December 3, 2025 • 43 mins
The limiting narratives running your life may not even be yours — but someone else's script playing out through you every day.
In this episode, Byron and Michael look closely at narratives—the powerful stories we absorb from media, culture, and community—and how they shape what we feel, believe, and choose. They explore the difference between raw facts and the emotional storyline built around them, naming how hype can manipulate attention, belonging, and identity.
They invite a return to truthfulness (Satya) and witness consciousness (sakshi bhava)—seeing the story without becoming the story—so decisions come from inner integrity, not crowd pressure. He also touches on collective “open secrets,” victim narratives, and why neutrality can get misread as opposition.
For teachers, he offers a practical lens: every class is a narrative—so what are you feeding? Ego, or autonomy and intention? They close with a simple map for crafting transformational stories in class: personal lesson → yogic principle → clear bridge back to the student’s life. Curious where your choices end and the narrative begins? This conversation is your mirror.
—-------—-------—-
Episode Chapters:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:43 Rebrand Tease
00:02:08 What Is a Narrative?
00:03:39 Algorithms & Echo Chambers
00:07:16 Facts vs. Story (Manipulation & Hype)
00:10:56 Self, Other, and Collective Narratives
00:15:29 Belonging, Shame, and Agreeableness
00:20:50 “First to Share” and Worthiness
00:24:57 Satya & Witness Consciousness
00:27:28 Language: From Truth to Spin
00:28:38 Victim Narratives
00:29:40 Why Old Stories Stick
00:33:17 Truth in the Present Moment
00:34:40 Teaching as Narrative
00:37:07 From Personal Story to Student Insight
00:39:40 Neti Neti & Ego Softening
00:41:07 Closing
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📚 Mentions & Resources:
Book: The Tipping Point — Malcolm Gladwell.
Yogic concepts: Satya (truthfulness), sakshi bhava (witness), neti neti (“not this, not that”).
Michael Henri’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelyoga.pt/
Byron de Marse’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byronyoga/
Going Pro Yoga’s Instagram: https://www.instagram/com/goingproyoga/
The IN Movement Podcast was formerly the Going Pro Yoga Podcast — and before that, the Yoga Teacher Evolution Podcast and the Rat Race Rebellion Podcast. Same mission, evolved name.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, welcome back to the podcasts.
We got some interesting news actually today before we jump
into the core topic, and I'm notsure if this is the best time to
share it right out the gate, butmaybe it is.
Well, we were just told to tease.
Tease, which means like kind of just let out a little
(00:22):
information. It's not like Go.
Full right. Yeah, so I feel like we're
already teasing it by not talking about it.
Yet, Yeah, it's kind of like I'mjust going to show like take off
an earring. I'm going to take off my, you
know, pull, just kind of pull this down my shoulder a little
bit. Just going to let you see my
little, my collarbone and yeah, and then maybe I'll go a little
bit further. What are we going to say?
(00:43):
Well, we're going to talk about how we're rebranding.
Oh, that's right. Rebranding.
So we're not completely, you know, just confusing people when
we do this rebrand, right. We are renaming the podcast,
rebranding it, and we're also opening studios as well, which
is part of it. But it's not tease everything
though I guess it's you know, that's enough teasing with the
(01:04):
the studio stuff. Yeah, but just with the
rebranding of the name of the podcast, I think it's good do.
You think it's enough? Should we actually say the name
or should we leave that to the next episode?
It's these. Yeah, let's leave it for the.
Next episode maybe. Yeah, open loop.
So people, you need to keep listening if you want to find
out the answer. If you care.
Well, there's. Well, let's give them one of the
words. Which one NN?
(01:28):
Yeah, N is part of it. NIN.
Yeah, INN is part of the the newpodcast name.
If you can guess it then get a free free head massage.
I don't think anyone will give it.
Get it so we can give them whatever they need.
OK ₹4 million, yeah. Like $250, yeah.
(01:53):
That's pretty good. That's.
Pretty good actually. I guess somebody will guess for.
It, yeah, but a few people mightalready know it, so I'm going to
go ahead and cancel that. OK, just kidding.
Anyways, so we are today. This is Byron, by the way.
And Michael here, of course, yeah.
We are going to go into a topic today that has to do with
(02:15):
stories. It has to do the the word
narrative is thrown around sometimes and that's the one
that resonates for me right now with this subject.
So creating a narrative, Michael, what do you have to say
about this topic? Yeah.
So like thinking of the word narrative, it can be used in
(02:35):
different contexts. You know, if you think about
like a story or a movie or a, you know, some sort of plot or
something like that can be kind of seen as like an overarching
story or an overarching like path or direction in which
something's being carried. But I think in the context in
(02:55):
which I believe we're asking or going to be kind of dissecting
this is talking about the external narratives or the
external stories that we absorb just by being exposed to whether
it be conversation media, other people's opinions about things.
(03:16):
And especially with like, you know, social media and being
able to quickly absorb a lot of information through scrolling.
And, you know, algorithms are basically in narratives.
If you have a certain interest of something, let's just say I'm
interested in, I don't know, let's go something extreme.
(03:37):
The earth is flat. It seems that way.
If I am interested in the earth being flat and I continue to
look in this information, then the algorithm online will help
to continue to support that narrative within my feed.
Therefore, further solidifying astory or narrative about the
(04:03):
feeling of that truth or non truth that the earth is flat.
So the narrative to me, thinkingof it from an external
perspective, and I have a littledefinition here that I'll read
the story that you inherited or learned, and it often promises
safety through some sort of conformity or maybe some sort of
(04:27):
what's the word? I'm looking for belonging, being
a part of a group that believes the same thing or, or follows
the same story. And there's a sense of safety
that's associated with that. Like if this is the story that
is being followed by others, if I jump onto that story, then I
feel safe within it. So there's definitely many
examples that can be talked about this, but some of the ones
(04:48):
that I have from this definitionhere, family rules, cultural
metrics of success, what beauty might be, what good is, what bad
is, etcetera. And there's so many things in
between. And then just to kind of look at
the contrast of this narrative or this story externally, we
(05:08):
would probably more look at whatis the actual truth or the inner
truth of like what's your actualnot story, but what's your
actual truth? You could call it your story if
you want to, but your truth, So the felt sense of what's real
for you now. So felt felt sense is an actual
term that's often referred to asintrospection, kind of talking
(05:31):
about what's actually like real for you inside.
You can call it your intuition if you want to, but is the
external narrative or the external story overriding your
inner truth or your inner intuition, your values, your
boundaries, your desires that align with your lived integrity?
(05:56):
So I think that's the conversation.
It's like talking about that, those external narratives, those
stories, and how much are you aware of their existence and how
much they influence your own truths and decisions and the way
that you see the world. So that's what I think.
That's what you think? What do you think, Byron?
What do I think? Well, this has been like my
(06:18):
topic lately. Like I have a my notes in my
phone. Like whenever I feel like I have
something really inspirational coming through me, I go straight
to my notes in my phone. There's probably a better way.
Holler at me if you know a better way, like a more
organized way. Because now my notes are just
flooded with inspirational ideas.
They're a bit unorganized. It's kind of fun to go through
(06:39):
them at times, but there's got to be a better way.
I feel like lately more than ever, because this has been
happening for a while, but lately more than ever, I have
this like stream of inspirational ideas and thoughts
and just coming through me at a higher rate.
It feels like I should definitely be channelling it to
a book, but it's just a narrative I'm creating here we
(07:03):
are at a podcast and at least I get to release these here and
see see where they stick and what comes up from it and what
we can learn. I'm on an individual I, we, and
collective experience. So narrative has been #1 lately,
the power of the narrative is what I'm calling it.
And there are different ways to think about this.
(07:25):
But those of you who already know me, you know I'm a bit of a
wordsmith. I enjoy linguistics.
This is the narrative, at least,I've created about myself.
It seems to be in alignment withthe way I communicate.
And to me, I'd like to break down more kind of like tried it
for learning purposes, like why is it important?
(07:46):
And I think you touched on a lotof really good things there.
So first of all, what what my mind goes to and I hear
narrative immediately I think ofpolitics, there's a narrative
that's being created. And in my home country, it's
very polarizing. the United States, it's just, it's
absolutely polarizing. This side thinks this way, the
other side thinks the other way.And everybody thinks they're
(08:08):
right and they're constantly fedthe same news by the narrative
that's created by some sort of, you know, the media that's
influenced and controlled in some way to create a narrative
to push out that narrative. And then you turn the channel,
it's the complete opposite narrative and it's the same
conversation. So that's the first thing I
(08:30):
think of is this political spectrum.
And because it's so polarizing, and then I think about the
narrative that we have, like yousaid, like in stories and
there's a plot and there's characters and there's kind of a
story going on. And I actually think about yoga
class narratives too. Like you can create a narrative
(08:52):
in your own yoga class. But just to bring it back to a
little bit more of what I think this is getting to, it's the
turn the cohesive, it's basically turning raw facts into
cohesive, emotionally engaging material.
