Oct. 14, 2025

Creating Inclusive Spaces: How Queer Yoga Club Is Changing the Practice

Creating Inclusive Spaces: How Queer Yoga Club Is Changing the Practice
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Creating Inclusive Spaces: How Queer Yoga Club Is Changing the Practice

Harmony and Russell talk with teacher and studio co-leader Joseph Armstrong about recovery, identity, the discipline that actually changes lives, and building inclusive community through the Queer Yoga Club at Miami Life Center. Joseph shares how a strong recovery container and a steady Mysore practice worked together, why expectations and boundaries matter, what it is really like to run a studio, and how to expand programs without losing lineage.

In this conversation

  • Addiction, relapse, and the turning point that made sobriety stick
  • “90 in 90,” daily Mysore, and why discipline is the bridge
  • Adjustments, consent culture, and student autonomy
  • Running a studio in 2025, consumer expectations, and aggregator pressures
  • Creating Queer Yoga Club, safety signals, and true welcome
  • Community circles, story bowls, and being witnessed
  • Travel, teaching, and what is next for Joseph and Edgar

Guest bio

Joseph Armstrong teaches yoga with feet planted firmly in tradition and gaze turned towards the future.

His search for a more present and peaceful life first led him to the practice in 2008 and soon after he was studying in India. After finally overcoming a years long struggle with addiction, Joseph began experimenting with Ashtanga Yoga. He is Authorized Level 2 by his teacher, the late Sharath Jois. He and his husband Edgar are co-owners of Miami Life Center and teach workshops worldwide.

Joseph teaches yoga because attempts to do any and everything else ended disastrously. But when he finally devoted himself to his passion, he became an asset to himself and others. His teaching is rooted in the hope that practice helps us become more loving, more awake, and, ultimately, able to exist gently.

Links mentioned

Joseph’s Website: https://www.josepharmstrongyoga.com

Joseph’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/josepharmstrongyoga?igsh=MWE2MXNtYnU4OXh4Nw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Joseph’s YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCvV7ez9he51upLEc49U67_g

Miami Life Center (studio home base): https://miamilifecenter.com/

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00:00 - Introduction to Finding Harmony Podcast

00:52 - Meet Joseph Armstrong: A Journey Through Addiction and Recovery

02:51 - Joseph's Early Life and Career Struggles

05:53 - Discovering Yoga and Sobriety in Miami

09:43 - The Role of Discipline in Recovery and Yoga

19:18 - The Intersection of 12-Step Recovery and Yoga

25:34 - Challenges and Community in the Ashtanga Yoga World

28:34 - Meeting the Teachers

29:00 - Apprenticeship Journey

30:51 - Challenges of Teaching

33:41 - Taking Over Miami Life Center

36:22 - Expanding the Yoga Community

41:51 - Queer Yoga Club

44:33 - Yoga and Inclusivity

51:49 - Future Plans and Reflections

54:20 - Money Magic and Manifestation Challenge