Ancient Wisdom That Will Change How You Live Forever

[00:00:00] Yogi: Doing all the Versace campaigns and working and doing all the shows and everything, there's nowhere to go anymore.

[00:00:07] Kate: I'm writing this down from judgment to understanding.

[00:00:10] Yogi: We're moving in and out of balance continuously. So don't expect to be in balance all the time. It's a journey of backwards and forwards. We take on a lot of worry that isn't ours. Everybody from their own point of view is right. The whole money system and all the systems, they're all conflicting. They're all very illusionary.

[00:00:33] Kate: Oh gosh.

[00:00:34] Yogi: Yeah.

[00:00:35] Kate: Look, I might want to fight you on this. I want to scream. I'm glad I'm in an apartment because I want to scream.

[00:00:40] Yogi: When positivity and love come to you and you are of destruction, you don't know what to do with that. That will break you down so quickly, because the opportunity of consciousness is to rise, not to go down.

[00:00:56] Kate: Hi, there. Welcome back to Rawish with Kate Eckman. You are in for such a special treat today. I'm already feeling more relaxed, more calm, and my guest today is here for you. He is so committed to his work and his mission that he understands that the work is about you, not about him, which is so refreshing and so rare, and he is just such a gem of a human.

[00:01:21] I had the privilege of meeting him a few years ago out here in California, and he's worked with some of the biggest stars in the world, but also all walks of life, and he's really going to help us with our wellness journey and give us some practical tips and things that we can be doing to really manage the ever-changing, ever-chaotic world. So Yogi Cameron, thank you so much for being here today.

[00:01:45] Yogi: Thanks for having me.

[00:01:47] Kate: This is going to be a treat because I said to you before we hit Record, you're someone who could-- we all could have gone on so many paths in life. But for those who don't know, you are a former Iranian supermodel. You starred in one of the most iconic music videos of all time, Madonna's Express Yourself, which I do want to hear what it was like working with her because that's once in a lifetime for any of us.

[00:02:11] And you had so much success in the fashion and the beauty worlds and really could have done anything with your life, and you chose to go on this mission and be a yogi, obviously, and study Ayurvedic practice. I always say Ayurvedic. Say it for me.

[00:02:27] Yogi: It's Ayurvedic medicine. Yeah.

[00:02:29] Kate: Ayurvedic medicine. And you're a practitioner in that and committed to holistic health. And also your childhood really set you up for quite a journey. So when you think of your life this far-- I won't even say your age. You look 30 years younger than you are. But this passion and being in this world now, where do you think that evolved from considering your background?

[00:02:53] Yogi: Well, we follow astrology, Vedic astrology. So from that we learn that we come into the world with a certain temperament, which Ayurveda speaks about as well. And that temperament is with us. That's to do with our body and our mind. Then Vedic astrology teaches us that we come in with certain karma and a certain way of being, through placement of the planets.

[00:03:20] And that means our soul came in to this body for a certain reason, and it's living it out no matter what's going on. So your soul, my soul, everybody's soul took the body for a specific reason or reasons. It's living it out. Plus, we are living intertwining together, and we have society as a collective.

[00:03:43] So we are living individually and collectively within our karmas. I don't really think I chose to go to India and study Ayurvedic medicine. I became very poor actually doing that because it's not a wealthy path. So I went from the height of beauty of fashion and being the icon of fashion and beauty in the men's world and giving it up and then going on this other path, which really, it's the path of beauty, outer beauty and then the inner beauty.

[00:04:19] There is no logic to it. So when I look back on it, I go, "I could have built so many different careers and gone on work with designers. I could have worked in the fashion house. I could have keep elevating that, and I just went downward financially." But I rose spiritually.

[00:04:40] So that was 20 odd years ago, and there's no rhyme or reason except it's karmic. My soul wanted that. And I'm the last year or so coming out of, oh, there's a place for outer beauty. There's a place for inner beauty, and they can intertwine. And now I teach about, and I follow myself longevity because I'm going to be hitting my 60s in a couple of years.

[00:05:04] So if we understand, that's the beauty of Ayurvedic medicine and yogic science, the tantric apart, all of these were brought by sages, and they teach us that when you hit certain age of maturity, you should now switch into new things. So in my 30s, when I came out of fashion, and I could have continued, it was just the end of an era, not just in fashion for me. It was just the beginning of a new era of discovery, inner discovery. I just couldn't avoid it. It was just something I had this urge, and there's nothing you could do about it.

[00:05:45] Kate: I understand that. Before we move out of that fashion and beauty era, though, I got to know what it was like being on set of Express Yourself. One of my all-time favorite videos. I can see it in my mind right now. And then when I met you, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, you are him." What was it like being that up close and personal with Madonna and experiencing all of that?

[00:06:08] Yogi: It was great. I don't know how old I was, 21, 22, something like that. Really young. She was at a height of a fame and sexuality and discovering herself, and it was a magical time to be around her because everything was creative, and she just was a fireball of creativity. So the people around her, the places we went, or when I went to shows or I went backstage to watch them rehearse, dancing, whatever it was, it was just always magical because the intensity that she works with is just great.

[00:06:48] And you can see it today. She's still on fire, still going. She's still excited about life. And those are rare souls who do that. When you do have that, I reflect back on it and go, "At that age, you were privy and part of something quite big and magical and creative." And it took me into the next aspect.

[00:07:12] That was one of the things I said, was, after this and doing all the Versace campaigns and working and doing all the shows and everything, there's nowhere to go anymore. I reached that pinnacle, which is beautiful, but at the same time, you have to make a decision, is, do I repeat the same thing and eventually you'll end up doing catalogs and nothing will be that interesting to you anymore, or do you now step off that ride while it's going?

[00:07:44] It was going at 100 miles an hour, and you're stepping off it at 80 miles an hour. It's better to do that. And that was something that I chose to do. But the next thing was guiding that anyway. I just didn't know what the next thing was at that point.

[00:07:59] Kate: Did you feel out of sorts in that world at all? Because it is a world where there's so much ego and there's so much emphasis on the superficial, and you have so much depth wisdom and no ego, candidly. So what was that like to navigate? Again, you were a kid more or less, but I'm just so curious because I'm on these sets with TV and modeling and whatnot, and the vibe is jarring.

[00:08:28] Yogi: Yeah. There's a lot of ego. I still have ego. We all do. We work out of it at times. Just to put this into context, I always describe it as this. Ego is like a mirror. When you get too close to it, you only see yourself. When you pull back from the mirror, it starts to reflect everybody else in that mirror. So the ego isn't a bad thing, it's just how you use it.

[00:08:56] So yeah, I had my ego there, and I loved it. Fashion was great to me. I really enjoyed it. I didn't feel the rejection that certain people did. I just understood a client is not rejecting you. They just don't need your face. They need somebody else's face. It might have to do with color. It might have to do with style. It's not a personal thing.

[00:09:21] Once I understood that, then-- and I reached a certain height in fashion. I did so much, and I was blessed to do so much. There's nothing to complain about. I can't look back. I was supposed to be in Janet Jackson's video, her bridge shot, and I didn't do it. And I was supposed to be in another video, and I didn't do that.

[00:09:42] And when I looked back, I go, "Somebody else was supposed to do it." When I said no, maybe my ego said no, because I thought, oh, I'm doing Madonna's video and I shouldn't. Ego does come into it, but I had amazing time. And many people came up to me when I went into this more spiritual medicinal world and say, "Aren't you happy to beat out of the fashion world? Isn't it so superficial?"

[00:10:09] And I would say, name me a world that isn't superficial. Everything we have. That's why yoga says that the world is Maya. Maya means illusion. Because whatever's going on in your mind and whatever you are thinking about, that is your truth. But it's not real. I don't like myself. I like myself. I don't like them. I like the other person. I like this style. I don't like that style.

