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afield since 2003 · michael joel hall
Sunday
October 11, 2026
Saturday
October 10, 2026
borretti.meNo Man Is an IslandThe author argues that sustained individual intellectual work depends on a community that provides shared knowledge and motivation (both intrinsic and extrinsic). AI dissolves these communities by making contributions feel pointless—no one reads your blog post, uses your library, or benefits from yo✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Why Beginners Quit: Replacing the Wall of Poses With an On-Ramp
For years I handed new practitioners the entire sequence on day one and watched most of them quietly disappear. The problem was never their discipline — it was my dosage. So instead of writing one more post about consistency, I built the thing that enforces it.
Read the essay →
The Debate Around Practice Intensity
Michael Joel Hall discusses the paradox of Ashtanga Yoga, highlighting how it demands effort while requiring patience.
Read the essay →Threads
On this day
October 11 in years past
boring unless it's
gossip. Teachers
should just start
every lecture like
"omg did you hear
about parabolas?"
@the.language.nerds
Introduction to Ashtanga Collider Theory
Introduction: When Effects Distort Our Understanding of Causes In 1946, statistician Joseph Berkson noticed something peculiar in hospital patient data: diseases that should have been independent appeared to be negatively correlated. Cancer patients seemed less likely to have diabetes, and vice versa. This observation seemed…
Read the essay →Getting Better at Causal Loops and Drawing Inferences
Revisiting Rule 1: Independent Variables Are Not Correlated Restating the Argument In Ashtanga Yoga, not all elements of practice are causally connected. For example, focusing solely on aesthetic performance (e.g., how a posture looks) often leads to false assumptions about progress. Understanding this independence helps practitioners…
Read the essay →Causal Inference Rules and How to Use Them
In systems thinking and yoga alike, progress requires recognizing hidden confounders and addressing them directly rather than being misled by surface-level correlations. When practitioners address the root cause, both seemingly related symptoms often resolve harmoniously. Rule 1: Independent Variables Are Not Correlated This rule states that…
Read the essay →Introduction to Causal Inference
The eight basic rules for causal inference from Peder M. Isager’s blog provide an excellent framework for understanding how causal relationships emerge and interact with observable data. These rules resonate with core principles in both systems thinking and Ashtanga Yoga. Let’s explore this connection. 1.…
Read the essay →What Is a Collider? How Ashtanga Practice Teaches Systems Thinking Through the Body
What Is a Collider? In systems thinking, a collider is a variable that sits at the convergence point of two or more independent causal pathways. Unlike a mediator (which transmits influence from one variable to another) or a confounder (which influences multiple variables), a collider…
Read the essay →Collider: Why Ability Privilege Perpetuates Itself
In systems thinking, a collider is a variable influenced by two or more independent factors—and Ashtanga’s authorization system contains a perfect example that explains why the current model is so resistant to change. Consider the collider: “Becoming an Authorized Teacher” This outcome is influenced by…
Read the essay →What Ashtanga Yoga Teachers Can Learn from NFL Coaching Excellence
The Performance Paradox In 2007, Tony Dungy became the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl. But his real legacy wasn’t built on that February night in Miami—it was constructed over the following decade through youth mentorship programs, education reform initiatives, and…
Read the essay →Thanks @suenodevida_ecu
I'm leaning out the one about sustainable models
Thanks @suenodevida_ecu
.There's not gonna be that traditional "this is the single"
kind of a vibe, because we don't live in that world now.
And you, the label, should recognize that, and you should
recognize that this fanbase that I have built are so hungry
for me and my peers and our kind-of slightly left world of
pop/dance music... they're hungry for us to succeed. And
that doesn't mean that we have to do any pandering to any
other side of the industry. We just have to do it for them.
And we have to make them feel so special, because they
are, because they've championed me and us for so long.
@evanrosskatz
147
@nationalparkservice
brings me all the inspo
@samanthalucasashtanga
You don’t need to know the names of every potential movement a joint can make in scientific terms to be a good yoga teacher — but it can definitely help.
