Learn, Connect, Ruminate

Ancient Over-Thinkers

Turns out over - thinking isn’t the exclusive domain of post - technological, first world neuro-divergents. It turns out that Prince Arjuna, the conflicted protagonist of the BG - the Bhagavad Gita, was Gen Z’s first and foremost over thinker-in-chief. To be fair - his problems were much bigger than just where breakfast was going to be served. Prince A had a proper meltdown in the battlefields of Kurukshreta. The man was about to step into a military clash with the people he grew up with, trained with, and in some cases, deeply loved.  His cousins, his teachers, even the elders he once bowed to were now standing on the other side of the battlefield. And right there, in the middle of it all, chariot parked and bow in hand, Arjuna completely lost the plot. He wasn’t just worried about strategy or survival. 

He was gripped by a full-scale existential crisis. What was the point of victory if it meant hurting those he cared about? 

It was the ancient version of lying awake at night asking, What am I doing with my life? What if I make the wrong choice? What if I can’t live with the outcome?

Mental Paralysis

We all know what it’s like to get stuck in our heads.  When options multiply, time ticks, and every possibility seems to collapse under the weight of “What if?”, decision-making starts to feel impossible. 

This wasn’t just Prince A’s problem. It’s ours too. 

At its best, the mind processes input, the intellect filters it through reason, and discernment emerges. That’s when we make clear, grounded choices. But when the mind spirals and the intellect gets clouded, discernment short-circuits. We don’t decide, we freeze. We second-guess. We scroll. We seek someone else to choose for us. So what exactly is discernment?

And how can an ancient text like the BG help us untangle thought from mind, mind from intellect, and intellect from consciousness? Why this is so relevant has to do with finding that deeper anchor - the voice within - that can help us feel more rooted, more grounded as life comes at us. Because when your mind is overstimulated, your intellect overwhelmed, and your thoughts running in circles, it’s hard to tell what’s true, what matters, and what’s actually you.  Although in existence for over 3,000 years, the BG is surprisingly easy to relate to. It’s set in the world of action — real-time pressure, conflict, and ethical decisions that can’t be postponed. The Vedas, on the other hand, while deeply important, can feel more obscure and culturally inaccessible if you weren’t raised Hindu. Their emphasis on fire rituals and cosmic order might feel like a stretch when your current crisis is an unanswered text message or a career crossroads. 

It’s one of the reasons we chose the BG as one of the foundational texts in the Yoga Humanities section of our YTT200. It speaks to the modern mind through a recognisable scenario - what happens when clarity slips and you are frozen in a moment of indecision.

In the BG, Prince A isn’t left to untangle his breakdown alone. He’s guided by Krishna, his charioteer, mentor, and close companion. But Krishna isn’t just a battlefield buddy. He’s also a divine figure representing the deeper wisdom within us all. In the text, Krishna becomes the voice of calm insight, helping Prince A see beyond the panic of the moment and into the deeper structure of mind, action, and self. Seen through this lens, the key characters in BG can represent aspects of our psychology.

The Map Within: Mind, Intellect and Consciousness

What’s the process that you adopt when you are conflicted over a decision - trivial or life and death? Pausing, finding mental space and respite seem like typical steps that we take to help “clear our minds” to enable decision making. Heart over mind, matters of the heart, mind over emotions - these are typical expressions we encounter to describe heart centred conflicts. And with each heart centred conflict comes emotion. When emotions run high, creating chaos in our thought process, the move towards finding “mental space”, a pause is completely aligned with our nature. Inaction, silence, quietude - these aren’t signs of passivity. They’re often the expression of deeper consciousness surfacing, the kind of presence that doesn’t rush to respond, but waits, watches, and listens. 

What we often refer to as “thinking” is actually happening across a few distinct layers within us, and learning to tell them apart is one of the most useful insights the BG offers. It’s not about shutting down thought, but recognising which part of us is doing the thinking.

The mind reacts. The intellect discerns. And consciousness observes. 

Krishna gives Prince A a simple but powerful map - a way to understand these internal functions clearly, especially when we’re overwhelmed, emotional, or paralysed by indecision.  I want to break that map down for you so we can see how it plays out, not just in ancient texts but in real, everyday life. It’s also a way to appreciate the value the BG brings to this process we call yoga. Not just the poses, but the deeper work of removing the veil, so the light of awareness can shine through. 

The map can be understood in three parts:

1. Manas: The Mind 

This is the part of us that takes in the world. Senses, impressions, memories, reactions. Manas is where our thoughts start, especially when we’re reacting to external noise. It’s also where indecision lives. It’s the part that says, “But what if…?” on repeat. Useful, but not always trustworthy on its own. 

   2. Buddhi: The Intellect 

This is our discernment faculty. Buddhi is meant to filter the chaos. It compares, weighs options, makes decisions. When buddhi is clear, we feel steady. When it’s cloudy; often because manas is overloaded — we lose the ability to choose well. We second-guess ourselves. We scroll for answers we already know. Buddhi is sharp, but it needs quiet to function.

   3. Ātman (or Puruṣa) – Pure Consciousness 

Now this is where it gets subtle. Ātman isn’t a thought, and it’s not a function. It’s the awareness that knows thoughts are happening. The witness. Not dramatic, not loud. Just quietly present underneath all the activity. You could call it presence, or clarity, or truth. It’s not something you “achieve”, rather, it’s something you remember. 

