Episode 213 | Past Reflections with James "DatYogaDude" Woods

In this episode of 'The Art of Letting Go,' host Mike Brown takes a reflective journey through some of the most impactful conversations with his longtime friend , James 'Yoga Dude' Woods. Mike and James discuss their individual paths to entrepreneurship, the distinction between gifts and passions, and the tools they use for personal growth, including sobriety, fasting, and celibacy. James shares insights on managing life's uncertainties and the importance of staying committed to one's goals. The episode also touches on the practical application of these tools and the consistent journey of self-discovery and personal development

James "DatYogaDude" Woods
Website: https://www.datyogadude.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/datyogadude

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Introduction
• 0:46 Revisiting Greatest Episodes with James
• 1:21 Entrepreneurship Journey
• 6:29 Gifts vs. Passions
• 9:28 Tools for Self-Improvement
• 11:53 Journey of Sobriety
• 17:21 Celibacy and Self-Discovery
• 26:46 Reflections and Gratitude

Transcript

Episode 213

mike: [00:00:00] What's going on, everybody. This is Mike Brown, and I wanted to welcome you to this week's episode of the art of letting go. Got a really special show in store for you. We also recorded a Patreon exclusive. Exclusive. And I would love for y'all to check it out. I set a goal for myself this year that I would like to have a thousand subscribers to my newsletter and a hundred people subscribe to my Patreon.

So I would love if y'all signed up for both. There's a link in the description, so please check it out. And yeah, thank y'all so much for tuning in and enjoy the show.

Yo, what up? This is Mike Brown, and this is the art of letting go. Today, we are going to take a trip back in time. We're going to revisit some of our greatest episodes featuring James, that yoga dude woods. [00:01:00] For those that don't know, James, James is one of my best friends from college. He's a yoga instructor.

He is a public speaker, a mental wellness advocate. He is also the voice of the meditations that you hear throughout the episodes. In this episode, we dive into some of our best moments and we will start out with James. A conversation we had about entrepreneurship. James has been an entrepreneur as early as I can remember.

And I just quit my job and I was in the desert. He came out to visit me and we had a conversation. Um, moving into this entrepreneurship journey, man, um, I feel good and I feel clear, but I also still feel not necessarily fear because I don't feel scared, but. You know, that, that uncertainty [00:02:00] of the unknown.

Um, how do you deal with 

james: that? Work. And that's sometimes not the best way to deal with it. But, uh, I'm in that space right now of being in the unknown. I'm in summer, uh, and I want a lot of my work comes from working with schools. I love it, but I want to change it up. I want to put it in a way that. Works for me moving forward.

I don't want to repeat how I did it the previous years where I'm running around on campuses and have to physically be there. And so I don't want to do that. So I'm in the process of envisioning, of creating, going through the unknown of what I really do want. And just working, working, working on putting things together, trying to ask questions, trying to, uh, stay consistent with my routine.

And believing that the more I keep moving forward, [00:03:00] the more I will move through that unknown and stuff will become known. So it's a constant working process. And when I feel real lost in the unknown, or like I was saying, kind of disconnected and stuff, that's when I know I got to stop and take a break and just flip my mind a little bit.

I feel that. 

mike: I feel like that's how I ended up here. Yeah. I'm saying. Me too. Um, man, something I was thinking about as you were talking, uh, what was the first question you asked in the, in the visioning exercise? Wasn't it like something like, what, what do you need to let go of right now or something like that?

One of them. 

james: Yep. Uh, so the first one is what do you want to be clear on? 

mike: That was the question. What do you want to be clear on 

james: and the thing that came up for 

mike: me? Immediately was a financial stability. Mm [00:04:00] 

james: Yeah, 

mike: and uh A lot of stuff just started coming up after that Like I said, it wasn't stuff that I felt afraid of or it was like stuff that I kind of just had to accept you know, I mean like it's already there just 

james: Accepted 

mike: But I'm curious except 

james: except what?

mike: except uh

I guess just taking ownership of my role in my life You know like really Standing firm on the shit I believe in, like this podcast, like all the other shit I'm doing, um, it's not being, not moving scary about it. It's okay to feel that fear, but not moving fearful about it. And I feel myself doing that. I do, you know, [00:05:00] I talk about, I talk that shit like, Oh, I'm afraid of this.

