Groupthink: Yoga and Evolution
Have you ever seen a Tiger’s extended claws up close? The incredible thickness and obsidian sharpness of them? Have you ever seen a Wolf’s canines up close? Not a dog, or a husky breed but a full-blown wolf’s fangs that have no resemblance whatsoever to a domestic dog’s incisors ground down by regular meals of kibble? Have you ever seen firsthand the Cheetah’s explosive burst of power as it accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in less than three seconds? How about a Chameleon, Snake or Butterfly blending so perfectly into its surroundings that it’s all but invisible? Have you ever looked deep into the eye of an Eagle or a Red Tailed Hawk and discovered a pupil that can pinpoint a hare on the desert floor more than a mile below? Or maybe you’ve encountered the nose of a Polar Bear, a huge black snout able to pick out the scent of a fresh kill over Arctic icecaps more than 45 miles away?
In light if these incredible natural abilities, and faced with the constant fear of becoming prey, it would seem at first glance that humankind was really given the short end of the stick in the survival game. We didn’t really have the super senses or extraordinary abilities of other animals. No extraordinary speed or eyesight. Our strength was just average. We were without lethal fangs, claws, intimidating size or exceptional hiding ability. As a species, we ended up trading all of these gifts for two things: opposable thumbs and a proportionately bigger frontal lobe than any other species on the planet. As humankind has evolved, those thumbs have helped to fashion tools and defenses that ultimately turned us from hunted into predator. But today the question as to whether we are we using the frontal lobe to its full potential can be a topic of serious debate. What exactly is the frontal lobe and how does it relate to yoga, survival, and the absence of fear? The answer, in part, lies with exploring how humans as a species protected themselves from other animals in the distant past and how we have repurposed our ancient instinct for survival/self-preservation into something else quite different in modern life.
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Jeff Martens is a teacher, writer and co-owner of Inner Vision Yoga. All suggestions are voluntary. Consult a qualified teacher or your physician before you embark on any practice in which you are unfamiliar.