How Do You Know What You Know?

Every day we make countless decisions. Some are small. Others, quietly shape the course of our lives.

But before asking, “What should I think or not think? What should I say or not say? What should I do or not do?” there is a more fundamental question worth asking.

How do you know what you know?

Have you ever stopped to consider where your knowledge comes from? Some of it comes from books. Some from parents and teachers. Some from friends. Some from culture. Some from the media. Some from habits that have become so familiar we no longer question them.

Much of what we confidently call “knowledge” may simply be hearsay, unconscious conditioning, or borrowed opinions that have never been carefully examined.

Yoga Science does not criticize these influences. But it does invite us to ask a better question: How can I verify whether what I believe is actually true or beneficial?

For thousands of years, Yoga Scientists have approached this question much like sincere scientists approach nature. Not by accepting common conclusions. Not by rejecting them. But by observing carefully, experimenting honestly, and learning directly from experience.

That is why I often tell students at the beginning of class, “Everything I am about to teach you is hearsay.” The purpose of Yoga Science is not to replace one borrowed opinion with another. Instead, I invite students to bring everything I teach into their personal Yoga Science Laboratory® to test and verify it.

I ask them to become centered in the Witnessing State. Observe the teaching. Experiment with it. Experience its results. Then decide.

For example, when providing my students preliminary instructions for using their new Yoga Science Lab® I insist that none of them have any problems—only situations. Then I immediately add, “But don’t believe me.  Instead, close your eyes. Bring the word problem into your heart center. Quietly observe the sound and effect of the word ‘problem’ in relation to the highest principle of Yoga Science: ahimsa, noninjury, non-harming. Just Listen. Problem. Problem. Problem. I have a problem.”

Then I ask them, while they’re still in the Heart Center, to witness the word situation. “Situation. Situation. Situation. I have a situation.” Simply witness how the word “situation” feels.

After a few minutes of internal witnessing, students invariably conclude that the word “problem” feels like a heavy, wet wool blanket smothering their creativity, while the word “situation,” on the other hand, feels light and empowering––helping them to deal as skillfully as possible with the issue at hand.

After they complete their experiment, I encourage the students to remember that their thoughts and words have power. Both are subtle packages of energy––and wherever one’s attention goes, so goes one’s energy. Therefore, I recommend experimenting with replacing harmful thoughts and words, like ‘problem,’ with more compassionate, life-enhancing ones, like ‘situation.’

In this experiment, argument becomes unnecessary. Persuasion becomes unnecessary. The student’s own experience has become their teacher.

Now they know. And they know how they know.

And that is the beginning of freedom.

In fact, the deepest meaning of Yoga Science is freedom.

Freedom from hearsay.

Freedom from unconscious conditioning.

Freedom from borrowed opinions.

The Freedom to discover truth through your own observation, experimentation, and experience.

Every practice within Yoga Science serves that freedom. AMI Meditation® serves that freedom. The philosophy serves that freedom. Mantra serves that freedom. Easy-Gentle Yoga postures serve that freedom. Coordinating the Four Functions of the Mind serves that freedom.

They are not the destination. They are the path.

Each practice gently helps us become a little more aware. A little less reactive. A little more capable of distinguishing what is truly nourishing from what merely appears attractive for the moment.

Slowly, slowly then, something remarkable begins to happen. We no longer depend upon someone else’s certainty. Instead, we begin developing quiet confidence born from our own repeated observations.

That confidence cannot be borrowed. It cannot be inherited. It cannot be purchased. It must be earned through sincere experimentation.

Perhaps that is why Yoga Science has always invited us to become researchers rather than believers. Not because belief has no value. But because direct experience transforms hearsay into wisdom.

And wisdom quietly becomes freedom.

If today’s reflection awakens your curiosity, we invite you to continue your own experiments by attending AMI’s upcoming Foundation Course for Life™ followed by the Yoga Science Lab® class.

Because the most meaningful discoveries are never the ones someone else gives us. They are the ones we verify for ourselves.

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