I'm afraid of that. But. I will say this is probably the most, I felt myself putting effort into like 100 percent effort into what I'm doing. And I feel it cause it feels different. 

james: Yeah. That's dope, man. When you have a level of commitment, so many doors open up, 

mike: you 

james: know, and I, that's, that's really dope and reassuring again for me to hear.

Cause like I said, me having a year look one way, but it ain't all the way what I want. It can, it's not all the way what I want, but it was, it's, it's comfortable in some aspects as in like, okay, I know where some money is coming from. But then moving beyond that, once again, it goes into [00:06:00] that, okay, where's the financial stability going to come?

And that to me adds in a little bit of that fear element. 

mike: Yeah. 

james: When I have financial stability, I'll move away from it to pursue more of what my creative vision or whatever comes to, but thank you for talking about you just committing to what you believe in. 

mike: The journey has never felt easy, but I've always been committed to my goals.

And one thing that James and I have always had conversations about our goals, our gifts, and our passions in this clip, James talks about what's the difference between a gift and a passion. We were talking about like gifts and passion yesterday. And like, what's the, what's the difference between the two?

james: For me, my passion is the thing that I just, that's just on my mind. I just love to do [00:07:00] and just feel good doing it. Um, it just sparked so many of my senses, you know, on the spiritual level of like, I like looking at it, I like feeling it, I like being with it, hearing it and stuff. And the gifts are the things that just naturally come to me.

Yeah. Things I never had to work on. I've never had to work on. Being empathetic. I never had to work on, uh, how my voice is sounding. People are like, Oh, your voice is soothing. I never had to work on that. You know what I mean? Um, so those are the things that are our gifts, the things that we ain't got to work on.

We just wake up and we can, we wake up and we can rap. We wake up and we just hear music. We wake up and we just connect with people in a certain way. But those passions are the things that yeah. Just drive us and push us and we want to understand more and we even willing to put the work in to develop more [00:08:00] so 

mike: So what would you say your passion is because I mean She you started like post college in in psychology And you seem pretty passionate about that now you doing yoga You seem passionate about that as well.

So like, what is the passion for you? Connecting with 

james: people. Yeah. Helping people. Yeah. I feel purpose to help people, uh, see a different side of themselves. Yeah. And it's definitely helpful for me too. Me showing a different side of myself or showing myself I Seen has been helpful to people seeing and discovering themselves and I love it.

It feels good Yeah, it's a passion of mine to just help people to feel something to connect with themselves to connect with the world in psychology It's definitely a part of [00:09:00] that yoga is still definitely a part of that Um, I have a passion just to, yeah, to connect with people, to serve in that way. Um, and it never, it's been a struggle because it was like, what does that even mean?

How do you, you know what I'm saying, how do you make money off of that? How do you put that in the box? 

mike: Yeah. 

james: How do you get that approved? Um, but that's just who I am. That's what I'm passionate about. 

mike: James has always been somebody that I've pulled tools from, whether it be yoga, therapy, meditation, even the artist way I was introduced to by James.

And I wanted to know how does he find all of his tools and why? 

james: I have learned that there are so many ways to reconnect to myself. I think before it was, um, only things outside of myself. alcohol, drugs, going somewhere, having to be [00:10:00] therapists and stuff. But now I'm learning tools to reconnect and re see myself that are more focused on, uh, kind of some internal things.

mike: Yeah. 

james: And they all, they all tools. It's just when you need what you need, um, how you need it and being able to have them tools ready and rocking. How do you, how do you find those tools? You know, I appreciate you asking me that question. Something crawling on me. Uh, I seek them. I seek understanding of how I can better navigate whatever problems or issues I'm going through.

And, and sometimes I'm seeking one thing and then another comes up. So it's this like church thing that I go to and they have this. Uh, it's a process called visioning. It's like a, um, center for spiritual living type of thing. They have international churches and a guy named Michael Beckwith put together a process called visioning.[00:11:00] 

And so, uh, I was just going to the church cause somebody told me about it and I ended up liking what they was talking about. And then they had classes and stuff available. Um, but most of the time I find things from books or from people, you know, from people. So I think, I think I want to do a show like that where I just go through the different tools and stuff that I'm learning and demonstrate and stuff.

mike: Yeah. I feel like I've definitely picked up a lot of my tools from you. I appreciate that. Cuz you always like in a workshop or yeah retreat or something learning something I don't want to do that shit, but,

but when you do this shit and you bring it back and communicate it in the way that you do is more relatable for me. One tool that I did pick up from James that I'm actually using right now is, uh, being sober. [00:12:00] And I have had my own journey of sobriety, um, taking breaks, going back to it, drinking, smoking weed.

