Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Practice of Somatic Living

Why does love feel extraordinary at first and why can that intensity begin to fade?  

Matt and Dr. Jivasu explore attraction, habituation, self-knowledge and what love may become after the initial spark changes.

In this episode, Dr. Jivasu offers a Soma perspective on why we fall in love, how an internal image of the ideal partner influences attraction, and why familiarity can change the intensity we felt at the beginning.

The conversation explores:

• Why a partner may act as a catalyst for love rather than its ultimate source  

• How conditioning, family, media and temperament shape the person we imagine will fulfil us  

• The lock-and-key metaphor for attraction  

• Why novelty and excitement can diminish through familiarity  

• What happens when we expect a partner to keep recreating the beginning  

• How self-knowledge can reduce demands and create greater equality  

• The difference between treating a partner as an object of satisfaction and meeting them as an equal person  

• Why individual growth and shared life do not have to compete  

• The image of two overlapping circles: one area for sharing and another for exploration  

• How Somatic Personality may help us understand ourselves and the people closest to us

The episode discusses ordinary changes within relationships, not situations involving abuse or danger. No one should interpret it as advice to remain in an unsafe relationship.

Chapters

00:00 - Start

00:42 - Why Does Love Fade?

02:12 - What Is Love—and Where Does It Come From?

04:55 - Why This Person? The Partner as Catalyst

07:59 - The Lock and Key of Attraction

08:39 - Why the Original Intensity Changes

11:16 - When We Expect a Partner to Supply Love

13:36 - From Object of Desire to Equal Partner

16:38 - Chasing Novelty or Developing Self-Knowledge

21:18 - Two Overlapping Circles: Sharing and Individual Growth

24:12 - Dreams, Support and Somatic Personality

27:57 - Love’s Highest Possibility

Discover your Somatic Personality with Soma Path’s free questionnaire:

https://www.somapath.org/somatic-personality-test

About Soma Path

Soma Path is a science-based path to living from the body. 

Led by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.

FREE RESOURCES

→ Somatic Personality Questionnaire: https://www.somapath.org/somatic-personality-test

→ Join "The Practice of Somatic Living" - Biweekly Teachings: https://www.somapath.org/practice-letter

PROGRAMS

→ $8 | 8-Day Return to the Body: https://www.somapath.org/challenge-page/the-8-day-return-to-the-body

→ Join a Sunday Gathering Live w/ Jivasu: https://www.somapath.org/gatherings

IN-DEPTH TRAINING

🎓 Somatic Awareness & Transformation Training: https://www.somapath.org/somatic-awareness-transformation-training

FOLLOW SOMA PATH

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pathofsoma

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pathofsoma

Website: www.somapath.org

PODCAST - The Practice of Somatic Living

🎧 Listen — ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu

🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO

🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

#WhyLoveFades #Relationships #SomaticPersonality #SelfKnowledge #SomaPath

How do we raise children who feel grounded when the world around them feels increasingly unstable?

Matt and Dr. Jivasu explore why children may need both a secure nest and the freedom to grow wings.

In this episode, Dr. Jivasu describes a Soma approach to raising happy, healthy and whole children. The conversation moves beyond outward success to consider the child’s body, emotional life, intellect, unique temperament and unrealized potential.

Together, Matt and Dr. Jivasu explore:

• Why resilience is different from simply becoming tough

• How excessive protection can limit a child’s growth

• The bonsai-and-banyan metaphor for safety, freedom and wholeness

• How technology may pull attention away from bodily needs and real-world relationships

• The “Nesting and Wings” approach

• Supporting body connection through touch, nature and physical activity

• The importance of expressed love and emotional security

• Recognizing a child’s unique personality instead of imposing a parent’s unfinished ambitions

• Helping children notice sensations before rushing to label their experience

• How parents can examine their conditioning and begin again

Explore Raising Happy & Whole Children, an online ten-workshop course with Dr. Jivasu.

See the current dates and registration details here:

https://www.somapath.org/service-page/raising-happy-whole-childrenSoma Path is a science-based path to living from the body.

Chapters:

00:00 - Start

03:13 - What Children Have Los

t06:21 - What Makes a Child Whole?

10:17 - Are Screens Pulling Children Out of the Body?

12:51 - The Nesting and Wings Approach

16:11 - Emotional Safety, Expressed Love and a Sense of Enough

22:03 - Giving a Child Wings

24:44 - When Parents Project Their Past

30:22 - Body Signals, Interoception and Labels

33:01 - Can Parents Begin Again?

#ConsciousParenting #ResilientChildren #SomaticAwareness #WholeChild #SomaPath

About Soma PathSoma Path is a body- and science-based path to embodied transformation, integrating modern neuroscience with classical contemplative traditions. Led by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.FREE RESOURCES→ Somatic Personality Questionnaire: https://www.somapath.org/somatic-personality-test→ Join "The Practice of Somatic Living" - Biweekly Teachings: https://www.somapath.org/practice-letterPROGRAMS→ $8 | 8-Day Return to the Body: https://www.somapath.org/challenge-page/the-8-day-return-to-the-body→ Join a Sunday Gathering Live w/ Jivasu: https://www.somapath.org/gatheringsIN-DEPTH TRAINING🎓 Somatic Awareness & Transformation Training: https://www.somapath.org/somatic-awareness-transformation-trainingFOLLOW SOMA PATHInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/pathofsomaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/pathofsomaWebsite: www.somapath.orgPODCAST🎧 Listen — ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

Can trauma become more than a source of pain—and point toward transformation?

