Useful Links

• Yogis Anonymous
• Ally’s Blog

Transcript

Zack Arnold: Welcome to the Fitness and Post podcast. Today, I am joined by Ally Hamilton, who is the owner and co-founder of Yogis Anonymous, which is a yoga studio in Santa Monica, California. But more importantly, they have an online yoga studio that is available to anybody worldwide that has access to the internet. So, I want to welcome Ally?

Ally Hamilton: Hi, Zack.

Zack Arnold: Just a little background before we get started. As a full disclaimer, I have known Ally for I don’t even at least 10 years. Yeah, you were one of the first people that I found when I moved out here because I was trying to find some way to de stress because I was working so many hours and adapting to living in Los Angeles, and yoga was the first thing that I really found, and it’s the only exercise that I did exclusively, probably for about three or four years. And you were definitely my favorite and the best teacher that I had had during that period. And since then, with all the searching that I’ve still done, I’ve just given up looking for any other teacher. So now I just exclusively do stuff on your website, and I love some of the other teachers you have on your side. But I’ve done, I’ve done yoga works, and I’ve done. I mean, I I’ve done so many different different studios ever since I moved to a place where I couldn’t drive to yours anymore, and it’s just disappointing. It’s like really. So yeah, that that’s that’s kudos to you!

Ally Hamilton: I thank you. I thank you, and you know, I’m I’m happy to talk to you about about this. I think there’s a lot of there are so many different schools and so many different teachers, and I think it is really subjective, and it’s important to you know figure out what works for you and what you’re looking for and what you need. But I do think there are a lot of misconceptions about what yoga is, what it isn’t, and I think sometimes social media doesn’t help because you see all these people, you know, sticking their ankles behind their heads or just in these contortions, and it can look like it’s all about this physical. A lot of people find it disheartening, discouraging, and don’t even want to try it. And the reality is, it’s a it’s a system. You could call it a science or an art or you know a philosophy, but it’s a system where you’re really training your mind to become present and aware and engaged with what’s happening in the moment, you don’t have to be able to touch your toes to do that. You know, if you can breathe, you can do yoga. And I think a lot of people are intimidated unnecessarily and don’t even try. And that’s one of the great things that that we found with the site, is that people are able to give it a shot in the comfort of their own living rooms or their office or whatever it is, you know, at a time that works for them and with some privacy, you know, so that they don’t feel concerned about people watching them or whether they look like the person next to them. You know, none of that stuff matters, even if you are in a studio. But it takes that whole element out of it. So that’s been really gratifying.

Zack Arnold: Yeah, the thing that that I really found when I got into yoga, because I first found it before I even moved out to LA. I’d done some yoga class at like a local community center because one of my friends had been like, hey, we should go try it, and I was a martial artist for years and did strength training and was in football and baseball and I was that guy that walked into yoga and you’re like, I can do this shit like this is gonna be so easy and like 25 minutes in I’m like what the hell is going on with my body this is impossible like just trying to hold a downward dog or stand on one leg, I was like, “Wow, this is a whole new level of really understanding how your body works and how it functions. And that was a very low level, what I would say, just a physical yoga class. It was just about the poses and the stretches, and there was no other element to it. And then when I found you, was when I realized that you can kind of make yoga and anything that you wanted to,

