Karma in Yoga: Good Karma vs Bad Karma Explained with Byron and Michael

0:00 Hey everyone. Welcome back to the going pro. Yoga podcast, Michael here, and just wanted to give you a little insight of what this episode is all about Byron. And I are going to be talking about Karma and how this episode sparked is. We started to listen to the first two or three minutes of an episode of another podcast called The Yoga is dead podcast. So, if you're not familiar with this one, they have about six episodes and they talk about some controversial topics. And one of the episodes the

0:27 title is karma capitalism. Killed yoga. So from listening to those first three minutes we were looking for some inspiration. On what we could talk about for our podcast in, this is kind of how this conversation started. So without further Ado we're going to jump right into what is karma and how Karma has evolved in the western world and what it means to us and maybe this will help you determine what it means for you. Hope you enjoy.

0:52 Welcome to the going pro yoga podcast, Namaste. My name is Paul, chiodo joins. Here with Michael Henry. Most yoga teacher, trainings are becoming watered-down and mediocre. So we have created this podcast to help supplement those of you who graduated from a teacher training and don't feel confident going out into the real world. Michael, and I are lucky to have been trained by some amazing people.

1:21 We've gone out into the world ourselves and had success and we want you to feel confident to protect your students and to build your career. We're with integrity and authenticity, Welcome to our podcast, basically. We're talking about Karma versus or the Western perspective of the western definition of Karma and how the original definition of karma is, I would love to talk about Karma, if we can do an episode on that, but I don't know if we need to have a little

1:49 bit better understanding of karma, how to talk about it every you know, right? Because it's a great topic if you're if you're well-versed I'm not fuck. Sorry bro, I mean I have so then what else is on my right ear? Phone to can't hear out of you can either wear, those are just unplug the thing and put the old.

2:08 Okay. I'll just make me feel smarter. They're more comfortable. Yeah, I feel smarter okey. So what are we talking about? Because you said you had heard enough but I didn't hear enough to know so. Well, I heard about Tom know that either.

2:20 We can't talk about it, the way they are, okay, or we're going to have to find a different angle which karma is interesting, right? Like what is karma to you, Well, now that I've listened to that episode or now, that I've listened to two minutes of that episode, but not not Karma.

2:35 Capitalism. But what's Karma, Karma, my understanding of our karma is is kind of like doing good deeds. Without yeah, expecting or wanting anything in return. So for example, You know, someone was driving down the road and they lost are they have a flat tire or something like that? They're just sitting on the side of the road and you drive by and you see them.

3:04 And you see them ahead of time that you have actually the time to decide and think, do I want to pull over and help this person? If you know how, especially if the person looks like they're having a hard time or, you know, they don't really know how to change a tire or they're kind of like, you know, pulling over and asking.

3:20 Hey do you need any help or do you need assistance and then helping that person? Person and then sending them off their way. And then you jumping back in your car and continue where you left off. To me, that is an example of karma example.

3:34 So what would be like the, you know, the The definition of what that is. Oh yeah. Well like the thinking of karma and how it is a Basically a force or theory that that has to do with some sort of pattern, that is taking place on an energetic level and I like Annie theoria level. That connects lifetimes, It connects lifetimes together in a way.

4:16 Where this is where I don't understand. Like, is it I want to say, like, is it to create good or like evil or like? But yeah, like what is happening here? You're basically getting feedback on the choices, you've made, right?

4:33 Yeah. From an energetic level. I like, because I've never thought of it that way. So it's interesting to hear you say that the like that youth, how do you feel? Feel after you do like using that same example of pulling over and helping someone.

4:48 And then, you know, just feeling good. After like, generally speaking, I would imagine you would feel good about yourself. Yeah, I think you feel good about yourself, would you feel connected more connected with that person? I think.

4:57 Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And it in the interaction could be a matter of 20 minutes. Yeah. And then and I think the thing about Karma, that that would help to understand is that It's not about helping the person because what can happen there is.

5:14 If you understand Karma, the way you just explained it without looking at it from a more more angles, right? Then you might do that just because, you know, it's a good deed and you want to feel good, but why do you want to feel good? And what is good?

5:28 So I would say Feeling. Yeah, I had it a minute ago but like feeling good, it's more about Understanding that the that even when you don't stop that there there is it's not about feeling bad or the feeling at all. Well it could be but it's more about the.

