“If I had to prescribe two things to improve health and happiness in the world, it’s movement and play.” – Jason Nemer
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Jason Nemer (@jasonnemer), co-founder of AcroYoga.
Jason is an incredible character, who travels the world with next to nothing. He introduced me to my latest obsession — AcroYoga.
Along with Gymnastic Strength Training, I’ve been doing AcroYoga — and I think about doing it all the time. AcroYoga is closer to partner acrobatics: Cirque du Soleil routine meets sensual-but-not-sexual contact.
Even if you have no interest in doing AcroYoga yourself, there are many takeaways and recommendations in this episode that can benefit your life. And for those of you that are interested, we even do a couple of video demos, which can be found here. But don’t feel like you need to step away from the purely audio experience of this podcast to follow along.
Incidentally, the video was recorded at CreativeLive, my favorite place to learn online. I’ve taken hundreds of courses there, but the one I’ll recommend is Six Months to Six Figures by Peter Voogd.
Enjoy the show!
You can find the transcript of this episode here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
- Listen to it on iTunes.
- Stream by clicking here.
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Want to hear another podcast on fitness and training from a world-class coach? — Listen to my conversation with Pavel Tsatsouline. In this episode, we discuss the science of strength and the art of physical performance (stream below or right-click here to download):
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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
- Connect with Jason Nemer:
AcroYoga International | YouTube | Instagram | Twitter | Website
- Full video of this episode
- Classic KONG Dog Toy
- Six Months to Six Figures by Peter Voogd at Creative Live
- Duck Shit Oolong Tea
- AcroYoga
- Reverse Bat Position (Instagram documenting my first AcroYoga experience with Jason.)
- Sport Acrobatics (aka Acrobatic Gymnastics)
- Yoga
- Thai Massage
- Happy Baby Pose
- Hand to Hand Handstand
- Folded Leaf, Front Bird, and Throne
- Cirque du Soleil
- Gymnastic Strength Training
- Bizarre: A Circus Story trailer — a film about Lu Yi
- Circus Center in San Francisco
- Sciatica
- Ayurveda
- Shadow Yoga
- Metta (Loving Kindness)
- Bharatanatyam Performance by Savitha Sastry
- Tai Chi
- Beginner Acro Yoga Class: Bone Stacking and Tightness by Daniel Scott Yoga
- Raw or Boiled Egg Experiment by HooplaKidzLab
- Athletic Playground in Emeryville
- Are Psychedelic Drugs the Next Medical Breakthrough?
- Hitachi Magic Wand “Massager”
- Master Chart of 908 Postures by Sri Yogi Dharma Mittra
- Marcelo Garcia Academy for Jiu-Jitsu
- Does partnering with Kiplinn Sagmiller make AcroYoga too easy?
- Making a Dream Machine by Michael Traynor at GymnasticBodies
- Ravel – Bolero by London Symphony Orchestra (Kyril Kondraschin)
- 10 with Dudley Moore and Bo Derek
- Caveman with Ringo Starr
- Unified Field Theory
- Searching for Bobby Fischer
- The Art of Learning Project
- The 4-Hour Chef
- Hatha Yoga
- The Princess Bride
- Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman and Ralph Leighton
- The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
- Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
- AY.LAB with Julia & Pascal Weis
- Wild Sports in Sacramento (for all your gun, bait, and throwing knife needs)
- Frisbee Golf (aka Disc Golf)
- Roc Discs
- Thunderbird Distance Driver Golf Discs
- The concept of Svaha
Show Notes
- What are we drinking? [06:52]
- How Jason and I met, and my first exposure to AcroYoga. [07:30]
- The origins of AcroYoga (and some of its benefits I’ve enjoyed so far). [09:34]
- The categories of sport acrobatics. [13:43]
- The dark side of competitive acrobatics. [17:01]
- The surrender component. [18:41]
- Beginner AcroYoga basics. [21:26]
- Freakish hip mobility in action. [29:28]
- Alleviating lower back pain. [30:36]
- Why you don’t see a lot of 100-year-old gymnasts. [31:39]
- Jason talks about people who have trained and inspired him. [32:16]
- The meeting of two masters. [34:11]
- What is the handstand approach? [38:44]
- The cross-pollination of different physical disciplines. [40:34]
- What is Shadow Yoga? [41:55]
- Bone stacking and handstand ATB: Alignment, Tightness, and Balance. [45:29]
- How Japanese gymnasts dominated the ’70s. [50:00]
- ATB demonstration. [52:03]
- Some of the most common AcroYoga mistakes. [56:11]
- Other teachers and mentors who have had an impact on Jason. [59:35]
- Things about the modern yoga world that drive Jason crazy. [1:03:45]
- Acrobatic flying demonstration. [1:08:42]
- The challenges of connecting through microangles. [1:12:42]
- About handstand rigs, dream machines, and power levers. [1:14:38]
- Jason tells us how Maurice Ravel’s Bolero and the life of Albert Einstein inspire his attempts to arrive at a Unified Field Theory of AcroYoga. [1:20:33]
- The drawbacks of competitive athletics vs. the benefits of recreational athletics. [1:23:10]
- One of Jason’s definitions of an advanced practitioner. [1:27:27]
- How the meta learning section of The 4-Hour Chef can help you develop skills to transfer to other skills. [1:28:22]
- How participating in every role leads to understanding and compassion in AcroYoga. [1:29:38]
- The benefits of combining acrobatic flying with therapeutic flying. [1:31:03]
- How Hatha Yoga aims for a 50/50 balance between feminine and masculine energy. [1:32:13]
- The Princess Bride method turns out to be inconceivable. [1:33:21]
- Who Jason thinks of when hearing the word “successful.” [1:35:06]
- Books Jason has gifted most. [1:37:34]
- Jason is constantly traveling. What does he bring with him? [1:39:00]
- That time Jason smuggled throwing knives into Bali. [1:41:40]
- Is frisbee golf a real sport? [1:42:12]
- Purchase of $100 or less that has had the biggest positive impact on Jason’s life. [1:44:03]
- How Jason practices the philosophy of Svaha. [1:44:16]
- What does Jason believe that other people think is insane? [1:45:17]
- Why Jason calls losing everything he owned (including the van where he was living) “really amazing.” [1:46:45]
- Jason tells a story I’ve never heard before. [1:48:03]
- What Jason’s billboard would say. [1:50:20]
People Mentioned
- Molly
- Peter Voogd
- Travis Brewer
- Jenny Sauer-Klein
- Andrii Bondarenko
- Jerzy Gregorek
- Coach Christopher Sommer
- Master Lu Yi
- Scott Blossom
- Ra’s al Ghul
- Batman
- Zhander Remete
- B.K.S. Iyengar
- Tirumalai Krishnamacharya
- Kesuke Miyagi
- Sam Luckey
- Dharma Mittra
- Yogi Gupta
- Marcelo Garcia
- Sebastian Junger
- Kiplinn Sagmiller
- Maurice Ravel
- Dudley Moore
- Bo Derek
- Albert Einstein
- Josh Waitzkin
- Justin Bench
- Daniel Scott
- Kelly Starrett
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Richard P. Feynman
- Julia Weis
- Pascal Weis