Ally Hamilton: Well, yeah, I mean, it could definitely you can dwell on, you can focus on the physical aspects, and I had a similar experience that you did. I had had you know 12 years of ballet, and when I went to my first, I thought yoga wasn’t going to be hard enough for me, and I thought it was like sitting and stretching on the floor, and I was really humbled when I went into my first yoga class because it, you know, can be, it is. It’s physically challenging, and that’s part of the beauty is that even people that are really flexible and strong are going to come up against something, some place in their body where they’re storing some tension, and that’s really where you get to see, like, well, how do I show up in a challenging moment? You know, how much can I breathe? How much can I practice patience, compassion for myself, awareness? You know, do I force? Like, because generally, you know, there’s that. Quote like how we do anything is how we do everything, and so yoga is really a great way of figuring out how how you’re doing most things. You know how you’re showing up for yourself, and as far as stress for people, I think it’s it’s huge. You know, to me, it’s kind of like I hate to use this phrase, but it’s like one stop shopping. You know, you you carve out this time in your day, however much it is, you know, that you’re going to set aside to do some yoga. And if you connect your breath, you know, I mean, people sitting listening to the podcast can do that right now. If you just put your hand over your heart and you take a full inhale, and then you exhale fully, you know, that just feels great. It brings you right into your body and right into the moment. To take 10 minutes to do that every day, to take 20 minutes, 30 minutes to do it three times a week. You know whatever it is that you’re going to set aside, just to remind yourself, like at any time, no matter what I’m doing, I’m sitting in front of a computer screen, I’m sitting behind the wheel of my car, I can become aware of my breath. I can become present. That is an incredible stress reducer. So I think that that is an aspect that you know you can’t take a picture of that and post it on Instagram. You know it’s hard to take a picture of somebody connecting to their breath and becoming more present and more engaged with what’s happening. So that’s why I think the physical part is so there’s so much focus on it. But really, what you’re talking about, and I think what most people who do yoga for any length of time start to experience, is that there’s so much more available if that’s what you want, certainly when I teach, I’m hoping you know I’m I I don’t want to just teach these poses. The poses are beautiful. They open your body. They strengthen your body. If you keep practicing, you’ll end up doing things that you never thought you were going to do. But to me, that’s really the secondary part. Yeah, I mean, your health is huge, right? If you don’t have your health, it’s hard to do anything else. So if you’re feeling really uncomfortable in your own skin, you don’t have the energy to do the things that you want to do. I mean, that’s already you’re at a huge deficit. So just just focusing on the physical aspect is great as a as a beginning. You know, just to get yourself moving and breathing and feeling like you know you’re freeing up some energy so that you can do the things that you want to do and so that you can you can show up for yourself in the ways that you want to is huge, but also to to start to train your mind is like really where it’s at, because you know you might have all these ideas and all these projects and all these things you’re trying to accomplish, but if you’re like most people, the mind is scattered.

Ally Hamilton: You know, it’s like we have our to-do list, and then we’re thinking about something that happened last week or something that might happen next week, and it’s really hard to just sit and focus. And that’s a big part of the practice is learning to train your mind to do one thing at a time and to to do it all the way. So yeah, I mean, I get excited about like all the different aspects of it, but I don’t care what draws somebody to start practicing because I have confidence that the rest of it will, you know, kind of like seep in, so it doesn’t it doesn’t matter to me what you know what’s the motivation for somebody to just be curious and give it a shot.

Zack Arnold: Right. Well, the the two things of the the years that that I spent exclusively doing it now I don’t do it nearly as much. It’s more like a smaller component of an overall fitness and wellness program, but the two things that I really took, especially from you more than anybody from yoga, but especially from you, what you emphasized. The first one is something very specific, which is if if you’re in a pose, and I always remember being in Warrior Two because you just destroy people’s quads and their hips, like you’re just murderous, and I remember being in a Warrior Two and thinking my leg is literally going to spontaneously combust into flames, and you had said this is yoga right here because it’s all about being okay with what’s going on and knowing that it’s not permanent, and that was something that really sunk in. It’s like, wow, we’re so we’re we’re such reactive people that as soon as we feel something, we’re like, oh, I feel pain here, so I need to move my leg and I need to get out of it because I don’t want to feel the pain. But what yoga really trained me to do, and the more important, bigger picture of it, is that this led into every aspect of my life. Is that I was like, okay, I need to learn to be okay with this discomfort. Pain is different. Discomfort and pain are two different things that I try to emphasize. But it was intense discomfort. But as I’m sitting there, it’s like I know that this is not permanent, and I know it’s going to go away. And rather than fighting back, intensing, if I slowly breathe through it and I’m calm. It’s gonna go away because everything passes, and that permeated into my mindset and changed the neural network in my brain. And now I’m able to apply that to everything. And I’m not perfect at it, and I have setbacks, and things still irritate me. But that’s just one of those things that became a part of who I am because it’s just it’s just a lesson that that I learned.