5:54 So the actually you know what, I think maybe that is more true. So like if you feel good or feel bad then that that will just continue in that cycle of that in that feedback loop, it will recycle itself ultimately. Okay, yeah, whatever recycles itself. You will, your life will now be, you know, it's almost like being laid out before you write in this way, from here in some future, right?

6:22 Like already laying itself out a bit, that's great. Actually, and I like that and I'll put it in another way that I understand. So, for example, using the same like getting old pulling over and helping someone, and let's use the example where you're, you know, you're 19 or 18, or something like that. And you've never, you haven't driven very much. So driving is kind of fun and exciting and And you're not driving fast and you see this person pulled over but you also know how to fix your car because

6:46 your dad or your mom taught you how to do it or change a tire. Oh so you pull over. You help the person out. This is one of those first moments where you've done a kind of a deed like this and then you know you carry on your way 19 year, old 18 year old. The only reason why I use that as because they're a little bit more receptive to things like this and then now that they're young.

7:06 And they've had this moment where they've done something and collected lots to say a Karma point. What I'm hearing you say is that caramel point is now recycling in your psyche and you're being, and you're energetic presence, that you're more likely to do something similar to that energetically for someone else because that karma is kind of like stays with you. So the more karmic things you do, like you're saying this recycling.

7:29 It's almost like it's not being used up as like, oh, here's this Karma point and then you have to spend it. It's like no, you get to keep that Karma point and the more karma points you collect, it's almost like the easier it is to collect them or you know what? Do you spend them know?

7:42 You don't? That's all I'm trying to say eclectic. Yeah, so they don't, they don't expire. They recycle, Yeah, right. So you don't spend it, you use it but it's never ending it should and it's in its potency or its power comes in multiple numbers. So the more numbers, the more karmic stuff that you do creates almost like a more power.

8:05 Like maybe this use a snowball as an example, you know, Snowball starts with a small flake literally. Right? And then it just Builds on top of it and it becomes more stronger and more powerful. The more snowflakes that are part of that.

8:18 Snowball. And if you roll it down the hill, and you just collect a ton of these snowflakes. Now, all the sudden you have, you know, just gets easier and easier and easier housing like that, as great as sorry thing about sadhguru perfect. It was like You see, it's like this. Now you see?

8:49 It's like this. So The reason the reason we are not happy. The reason for the karma being important is because not because the man is trying to collect his karma points, the points are coming whether he wants them to come or not. I don't know what that accident was. But, but the point, there's a little bit Indian, right? Not enough.

9:19 How was the point though? Because we're recording, and I feel like we should Keep going. I didn't realize that every recording for like 15 minutes. It was a good conversation. Let's keep it going. Okay, are you going to edit it?

9:29 Yeah, I'll cut that out. Okay okay. Okay but that was good stuff. We talked for like 10 minutes about my definitions of caramel. Like that's authentic as fuck. Mmm. Yeah it's true. Well then I have to do that over again.

9:43 You shoes like this. Your she is not about being a turn into Shankar. I feel like you know all relevant the point to get across with karma is that It's affecting your life, you know, ultimately for the good or evil. So I think that's pretty much understood.

10:07 But then valuing what's important is that you value life that you value a good life. And like how does that, you know, how does that come into play? Let some people would be like, fuck that. I don't believe in karma. Boboso you part of you has to subscribe to the actual Theory which I don't think it's easy for everybody to do. Right.

10:33 Sorry I'm here. I just had to turn off the fan. Oh no worries. I thought it was a little bit loud so wondering what you're doing. Yeah, yeah I don't know. I mean could go on and on about this I feel like you know, it'd be nice to have different perspectives of the karma. Yeah, I think definitely don't when you ask the question. What is karma to me?

10:50 I was like, I don't think anyone's ever asked me that before, you know, especially after listening to her. So how this happened is we listened to the first two episodes of karma capitalism kills yoga. From the yoga is dead podcast. So if you listen to it, we can't talk to more about it than the first two and a half minutes.

11:09 And then we just kind of got the concept and sort of breakdown Karma. And that's kind of how it came up and I don't know if you thought about what Karma means to you but we without going deeper into it, we just decided to say, hey, okay, Western Karma perspective, Eastern Karma perspective, anyone Karma perspective there's really no right or wrong answer. I would say to some degree I guess I mean unless it's absolutely ridiculous.

11:31 So I think it's such an interesting thing to go into, and just keep on going into it because the more we understand it, ultimately, if you can believe in it, let's just say, if you can get yourself to believe in it, then you will do better things. Yeah, so but if you don't believe in it you want. So I get it, you know, it might be kind of a struggle of a concept to understand.

