Dr. Jivasu walks through the central problem of being human: that we're the only animals self-aware enough to know we will die — and the only ones unable to accept it. Plants and animals don't carry death anxiety because they don't carry an autobiographical self. We do. From age 2 or 3, the brain begins building a shield to keep us from feeling the reality of what's coming. This episode is about that shield. Why we built it. What it costs us. And what Soma does about it.UPCOMING WORKSHOP WITH DR. JIVASU"Understanding Death to Live Fully" — Begins July 11, 2026Register: https://www.somapath.org/service-page/understanding-death-to-live-fully?referral=service_list_widgetJivasu distinguishes two kinds of immortality: the symbolic kind we chase through children, monuments, religion, art, and wealth — and what he calls true immortality, the leap beyond time itself. He shows how the modern consumer cycle is symbolic immortality dressed in shopping bags, and why this drive to grab and possess life is the engine behind the ecological crisis. Then he lays out the Soma method: not intellectualizing death but feeling it directly. Contemplating it. Sitting in cremation grounds. Attending the dying. Cracking the shield deliberately until the mini somatic crisis arrives, deepens into the full somatic crisis, and finally fractures into the naked duality — life and death facing each other without any escape mechanism left.What emerges on the other side is what Soma calls the somatic self — the background of life resetting from fear and survival into essential well-being. Death itself becomes a presence, not an absence. Jivasu shares his own arc: an earthquake at age 10 that cracked his shield early, PTSD through medical school, MD in pediatrics, the years at Sri Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh, and the moment a few months ago when death finally became a beloved presence rather than a terror. He references Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death as the most accurate diagnosis of the human condition he's ever read — and explains what Becker didn't include: the way through.What you'll learn in this episode:Why animals don't fear death, and why the autobiographical self is the reason we doThe actual content of the fear — not biological death, but the death of the "I"The two kinds of immortality: symbolic (in time) and true (beyond time)How materialist consumerism is a death-anxiety coping mechanism — and why it drives ecological collapseThe Soma practices for feeling death directly: corpse practice, cremation grounds, sitting with the dying, planning your own funeralThe mini somatic crisis, the full somatic crisis, and the naked dualityThe somatic self — what emerges on the other sideDr. Jivasu's personal arc from age 10 to age 40 to nowThe ancient instruction every tradition delivers: die before you dieAbout Jivasu:Dr. Jivasu is the founder of Soma Path and the lead teacher of the Somatic Yoga Teacher Training. His work brings classical yoga teaching into direct contact with neurobiology and somatic education through Soma — a framework built for adults who want the depth of the original lineage without the mysticism.🩺 About Soma PathSoma Path is a body- and science-based path to embodied transformation, integrating modern neuroscience with classical contemplative traditions. Led by Dr. Jivasu — a physician and somatic teacher — it offers depth without asking you to leave the modern world behind.🧘 Free Monthly Somatic Meditation (live): https://www.somapath.org/service-page/soma-meditation-listening-within?referral=service_list_widget🎓 Somatic Yoga Teacher Training: https://www.somapath.org/online-somatic-yoga-teacher-training🎧 Listen — ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomawithJivasu🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0laJc85nHxYzgYyFEK1OfO🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/soma-the-art-and-science-of-somatic-living/id1547156988