Episode
163: The Four Reminders (It's A Pep Talk!)
- Podcast
- The Mentor Sessions
- Published
- Nov 18, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 2240
- Processing state
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Summary
In this episode of The Mentor Sessions , I share something a little different: a Dharma talk I recently offered in my monthly class for yoga teachers. These monthly gatherings are one of my favorite places to teach—intimate, thoughtful, and deeply rooted in practice—and this particular talk felt important to bring to the podcast. Over the last several months, as the political situation in the United States has become more extreme and more frightening, I've been turning again and again to a Buddhist teaching known as The Four Reminders . These contemplations come from the Tibetan Buddhist lineage, and while they are simple, they cut right to the heart of what matters most. They have become the anchor of my own personal practice during this time of rising fascism, fear, and widespread suffering. In this episode, I share how I came back to these teachings—interestingly, prompted not by the worst harm being done in this country, but by the moment Jimmy Fallon was taken off the air for criticizing the administration. Watching someone with so much privilege get silenced instantly made me realize that we weren't sliding toward fascism. We were already living inside it. And from that moment, I knew I didn't want to get stuck in despair. I wanted to stay awake, engaged, loving, and grounded. The Four Reminders helped me do that. In this episode, you'll hear: Why these four contemplations feel so powerful and clarifying How reflecting on the preciousness of human life expands our compassion for ourselves, each other, and the planet The truth of impermanence — and how it can become a liberatory force rather than a source of fear The reality of karma and interdependence, and why even the smallest actions matter The universality of suffering, and why it is not inevitable How these…