Are You Awake Or Are You Asleep?

What Mirror Neurons Reveal About Connection

"In the hall of mirrors, you are everywhere.

Which is the real you?

Find your original Self,

the one who perceives all the reflections and is amused by them.

Then, you will recognise your path and walk it, no longer stumbling upon your many false selves." Alberto Villoldo

This past weekend, during our penultimate YTTC module, the trainees had been teaching classes as well as participating in everyone else’s sessions, so I guided a meditation and invited them to lie down if they wanted (for this particular time). Most did. I kept my eyes open while giving intermittent guidance for twenty minutes.

To my surprise, later that day, I realised that my Oura ring had detected a 15-minute nap. This is right in the middle of the exact time I was leading the meditation.

I’ve been meditating almost every day for the last decade, and I’ve worn this ring for well over a year, yet it had never once detected a nap during my meditation practice. This is so interesting! I became really curious and a couple of days later, the pieces clicked into place.

The answer? Mirror neurons.

Mirror neurons are specialised brain cells that fire both when we perform an action ourselves and when we watch someone else do the same action. In other words, the same brain circuits light up whether you’re actually doing a yoga pose or just watching someone else hold a posture, meditating or watching someone meditate... or even calmly sitting there while someone else takes a nap. Your brain can start producing the exact same signals as if you were the one drifting off! I'm blown away!

Note: Oura measures movement, heart rate, skin temperature, respiratory rate and HRV to determin

e when you're taking a nap

Have you ever caught yourself copying someone’s posture while talking to them?

Or found yourself yawning the moment they yawn?

Maybe you’ve tensed up while watching someone else struggle, or felt tears well up when a friend starts crying?

They’re the reason I’ve never been able to sit through scary movies. My body literally feels the tension and fear on screen. It’s also why the news can leave me feeling heavy and uneasy for hours afterwards. My brain isn’t just “watching.” It’s quietly mimicking and/or simulating everything it sees.

We all have mirror neurons, but some people’s are naturally more active than others. If you’re highly empathetic, sensitive to other people’s energy, or someone who easily “catches” the mood of a room, there’s a good chance your mirror neuron system is firing strongly.

We are constantly reflecting what we see. Our nervous system is always tuning in, picking up the signals of what we see, copying, responding, literally mirroring. 

That’s why yoga places so much emphasis on awareness; on gently switching on our attention and returning again and again to our true nature. When we do, we can begin to notice the reflections without being swept away by them. We can smile at the borrowed emotions, the mirrored tensions, and the restless waves of thought, recognising which ones are truly ours and which ones we’ve simply picked up from our environment.

Then, like the quote says, we can find our original Self <3  the quiet witness who perceives all the reflections and is amused by them. From that place, we recognise our path and walk it with far less stumbling over the many false selves we used to mistake for who we are.

Now, whenever I read Alberto Villoldo’s words, I understand them on a whole new level:

In the hall of mirrors, you are everywhere.

Which is the real you?

Find your original Self,

the one who perceives all the reflections and is amused by them.

Then, you will recognise your path and walk it, no longer stumbling upon your many false selves."

Yoga, Power & Spirit - Patanjali The Shaman by Alberto Villoldo

Perhaps the real gift of mirror neurons is not just connection, but the beautiful invitation to wake up inside the hall of mirrors and finally meet the one who’s been watching all along.

With love and appreciation,

Amor Armitage Díaz