[00:10:39] All these likes and dislikes and opinions, they're all illusions. None of them matter. And none of them are based on truth. So if I say, "Hey, I like your hair." There's no truth in it; it's just something that I prefer. But maybe tomorrow I actually don't like it. So what was the truth? So when I went on the spiritual world, I started to understand that more and more. So I would say to people, "I had a great time in that illusion. It was good." You can still be kind and loving in the illusion, and you can be a real [Bleep] in the illusion.

[00:11:18] That is a choice. That part of it you choose. So none of it is good or bad and all of these things that we perceive. Fashion is a business. If you understand that, you make money from it. But then trading is a business. Owning Microsoft is a business, whatever. It's all. Can you say one is less superficial than the other?

[00:11:46] So we just think, because we compare it to spirituality-- and spirituality is only there to help you evolve and advance. And for some people it may mean they have to live the most destructive life. When I look at the people creating wars today, I don't think they're bad people. I just think their illusion is much more thick and deeper than my illusion or somebody else's illusion.

[00:12:16] So I'm not judging them for doing bad or good, because I'm not the creator. So I'm not putting that force on them. And if I do judge them, then I'm putting something on them that they don't deserve.

[00:12:33] Kate: There's so much here. Oh, I have so many questions just from that statement. But a few things. Speaking of that and illusions and however we perceive people and their decisions and how it impacts all of us in the world, and a lot of us are navigating transition and pivots-- and listen, I'm fortunate right now. I'm temporarily in Santa Monica, and I'm blocks from the beach and ocean and the negative ions, and that's spectacular.

[00:13:00] But my walk there is filled with unhoused people. And so again, it's so jarring and I'm so empathetic and so I just think, wow, the world is really suffering. And then I get mad at our government that I'm like, they don't care about mental health in America. Because I was just in Holland and my friend was taking a leave because her boss was toxic.

[00:13:22] And the company was forced to pay her for her mental health. Because her boss is a jerk. And I'm like, "What?" She's like, "They care about mental health here." So that was something.

[00:13:34] But you've made so many epic transitions, whether it was from leaving your home country of Iran, and you were in London where you got discovered as a model.

[00:13:42] And then you're here in the States. Well, really all over the globe as a supermodel. And then you leave the glitz and glam and go to India, and it's probably hot and quiet and uncomfortable. So I'd love some navigation around how we can manage the transitions, if you will, even if people aren't leaving their home, city, job, but the world is under major transition.

[00:14:07] Yogi: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I correlate this to 20 years ago, I used to spend about 22 hours with people with Ayurvedic medicine, going through, looking at your eyes, skin, talking to you, and everything else. 20 years on, people don't have the patience. They don't have the patience to listen, and they don't have the focus to take things in. So now I literally spend 20 minutes with people.

[00:14:37] So that's where we are in the world. We have to move with the world. We'll fall behind if we don't. So most people sit in the fear of things, and they tell themselves a story, and then they believe that story, and then they live that story out. That becomes your conscious level. That's a choice.

[00:15:00] So I am only going to deal with choices. The things that are just happening in the world, like war here, disaster over here, and an earthquake there, I can't do anything about those things. They're too far away. I can donate money. Unless I'm going to get up, physically go there, I can't physically do anything about it.

[00:15:22] Mentally, I can sit here and do something about it. That is more powerful. Because, if somebody's in a disaster, they need relief. Physically, you should be there, if you can. If you can't, mentally you should sit and be with them some moments of the day. That's also very helping. Send some money. That's also helping.

[00:15:47] So I'm more about the choices that I make and the things that I can do, not the things I can't do anything about physically. And I can't be everywhere physically, so I'm also not going to worry about it. We take on a lot of worry that isn't ours. We just keep taking on this worry and that worry and that.

[00:16:10] Kate: Oh.

[00:16:11] Yogi: And actually most of it, we can't do anything about. So why don't we, instead of worry, shift into a consciousness that we can do something about something? The reason I don't have a problem with anybody is I'm just looking at everybody as consciousness.

[00:16:32] Kate: I am like, how is that even possible? Oh my God. Continue. I'm just like, I was up all-night last night worrying about certain people, literally. And I think my consciousness says, which I've worked with my therapist, that's their journey. You can't do anything about it. Do not get involved.

[00:16:50] If they reach out, you can help. I interrupted, but I still need-- this is a real-life example I'm still grappling with. I care so much, but then I'm supposed to not care. So yeah, please walk me through this because I was up all night, and the dreams. I was wrestling with it.

[00:17:13] Yogi: This is where most people are. Remember, we are a part of an individual consciousness, which is us, and then we're a part of a collective consciousness, which is the world. And beyond it, the universe, and the whole thing. But let's stick to the world right now.

[00:17:30] When we go through reading things and what we read, what we look at, what we hear, all of that becomes a part of our consciousness. That either helps to take our consciousness lower, keep it at the same level, or take it higher. That is a choice. We talk about addiction, we talk about all these different things, but actually at the core, they become a choice.

[00:17:56] We can say no, yes, or maybe. We can do that. So when we say, "No, no, but I can't," we're telling ourselves a story that isn't true. That becomes our illusion that, no, no, I can't do that, but so and so can. Well, you may need training, but you can. So we don't need to go to the extremes and go, "I can't go to the moon and become an astronaut." We don't need to talk that.

[00:18:26] We can just keep it right here at this level and say, what is it that you want to achieve. In your case? I don't want to worry. Well, then the practice becomes, let me stay away from the things that I have no control over and I don't need to hear. So that becomes most of the news.

[00:18:49] Kate: Yeah.

[00:18:50] Yogi: So I don't need to listen to the news. I can listen to some local news because if I'm in your area, Santa Monica, if you want to help out, do anything, be available, great. Listen to Santa Monica news. There was an earthquake in wherever. Do you need to worry about that? No.

[00:19:10] If your friend who you want to help doesn't want your help, that's their choice. A guru said one time, "Give people what they want, not what you think they should have." Because ultimately, what happens is you're imposing your control over them, and now you are acting out of ego, not out of service.

[00:19:35] So the difference between what yogis and people are not on the path is, we have a certain rules that we adhere to that we didn't make up. So all we're doing is following these rules of attachment and detachment and not imposing ourselves and things. We're available, but we're not over available. We're keeping this line of balance.

[00:20:00] So we ourselves are not pulled into things that are none of our business and that take our energy away. And that we're always available here for higher consciousness. We don't want to go lower consciousness. That's not where we want to be. So that's why the conversations we have, the things we watch, everything.

[00:20:20] So when I'm watching something, it's informative. I don't need to watch 20 more things about the same thing, even if it's informative. So I like, for instance, short format documentaries. They're usually about 20 minutes long or 30 minutes. I don't watch things that are two hours, repeating themselves over and over again because I also don't want that in my consciousness.

[00:20:46] I'm treating my consciousness because my consciousness is this conversation here, and everything you and I are saying is going into my subconscious and becoming a recording. So I want to elevate all day long, continuously every day with the conversations I have.

[00:21:06] So when I get a text from somebody who's telling me something of a lower consciousness, I will elevate them with a higher consciousness. And I'm not going to go 10 steps forward where they go, "What are you talking about?" I'm going to just suggest the next step that I feel that would be from what they're telling me, the next step would be this.

[00:21:31] So this is how we stay useful to others. We stay useful to ourselves. We don't get pulled into lower consciousness because the only difference between everybody-- and this is what I was saying. The reason we don't get annoyed with anybody is we don't see them as, oh, Kate does this and so and so does that.

[00:21:52] We see it as their level of consciousness only allows for this right now. I can't be upset at so and so for doing what they do. If their level of consciousness is here, I can't expect them to be here. So I see it as everybody's lined up in this level of con-- not higher or lower, but in line. And I'm growing in consciousness at my level and my speed, and somebody overtakes me, and they're growing much faster.

[00:22:27] So I look at them as aspirational. And then somebody behind me. I should be supportive to them. And then there's a whole bunch of people at my own level. We should be supportive to each other. So how can I be upset at consciousness? I can't be upset at anybody in the world, because I'm just looking at them, at their level of consciousness, and saying, "They do that because they're at certain level of consciousness."