Ally Hamilton: I think that that’s like one of the one of the life changing things that you can really you know as you’re just describing that you can really get out of a consistent yoga practice. And I talk about this a lot in class, but when you’re having that sort of intense sensation, intense physical sensation, like your quads on fire, and the and the tendency, you know, just it’s it’s cultural too. We’re really not trained to sit with discomfort, you know. It’s like we have this whole, don’t be sad, don’t be angry, don’t be scared. You know, this is like what we’re taught, but that doesn’t work. You know, like if you’re sad, you’re sad. What do you do with that? And a lot of people run, or they numb out, or they deny, or you know they eat, or they shop, or they jump into a relationship. They just try to avoid the discomfort. And so, when you’re on your mat and you’re breathing and you feel intense sensation in your quad, and instead of like coming out of it, you sit there and you breathe and you open to it. It does translate. You know, you’re you’re training your system to be able to breathe through those things. And then when you’re sitting in traffic or somebody says something thoughtless or some unwanted thing happens, you know, these sensations. We don’t think of emotion as sensation, but like if you’re enraged, that creates incredible sensation in the body. If you’re lonely, that creates sensation in the body. If you’re heartbroken, if you’re frustrated, all these things create sensation in the body. Just being on your mat for a little while, you know, three times a week even is enough to start to train your system to breathe through those experiences, so that you’re not rocked by external circumstances. It’s like you have your strong center. Not everything’s going to go the way that we want it to. You know, so just just that alone is, I think, a huge, huge thing for people.

Zack Arnold: Absolutely, and the the second thing that I really took from it that has permeated into the way that I see everything. And you had mentioned earlier that the way you do anything is the way you do everything, and that is being okay with where you are that specific day. Because I’m a very driven, type A, ambitious person, and I’m always trying to look at the metric of where I was yesterday, and just get a tiny bit further the next day, and get a tiny bit further, and always trying to make progress. And I was I was never okay with setbacks. I was like, well, I have to keep moving forwards. And what I realized with yoga, the more that I pushed, the harder that it fought back. And I kind of like, for example, if you’re trying to, I did Ashtanga yoga for like a year, and that was just brutal. I mean, and I’m not not in a bad way, but like you want to talk about getting into yourself and figuring out what what you’re made of. I mean, Ashtanga is like just one of the most complex things that I’ve ever gone through in my life, and I really went through a transformation with it. But it’s a matter of if you’re trying to touch your toes and you’re like, well, wait a second, I touched my toes yesterday and I can’t do it today. Well, I just I need to push harder and I need to push further. You teach yourself to stop doing that and say, you know what? I’m okay with where I am today. I’m not where I was yesterday, but who knows where I’m going to be tomorrow? And that’s something that I’ve really learned to apply to just about everything. Where there are going to be some days where my job just sucks, where I just walk in and I have a crappy day, but it’s not always going to be like that. And I know it’s going to pass, so it’s like you know what? Yesterday I loved my job. Today wasn’t so great. Who knows what’s what tomorrow is going to bring? And I pretty much intrinsically learned that lesson by learning how to touch my toes and learning how to stand in tree pose and you know all the other stuff that that you learn in yoga. The physical became the mental and the spiritual.

Ally Hamilton: Yeah, that’s kind of what I was saying with like the one stop shopping. It’s like you might be inclined to try it for the physical benefits, and that’s beautiful, you know. But you’re probably going to find if you stay with it, there are all these other benefits that are, you know, probably even more helpful as far as like living your life well, and that’s the part that really is exciting to me. And with the site, that’s what I, you know, like the vision has been like, hey, let’s provide a resource for people so that you know, however much time they have, wherever they’ve never done yoga before, right? Or they’ve done tons of yoga, but they don’t have, they can’t, they don’t have time to get to a studio for an hour and a half. Maybe they have 10 minutes today. Like I’ve really tried to make sure. There’s, there’s something there for everybody, no matter what it is that they’re looking for, what their, you know, what their experience level is, how much time they have. You know, there’s always, you can always carve out 10 minutes in your day to take care of yourself. You know, it would be great if you could take a little more time. But I’m just saying, if it’s like one of those days where you’re just jam packed or you’re on a deadline or whatever it is, you can do it at your desk. You know, you can just put your mat down and give yourself just a little bit of time to get centered and to open up your body and to not feel like your shoulders are hunched up around your ears, or your hips are really tight, or you know your spine is round, and you’re just slouching and feeling horrible. Like you can, you know, you can energize yourself and wake yourself up, and then whatever it is that you’re facing, at least you’re facing it from like a strong center, you know, where you can breathe and feel and feel good. So,