And right now I am just taking a break from it all, just seeing how I feel and getting some clarity. And I remember having a conversation with James about sobriety. And at the time he was celibate and this is what he had to share about it. 

james: Every month for the first, first of the month I fast. This week, this month it was only a day.

A couple months ago it was five days of fasting. So I didn't have the food even to fall back on. So really trying to see who I am without those substances and without those habits can take my mind off of the things I don't want to deal with or whatever. And it's been very beneficial. It's been very beneficial to see the things I don't like dealing with.

Like my anger, as we was talking about before, and my anger, how it usually turns into [00:13:00] anxiety. And I can tuck my anxiety away a lot easier than I do my anger. The anger is deep down in there, but then I can roll it up into anxiety and drink it away, eat it away, smoke it, sex it away. But um, the anger be in there lingering.

So I'm doing the work to really get down to the anger of stuff and whatever else is in there. So yeah, that's what me and my sobriety, man. It's um, It's the look at myself, a deeper look at myself. 

mike: Yeah. And I guess for me, I'm curious to know about, you know, how you stay so disciplined on it because, you know, I did 90 days at the beginning of the year, not smoking weed.

I appreciate that. And I see how clear I felt not doing it. And going back to, you know, I, I guess it doesn't really, Well, like we talked about earlier, I don't know the purpose of why I'm doing it right now, which leads to me feeling like I should take another break, but you [00:14:00] know, the 

james: purpose of why you not, 

mike: why, why I am smoking weed right now, because, uh, you know, it's, it's done many different things for me is it's brought some creativity is brought some, some fun is brought some not having to deal with shit.

He's brought some. some carelessness. It's also brought some, some fear and anxiety as well, you know. So for me, you know, jumping back into this and being conscious of not feeling like I need it right now, you know, discipline is challenging for me. It really is. Um, and I try my best and sometimes I may slip, but.

You know, how did you stay so dedicated with what you were doing? 

james: Well, especially when it comes to like the drinking, I really always look at what it did for me. Yeah. And what it, how it, the pros and cons of it. [00:15:00] Like, I had a lot of fun with alcohol. I had a good time, but I also got DUIs. I also, Messed up relationships and just a lot of times where I didn't feel good about myself.

So those negative things about it bring me back. I'm like, nah, I'm not trying to go there. I'm not trying to have those experiences again, and I see alcohol as one of the things that brought me to those experiences. And then just smoking weed. I feel like I have those similar positive experiences. Sober, being clear, Being, feeling like I'm connected to God, um, feeling creative, I'll have those experiences without weed and other substances, so I really will just take a mathematical look at my life, like, okay, five points to alcohol, seven points to sobriety, I'mma go with that right now.

And like I said, being able to do things like go out and dance, talk to people, engage and stuff without that confidence boost to alcohol is like what I need to pay [00:16:00] this six dollars for this drink for if I already got it within me. Let me just move forward and keep pushing it. Yeah. 

mike: Yeah. So, yeah. So what advice would you give to.

Shit, Younger James or just anybody out there that's, uh, you know, really trying to push in that direction. 

james: Keep going. Keep asking yourself questions. Why am I doing this? Because I ask myself a lot when those times come. Like, man, why am I doing this? This is stupid. I need to just, I can just, I need to feel free and do what I want to do.

But For me, freedom is not just doing what I want to do, it's having what I want to have and experiencing the things that I want to experience it without being, um, you know, chained to some kind of other substance or whatever. I want to be free. So I would tell a younger me, yeah man, just, you know, Keep thinking about what you ultimately want in this life.

Keep thinking about that. Keep [00:17:00] defining your goals, clarifying who you are. And if alcohol, drugs, or whatever, BS, or whatever is in your life, when you see yourself as clear as possible, okay, allow it. Let it be in there. But if it ain't, let it be. In your clearest picture of who you are, cut it out. And we'll continue to work on cutting out until your picture get clear and clear.

mike: Celibacy. Yeah. You are ten months in? Ten months in. Ten months in, congratulations. What, what does that even feel 

james: like? Oh man, it feels like a lot of working out. A lot of cold showers, a lot of push ups. Um, at 10 months right now, it is at that point, like, man, why am I doing this? It's bringing up those little, those little negative self sabotage in my mind of like, man, you can go ahead and do this.

