Thursday, May 4, 2017

Daemons Discuss - Podcast: Special Edition! | A Conversation with Aly Davis - Fan of the All Souls Trilogy and Our Favorite Yogini!

King Pigeon Pose

Special Edition - The One With the Yogini

Description: If you've followed us for a while, you'll remember our Daemons Domain guest blogger, Aly Davis. She's an All Souls Trilogy fan and a fearless yogini that we ran across while perusing Instagram. The rest was pretty much fate! That was and remains our most popular post (minus giveaways), because she was able to expertly dissect the connection of yoga and the All Souls Trilogy. She took us on a journey into Diana and Matthew's world, and told us how creatures would theoretically benefit immensely from yoga classes. At the end of it, the reader totally understands why they spent five pages listening to a Rocket Man cover (in their heads), and comprehended the mood of the room at Matthew's house in Woodstock. She's been featured as a Real-Time Read Along subject on Deborah Harkness' site, and her Instagram posts are inspirational. She's one of our favorite people in this fandom, and we are thrilled to be able to talk to her as our first guest on this podcast! We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we've enjoyed producing it. ~ A long episode, but worth every second! We are always conscious of time, because we don't want to waste yours! We figure as long as the content is valuable, an episode winds up as long as it needs to be.

SPOILER ALERT! We (The Daemons) approach this podcast with an assumption that the listener has read The All Souls Trilogy, including A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night, and The Book of Life.  If you haven't, and you don't mind, we certainly don't mind!  😊  Let's do this.

Listen:



1. Show notes:

For newcomers to the series:
- We'll start with the basics: The books in discussion are A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night and The Book of Life.  Together they make The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. 
- Our Daemon Guides to the All Souls Trilogy are available for download: ADOW, SON, TBOL

Deb's newsletter - The Blast; subscribe on her website
- If you'd like a ready-reference from the author herself, be sure to download the All Souls Real-Time Reading companion (free e-book at online booksellers via Penguin and Headline books).
- Deborah Harkness usually conducts a real-time reading on her Facebook Page (starting in September), and shares her posts across social media. Check out her website for all of her social media links, and of course all that she has to offer her readers! Be sure to sign up for her newsletter while you are there!
- To see what's available on the web as far as the All Souls universe fandom, check our links page.

In this episode:
* (01:07) – Aly is on Instagram, you can find her here: https://www.instagram.com/alylynnyogaandthings/

* (01:40) – It all began with this picture:

This picture is how we found Aly on Instagram!
* (01:50) – Aly’s guest post: Yoga and The All Souls Trilogy

* (02:03) – Aly on Deb’s site: On This Day, 25 September, in A Discovery of Witches #RealTimeReadingADOW (Chapter 8)

* (05:48) – Yoga Mat/Yoga blocks:


* (06:16) – Plow pose:


* (06:30) – Ear pressure pose:

Ear pressure pose (from Aly's Instagram post)
Aly tenaciously popping up into her handstands!
* (07:50) – Aly’s relentless/tenacious when she does handstands! See photo above (Instagram gets touchy with it's embedded coding, so we grabbed a screen shot, and you can view the video here).

* (09:15) – Aly says that you don’t need to be flexible to do yoga. When she began, she could barely touch her toes!

* (10:53) – Aly found the All Souls Trilogy through a friend. She borrowed A Discovery of Witches from the library and she was hooked. The Book of Life was the first book she's ever pre-ordered.

* (11:43) – Ego – What she said in her piece about ego:
Letting go of the ego, on the other hand, is a much harder task. For everyone, the ego is what keeps us comparing ourselves to others and what bogs us down when we don't feel like we have/are/can do enough.  This is an especially potent piece of the puzzle in this particular class full of vampires, witches, and daemons who have been taught their whole lives that no other creature is as "good" as them and who have generations of ancestry to live up to. We're talking genius daemons who are rivaling Steve Jobs and Sir Isaac Newton, vampires who have thousands of years of built up ego (not difficult when you're naturally gorgeous and more cultured than most everyone else you come in contact with), and witches with grimoires going back hundreds of years, chock full of spells from witches whose reputations they must live up to. Ego plays a huge role in the entire series of books but for this amazing five pages we catch a break; a break we didn't even know we would need as badly as we do.
She goes on to explain further about it in this episode.“A yogi understands that ego is unavoidable”

* (14:22) – Amira starts her class this way:
“Close your eyes,” Amira suggested again gently. “It can be hard to let go of our worries, our preoccupations, our egos. That’s why we’re here tonight.”
* (16:52) – We concluded that yoga was a common ground that Matthew Clairmont found with Diana Bishop, why not get to know her better that way. Matthew seemed to be tuned into what Diana needed.  He even smells it!