Zack Arnold: So where where I would like to go now is I’m coming to you as somebody that has never done yoga. I’m not in great shape. I’ve been an editor for 10 or 15 years. I’m sedentary all day, and I need to do something. I’m not willing to do a 90 minute class, but like, what should I focus on, and where should I start so I don’t feel intimidated or overwhelmed? Yeah, I

Ally Hamilton: Have. There’s a beginner series on the site. It’s for like absolute straight beginners. So that’s where you you would start. And basically, what I did is I created. It’s a six-week series, and so each class is designed to be done for one week. However, many times you’re going to practice that week. I mean, I really recommend at least three in order for you to feel a shift. And it might take more than a week. You might need two weeks with the first class. You know, you’ll see like when you take it, but the second class builds on the first, the third builds on. You know what I mean. They keep building, and so after the six sessions, I feel like most people are going to be ready to then start exploring the level one classes, the level one two classes. But that’s where you would want to start with the beginner series, and they’re really not intimidating. We also have like we have a chair yoga category on the site. So if people are dealing with you know different physical issues, I mean fused discs or you know rotator cuff injuries, or it’s like I really have been sedentary my whole life, like you know, start with the stuff that seems really approachable. We have therapeutic yoga up there for people that are like recovering from different injuries too. So I think there there’s plenty there for somebody who’s never done yoga just to give it a shot in a safe way, you know, without feeling like they’re in over their heads.

Zack Arnold: So if I come to your site and I’m somebody that has done a little bit of yoga, been to a class or two, I kind of like it, and I want to learn more. But I go onto your site, and all of a sudden I see things like restorative yoga and Yin yoga and Kundalini and Hatha, and I don’t even know where to start. And I know this is a rabbit hole, but just kind of give me a really cursory overview of like the differences and what I should be looking for or avoiding if I don’t have a lot of experience. Right.

Ally Hamilton: Okay. So definitely, I would start with the categories, which you know you’ll see, and then pick the beginner series and just check that out first, and if you take, you know, the first class and you feel like okay, I know this stuff and I’m good, then you can go to any of the basic. There’s, you know, level ones, level one twos, and you can search for those. You can just search level one or level one two, and they’ll all show up for you. So then you can pick any of those classes. As far as like the different, where it’s mostly a vinyasa flow site. Mostly, there’s a lot of you know like sweaty, challenging you know classes where your vinyasa just means like you’re linking your breath to the movement. You’re inhaling, you’re reaching up. You’re exhaling, you’re folding forward. You’re inhaling, you’re lengthening. You’re you know, it’s there’s the the breath is connected. But we also have hatha yoga classes. Those are slower, and so if you’re newer and you want to get the alignment down, and be just more, you might have more time in each pose. Then I would go to the hatha classes, and it’s really pronounced hatha, but you know, most people say hatha. You can the kundalini is a whole different. There’s a lot of breathing work there. You know, I think people. We have a great teacher on the site, Pete Lee. He’s extremely down to earth, and so you know, I think the best thing if somebody’s newer is to. Explore a little bit, but the things that I would not recommend for somebody who’s newer to yoga is anything over a level two. So you know you stick with the level one, the one two, the level two. If it says two plus or two three, no.

Zack Arnold: Yeah, that that’s the those are the poses that you that you see you know on the Huffington Post articles and online, and you’re like, I can’t do yoga. Right, those are the things that can be very misleading. So if you do a level three class, and all of a sudden you’re doing Firefly and Standing Pigeon, you’re like, Ah, no, I am never doing that.