(09:14):
So raw facts are facts. There's no emotion in raw facts.
They're just facts. They could create an emotion in
somebody, but a narrative is created when you you turn these
raw facts into a, a story, an emotionally engaging story with
intentions to move the person emotionally.
So I kind of think of the narrative as manipulation.
(09:37):
And I use that word because I don't know another word to use,
but it is there's some sort of control that happens through a
narrative. You could potentially create a
narrative that's more neutral and less ego based and coming
from heartfelt intentions, let'ssay.
But at the end of the day, it's still creating the intention.
There is some sort of emotional,you're drawing more interest and
(09:59):
energy to the character and the story behind the character and
the way they think. And so when I think of it like
that and you start to break it down as like narratives are very
powerful and they're very dangerous.
And we have a narrative about ourselves.
We are thinking and feeding ourselves stories about
(10:21):
ourselves. There is a narrative about
ourselves. We also have narratives about
others. This is probably one O 1
narrative. But what about like a collective
narrative? We have a narrative that we all
have. Let's say there is some topic
(10:41):
that nobody's really talking about and there's not, there's
really no energy into it. And then all of a sudden
somebody decides to call it out like that's, that's really good
or that's really bad. And then there's a narrative
that's created and then they start to add details to that.
Well, that's good because of this, or that's bad because of
this. And all of a sudden there's it's
(11:03):
like narrative is essentially energy.
And Dang, it can be hard to overcome because when you're
asking for opinions from other people, a lot of times you just,
you're just getting a narrative of something.
And so to make a decision off raw facts, now you're now you're
engaging that emotional energy into and it's not even your
(11:24):
emotional energy, it's somebody else's projected emotional
energy onto what they think thatyou should do.
And here you are. Maybe you're able to look at the
raw facts and there's a lot of yogic wisdom that maybe we can
reference that has to do with this, like a vidya and the
stress, what is that one the stress related to?
Misperception keeps us fused with old stories there.
(11:46):
You go so miss there's it's in the yoga philosophy even like a
narrative is essentially ego. An ego right or wrong, good or
bad or indifferent, positive, negative or neutral, unhealthy
or healthy narrative feeds your ego.
Ego is identity and who you think you are or what you think
(12:08):
something else is or you think someone else is, what you even
think about a culture, for example, what do you think about
a certain race, what you think about yoga in general.
So hype, when you create hype around something and hype to me
is like, oh, you got to go do this.
This movie is insane. You got to go to this concert.
(12:30):
You got to go to this yoga classis epic.
Oh my gosh. Like some things are really
hyped up. That's feeding a narrative.
It's creating emotional energy behind something that may or may
not be worth your time. The raw facts are missing.
And so it can be a beautiful experience to create a narrative
around something, but it can also be very limiting and very
(12:52):
damaging. And some people, I'm noticed,
it's like their life revolves around just creating narratives
on everything. That's what I believe, like
almost they think they're here to do that.
But a lot of our listeners are into yoga and philosophy, and
this won't be a new topic for them to be able to, to also just
(13:13):
understand that that's a narrative.
And to you to just listen to it,you know, and be vested and as
interested as as you really wantto be.
And not to just get swept into it because you have you have no
control over your own discernment over what's real and
what's not real. I mean, isn't it like, remember
(13:36):
the old tabloids? I remember, like the National
Enquirer magazine? I'd be standing in line.
And this is, you know, some of the the younger millennials and
Gen. Z people may not understand
this, but maybe they're still out there.
I'd be at the grocery store. They'd have all these magazines
there. I'd be like, mom, I'm going to
get the sports magazine. And like, what's this one?
This magazine is what that's like.
(13:56):
It's, it's, it's an outrageous claim.
Celebrities exposed so and so, you know, did something whatever
ridiculous. Or a lie.
It's like so and so decided to quit their, you know, Tom Cruise
has decided to actually be a pilot.
And then like, Go Top Gun has changed his mind.
(14:18):
He's becoming a pilot. Just making something up that
didn't happen. And the magazine would portray
it as true, creating a false narrative that is very
interesting to people because they love.
We love it. We are obsessed with getting
emotionally involved with stuff as humans.
We almost like need it. It's addicting.
It's like our culture, most of societal culture these days.
(14:39):
I'm not saying everybody. I don't think it's natural to be
this way. I think it's normal.
We've been conditioned to where we just eat it up.
Give. I don't, I don't even want to
have control of my emotions. I just want to go on all these
rides and just sit here and, andyou take me on a ride.
And if I get too uncomfortable, then I'll create my own negative
narrative about it and I'll share it to everybody so they'd
(15:00):
stay away from you. And I'll create my positive
narrative about these things. And instead of me just sitting
in my own autonomy and my own personal choice and feeling
empowered to pick and choose what sweeps me away and what
doesn't. Constantly think about this, the
more I engage with decision making on levels of business and
(15:21):
things that other people are involved with and how they may
or may not have the capacity to see the hype and the narrative
around things. So OK, the power of narrative.
Yeah. So there is a couple emotional
tones that I have here related to external narratives, which is
a pressure and a shame if you deviate from the narrative or
(15:45):
you move away from it potentially.
So I hear you with the hype and kind of building this up, but
like, let's just say you're in acommunity or you're with people
and the community is involved with that narrative.
But you as an individual who thinks freely has a more of a
perspective of like, well, what is the truth versus like, I'm
(16:08):
just going to jump on the bandwagon as they say.
And this saying, the shame, if you actually deviate from it,
and if you actually speak up against something that is
collectively agreed upon as a story or a narrative, then it
often gets shamed. Yeah, I can think of a few
examples. I won't say them out loud
because they're sensitive topicsand I don't want to stir the pot
(16:29):
right now, right? But if you hold a strong opinion
about a certain narrative and someone else either either that
opposes that or honestly it's not even opposing, it's just
neutral. Neutral to them is opposing then
that is considered a threat or considered apathy or
(16:55):
indifference or hate. And that person is now outcasted
from your your circle and you will no longer be receptive to
anything they have to do with. So that's, that's, that is what
it is good, bad or indifferent, right?
But it's the truth. It's the truth that's out there.
(17:16):
And then if you actually follow a narrative and you do it well
as you, you know, like you kind of like accept it and go through
with it, there's a certain levelof, let's say pride that is a
that comes in because you're like, oh, I'm following it.
And now I'm like almost being accepted.
And that in the case I would saypride is not a good thing.
Agreeable, right? Like just becoming so agreeable
(17:39):
in an, in a moment and you don'teven catch yourself.
You're just being agreeable. You don't even know it.
You're an autopilot agreeable just because you like the
energy, you're following the emotional thing and you're,
there's something about you internally that knows.
Let's call it safety, acceptance, love, appreciation,
acknowledgement. You're receiving all these
things just by being agreeable and going with the narrative,
(18:02):
even if you're not even coherently connecting if that's
the truth to you or not, right? You don't even interested.
You're just like, oh, more belonging, more acceptance.
This is great. Exactly, Exactly why I have
conversations. This is why I talk to people in
the 1st place. Let's go.
Yeah. And that's a universal trauma
that people experience. This is a sense of, let's say,
(18:23):
worthiness or belonging. You know, there's kind of
varying degrees of this, but like people want to belong and
they want to be feel worthy. And everybody has a certain
degree of that challenge, like being enough, if you will.
And when you are agreeing upon astory or something like that,
you're kind of trying to basically not deviate from what
is accepted. And it helps to kind of keep you
(18:45):
feeling safe and sensely belong.And if you were to, let's say,
counter against that or potentially just like create,
actually, I think we'll go with the creation of a narrative than
you creating a narrative about something and hyping it up or
(19:06):
someone, let's just say someone is doing it.
You are possibly perceiving yourself as more valuable
because you're bringing a story to people's attention about a
particular thing, and therefore fueling a certain part of you
that wants to feel worthy. Or love because you're the one
(19:26):
that discovered it. That is definitely a common
thing, being the first to know, the first to share.
That's usually, I would say morein the younger years of life.
Well, it's definitely something that I've experienced in younger
years. As maturity comes through,
hopefully for us adults, we recognize that that's not that
really important. But I would say that there is a
certain amount of like who noticed this first?
(19:47):
Who came up with it first? I'm going to share this thing
with other people because I found it and it's cool, but
like, have I actually checked the facts about it?
Or am I just sharing this because I think people are going
to like it and therefore that means they might actually like
me? Or maybe that could also come
from just to play the other sideof that.
(20:07):
That could come from like a deepresponsibility or calling to, to
be able to share the things thathave really worked for you.