In Tuesday’s anatomy class, we covered possible hip articulations: -extension
-flexion
-abduction
-adduction
-internal rotation
-external rotation
We also covered active and passive flexibility as well as open chain and closed chain strength building.
As though that weren’t enough, we also covered which muscles dowhat in order to make these different positions possible. Does this stuff interest you?
Hit me up in the Mysore room @dcashtanga or check out my anatomy courses. Link in bio!
Don't see one near you? Hit me up and I'll bring em your way 😉
By the numbers
Writing
- PracticeWhy Beginners Quit: Replacing the Wall of Poses With an On-RampOct 11, 2026
- PracticeWhat Do You Enjoy Doing?Oct 9, 2026
- Personal NotesSafety Is Not Real: Why the Alarm Is Not a FireOct 7, 2026
- Personal NotesHalf Cocked in the Fuck You RoomOct 5, 2026
- Personal NotesPostal PeopleOct 3, 2026
- Yoga ProfessionalsAccess Is the PracticeSep 29, 2026
Digests
- The Debate Around Practice IntensityOct 11, 2026
Michael Joel Hall discusses the paradox of Ashtanga Yoga, highlighting how it demands effort while requiring patience.
- Thirty Minutes a DayOct 10, 2026
A Johns Hopkins review of 47 clinical trials with 3,515 participants found that 30 minutes of daily meditation improved anxiety and depression symptoms, with effects lasting at least…
- Vinyasa Yoga: Breath & MovementOct 4, 2026
Brahmari Pranayama: The Bee Breath Technique for Calm and Clarity This video introduces Brahmari Pranayama, also known as Bee Breath,...
- One Session, Better MoodOct 3, 2026
A single 1-hour yoga session increased positive engagement, revitalization, tranquility, mindfulness, and body consciousness in 144 participants.
- Making Yoga InclusiveSep 27, 2026
Research identified specific teaching practices, including authentic leadership, inclusive language, and health focus, that make yoga spaces more welcoming for all body types.
- Transformation Through Consistent EffortSep 20, 2026
In this video, Michael Joel Hall discusses the transformative power of consistent effort in yoga practice, particularly during the early...
- Depression Scores Cut in HalfSep 19, 2026
A German study found that two yoga classes per week for three months cut depression scores by 50% and improved overall well-being by 65% in emotionally distressed women.
- The Yoga Executive: A Useful Frame, Not a BrandSep 17, 2026
"Yoga executive" sounds like a LinkedIn invention. It half is. The frame is useful as a side door — until people stop at the door and never get…
The Read
borretti.meNo Man Is an IslandThe author argues that sustained individual intellectual work depends on a community that provides shared knowledge and motivation (both intrinsic and extrinsic). AI dissolves these communities by making contributions feel pointless—no one reads your blog post, uses your library, or benefits from yo✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
dazeddigital.com‘Do you smell like a bi millennial?’: Everyone is talking about gay perfumeDerek Deng explores how queer people use perfume as identity signaling and community recognition, triggered by a Grindr encounter where someone's Dior Sauvage matched their aggressive vibe. The piece examines scent as a form of queer semiotics and embodied communication beyond verbal language.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
sciencedaily.comVagus Nerve Stimulation Could Help New Skills StickResearchers at Tohoku University found that stimulating the vagus nerve in mice after motor training sessions strengthened long-term skill retention, even though it did not improve performance during practice itself. The effect appears to work through rhythmic changes in brain blood volume rather th✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
popville.comEND OF AN ERA: DUKEM Ethiopian Closing after almost 30 Years on U Street next month.Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant on U Street NW in Washington, D.C. is closing permanently after nearly 30 years, with final service on November 7. The closure marks the end of a longstanding community institution in a neighborhood that has undergone significant transformation over the past three decades.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50The Listen