Ally Hamilton: My hip is going to come out of my socket if I try to do that. Yeah, that’s why I’m saying just stick with, go to the beginner series first, see how that feels for you, you know. If you have specific issues that you’re dealing with, any injuries, anything that you know, check out the chair yoga and check out the therapeutic yoga. We have like yoga therapy classes up there, and see how you feel. The thing is, people can always email too. So, like, if you take a few of the classes and you’re like, okay, I’ve done this, I feel good. Where do I go? You can always email info@yogisanonymous.com I get those. I answer all of them. But for the most part, you’ll see. I mean, the site’s laid out in a pretty. It’s pretty easy to find what you’re looking for. You can search beginner classes. You can search level one classes. You can search. You know, and then you’ll see if you start to feel like, well, this is really approachable. I want a little more challenge. Then you try a one-two, and then if that’s, you know, that feels like you’re good, then you know you start going for the two or the two-three. But you’ll know, you know, it’s not like you’re going to be confused about whether you’re taking the right class for you or not. And if you are confused in any way, then you then you ask. But the main thing is to listen to your body and make it about breathing steadily and breathing consciously. You know, if you can’t breathe, then you’re pushing it too too far. You know, that’s your body telling you like, “Whoa, I’m overwhelmed. You know, if that’s happening, then you’re taking a class that’s like either the pace is too fast or the is too much in some way, and you back off.

Zack Arnold: Yeah, and that that’s something just another one of those things that I learned from you that really helped shape just making choices that I do every day was that you always really emphasized, hey, if your breath is not steady and you can’t be in the moment, you need to get on the ground to get in child’s pose, and you need to be okay with that. And you know that that’s something that’s not emphasized in most other yoga classes that I’ve been to, and it’s certainly not emphasized in the workout programs that I do because, like I said, yoga is not my primary form of exercise anymore. It’s a supplement, and I’m doing the harder core CrossFit P90X type stuff, and they provide yoga classes, and they’re actually pretty good. I don’t want to, you know, make it sound like I’m I’m saying that they’re they’re bad classes because I’m actually very impressed with the the level that they have, but it’s more about the workout, and it’s never like, hey, if it’s too much, just take a break. There’s no element of that in those classes. So basically, whenever I do a workout program, I just eliminate their yoga. I’ll do it once just to see what it is, and then I’ll be like, “Well, I know that I can get a lot more from your site. So whenever I have it, like for me, my yoga day is Monday. I just don’t use the yoga from the program, and I use something from here. But what I can do then is tailor it to how I’m feeling that day. So if I’m like, you know what, I really want a workout and I want to, you know, really get into my system and heat myself up, I go with the vinyasa flow. But if I’m thinking, man, I had an eight mile hike yesterday and I am dying, and the thought of standing for more than two minutes is gonna kill me, you know, I’ll try the the hatha, or I’ll even try just the restorative like this.

Ally Hamilton: And then there’s yin yoga too, which is like mostly long holds on the floor and hip openers and hamstring openers. Yeah,

Zack Arnold: But some of the restorative classes are just fantastic, and those literally require zero effort other than just you get a bolster and a block and you’re just sitting in a pose for 1015, minutes, and you and you’re just breathing, and then all of a sudden, after 90 minutes, you’re like, “Oh my God, I feel so much better.

Ally Hamilton: Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I feel like there’s that sort of, you know, I feel like there really is. If you know, as long as you know what you need and you’re honoring that, you’re gonna find it. You know, so if you know, like, I need something, I have 20 minutes, or I have 15 minutes, or I have 10 minutes, and we have really short classes up there. And then we have like 3040, 40-five, you know, hour long, and then the 90 minutes. We have 70-five minute classes. So there’s something up there as far as like how much time do you have, and then where are you? Like what are you looking for? Do you need something that’s more chill? Do you need like a hip opening class? Do you feel like your shoulders are really tight? Like what, you know, what is going on in your body, and what is it that you feel like you need? You’re gonna, you know, you can search for that, and you can find it. You’ll get a whole bunch of different classes, and you can search by time. You know, you can search 30 minute class. You can search. So, I feel like it’s pretty easy to navigate, and I’m not like a. You know, I’m not like a techie like you. I’m pretty like, and for me, it’s easy. So I feel like if it’s easy for me, then it’s that’s a good litmus test.

