For our 37th episode, I sat down with Brenna Geehan. Although Brenna is a San Francisco based teacher, I’ve never had the chance to practice with her, but I’ve heard amazing things about her and her classes. One thing I’ve heard is how her classes are perfectly energetically balanced, so I thought she’d be the perfect guest to talk about Hat-ha Yoga and the balancing of the masculine and feminine energies.

5 BIGGEST TAKE AWAY FROM THIS EPISODE

1. We are forgetting half of ourselves when we continuously only rely on one type of energy. We need to use both energy to their fullest aspect to really do anything fully.

2. We mostly seek joy and happiness in our external world but it truly comes from our internal world. So cultivating more lunar energy, which is helping you to turn inward, will help you replenish and find joy and happiness.

3. A complete yoga practice needs to include pranayama and meditation : You need the moving inward techniques to balance your energies.

4. Asana is helping you deal with your past, pranayama is helping you deal with your present and meditation is helping you deal with your future

5. The lunar energy is that which helps you go in and look at yourself. It helps you rest, digest and heal. The solar energy helps you move and interact and deal with the world around you, it helps you go out. cultivating the lunar energy will help you hold on to energy longer, it will help you feel steady. Once there, you can handle the external life no mater how turbulent life gets.

QUESTIONS SHE ANSWERED

• Can you define Ha-Tha yoga.
• When we talk about sun/moon, yin/yang, feminine/masculine, is it all the same thing?
• Everybody posses both energy no matter how they identify?
• In the context of yoga, what does masculine means and what does feminine means?
• What does it look like if you have too much feminine or too much masculine energy? What problem can it create?
• Since society encourages the development of our masculine energy more, do many people have a lunar/feminine/yin energy that is overdevelop or out of balance in that way?
• Is the goal to bring more lunar/feminine/yin energy in to get as close to balance as possible?
• What can people do to bring in more yin energy in their practice?
• Is meditation always a way to bring lunar energy?
• Those 2 opposite energy is making me think of Sthira Sukham asananam from the Yoga Sutras, the balance steadiness and ease, is there a direct link there or are those different concepts in your mind?
• Is it important to know where these energy live in our body?
• For newer teachers out there or students that practice at home, what do they need to understand about the energetic effect of our practice on the mat to make sure their choice of practice is balanced while creating polarity?

SUBSCRIBE, RATE & REVIEW!

Thank you so much for listening and being part of our 37th episode! We have other great guests lined up for you so make sure to subscribe to the podcast where ever you listen to not miss an episode or get on my mailing list!

As always, I really appreciate your support. So as you leave a review on iTunes or on your iPhone podcast app, you automatically enter a giveaway. Athleta is generously continuing to support this podcast in their effort to ignite a community of strong women who lift each other up, and is giving out a 75$ shop card! If you’re not sure how to leave a review, check this article. Thank you so much if you left a review. The winner of this episode’s giveaway is iTunes user Kirbysjdbrjskbhd. Congrats! Email me at erika.belanger@gmail.com or DM me on instagram @erika.belanger and I’ll send you your shop card!

On and Off Your Mat is also now part of Patreon. Patreon is a web platform where you can donate to financially support this podcast or you can become a monthly member. Donators get shout outs on the episode and as monthly members you receive exclusive content : mini-shows, guided meditation, guided flows and so much more. Visit my patreon page here to become a member and get access to the August and September exclusive content! You can make a one time donation or become a member at 5$ Tier to listen to what you have missed so far. And on October 1st, you’ll get your next exclusive episode: a tutorial on Uddiyana Bhanda. Before we get to our episode with Brenna, I want to welcome to our newest patreons members this week: Alison Winder, Laurey Greide, Soheil Javanshir-Majd and Stan Caires. Thank you so much for your support! It will help me continue to offer this podcast, help me cover production cost and potentially allow me to create more episodes!

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Brenna is the Co-Director of Sri Yoga Teacher Trainings and Retreats and has been teaching for 17 years.

Brenna loves to get real with people because she insists on getting real with herself everyday. Brenna believes that we are all here to not only get through life but also to find out how to thrive. Every person’s thriving will look different and Brenna encourages students of Yoga and Meditation to go deeper and deeper, and deeper still ~ until they are satisfied.

Brenna teaches yoga as an Energy Management system and in every class, workshop, training, or retreat, one walks away with richer tools to help themselves experience more joy and spaciousness, less fear and tension, and to get intimate with their life purpose. Her classes are a masterful alchemy of clear alignment cues for the body and breath that draws each student to a remembrance of their Sri their brightest, fiery heart and soul.

Currently, Brenna teaches weekly and monthly Yoga, Meditation, and Yoga Nidra classes in San Francisco, as well as Sri Yoga retreats and trainings. Come find out why students think she has the best Savasanas in the city!

Find more about her : www.brennageehan.com www.internationalyoga.com/retreats/bali-brenna-jean