Yoga; Why Do It And Where To Start? - Rob Don - Ep. 12

In this episode, I talk with Rob Don, who is a Yoga teacher and musician from Los Angeles. Rob has been teaching Yoga since 2013. Originally from Lynwood, Rob has trained with world renowned yoga teachers and is happy to share what he has learned with us. We talk about his personal journey into yoga, why yoga is important and where to start with Yoga practice.

Transcript

In this episode of the Project Mindfulness podcast,

We talk about yoga.

Why should you do it?

And where exactly do you start?

Honest and open to all religions,

All traditions,

All ages,

And all levels of experience.

Radically accessible,

Pragmatic,

And eye-opening.

Simply for everyone.

Welcome to the Project Mindfulness podcast.

We'll take you on a journey across the globe and talk with other meditators about their practice,

The lessons they have learned,

And what they want the world to know.

Good day and welcome to the Project Mindfulness podcast.

This is episode 12 and I'm Christian Netesen.

Thank you for joining us.

First of all,

Thank you to everyone who joined our community in the last weeks.

We have grown to 2,

000 members and I'm happy to see there's so much good activity going on to support each other on the path of awareness.

Today I talk with Rob Gilmett who is a yoga teacher and musician from Los Angeles.

We talk about his personal journey into yoga,

Why yoga is important,

And where to start with yoga practice.

So welcome Rob to this episode of the podcast.

Great to have you here.

Oh,

Great to be here.

Thank you so much.

Awesome.

So Rob,

Please introduce yourself to the listeners.

Who are you and what do you do in life?

Hi,

Well,

Hi everybody.

I'm Rob Dunn.

I'm based out of Long Beach,

California.

I teach yoga full time and I create music and participate in sound healing events.

That's what I'm up to as of late.

Sounds good.

So how and when did you stumble on yoga?

Well,

I started getting into yoga around 2009.

It was about 2009 I started doing yoga and at that time I was about 20,

21 years old.

I'm 29 now.

And I got,

Yeah,

I got into it just through some life experiences that were kind of difficult and challenging that really started to push me in a different direction.

Going from that place of difficulties,

How did you just attend a yoga class or how did that happen?

Well,

I can be a little more specific and tell you my story a little more.

I prior to that prior to my experience with yoga,

I've always done music and I've always played in bands and that would lead to gigs and attending events and parties.

High school and my early adulthood looked a lot like party life and I was having a lot of fun.

I thought I was really cool and I got into some trouble and in fact I ended up going to jail.

I had sold ecstasy to an undercover police officer at an event and this was just a kind of a mix up because I was not a drug dealer at the time.

But due to some circumstances there was someone had given me drugs that I did not take and I ended up passing them on to a person that I got in a lot of trouble with.

And it was a major bummer.

A lot of people don't know that about me but I don't mind sharing about it because it did change things for me.

I was in jail for about a month and I had in that experience I started reading like I was there and I just had a lot of time on my hands.

So I started reading books and some of the books just got me thinking different ways and coming out of that experience it really made a shift in my mind that was like,

Okay,

This is not the way I want my life to go.

It's not the direction I want to take.

So I started looking into meditation and yoga and my first yoga class I found on Craigslist actually and it was in Culver City,

Los Angeles,

California.

It was a Kundalini class in like a clubhouse of some kind of like shared housing like condo housing or something.

And a woman was putting on an eight week Kundalini yoga class.

So I'm like,

All right,

I'll go check this out.

And it was really hard.

Like it was such a cool experience for me.

Like she had Yogi tea and it was a nice group of the same students that attended for the whole eight weeks.

And it was really,

Really kind of changed like not only like I was thinking about how I felt in my body and it was a very powerful experience.

And then from there,

I don't teach Kundalini yoga.

I started going to gyms and like looking out of the yoga classes and seeing what a variety there is in yoga.

So I started to gravitate more towards like Vinyasa flow or variations of hatha yoga.

That's what I teach now.

There was a shift in your awareness,

So to say,

You suddenly realize like,

Whoa,

The path of partying is definitely not what I'm going to pursue after.

Yeah,

That misunderstanding which landed you in jail for just a short time.

And after that came meditation and yoga.

And from from that,

What was the reason that you teach what you teach now?

And what was the reason that specific yoga practice grabbed you?

Hmm,

Yeah.

Yeah,

The reason the yoga practice grabbed me is because it started to change how I feel and and in positive ways.

