Video summary
Dr. K addresses the common dilemma faced by deep thinkers and those with high self-awareness, who often feel that their intense consciousness is a source of suffering rather than a blessing. He argues that awareness itself is neither inherently good nor bad; the critical factor is whether one remains in control of where that attention goes. Drawing an analogy to visceral hypersensitivity seen in conditions like irritable bowel syndrome or fibromyalgia, he explains that just as some individuals are hyper-vigilant to minor bodily signals due to a lack of regulation, people with excessive self-awareness often suffer because their minds scatter across every thought without direction. The solution lies not in reducing awareness but in harnessing it like a laser beam rather than letting it diffuse and waste energy everywhere. To achieve this control, Dr. K introduces specific practices designed to train the mind and body to remain still amidst internal noise. He highlights *Trataka*, or fixed-point gazing at objects like candle flames or spiritual symbols (Yantras), which trains attention by forcing the eyes to resist blinking until discomfort arises. This practice can induce tunnel vision and afterimages, such as seeing a blue flame in negative when closing one's eyes, serving both as an exercise for focus and a gateway to psychedelic-like experiences that keep practitioners engaged. A second key technique is *Shavasana* or perfect stillness, where individuals sit motionless until their bodies cry out with discomfort. In this state, the only solace becomes breathing; by focusing entirely on the rhythm of inhalation and exhalation while ignoring physical pain, one discovers a profound joy within the breath itself that does not depend on external circumstances for happiness. The ultimate goal of these exercises is to reclaim an internal compass lost in modern life due to constant distraction from influencers, parents, and digital inputs. Dr. K suggests a radical practice of staring at a wall for extended periods—ranging from 30 seconds up to an hour—to force the mind to confront its own contents without external entertainment. While this initially induces boredom or panic as dormant negative emotions surface, it eventually leads to emotional catharsis and a realization that one does not need constant stimulation to feel whole. He references the Hindu myth of churning the ocean to illustrate that seeking inner peace often requires first enduring "poison," noting that for every beautiful insight found beneath the stones of the subconscious, there are many terrifying or disgusting emotions waiting to be processed. Over his seven years of self-inquiry and therapy work, Dr. K observes a shift from simply learning stillness to understanding the motivations behind recurring thought patterns and obsessions. He notes that while early sessions focused on achieving physical and mental quietude, later stages involve investigating why certain stories or emotional reactions arise repeatedly. Although modern life has deprived humans of the hours spent in internal processing found in hunter-gatherer societies, leading to a backlog of negativity requiring therapeutic intervention, he remains optimistic about long-term outcomes. He believes that if one continues to look within and does not feed these negative patterns, they will eventually dissolve, revealing an abundance of positivity underneath once the garden has been properly tended over time.
Read the full video transcript
how should people deal with having lots
of self-awareness or being a deep
thinker I heard uh a guy asked Peterson
this question the depth of my
Consciousness causes me to suffer is it
a blessing or a curse to feel everything
so very deeply I thought it was a really
great question what's your opinion on
that and how can people with high
self-awareness deal with it so it's
funny
because um you know there there's uh
some someone once told me that you know
I think my problem is that I have too
much self-awareness and so here the main
thing to understand if you have a bunch
of
self-awareness this is neither a good
thing or a bad thing the question is
who's in control so the problem with
people who have quote unquote too much
self-awareness is that they are not in
control of where their awareness goes so
if I become hyperaware so we even see
this in cases of people who have uh
psychosomatic illnesses so if you look
at people who have things like irritable
bowel syndrome infl uh less so
inflammatory bowel disease fibromyalgia
what we know is they have something
called visceral hypers sensitivity so
any tiny signal in their body like you
and I are sitting down right now our
body is sending us lots of signals about
us being uncomfortable but we are able
to suppress those but some people are
hyper Vigilant and Hyper sensitive to
their internal signals and this is the
basic problem with awareness is that if
you have too much awareness it's not
that it's good or it's bad it's that
it's out of control so if we kind of
think about let's say a raging river is
a raging River good or bad well that
depends why is it raging exactly is it
part of a a dam where we're harnessing
hydroelectric energy then it is amazing
which has been my experience is that
when I can take these people and teach
