Yoga With Jake Podcast

Dr. Mitchell joined the University of Florida in 2015 as a Preeminence Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Physical Therapy and McKnight Brain Institute. He founded and directs the UF Center for Breathing Research and Therapeutics (BREATHE) and the NIH-funded graduate and postdoctoral training program of the same name. A major focus of BREATHE is to understand and treat impaired breathing and airway defense (swallowing/cough) caused by neuromuscular injury or disease. Dr. Mitchell also serves as Deputy Director of the UF McKnight Brain Institute. For the past three decades, Dr. Mitchell pioneered studies of neuroplasticity in the neural system controlling breathing. Areas of active investigation include: intracellular and intercellular mechanisms of long-lasting respiratory motor plasticity triggered by repeated exposure to brief episodes of low oxygen (intermittent hypoxia), the ability to harness that intermittent hypoxia-induced spinal plasticity to treat respiratory and non-respiratory paralysis following spinal injury and during motor neuron disease (ALS), cell-based strategies to treat breathing deficits, and the impact of systemic inflammation on breathing and its control. Investigations span intracellular, intercellular and physiological systems level mechanisms, and translation to humans with acquired or neurodegenerative neurological disorders (SCI and ALS). Dr. Mitchell grew up in California where he received his B.S. (Biological Sciences) and PhD (Developmental and Cell Biology) degrees from the University of California at Irvine. After two years of post-doctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Goettingen, Germany, he moved to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After one year as a postdoc, Dr. Mitchell became an Assistant Professor in 1981, and then the ranks to become Professor and Chair of the Department of Comparative Biosciences (17 years) and director of the NIH funded Respiratory Neurobiology Training Program (14 years). He chose to leave the University of Wisconsin for the opportunity to join the University of Florida and create the BREATHE Center. Dr. Mitchell has been recognized for his research and teaching accomplishments, including a National Institutes of Health MERIT Award, the Norden Distinguished Teacher Award, the Pfizer Research Award on multiple occasions, the Steenbock Professorship for Behavioral and Neural Science, and distinguished lectureships from the Society for Neuroscience (SFN), American Physiological Society (APS), Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology (ACDP), American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA), and the Oxford Conference for Modeling and the Control of Breathing.

Amber is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Her research is in the field of neurogenetics where she studies how genetic variants contribute to sleep dysfunction and psychiatric disorders. She is interested in the evolution of sleep and circadian rhythms and how to leverage both for better physical and mental health. Amber is also an elite runner. Although she mostly runs for fun, she races competitively and has run times including 15:37 for the 5k, 52:15 for 10 miles, and 2:31:35 for the marathon. Follow Amber on instagram: @a.to_the.z

I began my life’s work in two communities on opposite sides of Boston, one predominantly Black, the other predominantly White, both made up of hard-working, low-income families. For twelve years, I worked alternately as a community organizer, a journalist, and a counselor alongside people struggling to navigate circumstances largely stacked against them. Where they went, I went—to their homes, their schools, the streets, the courts, even prison. The experience was a master class in hard-earned resilience on the one hand and learned helplessness on the other. That experience eventually led me to return to school to figure out how to inspire and empower people to create systems that work for them, not against them. As an undergraduate at Boston University and as a doctoral student at Harvard, I had the privilege of learning from and working alongside some of the world’s best thinkers on how to navigate conflict and effect change in all kinds of systems from families (David Kantor) to organizations (Chris Argyris, Donald Schön, Ed Schein, Peter Senge) to nations (Howard Zinn, Roger Fisher). For the past 40 years, I have led long-term change efforts in some of America’s most iconic businesses and cutting-edge nonprofits. Along the way, I discovered that it is possible to turn intergroup conflict into a powerful force for constructive change. Out of this fundamental insight, I developed an approach to conflict and change called Leading Through Relationships (LTR)TM with frameworks and tools captured in my own and others publications and used around the world by my colleagues and students. In addition to dozens of articles, I am the author of Divide Or Conquer, The Elephant in the Room, and Remaking the Space Between Us, and the co-author of Action Science with Chris Argyris and Robert Putnam. As a partner at the Monitor Group, I chaired Monitor University, and as chief executive partner at New Profit, I led a culture change effort that readied the firm for future growth. I share my life with negotiation expert and Getting to Yes co-author Bruce Patton, my husband of 30 years, a rambunctious border collie rescue, and a junkyard mutt.