I think the one that stands out for me in North Hollywood,

I was living there with a girlfriend at the time.

And I found a actual yoga studio because like I mentioned earlier,

I was going to,

You know,

I went to the Kundalini thing.

And then I went to yoga classes at the gym.

And they were all pretty they were all different experiences like the different classes I would find.

But nothing really grabbed me.

My dog says hi.

Say hi back for me.

I have a girl.

She's a six pound.

She wants you all on my teeth.

Very tough girl.

She spotted something.

Yeah,

She did.

She's protecting me.

But anyway,

I was looking at these different classes and having different experiences.

But the one that really grabbed me was in North Hollywood at the studio called in yoga.

And they're no longer there.

But it was a teacher,

Joe Cara,

I went to his class,

And it was like a 90 minute,

Level one to flow.

And I had such a profound experience there of like,

The the combination of the breath synchronized movement,

The meditative contemplative kind of qualities to the class,

And the real physical challenge and fun that a yoga class has.

And then the Shavasana by the end,

But by that point,

It was like,

Oh,

My God,

Most amazing experience.

And I came out of there,

Like,

Transformed in a way.

And I continued attending his class.

And I,

I just had by that point,

I was like,

Okay,

This is something that really stood out to me as like,

Wow,

Like,

If I can create this kind of experience for other people,

Or if I can,

If I can learn this practice,

To this degree,

That would be amazing to me,

You know,

So I just decided that like,

I want to be a yoga teacher and start out training and carried on from there.

That's really cool that this sort of desire or passion inside you spark to also share with others.

It's like it's immediately like you caught on fire and you were immediately also thinking about how to spread it to others.

I think that's really cool that it's sort of,

Yeah,

It came as a combination because for it seems for some people,

The whole meditation and calming your mind thing is very individual.

Thing like you do it by yourself.

And I mean,

Some prefer even to,

You know,

Be completely alone,

Which is sort of different from the experience that I feel is going on when you teach yoga.

Is that correct?

And you know,

Yeah,

I would say so.

Because the yoga is definitely there's a lot of community element to it.

And I do practice meditation too.

And I,

And,

You know,

Thinking and just like reflecting on how I've been over the past few years.

I do tend to go more,

Go it alone,

Do it myself.

And even after my initial introduction to yoga,

I mean,

For the first couple years,

I went to a lot of classes and a lot of different teachers and,

You know,

Trying out the many things yoga has to offer.

But at a certain point,

I really shifted to a more of a home practice,

And doing my routines at home,

Meditation,

Something I do at home.

And I just,

I feel like that's the doing the work yourself is really where you start to see it.

You know,

The classes are fun,

And the community is cool.

But having a home practice,

Whether it be meditation or some kind of physical mind,

Mindful movement,

I think that can be real powerful.

Nice.

Yeah.

So it's a it's a balance of the two.

Mm hmm.

Right.

So at home when you practice sitting meditation,

Is there a specific practice or technique or method that you follow or tradition even?

Yeah,

I use I use the app insight timer and just silent sitting meditation.

And as far as I know,

I think what I'm doing is somewhat of a mindfulness meditation.

I I really like the book,

Wherever you go,

There you are the work of Jon Kabat Zinn.

Right.

And I like his stuff.

And I would read that.

And it kind of,

I've already read the book three times,

Tell you the truth,

But it really informed like how I approach meditating and just,

It's a lot of breath awareness and noticing sensations,

Noticing thoughts and just returning to the moment.

So as far as I know,

I believe that's a mindfulness meditation kind of practice.

And sometimes,

You know,

Sometimes it comes out as a form of prayer,

Depending on what I'm doing that day or how that goes,

Just asking for guidance,

If it's what I need,

You know,

Opening to insight or inspiration.

So it does have like some variations,

But I just kind of sit quietly.

Well,

It's good to do from time to time,

Most definitely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I wonder,

Like looking back on the point where you ended up wrongly actually in jail,

Or at least it wasn't planned like that.

You weren't a big time criminal,

But still looking back on that and looking at where you are now,

Do you notice the difference?

Oh,

A hundred.

Yeah,

A hundred.

Like,

Yeah,

Probably like it's such a profound difference that it's hard to believe that's even,

You know,

Who I was in those days because of how,

What's important to me now and where my values are at and what matters in my life is so different to what mattered 10 years ago.

And I'm sure a lot of people relate to that.