* (18:26) – Aly had no idea what Matthew’s pose might’ve been. It turns out she guessed correctly! She nailed it. The Fallen Angel: 

"Some performed death-defying arm balances and handstands, but I wasn't among them. Clairmont was, however."

Fallen Angel Pose - Deb does say on her site that this *is* Matthew's impossible pose.
* (20:46) – Physical practice vs. mental practice. Yogic meditation came first, however Asana practice resulted from it. People who participated in meditation wanted to be able to strengthen the body for longer meditation sessions, and the physical practice was the natural solution to remedy it. Breathing is the main focus while moving.

* (24:14) – Ayurvedic medical practioner - Ayurvedic medicine (also called Ayurveda) is one of the world’s oldest medical systems. It originated in India more than 3,000 years ago and remains one of the country’s traditional health care systems. Its concepts about health and disease promote the use of herbal compounds, special diets, and other unique health practices. India’s government and other institutes throughout the world support clinical and laboratory research on Ayurvedic medicine, within the context of the Eastern belief system. But Ayurvedic medicine isn’t widely studied as part of conventional (Western) medicine. What is Ayurveda?

* (25:26) – Here’s where we try to convince Aly to do a podcast.  Her mom’s tried to get her into YouTube! Apparently we aren’t the first to tell her to teach this publicly. Who knows? All Souls Trilogy yoga instruction may come eventually to your small screen or earbuds near you! It's how we (at Daemons Domain/Daemons Discuss!) wind up doing most of the things we do. A thought or an idea becomes an action in due time!

* (29:17) – Huge shouts out to Discussers Jennifer W, Jennifer K. and Susie for their questions!

* (31:28) – Aly mostly practices at home with Yogaglo.com – she says there are 6 or 7 teachers, different levels, and different types of yoga. It’s 18 dollars a month, and she swears by it. She also says that she wouldn’t be surprised if the instructors are daemons. Maybe one or two of them are vampires or witches.

Savasana
Diana's Savasana variation
* (31:18) – Savasana is probably not for Diana, because it’s a vulnerable position and she doesn’t feel comfortable. Aly says it’s hard to find peace in that position for some people, because you are supposed to lay there and let it all go. The other pose that Amira suggested probably worked better because it's more of a protected position allowing Diana to relax.
The Recovery Position (not yoga! see below!)
* (37:45) – The recovery position is mainly something used while someone is in shock, and the US Air Force co-oped it for self-aid and buddy care. It’s used after triage is conducted, and/or if someone is not in a good mental state. In a war zone it's not practical most times, but when one is able, it is a suggested method to 'get your mind right'. This was brought up because Angela mentioned her mother always instructed her as a child to get into a fetal position when she wasn't feeling well, and Valerie recalled the recovery position being used for this in Self-Aid and Buddy Care (or SABC) in the USAF. We made the connection to Diana's Savasana variation through these memories.

* (38:50) – Everybody can benefit from yoga. Trilogy-wise she says the first group of creatures that would need it would be “our blood rage friends.” Witches, especially ones coming into their powers would benefit as well. Daemons could use the grounding. The lotus pose is what she recommended for daemons:

Lotus pose
* (43:10) – Anxiety releasing positions or poses: Aly says there are two different days everyone has; the days with pent-up negative stress or energy: she does core work, deep back bends.  Her favorite poses for this – camel, wheel, cobra rolls, splits, wild thing, boat pose, plank holds, side planks, bicycles, leg lowers. The other type of days; on days she’s too exhausted, yet still stressed: hip openers, forward folds. She says most of us hold stress in our hips and lower back (male or female).  Fire log, double pigeons, thread the needle, butterfly and side bends, or supported back bends are poses she uses for these days.

