#37: Yoga and the Two Wolves

This episode is a Dharma talk I shared with my students here in Miami. I discuss the intersection between neuroscience and yoga, and I hope you are inspired to break some of your bad habits after listening to this special episode of The Yoga Inspiration Podcast. I may not be a scientist, but I love yoga, and I'm interested in the elements of yoga that can be studied and verified by rational, scientific means. Yoga has the power to retrain our brains and our bodies, giving you the power to lay the foundations for more evolution of consciousness. To visualize this, I want you to remember the Native American proverb of the two wolves. As the story goes, there are two wolves living in each of us - the wolf of hate powered by anger, sorry, jealousy, and greed; and the wolf of love, powered by compassion, peace, love, and serenity.  These two wolves are in direct competition with one another in our subconscious. The wolf that lives is the one you feed. And as you practice yoga, you feed that wolf of love. You become kinder and more empathetic toward yourself and to others.  There is always a lot of talk about the negativity bias, how to work with stress, and what stress can do to our bodies. But when we focus on all of this negative energy we are completely overlooking the fact that there are equally strong physiological systems rooted in connection, empathy, and compassion.  The wolf of love is the state of calm and connection we all feel in our practice. The physical poses of yoga are designed to develop our empathy and our kindness, and it's important that you remember this as you listen to this inspirational episode.  The more you practice yoga, the stronger your mind becomes. With each asana, you're building a concentrated mind that will stop you from feeding into the reactive patterns you may be used to, and learning how to develop new, more compassionate ones. Tune in now and learn to re-conceptualize the way you think about yourself and about your yoga practice. I want you to tap into our natural capacity for empathy! I'm sharing steps you can take to conquer your fears and self-doubt and learn to recognize that you have the power to change the way you think.  Share the lessons you've learned on the yoga mat with me and my listeners. Send an email at [email protected] and tell me - what does yoga mean to you? You could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast with Kino MacGregor!  Stay connected: @kinoyoga and @omstarsofficial View my teaching schedule, blogs, etc on Kinoyoga.com Get your free 30 day membership on Omstars.com& use code: PODCAST