Or maybe you feel like you just have a keen eye for this thing
and you're, you know, you're kind of helping society friends
(20:28):
to discover it as well. So I think both sides could
happen. Absolutely, yeah.
It's just an interesting kind ofway of looking at like, first of
all, the whole idea behind this conversation is like, are we
even aware of the narratives that exist around us?
And how many of your thoughts, your opinions about things, are
they actually yours, or were they implanted at some point in
(20:49):
time and you've just been rolling with it for a long time?
Yeah. And when people, you know, where
we've been taught, many of us have been taught that.
And it's it's pretty true. I believe that when you speak
up, the like the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
Never heard that. Like the squeaker, the wheel,
you know, the if you're a littlelouder, you get more attention.
(21:12):
And so this has been baked into our many of our upbringings in
society. And it doesn't mean everybody's
actually learned to do it, but many of us have.
And we're like, well, if you want attention, you better,
better create engagement from others.
And how can you do that? Well, either use your voice and
speak up or you create a story. And so it's, it's this kind of,
(21:37):
and it's kind of baked into our culture.
In my opinion, it's a little unfortunate that we, we, you
have to speak up in order to getattention.
And that's, that's rewarded morethan, than not speaking up.
And then I, I know that that's, there's benefits to speaking up
and we need to find our voice. I, I think that's a beautiful
(21:59):
thing, but there's the two sidesof everything.
And I think it can also be you can use your voice in a way
that's overbearing too much, notin alignment with truth, not
aligning your actions, words andthoughts, which is called
truthfulness. So not being truthful with your
(22:20):
words. And yeah, I mean, so, so many
people have tried to destroy people's lives actually through
this as well. Like oftentimes couples that
break up or if there's children involved and they create this
narrative around this parent is bad or like they want they're
manipulating a younger mind. I've seen this happen way too
(22:42):
close to home and I've, I've gotten to witness it and it's,
it's paralyzing. You can't do anything because
you're the more silent you are. It feels, it feels like it's,
there's an injustice there. So you feel like you have to do
the same thing or you have to speak up.
And then, you know, so who's better at playing that game?
(23:03):
And now this beautiful experience of life that's
supposed to be shared through family and love and this, this
closer unit that you can trust is now all of a sudden the
completely turned inside out, intentionally, completely fucked
up. And there are no raw facts
anymore. It's it's literally how
(23:24):
persuasive are you? How good of a storyteller are
you? How much do you withhold?
How much do you, how connected are you to the people knowing
what you know, if they're able to like, are they trusting you
or not? Yeah, it just feeds into the
whole narcissistic, sociopathic,psychopathic narrative that is
out there really strong right now.
(23:47):
Even those words kind of have their own broad meanings, right?
Yeah, it makes me think unfortunately about like the
legal system and lawyers, like they're basically just trying to
fight two different narratives against each other.
One of them is hopefully the truth and the other one is
obviously not because they're, even though there can be
multiple truths, often times I would say they're they're
(24:08):
polarizing in that sense. So you know, it's all around us.
Of course, hopefully that's not a situation that we need to be
kind of like going into that place is obviously I'm sure some
emotional energy related to legal and lawyer related stuff.
But to just to kind of bring it in a little bit like you
mentioned truthfulness and Satya.
So like living with what's actually real, not what's
(24:29):
actually been rehearsed or been like, you know, like implanted
within you. And that's part of like that
intuition and checking in like what is actually true and real
for you, You know, maybe it's maybe facts is part of it, like
science and evidence based stuffis obviously very helpful for
kind of knowing what's actually real and not real.
But I think there's a certain amount of awareness or
consciousness about this conversation that needs to be
(24:53):
present at all times because we're constantly surrounded by
narratives. We're constantly surrounded by
stories, whether it be ones thatwe've already been injected with
and that are currently like stewing within our system or
ones that we're picking up new everyday.
Often times there's a lot that can come through the media,
social media in particular. And then there's this other
(25:13):
concept, excuse me, let's see ifI can say this right, Saksi
Baba, which is witness consciousness.
So seeing the story without actually becoming the story, and
that's part of that awareness, are you able to even become
aware that this is a story that exists?
Is it the truth? Maybe it is the truth, but
(25:35):
asking yourself that question isprobably a good place to start.
Yeah, sometimes for sure. I think that's a really deep
one. Witness.
Convention. Witness.
Witness consciousness. Conscious.
Sorry. Seeing the story without
becoming the story. Seeing the story, yeah.
And back to what you're saying about the Satya and the truth, I
(25:56):
think of oftentimes, and I may have said this on one of our
podcasts about language and really what language is designed
to do. If you look at it from a really
pure perspective, like a real, honest, pure, wholehearted,
well-intentioned perspective, our words are designed to help
(26:20):
navigate truth. I'm hungry.
You know, it all started there. Probably rubbing my stomach,
right? Trying to get some point across
that I need something that's thetruth.
Or maybe there's some affectionate symbol where like a
hug. But and then it is we developed
our palette of words to use likeI'm hungry or in another
(26:44):
language, some other way to say that.
And then eventually that evolvesto be like, you know what, I'm,
I can't really decide where I want to eat.
You know, this restaurant so good.
And I've been there four times. But the last time I was there,
they like they they just didn't deliver as well.
Took too long and it smelled a little funny.
But this new restaurant, you know, Tina actually said it's
(27:05):
the best one in town and I thinkI should try it out.
And the truth is what? You're still hungry.
The truth is you're still hungry.
But the narrative has gotten in the way to where you're like,
you're not even focused on the truth anymore.
But we can get caught up in that.
And it can be kind of fun. But you can overlay that on
things that aren't so fun as well, you know, when it comes
(27:29):
when it comes to things that areactually like, really pulling at
your heartstrings and big decisions in life.
But yeah, words are designed to get you closer to the truth from
a purely Satya perspective, which is interesting because
here we are on a podcast, 2 talking hearts.
I like to say, rather than talking heads, we are people.
(27:49):
We're we're on a platform right now where people enjoy talking,
they'd enjoy conversation. And this is a conversation about
how we need to have more honest conversations, more factual
based, heightened awareness, just truth based.
(28:10):
You know, I also, while it's on my mind and I don't want to
forget this, it just came up. The victim mentality is often
times created through this. You just, you know, we all seen
it. You may have experienced it.
I mean, I think I have experienced it in my life where
I've just I'm just the victim here.
Like everything was piled up against me to like fail and that
(28:32):
was not I don't have any responsibility in that.
It was definitely not my fault. And some people live in that
state and they're just so unaware that that's a pattern
that's coming up for them, that's happening through a
narrative. I'm always the victim, even
though that's not what they say to themselves.
But they say I'm always, I'm never at fault.
(28:52):
It's this person did this to me.And then it's just like digging
you deeper and deeper. It's like getting that shovel
and you just keep on going down there, just keep going down.
All of a sudden you're so down there, so far down, you can't
even see up anymore. It doesn't even you, just you
think that's your natural habitat now you can't even see
that there is light up there until maybe something happens,
(29:15):
hopefully someday where you get shaken, that gets shaken out of
you. Enough.
Yeah. So just to kind of address that
from like a neurological perspective, there's a process
called the default mode network within our brains that strings
together memories or informationinto a self narrative, kind of
like what you're saying. And it loves coherence, it loves
(29:37):
consistency. So if that narrative is being
reinforced on and on and on, then it the, the default network
part of our brain really likes that, even if the information is
outdated, like it's been there for so long, but it's because
it's still being reinforced. This is kind of like why old
habits die hard, you know, like older people that have a certain
narrative about the world or some of the the sensitive topics
(30:02):
of the world, whether it be racism or gender stuff.
And like all that. Even if it's outdated, the self
narrative that's been created inour brain is going to want to
keep that for as long as possible because that's what the
body likes. But when a new experience starts
to come in and contradict that old narrative or that old
script, the brain experiences what we call prediction error.
(30:25):
And that discomfort within our system, or within the nervous
system in particular, often pushes back against with that
familiar story. Interesting.
I wonder if that has anything todo with the way like if you are
thinking like kind of quick witted and you're kind of
catching somebody and they're like, oh, how are you?
(30:47):
You know, whatever simple, normal, predicted, you know,
insert so many different things like thank you or I'll see you
later. You know, all these things we do
and ask me how I am. How are you?
I am. Ask me again, you are what?
(31:08):
How are? How are you?
I I'm good. I guess that's what we say,
right? I was trying to think of another
way to answer it, but I guess you can ask it differently and
throw people off. How art thou?
How graceful are you? How is your heart today?
What's alive for you? What's present for you?
(31:30):
How's your breathing today? Right.
How are your chakras spinning lately?
How was your bowel movement thismorning?
Is respiration going well? Yeah.
