Motional Intelligence

Helen’s dance residency at LA Dance Festival and the ebb and flow of the creative drive. Her piece was shown on June 9th, 2021 but you can check it out here: https://vimeo.com/557479295

Danielle’s new found love of minimalism and reframing our consumerism mindset

Coffee! Danielle’s new love and Helen’s nearly lifelong love.

Helen’s fondness + Danielle’s skepticism of astrology 

Danielle’s tiny house dreams and how we psych ourselves up for major life decisions

The beauty + privilege of stepping back from your life to find your center

https://www.helenduros.com

https://www.danielledoyleyoga.com

https://ladancefest.org

Ryan Cunningham (they/them) is a Boston-based yoga practitioner. Their practice arises from the view that yoga is both an experience of, and a path towards cultivating wellness through the practice of embodiment, meditation, prayer and reflection. 

Ryan has been influenced primarily by two Boston area teachers — Barbara Benagh and Tom Alden. They spent many years attending Barbara's weekly teachers' class as well as her course entitled "The Art of Teaching". Over the past 7 years, Ryan has studied primarily with Tom Alden in a one-on-one mentorship format, specifically focusing on dharma, biomechanics and yoga therapy. Ryan is deeply interested in the intersection of hatha yoga and dharma and continues to practice and study in various dharma communities. 

Ryan's primary focus has been teaching students the skills and understanding that enables them to practice for themselves. Apart from group asana and meditation classes, Ryan works with students 1-on-1, offering instruction, discussing, manual therapy and mentorship. 

Ryan serves as the Managing Director of the Boston Meditation Center, is a faculty  member at Berklee College of Music and is the host of Unrolled Podcast with co-host Kate Robinson.

You can learn more about their teaching at www.ryanyoga.com.

Episode Notes:

• The birth of Unrolled: Ryan’s podcast (with Kate Robinson) and how their podcast journey has evolved over the past 6 years
• Teaching yoga during the pandemic + constantly witnessing ourselves in this new virtual world + transitioning back into in-person work
• A bird's eye view of Ryan’s 14 years of teaching yoga + leading yoga teacher trainings in the Boston area
• How an unexpected injury while studying music in college led Ryan to start a yoga practice, beginning with Bikram yoga and eventually finding their teacher with Barbara Benagh
• Where modern yoga may be headed in the Boston Yoga scene and beyond
• The balance between business + integrity in the yoga industry

https://www.ryanyoga.com

https://www.ryanyoga.com/unrolled-podcast

https://bostonmeditationcenter.org/

Some folks that Ryan mentions in the interview:

• Kate Robinson (Unrolled Podcast co-host)
• Barbara Benagh (Slow Flow Yoga Teacher)
• Tom Alden (Bodyworker/mentor)
• Fez Aswat (yoga/meditation teacher)

Mercedes (Didi) von Deck, MD is devoted to helping people reach their full potential.  She has spent much of her life studying the human body from different viewpoints through her career as an orthopaedic surgeon as well as as a dancer, yoga teacher and Feldenkrais practitioner.  Movement has always interested her, and she uses her knowledge and skills to help people of all ages and backgrounds function and feel better. Her love of movement and dance contributed to her decision to become an orthopaedic surgeon.  She found orthopaedics to be a satisfying way to help people recover from injuries and regain lost function.  However, in some cases, surgery, medications and standard exercise didn’t seem to be enough to relieve pain.

Early in her medical practice, Didi realized that a patient’s attitude and resiliency is important to the success of medical treatment or surgery.  Sometimes patients need to learn they can go beyond self-imposed limitations. Sometimes patients have developed habits of tightening muscles to help decrease the pain of an injury and they are unable to let go of these habits after they have healed. Didi finds that yoga and the Feldenkrais Method can help.   These practices create a concrete experience of how to change muscular patterns that are hindering function.  And when the body changes, the mind follows to enable people to find their optimal health and become their optimum selves. Using the Feldenkrais Method and/or yoga, Didi can help people feel better in their bodies, help people recovering from injuries or living with disabilities, help relieve chronic pain and anxiety, and enhance performance in athletics, yoga, art, music and dance.