[00:23:02] And then I see somebody in front of me who's at a higher consciousness and I say, "Oh, what do I need to do to get there?" So between being of service to the one who's not there yet, being supportive to the people around me, and aspiring to go forward, I have no time, or energy to judge anybody. Because the way of the thought process doesn't allow for judgment.

[00:23:30] Kate: Thank you for being there and saying that because as you're talking, a few things came up, but I heard judgment and jealousy. Because I not only can imagine-- and it's not an illusion-- I will say fact, that I'm sure you have been on the other end of receiving some jealousy for a myriad of reasons. So I think that that's coming up right now.

[00:23:50] Some themes that I'm seeing, first of all, what's going on? I don't even want to call it political. I don't think clean air, food, water in the United States of America is political, but that's something I want to discuss. But as you're talking, it's the jealousy. I did a post recently that I'd never gotten so many messages in my life about friendships.

[00:24:07] And I feel like because it's a product of what's going on in the world and consciousness, a lot of people are outgrowing friendships or relationships with family members. So to put all this together, based on all your training and your wisdom and your consciousness, what are some high-level conscious tactics we can use when we're on the receiving end of jealousy or judgment, or we're judging someone?

[00:24:33] For me, I don't have the jealousy thing. Mine's a little more judgment. Not like, "Oh, you suck," but like, "Oh my gosh, your life could be so much better if you would do this work, or hire me, or hire Yogi, or go on this journey." And I think their unwillingness or lack of desire to even step into any of these teachings, I do judge. And I'm, calling myself out because it's like, come on. Especially people who have children, it's like you owe it to your children.

[00:25:01] Yogi: Mm. I'm not here to tell anybody what to do or to help everybody. People need to help themselves. I am just a guide walking with you and saying, if I have the tools and I've already done it myself, here's how I did it. My tools are yogic tools and Ayurvedic tools, so I don't make up the tool. If somebody else is better for you, then you should go to them. Because I'm only good for a certain amount of consciousness.

[00:25:36] And karmically, I'm good with certain people. Now, if I'm giving a talk, it's different. But if I'm one-on-one with you, I need to look at you and say, karmically, we match, and I can be of assistance. But that's not with that many people. That's going to be with a certain amount of people because we got 8 billion people in the world.

[00:25:58] There's many other teachers and people. Because it's to do with the other person. The other person may need an intellectual teacher, better at this point, and somebody else may need an emotional teacher, and somebody else may need a psychological teacher, and so on and so forth.

[00:26:15] So all I'm, at the beginning, really doing is assessing and going, "Oh, you would need this. That's too maybe time consuming for me, but I know so-and-so who does that." Or I think I can give you the right beginning and then I'll pass you on. Or I can take you to the end. It just depends. We have to take not what we think it is, but we have to look at the other person. So that's how I deal with that. And I forgot what you asked me. Oh, judgment.

[00:26:48] Kate: Yeah.

[00:26:50] Yogi: Jealousy was the first thing you said.

[00:26:52] Kate: Yeah. Sorry I gave you a lot because I get downloads, and I'm like, "Gosh, there's so much."

[00:26:57] Yogi: I deal with jealousy as, be happy you got attention.

[00:27:04] Kate: That's epic. I've never heard that.

[00:27:06] Yogi: It's great. They're basically giving you attention. Now, it's up to you to see it negatively or positively. That's all it is. I'm sure there's many people write, Yogi's an [Bleep], or whatever they write. Somebody wrote in a group chat the other day, "For years, I wrote bad things about you on these different chat groups and things. I had psychological problems. I'm sorry. I got treatment, blah, blah, blah."

[00:27:35] Kate: Wow.

[00:27:37] Yogi: And I wrote to whoever it was, I said, "At no point did I judge you for anything you said, because you were going on that journey on your own. So I have to understand it. I can't judge it." So I replace jealousy or judgment actually with understanding. All I need to do is, it's so easy, I just switch places with you straight away, whatever you wrote, and I say, "Oh, this is what they're going through."

[00:28:11] I don't know what I would've done in the same situation because I'm not in the same situation. So I can hypothesize that I would've done this and that and the other, but it's not really true. It's an illusion because I'm not in their shoes. So whatever they did, good or bad, they had to go through it. I don't need to step into that energy and say they're good or bad.

[00:28:38] I need to be supportive and say, "Welcome back. Whatever's happened, I'm glad you're here again." And be supportive because they have the opportunity to now go do that with somebody else that maybe they're not doing that with. When we're given the opportunity in judgment, in jealousy, or whatever, to choose the higher path, so we ourselves can evolve, if we don't take it, we're acting more out of the ego, or we're getting too close to that mirror and seeing ourself.

[00:29:13] Another practice is just moving ourselves back from that mirror and saying, there's a lot of other people in this neighborhood and things. A neighbor of ours sent a message the other day. "There's a homeless guy in a car just parked on the other side of the street. Trucks can't get passed or whatever."

[00:29:34] So everybody wants to go move them. But I'm like, "Why don't you just leave it alone for a few hours and see what happens?" And then everybody came out, they're gone, and it's all fine. It's just things need time as well. If we just jump in there-- so another practice is don't jump in straight away. If you're having the tendency to jump in and say something, that's ego.

[00:30:03] Again, you got too close to that mirror, and you only see yourself. You're back again. Take a few breaths. If you need to, go do something else that takes your mind off it. Or if you can sit still, if you're not that hyper, take some deep breaths and breathe for a minute or two or three. And then look at the situation again. The high road, higher consciousness is always the peaceful route. No matter what anybody else is doing. So that's how we as yogis deal with it.

[00:30:37] It doesn't mean that suddenly a negative thought comes in my head and I think so-and-so is an [Bleep] or something. It does, absolutely. But that's the moment that the ego needs a little massaging. Get away from the mirror, and then realize that person is going through something. I need to understand it. It's not simple as they're an [Bleep].

[00:31:04] To tell you a story quickly about thinking somebody's an [Bleep], after 30 years, an old-school friend of mine, we were chatting, and he was talking about his job and stuff, and then he brought up school, and he was like, "Remember how we were bullied?"

[00:31:20] And I was like, "Yeah. They were just [Bleep]. He was like, "No, no, they were more than that. I'm still carrying that around." And I thought, you're carrying it around you. You didn't let it go. And he was like, "No, did you?" And I was like, "I haven't even thought about it."

[00:31:42] If I meet that person today, I'll invite them to my house, and we'll eat, and we're not going to talk about them beating me up. We're going to talk about what's happening now. Because the opportunity of consciousness is to rise, not to go down. And they weren't there. So I understand that. But I came away from that thinking, if somebody isn't there, telling them they should be there isn't useful to them. What is the next step is the useful thing for them.

[00:32:15] And do they even want to take the next step? So I didn't say, "Hey, I'm already a practitioner. Let's work." Or I was like, "End the conversation. If they ever want to reach out, I'm here." If not, I can tell them that mentally. I don't need to tell them that, write a text to them or something. Mentally I can sit there for three seconds and say, "I'm here, and that's it."

[00:32:38] So we're tapping into all the higher faculties that we have. Words are one way of communicating. Sitting here thinking about something is another way of communicating. I don't need to always tell the world what I think. If I do, great. Go out there and do it.

[00:32:57] But my inner journey after I came out of fashion and went to India and started go on that journey was really about connect outward with people. But of what's going on is inward. You're going to have to how this world inside works, and it works in silence. It doesn't work with chatter.

[00:33:22] It about listening. It's not about talking. It's exactly the opposite things we do outwardly. Outside, we talk, we communicate, and then we're doing, doing, doing. The inner world is about silence, stillness, and listening.