Zack Arnold: Yeah, with the audience especially that I’m dealing with going on, it’s not going to be a problem. Going on your website, doing a login and hitting a couple of tabs, I think it’s going to be fairly simple. And the website is very well organized, and it’s what I also love about it is that it’s not only organized by categories or by length of time or level or even by instructor, but you can put in a search term like hamstring, and you can find any class that has a short, brief description with the word hamstring in it. So, using that search function, what are some very specific places? If I’m not ready to just do a 60-minute vinyasa flow, and I’m really out of shape, but you know, I like my lower back hurts or my hamstring or whatever the issue is. For people that are largely sedentary, which is probably the vast majority of the people listening, where would you start from a very specific, like just anatomical standpoint? I

Ally Hamilton: Mean, if yeah, like I think if that if you feel in general like wow like my it’s my neck you know my neck my shoulders that’s that’s always where I’m carrying my tension then you search shoulder opening you know if you’re if you feel like it’s just from sitting and your hip flexors are feeling tight you can search hip flexors you can search hamstrings you can search like if you feel you know I have chronic low back stuff, and my guess is it’s probably because I have a weak core. Then you can search core strengthening. I mean, so you can get really specific about what you’re looking for, and a whole bunch of classes will show up for you. And then you can look at the descriptions. You roll your mouse over the class, and the description shows up, and you can read it and see. Okay, that sounds exactly like what I’m looking for, or it doesn’t. You know, and you move on to the next one. But it’s it’s pretty easy to to get to get specific about what it is that you need, as long as you know what it is that you need. Sometimes, if you’re new and you’re and you are not used to kind of like how I describe like being in your body, you know, sometimes somebody comes to class, and I’ll say, “Okay, 90 degree bend, and there’s no awareness of what that looks like or feels like because they just they haven’t done a lot of that stuff. You know, so if you’re not sure, you just don’t really know like where to begin. Then I would definitely say go right to the beginner series and take the first class and see how that feels because it’s really the pace is slow, and you know the alignment’s very specific, and it’s just a lot about breathing, and I think that’s a good place for most people to begin, you know. But if that, like I said, if that feels like too much, there’s the chair yoga. You can literally start in your chair, you know, just like inhaling and reaching your arms up, which I’m doing right now while I’m talking to you. Yeah, I’ve

Zack Arnold: Been doing shoulder openings and putting my hands behind my shoulders and trying to open that up because my shoulders are bad. So you, you and I are cut from the same cloth. Yeah, walking around doing yoga as we’re podcasting.

Ally Hamilton: Yes, yes. So yeah, I mean, I think that I think for what you’re describing, it’s really pretty ideal. You know, I just I think it’s a good good resource for people who are looking to get started, or for people who have done some yoga and want to start to like what you’re doing. You know, make it part of their like cross training. It’s so important if that is your thing, like you’re a runner, or you know, just to you put put some stretching into the mix because you’ll be very happy that you did that as you get older. You know, it’s like you don’t want to be doing stuff where you’re constantly pounding on your joints and tightening your muscles. You know, and and do that until you’re 60, and then be dealing with like, oh my, my knees, like I can’t I can’t get in and out of my car without picking up my legs with my hands. You don’t want to be in that in that situation. So yeah, there’s really no. I mean, I think for most people that are not physically active, this is like a beautiful place to start because you can start in your chair, you know.

Ally Hamilton: Yeah, absolutely. It gets

Ally Hamilton: Overwhelming.

Zack Arnold: So then, on the flip side of that, my my last major question is, I would. I don’t know this for certain, but knowing the post-production industry in general, most of your audience is probably going to be male. I’m trying to do my best to get this very balanced, but just based on pure statistics and the people that work in this industry, it’s going to be mostly men. Some of which are probably coming from going to the gym and weightlifting and all these other things. I know that for me, of my entire CrossFit type routine, where I do P90X2 and hiking and carrying heavy crap and whatever, like the only thing that terrifies me in my routine is a vinyasa flow class with you. Nothing, nothing else even makes me think, oh man, this is going to be a tough workout. It’s like, all right, I’m going to do my workout today, but I actually get a pit in my stomach. Thinking, wow, this is going to be tough doing one of your harder vinyasa flow classes. So talk to me just very briefly about the idea of like a guy coming in and being like, I don’t need yoga. I’m strong. Yeah,

