Soul: Build a Gratitude Habit USE CODE CHRISYOGA 30 for 30 DAYS FREE FOR LISTENERS

In this episode, we dive into the transformative power of gratitude in yoga practice. Joined by Sohale Sizar, founder of Soul, we discuss how to make gratitude a deeply spiritual practice that nourishes both therapists and clients. We also explore how gratitude can impact the nervous system, support emotional regulation, and deepen connections with self and others. Sohale shares personal insights and strategies for maintaining gratitude, especially on challenging days, and talks about the scientific and spiritual benefits. The episode also introduces Soul, an innovative tool that sends spontaneous gratitude prompts to help build sustainable gratitude habits. 

MEET Sohale Sizar

Sohale Sizar is the founder of Soul, with the mission to illuminate the daily practice of gratitude for his rapidly growing online community.  An entrepreneur since the age of nine with 15 years of dedicated practice in meditation and gratitude, Sohale translated his experiences into earning a Stanford MBA and building ventures spanning non-profit charities, education, and consumer technology. Soahle is now an excited entrepreneur on a mission to facilitate access to one's inner light through his gratitude teachings.

Find out more at Soul,  and connect with Sohale on Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn

Learn more about Sohale HERE

• The science and spirituality of gratitude
• Gratitude in yoga practices
• Exploring everlasting gratitude
• The power of gratitude
• Understanding toxic positivity
• The importance of self-compassion
• Building sustainable gratitude practices

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We'll explore how gratitude impacts the nervous system, supports emotional regulation, and deepens our connection to self and others. Today's guest is Sohail Cesar, founder of soul. We'll dive into those scientific benefits and the profound spiritual dimensions of gratitude, as well as some simple ways to help build a meaningful and sustainable gratitude habit even on those difficult days.

So grab your tea, get comfy, and come join me on today's episode of Yoga in the Therapy Room. Podcast, stay tuned.

So whether you're here to expand your skills, enhance your self care, or both, you are in the right place. Join me on this journey to help you be one step closer to bringing Yoga into your therapy room. Welcome to Yoga In the Therapy Room Podcast, the non-traditional therapist guide to integrating yoga into your therapy practice.

With ourselves, with others, and with something greater. But how do we help our clients and ourselves move beyond surface level gratitude lists and into something more embodied and sustaining? Joining us today on the podcast is Sohail Cesar. He is founder of Soul with the mission to illuminate the daily practice of gratitude for his rapidly growing online community.

An entrepreneur. Since the age of nine, he has 15 years of dedicated practice and meditation and gratitude. He is also host to, oops, I said God Podcast. So roll out your mat, settle in your seat. Let's explore the sacred power of gratitude together. Welcome to the Yoga Net Therapy Room Podcast. Sohail.

Sohale Sizar: It's lovely to be here with you today, Chris.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. I'm so excited for you to be on the show. Can you share with listeners how you discovered yoga?

So that mix made me in love with yoga and then eventually hot yoga in particular. This is a good workout, but also a great way to be. And I always felt it wasn't about just getting the positions right. It was really a process of being body and embodiment is a key word.

Chris McDonald: You're speaking my language for sure.

And we're gonna talk about gratitude today. So what does gratitude mean to you?

Sohale Sizar: Really gratitude is seeing the light and the opportunities that we get to have in life. Uh, so many of us were moving throughout life and I'll, I guess I'll start with myself where it's easy to focus on what. Could be, or what we get to have.

So gratitude is really just simply shifting our focus and our awareness on what we get to have. And sometimes it's to have easier to, yeah, sometimes it's easier said than done, but it's, it's so important and I'm sure we'll talk about why.

Chris McDonald: And has that shifted over time, your understanding of gratitude?

And throughout life it, it's been an emotional life fest as you go through the waves of life. I, I believe it's definitely transformed to become way more deeper and spiritual for me.

Chris McDonald: And what about on days that is more difficult to be. Gratitude. So how do you handle those days?

Sohale Sizar: Actually, I have a good strategy.