Matt and Dr. Jivasu explore trauma, anxiety, the mind–body connection and what it may mean to reconnect with life through the body.In this conversation, Dr. Jivasu shares the Soma perspective on how trauma and conditioning can shape perception, draw us into repeating mental and emotional patterns, and leave us feeling disconnected from the body.

Together, Matt and Dr. Jivasu explore:

• Why trauma may affect how we interpret bodily sensations

• The difference between distress and the energizing stress that can accompany something new

• Somatic awareness, interoception and practices that bring attention back to the body

• How distraction and constant connectivity can fragment our attention

• The metaphor of trauma as energy that can be redirected

• Healthy identity, sensitivity, flow, compassion and present-moment awareness

• Why transformation unfolds differently for every person

This episode presents Dr. Jivasu’s teaching perspective and is intended for education and reflection. It is not medical or mental-health treatment advice.

Explore Somatic Awareness & Transformation Training (SATT), Soma Path’s 100-hour immersion in Soma teachings and somatic practices: https://www.somapath.org/somatic-awareness-transformation-training

00:00 - Start

01:42 Is Our Destiny Already Within Us?

02:37 - How Trauma Can Block and Redirect Life Energy

05:54 - Reversing the Pattern Through the Body

12:34 - The River of Energy—and the Cost of Distraction

17:47 - What Somatic Practices Actually Involve

20:33 - Reconnecting Mind, Body and Life Energy

25:36 - Can Trauma Become Energy for Transformation?

28:09 - Healthy Identity, Flow and Compassion

38:48 - Life as Practice: Returning to thePresent

About Soma PathSoma Path is a science-based path to living from the body founded by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.

FREE RESOURCES→ Somatic Personality Questionnaire: https://www.somapath.org/somatic-personality-test→ Join "The Practice of Somatic Living" -

Biweekly Teachings: https://www.somapath.org/practice-letter

PROGRAMS

→ $8 | 8-Day Return to the Body: https://www.somapath.org/challenge-page/the-8-day-return-to-the-body

→ Join a Sunday Gathering Live w/ Jivasu: https://www.somapath.org/gatherings

IN-DEPTH TRAINING

🎓 Somatic Awareness & Transformation Training: https://www.somapath.org/somatic-awareness-transformation-training

FOLLOW SOMA PATH

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pathofsoma

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pathofsomaWebsite: www.somapath.org

PODCAST🎧 Listen —

▶️ YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu

🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO

🍎 Apple:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

Most people trying to fix their energy are working on the wrong problem. They are not running out of energy, their energy is intact. It is fragmented across dozens of roles, drained by psychological thoughts that repeat like parasites, and invested in everything except the place it needs to go. In this episode, Dr. Jivasu maps the biology of energy depletion: what happens when a child's single river of aliveness becomes scattered into streams, why awareness alone cannot change the pattern, and the three things Soma uses to bring energy back to a critical point where transformation actually becomes possible.

What you'll learn in this episode:

* Why Einstein's definition of energy is the starting point for understanding burnout, depletion, and fragmented aliveness

* How a child's unified river of energy becomes scattered into roles through education, culture, society, and trauma — and why this is the default condition for most adults

* The difference between absolute energy deficit (undernourishment) and scattered energy — and why most modern exhaustion is the second

* How psychological thoughts — memories from the past with no functional purpose — act as parasites, drawing from every cell in the body around the clock

* Why awareness of a problem does not produce the energy needed to change it — and why most people who clearly see what is wrong still cannot shift it

* The three pillars Soma uses to reclaim energy: healthy identity (with boundaries and self-care), personality alignment, and practice through the parasympathetic nervous system

* Why in Soma, self-care always comes before care of others — and what that looks like applied to relationships, family, and community

Chapters00:00 - Start

00:40 - The Energy Problem: Depleted, Scattered, Stuck

01:26 - Why Energy Is the Center of Everything

04:07 - What Blocked Energy Actually Means

05:06 - How the River Becomes Fragmented: Society, Culture, Trauma

10:02 - Energy as Currency Invested in the Wrong Places

14:46 - How Psychological Thoughts Drain Vital Energy

18:52 - Parasitic Memories and the Sword of Awareness

20:20 - Where Soma Starts: Healthy Identity and Boundaries

22:55 - Why Awareness Alone Cannot Transform You

25:18 - Self-Care Before Care of Others: The Soma Principle

About Dr. Jivasu: Dr. Jivasu is the founder of Soma Path, a science-grounded somatic education system integrating neurobiology, somatic psychology, and body-based transformation. His framework draws on the neuroscience of early childhood development, interoception, and somatic personality to map a systematic pathway from conditioned life to the full expression of innate potential.