them how to harness their awareness and
focus their awareness because most
people who have too much awareness it's
like light that is defract and spread
everywhere instead what you need to do
is focus light just like a laser beam at
which point instead of being diffuse and
wasted all over the place because your
mind is hyper aware of this and now I'm
thinking about this and now I'm aware of
this and now I'm aware of this you need
to be able to focus your mind like a
laser beam and then it can cut through
things and it is an amazing tool so it's
about who's in control not that it's
good or bad what are the strategies that
are most efficacious for controlling uh
so I like a couple of specific practices
um so the two like very simple
introductory ones that I tend to teach
people one is something calleda so love
your Indian accent every every word that
you say in Indian I want to do the whole
podcast in Indian okay sure we can do
podcast inan no problem okay so first
one is trataka okay I can't focus go
back go you can't focus I will teach you
practice right interesting you're
talking about not being okay don't worry
don't worry I will help I will help okay
okay you can't focus no problem laugh
what is problem see laughing is not is
not lack of focus let yourself laugh
better come on let it out let it out let
it out right what is the problem enjoy
Focus fully on the laughter see this is
what I mean doing this in front of a
jungle background is going to get
someone
canell no it's okay don't fear the
cancellation just breathe and you'll be
okay okay your choice I can go either
way let's stick with this one for now I
did enjoy that though so so one one
practice is something that I call thoa
which is not I that's what it's called
it's fixed Point gazing so what I tend
to find is that uh so fix Point gazing
is usually when you look at something
like a candle flame or like a yantra
which is like a spiritual symbol and you
gaze at it for maybe 30 seconds 60
seconds 90 seconds you work your way up
slowly and it's best to learn this from
a teacher without blinking so over time
what literally happens is you're you
tell yourself okay I'm going to look at
this without blinking and then over time
your body will send you signals they're
like hey we want to Blink this is
uncomfortable let's move let's move
let's move and so what you're literally
doing is you're training your attention
to not do this thing I also like thoa
because there's a certain badassness to
it right like you feel awesome yeah like
like I'm going to I'm going to control
this and you feel strong and powerful
when you do this this kind of thoa
practice so we'll we'll do kind of fix
Point gazing at a candle it also there's
also some cool stuff that happens in the
practice which keeps people engaged like
our photo receptors tend to get
exhausted with pigments and then you
have kind of psychedelic experiences and
stuff which kind fun kind of get Tunnel
Vision on the outside right so so that's
how you know you're doing it right so
there's a lot of good things in the
practice you got to be careful with it
you don't want to damage your eyes or
anything so don't don't do it
excessively so that's one practice and
the second practice that I really like
is something called gum which is perfect
Stillness so it's just to sit in a space
that is and just be perfectly still and
over time what will happen is that will
become increasingly uncomfortable is
your body cries out to you we want to we
want to relax we want to move we want to
do this we want to do that and then and
then usually what what what becomes
beautiful about that is that as your
body cries out with more and more
pain what starts to happen is what a lot
of people will discover is that
breathing becomes amazing because as
your body becomes uncomfortable the only
Solace that you have is the breath while
you're focused on the breath while
you're breathing in and out then you
feel amazing like but the second that
you stop concentrating on your breathing
the body becomes a flame of discomfort
and so these two practices it's
interesting how how much ecstasy can be
derived from the breath and then the
other really brilliant thing about this
practice is you begin to realize that
it's really weird and and maybe we
should have done it but you begin to
realize that like there's so much joy
just in breath and then hopefully people
who do this practice long enough will
start to realize something really insane
which is that a lot of your happiness in
life is not dependent on the things that
you think normally bring you happiness
even the breath can be so pleasurable so
intoxicating so relaxing and you do this
all day long and you just have no
awareness of it and then hopefully what
tends to happen and this is my
experience with most people is they
start to realize that okay a lot of My
Life The Joy is actually created on the
inside it's about how I live it's about
how I receive things and and then they
start working on the inside which is
when the magic starts to happen how long
should people look to do the stare at
the candle sit still for for a
introductory session yeah so I I would
say for something like draa you know
it's it's best to learn from a teacher
and many like yoga and meditation
schools will teach this stuff but you
know for tho I would say like go to the