So I I think maybe that's what that has to do with something
about. That's like, because I do that
sometimes, like when someone says a normal predicted thing to
me, sometimes I just interrupt it with like, I catch you off
(31:51):
guard and say something that right, could even be potentially
hilarious. But they're not, they can't even
catch it because they're just like they're thrown off and
they're like error, brain error.And they're just like or, or,
or, and a lot of people will just kind of just get stunned
and then be like, oh, OK, I'm going to carry on with the next
thing. If it's a more intimate
conversation, like, you know, and it's, I'm thinking of
(32:12):
classes, sometimes it's these really quick interactions.
But if they're a little longer than they might be like, oh,
that. Let's go into that for a minute.
Yeah, that's interesting. That's.
Yeah, for sure. I mean, subconsciousness and
consciousness is a, there's a part of that that can be
involved in this whole thing. Like stories are living in our
subconscious information that kind of goes into that back part
(32:34):
of our mind, which is habits andjust things that allow us to
operate from an autopilot perspective.
And anytime we operate outside of that, it kind of has this,
what we call the prediction error.
And it makes it a little bit more like, oh, jarring unless we
have the energy or the space or even just the awareness to
become conscious of the actual thing that's happening, which is
like, oh, they asked me a question.
(32:56):
Am I just going to go back to the I'm good or is it like?
If you're just super present andyou're not operating from
predicted. Then you're then you're going to
Satya. Then you're in the truthfulness,
actually operating from a place of truth, the present truth.
So feels like we covered a lot in a short amount of time.
How long has it been? I'm thinking around I don't know
(33:19):
so. 25 minutes. 25 OK, 25 minutes.
OK, so let's let's start to get this closer to resolution, which
is what you do in a narrative. You actually it, it's kind of
what you do. You go through the the
characters, who is the story about the setting, where and
when that is happening, the plot, what happens and why the
(33:39):
conflict is there, the tension, the challenge that drives the
story. And then you get to the
resolution, how it concludes or transforms.
So I think we've done that. We've had some emotional energy
earlier going, I was like, you know, kind of the power struggle
and all this. And you know, we define some
characters in there. Let's bring it to yoga for
(34:00):
resolution. You go into yoga as a yoga
facilitator teacher. See our podcast on roles.
If you don't understand why I'm bracketing that, but basically
yoga teacher, you are every single time, whether you have a
60 minute, 45 minute, 90 minute class retreat, whatever, you are
facilitating a story for the students.
(34:24):
Now if it's like a an Ashtanga based, it's like it's not going
to have as much layered stories because you're really following
a sequence. So I understand, like if you're
committed to a sequence more than you are anything else,
that's a little different. But if you're actually going
into storytelling within your class, then you're very much
creating a narrative. What are you feeding people in
(34:47):
your narrative? What are you hyping up, right?
Are you hyping up ego? Are you hyping up choice,
empowerment, autonomy? Are you hyping up intention?
Are you hyping up that you know,we are unity consciousness?
(35:08):
Are you hyping up victim mentality?
Like how are you you creating this experience for people
through your words? I mean, it's unlimited.
I could go on and on. That's just what came to my my
mind through your story. And I will say with the
sequencing, if you understand sequencing, especially for like
standing sequences, if you're invinyasa, creative vinyasa is
(35:30):
really hard. It's the hardest one probably to
get philosophy in there and create this narrative of yogic
wisdom and also tell transformational stories within
it and also frame it in the point of view so that they can
embody how they could do it, notjust hear your own personal
stuff. Then you need to know sequencing
pretty well. Yeah.
(35:52):
In yoga, you can do it much easier because there's less,
there's more space, there's lessqueuing for the poses.
But yeah, what are we feeding? You know, what are we nourishing
people with? And when it comes to the
storytelling and knowing that silence in space in a lot of
beginners, all people need to hear that, Not just beginners
(36:15):
need to hear that silence space.Letting things land contributes
to the narrative. It helps things land within the
stories that you're telling. And my suggestion here is
whatever transformational story that you might be sharing, maybe
it is a starts as a personal level and then you look at that
(36:38):
story and you start to think about what did I learn from that
interaction or story or relationship?
What did I learn about myself? And then from whatever I learned
about myself, how can I tie thatinto yogic philosophy and then
find the parallels and then share it in a way that allows
(37:01):
them to a bigger opportunity to embody transformation from that
story in their own life? And that's just kind of like my
my way of looking at the narrative before we sign off.
So I because one of the cameras went off, I kind of got a little
distracted. Did you mention about bringing
(37:22):
it back to the like back to themlike sharing that personal like
lesson and then also bringing itto them and.
Saying like and that's what I. Just how does this relate?
To you I I heard that beep of the camera and that's exactly
what I was saying. OK, cool.
Right there. Just wanted to make sure.
Because that was what I'm thinking.
Find the lesson within the storythat you're sharing.
How? What did you personally learn?
Because if you did learn something, then there's
(37:43):
embodiment there. Yeah, great.
From that embodiment, you're sharing something that already
has more emotional energy behindit because it's really important
to you. And then don't just leave them
with how you changed your life. That's not going to really
empower them to do that with their life.
So usually there's a yogic philosophy that can tie into it.
Like what did you learn? Is this the thing about honesty
(38:04):
and Satya? Is this the thing about
contentment and how or letting go of control and maybe
surrender? Or was this something where you
learned that maybe controls the opposite?
Like you learned you could control yourself in this moment,
you know and not and break the pattern of what you used to lose
control of what is it? Find the parallel for yogic
(38:25):
philosophy and then that share it in a way where and also this
is something that you can do too, right?
That's good. That's a good way to tie it back
in. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I actually really enjoyed this topic, to be
honest. Yeah, well, I already knew I I
was going to enjoy it because I've just been obsessed with it
lately. Yeah, there's definitely a lots
(38:46):
of things that can do this be discussed.
I even have more notes. But just yeah, I think we can
strap it up about a 40 minutes or so.
But yeah, always curious to knowwhat what you guys think.
Of course. So those listening, you know, if
you have anything to share, reach out to us, either Byron or
myself on Instagram. That seems to be the easiest way
to do it. Byron Yoga.
Michael Yoga dot PT And then there's two other little, well,
(39:09):
actually one in particular that I kind of like.
Let's see if I can find. Is it this one?
It's this one. No, it's not that one.
Let's see here. Oh, I can't find it.
It was another. Oh, neti neti.
That's what it is, though. Yoga perspective.
(39:29):
It called neti neti. Not this, not that a classic
inquiry practice, loosening identification about something.
So not this, not that. It's kind of like almost just
like kind of separating what what you might be attached to.
To me it's a bit of like. You know, I think ego work.
Yeah, cutting, cutting loose some of that.
Stuff I think that's beautiful. That's a nice thing to add.
(39:50):
I don't want to miss that. So if the more work we do on, on
I don't want to kill my ego, buton softening my ego, then I
think naturally you'll be able to to pick up on narratives a
lot easier. And also, I would say kind of
bringing it back to that, that sense of worth and value this or
(40:12):
regurgitating this thing becauseit makes me feel like I'm
providing value and it helps to boast part of my pride or ego,
or am I sharing this in a place of self or not self-service, but
selfless service. So just the question, something
to kind of sit with, you know, is the things that I'm sharing
is, am I doing it for me or am Idoing it for them?
(40:34):
And is it truth? Or is it you?
Know so there's just a couple questions to kind of play with
there. Is it truth and am I doing it
for me? Am I doing it for them?
It could be both. It could be both.
So something for? You to kind of sit with
otherwise I think that's it for today Yep and then if you want
to tune in next week, of course we will maybe we'll reveal what
(40:55):
the what the name of the the newpodcast will be.
I like how we just. Contributed to the narrative
about a narrative. Exactly yeah.
We just changed the dynamic justthrough people listening maybe a
little bit to where now they're considering what a narrative is.
This is this is that kind of theslow domino effect into it's
(41:18):
like that book The Tipping Pointby Malcolm Gladwell.
How do epidemics happen? And it's through the roles of a
people and we all have a different role archetype.
And I mine's like whatever a motor or something has to do
with like you're emotionally like you really love what you
love and you tell people about it.
And there's connectors who are like, they just know so many
(41:40):
people. And so they are outreach is
huge, but less people listen to them because they're like, ah,
they reach out to everybody. And there's like all these other
different roles too. And it's like, how does a pair
of Chuck Taylor shoes or those high tops or whatever,
basketball shoes, like how did those get so popular at one
point, you know, And how does Siri gets so popular?
(42:03):
I mean, now it's a little easierto see it, I think, cuz a
digital effects on the Internet.But I think that is a narrative
book. It's a book about narratives.
So yeah, we contributed to the narrative on narratives.
Yeah. It's a paradox, really.
Cool. Thank you so much.
For. Sharing your thoughts and your
energy, Byron, and thank you, listeners.
(42:25):
Thank you, listeners, for tuningin.
