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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Thursday
July 23, 2026
TODAYFDA Panel Meets to Weigh Easier Access to PeptidesA clean, no-hype explainer on the FDA peptide hearing that separates what's actually being debated from what's being sold on Instagram. Useful framing for anyone navigating the wellness-industrial complex.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
The Information Diet Is the Practice
Why a yoga teacher reads three newspapers a day, and what algorithmic feeds quietly took from all of us.
Read the essay →
The Courage to Be Vulnerable
Embracing Fear: The True Meaning of Courage Courage isn’t about being fearless.
Read the essay →Wednesday
July 22, 2026
highsnobiety.comArtist Uniform: The Anti-Fashion Art Duo Who Accidentally Became Style IconsGilbert & George, a British artist duo, have worn identical tweed suits daily since the late 1960s as a 'living sculpture,' creating a stark contrast with their vibrant, kaleidoscopic artwork. Despite claiming no interest in fashion, their unchanging uniform has made them style icons, inspiring coll✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
futurism.comElon Musk Says Grok Will Generate Its Own Feature-Length Version of “The Odyssey” for People Allergic to Progressive IdeasElon Musk criticized Christopher Nolan's Odyssey adaptation for casting choices he deemed 'woke,' claiming his AI tool Grok will create a 'historically accurate' version before year's end. Despite Musk's online campaign against the film, Nolan's version opened to $264 million globally with strong re✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
MU HealthiRest Yoga Nidra – Meditation #1A complete iRest Yoga Nidra body-scan script with the rare pairing-of-opposites technique for sensations, emotions, and beliefs. Return to this when you need a full guided protocol, not just a relaxation track.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Wish Kazi Happy Birthday
The Free Thing You Skip
Todd Hargrove wrote a love letter to walking, and it made me a little defensive, which usually means it’s true.
Read the essay →
The Whole Method, No Gurus Required
The entire Ashtanga method — 81 lessons — built into one self-owned course library you operate. Not a playlist. A platform.
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.