🩺 About Soma PathSoma Path is a body- and science-based path to embodied transformation, integrating modern neuroscience with classical contemplative traditions. Led by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.
🎓 Somatic Awareness & Transformation Training: https://www.somapath.org/somatic-awareness-transformation-training

🎧 Listen — ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu

🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO

🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

Most people live inside a frame handed to them before they turned nine. In this episode, Dr. Jivasu explains the neuroscience behind it: 90% of brain growth is complete by age nine, which means early childhood experiences — nourishment, trauma, encouragement, conditioning — are wired into the body at a cellular level. The body keeps a score the conscious mind can't access.

From there the conversation moves into something most high achievers never hear: the difference between horizontal achievement (more degrees, more status, more income — all at the same level) and actual inner growth. Why do so many people reach the summit of a career and still feel discontented? Why does ambition without alignment produce emptiness? And how does understanding your somatic personality give you the systematic door into the life that was always innately yours?

UPCOMING WITH DR. JIVASU Somatic Awareness and Transformation Training Register: https://www.somapath.org/somatic-awareness-transformation-training

00:00 - Start00:41 - Introduction: Does Childhood Still Run Your Adult Life?01:00 - 90% of Brain Growth Done by Age 9 — The Neuroscience02:32 - Body Remembers: Implicit Memory and What the Mind Forgets03:04 - The Mahabharata Story: Learning Before You’re Born05:28 - Ambition as Innate Destiny — Not What Society Says It Is08:33 - Horizontal Achievement: Why Billionaires Remain Discontented15:23 - Marker 7Signs You’re Living a Life That Was Given to You20:04 - Jivasu at 20, Matt at 30: The Moment the Script Becomes Visible25:15 - Somatic Personality: The Door into Your Actual Destiny29:31 - Boundaries, Community, and Protecting Life Energy on the Path

What's covered in this episode:Why 90% of brain growth is complete by age 9 — and what theta waves have to do with how deep early programming runsImplicit vs. explicit memory — why the body holds what the mind can't recallThe Mahabharata story of Abhi Manu: learning in the wombAmbition as innate signal — how to tell borrowed ambition from the real thingHorizontal vs. vertical growth — why external achievement alone always comes up shortThe signs of a life in flow vs. a life in constant grindingJivasu's moment at age 20 and Matt's in his 30s — when the script becomes visibleHow somatic personality is the door that opens into destinyBoundaries as energy preservation in the early stages of the path

When criticism becomes compassion — the marker of real progress

Soma's recommendation for where to start — and why the panoramic view mattersReferenced: Bessel van der Kolk — The Body Keeps the Score Steven Pinker — The Blank Slate Helen Fisher — Why Him? Why Her?

About Dr. Jivasu: Dr. Jivasu is the founder of Soma Path, a science-grounded somatic education system integrating neurobiology, somatic psychology, and body-based transformation. His framework draws on the neuroscience of early childhood development, interoception, and somatic personality to map a systematic pathway from conditioned life to the full expression of innate potential.🩺 About Soma PathSoma Path is a body- and science-based path to embodied transformation, integrating modern neuroscience with classical contemplative traditions. Led by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.

J. Krishnamurti said thought creates division — and where there is division, there is conflict. In this episode, Dr. Jivasu maps the biology behind that claim: why psychological thought splits both mental space and time, why mindfulness as commonly practiced doesn't escape the problem, and how flow state is where witnessing consciousness — real observation without judgment — first appears. The path from conflict to love is not philosophical. It runs through the body.

What you'll learn in this episode:The difference between technical thought (necessary, functional) and psychological thought and why only one creates divisionHow psychological thought splits mental space into "I versus others" and why this is the biological origin of conflict at every scale, from relationships to warWhy "living in the present" is genuinely difficult: the mind is already fractured across past, present, and futureWhy mindfulness as commonly practiced is metacognition, not true observation and what J. Krishnamurti's "observer becomes observed" actually means biologicallyThe neuroscience of flow: hypofrontality, the default mode network, and what happens in the brain when awareness and action become oneWhy somatic identity is like a fence around a young plant - protective at first, then something that must be removed for full growth

Chapters:00:00 - Intro00:41 - J. Krishnamurti’s Claim: Thought Creates Division02:02 - Technical Thought vs. Psychological Thought05:29 - How Psychological Thought Divides Mental Space and Time08:55 - “Between What I Am and What I Want to Be”11:10 - When Division Falls Away: Love and Compassion14:37 - Somatic Identity: The Fence That Must Come Down21:59 - Why Mindfulness Is Not True Observation24:30 - Witnessing Consciousness and the Flow State26:01 - The Neuroscience of Flow: Hypofrontality and the Brain29:55 - Flow Is the Beginning, Not the End
🩺 About Soma PathSoma Path is a body- and science-based path to embodied transformation, integrating modern neuroscience with classical contemplative traditions. Led by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.🧘 Free Monthly Somatic Meditation (live): https://www.somapath.org/service-page/soma-meditation-listening-within?referral=service_list_widget🎓 Somatic Awareness & Transformation Training: https://www.somapath.org/somatic-awareness-transformation-training

🎧 Listen — ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

Most people confuse destiny with determinism — as if accepting it means surrendering control. Dr. Jivasu inverts this completely: it's society that reduces your freedom, not destiny. In this conversation, he traces the biological roots of destiny from star dust to single cell to the unique potential embedded in every human being — and explains why following your flow, not your fate, is the path back to who you actually are.