But I talk with other friends and things about like how yoga not only changes,

You know,

Your body and stuff,

But really changes how you think and how you see things and what's important.

And I find the more that I learn about myself and the more that I contemplate and reflect,

I think it starts to shift me to be more compassionate in a lot of ways or try to be more understanding towards people because,

You know,

This existing is hard and can be challenging for people.

So to just recognize the own internal struggles and battles that I deal with and realize that it's not only me that has those sorts of experience,

But everybody goes through the highs and lows and just depending on where you're at or where anyone is at any given moment,

They could be having a really great day or they can be having a really rough ride.

Yeah.

Like the more I learn about myself,

The more I want to be and how I show up to others.

Well,

Actually,

As a question,

Do you think it's something that you can teach to someone very young?

I mean,

If you would have encountered it when you were younger,

Do you think you would like do it or did you need that change of perspective,

That sort of confrontation with reality to see like,

Whoa,

I need a step back?

Yeah,

Yeah,

I guess that's a good question.

And you know,

It's kind of hard to say because everybody is,

You know,

Everyone's thinking their own mind and sees things the way they see it.

And I think the person who,

You know,

I think it's good to introduce,

You know,

Mindfulness and yoga to young people.

In fact,

I've done a couple classes in schools for like after school programs and stuff like that.

And those have been really rewarding to just let people know that it's available.

But ultimately,

I think people when they're ready to receive it,

You know,

Is when it's going to be more profound for them because,

You know,

We can,

We can do all the work we need to to make it available.

But I think the individual needs to want it for his or herself.

Yeah,

Yeah,

That seems to be that was the case for me.

Yeah,

At least.

Yeah,

That seems to be the sort of the the thing I also keep coming back to with the community is that people come in and who talk about meditation and that they want to learn it,

You can give them the greatest lesson or you can give them a bad lesson.

But it really in the end,

Depends a lot on their own intrinsic motivation to do it.

And you can't force that.

And you can only as you say,

Like,

Give them an opportunity to practice or an opportunity to get into it.

But that that's,

The rest has to come from some from somewhere inside them.

Yeah,

It's also I think the hard hard thing sometimes when you see someone struggle or you see someone suffering is that,

You know,

You can't you can't make them see what you are seeing.

Right.

Yeah,

I learned that I learned that real early on in my aspirations to be a yoga teacher as a young guy.

You know,

Trying to share with my family and stuff and,

And my friends around me and having a lot of people think that I'm just a weirdo all of a sudden into yoga.

It's like,

You know,

It's because life hit me kind of kind of hard early on,

Which hindsight was,

You know,

A blessing in disguise.

Yeah,

Because it put me into this different route that I would have never thought,

You know,

Possible.

And and it's that it's one of those things.

It's like you see people and you might have some things that could be benefit and help them.

But if they're not open to it,

Or if they're not willing to,

Or maybe just not even in the,

In the understanding or knowing that there's something different or a different way to see things,

You know,

We can't push it.

Yeah,

No,

Definitely.

Yeah.

And so now with with the people around you,

That you also knew from when you were young and your your family and do they now see the effect and the benefits?

Is it like they they acknowledge it?

Or is it still sort of a weird thing that you're doing yoga?

Some,

You know,

There's I think there are some that have that have recognized it and and and appreciate it and see in fact,

My dad comes to my yoga class I teach in Linwood,

Which is South Los Angeles.

He comes three times a week to that class and that's,

That's like an underserved community or I guess I don't know if I say underserved but there's not a big yoga presence there.

There's no yoga studios anywhere around.

So the community classes I offer there are some of the few that are available to that area and he goes to those.

Some of my friends have come out and it's kind of,

It's kind of a slow curve,

You know,

And it a lot of times it's because people are having experiences similar to me,

Maybe maybe not specifically jail or anything like that.

But having experiences that life is asking them to change in some ways or life is showing them that the way they're living is not really working out so well.

So they start looking for other,

You know,

Other options.

And inevitably,

I see some friends at yoga class.

Some people are still doing the same thing and are content with that.

And,

You know,

That's,

That's cool.

Awesome.

You know,

Everyone's on their own path.

Yeah.

No,

Definitely.

And where you are right now in your practice and so to say spiritual path,

Where are you actually?

Is it like,

That was more of a question I wanted to phrase is like,

Do you do you see progress?

Do you see a journey?

Is there somewhere you're going or is really anything fine at this moment?