Gina Poe has been working since 1995 on the mechanisms through which sleep serves memory consolidation and restructuring. Dr. Poe is a southern California native who graduated from Stanford University then worked for two post-baccalaureate years at the VA researching Air Force Test Pilots’ brainwave signatures under high-G maneuvers. She then earned her PhD in Basic Sleep in the Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program at UCLA under the guidance of Ronald Harper then moved to the University of Arizona for her postdoctoral studies with Carol Barnes and Bruce McNaughtons looking at graceful degradation of hippocampal function in aged rats as well as hippocampal coding in a 3-D maze navigated in the 1998 space shuttle mission. She brought these multiunit teachings to answer a burning question of whether REM sleep were for remembering or forgetting and found that activity of neurons during REM sleep is consistent both with the consolidation of novel memories and the elimination of already consolidated memories from the hippocampus, readying the associative memory network for new learning the next day. Moving first to Washington State University then to the University of Michigan before joining UCLA in 2016, Poe has over 80 undergraduates, 6 graduate students, and 6 postdoctoral scholars, and has served in university faculty governance as well as leading 5 different programs designed to diversify the neuroscience workforce and increase representation of people of the global majority in the STEM fields. At UCLA she continues research and teaching and Directs the COMPASS-Life Sciences and BRI-SURE programs and co-Directs the MARC-U*STAR program. Nationally she is course director of the Marine Biological Lab’s SPINES course and co-Directs the Society for Neuroscience’s NSP program which earned the nation’s highest mentoring honor in 2018. These programs have served over 600 PhD level trainees over the years. The Poe lab investigates the mechanisms by which sleep traits serve learning and memory consolidation. Memories are encoded by the pattern of synaptic connections between neurons. We employ tetrode recording and optogenetic techniques in learning animals to see how neural patterns underlying learning are reactivated during sleep, and how activity during sleep influences the neural memory code. Both strengthening and weakening of synapses is important to the process of sculpting a network when we make new memories and integrate them into old schema. Results from our studies suggest that while synaptic strengthening can be efficiently accomplished during the waking learning process, the synaptic weakening part of memory integration requires conditions unique to sleep. The absence of noradrenaline during sleep spindles and REM sleep as well as the low levels of serotonin during REM sleep allow the brain to integrate new memories and to refresh and renew old synapses so that we are ready to build new associations the next waking period. Memory difficulties involved in post-traumatic stress disorder, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and even autism involve abnormalities in the sleep-dependent memory consolidation process that my lab studies. Keywords: Sleep, learning and memory, PTSD, memory consolidation, reconsolidation, REM sleep, sleep spindles, Norepinephrine, LTP, depotentiation, reversal learning, optogenetics, electrophysiology, tetrode recordings, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex. Website: https://poe-sleeplab.weebly.com/

Adriaan Louw, PT, PhD Adriaan earned his undergraduate, master’s degree and PhD in physiotherapy from the University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town, South Africa. He is an adjunct faculty member at St. Ambrose University and the University of Nevada Las Vegas, teaching pain science. Adriaan has taught throughout the US and internationally for 25 years at numerous national and international manual therapy, pain science and medical conferences. He has authored and co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles related to spinal disorders and pain science. Adriaan completed his Ph.D. on pain neuroscience education and is the Director of the Therapeutic Neuroscience Research Group – an independent collaborative initiative studying pain neuroscience. Adriaan is a senior faculty, pain science director and vice-president of faculty experience for Evidence in Motion.

Kerrie is a MELT Master Trainer, Groove facilitator, Yoga instructor and owner of Balance Total Body Fitness. As one of six Master Trainers selected by MELT creator Sue Hitzmann to train other instructors to teach MELT, she has led MELT Lab Trainings and Instructor Level 1 Trainings across the country and is now busy assisting Sue with all levels of training online. Over the course of her MELT career, Kerrie has studied extensively under Sue Hitzmann, leading groups and mentoring instructors in all levels of the MELT curriculum. Kerrie brings over 14 years of concentrated study to her delivery of the method and is widely known for her positive and accessible teaching style. She teaches all ages and abilities, and designs custom MELT Maps for clients dealing with complex medical issues. When she is not leading MELT Trainings, Kerrie works as the Head of Instructor Training and Teaching Assistant Trainer for the MELT Method, teaches monthly MELT Introductory Workshops and weekly classes in Western Massachusetts and leads wellness retreats at Kripalu and other locations.