point of discomfort but not to the point
of pain um there are some medical
contraindications so you need to like
talk to your doctor about it if you've
got things like glaucoma or other like
pressure related problems in the eyes
but generally speaking I'd say you can
start with 30 to 60 seconds and
gradually work your way up to like 2
minutes 3 minutes 4 minutes um and then
that's usually enough and then there's
another the cool thing is with thoa
there's a there's a different practice
that you can do called Ana which is kind
of the next phase so um and this is
where you you kind of said you get the
tunnel vision so the cool thing that
happens in in the in the eyes is once
you exhaust your photo receptors and
your pigments in your eyes if you close
your eyes you will see the after image
in negative so then what you can do is
without risking any problems in your
eyes you can close your eyes and you'll
actually see a blue candle flame if
you're gazing at a candle and it's the
opposite and that's just how our eyes
work and then you can continue to do the
thoa like in your mind like looking in
your mind at at the negative image of
the candle flame and then you can do
that practice for like 15 20 minutes is
this where you got your inspiration for
the make people stare at a wall for 30
minutes
exercise no actually so that's a
different that's a different practice
but the the make people stare at a wall
which has been a revolutionary practice
in our in our community it is the joy of
that practice is see we're so distracted
from ourselves and so many people come
to me and they're like I don't know what
I want to do right so someone doesn't
know they're like should I major in this
or should I major in this should I break
up should I not break up should I change
jobs should I stay jobs should I pursue
my passion how do I find my Dharma or my
duty you know no one know knows what to
do in life and so as we become clueless
about what to do we turn to the outside
world and then we look at influencers
and then influencers say you should do
this and you should do this and you
should do this and then before we had
influencers we had the original
influencer which which is our parents
and our parents say I look become doctor
you're going to be good doctor right
those are the original influencers and
they give us this set of conditions that
we have to fulfill and so the the main
thing that's happened is if you
literally look at our Attention our our
attention is always outside of us now
because I want to be efficient right so
what am I going to do I took a shower
this morning I put on this is great
podcast called modern wisdom it's by
Chris Williamson and like I'm going to
put on this episode because then when
I'm in the shower and I'm taking a
can I use language yeah okay when I'm
taking a when I'm shaving like I'm
going to be learning during those
moments and then this was something that
I did during med school where I was like
constantly like input input input over
CL yeah and so we don't spend time with
ourselves and when we don't spend time
with ourselves we lose sight of our
internal compass and no wonder we have
no idea what to do because we're
listening to all these different people
and then this person says this one day
this person says this the next day and
then like so I keep changing my mind
programmed schizophrenia sort of yeah
and so the the staring at a wall
practice is sit at a wall and we're just
going to look at a wall for an hour and
then at the beginning you'll be bored
but then you have all of this crap that
has piled up inside you all these some
scars that are dormant all these
negative experiences of hurt that the
second you felt hurt you flipped open
your phone to distract yourself for the
pain and then that pain sunk into you
and lived in your subconscious so what
we're going to do is just stare at a
wall and just let whatever is there come
up what are some of the strangest trip
reports that you've heard from your
community I mean it's it's wild so like
even um someone in our uh like one of
our employees did did the practice and
he was kind of describing what happened
and like people will have all like
people start crying they'll like feel
all these things that they've never felt
before usually the first 5 to 15 minutes
or like complete boredom people with
ADHD will struggle to pay attention
their mind will bounce all over the
place and then some of them will
actually like end up having a very like
calm and rested mind after it bounces
around for all over the place but I
think some people the lucky I'd say
maybe 10 to 25% will really like learn
something or get some kind of emotional
catharsis I think a longer a larger
number of people start to realize they
do not need to fear being with
themselves and that's really powerful
you don't need something else to to
entertain you you can take a flight to
Europe that is8 hours you don't need a
book you don't need a phone you don't
need anything you can sit and oh my God
it's like so terrifying right and then
and so it's amazing what you can learn
if you sit with yourself the challenge
for a lot of people is that there is so
much negative ity in there that it can
feel overwhelming sitting with yourself
is an unbelievably uncomfortable
experience yeah and there's a beautiful