Subscribe to our channel for  bi-weekly episodes! 

What you'll learn in this video:

* Why destiny is not determinism — and why conformity is the real enemy of freedom

* The biological argument: how everything from a blade of grass to a human being carries its destiny embedded in its cells

* How the evolution from star dust to single cell means your body literally contains the whole universe

* Why society needs you as a productive unit — not as who you actually are

* The difference between fate (passive acceptance) and destiny (active, conscious process) — with real historical examples

* "Follow your flow": Soma's answer to Campbell's "follow your bliss" — and how flow is the physical signal of alignment

* What the inner stirring means — and how to tell your innate calling from conditioned habit

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:45 - Do We Have a Destiny?

01:41 - What Destiny Actually Means — A Biological Definition

02:21 - The Destiny of a Blade of Grass, a Butterfly, a Rock

04:11 - Star Dust to Single Cell: Evolution and Embedded Potential

06:49 - When You Hold a Baby, You Hold the Whole Universe

07:40 - How Society Buries What You Were Born to Become

10:08 - Why Destiny Expands Freedom — Society Is What Limits It

13:14 - Fate vs. Destiny: The Difference That Changes Everything

16:28 - Follow Your Flow: Soma’s Path to Destiny

17:31 - The Inner Stirring — What Your Destiny Is Telling You  

🩺 About Dr. Jivasu: Dr. Jivasu is the founder of Soma Path, a science-grounded somatic education system integrating neurobiology, somatic psychology, and body-based transformation. His work maps the journey from social conformity to the full expression of innate human potential.

☀️ About Soma Path

Soma Path is a body- and science-based path to embodied transformation, integrating modern neuroscience with classical contemplative traditions. Led by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.

🧘 Free Monthly Somatic Meditation (live): https://www.somapath.org/service-page/soma-meditation-listening-within?referral=service_list_widget

🎓 Somatic Yoga Teacher Training: https://www.somapath.org/online-somatic-yoga-teacher-training

🎧 Listen — ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu

🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO

🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

Most people come to the question "Who am I?" from the top down — aiming straight for consciousness, the infinite, the supreme self. Dr. Jivasu says that is exactly why so many seekers spend decades going in circles. In this episode, he maps five distinct layers of self — from healthy somatic identity to somatic personality, somatic self, somatic universal, and the boundless — and shows why the path only works when you begin where you actually are.

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:41 - The Question Behind All Questions

02:38 - Layer 1: Healthy Somatic Identity

05:31 - Layer 2: Somatic Personality — Your Innate Nature

07:46 - Layer 3: Somatic Self and Witnessing Consciousness

14:52 - Freedom From Guilt, Anxiety, and Trauma

16:35 - Layers 4 and 5: Somatic Universal and the Infinite

25:46 - The Escape Velocity of the Somatic Self

27:35 - Why Decades of Seeking Goes Nowhere

32:52 - Soma’s Path: Science-Based and Sequential

What you'll learn in this episode:

Why starting with "I am infinite consciousness" leaves most people going nowhere for decades — and what to address first

The role of healthy somatic identity as the essential biological foundation of all deeper self-knowledge

How somatic personality — your innate nature, creative vitality, and genius — forms the second layer of who you are

What witnessing consciousness actually feels like when the observer is no longer filtered through memory

The distinction between somatic self (complete, integrated individuality) and somatic universal (spontaneous connection with everything)

Why the first two layers require guidance and structured practice — and why the path from the third layer onward becomes spontaneous

About Dr. Jivasu:

Dr. Jivasu is the founder of Soma Path and the lead teacher of the Somatic Yoga Teacher Training. His work brings classical yoga teaching into direct contact with neurobiology and somatic education through Soma — a framework built for adults who want the depth of the original lineage without the mysticism.

Subscribe to Soma Path for weekly conversations on somatic education, nervous system science, and embodied transformation.

🩺 About Soma PathSoma Path is a body- and science-based path to embodied transformation, integrating modern neuroscience with classical contemplative traditions. Led by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.🧘 Free Monthly Somatic Meditation (live): https://www.somapath.org/service-page/soma-meditation-listening-within?referral=service_list_widget🎓 Somatic Yoga Teacher Training: https://www.somapath.org/online-somatic-yoga-teacher-training🎧 Listen — ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

Dr. Jivasu walks through what stress actually is — a life-saving biological response built into the body across millions of years of evolution — and why the version most adults are carrying now is nothing like what evolution designed. Acute stress saves your life. Eustress, the positive kind, brings out the best in you. Chronic stress is the problem. And chronic stress is uniquely human because, unlike animals, we don't just live in our bodies — we live in our minds. The autobiographical self stores stress. Anticipated futures store stress. Comparison to 8 billion people on a phone screen stores stress.

This episode is about what that storage is doing to you — and what to do about it.

