Podcast: The Nature of Consciousness
Our own Michael de Manincor joins the chat on ‘Live Like You Love Yourself’ on the topic of consciousness.
The Yoga Institute’s founder and director Michael de Manincor, recently spoke with podcast host Chara Caruthers, and guest co-host (and TYI faculty member) Lucy Karnani for the podcast, Live Like You Love Yourself.
The trio’s discussion makes a profoundly deep topic accessible and entertaining.
Pondering whether consciousness is even knowable, the discussion also explores whether the simple act of discussing it, helps each of us move closer to understanding what this meaningful topic means to us personally, allowing the listener to start their own contemplation, to see what resonates.
The trio look at the minefield of language: what do we mean by mind, let alone consciousness, and to unpack this, we go back further to what does body even mean. Some believe that the collection of functions and processes by which we perceive the world, perceive ourselves and navigate the embodied experience of life, is the definition of consciousness, but what then of the processes of which we aren’t aware, or cannot be aware of?
Do the neurosciences that on the one hand help verify so many yogic teachings, also limit our understanding by over-focussing on the brain‘s role as part of mind? Michael posits that mind is a whole body experience, including the heart, the gut, the nervous system, indeed incorporating every system, organ and cell in the body.
Listen in for the discussion around what terms like self-realisation and enlightenment relate to consciousness; as our yoga practice leads us to enquire about our true self and the nature of our existence, we are invited to explore letting go of the sense of self, who we think we are. The prospect of dissolving our attachment to who we think we are is understandably daunting, even terrifying – to truly let go of all the things we have spent carefully constructing as our sense of identity. As our yoga practice draws us closer to this stage, however, the sublime paradox exists that it is the self, the “me” that wants to know self-realisation, that wants enlightenment.
Enjoy this playful and candid exploration of life’s biggest questions!
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