The NASM-CPT Podcast With Rick RicheyHow personal trainers can create their own career opportunitiesRichey reframes career-building as a series of low-stakes experiments rather than high-stakes gambles — practical, non-precious, and immediately actionable for anyone in the fitness industry sitting on an opportunity they're too scared to take.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Uncanny Valley | WIREDKevin Roose Didn’t Use AI to Write His Book About AIRoose offers a rare calibrated take on AI — neither doom nor hype — while being unusually candid about how he actually used the technology to write the book about the technology. The meta-layer makes this essential.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Next Question with Katie CouricThe Art Of Aging: The Heart Of The MatterDr. Stacey Rosen dismantles decades of cardiac mythology with precise, actionable science — this is the rare interview where every segment contains something a woman's doctor probably never told her. Essential and corrective.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
The Next Big Idea DailyYou’re More Than What You Do for Other PeopleTwo sharp thinkers tackle the same wound from different angles: Miles on how systems strip you of intrinsic worth, Burgess on how groups quietly replace your self with theirs. The frameworks are actionable without being self-helpy.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
RadiolabA 4-Track MindA neurologist puts a ragtime pianist in an MRI and proves he can simultaneously track four full symphonies in his head — a controlled experiment that forces you to rethink the upper limits of human cognition. The spatial, cinematic way Bob describes his inner ear is unforgettable.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50The Watch
TEDIs AI Turning Us All into the Same Person? | Sandra Matz | TEDMatz reframes the AI risk conversation away from jobs and misinformation toward something quieter and harder to argue with: the slow algorithmic erasure of the self. The 'dial' proposal is genuinely actionable, not just rhetorical.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Washington Week PBSWashington Week with The Atlantic full episode, Aug. 28, 2026A sharp, sardonic dissection of Trump's inversion of alliances — hating Canada, respecting Kim Jong-un — with a Canadian reporter at the table and real trade mechanics underneath the absurdity. The Dolly Parton coda lands harder than expected.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
TODAYMeet the Couple Behind Panda ExpressA rare look at the Cherngs' unsentimental, clear-eyed philosophy on building an empire — immigrant grit meets shrewd business candor. The orange chicken origin and their unapologetic 'American Chinese food' framing alone make this worth returning to.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
StarTalkHow The Brain Perceives Time, with David EaglemanEagleman dismantles the brain's greatest myths — that memory records, that senses are fixed, that slow-motion fear is real — with experiments wild enough to match the claims. The dream-as-real-estate-defense theory alone is worth the price of admission.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Tale FoundryThe Book of Dead FairiesA genuinely weird artifact — pressed fairy corpses as Victorian psychosexual metaphor — that earns its darkness and lands a quietly profound point about preserved imagination and the shame of looking back at who you were.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Pickings
Latest dispatches
Doodles
Unearthed
The full ledger
13,228 entries · 2003–2026 · filter & browse below
borretti.meNo Man Is an IslandThe author argues that sustained individual intellectual work depends on a community that provides shared knowledge and motivation (both intrinsic and extrinsic). AI dissolves these communities by making contributions feel pointless—no one reads your blog post, uses your library, or benefits from yo✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Why Beginners Quit: Replacing the Wall of Poses With an On-Ramp
For years I handed new practitioners the entire sequence on day one and watched most of them quietly disappear. The problem was never their discipline — it was my dosage. So instead of writing one more post about consistency, I built the thing that enforces it.
Read the essay →The Debate Around Practice Intensity
Michael Joel Hall discusses the paradox of Ashtanga Yoga, highlighting how it demands effort while requiring patience.
Read the essay →
I didn't mean to creek
anew rose.
Thirty Minutes a Day
A Johns Hopkins review of 47 clinical trials with 3,515 participants found that 30 minutes of daily meditation improved anxiety and depression symptoms, with effects lasting at least six months.
Read the essay →dazeddigital.com‘Do you smell like a bi millennial?’: Everyone is talking about gay perfumeDerek Deng explores how queer people use perfume as identity signaling and community recognition, triggered by a Grindr encounter where someone's Dior Sauvage matched their aggressive vibe. The piece examines scent as a form of queer semiotics and embodied communication beyond verbal language.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
What Do You Enjoy Doing?