Just one simple ask is somethingthat I usually ask on every
podcast. If it's something that you can
do for us is to, yeah, we'd loveto get support from you.
So one of the easiest ways to dothat is to just kind of go to
the main podcast page, which is currently called the Going Pro
Yoga Podcast. So what I would say actually, if
you do enjoy this podcast, I suggest saving it because when
(42:46):
we do eventually change the name, it might be a little bit
harder to find. So that's my first suggestion is
to save or kind of whatever it is on Spotify or Apple Podcast,
like add it to your library. And then the second thing while
you're in there and that main page would be really awesome if
you gave us some love. So some star reviews.
So go find that. Usually it's either in like the
settings like the triple dot or something like that.
(43:08):
I find that star review just give us some love.
We'd really appreciate it allowsus to share this information,
this knowledge with as many people as possible.
And pretty soon I should share this.
We'll tease. This up, there'll be some audio
classes of mine that are live recorded classes and actually
Bali that will be available as well through this podcast.
So a little teaser there too. Yeah, lots, lots coming.
(43:30):
The new podcast Amazing Let. Me leave you with this.
Oh, I'm going in. All right, we'll see you guys
next week. Take care for now.
Hello, welcome back to the podcasts.
We got some interesting news actually today before we jump
into the core topic, and I'm notsure if this is the best time to
share it right out the gate, butmaybe it is.
Well, we were just told to tease.
Tease, which means like kind of just let out a little
(00:22):
information. It's not like Go.
Full right. Yeah, so I feel like we're
already teasing it by not talking about it.
Yet, Yeah, it's kind of like I'mjust going to show like take off
an earring. I'm going to take off my, you
know, pull, just kind of pull this down my shoulder a little
bit. Just going to let you see my
little, my collarbone and yeah, and then maybe I'll go a little
bit further. What are we going to say?
(00:43):
Well, we're going to talk about how we're rebranding.
Oh, that's right. Rebranding.
So we're not completely, you know, just confusing people when
we do this rebrand, right. We are renaming the podcast,
rebranding it, and we're also opening studios as well, which
is part of it. But it's not tease everything
though I guess it's you know, that's enough teasing with the
(01:04):
the studio stuff. Yeah, but just with the
rebranding of the name of the podcast, I think it's good do.
You think it's enough? Should we actually say the name
or should we leave that to the next episode?
It's these. Yeah, let's leave it for the.
Next episode maybe. Yeah, open loop.
So people, you need to keep listening if you want to find
out the answer. If you care.
Well, there's. Well, let's give them one of the
words. Which one NN?
(01:28):
Yeah, N is part of it. NIN.
Yeah, INN is part of the the newpodcast name.
If you can guess it then get a free free head massage.
I don't think anyone will give it.
Get it so we can give them whatever they need.
OK ₹4 million, yeah. Like $250, yeah.
(01:53):
That's pretty good. That's.
Pretty good actually. I guess somebody will guess for.
It, yeah, but a few people mightalready know it, so I'm going to
go ahead and cancel that. OK, just kidding.
Anyways, so we are today. This is Byron, by the way.
And Michael here, of course, yeah.
We are going to go into a topic today that has to do with
(02:15):
stories. It has to do the the word
narrative is thrown around sometimes and that's the one
that resonates for me right now with this subject.
So creating a narrative, Michael, what do you have to say
about this topic? Yeah.
So like thinking of the word narrative, it can be used in
(02:35):
different contexts. You know, if you think about
like a story or a movie or a, you know, some sort of plot or
something like that can be kind of seen as like an overarching
story or an overarching like path or direction in which
something's being carried. But I think in the context in
(02:55):
which I believe we're asking or going to be kind of dissecting
this is talking about the external narratives or the
external stories that we absorb just by being exposed to whether
it be conversation media, other people's opinions about things.
(03:16):
And especially with like, you know, social media and being
able to quickly absorb a lot of information through scrolling.
And, you know, algorithms are basically in narratives.
If you have a certain interest of something, let's just say I'm
interested in, I don't know, let's go something extreme.
(03:37):
The earth is flat. It seems that way.
If I am interested in the earth being flat and I continue to
look in this information, then the algorithm online will help
to continue to support that narrative within my feed.
Therefore, further solidifying astory or narrative about the
(04:03):
feeling of that truth or non truth that the earth is flat.
So the narrative to me, thinkingof it from an external
perspective, and I have a littledefinition here that I'll read
the story that you inherited or learned, and it often promises
safety through some sort of conformity or maybe some sort of
(04:27):
what's the word? I'm looking for belonging, being
a part of a group that believes the same thing or, or follows
the same story. And there's a sense of safety
that's associated with that. Like if this is the story that
is being followed by others, if I jump onto that story, then I
feel safe within it. So there's definitely many
examples that can be talked about this, but some of the ones
(04:48):
that I have from this definitionhere, family rules, cultural
metrics of success, what beauty might be, what good is, what bad
is, etcetera. And there's so many things in
between. And then just to kind of look at
the contrast of this narrative or this story externally, we
(05:08):
would probably more look at whatis the actual truth or the inner
truth of like what's your actualnot story, but what's your
actual truth? You could call it your story if
you want to, but your truth, So the felt sense of what's real
for you now. So felt felt sense is an actual
term that's often referred to asintrospection, kind of talking
(05:31):
about what's actually like real for you inside.
You can call it your intuition if you want to, but is the
external narrative or the external story overriding your
inner truth or your inner intuition, your values, your
boundaries, your desires that align with your lived integrity?
(05:56):
So I think that's the conversation.
It's like talking about that, those external narratives, those
stories, and how much are you aware of their existence and how
much they influence your own truths and decisions and the way
that you see the world. So that's what I think.
That's what you think? What do you think, Byron?
What do I think? Well, this has been like my
(06:18):
topic lately. Like I have a my notes in my
phone. Like whenever I feel like I have
something really inspirational coming through me, I go straight
to my notes in my phone. There's probably a better way.
Holler at me if you know a better way, like a more
organized way. Because now my notes are just
flooded with inspirational ideas.
They're a bit unorganized. It's kind of fun to go through
(06:39):
them at times, but there's got to be a better way.
I feel like lately more than ever, because this has been
happening for a while, but lately more than ever, I have
this like stream of inspirational ideas and thoughts
and just coming through me at a higher rate.
It feels like I should definitely be channelling it to
a book, but it's just a narrative I'm creating here we
(07:03):
are at a podcast and at least I get to release these here and
see see where they stick and what comes up from it and what
we can learn. I'm on an individual I, we, and
collective experience. So narrative has been #1 lately,
the power of the narrative is what I'm calling it.
And there are different ways to think about this.
(07:25):
But those of you who already know me, you know I'm a bit of a
wordsmith. I enjoy linguistics.
This is the narrative, at least,I've created about myself.
It seems to be in alignment withthe way I communicate.
And to me, I'd like to break down more kind of like tried it
for learning purposes, like why is it important?
(07:46):
And I think you touched on a lotof really good things there.
So first of all, what what my mind goes to and I hear
narrative immediately I think ofpolitics, there's a narrative
that's being created. And in my home country, it's
very polarizing. the United States, it's just, it's
absolutely polarizing. This side thinks this way, the
other side thinks the other way.And everybody thinks they're
(08:08):
right and they're constantly fedthe same news by the narrative
that's created by some sort of, you know, the media that's
influenced and controlled in some way to create a narrative
to push out that narrative. And then you turn the channel,
it's the complete opposite narrative and it's the same
conversation. So that's the first thing I
(08:30):
think of is this political spectrum.
And because it's so polarizing, and then I think about the
narrative that we have, like yousaid, like in stories and
there's a plot and there's characters and there's kind of a
story going on. And I actually think about yoga
class narratives too. Like you can create a narrative
(08:52):
in your own yoga class. But just to bring it back to a
little bit more of what I think this is getting to, it's the
turn the cohesive, it's basically turning raw facts into
cohesive, emotionally engaging material.
(09:14):
So raw facts are facts. There's no emotion in raw facts.
They're just facts. They could create an emotion in
somebody, but a narrative is created when you you turn these
raw facts into a, a story, an emotionally engaging story with
intentions to move the person emotionally.
So I kind of think of the narrative as manipulation.
(09:37):
And I use that word because I don't know another word to use,
but it is there's some sort of control that happens through a
narrative. You could potentially create a
narrative that's more neutral and less ego based and coming
from heartfelt intentions, let'ssay.
But at the end of the day, it's still creating the intention.
There is some sort of emotional,you're drawing more interest and
(09:59):
energy to the character and the story behind the character and
the way they think. And so when I think of it like
that and you start to break it down as like narratives are very
powerful and they're very dangerous.
And we have a narrative about ourselves.