11:53 So I like to look at it from different angles, like for instance, collecting Karma points and let's let what let's think. That's very Western mindset. Yeah, that's what A trophy makes it easy for the you goes to like yeah able to attach to. Yeah.

12:08 Give me that trophy. I want to earn that things like a video game. You're not earning it. Yeah. What's happening is in my My Lens right now is that you are ultimately detaching, completely from any expectation and your purely doing this because you view the person, if it's a person or animal or whatever task it is as you, it's Like you are it's like you are helping you by helping them but not in a selfish way.

12:37 It's like not you are the universe you're helping the universe, right? And the God, I don't know what to do to say there to be politically correct, right? But whatever you want to fill in the blank, this is this is karma, right? So it's selfless.

12:52 So that's bringing back to the simple. Definition of what yoga is and yoga is Union, yoga is as that we're all one, you know, everything. We are everything and we are nothing. Right? And then connecting it to that when you're, when you're in that state of mind, that present being that's karma, is not a point system at that point, it's just like you are just, you know, you're you're realizing what the truth is of the world basically, which is that we are

13:20 everything and we are nothing. I think that's the sadhguru point there. It's like, if you are this person, if you, if you just helped have the fundamental belief that you and I are one. That we have the same. We might have a different set of eyes and you know, skeleton and all of these different things. But ultimately we are from the same Source, right? And if you subscribe to that belief in karma is a beautiful thing.

13:46 Yeah. Otherwise it can be a bit detrimental. Mmm. Yeah, I think negatively impacts people thinking that they're again. I'm a better person than you, right? Because I do more good things right? This is toxic. Mmm. Yeah, thing that came up.

14:02 For me, it's about ants. Do you think it in it? And because I'm thinking like, okay, human beings were on a planet, right? We all came from the same Source, the same Surah Source being planet Earth, like the soil, we all came from the soil. You know, sadhguru is all about, save The Soil, like absolutely, right, save the soil because we all came from the same soil. You know, millions billions.

14:21 However, many years ago, all of this animal, this organic life came from the soil. The soil is our source. So God yoga, whatever the fuck you want to call it. We're all coming from the same Source. We're all coming from the same dirt.

14:33 The same carbon oxygen, nitrogen, whatever mixtures chemistry, that was able to create me and you standing here right now, now amongst all the other animals and beings. Like, yeah, I just think that's, that's pretty crazy.

14:48 Yeah, I mean, the topsoil is, you know, for our listeners that haven't listened to sadhguru, he's on many podcasts, you can just look go to The Joe Rogan Experience and I listened to him there. But recently, as a nice three-hour-long listen, a lot of it's about yoga.

15:04 It's really deep Insight, but some of it, the first bit of it, like our is about soil, right topsoil. Yep. And now we're stripping. The topsoil off and taking the nutrients from from it without giving anything back to it, right?

15:21 That's the key to the whole conversation. We're not giving back to the Earth, right? We're taking from here, taking from it, take you from, I think we know that from a perspective of cutting down trees in certain ways, but how many people have really looked at soil, though?

15:35 So, I mean, he's some projects going on there, amazing collaborations to create like awareness. Around this topic and he's kind of taken up on his shoulders. He's like, I'm gonna be the guy, right, because nobody else is going to do it. So I'm the guy I would go ahead and get that. Yeah.

15:54 And I think that's pretty cool for somebody's. So epically influential to put that on any so frigging awesome to listen to any time you talk. So I'm just like, I really want to pay attention to what he's going to say. It doesn't even matter the content.

16:06 The the topic like, no matter what the topic is like, if you had a podcast, man, I would listen to it all the time. Yeah, all the time. Gosh man, I love this. I love It like, channeling his his energy. I've listened to so much of his yeah, his information.

16:19 So we're bromancing heard over sadhguru but I'm gonna bring it back to the ants. Oh yeah. Aunt example. So the reason why this whole soil think came up and we are one, you know, we're all part of the same sore all come from the same Source, the soil, blah, blah, blah, that ecosystem. That Colony, that collection of living things that we are, right?

16:38 Yes, excuse me. Is operating together with the common goal of like, survival, And in pleasures and joy of life and then I think of an ant colony and I'm like an ant colony is just basically, you know, a Karma Colony like everyone's just they're all one, they're all helping each other out, they're all doing the same thing.

