Jason Nemer – Inside the Magic of AcroYoga
“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 Creative Live, 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!
Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
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
