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PODCAST

Raff"s Brain

Raff’s Brain is my playground for goofy stories, real-life adventures, and experiments in how openness, creativity, and technology can bring people together and improve our lives. Expect Hot Yoga Problems, Riffin’ with Raff, Drive & Jive / Walk & Talk, and various zany side projects that are sometimes cathartic, sometimes ridiculous, and hopefully worth your time.

society & culture personal journals

All Episodes

12:46

Raff's Brain #264: My Hot Yoga Sculpt Form Is a...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/10/05

Rob doesn’t want to attend 5:30 a.m. yoga sculpt. He certainly doesn’t want to become its instructional model. Fresh from another punishing Monday workout, Rob recounts a potential fire-alarm mishap, the indignity of finishing cardio with burpees, and the unsettling suspicion that a neighboring student is looking to him for proper form. Naturally, this becomes an elaborate theory about spreading bad technique and collecting kickbacks from the chiropractic industry. Episode 264 of Raff’s Brain...

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24:07

Raff's Brain #263: My First “37th Annual” Block Party...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/10/03

One hot yoga class. One hardware store run. One allegedly “37th annual” block party. Rob emerges from Saturday morning yoga with a question about loyalty: does he choose classes for the instructor, or because 8 a.m. fits his schedule? While sorting that out, he remembers an urgent errand — orange tape for the neighborhood block party. This edition of Hot Yoga Problems wanders through fitness memberships, consumer behavior, small-business service, and the simple act of bringing neighbors toget...

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16:04

Raff's Brain #262: Panic Patrol, Pizza, & the $20...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/10/03

Raff’s Brain hits the streets of New York City. Recording from Midtown Manhattan, Rob checks in during a visit with the Moving Picture Institute and celebrates the arrival of October by launching his newest creative experiment: Panic Patrol, a short-form historical comedy series about inventions and cultural changes that once inspired genuine public panic. That launches a broader riff on how quickly yesterday’s terrifying innovation can become today’s ordinary life, and whether history might ...

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14:06

Raff's Brain #261: My Algorithmic Wellness Overlord...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/29

Rob survived CorePower Sculpt. Barely. After an early-morning encounter with burpees, mountain climbers, push-ups, and the general indignities of exercising aggressively in a heated room, Rob discovers something alarming: he might actually be making progress. In this episode of Hot Yoga Problems, he reflects on building momentum, making better everyday choices, dropping five pounds, and discovering that workouts become slightly less catastrophic when you keep showing up. Along the way, there ...

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12:52

Raff's Brain #260: The 5:30 A.M. HOT YOGA Class I...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/29

Rob checks in from a Monday night edition of Hot Yoga Problems with a report from the front lines of diet, exercise, sleep, and podcast consistency. He’s about 10 days into a healthier routine, avoiding chips and fries and showing up for workouts—but one late football game and a restless night derail his plan for a brutal 5:30 a.m. Yoga Sculpt class. The conversation wanders, as it should, through the appeal of live sports, the challenge of getting older and sleeping well, and the curious fac...

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17:53

Raff's Brain #259: Hot Yoga Problems - Yin Yoga Is a...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/28

Rob voluntarily walks into a Sunday evening yoga class looking for something a little easier. He chooses Yin yoga. This turns out to be a misunderstanding. On this episode of Raff’s Brain: Hot Yoga Problems, Rob recounts his first Core Restore/Yin experience: long-held poses, creeping discomfort, negative self-talk, extremely slow-moving time, and eventually a bizarrely peaceful state in which his consciousness appears to leave the building entirely. The experience becomes another chapter in ...

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19:16

Raff's Brain #258: Hot Yoga Problems - Crushed,...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/26

Rob is back with another episode of Hot Yoga Problems, freshly crushed by a 9:30 a.m. class and contemplating one of yoga’s recurring themes: transitions. After his second shingles vaccine wipes out most of Friday and causes him to miss both a sculpt class and his preferred early Saturday yoga session, Rob nearly writes off the weekend. Instead, he pivots to a later class — a small decision that becomes the episode’s larger point. Plans get disrupted. Routines break. Sometimes the useful move...

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11:04

Raff's Brain #257: Hot Yoga Problems - Step, Hop, or...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/24

Rob emerges from another hot yoga class with not one, but several revelations—including the disturbing possibility that he’s been doing pigeon pose wrong for roughly a decade. A well-timed hands-on adjustment changes the entire posture, prompting a larger realization: no matter how long you practice yoga, there always seems to be something new to learn. Then comes the real lesson of the day: transitions matter. Rob has spent years treating the trip from downward-facing dog to the top of the m...

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12:42

Raff's Brain #256: HOT YOGA PROBLEMS - The Slugs Have...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/24

Another morning. Another 100-degree room. Another voluntary beatdown. Raff is back for Day 5 of his latest hot yoga run, fresh off a recovery day after four consecutive CorePower sessions. This time it’s Yoga Sculpt, where the weights may be light but the suffering is apparently world-class. The fitness push has a little more urgency behind it these days. A recent conversation about high blood pressure gave Raff another reason to stop treating exercise like an occasional hobby and start treat...

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11:32

Raff's Brain #255: HOT YOGA PROBLEMS - The Eagle Pose...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/23

Raff just finished Day 4 of consecutive hot yoga, and the evidence is becoming difficult to ignore: evening Raff may be significantly better at yoga than 6 a.m. Raff. That realization creates an inconvenient dilemma. Early classes fit the schedule and offer plenty of breathing room. Evening classes are packed. But after a full day of working, thinking, talking, eating, and generally becoming a functional human being, Raff feels stronger, sharper, and far more capable in the studio. Naturally,...