Jivasu maps the full HPA axis (amygdala → hypothalamus → pituitary → adrenal), explains how cortisol and adrenaline mobilize the body into emergency mode, and walks through what happens when that emergency mode never shuts off. The amygdala stays hot. The hippocampus shrinks, taking memory with it. The prefrontal cortex shrinks, taking reason with it. Pleasure is suppressed — which is why so many people reach for food, sex, entertainment, or addictions just to feel something. He explains how stress shows up differently across the somatic personalities (Wind = anxiety and panic, Fire = anger, Earth = freeze), and how chronic stress generates oxidative stress and free radicals, which drive the chronic inflammation behind most 21st-century diseases — depression, anxiety, dementia, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions, and cancer.

Then he names the actual root cause: our body is still in the Stone Age, and our mind is operating in the 23rd century. The dichotomy is the disease.

The episode closes on the reversal — not through thinking your way out (he's clear that won't work), but through a six-point lifestyle prescription: sleep, food, exercise, relationships, meaningful work, and home environment. And one underrated detail: loneliness is the biological equivalent of smoking 20 cigarettes a day.

🩺 About Soma PathSoma Path is a body- and science-based path to embodied transformation, integrating modern neuroscience with classical contemplative traditions. Led by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.🧘 Free Monthly Somatic Meditation (live): https://www.somapath.org/service-page/soma-meditation-listening-within?referral=service_list_widget🎓 Somatic Yoga Teacher Training: https://www.somapath.org/online-somatic-yoga-teacher-training🎧 Listen — ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

Dr. Jivasu walks through the central problem of being human: that we're the only animals self-aware enough to know we will die — and the only ones unable to accept it. Plants and animals don't carry death anxiety because they don't carry an autobiographical self. We do. From age 2 or 3, the brain begins building a shield to keep us from feeling the reality of what's coming. This episode is about that shield. Why we built it. What it costs us. And what Soma does about it.UPCOMING WORKSHOP WITH DR. JIVASU"Understanding Death to Live Fully" — Begins July 11, 2026Register: https://www.somapath.org/service-page/understanding-death-to-live-fully?referral=service_list_widgetJivasu distinguishes two kinds of immortality: the symbolic kind we chase through children, monuments, religion, art, and wealth — and what he calls true immortality, the leap beyond time itself. He shows how the modern consumer cycle is symbolic immortality dressed in shopping bags, and why this drive to grab and possess life is the engine behind the ecological crisis. Then he lays out the Soma method: not intellectualizing death but feeling it directly. Contemplating it. Sitting in cremation grounds. Attending the dying. Cracking the shield deliberately until the mini somatic crisis arrives, deepens into the full somatic crisis, and finally fractures into the naked duality — life and death facing each other without any escape mechanism left.What emerges on the other side is what Soma calls the somatic self — the background of life resetting from fear and survival into essential well-being. Death itself becomes a presence, not an absence. Jivasu shares his own arc: an earthquake at age 10 that cracked his shield early, PTSD through medical school, MD in pediatrics, the years at Sri Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh, and the moment a few months ago when death finally became a beloved presence rather than a terror. He references Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death as the most accurate diagnosis of the human condition he's ever read — and explains what Becker didn't include: the way through.What you'll learn in this episode:Why animals don't fear death, and why the autobiographical self is the reason we doThe actual content of the fear — not biological death, but the death of the "I"The two kinds of immortality: symbolic (in time) and true (beyond time)How materialist consumerism is a death-anxiety coping mechanism — and why it drives ecological collapseThe Soma practices for feeling death directly: corpse practice, cremation grounds, sitting with the dying, planning your own funeralThe mini somatic crisis, the full somatic crisis, and the naked dualityThe somatic self — what emerges on the other sideDr. Jivasu's personal arc from age 10 to age 40 to nowThe ancient instruction every tradition delivers: die before you dieAbout Jivasu:Dr. Jivasu is the founder of Soma Path and the lead teacher of the Somatic Yoga Teacher Training. His work brings classical yoga teaching into direct contact with neurobiology and somatic education through Soma — a framework built for adults who want the depth of the original lineage without the mysticism.🩺 About Soma PathSoma Path is a body- and science-based path to embodied transformation, integrating modern neuroscience with classical contemplative traditions. Led by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.🧘 Free Monthly Somatic Meditation (live): https://www.somapath.org/service-page/soma-meditation-listening-within?referral=service_list_widget🎓 Somatic Yoga Teacher Training: https://www.somapath.org/online-somatic-yoga-teacher-training🎧 Listen — ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

Anger isn't the problem. Accumulation is.

Dr. Jivasu walks through the neurobiology of anger as a healthy, protective, primary emotion — and explains why what we call "anger problems" are almost always accumulated anger being projected onto the wrong moment.

He lays out the five-step Soma method for working with anger directly: feeling it, understanding it, expressing it safely, channeling it into creativity, and finally catching it at the level of pure energy before it becomes a pattern. Plus a personal story from Matt about the moment a jar of mayonnaise on a toe taught him more about reactivity than years of practice.

