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.
Open the full Journal & Field Ledger →
Monday
July 6, 2026
Be the Filter
It’s about how to learn from imperfect teachers without swallowing their whole worldview along with the useful stuff.
Read the essay →
Stop Making Ashtanga a Cult! Part 1: The Problem
Michael Joel Hall offers a different approach to Ashtanga Yoga grounded in humanist values, personal agency, and inclusivity, rather than dogma or hierarchy.
Read the essay →Sunday
July 5, 2026
sciencedaily.comQuantum mechanics once baffled scientists. Now it's changing the worldA Science perspective traces quantum mechanics from its early-20th-century paradoxes (Schrödinger's cat, Einstein's "spooky action") to today's practical technologies: lasers, microchips, quantum computing, and gravitational-wave detection. Researchers now apply quantum coherence and entanglement to✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
futurism.comSomething Weird Is Going on With the 66 Billion Trees China Planted in a Huge WallChina's Great Green Wall—66 billion trees planted since 1978 to stop desert expansion—shows planted forests growing 66% faster in canopy density than natural forests, likely due to youth and active management. However, researchers note this advantage is temporary; natural forests remain superior for✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
wamu.orgFood defined social hierarchy in 1776. Here’s what was on the table.In 1776 America, food was a primary marker of social class and wealth. The gentry emulated European dining with imported ingredients and elaborate meals, while the enslaved and lower classes ate simpler fare from local sources. Founding Fathers like Jefferson and Washington used food strategically—J✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
nautil.usThe Dangers of AI Voice ClonesAI voice-cloning technology can now duplicate voices from seconds of audio, enabling both scams and marketing manipulation. Recent research shows voices similar to our own are more persuasive, likely due to evolutionary safety signals and cognitive balance theory. Companies collecting voice data thr✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
My Teaching Journey — Ashtanga Tech
I started teaching yoga because a friend of mine caught dengue fever. Ashtanga Tech — the podcast. Keep the practice, lose the guru. Michael Joel Hall on Ashtanga yoga without the authoritarianism. 🎧 Listen to the podcast: https://pub-477a42ee397942aa87e96485ef790f2c.r2.dev/podcast/ashtanga-tech/feed.rss If a stuck practice or a bad room is on your mind — text CULT to 202-816-5612.
Read the essay →eating the stuff that now people
are paying a lot of money to have,”
Miller said, referencing
the current movement
against heavily processed foods.
They would also be eating more
pork, ham, bacon and sausage,
liver pudding and offal.
Tesla Will Make More from AI Than Robotaxi
July 5, 2026 at 3:12 PM by Brian Wang
NextBigFuture.com
AI data centers and compute represent a much bigger and faster-growing opportunity for Tesla than robotaxis. AI can generate $50–100 billion in annual revenue per gigawatt of power — dramatically outpacing typical robotaxi economics.
Ten Years of Practice, No Idea Why: Building the System I Couldn’t Find
For years I mistook obedience for depth. The day I started reading my practice as a system instead of a set of instructions — and started instrumenting it like one — everything I’d called discipline turned out to be drift.
Read the essay →
The Mouse Arm Side and the Coffee Side Are Both Tight
Your office wired one side of your neck on and the other side off. Marichyasana D pays the price.
Read the essay →Practice with us this season
Two ways to go deeper before the year turns — a full Ashtanga study season in DC, and an intimate Mysore retreat on the coast of Mexico.
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. Small on purpose — four spots only.
Ashtanga Study Group
Three series. One room. One season.
Sixteen Tuesday cohort nights and sixteen Sunday all-levels sessions — Primary, Intermediate, and Advanced A, side by side. Choose your cohort.
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.
