Safety Is Not Real: Why the Alarm Is Not a Fire
If you feel unsafe, you’re either in danger or your alarm system is broken — and it helps to know which.
Half Cocked in the Fuck You Room
On burnout, compassion fatigue, and the slow return to cavalier — a reflection on holding a family through hard seasons and the karma yoga of starting over.
Postal People
On mail slots, burning buildings, a dog in a mail truck, and why knowing your mail carrier matters more than you think.
The Laboratory: What I’m Actually Building
Four websites, a book, and a teaching studio that all do one thing — and what that thing is.
The Constraint Is Me
What it looks like to build a sustainable creative business when your own time is the bottleneck everything bends around.
Hi, I’m Michael. Check out DC Ashtanga.
This is just a little bit about me, Michael Joel Hall. I posted this as part of my welcome letter at DC Ashtanga. Join the community at DCashtanga.com to take free courses on Decentralizing Ashtanga, built proudly in Washington, DC.
In Memory of Paramaguru Sharath Jois
It is with great sadness that I share the news of Sharath Jois’s passing. At 53, Sharath’s passing is quite sudden. He is considered by many to be responsible for upholding the Mysore style of ashtanga yoga’s lineage. As such, for many in the Ashtanga community, Sharath’s teachings and presence became central to their (our) practice, and his loss will be deeply felt
Little Me Would Be So Proud: From Activist to Organizer
If little me could see who I am today, I think he’d be proud—wide-eyed and amazed at how things have turned out. He’d see someone who practices yoga, who teaches, who learns, but more importantly, someone who actively works to make things better in his community. Not just talking about change, not just shouting for it at rallies, but someone who orchestrates the very places where change begins. Growing up, I always had a sense of justice, of wanting things to be better, but the way forward was never really clear. Back then, activism meant holding a sign, standing in a crowd, and hoping that someone listened. And those actions mattered—they planted seeds. But as time passed, I learned that true activism demanded more than…
Sometimes the Support is the Success
I got to watch a long-time practitioner nail her first straight-leg jump-through this week. Liz has been practicing for years with my dear friend and colleague Jen Rene before joining me shortly after the pandemic. She’s a gem. Right after hearing the tell tale ‘swiff’ of a clean jump through, Liz and I locked eyes. “First one EVER,” she yelled. Liz had attended my bodyweight transitions workshop at the Yoga Club just a few days prior to all of this, and I told her that I was going to tell everyone that fact. I’m joking around, of course. All credit goes to Liz. She had a few skills that were *this* close to coordinating, and she was able to find her thresholds, push pass them,…
I was shocked when Lululemon moved into the neighborhood, and now I’m shocked it’s gone
They closed down the @lululemon in my neighborhood because the theft was just too high. Bummer. I was a brand ambassador for lulu for a few years. My image got used nationally. It was super cool. Lululemon helped me leverage my skillfulness as a teacher into something more meaningful. By offering opportunities to teach via their community development projects (for which i was paid and dressed) i was able to reach across the city to find intereated practitioners. So weird to have been an influencer before there were “influencers,” or to have been ‘sponsored’ by a brand. But its true! And it was great! People in hugh paying positions liked seeing me in new, expensive clothes. It opened doors. They invested a lot in my…