[00:33:41] Kate: Yeah. I was going to say silence has become a purification ritual for me. And as we're talking, because I'm sure some people, at least one person has come to mind from your past or present, a bully, someone who triggers you, whatever, the jealousy, judgment. So even right now, I'm like-- well, just talking to you as a purification ritual, but what is one of your favorite purification practices that if something should come up-- for me, I'm like, "I'm doing so great. I'm on it."

[00:34:10] And then I step on a TV set and some woman's hurling some sort of energy at me, and I'm very sensitive, and I'm like, "What the heck? I've been nothing but nice to you. Why does my presence bother you so much?" And I'm going to think of you and carry your book around, The Yogi Code, which I want to get into.

[00:34:27] But what can we do on a consistent basis, a purification ritual? And then even if you can speak to that moment. It wouldn't even phase or affect you, but it still would affect me. Not to the degree it would in the past, but can you speak to the purification of this?

[00:34:44] Yogi: So in Ayurveda, we have two forms of treatment. One is first purification. Second is nourishing. So for everything that you take out of the body, you need to put back in to the body. So one of the things people do is drink water all day. They're purifying, but they're purifying too much because all the electrolytes, all the minerals, all the vitamins, most of them are going out of the body. We need to get those back into the body.

[00:35:19] Kate: Ah.

[00:35:20] Yogi: So when we are purifying, purification can be a thought. Purification can be water. Purification can be taking one minute of deeper breaths. It depends on you. Which one are you more inclined to? So if I choose breathing, some people will say, "I don't have patience for that." But I can say, "Put some lemon in your water. Sit and drink that slowly and take a minute."

[00:35:49] They say, "Oh, I can do that. For somebody else is close your eyes, lie on the floor, and meditate on the third eye here. Somebody may say, "Eh, I can't do that." So everybody needs something slightly different. Some people need purification in a physical form, some people in a mental form, some people in a spiritual form.

[00:36:13] So meditation is more in the spiritual form. The breathing is more in the mental form. And the drinking of the water is more in the physical form. And then you need to put something into the body. Like I said, with the water, if you keep drinking water what are you going to do is pee out all the good stuff.

[00:36:36] And one of the ways you know, whether you've come to the point you don't need anymore water is when your pee is of a very slight yellow color or has no color. You don't need to drink anymore water. So that's understanding purification is not necessary in the physical form here. Obviously, there's many more  purifications.

[00:36:58] Fasting is a purification. If you're having a very bad time physically and you're very emotional, it's better to drink something all day, like herbal teas, like Tulsi tea, dandelion root tea, things like that, that help the body cleanse. But you're still getting warmth inside of you. So nourishment inside of you where you're taking a bowl of soup to counter the cleansing. So when you think about cleansing, always think about nourishing as well. You can't not nourish yourself.

[00:37:37] Kate: Yeah. Thank you for that. As you're talking too, because it's not political, but we're talking purification. I think of when I'm in the United States versus out of the United States, and we're combating a lot in our society and culture right now. And something that I'm very passionate about that is frustrating me right now, and you're helping me get a different grip and perspective on it, but clean air, clean water, clean food is very, very important to me.

[00:38:08] Not just for me, but for everybody because as you know, when we're all eating better and drinking clean water, and breathing clean air, when we're healthier, we're happier, and we're feeling better, and we're treating each other better and treating ourselves better and each other.

[00:38:21] So it's this whole ripple effect. And even now I'm seeing things where more chemicals are allowed to be dumped in our food and onto our earth and poisoning children. And I literally get so upset about it, and rightfully so. And you've talked about how I can manage some of this, but I think we all have the right to, especially in the United States of America, clean air, water, food.

[00:38:46] And then I get upset because I'm like, "I'm fortunate enough I can go to Erewhon in Los Angeles and have my 25-dollar, five pieces of cauliflower that is going to nourish me." And it's very good. But even me, I'm like, "I am so sick of spending $50 a meal to eat healthy that I'm not poisoned." And I can hear you saying like, "Cook it yourself, Kate."

[00:39:06] And so that's my next step, is just preparing my own food. But I'd love your perspective on this and how I can manage it a little better in terms of the anger and frustration. And I love my country. I don't want to leave. And then I'm like, "Let me just go to--" I was visiting my friend in Amsterdam.

[00:39:24] We go to the grocery store, which I was like, "What is this?" Because it's not filled with processed food. I had the most delicious, healthy, fresh, homemade salad for 6-euro. Something similar here would be $30 and not as good or nutritious and would have weed killer all over it. So without going on and on, which I already did, can you speak to this for me? I know you'll calm me down, but I am really fired.

[00:39:52] It makes me angry. And then my stomach, again, I woke up because I went out to eat last night, last minute. It wasn't some super overpriced place, and so I'm like, they must have cooked with seed oils or something because I was up in the night and then I feel sick all morning. It's frustrating.

[00:40:09] Yogi: Yeah, yeah. Most people feel like you. How do we deal with it? First of all, we don't worry about it.

[00:40:18] Kate: But that sounds impossible.

[00:40:20] Yogi: Well, what it does is helps us to see things clearly. Worry clouds are judgment. Worry brings in the ego. Because the ego gets frustrated because it's saying, "I am getting poisoned." But if I don't want to be poisoned, I'm going to have to be clearheaded. This is just Ayurvedic philosophy, is go to the root cause.

[00:40:47] The root cause here is my frustration, first of all. I'm reacting to something. It's not within me. The poisons and everything, air and stuff is outside. So I don't have to worry about it. I want to do something about it. So worrying is a distraction from doing something. Because once we worry about something, we're clouded in our judgment, then we go do something that actually we didn't want to do.

[00:41:18] I'm breathing in the same area you are. I'm drinking tap water. I'm not buying 20-dollar bottles of water and stuff. I'm eating less. So I'm eating one main meal a day of rice and legumes and things. I'm not eating a huge variety. I'm going to the farmer's market once a week because I know they supposedly don't spray.

[00:41:46] Kate: Yeah.

[00:41:47] Yogi: But they may. And that's okay too. I'm going to have to be okay with the world that I live in.

[00:41:54] Kate: Oh God. Oh gosh.

[00:41:57] Yogi: Yeah.

[00:41:57] Kate: Look, I might want to fight you on this. I want to scream. I'm glad I'm in an apartment because I want to scream like, "No, I'm not okay with this."

[00:42:05] Yogi: Well, you can also not be okay with it. That's a choice. We're going to circle around and zigzag here a little bit. That has to do with your fiery nature. I don't have that fiery nature.

[00:42:20] Kate: Ah.

[00:42:20] Yogi: I do when I play pickleball, and I do when I go to the gym, but I don't need that fiery nature. It doesn't serve me. Whereas it may serve you. So you have to honor your fiery nature. You don't have to become like me or somebody else. This is where we honor each other. This is where we have to say, that's the other person's nature. They are a fighter.

[00:42:48] So I'm not looking at soldiers who are going to war and blowing people up as bad people. Neither are some people, but other people are. Somebody else may say so and so is, whatever. He's a killer. It was his nature. I don't agree with what he did, and I don't support it. I'm also not thinking about it very much. I'm just saying it was his nature. So I'm taking his side of understanding because I always want to understand everybody.

[00:43:19] Because I'm reminding myself, we are just souls in a body traveling here to get to a higher consciousness. We don't know karmically what that road looks like. Nobody's privy to this is what's down that road. Because a lot of us, most of us, we're all walking it for the first time. There's potholes, and there's trees, and there's guns, and there's all kinds of stuff going on.

[00:43:46] Maybe partly, this is my karma. Partly, I got this from-- I lived in Iran. My mother was English. My dad's Iranian. I came from no religion. I learned about Muslims. I learned about Christians. I lived with Jews. Everybody was doing their thing. I didn't grow up with prejudice. So I could go on the yogic path and understand. So yes, I got thrown out of Iran into boarding school, and a lot of trauma started there. But my first 10 years was solid grounding, which very few people have. So that was part of my karma, right?

[00:44:27] Kate: Wow.