The first twenty minutes go the same way every time. A new client comes in and we inventory the damage. Where it hurts, how long it's been hurting, what they've tried, what failed, what the doctor said. It's useful information. I need it. But after…
Read the essay →Spine Extension
Spine Extension PAILS & RAILS
Spine Extension Passive Range Hold
sciencedaily.comVagus Nerve Stimulation Could Help New Skills StickResearchers at Tohoku University found that stimulating the vagus nerve in mice after motor training sessions strengthened long-term skill retention, even though it did not improve performance during practice itself. The effect appears to work through rhythmic changes in brain blood volume rather th✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
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.
Read the essay →The NASM-CPT Podcast With Rick RicheyHow personal trainers can create their own career opportunitiesRichey reframes career-building as a series of low-stakes experiments rather than high-stakes gambles — practical, non-precious, and immediately actionable for anyone in the fitness industry sitting on an opportunity they're too scared to take.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Uncanny Valley | WIREDKevin Roose Didn’t Use AI to Write His Book About AIRoose offers a rare calibrated take on AI — neither doom nor hype — while being unusually candid about how he actually used the technology to write the book about the technology. The meta-layer makes this essential.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Next Question with Katie CouricThe Art Of Aging: The Heart Of The MatterDr. Stacey Rosen dismantles decades of cardiac mythology with precise, actionable science — this is the rare interview where every segment contains something a woman's doctor probably never told her. Essential and corrective.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50The Next Big Idea DailyYou’re More Than What You Do for Other PeopleTwo sharp thinkers tackle the same wound from different angles: Miles on how systems strip you of intrinsic worth, Burgess on how groups quietly replace your self with theirs. The frameworks are actionable without being self-helpy.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Half 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.
Read the essay →
Vinyasa Yoga: Breath & Movement
Brahmari Pranayama: The Bee Breath Technique for Calm and Clarity This video introduces Brahmari Pranayama, also known as Bee Breath,...
Read the essay →
Postal People
On mail slots, burning buildings, a dog in a mail truck, and why knowing your mail carrier matters more than you think.
Read the essay →
One Session, Better Mood
A single 1-hour yoga session increased positive engagement, revitalization, tranquility, mindfulness, and body consciousness in 144 participants.
Read the essay →popville.comEND OF AN ERA: DUKEM Ethiopian Closing after almost 30 Years on U Street next month.Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant on U Street NW in Washington, D.C. is closing permanently after nearly 30 years, with final service on November 7. The closure marks the end of a longstanding community institution in a neighborhood that has undergone significant transformation over the past three decades.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50RadiolabA 4-Track MindA neurologist puts a ragtime pianist in an MRI and proves he can simultaneously track four full symphonies in his head — a controlled experiment that forces you to rethink the upper limits of human cognition. The spatial, cinematic way Bob describes his inner ear is unforgettable.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50All of which led to the success of Scorpion. I was a huge fan of all genres of music, from Biggie Smalls to No Doubt, and when I wrote Let Me Blow Ya Mind I knew we should get Gwen Stefani to feature on it. I was the only girl in the boardroom in those major label meetings and that Philly girl often had to come out. They were initially resistant because I was a rapper and she was a rock star, but I said: “Guys, this will work. Trust me.”
Even though I won that particular fight, the response to a lot of my suggestions was often: “Oh, that’s cute. We’re not doing that.” I felt I couldn’t be my full, excited self because there were so many miserable motherfuckers around me in those boardrooms. The atmosphere made me feel like I had to suppress myself and stay small. Decades later, my old A&R actually called up and apologised. He said: “I really wish we listened to you a little bit more – you had some good ideas.” That was validating.
The Coercers Are the Ones Who Fear Being Seen
I was trying to describe someone — a teacher, a manager, the kind of authority figure who issues a lot of direction without doing much of it themselves — and I kept landing on a word that surprised me. Not incompetent. Not lazy. Afraid. Fear…
Read the essay →
popville.com“The African American Civil War Memorial Museum Is Reopening!”The African American Civil War Memorial Museum reopens September 30, 2026 in the renovated historic Grimke School building in DC's U Street Corridor. The museum honors the 209,145 United States Colored Troops who fought in the Civil War and explores the journey from Civil War to Civil Rights through✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
dazeddigital.comI tried Readme, the dating app for book loversReadme is a dating app from the Co-Star team that matches users based on their relationship to language and literature, not just book lists. It builds a 'taste profile' from how people relate to writing, framing connection through literary sensibility rather than conventional swipe mechanics.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
stevedylan.devThe Nuance of ToleranceSteve Simkins examines the paradox of tolerance through Karl Popper's original formulation and a community moderation case, arguing that popular discourse flattens nuance into binary thinking. He explores how Popper's actual position was more conditional and context-dependent than the meme version s✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Access Is the Practice
What it really means to build access as a yoga teacher inside institutions that were never built for you.
