s one that you’re like, ooh, I have an opportunity there that I am gonna sink into or need to sink into more.

Wow. I would say, you know, one of the poses I do every day is sitting in meditation and I take the strong determination, I will not move. once I cross my legs, I open them. Once I place my hands, not to move them. And once I close my eyes, it’s a strong determination just not to move for one hour. And really not move for one hour, set the timer. That’s probably still one of the most challenging things. And when you accomplish that, it’s so amazing. I’m just imagining. It’s so liberating. Yeah, to be able to do it and accomplish it. Yeah, because if you can face that, then anything that happens in your day, anything that comes up, you can face it with a smile and just see how long it lasts. If you can sit for one hour without moving, everything else the rest of the day is a breeze. Yeah.

Yes. Well, I love that there’s still something that you’re working on and that you still have challenges with and you can come back to and continue to push yourself to say, I’m going to do this again and I’m going to keep working toward it.

For sure. Absolutely.

I love that. Well, Johnny, I’m so grateful to have had this conversation with you today. I want to make sure people know where they can find you. On Instagram, you’re @jonnykestyoga. Is there anywhere else you would want to point people? You mentioned the Life Time app. I do want to point people there, because we’re really excited to have more content with you coming there shortly. That app is free, whether you’re a member of Life Time or not. So you can go there and discover some of this content and so much more. Anywhere else you’d point people?

No, go to that Life Time app. That’s where you’ll find me and a lot of great content. Awesome. Well, thank you again, Johnny. It’s been such a pleasure to have this time with you and I can’t wait to connect with you offline about other yoga things. So here we go.

Namaste.

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Thanks for joining us for this episode. As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on our conversation today and how you approach this aspect of healthy living in your own life. What works for you? Where do you run into challenges? Where do you need help? And if you have topics for future episodes, you can share those with us too. Email us at lttalks@lt.life or reach out to us on Instagram @lifetime.life, @jamiemartinel, or @freezy30 and use the hashtag #LifeTimeTalks.

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Life Time Talks is a production of Life Time Healthy Way of Life.

It takes an amazing team to pull together each episode, including executive producer, Molly Kopischke, audio engineer, Peter Perkins, audio and video editors, Kevin Dixon and Riley Lester, and podcast coordinator, Sara Ellingsworth. A big thanks to Coy Larson for sound and video consulting and George Norman for project management, as well as the rest of the team at Life Time Motion who supports and provides feedback for Life Time Talks.