[00:44:28] Yogi: So I have an understanding of things to some degree, but I always want to understand other people first. I don't want to judge them because I don't know what they're going through. And no matter how horrendous-- I'm looking at Netanyahu right now. I don't watch the news very much. He's a soul in the body. He's in turmoil. He's in chaos, and he wants you to be in chaos too. Because somebody who's raging in chaos doesn't know peace and doesn't want to know about peace.

[00:45:06] So I'm understanding him. I'm not supporting him. I'm not looking at anything that he does of any-- none of it is of my belief, but I am understanding him. That makes me understand that he is a soul traveler on the earth, as I am, and he's doing things, and he's waiting for everybody.

[00:45:34] He's raveling in everybody's hatred and conflict. And the more we all give him our conflict and hatred, he's loving that more. That's what keeps him going. But if we all turn around and sit and give our love to him, that's going to really bother him. That's going to so destructive to him because when positivity and love come to you and you are of destruction, you don't know what to do with that.

[00:46:14] That will break you down so quickly. Imagine billions of people around the world sat right now for, I don't know, between children and whatever. We've got about 4 billion people. We all sat even for five minutes, and we focus on this one guy, on Putin or whoever's creating destruction. Their body might explode, literally. They wouldn't know what to do with it. Because they are waiting, and they're living in fear, and their fear is so great, and they have invested in fear and conflict.

[00:46:55] And you turn around, and you put your arms around them and say, "I love you. I can't not love you because you're my sole traveler. You've just gone it down a dark road." It's like an alcoholic, whoever. I can't say he's an alcoholic. I can't be there. No, just going through a bad time. They're a drug addict or whatever.

[00:47:19] We are giving ourselves the opportunity to think higher, go higher in consciousness. Don't judge anybody. So our karma is attached to them. I don't want my karma attached to anybody, because then I'm going to have to live with that karma through them, and I'm already having a hard time with my own karma.

[00:47:40] Kate: Wow.

[00:47:41] Yogi: This is the yogic thought pattern. So we do have the answer. We've inherited a world that's very conflicting. The whole money system, all the systems, they're all conflicting. They're all very illusionary. Today we can all be fed, we can all go live in the fields and whatever, feed ourselves, have a home. We don't need to buy anything. We need very few things.

[00:48:10] From all the things we manufacture, we probably need 2% of it for our existence. The other 95%, 98%, we just choose to use and manufacture and go to work and work hard and give up our time. We choose to do that. We don't need to do any of it. And that's why the sages thousands of years ago, when these people are going to need these practices because they're going to be lost in that illusion of tech world and AI and social media and all this stuff that they don't need. And it's going to make them sick, and it's going to give them problems and health issues and stuff, but they're not going to know how to stop it.

[00:49:03] Kate: You're bringing up something that I've been thinking for years, and now it's brought to the surface again, and it's one man in particular who triggers more people than-- anyway. And every time I see his non-supporters or people who actively and openly hate him, but post about him and say his name and share-- for instance, I'm going to share this episode with so much love and joy because I love you. I love this conversation. I love what you said. I'm like, this is going to add value. That makes sense.

[00:49:35] What doesn't make sense is promoting essentially ideas that you hate. You hate hate, but you're posting about it. You hate what he stands for, but you're doing exactly what he's doing. And I just wish everyone would listen to what you just said again and again and what to understand first themselves. Or now there's a fashion ad of all things, and people are attacking this celebrity and this actress and going off about it.

[00:50:04] What do you make of that? For me, I think, let's say it's these 1,000 people coming for some actress, they do not know. Do they not want to look at themselves? And is it just so much easier to hate said celebrity. It's so toxic. You talk about purification, and I think if you spent even half of that energy going for a walk, reading your book, listening to this podcast, can you imagine the different outcomes they would feel in their lives?

[00:50:33] Yogi: Yeah, yeah. The majority of the public are way too invested in other people's lives. They're not invested in their own life. That's why they're not well. They're not physically well, psychologically well. They don't like their own lives. They find them monotonous. That's why they go on social media and just browse and spend all that kind of thing.

[00:50:57] And that's the majority. They find that life's too difficult, which has become. It's too expensive. The future doesn't look bright, so it's like, what am I making effort for? Then you've got the young people who are Gen Z and the soon the ones below them and the millennials saying, "Well, my parents went to work. They bought a house. They bought a car. What have they got to show for?"

[00:51:23] They're not that well. They're not loving life so much. Going to play golf or this and that and the other, they're just passing the time before they die. That's how that generation sees it. And then says, "What did they do, and what did they leave me?" They left me pollution. Did I need a car that goes-- do I need two cars? Do I need all this? Do I need to keep flying everywhere?

[00:51:47] They've basically polluted everything and said, "Here, is it's your problem." So when I look at that, I put myself in that position, and I say, "They're completely right." And remembering everybody from their own point of view is right. And our guru says that, and she says it for a reason, which is put yourself in somebody else's shoes, and you will see that they are right.

[00:52:16] So no matter who's saying what, I look at that and I say, not what is somebody saying? I'm not that concerned with that. Because what they may be saying is they just picked it up five minutes ago and may not even be their belief. They picked somebody else's belief. How are they saying it? Is this person in pain? Are they in joy in how-- all these thousands of people who attack somebody, they're deflecting all their pain and all their things in the word that we will say it's judgment.

[00:52:50] But all they're doing is deflecting, deflecting. I don't want to look at myself. I don't want to-- and then you have the people who are opposite that, who just judge themselves all the time. So neither of those are useful.

[00:53:07] Kate: You know what I just heard, Yogi, is-- so I think of my daily walks, and I was in Venice. I'm in Santa Monica, so it was a little more colorful down in Venice and just the super loud music on the-- and just chaotic, as you know. It's a little more peaceful down here on my beach walks, and you're helping me feel more connected to my fellow humans. And the people who are super loud with the music drive me crazy.

[00:53:31] I'm very sensitive. I'm trying to have my-- but you're helping me feel more connected through detachment, where just like a woman who walks by right now and is wearing a blue shirt, I don't care that her shirt is blue. I'm not going to think about it at all again today. I barely notice.

[00:53:48] It's that energy. But not in a dismissive way, in a respectful way. Like, all right, you've got your super loud music on. It's noise pollution. It's super disruptive. I hope I'm even articulating it correctly, but you're helping me with that right now, and I hope what everyone's going to take away too is just the peace and calm.

[00:54:06] But also, again, just understanding that person with the loud music, maybe no one ever paid attention to him, and he really needs me to be disrupted and like, look at me. I don't know. I don't want to go on this long tangent about it. But do you see how you're helping me? It's like this little thing just happened in my brain that clicked.

[00:54:29] Yogi: Connect. Connect with everybody. If you connect with everybody, you're going to understand them. Not a great analogy, but I was playing pickleball, a couple of days ago. I seemingly hit the ball in a very aggressive way, and it hit the guy. He was a little upset and the whole thing, and I was like, "Sorry, I meant to hit--" Because in pickleball, we don't aim for the head, obviously.

[00:54:55] It hit him here, and he got a little upset. But then when we came off and we finished the match, he was like, "Oh. Hey, Yogi. It's you." He totally forgot about what happened before because he now put his focus on, hey, I know you. He connected. So what happened before? And I was like, "Oh. Hey, sorry, I hit you." And he is like, "Oh, forget about that." Done.

[00:55:20] Kate: Yeah.

[00:55:21] Yogi: Connectivity is going to allow us to get more personal, to understand that the other person has their point of view. They're not that different. We spend so much time trying to be different in how we look, but actually, we're all similar looking. And in many different ways, if we look in from the lens of spirituality rather than the lens of ego, we start to see, oh, everybody is just trying to figure it out here.

[00:55:51] Some people are just doing crazy stuff. Yeah, we know. Yes. But the majority are here. Let's focus on them. Because actually, the ones who are super crazy over here, they just want your attention.

[00:56:06] Kate: Yeah.

