As a Senior Scholar-in-Residence for over 25 years at the renowned Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, yoga master Stephen Cope has focused on a global integration of mind, body, and spirit. One truth that has become evident through his experiences is that human beings are universally wired for one thing: connection.

Starting with our neural networks and extending to our external relationships, the human psyche as a contingent and social construction has fascinated scholars, philosophers, and thinkers for centuries. Integrating wisdom learned from practice, meditation, intensive study, and life experience, Cope takes a fresh eye to the idea of connectivity and the human spirit.

Cope’s contemplative exploration of friendship in both its traditional and metaphysical forms breaks down human connection into six distinct yet interconnected mechanisms. Through the mechanisms of containment, twinship, adversity, mirroring, identification, and conscious partnership, we can become attuned with our essential selves and attain a deep, resonant connection with the greater network of humanity.

The journey to our most exulted and fulfilled selves most certainly involves significant introspection, but in order to truly thrive as human beings, we must make the most of who we are in relation to one another.