Episode 0: The Beginning (Or, How a VHS Tape Changed Everything) So here's the thing about starting a podcast: You can plan it, script it, make it perfect—or you can just hit record and see what happens. Welcome to Episode 0 of The Unqualified Yogi, where hosts Gary Martin and Roxanne Quinn chose option two. What follows is 90 minutes of honest conversation about yoga, bodies, practice, and why none of us really know what we're doing. In this inaugural conversation, hosts Gary Martin and Roxanne Quinn sit down to figure out what the hell they're doing and why. Spoiler: They don't have all the answers. And that's kind of the point. Roxanne's Origin Story We start at the beginning—1999, to be exact—when Roxanne, fresh off having her first child and trapped in a punishing running routine, stumbled upon a VHS yoga tape at a garage sale. Enter Rodney Yee, doing sun salutations on a rock by the ocean, looking impossibly serene. It was the AM tape, followed by the PM tape, and somewhere between the waves and the breathing, something shifted. Running had been about beating herself up. Yoga became about loving her body. "I would finish and be like, wow, my body's amazing," Roxanne shares. This leads to one of the episode's central questions: Does anyone actually have a great relationship with their body? The answer? Probably not. And that's okay. The Anti-Guru Manifesto This isn't your typical wellness podcast. There are no promises of enlightenment, no six-week transformation programs, no influencer aesthetics. Just two people committed to showing up, falling down, and getting back up—the ordinary miracle of just continuing. Gary and Roxanne dive deep into what it means to practice without attachment to outcomes, why the wellness industry can be so full of shit, and how yoga has become everything except what it actually is. They talk about the YMCA in Carondelet, hot yoga disasters, teacher training experiences, and the moment you realize you don't need to be qualified to help people—you just need to be honest. The conversation meanders through body image, addiction, running (which nobody actually likes, despite what they tell you), and the surprising power of just showing up on your mat day after day. There's laughter, tangents, and the kind of easy rapport that comes from two people who aren't trying to sell you anything. What to Expect Future episodes will run about an hour (this one clocks in at 90 minutes because, well, they got carried away). There will be guest conversations with teachers, practitioners, and people who've figured out how to show up for themselves. There will be call-in segments where listeners can ask questions and share their own stories. And yes, there will be events—because what some people call a cult, they like to call a community. The philosophy is simple: No rules. No pressure. Rule number one is they're going to have fun. Rule number two is they're going to learn something new every episode. Rule number three? If you ain't confused, you ain't paying attention. Why Listen? Because you're tired of being sold solutions. Because you want conversations that feel real, not curated. Because you've ever wondered if there's more to practice than Instagram-perfect handstands and motivational quotes over sunset backgrounds. Because you're human, and being human is messy, and maybe that's exactly where the good stuff lives. As Confucius once said: "To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge." By that measure, Gary and Roxanne are geniuses. They definitely know they don't know much. Join the Community Visit theunqualifiedyogi.com to sign up for the newsletter, find out about upcoming events, and become part of this beautiful, confused, perfectly imperfect community. This is Episode 0. The beginning. The moment before the moment. And maybe that's all any of us really have anyway.