How does that work for you?

Yeah,

It's interesting to look at it in those different ways.

Because if it's a journey,

Like where it was,

I am,

Where am I?

There are definite changes and definite progress in some ways.

But at the same time,

I feel like it's a balancing act,

That every day is a,

You know,

Every day is a new,

Every moment,

You know,

Is a new kind of challenge or experience.

And it goes up and down.

So sometimes it feels like I've made a lot of progress.

And then sometimes it feels like I haven't done anything,

You know,

But,

You know,

I'm sure people understand that.

And it's just a continual moving forward.

It's a continual openness to learning and a lot of times just letting go and trusting into the process of life.

So even in those moments of challenge that I feel like all that I've done has equated to nothing,

Which,

You know,

Doesn't last very long.

But sometimes I get to places like that.

And it feels like,

You know,

What am I doing?

You know,

Like,

Like,

Yes,

Like,

Where are you going?

I'm like,

Yeah,

You know,

I don't know.

But,

But I think just staying with it.

And the more time that I've been meditating and doing yoga,

It's just that coming back,

You know,

That,

That makes it real for me.

It's no matter what goes on,

I always find myself in some form or another doing some kind of physical movement with my body,

Breath and mind and some form of reflection or contemplative practice,

Whether that is like formal seated meditation or journaling.

Yeah.

And,

And it's more a journey of discovery myself.

And what that means.

So I'm somewhere along the way.

I don't know how far exactly I've come or where I'm going to.

Yeah.

But I'm just kind of on the ride here.

Makes sense.

It's,

It's unfolding as we speak.

Yeah,

Yeah,

Absolutely.

And so a little bit more about yoga.

We,

We,

In the podcast,

We haven't talked a lot yet about yoga.

We talked,

I talked with Greg about yoga.

Oh,

I should remember what it was.

I don't remember the exact one,

But it was all about compassion and it was all about generating this loving kindness for others.

But I mean,

Yoga is very old.

It's it's it's a very old tradition and it has a strong roots in in in the Hindu religion.

Is that something that you see coming back?

Is it like,

Do you feel these roots?

And if so,

What do you learn for them?

Or what do you take away from those roots?

Yeah,

So the Hindu culture definitely inspires a lot about,

Well,

Where yoga kind comes from.

And depending on where you go,

Like which kind of classes you attend,

Each teacher kind of brings from that tradition,

I feel like what is relevant to who they're teaching.

So a lot of my focus in the classes that I'm teaching personally,

I don't include a lot of that,

To be honest.

And I,

And I do have some experience,

You know,

Learning about different deities and a lot of the poses are named after,

You know,

Some some Hindu deities.

And there are some just like,

General spiritual concepts that are,

Are part of many traditions that are also present in Hinduism.

And some of those do come through.

But my focus is always on who is in front of me,

Like who's coming to my class?

And what,

Out of all the experience or tools I have,

What am I going to use to best help this person?

So if that's a breathing practice,

Which is what I do a lot of breath centered,

Kind of dynamic and static movement,

I do a lot more cultural like appropriation because some people might not understand or might feel it as a threat to their religious practice if they have one.

And I just want to keep it kind of down to earth and simple for the people that I teach.

Like I mentioned,

I'm in like South LA,

Long Beach.

So depending on who I'm working with,

Really influences what type of,

How much spirituality I bring to the practice.

Makes sense.

I found this that yoga,

Like when you're,

Yoga is a mindful kind of movement.

So you're,

You're practicing yoga.

It's like inherently spiritual as it is like the focus on the breath,

The introspective quality,

The feeling of your,

Your experience as a human.

All that is inherently spiritual.

So I believe that people will get it if they are,

If they're open to it or if they're looking for it.

But I don't need to necessarily talk about it all the time.

You know,

Like in the course of my class,

Kind of like,

I kind of like leave it open for them to have their experience.

And oftentimes people will,

Will share with me some things that are going on for them on a personal or internal level.

And I think it's amazing,

You know,

When they have that experience and when they feel cool to share with,

Share about it.

So that's kind of,

That's kind of how I take that.

That's what I think about.

Reviews

Made me understand what yoga is all about. Thanks. 🙏✨💛

Enjoyed listening to speaker talk about mindfulness and yoga I can relate to that in my yoga practice I found yoga really helpful to deepen mindfulness

VERY Interesting and Informative❣️🙏🏻💕

Interesting and insightful! Thank you!