Recognise the Other Person Is You

If there’s one teaching that could completely change the way we live and love, it’s the first sutra of the Aquarian Age: Recognise that the other person is you. It sounds simple, something you might see on an inspirational coffee mug, but when you really sit with it, it’s one of the most transformative, humbling ideas you’ll ever explore.

Yogi Bhajan, who brought Kundalini Yoga to the West, said, “If you cannot see God in all, you cannot see God at all.” That’s the heart of this sutra. It’s saying to us that what we admire, resist, or react to in others is actually a reflection of something within ourselves. The people around us are mirrors, sometimes showing our beauty, sometimes revealing what we still need to work on to heal.

In the Piscean Age, power came from the top down. We looked for leaders, teachers and Gurus to tell us what was true. But in the Aquarian Age, which Yogi Bhajan described as an era of awareness, the feel truth everywhere, in everyone.

It’s important to say this clearly: it’s not about pretending everyone is nice or that we have to agree with them. It’s about understanding that the same Divine spark flows through all of us.

Think about the last time someone triggered you. Maybe a coworker was dismissive, or a friend said something sharp. Most of us instinctively go into defense mode, we judge, blame, or pull away. But this sutra suggests that we  pause, breathe, and ask, What is my reaction teaching me about myself? What can I learn from the way they reacted? Maybe the other person was reflecting a fear, an insecurity, or even a strength you haven’t fully owned yet. When you recognise that the other person is you, the whole dynamic shifts. Instead of reacting you respond and reflect.

And the same is true for the good stuff. When someone inspires you with their confidence, creativity, or calm presence, that’s also a mirror. It’s the Universe saying, “You’ve got this too.” Recognising others as mirrors helps dissolve separation—the “me versus them” mindset that causes so much loneliness and misunderstanding. It’s one of the most practical spiritual tools out there because it changes how we see the world in real time.

In Kundalini Yoga, we experience this truth through practice. When you chant mantras like Sat Nam meaning “Truth is my identity”, you start to feel that same vibration in others. Eye-gazing meditations, group kriyas, and even sharing energy in class help dissolve the illusion of separateness. You realise that we are all waves on the same ocean, moving differently but made of the same water.

At the last Kundalini Yoga Festival, the theme was Recognise the Other is You, and one of the most simple things they offered was a one-way mirror and a chair. You could sit down, if you felt called, and just look at yourself.

Honestly the first few minutes were rough. I sat down and immediately noticed everything I didn’t like. My mind zoomed straight in on every imperfection, every wrinkle, even my uneven eyes. It was like my inner critic had a megaphone.

But I stayed with it and after a while, my eyes and mind stopped obsessing over the surface and looked passed that into the depths of me.

I still struggle to find the right word for it because it felt strange and familiar at the same time. It was almost like apprehension when my negative mind said "Do you really want to know who you are?" But the longer I sat the me who’s lived through things, learned things, broken down, gotten back up and who’s still figuring it all out, the more tenderness came through. I remember smiling and feeling that I am... we are... all part of something bigger.

And that’s when the sutra clicked on a whole different level.

“Recognise the other person is you” didn’t just mean seeing the Divine in others, it meant remembering to see it in myself, too.

Because once you soften toward your own reflection, it becomes so much easier to soften toward everyone else. You start to understand people differently and meet them where they are. You give them the same grace you just gave yourself.

If everyone is a reflection, you stop taking things so personally. That rude stranger? They’re showing you something to release. That friend who always encourages you. They’re reminding you of your light. Life becomes a teacher.

Yogi Bhajan said that the Aquarian Age requires “heart over head.” This sutra is a direct route to the heart. When you can look at someone, even someone you disagree with, and think, You are me in another form, compassion naturally rises. You stop needing to fix or judge and start relating from Soul to Soul.

“Recognise that the other person is you” is the foundation for peace, both personal and as a collective. It’s how we move from separation to unity. As Yogi Bhajan put it, “Understand through compassion, or you will misunderstand the times.” But that is a Sutra for another time.