Fascia and feeling good. You’ll be hard-pressed to find more of an expert on those two topics than Sue Hitzmann, creator of the MELT Method—a pioneering self-treatment that can ease and prevent pain while it boosts performance. A fitness star turned sought-after neurofascial science educator, Sue is an internationally recognized manual therapist, exercise physiologist, and founding member of the Fascia Research Society. But she’s most known as the dynamic creator of the MELT Method—her innovative self-care technique became the topic of her New York Times best-selling book, The MELT Method, and its 2019 follow-up, MELT Performance. In a word, Sue’s knowledge of human anatomy could be called encyclopedic. And her passion for helping others create astounding, measurable change in their bodies is evident in every lecture, training, and class she leads. Her empathy for people in pain began with her own journey out of a debilitating case of plantar fasciitis and experiences as a manual therapist. Driven by curiosity and a quest for a holistic understanding of pain and the effects of aging, her thousands of hours of neurofascial research and clinical application with clients laid the groundwork for what would become one of the most game-changing techniques to hit the wellness and fitness industries—MELT. This groundbreaking, clinically proven program offers a do-it-yourself answer to the root cause of issues rather than temporary relief. It’s the antithesis to surgery, pills, and ‘put a bandage on it’ approaches. As Sue’s private practice grew, she painstakingly developed custom soft rollers and hand and foot treatment balls—consistencies designed to restore calm and efficiency in the body by mimicking a therapist’s touch—giving her clients, and eventually the world, the power to learn to heal themselves. Today, countless people have used MELT to restore their whole-body efficiency and discover a newfound sense of vibrancy and health. Since MELT’s arrival in the early 2000s, Sue has personally trained thousands of certified MELT instructors from around the world. MELT has been integrated into the practices of medical doctors, massage therapists, pilates and yoga instructors, fitness professionals, and more. She currently divides her time between New York City and the Florida coast. More about Sue

Martinus Evans has run over eight marathons since his doctor told him to “lose weight or die” in July 2012. Since then, he’s also coached hundreds of runners and founded the Slow AF Run Club, a community of over 20,000 members worldwide. He is also the author of the book Slow AF Run Club: The ultimate guide for anybody who wants to run. When he’s not running races around the world, he enjoys speaking passionately about issues related to size-inclusivity, mindset, DEI and mental health. Matinus' Instagram: @300poundsandrunning Slow AF Run Club Instagram: @runslowaf

Sandy Abrams is a longtime entrepreneur, 2x author, 2022 TEDx Speaker, Chair of the Global Wellness Institute’s Breathe Initiative and a Board Member of Health & Human Performance Foundation. She’s now focused on Well-Being and Mental Health; sharing 30+ years of experience utilizing the power of breath & mindfulness in business and life. Her book, Breathe to Succeed (2019) is endorsed by Arianna Huffington, Mark Bertolini/Former CEO Aetna, execs at Google, SAP, Sage software and the U.S. Air Force. Sandy has shared her C.E.Om Breath & Mindset experiences with several Google offices, WW HQ (formerly Weight Watchers), frequent featured speaker at Canyon Ranch resorts since 2019, McKinsey & Co., Facebook HQ, Pepsi, YPO,Women Presidents Org., Sage software, LinkedIn HQ, Lululemon, Goldie Hawn's MindUP Foundation, Brain Tap app and a speaker at women's and entrepreneurial groups, conferences, leadership retreats etc. Sandy's sensibility about "breath as meditation at the speed of life" resonates with the fast pace of modern life. She’s on a mission to empower people to create their optimal energy for well-being & success...one deep, mindful breath at a time.

Born and raised in Utah, Craig Terry is well-traveled and has lived in various places in the US. He recently retired from a successful career in sales and sales management, and now is an amputee peer mentor, a licensed certified life coach, and a motivational speaker. These things help him converse with, and understand people's needs from their different viewpoints. In October of 2020, Craig was riding his new Harley after trading in his old one of 15 years. A mile and a half from home he was hit broadside by someone not paying attention. He and his wife were both injured, but his injuries were more severe, resulting in his left leg being amputated below the knee. While in the hospital he decided he would be in charge of his life and the amputation wouldn't define him as a person. He set about rebuilding his life and his internal persona, strengthening his self-image. Yoga has helped him to do so. He's now a self-described "yoga addict" and loves how it helps keep him centered in his soul. Yoga, especially Accommodative Yoga taught by Abigail Atkinson has been his go to because it helps keep his hip joints, leg, and lower back open and loose, which helps deal with his day-to-day movements with his prosthetic leg. Follow Craig on Instagram: @craig_terry

Matthew Dewar, Ed.D., is a professional educator, speaker, and author. For fifteen years, he has researched the impact of mindfulness and emotion regulation practices on teaching, learning, and leadership in schools. More recently, he has focused on enhancing health and performance through breathing behavior analysis and heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback training. Dr. Dewar is also the founder of Matt Dewar, LLC, and the creator of the Stress Better® Framework, which he has shared with collegiate and professional athletes, Fortune 500 executives, colleges and universities, first responders, and military personnel. Dr. Dewar authored Education and Well-Being: An Ontological Inquiry, The Mindful Breathing Workbook for Teens, and The Stress Better Solution (forthcoming). His work has been featured on TEDx, NPR, Thrive Global, the National Wellness Institute, and many podcasts.