Read the essay →TEDIs AI Turning Us All into the Same Person? | Sandra Matz | TEDMatz reframes the AI risk conversation away from jobs and misinformation toward something quieter and harder to argue with: the slow algorithmic erasure of the self. The 'dial' proposal is genuinely actionable, not just rhetorical.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50CaribbeanDahling
•
4y ago
And not even making Netflix money! His specials have horrible ROI. This was why that Netflix employee was fired, because he leaked that intel to Bloomberg.
“The comedian’s popularity comes at a cost. Netflix spent $24.1 million on the “The Closer,” slightly more than the $23.6 million it paid for Chappelle’s 2019 special, “Sticks & Stones.” By comparison, the streaming service spent $3.9 million for “Inside,” Bo Burnham’s recent hour-and-a-half special. The nine-episode “Squid Game,” which delivered the best debut in Netflix history, cost $21.4 million.
By Netflix’s own measurement, “Sticks & Stones” had an “impact value” of $19.4 million, meaning it cost more than the value it generated, according to internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg. The company also evaluates its programs by “efficiency,” which balances a show’s reach with its price-tag. On that scale, Chappelle’s special scored 0.8 — less than the break-even score of 1. By comparison, Burnham’s “Inside” scored 2.8.”
stevedylan.devThe Nuance of ToleranceSteve Simkins examines Karl Popper's paradox of tolerance—that unlimited tolerance enables intolerance—but argues the common "don't tolerate the intolerant" slogan misses crucial nuance. Popper advocated suppression only when rational argument fails and violence begins, not at the first hint of disa✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
What Happens When I Leave the Room
There is a student I have in mind. She’s been practicing for three years. In class, she’s steady. She follows the sequence. Her breath is mostly even. She adjusts when I adjust her. When I watch her, I see someone who knows what she’s doing.…
Read the essay →
Making Yoga Inclusive
Research identified specific teaching practices, including authentic leadership, inclusive language, and health focus, that make yoga spaces more welcoming for all body types.
Read the essay →dazeddigital.comI tried Readme, the new dating app for book loversThe article reviews Readme, a dating app designed for book lovers, contrasting idealized bookstore meet-cute fantasies from romantic comedies with the reality of modern dating. It explores whether shared literary interests can serve as a foundation for romantic connection in an app-based dating land✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Capacity Isn’t Character
Rachel had been practicing eleven years when she hurt her shoulder. Doctor said no advanced poses for six weeks. Standing postures. Sun salutations. Basics. She came back to the mat and cried for three days. Not from pain. The pain was manageable. She cried because…
Read the essay →
Pain Is Not Progress
There's a moment most practitioners know. Something in your shoulder says stop. The teacher calls the next vinyasa. You go anyway. That choice — made in a fraction of a second, almost without noticing — is the entire problem. Not the shoulder. The going anyway.…
Read the essay →
wtop.comCan ‘A Different World’ sequel change lives like the original series? Hillman is back in sessionNetflix's sequel to 'A Different World' returns to the fictional Hillman College, following Deborah Wayne (daughter of original characters Dwayne and Whitley) and a new generation of students. The original series (1987-1993) influenced viewers' college choices, career paths, and self-perception; the✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
tadaima.bearblog.devI tried Pedro Almodovar's recipe for creative energyA writer tests Pedro Almodovar's recipe for creative energy—double espresso cooled with sugar plus a full Coke, consumed like medicine. The experiment yields a brief buzz followed by a hard crash, prompting reflection on stimulant shortcuts versus sustainable energy sources like Peru's coca tea or p✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Get MichaelFilter
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