What you'll learn in this episode:

Why anger is one of six biological primary emotions found in every culture — and what nature designed it for

Explore how Soma works through the body → https://www.somapath.org

Chapters:

00:00 - Start

00:40 - The current state of fear and anger in the world

01:24 - Anger is a healthy, biological emotion

02:01 - The protective purpose of anger

03:25 - The six primary emotions

04:28 - Why anger becomes a problem: accumulation

05:55 - Accumulated anger becomes violence

06:55 - How every accumulated emotion transforms (anxiety, depression, mania, hatred, shock)

08:09 - Cultural conditioning: why we’re told to suppress

09:53 - Family conditioning and inherited anger

10:19 - Ancestral anger across generations

11:42 - Projection: how accumulated anger becomes violence

13:11 - Why we explode at home

14:50 - The 5-step Soma method

15:28 - Step 1: Feel the anger

16:53 - Step 2: Understand the cause

19:28 - Step 3: Express and resolve safely

20:16 - Step 4: Channel anger into creative power

21:13 - Gandhi, Lincoln, Mandela: anger as the engine of every revolution

23:33 - Creativity as action, not just art

24:45 - Matt’s mayonnaise story: the moment of awareness

28:24 - Why we react more when tired and stressed

29:33 - Step 5: Emotional wisdom — catching anger at the level of energy

31:08 - Nipping anger in the bud

32:04 - The somatic self: energy unified into a single river

33:22 - Accumulated anger and chronic illness

34:30 - Anger is nothing else but energy

35:49 - Becoming the compassionate, loving mother

36:27 - Fire personality: the link between anger and passion

37:17 - Closing: anger as the peak of life

🩺 About Soma PathSoma Path is a body- and science-based path to embodied transformation, integrating modern neuroscience with classical contemplative traditions. Led by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.

🧘 Free Monthly Somatic Meditation (live): https://www.somapath.org/service-page/soma-meditation-listening-within?referral=service_list_widget

🎓 Somatic Yoga Teacher Training: https://www.somapath.org/online-somatic-yoga-teacher-training

🎧 Listen —

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu

🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO

🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

💗 If this resonates

Have you ever felt you had to choose between living fully in the modern world and seeking something deeper? What would change if the two weren't opposed?

Share your thoughts below.

Why your yoga practice isn't transforming you — and what would actually have to change for it to work.

Dr. Jivasu walks through the neurobiology behind why an hour of yoga or meditation a day produces real but temporary effects, why the original yogis required 24-hour devotion to reach liberation, and the two specific Soma methods that turn ordinary modern life into the practice itself. If you've ever wondered why the peace from your morning practice evaporates by lunchtime, this episode answers it.

Chapters:

00:37 — Can yoga twice a week actually liberate you?

02:33 — Why modern practice can only borrow part of the original tradition

03:37 — The 10,000-hour rule and biological anchoring

04:25 — Inner psychedelics: why the change wears off

05:53 — Even a daily morning practice isn't enough — and why

07:07 — What modern practitioners are missing that ancient ones had

08:07 — The real meaning of yoga: linking practice to life

08:37 — Passion: when your energy is divided into a hundred streams

10:27 — The default mode network and constant distraction

11:19 — Flow state, transient hypofrontality, and why high performers transform

13:29 — Karma at every scale — personal, ancestral, universal

15:34 — When passion has to become obsession

18:42 — The parable of King Janak and the oil lamp

22:51 — Two birds on a tree: the witness consciousness

24:27 — Interoception: the 8th sense, and how to train it

27:44 — Somatic personality and 24-hour self-care

30:09 — Where physical yoga and meditation actually fit in

32:06 — Why we want liberation in the first place — the impulse of life

What you'll learn in this episode:

Why short practices release "inner psychedelics" but don't create lasting anatomical change in the brain

The 10,000-hour threshold for biological anchoring, and what it means for serious practitioners

How the default mode network and flow state research from Steve Kotler's Rise of Superman explain why most practice fails to integrate

The two-part method — passion and obsession — that the original yoga texts called the difference between routine and transformation

Interoception, the "8th sense," and how somatic awareness becomes a 24-hour practice

The classical parable of King Janak and the oil lamp — and why it's the Soma model for living an ordinary life with extraordinary attention

About Jivasu:

Jivasu is a physician, author, and the founder of Soma Path. Soma Path is rooted in the body and grounded in science to awaken the body’s wisdom for trauma healing and transformation. It is accessible to people of all ages, abilities, and beliefs.

Jivasu, with his wife, Karen, spent many years volunteering as a doctor at the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh and in the Garhwal Himalayas. Later, he studied acupuncture and Mind-Body Medicine at Harvard.

Over four decades, he taught acupuncture, mind-body medicine, yoga, and meditation programs worldwide.

🔗 Explore Soma Path

🌐 Website: https://www.somapath.org

🎓 Somatic Yoga Teacher Training: https://www.somapath.org/online-somatic-yoga-teacher-training

🎧 Listen / Watch▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu

🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO?si=c569b62584d84f65

🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

📲 Follow

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jivasumd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drjivasu

#SomaPath #YogaPhilosophy #Neuroplasticity #Interoception #FlowState #DefaultModeNetwork #Enlightenment #Liberation #SomaPath #DrJivasu #SomaticPath #SomaticLiving#WitnessConsciousness #KarmaYoga #YogaScience #InnerPsychedelics #PatanjaliYoga #Yoga #Meditation #YogaPractice #YogaTeacherTraining #Mindfulness #ConsciousLiving

Most people think life is happening to them.