And I put myself in more situations as, as, as this time is coming up to kind of mess it up. And I [00:18:00] know that's a part of my pattern of life. Like I'll self sabotage. Um, I don't know why, but. It'll start doing that. Oh man, go holler at her. Go talk to her. Do this. Do that. Do like this. Get on tinder. And it's like I know that's not gonna help me get to my goal of 12 months, and I'm really doing it so I can have a better understanding of myself sexually, understanding of myself, of relationships with women, how I see them, how I treat them, um, you know, how I feel about myself with women.

And that gets lost sometimes in the straight up just lust of seeing a woman, like, man, this is stupid. Let me just go do what God made me to do. But I need some time to really get to know who I am without bringing a whole nother person, spirit, being into it, you know, and, and doing that. And, and initially the thing I was going to do, like, all right, I'm gonna do a year, no sex, no women, like, [00:19:00] cause I'm not even all about just the sex.

mike: Right. 

james: Being in a space where you can not have to worry about yourself because you with somebody else. Because you in a relationship and you can think about their problems, not yours. Whatever, um, those are things that I kind of was doing. I had to, like I said, step back and look at my relationship with women.

So I wanted to take time and look at the relationship with myself first. Um, so initially a year, no women, which includes sex. And then six months of no masturbation. But then I just, like, man, I mean, Uh, maybe I don't even need to masturbate either. So is, and, and really wanted to learn how I can turn that sexual energy into productivity.

mike: Man. 

james: Lust is powerful. Lust is a lot of energy in that, where you, where it make you stay up in the middle of night or get up in the middle of night to go get some, that's energy you can use to do something else. So I'm really trying to navigate that energy to be productive in other ways. And when I'm going back to having sex, [00:20:00] I'm hoping I'll be better at it because I'm like, I know my body more, I know myself more, I know how to use that sexual energy to not just be selfish with it.

Help. Please my partner with it as well. Yeah. So really even taking that into a different level of using that energy to just be a better person. What will make it hard for you to be celibate? Um,

mike: that's a good question. Uh, I think being in a relationship, probably, uh, you know, my partner could probably make it hard. Yeah. But out of one, I don't know. Um, a lot of times when I'm really busy or when I'm really focused on something, like I'm not, I'm not even thinking about sex, to be honest with you. Uh, Sex in the past has kind of been a way for me to distract myself from like being, you know, busy or like having some goal that, that may seem [00:21:00] really big.

So it's like, you know, let me distract myself by spending four hours, five hours on a dating site and talking to somebody and trying to find somebody to spend 10 minutes with, you know what I mean? And now it's just like, a lot of times it's just like, for what? You know, so, so I rather focus on what I'm doing than to waste my time, my energy.

Um, but yeah, being, being in a relationship, I don't know what celibacy looks like. Hey everybody. I love for you to be a part of the conversation. If it's something from today's episode that resonates with you or you have your own thoughts to share, let's connect. You can find me on threads at the Art of Letting Go podcast or on Twitter at Podcast Poppy.

I love to hear from you, so don't hesitate to reach out and join in on a conversation. 

james: I'm also observing Ramadan. I'm not, [00:22:00] uh, a Muslim. I'm not a part of Islamic faith, but I don't know. I, I, I just like doing challenging stuff. Yeah, I like challenging stuff, so it ain't no music. Ain't no food. Ain't no sex.

Ain't no water. Ain't no, uh, drugs. So, all that's, a lot of stuff has just been, I feel raw. Yeah. I feel raw. I've been able to look at a lot of, um, promises I've broken to myself, things I've done, and then a lot of beauty in myself too. Yeah. Like the people that love me really love me and I appreciate that.

So, yeah, that's Um, that's what's up, man. 

mike: Um, when you do these challenges, like what, what is there an expectation of an outcome? 

james: Yes. Um, I want to grow either financially, [00:23:00] relationally, um, mentally. I believe in my potential. Yeah. Sometimes I believe in my potential more than my actuality. Like, oh man, I gotta, when I get here, when I do that, and I gotta remember that my actuality is, you know, is what's gonna get me to my potential.

But, I feel like I'm always one, hack or tool or development or quote or whatever away from really turning it on. And you know, that's ignoring the on that I've already turned. Yeah. You know what I mean? 

mike: Yeah. 

james: So that's a high for me. I think chasing personal development stuff and all that. Um, I gotta be aware of that, but I don't know.