And it brings out all these memories that I just forgot about. You know, we are moving so quickly in life, it's so easy for us to forget even what happened three days ago, right? And so that first technique really helps me just to feel a sense of calm and peace. And then the second one is that I go through my gratitude journal.

And in my gratitude journal, I record little things and big, big things. And so when I read those, I'm like, oh, okay. You know, things, things are fine, things are right. It's really just, you know, I have to shift my mindset. So those are the two, that's the two ways that I, that I inspire gratitude. Uh, today, I.

Chris McDonald: Yeah, I think that could be really helpful to look at some past photos of of it. I like what you said too, looking before and then after, right. Yeah. And I wonder too, just seeing like connections with family or friends and photos and really getting into the feelings of that.

Sohale Sizar: It's really a spark. The photo is really the spark.

Yeah.

Chris McDonald: I need some more nostalgia.

Sohale Sizar: I think we, we all are craving some nostalgia,

Chris McDonald: so how can it help people's emotional or mental states? Yeah. When we have more gratitude.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah. So one element is the scientific and one is the spiritual. Right? And of course they play hand in hand. So the scientific element of is that it's very clear that.

Neurotransmitters, like oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine are all released when you practice gratitude. But we're not just talking about gratitude in the sense of saying thank you. Right. We're talking about an observable practice. That's what Brene Brown actually talks about, uh, as a very now researcher in this field where it's, you're, you're saying gratitude, but you're also writing it or you're transcribing it in some way, shape or form, so you can look back upon it.

Starts feeling happier. Right? And when you look at the, there's so much in interesting research that says that those who practice gratitude, they're more joyful, they're more content in life, they're happier, they live longer lives. But the release of those neurotransmitters actually leads to a multitude of i of impact on the body.

So people who are more grateful, they have better quality of sleep, they have better, uh, skin, their skin glows a little bit better, you know, they manage pain even more effectively than others. So their pain tolerance is, is higher. So there's just. They have less anxiety, less burnout, less stress. So there's a whole host of scientific, physical benefits based upon science of the power of gratitude.

Chris McDonald: What about the spiritual?

Chris McDonald: Wait, say that again? That God created the world out of gratitude.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah. Out of his own magnificence. Right. I mean it's, it's really a reflection of his own. I mean, if we really gonna go metaphysical here, it's almost like out of his own of, out of his own glory of magnificence the world came to be. And I believe that when we are grateful, we're tapping into that divine root that inspired all that is.

So this answer's a little bit longer, but for example, like, you know, when you. If you love somebody and you hug them a certain way, you hold them, or, I mean, you'll see how lovers, you know, even with certain amount of pressure you holding someone's hand and how you're communicating yourself. Well, one could totally take that and put that with the beloved of the divine.

The divine is the beloved. Where is that? You know, I get, I allow you to be able to breathe. Not everyone gets to be able to breathe like smoothly or be able to walk or whatever it is in life. And so that becomes then this relationship, uh, of a love, intimate relationship with the divine.

Chris McDonald: So have you had any experiences with gratitude that became more spiritual?

Sohale Sizar: Well, yeah, of course. Uh, I, I think, or is it

Chris McDonald: every time with gratitude?

And sometimes it's about healing and sometimes it's about patience. So the gratitude is giving patience to traverse a certain moment in life, or recognition and joy of getting to be alive, or a healing that, you know, maybe your, my pain that I had around something is really. More minimal than I think it is.

So it really is turned as an emotional management tool. But from a spiritual perspective tool, I think the key word is trust. So trusting that, uh, trusting that it's, that's all being. Behind the scenes as I do what I do and, uh, commit with devotion in, in my path and my belief and in my vision of a more grateful and loving and kind world.

Chris McDonald: I always say that too. My spirit guides have my back. That's been my message.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah, absolutely.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. That we do have divine guidance, I think, in this world.

When I'm grateful, it's almost like a bursting of forth, you know, a of happiness and therefore desire to invocate the name of God in meditation. So for me, when it's like very intense in particular, it becomes really a way of glorifying God.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. I see how spirituality is all through this with you, with gratitude.