As a boy, Robert M. Sapolsky dreamed of living inside the African dioramas in New York’s Museum of Natural History. By age twenty-one, he made it to Africa and joined a troop of baboons. Although being a naturalist appealed to him because it was a chance to “get the hell out of Brooklyn,” he never left people behind. In fact, he chose to live with the baboons because they are perfect for learning about stress and health in humans. Like their human cousins, baboons live in large, complex social groups with plenty of free time, Dr. Sapolsky writes, “to devote to being rotten to each other” – for a baboon or human, “stress” is rarely about evading a lion. Instead, it’s mostly about members of your own species psychologically stressing you. And this is precisely when stress-related disease arises, Dr. Sapolsky explains in his book Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. And like people, baboons are good material for stories. His gift for storytelling led The New York Times to suggest, “If you crossed Jane Goodall with a borscht-belt comedian, she might have written a book like A Primate’s Memoir,” Dr. Sapolsky’s account of his years as a field biologist. Sapolsky’s unique perspective on the human condition comes from his more than thirty years spent as both a field primatologist and a laboratory neuroscientist. As a result, he effortlessly moves from discussing pecking orders in primate societies (human and baboon) to explaining the neurochemistry of stress—in ways that even science-phobics readily understand. What fascinates Dr. Sapolsky most about human behavior is a paradox – we are both the most violent species on earth, as well as the most altruistic, cooperative and empathic. In his most recent book Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, he examines how every act – heroic, appalling, or in between – is caused by the neurobiology that occurred a second before, the environmental stimuli minutes before that triggered that neurobiology, hormonal influences during prior hours….all the way back to childhood and fetal experience sculpting our brains, and the effects of genes, culture, ecology and evolution. Out of this comes a perspective that as biological organisms, we have far less free will than usually assumed; Dr. Sapolsky’s most recent work focuses on how to think about this, whether considering the actions of a murderer, or the actions for which you are praised. This synthesis is the basis of his new book, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will (Penguin/Random House, October 17, 2023). Dr. Sapolsky is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, a professor of biology, neurology and neurosurgery at Stanford University, and a research associate at the National Museum of Kenya. His 2008 National Geographic special on stress, and his on-line lectures about human behavioral biology, have been watched tens of millions of times. The humor and humanity he brings to sometimes-sobering subject matter make Dr. Sapolsky a fascinating speaker. He lectures widely on topics as diverse as stress and stress-related diseases, biology and the free will debate, the biology of our individuality, the biology of religious belief, depression, memory, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

BSc(Hons), MSc(A)PT As a movement aficionado, Tiana Ringer specializes in training and rehabilitation integrating superficial and deep fascia tissue release, acupuncture based trigger point work, movement analysis, soft mobilizations, strength and power development, aerobic exercise prescription, neurological and concussion based treatments, along with the knowledge and applications of biochemistry and nutritional science through her work as a team member with Science of Sport & Health. Throughout her many years in the fitness and health industry, Tiana has observed, studied, and mentored under professionals in their fields of healthcare. Currently, she works as part of the Science of Sport & Health team alongside a renowned global expert in exercise endocrinology, biochemistry, and clinical nutrition. Tiana applies her knowledge of the physical and chemical changes that occur in men and women to implement individualized methods of attainment of health and well being. Tiana’s skills and unique approach is a culmination of education as a physical therapist, kinesiologist, fascial stretch therapist, and a broad base of movement modalities. Tiana herself is a highly accomplished and versatile athlete— a semi-professional classical dancer, certified Russian Vaganova Ballet technique instructor, Olympic weightlifter, professional wrestler, and specialist in aerial acrobatics. Tiana received her Bachelor of Science (Specialized Honors) in Kinesiology from York University and her Masters of Science (Applied) in Physical Therapy from McGill University. Tiana believes that optimal health is a trifecta of movement, nutrition, and mental health. Her clientele includes A-list actors, NHL & AHL hockey athletes, CFL and NCAA football athletes, dancers, national and Olympic-level gymnasts and weightlifters, WWE professional wrestlers, corporate leaders, and health focused individuals. It is through the optimization of body mechanics, pain reduction, and awareness that her client’s achieve longterm functional independence, an essential component of longevity.

