Today's guest is someone who I've admired for a very long time. He is one of the most elegant and graceful movers on the planet, but what I admire him most for is his ability to reveal himself unapologetically to the world. He is a fascinating thinker, and I had the pleasure of picking his brain for a bit. He's studied countless movement arts and practices and is, at his core, a wonderful human being. For people who aren't invested into a movement practice of some sort - first, please train in one, there are many options - but secondly, we make the larger interrogation of the relationship between movement and the rest of our lives.

I can't lie to you. This episode had me speechless. I originally was going to edit it, but per the inspiration of Jon himself, I decided to leave the entire conversation unedited, unfiltered with all of the pauses and messiness. I did try to make it a more audibly pleasing experience for you though, but you will catch some background noise of construction and...lawn mowers.

Moving on, in all of my conversations on this podcast, I take the role of the student with my guest as the teacher and mentor. This episode is no exception. Right from the beginning, Jon and I discussed the nature of the mentor/apprentice teacher/student trainer/client relationship, the power of the individual in community, unpacking pop masculinity, movement (of course), and the refutation of bullshit. It is really an understatement when I say that this episode is fucking amazing.

I will warn you though: at just around the 40 minute mark, Jon shares a personal story about suicide. Feel free to skip over this (or not) if this brings up something that you cannot deal with at the moment.

Otherwise, please enjoy this conversation between Jon and I. You can follow Jon on Instagram @yuenjon to learn more or contact him directly.

Recording this conversation was pure joy - please take notes and prepare yourself for The Northern Star himself, Jon Yuen. Enjoy.