We are thinking and feeding ourselves stories about
(10:21):
ourselves. There is a narrative about
ourselves. We also have narratives about
others. This is probably one O 1
narrative. But what about like a collective
narrative? We have a narrative that we all
have. Let's say there is some topic
(10:41):
that nobody's really talking about and there's not, there's
really no energy into it. And then all of a sudden
somebody decides to call it out like that's, that's really good
or that's really bad. And then there's a narrative
that's created and then they start to add details to that.
Well, that's good because of this, or that's bad because of
this. And all of a sudden there's it's
(11:03):
like narrative is essentially energy.
And Dang, it can be hard to overcome because when you're
asking for opinions from other people, a lot of times you just,
you're just getting a narrative of something.
And so to make a decision off raw facts, now you're now you're
engaging that emotional energy into and it's not even your
(11:24):
emotional energy, it's somebody else's projected emotional
energy onto what they think thatyou should do.
And here you are. Maybe you're able to look at the
raw facts and there's a lot of yogic wisdom that maybe we can
reference that has to do with this, like a vidya and the
stress, what is that one the stress related to?
Misperception keeps us fused with old stories there.
(11:46):
You go so miss there's it's in the yoga philosophy even like a
narrative is essentially ego. An ego right or wrong, good or
bad or indifferent, positive, negative or neutral, unhealthy
or healthy narrative feeds your ego.
Ego is identity and who you think you are or what you think
(12:08):
something else is or you think someone else is, what you even
think about a culture, for example, what do you think about
a certain race, what you think about yoga in general.
So hype, when you create hype around something and hype to me
is like, oh, you got to go do this.
This movie is insane. You got to go to this concert.
(12:30):
You got to go to this yoga classis epic.
Oh my gosh. Like some things are really
hyped up. That's feeding a narrative.
It's creating emotional energy behind something that may or may
not be worth your time. The raw facts are missing.
And so it can be a beautiful experience to create a narrative
around something, but it can also be very limiting and very
(12:52):
damaging. And some people, I'm noticed,
it's like their life revolves around just creating narratives
on everything. That's what I believe, like
almost they think they're here to do that.
But a lot of our listeners are into yoga and philosophy, and
this won't be a new topic for them to be able to, to also just
(13:13):
understand that that's a narrative.
And to you to just listen to it,you know, and be vested and as
interested as as you really wantto be.
And not to just get swept into it because you have you have no
control over your own discernment over what's real and
what's not real. I mean, isn't it like, remember
(13:36):
the old tabloids? I remember, like the National
Enquirer magazine? I'd be standing in line.
And this is, you know, some of the the younger millennials and
Gen. Z people may not understand
this, but maybe they're still out there.
I'd be at the grocery store. They'd have all these magazines
there. I'd be like, mom, I'm going to
get the sports magazine. And like, what's this one?
This magazine is what that's like.
(13:56):
It's, it's, it's an outrageous claim.
Celebrities exposed so and so, you know, did something whatever
ridiculous. Or a lie.
It's like so and so decided to quit their, you know, Tom Cruise
has decided to actually be a pilot.
And then like, Go Top Gun has changed his mind.
(14:18):
He's becoming a pilot. Just making something up that
didn't happen. And the magazine would portray
it as true, creating a false narrative that is very
interesting to people because they love.
We love it. We are obsessed with getting
emotionally involved with stuff as humans.
We almost like need it. It's addicting.
It's like our culture, most of societal culture these days.
(14:39):
I'm not saying everybody. I don't think it's natural to be
this way. I think it's normal.
We've been conditioned to where we just eat it up.
Give. I don't, I don't even want to
have control of my emotions. I just want to go on all these
rides and just sit here and, andyou take me on a ride.
And if I get too uncomfortable, then I'll create my own negative
narrative about it and I'll share it to everybody so they'd
(15:00):
stay away from you. And I'll create my positive
narrative about these things. And instead of me just sitting
in my own autonomy and my own personal choice and feeling
empowered to pick and choose what sweeps me away and what
doesn't. Constantly think about this, the
more I engage with decision making on levels of business and
(15:21):
things that other people are involved with and how they may
or may not have the capacity to see the hype and the narrative
around things. So OK, the power of narrative.
Yeah. So there is a couple emotional
tones that I have here related to external narratives, which is
a pressure and a shame if you deviate from the narrative or
(15:45):
you move away from it potentially.
So I hear you with the hype and kind of building this up, but
like, let's just say you're in acommunity or you're with people
and the community is involved with that narrative.
But you as an individual who thinks freely has a more of a
perspective of like, well, what is the truth versus like, I'm
(16:08):
just going to jump on the bandwagon as they say.
And this saying, the shame, if you actually deviate from it,
and if you actually speak up against something that is
collectively agreed upon as a story or a narrative, then it
often gets shamed. Yeah, I can think of a few
examples. I won't say them out loud
because they're sensitive topicsand I don't want to stir the pot
(16:29):
right now, right? But if you hold a strong opinion
about a certain narrative and someone else either either that
opposes that or honestly it's not even opposing, it's just
neutral. Neutral to them is opposing then
that is considered a threat or considered apathy or
(16:55):
indifference or hate. And that person is now outcasted
from your your circle and you will no longer be receptive to
anything they have to do with. So that's, that's, that is what
it is good, bad or indifferent, right?
But it's the truth. It's the truth that's out there.
(17:16):
And then if you actually follow a narrative and you do it well
as you, you know, like you kind of like accept it and go through
with it, there's a certain levelof, let's say pride that is a
that comes in because you're like, oh, I'm following it.
And now I'm like almost being accepted.
And that in the case I would saypride is not a good thing.
Agreeable, right? Like just becoming so agreeable
(17:39):
in an, in a moment and you don'teven catch yourself.
You're just being agreeable. You don't even know it.
You're an autopilot agreeable just because you like the
energy, you're following the emotional thing and you're,
there's something about you internally that knows.
Let's call it safety, acceptance, love, appreciation,
acknowledgement. You're receiving all these
things just by being agreeable and going with the narrative,
(18:02):
even if you're not even coherently connecting if that's
the truth to you or not, right? You don't even interested.
You're just like, oh, more belonging, more acceptance.
This is great. Exactly, Exactly why I have
conversations. This is why I talk to people in
the 1st place. Let's go.
Yeah. And that's a universal trauma
that people experience. This is a sense of, let's say,
(18:23):
worthiness or belonging. You know, there's kind of
varying degrees of this, but like people want to belong and
they want to be feel worthy. And everybody has a certain
degree of that challenge, like being enough, if you will.
And when you are agreeing upon astory or something like that,
you're kind of trying to basically not deviate from what
is accepted. And it helps to kind of keep you
(18:45):
feeling safe and sensely belong.And if you were to, let's say,
counter against that or potentially just like create,
actually, I think we'll go with the creation of a narrative than
you creating a narrative about something and hyping it up or
(19:06):
someone, let's just say someone is doing it.
You are possibly perceiving yourself as more valuable
because you're bringing a story to people's attention about a
particular thing, and therefore fueling a certain part of you
that wants to feel worthy. Or love because you're the one
(19:26):
that discovered it. That is definitely a common
thing, being the first to know, the first to share.
That's usually, I would say morein the younger years of life.
Well, it's definitely something that I've experienced in younger
years. As maturity comes through,
hopefully for us adults, we recognize that that's not that
really important. But I would say that there is a
certain amount of like who noticed this first?
(19:47):
Who came up with it first? I'm going to share this thing
with other people because I found it and it's cool, but
like, have I actually checked the facts about it?
Or am I just sharing this because I think people are going
to like it and therefore that means they might actually like
me? Or maybe that could also come
from just to play the other sideof that.
(20:07):
That could come from like a deepresponsibility or calling to, to
be able to share the things thathave really worked for you.
Or maybe you feel like you just have a keen eye for this thing
and you're, you know, you're kind of helping society friends
(20:28):
to discover it as well. So I think both sides could
happen. Absolutely, yeah.
It's just an interesting kind ofway of looking at like, first of
all, the whole idea behind this conversation is like, are we
even aware of the narratives that exist around us?
And how many of your thoughts, your opinions about things, are
they actually yours, or were they implanted at some point in
(20:49):
time and you've just been rolling with it for a long time?
Yeah. And when people, you know, where
we've been taught, many of us have been taught that.
And it's it's pretty true. I believe that when you speak
up, the like the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
Never heard that. Like the squeaker, the wheel,
you know, the if you're a littlelouder, you get more attention.
(21:12):
And so this has been baked into our many of our upbringings in
society. And it doesn't mean everybody's
actually learned to do it, but many of us have.
And we're like, well, if you want attention, you better,
better create engagement from others.
And how can you do that? Well, either use your voice and
speak up or you create a story. And so it's, it's this kind of,
(21:37):
and it's kind of baked into our culture.
In my opinion, it's a little unfortunate that we, we, you
have to speak up in order to getattention.
And that's, that's rewarded morethan, than not speaking up.
