While wildfires are now considered a "season" in many parts of the world, the people who fight wildfires and structure fires are often the first ones on the scenes of other natural and human-caused disasters, accidents, and other events that threaten human lives. While trained and well practiced in their mission, firefighters and first responders often face personal, physical, emotional, and mental tolls with little time and fewer resources to help them in coping, healing, and moving forward in healthy ways.

Yoga teacher Shannon McQuaide grew up in a fire family with first-hand experience of the life and times of firefighters and first responders. With a strong background in education, an entrepreneurial spirit, and passion for doing good things in the world, she created FireFlex as a program for bringing the healing benefits of yoga into fire houses. Drawing from deep experience in yoga, trauma, and resiliency, her training of other teachers is making a difference in the lives of many who in turn make a difference in the lives of thousands.

Highlights of this episode include:

• The Unseen Challenges of Firefighters and First Responders
• Strength, Vulnerability, and Resilience
• Practicing & Teaching Yoga and Mindfulness in Fire Stations
• How to Prepare for Teaching Firefights and First Responders
• Subtle Aspects of Teaching Yoga

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The idea of practicing or teaching yoga and meditation through digital devices can seem contrary to yoga as a living practice. We might think that human-machine-machine-human is far from the realm of the senses, of human connection, and can only disturb its purity or power. We want the real thing. Then came Covid. From the caves of our homes, we became grateful to have some semblance of visual connection with other people in a variety of experiences, including yoga, even if through a screen. Zoom became a household word, a verb of action.

In recent years, advances in visual graphics, artificial intelligence, and haptics have set the stage for revolutionizing technology-assisted human interaction. These and related technologies are providing invaluable interactive tools for those with immobilizing health problems and other socially isolating conditions. The potential benefits to everyone are worth considering.

Alex Haley is among the pioneers developing and connecting these technologies with mindfulness and wellness practices in extraordinarily creative ways.

Highlights of this episode include:

• The Meaning of Mindfulness
• Practicing & Teaching Mindfulness
• Practicing & Teaching Yoga and Mindfulness in the Digital Age
• Distance Learning and Human-Machine-Machine-Human Interaction
• Haptic Technology and the Near Future of Digital Interaction
• Accessibility
• Offering Tree

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Racism is deeply embedded in the histories of yoga even as it offers visions and practices of liberation. From delimiting caste systems in ancient-to-modern societies to contemporary racist ideologies and social and cultural forces, race matters, is a source of profound harm predicated upon fundamental lies about the nature of human beings. It is also highly correlated with incarceration, especially in the United States, which leads the world in imprisoning people, with one-fifth of the world's incarcerated population.

Ayla Benjamin, executive director of Boundless Freedom, is a dynamic activist and social movement leader working to end mass incarceration while brining yoga, meditation, and other practices of liberation and empowerment into prisons. 

In this episode, Mark Stephens and Ayla Benjamin discuss racism in yoga and society, and what many people are doing about it.

Highlights of the conversation include:

• Ayla Benjamin's activist path from her roots in Minneapolis to her initial work in bringing yoga into California prisons.
• The experience of teaching yoga in prisons and insights into how one might best prepare for that service.
• How yoga yoga teachers can best develop the cultural competence for making yoga more accessible and meaningful in diverse communities.
• How Ayla's experience living near the location of George Floyd's murder and their involvement in related peaceful protests impacted her views about the work to be done.
• The work of Boundless Freedom.

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