Ally Hamilton: That happens more frequently than you would think. Like sometimes, you know, one of my regular female students will bring her boyfriend in, and you know, be totally fit, like guy, and there is that sort of like same attitude I had the first time I took a class. This is going to be too easy for me, and usually within like 10 minutes, they’re like sweating and green, and there’s that look of that look of terror. Like, whoa! I’ve had

Zack Arnold: That look before. My

Ally Hamilton: Girlfriend is doing all this stuff, and I’m like struggling here, so yeah. There’s no doubt for some of the for some of the strong, you know, the vinyasa flow classes. It’s challenging, and but I think you know I always try to I always try to emphasize breathing and listening to your body, you know, and just backing off when you need to. And for a lot of people that come from that gym mentality, where it’s just like no pain, no gain, I’m always talking about. Like in yoga, it’s like no pain, no pain. You know, you don’t want to be straining, you don’t want to be forcing. That’s how you’re going to get hurt. You really want to go right up to your edge and breathe. Then your body will open. You know, if you get forceful, or it’s like a lot of just you know ego kind of coming in, like I have to be able to do this, or you know that that’s how people get hurt. But if you just make it about breathing deeply, yes, it’s incredibly challenging. But your body responds to that really well. You know, the more you are able to practice. in a way that’s honoring what you’re feeling, the more your body’s going to open and strengthen. So it’s kind of like the opposite of the gym mentality, which is like go go go and you know, like go for the gold and all that stuff. It’s not like that. It’s kind of like the opposite of that. But you get you get that same result. You just come at it from a whole different philosophy.

Zack Arnold: So, if you could just do me a favor and just remind people what your website is, and also if you have any suggestions for other resources, if they want to learn more about yoga, as far as articles or books or authors, just if if if they really are interested in knowing more beyond just the simple poses, where they can go.

Ally Hamilton: Okay, so yeah, the website is yogisanonymous.com It’s y o g i s, and then the word anonymous.com And if for people that want to know more about the philosophy, I have a blog. It’s just blog. yogisanonymous. com, and if you go to the blog, you’ll find like for me, like what I’m really passionate about at this point. I’ve been teaching for 20 years now. Is like making these Eastern ideas practical for a Western mind, and so I write about this stuff in a really just like down to earth way. I don’t use Sanskrit. I’m not using yogic terms. I’m just talking about life. Like, how do I apply this practice to my life? To my kids screaming in the back seat, or you know, my boss who’s stressing me out, or you know, my relationship. Like, how do I use this practice in a practical way. That’s really what I’m. That’s really what I’m excited about at this point. So,

Zack Arnold: And I also want to add too that anybody that’s on Facebook, they need to follow you and Yogi’s Anonymous immediately because it’s one of the very few news feeds that will actually make you feel better about your life as opposed to feel worse about your life.

Ally Hamilton: Well, that’s good. Certainly, because as we all know, face

Zack Arnold: Facebook definitely caters to the more you know just neurotic senses that we have and feelings that were inadequate. And everybody’s posting the highlights of their life, and their life is better than mine. And yours is one of the few feeds that is actually the opposite of that, and it’s about helping to just empower people to be okay with who they are, and you know, it’s to me, it’s just part of the the class itself. Is you got to have the Facebook feed. So, all right, well, I’m going to let you go, but it has just been an absolute pleasure having you here, and I’m glad that we were able to catch up, and I really hope that I can help get people to your site.

Ally Hamilton: Yeah, me too. Me too. I think the more the more yoga, the better. And thank you. And you know, I’m I’m looking forward to hearing from lots of editors.

Zack Arnold: Yeah, let’s let’s hope that happens.

Ally Hamilton: Okay.

Zack Arnold: All right. Well, thank you very much for being here.

Ally Hamilton: Thanks, Zack.

Episode Credits

This episode was edited by Joseph D. Rivera, show notes were written by Maciek Kaliski (@MaciekKaliski), and the show was executive produced by Kanen Flowers (@iamkanen). We are a member of the THAT STUDIO podcast network.