And then I, I know that that's, there's benefits to speaking up
and we need to find our voice. I, I think that's a beautiful
(21:59):
thing, but there's the two sidesof everything.
And I think it can also be you can use your voice in a way
that's overbearing too much, notin alignment with truth, not
aligning your actions, words andthoughts, which is called
truthfulness. So not being truthful with your
(22:20):
words. And yeah, I mean, so, so many
people have tried to destroy people's lives actually through
this as well. Like oftentimes couples that
break up or if there's children involved and they create this
narrative around this parent is bad or like they want they're
manipulating a younger mind. I've seen this happen way too
(22:42):
close to home and I've, I've gotten to witness it and it's,
it's paralyzing. You can't do anything because
you're the more silent you are. It feels, it feels like it's,
there's an injustice there. So you feel like you have to do
the same thing or you have to speak up.
And then, you know, so who's better at playing that game?
(23:03):
And now this beautiful experience of life that's
supposed to be shared through family and love and this, this
closer unit that you can trust is now all of a sudden the
completely turned inside out, intentionally, completely fucked
up. And there are no raw facts
anymore. It's it's literally how
(23:24):
persuasive are you? How good of a storyteller are
you? How much do you withhold?
How much do you, how connected are you to the people knowing
what you know, if they're able to like, are they trusting you
or not? Yeah, it just feeds into the
whole narcissistic, sociopathic,psychopathic narrative that is
out there really strong right now.
(23:47):
Even those words kind of have their own broad meanings, right?
Yeah, it makes me think unfortunately about like the
legal system and lawyers, like they're basically just trying to
fight two different narratives against each other.
One of them is hopefully the truth and the other one is
obviously not because they're, even though there can be
multiple truths, often times I would say they're they're
(24:08):
polarizing in that sense. So you know, it's all around us.
Of course, hopefully that's not a situation that we need to be
kind of like going into that place is obviously I'm sure some
emotional energy related to legal and lawyer related stuff.
But to just to kind of bring it in a little bit like you
mentioned truthfulness and Satya.
So like living with what's actually real, not what's
(24:29):
actually been rehearsed or been like, you know, like implanted
within you. And that's part of like that
intuition and checking in like what is actually true and real
for you, You know, maybe it's maybe facts is part of it, like
science and evidence based stuffis obviously very helpful for
kind of knowing what's actually real and not real.
But I think there's a certain amount of awareness or
consciousness about this conversation that needs to be
(24:53):
present at all times because we're constantly surrounded by
narratives. We're constantly surrounded by
stories, whether it be ones thatwe've already been injected with
and that are currently like stewing within our system or
ones that we're picking up new everyday.
Often times there's a lot that can come through the media,
social media in particular. And then there's this other
(25:13):
concept, excuse me, let's see ifI can say this right, Saksi
Baba, which is witness consciousness.
So seeing the story without actually becoming the story, and
that's part of that awareness, are you able to even become
aware that this is a story that exists?
Is it the truth? Maybe it is the truth, but
(25:35):
asking yourself that question isprobably a good place to start.
Yeah, sometimes for sure. I think that's a really deep
one. Witness.
Convention. Witness.
Witness consciousness. Conscious.
Sorry. Seeing the story without
becoming the story. Seeing the story, yeah.
And back to what you're saying about the Satya and the truth, I
(25:56):
think of oftentimes, and I may have said this on one of our
podcasts about language and really what language is designed
to do. If you look at it from a really
pure perspective, like a real, honest, pure, wholehearted,
well-intentioned perspective, our words are designed to help
(26:20):
navigate truth. I'm hungry.
You know, it all started there. Probably rubbing my stomach,
right? Trying to get some point across
that I need something that's thetruth.
Or maybe there's some affectionate symbol where like a
hug. But and then it is we developed
our palette of words to use likeI'm hungry or in another
(26:44):
language, some other way to say that.
And then eventually that evolvesto be like, you know what, I'm,
I can't really decide where I want to eat.
You know, this restaurant so good.
And I've been there four times. But the last time I was there,
they like they they just didn't deliver as well.
Took too long and it smelled a little funny.
But this new restaurant, you know, Tina actually said it's
(27:05):
the best one in town and I thinkI should try it out.
And the truth is what? You're still hungry.
The truth is you're still hungry.
But the narrative has gotten in the way to where you're like,
you're not even focused on the truth anymore.
But we can get caught up in that.
And it can be kind of fun. But you can overlay that on
things that aren't so fun as well, you know, when it comes
(27:29):
when it comes to things that areactually like, really pulling at
your heartstrings and big decisions in life.
But yeah, words are designed to get you closer to the truth from
a purely Satya perspective, which is interesting because
here we are on a podcast, 2 talking hearts.
I like to say, rather than talking heads, we are people.
(27:49):
We're we're on a platform right now where people enjoy talking,
they'd enjoy conversation. And this is a conversation about
how we need to have more honest conversations, more factual
based, heightened awareness, just truth based.
(28:10):
You know, I also, while it's on my mind and I don't want to
forget this, it just came up. The victim mentality is often
times created through this. You just, you know, we all seen
it. You may have experienced it.
I mean, I think I have experienced it in my life where
I've just I'm just the victim here.
Like everything was piled up against me to like fail and that
(28:32):
was not I don't have any responsibility in that.
It was definitely not my fault. And some people live in that
state and they're just so unaware that that's a pattern
that's coming up for them, that's happening through a
narrative. I'm always the victim, even
though that's not what they say to themselves.
But they say I'm always, I'm never at fault.
(28:52):
It's this person did this to me.And then it's just like digging
you deeper and deeper. It's like getting that shovel
and you just keep on going down there, just keep going down.
All of a sudden you're so down there, so far down, you can't
even see up anymore. It doesn't even you, just you
think that's your natural habitat now you can't even see
that there is light up there until maybe something happens,
(29:15):
hopefully someday where you get shaken, that gets shaken out of
you. Enough.
Yeah. So just to kind of address that
from like a neurological perspective, there's a process
called the default mode network within our brains that strings
together memories or informationinto a self narrative, kind of
like what you're saying. And it loves coherence, it loves
(29:37):
consistency. So if that narrative is being
reinforced on and on and on, then it the, the default network
part of our brain really likes that, even if the information is
outdated, like it's been there for so long, but it's because
it's still being reinforced. This is kind of like why old
habits die hard, you know, like older people that have a certain
narrative about the world or some of the the sensitive topics
(30:02):
of the world, whether it be racism or gender stuff.
And like all that. Even if it's outdated, the self
narrative that's been created inour brain is going to want to
keep that for as long as possible because that's what the
body likes. But when a new experience starts
to come in and contradict that old narrative or that old
script, the brain experiences what we call prediction error.
(30:25):
And that discomfort within our system, or within the nervous
system in particular, often pushes back against with that
familiar story. Interesting.
I wonder if that has anything todo with the way like if you are
thinking like kind of quick witted and you're kind of
catching somebody and they're like, oh, how are you?
(30:47):
You know, whatever simple, normal, predicted, you know,
insert so many different things like thank you or I'll see you
later. You know, all these things we do
and ask me how I am. How are you?
I am. Ask me again, you are what?
(31:08):
How are? How are you?
I I'm good. I guess that's what we say,
right? I was trying to think of another
way to answer it, but I guess you can ask it differently and
throw people off. How art thou?
How graceful are you? How is your heart today?
What's alive for you? What's present for you?
(31:30):
How's your breathing today? Right.
How are your chakras spinning lately?
How was your bowel movement thismorning?
Is respiration going well? Yeah.
So I I think maybe that's what that has to do with something
about. That's like, because I do that
sometimes, like when someone says a normal predicted thing to
me, sometimes I just interrupt it with like, I catch you off
(31:51):
guard and say something that right, could even be potentially
hilarious. But they're not, they can't even
catch it because they're just like they're thrown off and
they're like error, brain error.And they're just like or, or,
or, and a lot of people will just kind of just get stunned
and then be like, oh, OK, I'm going to carry on with the next
thing. If it's a more intimate
conversation, like, you know, and it's, I'm thinking of
(32:12):
classes, sometimes it's these really quick interactions.
But if they're a little longer than they might be like, oh,
that. Let's go into that for a minute.
Yeah, that's interesting. That's.
Yeah, for sure. I mean, subconsciousness and
consciousness is a, there's a part of that that can be
involved in this whole thing. Like stories are living in our
subconscious information that kind of goes into that back part
(32:34):
of our mind, which is habits andjust things that allow us to
operate from an autopilot perspective.
And anytime we operate outside of that, it kind of has this,
what we call the prediction error.
And it makes it a little bit more like, oh, jarring unless we
have the energy or the space or even just the awareness to
become conscious of the actual thing that's happening, which is
like, oh, they asked me a question.
(32:56):
Am I just going to go back to the I'm good or is it like?
