Episode 12: Thanksgiving Podcast!

Welcome to Mental hygiene, a space to care for the mind like we care for the body, daily, gently and with love. Posted by Yogicaru and Susan Huu, this podcast brings ancient Yogic wisdom into modern life, offering practical tools to cleanse the mental clutter, restore inner stillness, and reconnect with your true self. Take a breath, you're exactly where you need to be. Welcome to Mental hygiene. Hello everyone, welcome to Mental hygiene podcast. My name is Frina Kumari, I am with my amazing teacher Yogicaru. And today, since it's almost Thanksgiving here in the United States, we're going to speak a little bit about gratitude, what it means to be thankful and why it's so important for our mental hygiene. Yes, nice to be here again with everyone. I'm Yogicaru. And we're going to explore the power that the emotion of thankful and gratitude, how the power of these emotion affect our mental state. It's a beautiful thing to be thankful. And these days, there's so much tension in the world, even just with the idea of Thanksgiving can bring up a lot of tension. Some people might not even feel comfortable celebrating Thanksgiving because of the origin of the holiday, because there's some sort of exploitation of the native people from the land. Sometimes when people are thinking about Thanksgiving, even though they are celebrating, going back to visit family can bring up a lot of different tension. But in my opinion, I feel like regardless of what the situation is, what regardless of the tension, thankfulness and gratitude is such a beautiful and powerful emotion that when we tap into that, it really expands our consciousness and changes our hearts. Yes, yes. So, we can celebrate Thanksgiving with another history, a history of the heart space. Right? I mean, we can practice Thanksgiving every day. So yes, we know maybe the history might be why it started, but anyway, it triggered something positive out of it. But then, okay, let's go into the history of the heart. When should we be thankful every day? So at the end like this, majority of America will come together and be thankful. And that means the vibration on the country rises up. It's connecting to that rising up rather than the. They're ready now. So we can go more deeper and rather than celebrating something, we create tension wide. Okay, let's be creative and celebrate the history of the heart. The history of the heart evolves, spiritual being is always thankful. So at holiday like this, we can take the vibration that's being raised, right? People are opening their heart space, coming together with family, with friends and share a meal. And, you know, no one is trying to commit crime. It's something positive. Yeah. Totally. And being thankful, it's also such a beautiful thing to practice really like you're saying you'll get to every single day so that we can really become more happy from within. We can find that joy from within. When we're thankful for things that's all around us, that's happening to us every single day. When we're grateful for our own body, our own mind, our own breath, naturally we start to live our life in a way that feels more grounded. And so often these days when we live in this day and age, a lot of us we feel like I'm not enough. I need this to feel happy. I need that to feel I am actually strong. But to be able to tap into that meditation of what I'm grateful for, what I already have helps us to evolve out of that fear, but rather are able to live our life in a way that's more graceful. Yeah, right. When we are in this incarnation, in this dimension, spirituality is always swimming up river against materialism. So the marketing people they're going to use are they like, they like times given there for materialism too. You can miss the whole beautiful thing of being thankful for what the amazing gifts we've been given. So, thankful helps us to evolve, gratitude helps us to evolve where we can transcend the materialistic side. We constantly live in the past. We constantly live in the future. And the marketing people they use the power of fear and anxiety in us to say, oh, you need this to be happy. But if you just pause and sit and recognize, wait, I have been given so many gifts, divine gifts already right here. What the marketing people is promising me is nothing compared to this amazing temple. We've been given so many gifts right here. The marketing people cannot promise me anything that is going to make me happy that me taking care of the gift of the body itself, the gift of the mind. And then when we do that, we can instead of greed being in the mind, because that's what the marketing people want more, more, more greed and anxiety. If you start to be thankful, we start to become convinced. Absolutely. I can definitely speak on that. I think for myself, even this morning, I got so many emails, marketing emails saying, hey, Black Friday, if you get this right now, you get a certain percentage off. And I started thinking to actually need this thing. Maybe I need it. If I want to buy it, maybe right now it's a