But what if everything you experience… is reflecting something back to you?

In this episode of Soma: The Art & Science of Living, we explore the idea that life is not random—it is relational. Every thought, emotion, and reaction is shaped through interaction with others.

Life Is a Mirror: Why Everything You Experience Reflects You

And through that mirror, we come to know ourselves.

This conversation breaks down:

• What life actually is (beyond philosophy and belief)

• Why you cannot define yourself without others

• How emotions like anger and frustration are shaped through relationships

• Why most of your reactions come from your past—not the present

• How the subconscious controls your life (and how to become aware of it)

• Why relationships are the most powerful tool for self-understanding

• What it means to develop a healthy identity through the body

• How awareness transforms reaction into insight

This is not about fixing others.

It’s about learning to see clearly.

🔗 Explore Soma Path

🌐 Website: https://www.somapath.org

🎓 Somatic Yoga Teacher Training: https://www.somapath.org/online-somatic-yoga-teacher-training

🧠 Free Somatic Meditation (Monthly): https://www.somapath.org/service-page/free-monthly-somatic-meditation?referral=service_list_widget

🎧 Listen / Watch

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu

🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO?si=c569b62584d84f65

🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

📲 Follow

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jivasumd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drjivasu

💗 If This Resonates

Start by observing your reactions.

That’s where the mirror begins

⏱️ Chapters:

00:41 - Introduction + The Real Question

01:06 - What Life Actually Is

07:21 - Life as a Mirror Begins

12:20 - Why You Can’t Exist Alone

14:04 - Emotions Only Exist Through Others

16:06 - Relationships Reveal Who You Are

17:23 - Love as the Purest Mirror

19:05 - Why Relationships Break Down

21:31 - Social Media & Distorted Identity

24:09 - The Subconscious is Running Your Life

25:48 - Why Reactions Keep Repeating

30:03 - Awareness vs Reaction

35:02 - Healthy Identity (Where It Starts)

37:18 - Expansion Beyond Self

38:06 - Final Insight

Most approaches to growth tell you to step away from life.

Withdraw. Simplify. Renounce.

But what if transformation doesn’t require leaving anything behind?

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:10 The problem with modern materialism

04:30 Why traditional systems are losing relevance

07:00 The body as the entry point

10:00 Transformation in daily life

13:00 Is there an end point?

In this first episode of Soma: The Art & Science of Living, we explore a different entry point — one grounded in the body, in biology, and in the reality of modern life.

We look at why traditional systems are becoming less relevant in today’s world, and how scientific and economic materialism have shaped the way we think, live, and pursue fulfillment.

Instead of rejecting this reality, Soma works through it.

This conversation breaks down:

 • Why chasing more never leads to lasting fulfillment

 • The difference between external success and internal access

 • How the body becomes the gateway to awareness and transformation

 • Why you don’t need to escape your life to reach your potential

 • What real transformation actually looks like (and why it never ends)

This is not about belief, philosophy, or adopting a new identity.

It’s about learning to access what is already within you — through direct experience.

⸻

🔗 Explore Soma Path

🌐 Website: https://www.somapath.org

📩 Join the newsletter: https://www.somapath.org (footer signup)

🧠 Free Monthly Somatic Meditation (Live): Check classes

🎓 Somatic Yoga Teacher Training: https://www.somapath.org/online-somatic-yoga-teacher-training

⸻

🎧 Listen / Watch

▶️ YouTube (Full Episodes + Clips) 

🎙️ Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO?si=1qOU298jQgarWTSDycSWXw

🍎 Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988

⸻

📲 Follow

Instagram: @somapath / @jivasumd

YouTube: @SomawithJivasu

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jivasu-md

⸻

🔥 If This Resonates

If you’re beginning to see things differently, start with the body.

Join a class, explore a program, or simply begin observing.

Wisdom and Knowledge

The most important path to transformation is awakening our eight sense (Interoception) and feeling the life force within the body.

Jivasu's Presentation from Unity Conference-

How love can become the catalyst for transformation.

Mira's Presentation from Unity Conference-

Biology of Trauma and Transformation. How to use trauma and transform it from a curse to a blessing.

Cultivating Healthy Identity and Understanding My Own Powers.

From faith to destiny and releasing the energy within us to have control of our lives.

Gathering with Jivasu to explore the words "Transformation" and "Science" for selfknowing and inner journey.

Summary of the last 5 personalities sessions with Jivasu and Mira.

How to balance each personality with self-care and gain control of our lives.

What are the three expressions of somatic personalities?

How do elements form our unique personality.

What are the constituents of personalities and how they are born.

Why discovering our personality is so important.

How to become free from habits, addictions, and Karma

Experiences on SOMA journey.

How to get to know ourselves and experience complete health by noticing the moments of flow in our lives.