um sort of apocryphal story like a
mythology story in in the Hindu
tradition about this churning of the
ocean and at the bottom of the ocean
there was like some kind of nectar or
Ambrosia or some sort of divine
substance but the whole point is that
when they started turning the ocean to
try to get to it poison came up first
and so there's a really cool kind of
perspective from the this like this
yogic tradition that anytime you want to
find gold within you or anytime you want
to find nectar or amut um you're going
to find poison first so the pathway to
finding inner peace involves going
through
poison I had a uh an Insight when I
started doing self inquiry five or six
years ago that um for every it's kind of
like in a garden and looking for stuff
underneath stones and you know every so
often underneath the stone you find
something that's really beautiful that
you're proud about yourself for it's
it's a a realization that you feel whole
uh but that's one out of 20 and the
remaining 19 have something terrifying
and disgusting and and and awful hiding
underneath I think that's around about
the right proportion as well yeah so so
let me ask you this has that changed
over your five or seven year I would say
so uh but in some ways
the level of attention and the sort of
uh complex not complexity but like the
level of dexterity and and uh finesse
with which I'm looking at stuff has now
increased it's always getting more it's
always getting more it's always getting
more so as you are getting better at
looking within yourself what has changed
about what you're
finding uh originally I think I was just
trying to sort of lay down a path it was
really strugging I remember the first
time when I first started reading
you know all of my 20s I sent I sent and
received like 10 million WhatsApp
messages over a decade as a club
promoter right mostly on my phone this
wasn't WhatsApp web so kind of
impressive kind of terrifying um and
then I I remember when I first before I
even started meditating I just wanted to
read and I'd look at a book and as I was
sat down my body would like twitch and
move uh presumably because it was trying
to downregulate to this much lower level
of stimul there was no Bings bongs no
banners coming down no nothing it was a
piece of paper um so the
first 500 sessions of meditation that I
did were I think just like learning to
be able to have a slightly still mind
and a slightly still body then the next
500 were probably a little bit more
about uh noticing thoughts when they
arise and the next stage where I'm
trying to get to now is where are these
coming from like what is the motivation
for this story that I tell myself this
is why my current obsession with
emotions and feelings is coming from
also doing therapy um to try and see
okay not just can you sit with it not
just can you notice it but why is that
there why is this a pattern that you are
seeing more increasingly so it's kind of
hard for me to say um like am I becoming
is the proportion of things changing
because I'm like each time I move to a
different it's like a computer game or I
move to a different Garden yeah so so I
and I think that's that's wonderful and
I I think you
know being obsessed about emotions is
I'm sure not the first Obsession you've
had no true right so so one day you're
going to have to ask yourself where does
the obsession of things come from right
the maatic question yeah absolutely
right so that that's when and when you
get to that level by the way all of your
obsessions will fall apart that's that's
the good thing so I I think so for a lot
of people and this is I think what we
see in therapy right is that the
negativity comes first and then the
positivity comes afterward and so for a
lot of people who and this is what's so
hard about internal work is that see the
reason that there's so much crap
underneath the Rocks is because our
garden has been untended for such a long
time and so the negativity piles up and
I realized this actually very
interestingly I was I was working with
someone who was uh an immigrant and was
from an Aboriginal kind of tribe and I
realized that in their life in the
normal human's life we had so much time
for emotional processing we're going to
go out as hunter gatherers we're going
to hunt right what is there to talk
about you can talk a little bit but then
for hours you're with yourself and
that's how our brains evolved our brains
evolved with a minimum of external
stimulation which means the default mode
of where our attention goes like so much
of it eight hours of the day was
internal we used to do all these rot
tasks like churning butter and like
churning butter like you know you're
what is what do you think about when you
churn butter like you just so you're are
our brain defaults to so much time for
emotional processing and now what
started to happen is we lose that time
this negativity piles up then as you
start to look within yourself there's a
bunch of negativity which is why we need
therapists because most people can't
handle that on their own right we're not
trained to do that and so over time
though I think you're going to find a
lot of positivity and you'll find that
that negativity unless you continue to
feed it it will start to dissolve we'll
get back to talking to Dr K in one
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