Danielle Friedman is an award-winning health and culture journalist and a regular contributor to The New York Times Well section, where she has written about everything from the joys of being a slow runner to the importance of pelvic floor conditioning. She is also the author of Let’s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World, which was selected as a New Yorker and Financial Times Best Book of 2022. She lives in New York City with her husband and their two young sons. Follow her on instagram: @daniellefriedmanwrites

Nick Heath, Ph.D., is a breath coach, researcher, and writer living with type-1 diabetes. Nick’s formal education is in atmospheric science, but he has spent the last 7+ years studying, teaching, and applying breathing principles in his life and with others. He is a certified Oxygen Advantage® coach, a Level I Pranayama teacher, and a member of the Global Wellness BREATHE Initiative. Nick is the creator of The Breathing Diabetic and BreathLearning.com.

Abigail is a Utah-based yoga teacher and educator. She became dedicated to sharing yoga with others after it helped her recover from a devastating stroke in 2012. Her mission is to spread adaptive, inclusive yoga throughout Utah and beyond. Abigail teaches at studios in Utah County, specializing in adaptive, yin, restorative and gentle yoga. She lives in Orem, Utah with her family and loves hiking, reading, and herbalism. Stay connected with her on Instagram at @adaptiveyogautah, @wellwithabigail or check out her website at wellwithabigail.com.

Rodrigo Cerdá, M.D., MPH, is senior vice president of Health Services and chief medical officer at Independence Blue Cross (Independence). He leads Independence’s collaborative efforts to bring together health insurers, hospitals, and doctors together to improve access to well-coordinated, high quality, and affordable health care to the region. He is also the company’s chief clinical spokesperson. Dr. Cerdá has overall corporate responsibility for population health, case and condition management, provider experience, medical mangement and policy, and health value optimization. Before joining Independence, Dr. Cerdá was managing director for Integrated Health Services at PA Consulting and Aetna International in the United Kingdom. Prior to that, he worked at McKinsey and Company in the US and the UK advising health care payers, providers, governments, and nongovernmental organizations with a focus on value- based care and public health. During that time, he maintained a position at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School as an attending physician and clinical instructor. Dr. Cerdá serves as president of the American Diabetes Association’s Community Leadership Board for Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. He also serves on the advisory boards for Managed Healthcare Executive and HealthShare Exchange of Southeastern Pennsylvania, a regional health information organization. He is a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and a member of the American Medical Association, the Pennsylvania Medical Society, and the American College of Physicians. Dr. Cerdá completed his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania, his residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, his master’s in public health at Harvard, and his bachelor’s degree at Yale. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine. He lives in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two boys.

This is a segment on improving men's health that I'm featured on for the "Better Off Podcast" by For29 Philly. It is hosted by Drew Anderson and sponsored by Independence Blue Cross. Please listen to their podcast, they are doing great work providing practical tools to help improve your health. I'm joined with Dr. Rodrigo Cerdá, Senior Vice President of Health Services and Chief Medical Officer at Independence Blue Cross. This is a great, down-to-earth discussion about all things involving men's health, from men's mental health, what men should do as far as exercising as they age, my men's yoga class in Philly, building community, the misconceptions around men's health and the little quirks that make men different while approaching their health. I am thrilled with how this conversation went.

Charles Raison, MD, is a Professor of Human Ecology and Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Raison also serves as Director of Clinical and Translational Research for Usona Institute, as Director of the Vail Health Behavioral Health Innovation Center, Director of Research on Spiritual Health for Emory Healthcare and as Visiting Professor in the Center for the Study of Human Health at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Raison’s research focuses on the examination of novel mechanisms involved in the development and treatment of major depression and other stress-related emotional and physical conditions, as well as for his work examining the physical and behavioral effects of compassion training. More recently, Dr. Raison has taken a leadership role in the development of psychedelic medicines as potential treatments for major depression. He was named one of the world’s most influential researchers by Web of Science for the decade of 2010-2019. With Vladimir Maletic he is author of “The New Mind-Body Science of Depression” published by W.W. Norton in 2017.

Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Ph.D. has been fully engaged in biomedical research on the efficacy of yoga and meditation practices in improving physical and psychological health since 2001. He has practiced Kundalini Yoga since 1971 and is a certified instructor. He is the Director of Research for the Kundalini Research Institute, a Research Associate at the Benson Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, a Research Affiliate of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He has conducted clinical research trials evaluating yoga interventions for insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic stress, and anxiety disorders and also for adolescents public schools and workers in occupational settings. Dr. Khalsa works with the International Association of Yoga Therapists to promote research on yoga and yoga therapy as the chair of the scientific program committee for the annual Symposium on Yoga Research and as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy. He is medical editor of the Harvard Medical School Special Report An Introduction to Yoga and chief editor of the medical textbook The Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care .