65. Eddie Stern | How To Calm Your Nervous System

Gwyneth Paltrow… true or false: she blew her nose into Eddie Stern’s pocket square while he was officiating her wedding?

True. 😂

This week on Permission to Shine, I’m sitting down with the one-and-only Eddie Stern.

A New York City original, one of the most respected yoga teachers alive, and the kind of teacher your favorite celebrities (and your favorite teacher’s teacher) quietly trust.

Eddie has been practicing yoga since the 1980s and teaching since the late 80s. He’s the founder of Broome Street Yoga (opened in 1993) and he runs the Broome Street Ganesha Temple in SoHo.

An actual temple, on Broome Street, that’s been a spiritual home in lower Manhattan for decades.

In this conversation, we go deep; and in a way you can actually use today.

We talk about:

• What the nervous system really is (and why so many of us are living in chronic “fight or flight” without realizing it)

• The simplest “brake pedal” you have access to 24/7: your exhale

• A practical way to tell if you’re stuck in sympathetic vs. parasympathetic (and what to do about it)

• Why telling someone “just relax” is basically emotional gasoline 😅

• Eddie’s daily routine (yes… he wakes up around 3:45am like a peaceful psychopath)

• Punk rock, purpose, and the surprising link between freedom and discipline

• And a powerful section on integrity: leaving a system that caused harm, reclaiming identity, and building what you wish existed

We also get into Eddie’s work bringing yoga and breath practices into the real world through tech, including The Breathing App, because he’s not just spiritual… he’s evidence-based and science-literate, down to a Master’s in Science for Yoga Research.

If you’ve been stressed, reactive, tired, glued to your phone, or you just want to feel more calm and in control, this episode is for you.

And if you love it, do me a favor: send it to one friend who’s been carrying a lot lately.

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Love y’all.
— Andrew Namanny