good time. And before I know it, the mind went into that state that it's not even my desire. I didn't even want it. And I'm pretty sure, even if I went on together a great sale, it might bring me a joy for two seconds, but it's not going to give me long time fulfilling satisfaction. And if so, it's only feeding into that fear, feeling like I have to use this thing to stay youthful. I have to use the other thing to feel like I am a certain way, but really looking inward if I can start to recognize every single thing that we're having right now, the fact that I'm breathing the fact that my hardest beating is already such an incredible gift that nothing material can compare to. No, because it's divinely created, right? And then they don't end. You said, oh, Black Friday, then they're gone. Yeah. Then you have to show something. What is Cyber Monday? Yes. With something. I was like, she was the tackle. I'm never there. People are constantly chasing, chasing when they figure out, wait, this amazing body and temple, no marketing person can build. Occupation person can create. So let's pause and look at my thing like no one can make fingernails. All my fingernails are growing. Right? Yes. How about windpipe, my brown curls? I don't know how to create those things. It's divinely created. So let's be first, like you said, to make the mind intercontentment. It's be grateful for what we've been given. And it's not that an evolved being don't set goals and don't project your mind in the future, but they set goals in the mode of goodness. They project it. And then they're because they're doing it in the mode of goodness, they can bring it right back into the present moment. Present moment. Yeah, that's such a beautiful point, Yogi Cheru. Because a lot of times when we are fearful, we feel like we have to do something to make things okay. And that's what really those marketing messages sometimes try to sell to us. So either that fear or you feel like you have to have that product, that thing to be a part of something. But really, if we come back to who we are as the essence of who we are, we already truly have everything that we need in this world. And how can we internalize everything so that from that contentment, from that thankfulness of knowing everything that I'm given, it's so precious, then we go a step further. How can I use those gifts that I already have to help others versus making all about me myself and I need more, I need more. If I don't have, I feel anxious. Consumerization, right? We take the beauty out of Thanksgiving and all the holidays that are there. We consumerization. So our thoughts making our mind our best friend means we, someone is not putting desires in there. For us, we are able to pull back and put our desires in our minds. So this is how do we, and that's how Krishna tells our juniors. Some, it is better to do your own duty. Your duty. Imperfectly than someone else's Dharma perfectly. Oh, if someone else is constantly making desires for us and we're fulfilling them, we are in the mode of passion and ignorance. Let's come in the mode of goodness. Okay, pull it back and then make decisions on our own, right? If you look in our house today, 2025, I guarantee you, 90% of the things we have in our house are great grandparents didn't have. That's so true. And they were very happy. They were very content. They were happy. Yeah. It would live for a long time because less anxiety, less stress. So we're not against evolution, right? We use the gadgets. We use computers. We use it. You know, I'm thankful for the engineers who developed the world of our web. I teach around the globe through the internet. I'm thankful for the engineers who were using Zoom. I'm very thankful, very grateful, but then we have to know how to use it in moderation. And you know, okay, we have certain things as technology and the stuff that we have in our house. Why do they evolve? They should make lives easier. But if they come up with where they start to create more tension where your mind is not peaceful, it's a time to renounce it. And we don't know to ren- we are not trained to renounce something when it's no longer of good use. And they say clutter, right? Cloth. The second you move in a house, the first time you move in a house. The first month you bring in new things. In the market, you can tell it more. Second month. We've really know it. Two, three years, the accumulation of what else. Which we don't really need, but we just cyber Monday, black frown. It's like constant. Our mind is not way, way, way. Let's pause. Let's reflect. Let's. So as we evolve, we want to start to declutter. So when we declutter, that tells us we're talking into the contentment vibration. And so this is a very beautiful, these holidays that are coming up around the next few months. They're powerful because they raise people to the vibration of love and time. But I remember the first things, because in Belize, I never grew up with it. I came to America and I went to a family's house for tanks given. I saw everyone's, everyone, they asked everyone to say something they were thankful for. I was like, "Oh, wow. This is beautiful." Right? It's beautiful. It is such a beautiful thing, yes. But we have to, we have to, we have to come into that. And that. Renounce the things that makes us greedy or anxious and all the other, the baggage is that come with. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And in a way also, when we are able to be content, be satisfied, be grateful with what we have, then a minus piece for naturally. We never feel like, "Okay, I'm so happy, I'm so grateful." But yet, I want 10,000 different things to add to where I am right now. When we're satisfied, we recognize this is perfect where we are now. And then we start to think a little bit deeper about how we can use those things in a mode of goodness versus trying to accumulate more. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's just more, more, more. However, we've been given a lot already. Just take care of what we have. Right? I mean, and look, like if I was going to my mind right now on my intellect open and be thankful, all of a sudden, my heart beats slower. Mm-hmm. System change, my nervous system change. Right? This parasympathetic nervous system kicks in. Happiness kicks in. Like, everything changed. Just want to be thankful and grateful. Mm-hmm. And like, we live in America right now, right? It is so, I mean, we know America is not perfect. But we are thankful that we have freedom of speech in our country. Absolutely. And we have freedom of spirituality, of religion in our country. Right? On the American dollar, what does it, on the money? In God we trust. Like, it's a- Absolutely. It's a powerful freedom that we have. Yeah. Of course, a lot of people are drifting, like we say, drifting into materialism. But if you even look on the money, this in God we trust. It doesn't say in a presidential, I don't know, with the reference. They put their president's names, fierce on the currency, right? Now in different bills. But in God we trust. Just that statement. Oh, we're in our country. Timeful in our country that acknowledges God exists. Mm-hmm. So, yeah. Yeah. And that's such a beautiful example of a lot of things that we have every single day that we don't even pay attention. We don't- we kind of take for granted the freedom of being who we are, the freedom of believing in God, of expression of God itself is such an opportunity for us to evolve. That not every single person on this planet has. Yeah. And like, we're on a spiritual path. And we can do our spiritual practice. We can do it privately. We can take it out in public. We can inspire each other to do all together. A big, big thing to be thankful for when you live in a country like America. I mean, yeah. It's not, like I said, a country is not perfect, but that's how big one. Especially for us who are spiritual seekers, who, you know, go out and teach and share. And we're grateful for that. Beautiful. You know, there are other parts of this planet where it's not allowed, where it's, you know, it can't be done. So, thankful for being in a country like this. And then, you know, just from that, right? Then you're so many, so many are thankful that, you know, a lot of times in the yoga community, I find some of my, they're, they don't like paint tacks. No, no, no. Tanks will be paint tacks because the tax helps to defend the country. Right now, there are some kids, they can't, there's bombs, there's wires. Here, we don't have any bombs or wires, right? But it's, every now and then, we see things like nine or eleven or something happens, but for the most part, it's a, it's a piece, you know, there's no wires here. So we have to be thankful for that. So, thankful for water, right? In some countries, you can't get pure water. Just the fundamentals, right? And that's why I think a lot of people try to move across borders, right? Why do people migrate to have a betterment of life, right? Like, we are not from America. But of us came here, right? But why? There's so many opportunities. So we're thankful for those, this part of the planet that allows us to live a life that we can choose. Absolutely. Yeah, even that alone is such a beautiful, important thing to be grateful for that. Sometimes when we're getting too caught up by the day-to-day life of the things that we won, we don't have yet. We forget about the fundamental freedom we even have every single day. Which speaks about this also, it gets me to think, sometimes we feel like it's easier. A day or a week like this is so easy to tap into gratitude to be thankful for everything. Sometimes when life gets challenging, it gets a little bit harder to tap into that vibration as well. You'll be sure, how do you do it? When things are a little less than ideal, when things are a little harder externally, how do you continue to tap into that thankfulness? So whenever there are challenges in our way, the evolving understood or understand that obstacle is there for a reason. And the 99.99% of the time it is there for us to evolve. Everything is going perfectly for you. Your mind won't develop