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14:38

Raff's Brain #254: HOT YOGA SCULPT PROBLEMS - The...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/20

Raff has now survived three consecutive days of hot yoga—and this time, Yoga Sculpt reminds him exactly who is in charge. After walking into class with a little too much confidence, Raff finds himself humbled by aching muscles, brutally fit classmates, and the undeniable reality that he is currently very much a two-pound-weights guy. But that's okay. The goal isn't to get shredded. It's to get healthier, improve his heart health, lower his blood pressure, and keep showing up. From there, R...

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16:29

Raff's Brain #253: Hot Yoga, Doggie Drugs, & the...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/19

Rob Raffety has officially entered the dangerous territory known as back-to-back hot yoga. After a punishing Yoga Sculpt session, he wakes up sore, tired, and feeling approximately like a roadway after being attacked by industrial construction equipment. Naturally, he decides the appropriate response is another hot yoga class. And somehow…it goes pretty well. That small victory launches an episode full of classic Raff’s Brain wandering: celebrating half-moon pose, contemplating the resilience...

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25:56

Raff's Brain #252: Let's Pretend I Enjoy This - HOT...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/18

Welcome to Hot Yoga Sculpt Problems, the latest questionable expansion of the Hot Yoga Problems universe. Rob has discovered Hot Yoga Sculpt—a combination of heated yoga, weights, cardio, jumping, sweating, suffering, and wondering whether you remembered to update your will. But underneath the complaints is a genuine turning point. After a routine eye appointment produces an alarming blood pressure reading, Rob is forced to confront the health promises he keeps making and abandoning. Six mont...

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15:26

Raff's Brain #250: HOT YOGA PROBLEMS - Bird Dog...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/15

250 episodes. One destroyed yogi. Zero mastery of the eagle pose. Raff’s Brain reaches Episode 250, and Rob marks the occasion in the most appropriate way possible: stumbling out of an absurdly difficult hot yoga class and immediately complaining about it into a microphone. The trouble begins with bird dog, a pose Rob thought he had conquered. But this particular class introduces a horrifying upgrade involving a plank, one extended arm, and an opposite lifted leg—a maneuver that quickly remin...

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19:52

Raff's Brain #249: Hot Yoga, Cold Symptoms &...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/13

Rob is back in the hot room—and this time he’s bringing a lingering cold, questionable judgment, and an intense appreciation for one of yoga’s most underrated poses. After surviving another brutal class, Rob discovers something extraordinary: Thread the Needle showed up deep into the workout instead of during the warmup. It feels so good that he immediately begins imagining a better future—one where yoga studios operate like old-school radio stations and students can call ahead to request the...

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11:18

Raff's Brain #248: Hot Yoga Problems - Death, Taxes,...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/10

Rob is approaching 51, his high school buddies are comparing health problems in the group chat, and suddenly the consequences of advancing age are becoming a little harder to ignore. Welcome back to Hot Yoga Problems. After a particularly punishing early-morning class with a new instructor, Rob considers what it takes to maintain a functioning human body as the years pile up. Exercise helps—but so do all those deeply inconvenient things like eating better, sleeping properly, changing habits, ...

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10:48

Raff's Brain #247: Hot Yoga Problems - September...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/09/07

Raff is back. His conditioning? Less so. After more than two weeks away from hot yoga, Rob returns for a Labor Day class and discovers that the hot room has absolutely no sympathy for vacations, excuses, or declining cardiovascular fitness. This episode begins with the financial misadventures of buying a discounted 10-class yoga package in the Outer Banks and somehow turning a $14 class into a potential $144 class. From there, Rob launches into his latest September comeback plan: more hot yog...

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26:38

Raff's Brain #246: Riffin' with Raff - College...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/08/14

On this episode of Riffin’ with Raff, Rob welcomes back his niece Mallory Moss for a conversation recorded just before she moves away to college. At 18, Mallory is entering a completely new world: new friends, harder classes, college athletics, less free time, and a lacrosse program filled with players she worries may be far more prepared than she is. She talks candidly about the pressure to prove herself, her excitement about meeting new people, and the strange combination of confidence and ...

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13:14

Raff's Brain #245: Hot Yoga Problems - West Coast...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/08/08

Rob takes Hot Yoga Problems to Los Angeles and discovers that West Coast hot yoga is apparently the major leagues. After surviving a packed CorePower Yoga session in Studio City — surrounded by what appear to be Jedi-level yoga practitioners — Rob walks back to his hotel and reports on the differences between East Coast and West Coast yoga, a new side angle pose variation, the enormous California studio, and the satisfaction of finally following through on his promise to practice while travel...

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13:54

Raff's Brain #244: Hot Yoga Problems - The Fallen...

Raff"s Brain ·

2026/08/02

Rob is back in the hot yoga studio—and back behind the microphone—with an acknowledgment, not an excuse, for the recent slowdown in Hot Yoga Problems episodes. In this sweaty return to action, Rob examines the difference between explanations and excuses, makes the case for August as an underrated month for productivity, and previews several upcoming creative adventures. Those adventures include an AI filmmaking workshop in Los Angeles, a family visit to West Virginia, potential flood recovery...

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263 results

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