I just like challenging myself. See, this is a hard Ramadan too, cause I'm also doing it raw. So like raw foods. Yeah. So it's uh, you know, after I'm done being hungry all day, I'm [00:24:00] eating a carrot. This is stupid.

mike: Oh shit. Yeah, that's wild, man. Um, what has been like, like of all the challenges, all the tools that you've, you've done, like what has been the hardest one? 

james: I'm in the desert. I'm at Joshua Tree, man. We went rock climbing with my homie. Um, and he's a big proponent of Mind altering substances. He does it very responsibly.

LSD, micro dosing, shrooms, all kinds of stuff like that. He does it responsibly. And we were sitting out looking at the fire in the middle of this like dry lake bed in Joshua Tree. We brought a couple things of wood. We was burning it. cold outside just chilling and it hit me that the challenge that I'm really jumping into and taking [00:25:00] on and the drug that I'm really trying to overdose on is love.

Like being able to love myself and love other people unconditionally. is a challenge. Yeah. Um, and, you know, it, it, cause love can get you the same high, love can get you the same, you know, potentiality of, oh, it's going to be this and that. And, and then love can really show you yourself like drugs, like fasting.

So loving is really, um, the most difficult challenge for me right now. Um, once again, you are another example You have loved me through times where I was not a good friend. Um, we were like brothers, man. Yeah. And you still call [00:26:00] me, check on me. Um, you know what I mean? Let me know that you was there for me in your ways.

And, uh, that has been an example for me, man. Uh, really appreciate that. Uh, and so, like I said, as you go through your focusing and time and stuff and you need your time to work on you, it really is like, man, um, in any and always supporting you is loving myself. Cause you've shown me how to do that and show me how to love yourself.

So, uh, yeah, love. I appreciate that, man. 

mike: I appreciate that. I caught up with James to see just what he felt about this reflection and here's what he had to say. 

james: Hmm. Uh, the first one made me mad cause I was talking about [00:27:00] fasting the first of the month. I ain't did that like this whole year, maybe like two years, I think.

And, uh, I ate a whole box of donuts yesterday. Uh, I think, uh, I definitely needed to hear that again. It made me feel, uh, reconnected to myself when I was doing a different type of work and doing that work in that space. Made things feel a lot more clear. I think that was a lot of practice work and now You know being in the game of it, uh life a lot of times where it's like, okay.

All right. Yeah, let me It was good to be reminded of those practice tools and stuff. Um And those things that I put in place to make sure To be ready for a life and now life is here and it's like, okay. Yeah, this is Those are the things that you, um, put in place to be ready for. So, um, it made me [00:28:00] feel like I fell off and then it made me feel like it's another thing that's falling off.

Cause I'm always. In the works of building tools and connecting with people. So, um,

Yeah, man, and it reminded me of I don't know if one of those were from the park But we went to the park and uh, we seen that dude like almost die on a skateboard, man That was crazy. Um But that was like a beautiful day and we was outside just chilling and I think you were on the verge of You Either leaving LA, maybe.

Um, it just felt like everything was on the verge of something new. Um, and how scary and stuff that felt, but now we [00:29:00] hear wherever here is, and it's like, things just always work out. So just kind of felt reassuring to myself that, you know, I could talk and say a bunch of tools and things and all that kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, it's just.

Understanding that everything is going to work out. It's always going to work out. Something going to happen, then another thing going to happen, but at the end of the day, it's always going to work out. Um, yeah. And just being okay with who I am, um, and the things that I'm doing and, um, and the world that I'm creating for myself.

Cause it, uh, it can change, but I'm still going to be, um, a big part of it. It's still going to be just me, uh, that person who wants to connect with people. [00:30:00] That person was constantly searching for different tools in different ways to experience this life. Um, and love within the life. So yeah, that made me feel like I said, up and down.

It gave me, maybe give myself some grace and, uh, and some love. And love to you too, man, for being on this process and this journey with me and documenting that stuff and, and just, um, making me a person in your life, you know, with all the stuff that happens in life to, to still be able to share this life with you and be a person in your life.

So I feel gratitude for that, man. Good gratitude on that. Yeah.

mike: Thank you for tuning into this week's episode of The Art of Letting [00:31:00] Go. If you like what you heard, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen, share it with a friend and also leave a review. Rate the show, let other people know what you think. Um, that helps us out in the algorithm of the algorithms.

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Also, we have a Patreon. There's a free option and I give a lot of exclusive content there as well. So any way that you would like to support, know that it's much appreciated. I appreciate y'all listening. This is Mike Brown, and this is the art of letting [00:32:00] go.