the qualities that we should have spiritually. So you're going to learn patience if everything is on time. So when things are late, that's when you put the power of patience into practice. Are you going to develop forgiveness? If not, ever of man's return. So then you can put it into practice. So when there is challenging times in our life, look for how can I grow here? It really can be called "tangelo." But the challenge is that. That's so beautiful. Yeah, it's so funny. Over the weekend I was doing a research of training. And when we were starting, we were doing a meditation Saturday morning. It was so peaceful in the room, suddenly out of nowhere, someone on the street started screaming. And of course, afterwards we all shared about it. At first, most of us, we noticed it became a little bit distracted. Then one girl shared that she was like, that was actually so perfect. To remind me of, we are essentially the same humans. But some of us who we are so fortunate, we have the tools to navigate through the tension in a body and a mind versus others don't know how to release the tension. And while we're having that kind of thoughts, we are able to even sending out a little bit of wow wishes, more empathy, more compassion towards our fellow family, fellow human brothers sisters. So hopefully they can also receive some of that peace from me. Yeah. The situation externally looks like it's a challenge because we're meditating. It's distracting. But really, it got us to think so much deeper into why we do what we do, why it's important to be the path of searching for who we are. Yeah. Yeah. And that's why it's a joy to. I'm thankful that I was introduced to mental hygiene practices at a young age. And I'm thankful that I got the opportunity to teach every day. And I'm thankful for the people who, you know, like you said, the mental is. The split in the mind is so vast that, oh, here's an opportunity I can help that person not pure soul bring your mind back to a union and then calm peace of mind. So that's why we love teaching. Right? And also, the time shows for the opportunity to teach. And yeah, and when that happens, it also gives us so much inspiration as well, so much, so much confidence in a teaching that actually can help so many. Yeah. And there's the. Because everyone is seeking happiness, right? And so there's an inner happiness that comes when we calm our minds, but then our teachers love it. Oh, it worked. Then when we teach it, we see there's ananda in the whole, because that's what the Lord and the heart is trying to show us. There is happiness in making your mind peaceful. There's a different level of happiness when you share it to another person empathetically, compassionately. And a sensitive manner and you see it works and then they get in, you see someone else get peace of mind and happy and release all their attention. That's one of the greatest joys I get every day. So I'm thankful for that. And that's also going even beyond the mode of goodness. You're going towards that spiritual dimension where we start to feel that flow of love, that true back to that devotion flowing in between us and divinity us and someone else. And that's truly. It's a goal. It's a goal of life. It's a goal of yoga. Yeah. One of God's child come to you and they're stressed out and God gave you the tools to help them and you use it. You are happy? They get happy. God is happy. And this is not yoga. That's amazing. You are speaking about how being content, being thankful, help us to stay in the present moment. How does that really help us to. How can we use that as a tool to also practice our mental hygiene? Yes. So, when the mind is content, that means there's a process of thinking, of understanding. I have everything already. God has given me everything. And when as I grow from childhood to youth to adult, constantly God has been providing me with the sun, with gravity, with the moon's energy, with food, with water, with oxygen. Well, when you're in that mood of contentment, wow, as I grow, God has given me all the tools to grow and providing everything. So that allows us to become content. And when we're content like that, and we can recognize God's hand, our own us, then we tap into the present moment. Where is God? When can I come home right now? God is everywhere. We got to tap into it. When can you become happy tomorrow or next week? That's the marketing people. When if you buy my thing on black Friday, you'll get happy. No, no, no. We can become happy. No. If we just make, switch the mind, train the mind to appreciate all the gifts we've been given. This is the present moment. So contentment allows us to live more and more and more into the present moment. Growing up as a kid, you know, I'm always living in the future. When I found the yogic part, the meditative part, I saw like maybe the first five years, I was able to start to switch it. I started more like 80% in the present, 21% in the past. In the past or future, I'm able to bring it back into the present. And you know, as I evolve more and more, hopefully one day