Didi can be contacted at connectingbodyandmind@gmail.com.  She lives in Newton, MA with her husband, cat, and two bunnies.  She is the proud mom of three creative and capable daughters who are passionate about what they believe in.  Didi hopes she has been successful instilling in them the belief that anything and everything is possible if you follow your heart.

Episode Notes:

• Didi’s pull toward exploring movement through modern dance and switching between competitive ballroom dance and school during her med school years
• How a burgeoning love of dance and movement led Didi to a career in orthopedic surgery
• Finding Ashtanga yoga after her 3rd child and feeling an instant connection to the practice
• The shift away from needing a guru in modern yoga culture and seeing ourselves as our own best teacher
• The incredible healing power of Feldenkrais and “somatic re-education” 
• Didi leads us through a 7 minute Feldenkrais exercise (at around the 32 minute mark)

https://www.downunderyoga.com/boston-yoga-teacher/didi-von-deck

Marilyn Unger Riepe, MA, MSW, LICSW is the founder of Move into Self-Compassion, Authentic Movement workshops for IFS practitioners and friends. Marilyn is an IFS therapist with an MA in Dance/Movement Therapy and an MSW in Clinical Social Work. She is passionate about IFS and Authentic Movement and is eager to share the ways somatic movement can enhance our connection to our parts and to Self energy. Marilyn has a private practice in Sudbury, MA, specializing for over 30 years in treating individuals, couples, and families.

Episode Notes: 

• Marilyn’s first spark of embodiment and introduction to modern dance Perry-Mansfield in Steamboat Springs, CO
• Reframing discipline to devotion, passion, fire
• Marilyn’s different modalities for working with her clients through movement vs. talk therapy 
• Authentic Movement and the power of truly seeing and being seen
• What is IFS/Internal Family Systems? And getting to know all of your parts

https://www.marilynlicsw.com/

https://ifs-institute.com

https://podcast.app/ifs-and-authentic-movement-with-marilyn-unger-riepe-e98512969/

• Josh’s authentic approach to sharing on social media
• What his embodiment practice looks like and how it was born for him
• Josh breaks down his meditation coaching
• Defining terms:
  • Patanjali’s yoga: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
  • Journey to Power: Baron Baptiste’s style of yoga
• Josh’s online meditation course, he shares his style and approach to teaching
• Meditation as a category/industry
• Josh discusses the challenges and obstacles of a meditation practice
• We unpack the role and responsibility of a teacher, specific to the genre of meditation
• Meditation as a remedy to productivity addiction, undoing false conditioning, and questioning belief systems
• Success as a feeling
• Different yoga styles creating different experiences
• Consistency in a meditation practice as key: being drawn to it as the essence of its consistency
• Josh’s navigation of his personal meditation practice and working with his teacher, Dennis Young
• What it looks like to apply the principles of meditation in your life
• Meditation as the antithesis to a one size fits all approach

Where to find Josh:

Follow Josh on Instagram: @josh.by.nature

mindfulschmidt@gmail.com

joshschmidtcoaching.com

• Shelia’s accidental intro to running while fulfilling a college physical education requirement and all the marathons it inspired
• Habits + rituals that keep Shelia grounded (from brushing her dogs’ teeth to cleaning her floors and more)
• The evolution of her movement practice and teaching and bringing in more balance 
• Her constant process of self-awareness and self-improvement as a practitioner and as a business owner 
• What is gyrotonics?  And how Shelia fell in love with  moving in 3 dimensions
• Honoring her individual movement modalities without the need to blend or brand what she offers

Julia Hanlon sits down with Helen and Danielle to discuss podcasting, running, and body nourishment. She is currently pursuing a masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a concentration in Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Psychology at Naropa University. She is passionate about storytelling and is the creator of the Running On Om podcast and co-director/co-producer of the award-winning documentary film, Bekoji 100. Julia is a master communicator and her loving presence is palpable. This one feels like running into an old friend...Pun intended. 

For Julia's offerings, please visit: 

https://juliahanlon.com/

https://runningonom.com/

Danielle and Helen introduce themselves and the Motional Intelligence mission. They discuss their inspirations for launching the podcast and plans for its inaugural season. Join us for a listening sampler.