16:57 Right there. All have in common goal and that is the Queen. The queen is going to reproduce, and they just like they help each other out. They follow. They release these talks or no toxins some sort of smell so that they know which path to go.

17:08 So they're helping out their neighbor and then they're carrying and if there's multiple things, they need to carry that are heavier than they work together and they work together. And then they're just always working together, but in humans, we're not always working together, right?

17:21 So an ant colony to me is like a colony of karma, that's pretty cool. I mean, you're assuming that these ants are very well attended. There might be, you know, a couple of people scrap and see them out of Ambush. The queen a couple times.

17:34 We haven't studied all the colonies right. But that's a beautiful illustration. I like that. Yeah it was exhausting and the thing to me that comes old. What's the difference between Us. The people that are actually ruining the source, the planet, and all that stuff and the other animals on the planet. Well, this is not giving back and I think emotion is the big one.

17:55 I think the motion is what's causing us, you know, animals feeling probably emotions. Yeah, but like the basic emotions anger, fear Joy, you know, sadness possible that human emotion develops. Hold on sadhguru. Let me finish and then human emotions evolving into so many layers and different levels. As of what could be felt and then the complexity of how that affects the individual and therefore losing the union of, you know, the colony together.

18:24 That's how we went from ants to not ants that make sense. Yeah, a lot of it did. Okay. Yeah, I was thinking about the emotion, you're saying the emotion will you know, it's like this if you if you do something unconditionally Meaning you have no attachment to receiving anything else on the touch? I'm going to not Unconditionally Love for instance with no matter what happens.

18:54 So if you have this when you go into let's see let's say you You go change that tire and you change that tire out of pure pureness pureness of helping this person. And like you said, how does it make you feel? And that's it. It makes you feel good by giving back. So one of my biggest Revelations I had in Bali and I've had most of my big ones in Bali.

19:23 Mmm. The first time I really spent a long time here at about three things, I won't go into all of them, but one of those things, That happened there was really substantial. Was I had a massage from this guy and why on and he's so good. So you should you guys should message me if you're in Bali for his number but he's hard to book. Takes a couple of months to get him. I have booked all X for months.

19:48 I know. I'm so we use my chi July told Michael about. Yep. I told you about him and he's, he's epic. Yeah. But you know the first time was the most epic because I was very receptive and having this experience be coming from Westover to the east for a month, two months, whatever it was and I was open a lot of things were already priming me. And yeah, he just gave me a massage. That was completely intuitive.

20:14 Knows just where to go, what you're suffering points are and he'll tell you some stuff if you want still talk to you and you told me something that stuck with me as I went back to LA told me a bunch of stuff. But the one thing about relevant to this podcast is that he said Your soul has is inflamed and you need, give away money. Give away your money, right?

20:39 What he said, right? You said it real simply like that. And I'm just laying there. Like. Oh, man. Like what? It's guys like haggling for money. It's already. It's only a seven dollar massage or something. So, You know, the more I kind of felt on that it really started to make sense started to feel like it made sense, especially coming from the background that I come from having taught donation yoga and honoring that system of giving receiving no matter what your included and he also is, you know, he's very

21:11 much in touch with that, that fear, that way of life. So, yeah, I just, you know, give away your money. So I tried to tip him at the end. Yeah. Give him a little more money. He wouldn't take my tip. Mmm. He's Too much too much. Like big give away.

21:24 Money is like, no not to me like, wow. Okay, so, yeah. And so, then, you know, just the generosity. I'm not saying go give your money to every homeless person but think about, where you're giving her money, even if it's a family member that's asking for, it doesn't mean do it, but it means when you do it, do it from a place of generosity. Mhm.

21:50 Generosity meaning, you know, it's not about you at all. So. Yeah, that's great. Let's make my wheels turn. Yeah, no personal story. There, we can wrap that up. Yeah. I mean, I don't have much more else to say about Karma.

22:07 Yeah, I don't either. I mean, I can give you a snippet of what the other episode was about. Then the two minutes, they basically talk in compared Karma to bartering. Mmm, the perspective of like the the one of the perspectives will say, the Western perspective that's developed is the karma of.

22:27 If I do this, I'll get something back. It's good karma, right? You know, Bad Karma. Good Karma. So I like how we broke it down in a different way even though we only listen those two minutes. Maybe they break it down in a different way. Who knows, I'm sure.

22:38 But I like ours better. So it's bad karma, bro. Nice example. All right cool. Thanks so much for listening everyone. And We'll see you next time.