[00:56:06] Yogi: They want your vote. They want your money. They want you to give them attention or whatever. But ultimately, they just want attention. That's all they're doing. So if you focus on all of these people and you go outside and go, "Ah, that sound is super annoying," but actually it's annoying to me." What is it within me that finds it annoying? Because those people over there seem to be enjoying it.

[00:56:34] Sachchidananda said, adapt, adjust, accommodate. And within those three words, you can apply those continuously all day. Oh, I have to adapt here. Oh, I should accommodate here. I should adjust here. And I could play with those three all day long, with my neighbors, wherever. I'm going to be in traffic. It doesn't matter.

[00:57:01] If I start to see that I'm just with soul travelers here, one is going to cut me off, one is going to berate me, one is going to love me, one is thing. Oh, I've got a balance going on here. Not everybody hates me. Not everybody finds me annoying. Not everybody loves me. Some people love me.

[00:57:22] Actually, this is where I should be spending my energy, with the collective, with most the people. The issue we have is these few people over here keep getting everybody's attention. And then everybody in this here is talking about them, which is what they want, instead of everybody talking about each other.

[00:57:46] Kate: Working on themselves. And so what you're talking about is not apathy at all with these certain people who are, let's say, polluting our water. It's you focusing on your assignment and doing this work and having these conversations and helping people. And then you work with me.

[00:58:01] You get me to another level, then I'm able to go out and impact, instead of 1,000 people, 100,000 people. And then there's some people through me that I can help them. And that's what I'm trying to build as soldiers like that, as opposed to getting everybody all angry. What a waste of energy?

[00:58:20] Yogi: Yeah. And I love the haters. They make me better. I love the ones who say bad things because they make me think not badly of myself. I'm not going to step into their reality. I'm just going to understand them and say, "Oh, maybe if I use this word, they'll like that better." Because my intention is to have a relationship with you so we can bond and stuff.

[00:58:48] My thing isn't, I'm a lone ranger out here. If I'm cooking something and you don't like it, if you don't like garlic, I'm not going to put it into food, even though I think the garlic is good for you or I like it. I'm not going to put in the food, and then you're going to eat it and go, "Oh, this is really good." If I put garlic in it, same food. You would've been like, "Yeah, I don't want this."

[00:59:14] So I'm not saying you should get used to garlic. I'm saying, this time I'm not going to put it in. If I want it next time, I won't invite you, or I'll just eat alone, or whatever it is. I'm accommodating. But within everything we're talking about, we still have our own prakruti, which is our own nature. We're still going to have to honor it.

[00:59:39] Some peoples are destructive, some are so loving, but there's a loving person in all people. If we cater to that, we're going to be better off for ourselves because it won't make us frustrated, being loving. Knowing that somebody else may not reciprocate that love, and that's okay. It's still a practice for us. It should be a practice for us. And then knowing the other people, they're going to say crazy stuff, and it's okay.

[01:00:12] Our water is going to be a little bit more polluted. We're going to be okay. I'm always of the mind, it's all going to work out. It will work out. So as I'm projecting this into my subconscious continuously, it will work out. Because ultimately, I know karma is there, or the soul is in this body.

[01:00:37] Soul can leave in an instant right now, drop this body, and move on. Why doesn't it? Because it has its reasons. I'm not privy to those reasons. And I know this body will drop at some point, so I'm just trying to keep it healthy as possible, but I'm not worrying about it. I watch some of the guys out there who are doing all the longevity stuff. They're doing 10 times more than I'm doing, and they're going scientific, some of them.

[01:01:09] Some of them are doing stem cell. They're doing all kinds of stuff. I'm not bothered about what they're doing. I'm not bothered about what they're taking, what they're promoting. I'm going, "That's their thing. Let them do whatever. That's their trip." I know in 10 years and then in 20 years and in 30 years, they'll change their tone because I know life will teach them something.

[01:01:35] My tone was different at 20 as it was in 30, as it was in 40, as it was at 50. So I'm giving space to people. I'm not going, "What he's saying is completely wrong. Let's debunk this, dude."

[01:01:51] Kate: Yeah.

[01:01:52] Yogi: Because there's a lot of that already out there. There's enough people debunking stuff. Let's get people unified. Let's understand that people are different. Let's know that people are going to do destructive things and crazy things, and it's not going to be exactly perfect the way we want it, but it will work out because we have the intention to make it work out.

[01:02:15] Now I can get up in the morning after a peaceful night asleep. I'm not worrying about people, and I can serve the day, and that day is whatever it's going to be. And then build the next day. And every day is building on the next day. And hopefully, my intention is I am growing in consciousness. I don't know where everybody else is in their conscious field, and I don't need to know. So that's my prakruti.

[01:02:49] That's my way of being. And by no way should it be anybody else's way to be being. Because it may not serve you. It may seem very peaceful serving me. It may not serve you because you're--

[01:03:04] Kate: Ah.

[01:03:05] Yogi: Yeah. We think Donald Trump's a crazy dude. Some people love him. Some people hate him. Some people are like, "Whatever." A lot of people use him. He's being used in many different ways. He has his own intention, which is pretty clear, out there, but I want good things for him because I want him to serve the people.

[01:03:32] I want him to have love for the people, not only for the people who love him or give him attention. That's what he wants. That's the people he serves, the people who love him and give him attention. Great. Let me be one of them.

[01:03:49] Kate: Do you think he would be able to receive pure love with no agenda? Again, I've never even thought about this. I feel like his self-worth is not at a place that if I just went and loved him, I'm like, "I don't need your money. I literally need nothing from you. I just want to love you. Every day, can I come and bring you some good food and hug you, and tell you you're amazing?"

[01:04:16] Because when I think of him, and I think of Elon Musk, and they've said it publicly, I think, of childhood trauma from daddy issues and things like that. And both of them need so much love and a hug. Nobody wants to give it to them, even their own families. And maybe they brought that on upon themselves, but just from a total neutral place right now, would those two men be able to receive pure, genuine love?

[01:04:41] Yogi: Yeah, of course.

[01:04:42] Kate: You think?

[01:04:44] Yogi: Yeah. Because we have the people operate mainly out of the head. The brainias, smartest people in the room are all in the head. Then there's the heart. The heart is all about ecology and consciousness and love and support and nurturing. We want a little combination of these two working together, a little bit more heart than the mind. Those guys are all mind.

[01:05:13] They were made like that, and then their soul chose the parents that they came through to become like that. The soul chose that, and that's why we honor it. I have no problem with people like that, or Putin or whoever, because the soul has chosen that role in this body. So I don't understand it. I don't need to understand it. I just know that they are soul travelers. They're doing their thing. Do I support it? I don't support a lot of it because what I support is good for everybody, not for a certain thing.

[01:05:53] And our society doesn't work very well because it's tipping, and keeps tipping one way, people are becoming more wealthy and wealthier and other people are becoming less, and they can't even pay their rent anymore. I have been a part of that as well because I've been somebody in society.

[01:06:14] Now, I've been a lot more fortunate, but again, I don't put it down to my smartness. I put it down to my karma. And if I've been so fortunate with my karma, to be blessed to go on a spiritual journey-- most people think I was blessed in the fashion world, and I was. It was amazing, beautiful.

[01:06:34] But to have a spiritual awakening, have a guru, have all this, be in a loving relationship, have a beautiful child, all this stuff, it's beautiful. Most people can't even fathom that. And I don't have money issues. I can pay my rent, all this stuff. So I'm looking at people who can't and say, "I totally understand them."

[01:07:01] Because actually, when we go to the extremes, everybody suffers. People who have billions, like the people you're talking about are in great suffering. They just don't know it. And in that quiet moment, when they're alone, sometimes they do know it.

[01:07:18] Kate: Oh, that's why they take more drugs, allegedly.

[01:07:22] Yogi: Yeah. Whatever they take. Or how much self-loathing they have. Or they go and go to war another time, whatever it is. That's no different than the other spectrum of the pendulum where somebody can't pay their rent and they're suffering. We want to be in this middle ground where we understand these people. We understand these people.

