What I learned I learned from Baboons. Great...

What I learned I learned from Baboons. Great article from Tara Stiles, Yoga & Wellness Expert about what we humans can learn from Baboons.

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Learning How to Flourish in Life… From Baboons

One of my favorite ways to unwind from a long day of yoga is to cook a healthy meal and watch a movie at home. After exhausting my Netflix cue of new releases, old movies, and an 80s revival, I started in on the National Geographic documentaries and happened upon one lately that has been very inspiring, stimulating, and shocking, and so relatable to yoga that I had to share what I learned.

Dr. Robert Sapolsky has been studying baboons for stress patterns and the effects of stress on vitality, personality, the ability to thrive in society, as well as overall health and happiness. (Sapolsky chose baboons because they are closest to humans in how we handle and maintain stress.)

Most animals deal with stress when it is necessary, when they are running from predators or looking for food. The baboon, however, spends a few hours a day looking for food and the rest of the day tormenting others in their pack. They stress each other out, give each other a hard time, fight for power and authority in their group, and it affects their health, big-time. In this way, we are like baboons!

A tragedy happened in the group of baboons that Sapolsky was studying. They ate some contaminated meat; many of the animals died of poisoning. However, the ones who got to the meat, and didn’t share with the others, of course, were the dominant males; they all died. The group was left with what Sapolsky likes to call “the good guys” (the non-alpha males) and females.

Over the next few months, the group transformed into a more caring, more giving, more loving, and more healthy group of baboons. When new adolescent males entered the group, they behaved badly for a little bit, and then shaped up and became loving and caring like the rest of the group. In just one generation, this group were transformed: they flourished, were much healthier and kinder to one another, and they weren’t stressed. This behavior would not be seen in normal groups of baboons.

What have we learned from the baboons?

Well, we stress out for all kinds of reasons, torment each other based on social status, and take out our aggressions on those weaker than ourselves. It affects our health and is terrible for the overall advancement of our society.

If we can learn to be kind, more giving, less greedy, and help each other, we can prosper, live in harmony, and radiant health.

How can we do it?

1) Be kind to ourselves and others. How we treat others starts with how we feel about ourselves.

2) Be more giving than receiving. Let’s take an interest in helping others more than helping ourselves.

3) Meditate and practice yoga. These two practices help to dissolve and manage stress so we can continue to practice all of the above.

To the baboons! If they can do it, we can do it!

—Tara Stiles, Yoga & Wellness Expert