* (47:22) – Aly’s yoga pants: She’s won a couple of them.  Among the brands she mentions: Fractal 9, & Luna Jai athletic. After she won her first official yoga pants, she’s been hooked.  Many of them have crazy patterns, but she’s over it, and doesn’t care if people stare. πŸ˜‚

* (49:58) – Packing using a rolling technique – we couldn’t find the specific post on Facebook, but this is the same system (aka the "Skivvy Roll"). Yoga pants are easy to pack, and doesn’t require the socks!

* (51:01) – Aly is an ambassador for these two companies: Confused Girl, and Alter Ego – she has coupon codes if you are interested – hit up her Instagram, and you can get the coupon codes and 15% off!

* (52:56) –  Good yoga leggings are pretty pricey. You’d have to be serious about yoga, or a proponent of wearing leggings as pants! Also, you get what you pay for most times. Shop around. Aly found some of her favorites (by lululemon) at a thrift store.

* (54:37) – United Airlines! In this episode we were just discussing leggings and this particular incident, but this was recorded just prior to the OTHER STORY coming out. We are side-eyeing you, United! *Daemon side-eye!* πŸ˜’

* (55:50) – News! Deb has shared some insight on her upcoming books via Twitter:
* (56:53) – Aly was asked to conduct a workshop at All Souls Con later this year, but she has the best excuse not to! She’s expecting her first child, with a due date within days of the event. So she won’t be there in person, but she will be live streaming. Here's how to attend either virtually or physically: All Souls Con passes: $79, virtual passes: $0 (! --> thanks goes to Penguin Books for sponsoring the live stream)  All early bird prices end the 15th of June, 2017 -- Virtual passes will remain absolutely free!  Regular passes will go up to $99. 
* (1:01:05) – Promo break.  See how to support & get a hold of us below!  Scroll down, or click here.

Dear producers of A Discovery of Witches TV, Aly is not only good with yoga, but also great with horses!
* (1:02:49) – Aly can’t let go of the fact that the yoga scene is being cut (this makes her sad! - Deb's post on it), but she throws out an offer to the producers!

Don't make Graham mad!
* (1:04:01) – Where was Easter in this trilogy?! This makes Jean's Graham upset (this was recorded the week before Easter.) Lazarus got all of the resurrection love in this series.

* (1:05:50) – Opus Dei

* (1:07:29) – Angela enjoyed her trip to DC. She teases that Daemons Domain may get a post out of it.  One of her tweets on our behalf while she was there:
* (1:08:22) – Fandom politics. We’re over it. We are placing a call to everyone out there to put ego aside, and just do this fandom thing. There are enough real-world politics for us all to worry about. Let’s just have fun! It’s why we are strong proponents of All Souls Con.

All things official about these books will come from DeborahHarkness.com, or her various social media accounts. All other non-speculative information gathered on fan sites (including ours), re: her work, will either come from her site, her social media, or will be a second-hand account based on something she's said in person. Also ... please, please, PLEASE, someone help Valerie off of her soapbox. She's in danger of face-planting or breaking something! 😏

~ Photos for these show notes from Aly's Instagram/Social Media are © Aly Davis

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Credits/Copyright Information 
* Intro music: "Ghost Dance" (edited down to second chorus) by Kevin Macleod, licensed for use by Creative Commons.
* News intro: by AwesomeMusicVideos21; provided for fair-use/royalty-free.
* Daemons Discuss! promotional break music: "Anachronist" by Kevin Macleod, licensed for use by Creative Commons.
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* The Daemons Discuss podcast is hosted and produced by the owners (Angela, Jean and Valerie) of Daemons Domain and can also be found by entering the url http://www.DaemonsDiscuss.com in your browser, (listed on the various podcast syndicates like Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, etc.) which will redirect you back to the parent site, Daemons Domain.
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* Our episode titles are a loving tribute to the show "Friends" just 'cause we love Friends and - let's face it - it's easier! Here's how one of the show creators explains their reasoning:
Jeff Greenstein: "When Marta & David & Jeff & I did 'Dream On', we used to spend a lot of time thinking about titles, because they were on-screen at the top of each episode. On "Friends", we decided that was a waste of time. We figured, why not name each episode after the thing that people will ostensibly be talking about around the water-cooler the next day?"
This was a Daemon Production

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