If you're just super present andyou're not operating from
predicted. Then you're then you're going to
Satya. Then you're in the truthfulness,
actually operating from a place of truth, the present truth.
So feels like we covered a lot in a short amount of time.
How long has it been? I'm thinking around I don't know
(33:19):
so. 25 minutes. 25 OK, 25 minutes.
OK, so let's let's start to get this closer to resolution, which
is what you do in a narrative. You actually it, it's kind of
what you do. You go through the the
characters, who is the story about the setting, where and
when that is happening, the plot, what happens and why the
(33:39):
conflict is there, the tension, the challenge that drives the
story. And then you get to the
resolution, how it concludes or transforms.
So I think we've done that. We've had some emotional energy
earlier going, I was like, you know, kind of the power struggle
and all this. And you know, we define some
characters in there. Let's bring it to yoga for
(34:00):
resolution. You go into yoga as a yoga
facilitator teacher. See our podcast on roles.
If you don't understand why I'm bracketing that, but basically
yoga teacher, you are every single time, whether you have a
60 minute, 45 minute, 90 minute class retreat, whatever, you are
facilitating a story for the students.
(34:24):
Now if it's like a an Ashtanga based, it's like it's not going
to have as much layered stories because you're really following
a sequence. So I understand, like if you're
committed to a sequence more than you are anything else,
that's a little different. But if you're actually going
into storytelling within your class, then you're very much
creating a narrative. What are you feeding people in
(34:47):
your narrative? What are you hyping up, right?
Are you hyping up ego? Are you hyping up choice,
empowerment, autonomy? Are you hyping up intention?
Are you hyping up that you know,we are unity consciousness?
(35:08):
Are you hyping up victim mentality?
Like how are you you creating this experience for people
through your words? I mean, it's unlimited.
I could go on and on. That's just what came to my my
mind through your story. And I will say with the
sequencing, if you understand sequencing, especially for like
standing sequences, if you're invinyasa, creative vinyasa is
(35:30):
really hard. It's the hardest one probably to
get philosophy in there and create this narrative of yogic
wisdom and also tell transformational stories within
it and also frame it in the point of view so that they can
embody how they could do it, notjust hear your own personal
stuff. Then you need to know sequencing
pretty well. Yeah.
(35:52):
In yoga, you can do it much easier because there's less,
there's more space, there's lessqueuing for the poses.
But yeah, what are we feeding? You know, what are we nourishing
people with? And when it comes to the
storytelling and knowing that silence in space in a lot of
beginners, all people need to hear that, Not just beginners
(36:15):
need to hear that silence space.Letting things land contributes
to the narrative. It helps things land within the
stories that you're telling. And my suggestion here is
whatever transformational story that you might be sharing, maybe
it is a starts as a personal level and then you look at that
(36:38):
story and you start to think about what did I learn from that
interaction or story or relationship?
What did I learn about myself? And then from whatever I learned
about myself, how can I tie thatinto yogic philosophy and then
find the parallels and then share it in a way that allows
(37:01):
them to a bigger opportunity to embody transformation from that
story in their own life? And that's just kind of like my
my way of looking at the narrative before we sign off.
So I because one of the cameras went off, I kind of got a little
distracted. Did you mention about bringing
(37:22):
it back to the like back to themlike sharing that personal like
lesson and then also bringing itto them and.
Saying like and that's what I. Just how does this relate?
To you I I heard that beep of the camera and that's exactly
what I was saying. OK, cool.
Right there. Just wanted to make sure.
Because that was what I'm thinking.
Find the lesson within the storythat you're sharing.
How? What did you personally learn?
Because if you did learn something, then there's
(37:43):
embodiment there. Yeah, great.
From that embodiment, you're sharing something that already
has more emotional energy behindit because it's really important
to you. And then don't just leave them
with how you changed your life. That's not going to really
empower them to do that with their life.
So usually there's a yogic philosophy that can tie into it.
Like what did you learn? Is this the thing about honesty
(38:04):
and Satya? Is this the thing about
contentment and how or letting go of control and maybe
surrender? Or was this something where you
learned that maybe controls the opposite?
Like you learned you could control yourself in this moment,
you know and not and break the pattern of what you used to lose
control of what is it? Find the parallel for yogic
(38:25):
philosophy and then that share it in a way where and also this
is something that you can do too, right?
That's good. That's a good way to tie it back
in. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I actually really enjoyed this topic, to be
honest. Yeah, well, I already knew I I
was going to enjoy it because I've just been obsessed with it
lately. Yeah, there's definitely a lots
(38:46):
of things that can do this be discussed.
I even have more notes. But just yeah, I think we can
strap it up about a 40 minutes or so.
But yeah, always curious to knowwhat what you guys think.
Of course. So those listening, you know, if
you have anything to share, reach out to us, either Byron or
myself on Instagram. That seems to be the easiest way
to do it. Byron Yoga.
Michael Yoga dot PT And then there's two other little, well,
(39:09):
actually one in particular that I kind of like.
Let's see if I can find. Is it this one?
It's this one. No, it's not that one.
Let's see here. Oh, I can't find it.
It was another. Oh, neti neti.
That's what it is, though. Yoga perspective.
(39:29):
It called neti neti. Not this, not that a classic
inquiry practice, loosening identification about something.
So not this, not that. It's kind of like almost just
like kind of separating what what you might be attached to.
To me it's a bit of like. You know, I think ego work.
Yeah, cutting, cutting loose some of that.
Stuff I think that's beautiful. That's a nice thing to add.
(39:50):
I don't want to miss that. So if the more work we do on, on
I don't want to kill my ego, buton softening my ego, then I
think naturally you'll be able to to pick up on narratives a
lot easier. And also, I would say kind of
bringing it back to that, that sense of worth and value this or
(40:12):
regurgitating this thing becauseit makes me feel like I'm
providing value and it helps to boast part of my pride or ego,
or am I sharing this in a place of self or not self-service, but
selfless service. So just the question, something
to kind of sit with, you know, is the things that I'm sharing
is, am I doing it for me or am Idoing it for them?
(40:34):
And is it truth? Or is it you?
Know so there's just a couple questions to kind of play with
there. Is it truth and am I doing it
for me? Am I doing it for them?
It could be both. It could be both.
So something for? You to kind of sit with
otherwise I think that's it for today Yep and then if you want
to tune in next week, of course we will maybe we'll reveal what
(40:55):
the what the name of the the newpodcast will be.
I like how we just. Contributed to the narrative
about a narrative. Exactly yeah.
We just changed the dynamic justthrough people listening maybe a
little bit to where now they're considering what a narrative is.
This is this is that kind of theslow domino effect into it's
(41:18):
like that book The Tipping Pointby Malcolm Gladwell.
How do epidemics happen? And it's through the roles of a
people and we all have a different role archetype.
And I mine's like whatever a motor or something has to do
with like you're emotionally like you really love what you
love and you tell people about it.
And there's connectors who are like, they just know so many
(41:40):
people. And so they are outreach is
huge, but less people listen to them because they're like, ah,
they reach out to everybody. And there's like all these other
different roles too. And it's like, how does a pair
of Chuck Taylor shoes or those high tops or whatever,
basketball shoes, like how did those get so popular at one
point, you know, And how does Siri gets so popular?
(42:03):
I mean, now it's a little easierto see it, I think, cuz a
digital effects on the Internet.But I think that is a narrative
book. It's a book about narratives.
So yeah, we contributed to the narrative on narratives.
Yeah. It's a paradox, really.
Cool. Thank you so much.
For. Sharing your thoughts and your
energy, Byron, and thank you, listeners.
(42:25):
Thank you, listeners, for tuningin.
Just one simple ask is somethingthat I usually ask on every
podcast. If it's something that you can
do for us is to, yeah, we'd loveto get support from you.
So one of the easiest ways to dothat is to just kind of go to
the main podcast page, which is currently called the Going Pro
Yoga Podcast. So what I would say actually, if
you do enjoy this podcast, I suggest saving it because when
(42:46):
we do eventually change the name, it might be a little bit
harder to find. So that's my first suggestion is
to save or kind of whatever it is on Spotify or Apple Podcast,
like add it to your library. And then the second thing while
you're in there and that main page would be really awesome if
you gave us some love. So some star reviews.
So go find that. Usually it's either in like the
settings like the triple dot or something like that.
(43:08):
I find that star review just give us some love.
We'd really appreciate it allowsus to share this information,
this knowledge with as many people as possible.
And pretty soon I should share this.
We'll tease. This up, there'll be some audio
classes of mine that are live recorded classes and actually
Bali that will be available as well through this podcast.
So a little teaser there too. Yeah, lots, lots coming.
(43:30):
The new podcast Amazing Let. Me leave you with this.
Oh, I'm going in. All right, we'll see you guys
next week. Take care for now.
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Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com