Hi, I’m Michael.
I teach insight practices — yoga, meditation, and a few less obvious ones — to people building things in leadership and technology.
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About
Twenty years teaching yoga, running a studio, and thinking about what insight practices actually do. They sharpen attention — and attention is the bottleneck on every hard problem, personal or professional. I write about that intersection, work one-on-one with leaders and builders, and run The Yoga Club in D.C.
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Friday
November 6, 2026
npr.orgThe purple tsunami against data centersA podcast episode examining how opposition to AI data centers became a major issue in the 2026 midterms, with voters across multiple states rejecting facilities due to local impact concerns. The discussion explores whether community backlash will slow AI development or force tech companies to negoti✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
The Next Big Idea DailyYour Brain on SpiritualityTwo researchers dissolve the science-vs-religion standoff and show, with hard data, that rituals, gratitude, mortality reminders, and meditation measurably reshape behavior and brain. Practical and paradigm-shifting in equal measure.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50The purple tsunami against data centers
The purple tsunami against data centers Machine Gods · sourceSource: Machine Gods — prfx.byspotify.com
Read the essay →The purple tsunami against data centers
The purple tsunami against data centers Machine Gods · sourceSource: Machine Gods — prfx.byspotify.com
Read the essay →Your Brain on Spirituality
Your Brain on Spirituality The Next Big Idea Daily · sourceSource: The Next Big Idea Daily — traffic.megaphone.fm
Read the essay →Your Brain on Spirituality
Your Brain on Spirituality The Next Big Idea Daily · sourceSource: The Next Big Idea Daily — traffic.megaphone.fm
Read the essay →
Leading by Example Is Not the Gentle Option
A colleague once told me my practice was intimidating. He said it gently. He meant it as a warning — someone had complained, and he was trying to help me understand that showing up and doing the work was having an effect on people. Not…
Read the essay →Amazon Prime adds Uber Eats service (The Washington Post), Nov 06, 2026
Amazon Prime adds Uber Eats service (The Washington Post), Nov 06, 2026 · sourceSource: Amazon Prime adds Uber Eats service (The Washington Post), Nov 06, 2026 — pressreader.com
Read the essay →Amazon Prime adds Uber Eats service (The Washington Post), Nov 06, 2026
Amazon Prime adds Uber Eats service (The Washington Post), Nov 06, 2026 · sourceSource: Amazon Prime adds Uber Eats service (The Washington Post), Nov 06, 2026 — pressreader.com
Read the essay →Practice with us this season
Two seasons a year in DC through 2029, and four Mysore weekends a year on the coast of Mexico. Pick a date, hold a seat.
Self Practice by the Sea
A Mysore retreat on the Riviera Maya.
Four mornings of practice, four nights on the coast, a private home with a rooftop pool. Four dates a year through 2029, four spots each.
Semester Enrichment
Sixteen Sundays. Two cohorts. Four seats each.
Fall 2026 is sold out. Spring 2027 opens 7 February — Functional Primary or Functional Intermediate — and the fall format returns in September. Seasons run through 2029.
Books by Michael Joel Hall
Six books on Ashtanga, systems, and the craft of a practice. Functional Ashtanga is free; the rest are $10 each, or all six for $50. EPUB + PDF, instant download.
Functional Ashtanga
The manifesto and the method — the whole project’s front door, built on one principle: agency, not compliance.
Free
Self Practice
The method as a manual — how to build an intelligent, sustainable self-practice from the first breath.
$10
Ashtanga 2.0
The philosophy — a postmodern deconstruction of yoga’s authority, and the grounded mysticism that survives it.
$10
Mechanism, Not Magic
The thinking underneath the practice — yoga as a system for clear, honest leadership on and off the mat.
$10
How to Build a Yoga Club
The playbook for the room itself — how to build a practice space that lasts, without burning out or selling out.
$10
Your Life Is Art
The systems primer — stocks, flows, and feedback loops, and the craft of composing a life.
$10
Press
Interviews, bylines, and the occasional controversy.
What is Ashtanga Yoga? The Benefits of This Challenging Practice
“Ashtanga demands fitness, flexibility, and focus — a calming, yet sweaty form of moving meditation.”
Read →Yoga Teacher Recovers, But Attack Highlights a Job’s Health Care Issue
The catalyst for my ongoing advocacy around economic precarity in the yoga teaching profession.
Read →Building Resilience in This Political Climate
A practice sequence for finding strength and clarity when the news is loud.
Read →Responding to Rand Paul on Free Yoga for Government Employees
“They are in less pain, physically and mentally. They go on and do a better job.”
Read →Does Yoga Really Foster Transformation?
On why I practice — to cultivate the conditions required for transformation.
Read →Mysore, the Place and the Practice
A long conversation with Chris Parkinson about my journey, cross-training, and the trajectory of yoga in D.C.
Listen →The Newsletter
A daily email on consciousness, leadership, technology, and practice. No fluff. Unsubscribe anytime.
Get in Touch
Questions, collaborations, speaking, coaching inquiries — send a note.
