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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Wednesday
August 12, 2026
sciencedaily.comOzempic may have revealed the brain’s hidden “craving center”New research suggests GLP-1 agonists like Ozempic reduce cravings for food, alcohol, and drugs not by acting on the classic dopamine reward circuit but through the lateral septum, a brain region dense with GLP-1 receptors. The lateral septum appears to be where the brain links memory and place with✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
blog.the-ebook-reader.comNew “Véra” Jailbreak Released for Latest Kindles with Current SoftwareA new jailbreak called Véra now supports the latest Kindle models running software up to version 5.19.6, covering 11th and 12th generation devices including basic Kindles, Paperwhites, Colorsoft, and most Scribes. The jailbreak can be performed directly on the device using its built-in browser witho✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
You Are the Watcher
What it actually means to "observe your feelings" — without pretending they aren’t real.
Read the essay →Tuesday
August 11, 2026
highsnobiety.comWhy Does Everything Look Like 2000s-era Emo?A Highsnobiety feature examines the resurgence of 2000s emo aesthetics in contemporary culture, particularly among younger generations. The piece explores how internet archive accounts and digital nostalgia cycles are driving renewed interest in the era's fashion, music, and visual language. Cultura✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50highsnobiety.comWhy Does Everything Look Like 2000s-era Emo?The article explores a resurgence of 2000s emo and alternative aesthetics among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, driven not by millennial nostalgia but by young people discovering these styles and sounds for the first time. The author attends Vans Warped Tour to understand why this cultural moment feels differe✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
futurism.comAmazon’s New AI Data Center Is So Enormous That It Appears It Will Become the Largest Single Source of Pollution in the United StatesAmazon Web Services plans to build a massive gas-burning power plant in Texas to supply 7.65 gigawatts to an AI data center, which would emit 33 million tons of CO2 annually—making it the largest single source of emissions in the United States. This directly contradicts Amazon's stated goal of reach✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
aljazeera.comHunter Biden defends Tucker Carlson over Netanyahu commentsHunter Biden defended Tucker Carlson against antisemitism allegations after Carlson called Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu 'evil incarnate,' arguing that criticizing Netanyahu should not automatically be labeled antisemitic. The incident highlights ongoing tensions around distinguishing criticism of I✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
The Next Big Idea DailyThe Power of QuestionsTwo researchers — a philosopher of questions and a psycholinguist — make a quietly radical case: the questions we ask (or stop asking) shape attention, memory, relationships, and even resistance to manipulation. Concrete, surprising, and practically urgent.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Membership Geeks Podcast with Mike Morrison486 – Ask Mike: Should I Drip Content to Improve Retention?A practitioner with a decade of live Q&A reps cuts through the drip-content myth and replaces it with a concrete retention framework — roadmaps, rituals, and onboarding — grounded in a real membership case.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Life KitShrink your grocery billBeth Mansell delivers genuinely actionable, non-obvious tactics — from freezer lists to pre-shopping online to food bank nuance — that reframe grocery spending as a skill, not a sacrifice. Practical enough to use this week.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Hunter Biden defends Tucker Carlson over Netanyahu comments · Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera
Why Does Everything Look Like 2000s-era Emo? · Highsnobiety
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.
