165: What Habit "Hacks" Get Wrong: Community Conversations with Caroline Wybar

We all know how impactful regular habits can be, whether to benefit our health and wellbeing or detract from them. Social media would have us believe that we are one simple hack or protocol away from the habits we want, but today’s guest is here to tell us that habit formation and change are a little more complicated than that.

Host Rachel welcomes back yoga teacher and trainer Caroline Wybar to discuss Caroline’s upcoming course, Transforming Habits: An Evidence-Based Approach to Lasting Change. Caroline offers a grounded and compassionate perspective on change, reminding listeners that habits are not just about discipline, but about alignment, identity, and sustainability.

Listen in to learn why change only happens when we look beyond surface behavior to the deeper drivers beneath, and the key role yoga can play in countering shame, fostering self-awareness, and offering practical tools for nervous system regulation.

“Habits are difficult to change. If it was easy to do, we wouldn’t have courses on it.” — Caroline Wybar.

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“Yoga gives us so many tools and we really start to write the operating manual to our own system.” — Caroline Wybar.

Show Notes:

The inspiration for Caroline’s upcoming 8hr online course [3:43]
The unique role yoga can play in healthy habits [05:35]
Caroline’s “failed” ice cream experiment [7:12]
Preya & Shreya: pleasure versus long-term benefit [12:59]
Self Perception Theory & our habits [16:52]
The neurobiology of how shame derails habit change [23:47]
How yoga helps: compassion, self-regulation, self-awareness [27:07]
Social support is key [33:48]
Intrinsic motivation: choosing habits we actually enjoy [36:21]
Insights on Caroline’s course: how acupressure tapping, breath/movement rhythm, dual attention techniques, visualization and Yoga Nidra support top-down and bottom-up change [40:14]