I'll be able to live. 100%. Amazing. Even 80% is such a big number for most of us. Yeah. For our listeners who's listening right now, just close your eyes and maybe take a moment to think back or day whatever time it is. That's the percentage that you are actually spending in a present moment versus the time we're planning for the future or reflecting on what's in the past. It doesn't mean we don't need the past or the future. We need them to help us navigate. But the more we can bring them into the present moment, the more the mind becomes peaceful. Yeah. And then that's why we do meditation, right? So we can bring the mind in the present. And then we start to, when the meditation ends, we bring the mind in the present throat the day. So when I'm speaking to someone, I am there with them. And I go to the park. I'm in the park. When I am eating, I'm with the food. I'm constantly, I've trained my mind to constantly be here, be here, be here. So I know I still have a long way to go because the mind is always trying to pull me everywhere. Future, fast. So, a lot of people walk around and I used to be one out of a day dreaming, right? It's a hero. We have a whole story in the mind. I don't know. So, and I was able to start to switch it. But I know what help was just to sit still and start to be with the breath. And they'll start to just start to be grateful and thankful. That will help you. That's powerful. I'm so grateful and so thankful for you, Yogi Shiro, your teachings, all your wisdom. And would you be able to see where celebrating this time of the year where many of us are tapping to that vibration of thankfulness? Would you please guide us through a meditation so we can all together get into that mode of celebrating that gratitude being in a present moment? Yeah, so score us. So let's come into a nice comfortable seated pose. We'll do a little five minute meditation just to center the mind, center the heart, open the heart to the present moment. Palms on the knees, touch the tip of the thumbs, tip of the next fingers. And as you close the eyes, become aware of the room you're sitting in. This room protects you from the elements, gives you shade from the sun, keeps you warm from the snow, the winter, keeps you cool in the summer. Grateful for the room, become thankful for your room. Tangle for who built it. Contemplate the amazing country you're living on. And all they know country is perfect, but your country has so many pros. And thankful for those gifts of the country. Now bring your awareness to the breadth at the entrance of the nostrils, feeling the air moving in and out. And thankful for your two nostrils, your windpipe, your bronchills, your two amazing lungs. And for the next couple of minutes, mentally we call it a "japa-japa meditation" with thankfulness. As you inhale slowly, simultaneously, mentally, mentally repeat, I am thankful for my and as you exhale slowly, choose one of the millions of gifts you've been given, the toes, the fingers, the liver, the heart. Every exhalation is a different gift. The family, the pets. Let's continue at your pace for the next couple of minutes. Mentally, inhale, I am thankful for my, so you exhale, object of thankfulness. Thank you. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] And after the next exhalation, give up the practice. And just gaze in the center of your eyebrows and recognize how peaceful your mind is. How a sense of joy pervades your whole organism, sense of happiness. As we become thankful for the gifts we've been given, thankful for the obstacles that allow us to grow. As we become thankful for our family, friends and the planet. We are thankful for our God to the gift of life. Bring the palms to the heart, lower the brain, the skull towards your heart yourself. It was long enough. Namaste. Lift the head. And the eye is had a own that's up. Had a own that's up. Thank you so much, Yogi. Sure for the beautiful vibration. My dog, Begot, just came over as I'm meditating. I feel like he's also being attracted by that vibration, the high vibration. Yeah, we're thankful for our pets, right? They bring on so much of the qualities of higher frequency thoughts. Absolutely. Thank you all so much for joining us for another episode of Mental Hygiene. And we are so grateful for the opportunity to be able to share those incredible tools to help funding a moment of peace of mind to help that mental hygiene. Have a happy Thanksgiving and try and have a thankful life every day that will help us to live in the present moment more and more. Look forward to seeing you all once again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us with Mental Hygiene, where ancient wisdom meets modern life, one breath and a telep. If this episode brought you peace, insight or inspiration, we invite you to subscribe, leave a review and share with someone you love. To go deeper, connect with Yogi Chahoo and Susan Hoo, follow the journey on Instagram at Mental Hygiene podcast. Until next time, keep your mind clear, your heart open, and your spirit grounded. Be well, be still. [Music]