None of these parts are bad or broken. We need all of them. The problem comes when we confuse one for the other. When we treat the noisy mind as the whole truth. When we forget that clarity is always available, but rarely found in the noise. This isn’t just theory. It’s the foundation of yogic psychology, and it’s incredibly useful in real life, and especially now, when distraction is sold to us in high definition, and uncertainty is the background noise of modern life.  

A Simple Analogy 

A computer analogy might help to clarify how manas, buddhi, and Ātman function. 

Think of your PC:

• The hardware is manas. It handles basic processing, just as your brain processes input and reaction.
• The software is buddhi. It interprets, stores, and refines information at a more complex level.
• The electricity is Ātman. It is not part of the data or function. It is the power that allows the system to come alive.

Without electricity, even the most sophisticated machine is inert. Without Ātman, the entire process of perception, thought, and response has no field in which to arise. 

The Problem — When We Mistake Thought for Truth 

This is what happens when manas overwhelms buddhi and we lose sight of Ātman. Here is how it all tends to unravel. 

We don’t just have thoughts. We believe them. We treat the voice of manas, the reactive and overstimulated part of us, as if it’s the full picture. As if it’s us. 

Remember my breakfast situation? Oyster Inn, Wai Eatery, or Fenice. Three great options. One mind in meltdown. It wasn’t the food. It wasn’t the village. It was my mind spinning out scenarios, worrying about getting it wrong, and turning a simple choice into a crisis of greater import than it was. Now compare that to Prince A’s great dilemma and the effect on his physical and mental state. The BG opens with him in full collapse. His bow slips from his hands. His breath goes shallow. His thoughts race. Across the battlefield stand his teachers, cousins, and elders. And in that moment, even with all his skill, training, and duty in front of him, he is paralysed. In today’s world we may identify this as a panic attack. 

This is what happens when buddhi becomes overwhelmed by the noise of manas. The intellect loses clarity. Our ability to discern becomes diminished. We start reacting. We scroll through options, hoping for answers we already carry. 

Whether it’s breakfast or a big life decision, the pattern is the same. We confuse mental noise for truth. We lose the signal in the static. The real problem isn’t that we think too much. It’s that we forget there is a part of us that doesn’t think. A quiet centre that holds clarity. But we can’t access it when we’re tangled up in loops of doubt and doing. 

The Practice: Refining the Inner Instruments

Yoga is intellectual neuroplasticity. A flexible mind produces a flexible body. When I discovered yoga, I assumed the opposite to be the case. I got it all back to front.

Sometimes the opposite happens too. The body becomes a gateway to unlocking something deeper. But it’s just as easy to get stuck in the body, and to identify with the physical, to mistake the pose for the point. Instead, think of yoga as an eight-limbed study. The exploration of the limitations and possibilities of the physical body becomes the experimental guinea pig for a far more important guest — the mind. 

The final goal of yoga was never Scorpion Pose. It was always the destruction of the ego, the principal instigator of thought-led identity. A Yoga Teacher Training course that creates space to challenge the flexibility of the mind is equally important. It ensures a rounded, grounded, and integrated understanding of what yoga truly offers. Not just postures, but presence. Not just performance, but perspective. At Vital Energy Yoga Teachers Training Academy, our YTT200 programme leans into this. We’re not interested in training people to simply parrot cues or perform poses whilst missing the entire context of why we do this. We’re here to develop thinking teachers - people who can sense when the mind is leading the moment, and when it’s time to pause and listen from somewhere deeper. 

The inclusion of the BG in our curriculum transforms a 3,000-year-old text into something immediate. It becomes a mirror. One that reflects, reframes, and challenges the foundations of our thinking, from the very source. We explore these ideas in our Yoga Humanities sessions through lectures, dialogue, journaling, and embodied inquiry. The aim isn’t to master the BG. It’s to let it work on you. When you study history this way, its resonance is deep and we become engaged with the texts. 

Our YTT200 training tries to place asana where it was always supposed to belong - as a gateway to something more important. To becoming more discerning. Because a discerning yoga teacher doesn’t just succeed on the mat. They succeed in life. 

Real Talk - You Don’t Have to Be “Zen” to Start 

Let’s be honest. The idea of joining a Yoga Teacher Training can feel intimidating. Maybe you think you’re not flexible enough, not consistent enough, not “spiritual” enough. Maybe your brain is too noisy. Maybe you’re just trying to keep your head above water and you wonder if this is the right time. When I made a decision to join almost a decade ago, I was never intending to become a teacher! You don’t need to have it all figured out. I certainly didn’t. You don’t need to be calm. You don’t need to be bendy. You don’t need to feel “ready”. Most of us came to this path with busy lives, tight hamstrings, and even tighter thought patterns. That’s why the training exists. 

Our YTT200 course isn’t just about becoming a teacher. It’s about becoming more you. More clear. More aware of how your mind works and how your body responds. It’s a place to ask big questions and sit with them, not rush for answers. It’s a space to reflect, to challenge yourself gently, and to meet others doing the same. 

And if all of this has resonated - the breakfast spiral, the story of Prince A, the map of the mind, then maybe this isn’t just a blog post. Maybe it’s a nudge. We’d love to have you join us. Whether you’re curious, committed, or somewhere in between, there’s a spot for you. 

Our October intake will soon be announced. As in the May/June intake, a small scholarship fund has been set aside to support those needing financial assistance with fees. The budget is small but for some, it has made a dream possible. If you’d like to be considered, write to me directly to inform me of your interest. Don’t wait too long. In our last round, scholarship funds were allocated within a fortnight of applications being received. An online YTT200 will also be announced at the same time. Join our mailing list to be the first to hear.