Trauma is stored in the body's fascia; the largest organ that supports all the systems in the body. This leads to physical symptoms such as chronic pain, tension, and discomfort. Most chronic illnesses are caused by trauma stored in the fascia.

What is a body? Body is an extension of nature, and by connecting to the body, we also connect to all living beings, promoting harmonious coexistence.

This episode is about understanding the science behind well-being, creative vitality, and peace by highlighting the significance of feelings, or the eighth sense of interoception. Interoception tunes us to our body's internal signals and helps maintain homeostasis or the natural balance of life. The body is an extension of nature, and by connecting to the body, we also connect to all living beings, promoting harmonious coexistence.

Returning to Wholeness and Restoring Body's Homeostasis.

Returning to Wholeness and Restoring Body's Homeostasis.

Returning to Wholeness and Restoring Body's Homeostasis.

Returning to Wholeness and Restoring the Body's Homeostasis.

Returning to Wholeness and Restoring Body's Homeostasis

An Awakened body is expressed in the following ways.  The body becomes fully functional, with all senses and systems operating at their peak. The first and second centres of conscious energy are awakened, leading to an awakening of the body’s cells, a transformation and liberation of the body. Changes in nature and the universe are felt in the body, which is in communion with biological nature as well as the material universe. The body of a Natural being is affected by everything that happens on this earth and beyond. The experience is primarily one of physical sensation rather than of feeling. In a Natural being, life and death become one. 

But this is not the end of our own journey towards truth. Truth is boundless and so the journey continues…according to our nature.

But by arriving at the seventh chakra we are reborn through our womb of potentiality into wholeness, wellness, freedom and individuality. After our physical birth, we walk into the human-made world and become conditioned. But after the rebirth at the seventh chakra, we discover the center with which we were born, before we became socialized. At the seventh chakra, we find our unique individual place in the world and look and feel from our perspective. Our centre is our mind-body which functions as an integral unit rather than as a result of the chaos of the fragmented and scattered pieces of life. We enter and swim in life’s river with ease, moving toward the unknown and mysterious ocean of existence

But by arriving at the seventh chakra we are reborn through our womb of potentiality into wholeness, wellness, freedom and individuality. After our physical birth, we walk into the human-made world and become conditioned. But after the rebirth at the seventh chakra, we discover the center with which we were born, before we became socialized. At the seventh chakra, we find our unique individual place in the world and look and feel from our perspective. Our centre is our mind-body which functions as an integral unit rather than as a result of the chaos of the fragmented and scattered pieces of life. We enter and swim in life’s river with ease, moving toward the unknown and mysterious ocean of existence

But by arriving at the seventh chakra we are reborn through our womb of potentiality into wholeness, wellness, freedom and individuality. After our physical birth, we walk into the human-made world and become conditioned. But after the rebirth at the seventh chakra, we discover the center with which we were born before we became socialized. At the seventh chakra, we find our unique individual place in the world and look and feel from our perspective. Our centre is our mind-body which functions as an integral unit rather than as a result of the chaos of the fragmented and scattered pieces of life. We enter and swim in life’s river with ease, moving toward the unknown and mysterious ocean of existence

But by arriving at the seventh chakra we are reborn through our womb of potentiality into wholeness, wellness, freedom and individuality. After our physical birth, we walk into the human-made world and become conditioned. But after the rebirth at the seventh chakra, we discover the center with which we were born, before we became socialized. At the seventh chakra, we find our unique individual place in the world and look and feel from our perspective. Our centre is our mind-body which functions as an integral unit rather than as a result of the chaos of the fragmented and scattered pieces of life. We enter and swim in life’s river with ease, moving toward the unknown and mysterious ocean of existence

Traditionally the sixth chakra has only two petals, which is deeply symbolic, and its colour is white, which is also significant. It is quite a transition from the complexity of the sixteen petals of the fifth centre with its vibrant blue colour. Suddenly the complexity and many-sidedness of the centre of reason and science give way to the simplicity of the two dimensions of existence, namely life and death.

Traditionally the sixth chakra has only two petals, which is deeply symbolic, and its colour is white, which is also significant. It is quite a transition from the complexity of the sixteen petals of the fifth centre with its vibrant blue colour. Suddenly the complexity and many-sidedness of the centre of reason and science give way to the simplicity of the two dimensions of existence, namely life and death.

At the fifth centre, the individual becomes the fundamental creative unit of the human world, rather than the family, group, or clan. Accordingly, the individual’s fulfillment replaces the fulfillment of the aspirations of the community. 

At the fifth centre, the individual becomes the fundamental creative unit of the human world, rather than the family, group, or clan. Accordingly, the individual’s fulfillment replaces the fulfillment of the aspirations of the community. 

At the fifth centre, the individual becomes the fundamental creative unit of the human world, rather than the family, group, or clan. Accordingly, the individual’s fulfillment replaces the fulfillment of the aspirations of the community. 

The fourth centre is the door to the personal subconscious and a staircase to the universal unconscious. Conscious life is only the tip of the iceberg of our existence.

The fourth centre is the door to the personal subconscious and a staircase to the universal unconscious. Conscious life is only the tip of the iceberg of our existence.