[01:07:44] We are of support to these people here because they're suffering from not having enough. And we're also loving to these people because they're also suffering. Because if they weren't suffering, they wouldn't allow this to happen.

[01:08:01] Kate: Do you know what just came to mind? Speaking of the news, can you imagine whether it's Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, TikTok-- there's the freelancers on TikTok, wherever. Can you imagine if you turned on any, especially all of those outlets, and people were speaking like this, and I was saying like, "I'm going to put together some gifts for the president and take them over to him and shower him with love and affection?"

[01:08:29] First of all, I would be "canceled." I would be, oh my gosh, stoned to death. But it's so interesting. My mentor had us years ago, we did meditations where we were washing the president's feet to send him good energy and love so that hopefully he received it and behaved more lovingly.

[01:08:52] And I just can't even imagine if you get on and people, whether it's-- whatever topic it is. But you're right. There is so much anger and hate. And listen, rightfully so in many instances. But just based on this conversation, it's making me purify my thoughts, and I think spend less time.

[01:09:12] TikTok is my drug of choice. I'm not proud of it, but I find out what's going on there. I learn a lot. But also I think it kept me up last night because I was thinking about a bunch of things. So I'm offering it for people and it is a practice. And purification of anything is not easy.

[01:09:30] But there are so many benefits because what I'm feeling and hearing from you is you're not "changing" anything in terms of the water, the air, politics, etc., but you're changing your own inner world. And I think that's what I've been looking for from a parent or a friend recently.

[01:09:49] I need so little. I'm so self-sufficient, but the power of someone genuinely and kindly saying like, "It's all going to work out." Or I was sharing with a friend, like, "I'm going to be coming back to New York, this contract, this, that, and the other." And he said, I think three words over text, like, "You'll get that contract." With the prayer hands.

[01:10:09] And it was just like, yeah. As opposed to the friend who's like, "Oh, what if it doesn't happen?" And it's like, why would you say that to me? I thought you liked me. So it's just these little shifts and tweaks that you're talking about.

[01:10:21] Yogi: Yeah. In the yogic tradition, when we say detachment, we're not just saying detach from everything, and that's it. We're saying, look at things in a different way. When you are doing the practice of putting yourself in somebody else's shoes and changing the word judgment to understanding, if I understand you, now I can see what you are seeing. So I can't fault you because that's what you are seeing.

[01:10:52] Kate: I'm writing this down from judgment to understanding. And I think a simple way to think about this, because I'm not a psychologist, but it all comes back to childhood. I think of like even the woman who's nasty to me at the TV job. And it's just like something clearly happened in her childhood.

[01:11:13] It's unresolved. And then the part of me that wants to judge her, it's like, it's not your fault where you got it, but it is your responsibility to heal it. And I've spent all this time, energy, money, healing my stuff. Heal your stuff so I don't have to deal with you. You see where I'm going here. But I think when I look at her and be like, "Hmm, A plus B equals C." I get it. Then I don't need to be in the pig mud rustling around with her. Right?

[01:11:36] Yogi: Yeah. See her and where she's coming from, but also recognize that you are taking it in a certain way as well. And she's helping you recognize within you, because here we're talking about longevity, wellness, consciousness, and if we're going to rise in consciousness, every single moment that we find something annoying is a moment of choosing higher consciousness.

[01:12:03] So your role is, he just showed me what I'm annoyed about. Let me take that away. If I'm taking that away, I now don't even need to forgive her or think about her because I just dropped her.

[01:12:16] Kate: Ooh.

[01:12:17] Yogi: I'm now concerned with he reflected something. So when I'm doing that for myself and I'm annoyed at something, then I'm going, "Oh, yes, I know what this is." This has nothing to do with the other person. This has to do with my way of looking at something, my stubbornness my thing. So I'm not blaming myself. I'm just taking responsibility. The other person had nothing to do with it.

[01:12:44] So just reminding people here, when we're talking about longevity, wellness, mental health, all of these things, this is what this conversation is about, life in general, our own personal life, how we think, what we put into our bodies, what spiritual things we do. All of this is part of wellness. We can't neglect any part of it.

[01:13:09] Years and years ago, things were a little easier, and life was easier. Now, life is a big challenge. Many things coming at you. You have many choices to make. Make the right choices based on wellness. Choose to be on TikTok or whatever you're doing up to that point of wellness. Do your emails up to a certain point of wellness, then go do something else, then come back to them.

[01:13:40] You have to judge your own wellness. Nobody's there to do it for you. And that's the responsibility of today. We want other people to do it for us, tell us how it is. What's the latest hack? What's this and that? Because we want to run off and do something else.

[01:13:58] Kate: Hmm.

[01:13:58] Yogi: But own wellbeing is our own responsibility. And as quickly as we learn that, we'll be able to live in much more peace and harmony and all the rest of it. Because a lot of the stuff that I've just been saying, especially with the extreme stuff and extreme people, that's not doable for most people. That's not even within the sphere of somebody, because yeah, you might be calm right now, and you're listening to this and you're like, "Oh yeah, that sounds amazing."

[01:14:30] In two seconds, you're going to be doing something else, and you're going to be back to your normal self because you've been feeding your subconscious for however many years the other stuff. This is a new thing. You haven't practiced this yet, or you've practiced this a little bit. This isn't your reality. So don't expect yourself to right this moment, you're going to start sending kind, loving words to the world.

[01:14:59] Kate: Yeah.

[01:15:00] Yogi: So make a point of, I'll bring wellness into everything-- my conversations, my thought pattern. Wellness will be the guiding light in front of me, showing me when things are too extreme, when I haven't done enough. So whether it's drinking water, eating food, thinking, working, family, whatever it is, think wellness. That is your North Star guiding you. And then when you're about to fall off the edge, you'll be like, "To keep wellness, what should I do right now?"

[01:15:41] Kate: Yeah. And choose again or choose different in many cases.

[01:15:45] Yogi: Exactly. Knowing you do have a choice. It's okay. Just keep reminding yourself, I do have a choice.

[01:15:51] Kate: Yeah.

[01:15:52] Yogi: It's empowering to remind yourself, I have a choice. If you keep telling yourself, I have no choice, then you will have no choice.

[01:16:02] Kate: I think what I love about this too is like you said-- and I will let you go, but I could just sit in your presence all day. It's calming. I get the chills. I'm feeling it. I'm feeling the words and the ideas, and you're right. I feel great now. As I like to say, I'm like, it's easy to feel peaceful at the spa or in nature.

[01:16:22] It's a different thing to experience true peace on a packed New York City subway car or just everything going on in our world today. And thank you for acknowledging that. It is more challenging than it was even a few years ago. I'm like, "Oh, I long for 2019." Or, "I long for the '90s, the '80s or '90s."

[01:16:38] That's why I always listen to it on the radio, like '80s on 8, '90s on 9. I'm like, "Take me back to the swim club where life was simple." But then I like the juiciness of navigating the world. And our ancestors will read about this time period, what we would read about and think, how did they survive that? Or, that sounds awful.

[01:16:57] And I think, wow, we chose to be here at this time, our souls. So I think just acknowledging and embracing that. But what I love about this is people can listen again and again, but then take you with them. And I have your beautiful book, The Yogi Code that you gifted me, and you have three other books as well.

[01:17:13] We'll put everything in the show notes so people can order one or all of your books. Have it there on the nightstand and just refer to it. And when they're triggered or they're out of their wellness, they can say, "Oh, yeah." And come back. And then you also work with clients too.

[01:17:29] But can you just share, I know we've been here a while now, a takeaway or a little insight about your author journey and your books, and then ways we can work with you. And again, it'll be in the show notes, but just so we can take a little Yogi Cameron with us everywhere we go to stay on track.

[01:17:47] Yogi: Yeah. The Yogi Code is the latest book that is more about five practices that you can do. The first book was The Guru in You. That one is a mixture of some stories, Ayurvedic medicine. It's a very light book. It's a good place to start if you haven't started already. The One Plan, really, I set it out as a whole year. Bit by bit daily reading, five or 10 minutes, and then apply. So it's an application book.

[01:18:17] We have inspireliving.co, which is our free site where the Ayurvedic videos Yogini Jaima and I do. Whether it's diet, whether it's postures, yogic practices, it's all doable stuff, and most of it is there. Our latest thing we're doing is called My Temple, and that's at mytemple.love. It's a wellness center, a hideaway, a getaway. We don't promote it a lot because it's right here in West Hollywood.

[01:18:55] It's by appointment only, and it's experiencing something of wellness, self-care, self-love. It's a mixture of yogic science and Ayurvedic medicine that Jaima and I do. And then on the site you'll also see that we've launched some Ayurvedic oils, and we are big proponents of oiling the body. The reason is it's simple, but it's effective.

[01:19:22] And in today's age where people don't have the focus-- right at the beginning I said I used to do two-hour consultations. Now they're basically 20 minutes because people don't have the focus. When you oil the body, you're treating the biggest organ of yourself, the skin. And nobody takes care of the skin. And I could go on and on with all the benefits, but one thing, people are tired all the time.

[01:19:50] That tiredness sits in the skin and the muscle and the bone, in what we call the deeper tissue. There's no way really to get in there. You could have a massage, but how many times are you having a massage? This is self-oiling, which gives you a light massage, but then you're lying down. We provide a 10-minute meditation that you do, deep relaxation. It's called the alpha zone.

[01:20:17] What happens is during that time, the oil is going in your body. So mentally, you're going on this journey within yourself and releasing tension. But then the oils are helping to nourish. Remember we spoke about cleansing and nourishing go together.

[01:20:34] Kate: Yeah.

[01:20:35] Yogi: We don't just cleanse. We always nourish at the same time. And those oils are nourishing. They're going through the three layers of the skin. They're eventually getting into the bloodstream, so they're affecting the organs as well. This is something that everybody can do. We've been doing it for many, many years, and it's part of our longevity and wellness story.

[01:20:57] And when we were thinking about, what can we give to people? Meditation is difficult. People can't sit still. Or a lot of the Ayurvedic practices, people don't make time for it. Oiling your body for 20, 30 minutes in the morning, even if it's 15 minutes, you can get on and do other things. You can do the meditation itself.

[01:21:18] Everybody can do that. And it's so effective. So on mytemple.love, you'll be able to read more about it and what it does scientifically and all that. So that's our latest thing that we're doing. Because when we did Inspire Living, and that was a good, eight, nine years we did that, we were in a different decade, and people had more focus and attention and gave more time to it.

[01:21:45] People are now giving more time to wellness, but they're not giving more time to practice. So oiling the body is one of the great ways you can give yourself a lot of self-love, obviously, but self-care in a very potent way.

[01:22:03] Kate: Wow. That's so beautiful. I'd love to come and check it out. Thank you for that. And just thank you for not only all the work that you're doing on the outside, but on the inside. And just the gift it is with even just sitting in your presence, even on technology here. I can't wait to give you a hug in person.

[01:22:21] Just what you're doing for me, and it just shows me the importance of keeping my instrument fine-tuned. So what I can do for other people and how my healthy nervous system can be of benefit to everybody, whether it's the guy at the grocery store or my best friend, or whomever, and my clients.

[01:22:40] Thank you so much for that. I'd love just, on our way out here-- this has been such a beautiful gift. Thank you so much. Something you could leave us with. I know sometimes everyone's like, I'm fine, or I'm okay, but on the inside, they're really struggling or grappling. And pick your issue right now.

[01:22:57] I really do feel for humanity now more than ever. What's something that you can leave us with that has really helped you? And just even as you tune in intuitively, maybe something that you can leave us with to nourish us.

[01:23:12] Yogi: I think one of the things that's helped me a lot in the last few years, because there was a period of time where I was thinking, worrying about launching businesses, all these different things that were just uncomfortable. One thing I've noticed in the world is we've become very masculine.

[01:23:29] And too much masculinity creates heat. So the ecosystem itself is burning up. That's why we have all this toxicity in the air. We have all the aggravation and all of this. We also don't want to become too feminine. Too feminine becomes too nurturing, overbearing, and it's just as bad as too much masculine.

[01:23:52] So what's helped me is come in the middle. Be in the middle ground of using both your masculine and your feminine. Because when somebody is becoming too feminine, they need you to show them a little more masculine. Bring them back. When you yourself becoming too masculine or feminine, bring yourself back.

[01:24:11] So you bring it back with diet, with breathing, with all of these techniques we spoke about. They are all about balancing masculine and feminine. So the earth is showing us that we have just become too forceful, too masculine. So fires and floods and all the different things and the wars and the this and that, the economy, it's all masculine. It's all driven by that energy within men and women.

[01:24:42] So learning more, reading more, understanding more about how to balance your own masculine and feminine, that will give you in your own body, wellness, in your mind, wellness. And once you start to do it and take an interest in it and understand it, you start to catch yourself during the day-- like I misunderstood my own sort of fire within my body because one point I was building something and I was pushing and I thought, oh, this is how you do it. You push harder. But that fire within my body was having a bad effect because I'm not that fiery.

[01:25:22] Fire playing sports is different than the agitation of fire. Agitation of fire burns within us. It creates acidity. But when you're playing sports and you are using that fire and that masculinity, it doesn't create acidity, because you're putting it out all the time. Your focus is outward. You're hitting the ball. You're doing those things. So when I understood and I started doing different practices, oh, I have to balance masculine feminine, then I started to have the right temperature in my body.

[01:25:58] Because at one point I was just sweating so much during the night, and it was because I was worrying about something, or my mind was in something. So I had to start to go back into the yoga techniques, understand. These are all Ayurvedic, yoga-based knowledge. So that's something I would say that would really help anybody, especially at this time.

[01:26:24] Because if you're too hot and you cool down, you'll have more balance. If you're too cool and you warm up, you'll have balance. And it's not that we stay in balance at any time. We're moving in and out of balance continuously. So don't expect to be in balance all the time. It's a journey of backwards and forwards.

[01:26:45] Kate: Yeah. Thank you for that. And just even thank you for sharing because I wanted to ask you earlier what are you still wrestling with or struggling with? Because you're human too. And so I even appreciate you bringing that up. Yeah.

[01:26:56] Yogi: Daily, daily. The journey of consciousness, like I said before, it's an opportunity to keep growing in, not higher or lower, but just on your own path. The beauty of spirituality is nobody can say where they are on their path, and nobody can say they're beyond somebody or below somebody. It's just a very personal thing. So within spirituality there, there can't be judgment of yourself or somebody. You can only experience it.

[01:27:28] Kate: You just brought me back to my swimming career, which I loved about swimming. You really are in your own lane. And you're right. I was never judging the person next to me. You have to focus on your own race. And it's just like, yeah, I want to beat this person, and you can race them, but I wasn't thinking about her hair or if I liked her, didn't like her, or where she grew up.

[01:27:47] It was just like, win. Go fast. But you do that, nothing to do with her. It's focusing on your own race and your own technique. Gosh, I could just go on and on with you. I have 100 more questions, but we'll have to bring you back another time. In the meantime, everyone please pick up one or all of his books.

[01:28:06] Check out the sites. It's all in the show notes. So we can all keep going on this journey, and it's all going to be okay. We've got this. But also acknowledging and taking responsibility for our unique role in all of it and really having more of these conversations and connections because right now I feel so lit up, like I've had a very nourishing meal and actually slept really well last night. And it's a testament to you and the work that you've done. So thank you so much.

[01:28:33] Yogi: Thank you. Thank you so much.

[01:28:35] Kate: This was so fun. Thank you again. And thanks to all of you for being here. Please check out Yogi, and let's keep this conversation going, and we'll see you next week right back here on Rawish. Bye, everybody.