So what about the other. Limbs of yoga. So can gratitude come through Asana, breathwork meditation?

Sohale Sizar: Absolutely. Basically what gratitude is doing is realigning us physically as well as emotionally and spiritually to be able to take the practice of then I would say glorification. And so for example, with like with yoga in particular, actually recently I heard of a class where they're giving prompts as you're doing the yoga.

So you're, you're hearing these different gratitude prompts. Oh, wow. And you're doing the yoga practice, and so you're thinking the answers in your mind as you're moving,

Chris McDonald: oh, I wanna try this.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah,

Sohale Sizar: I heard it was really, I literally just heard about this on Friday. A friend of mine went through this and, and she said it was very powerful.

Even in breath work, as you know, there's a lot of, there's a bit of narration if you have a facilitator, if you're not, you know. Who's conduct the, the ceremony or the experience. And so you can of course start with memories of gratitude in that perspective. And then you have this realignment and therefore you are more of an open container receptacle for transformation.

Chris McDonald: I'm just thinking too, sometimes I'll just use a word like inhale, gratitude, exhale out stress, or whatever you wanna let go of.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah, that's exactly right. And get

Chris McDonald: in right.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah. I have a poem too, actually. I can, I'm happy to share like a little. Yeah,

Chris McDonald: let's hear it.

Sohale Sizar: I'll read the poem and then I'll read you the prompt to the poem.

The wind moves, but leaves no mark. So to the one who seeks nothing, who holds no name, becomes like the sky, vast, empty, free, and losing all one becomes all what is. Everlasting mean to you? This is the prompt. What is Everlast Everlasting prompt. Yeah. What is, what is everlasting? Sorry. I was, I was tuned in.

I'm sorry. So the prompt is what is everlasting to you? And what about that Are you grateful for? And we could each answer that. Um, I'm happy to start because I think it's a very deep question that I

Chris McDonald: was like, whoa, okay.

Sohale Sizar: So when I thought about everlasting, I realized nothing about my life is everlasting, right?

And what I mean by tradition, I mean by a, a stellium, a, a fabric, a tapestry, uh, that transcends really civilization end time that inspires. People to love who they are, their inner selves, and to worship love. And I feel like for me, what's everlasting is to be a part of that tapestry, that tradition, that song beyond all song, uh, that leads people towards oneness.

And I'm supremely grateful for the ability and the, and the realization that I get to live in that. And know, and even just know about it. Just to know about it. I'm grateful for it, so I could go on, but.

Chris McDonald: Love it. So for me, as you were talking, I was thinking of the concept of impermanence in Buddhism. And that's something I've been doing as a practice to notice each day what represents impermanence, you know?

'cause nothing is permanent.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah, exactly.

Chris McDonald: And that's a great reflection. I think that ties in with gratitude, right? What can I be thankful for, grateful for? 'cause it's temporary. Yeah. The people in our lives,

Sohale Sizar: the, yeah.

Chris McDonald: The blessings that come our way when things go well, bad days even. We can be grateful for 'cause it's not permanent.

Yeah. And to the people coming after us. 'cause I'm hoping if the good that we can put out in the world is carried on through generations, I would hope so. That I think that ties us all together. That interconnectedness. I'm thinking with yoga too. That's

Sohale Sizar: beautiful. I. I feel like I'm grateful

Chris McDonald: for that. I feel like

Sohale Sizar: you, when you bring that to mind, I, I had a friend recently, he just had a newborn and uh, and I think about the parents in the world and I feel like one of, you know, for those who are parents, one of the most powerful roles and responsibilities of impact and Everlasting is actual a parenthood because.

One you're passing on, your genes are physically right, but then also, you know, the way that chop feels can impact so many people's lives. Like I wonder like the mother of Gandhi, you know, or the mother like, yeah, like that, that mother, what was is her impact is not everlasting. The mother of Martin Luther King, you know that today.

There's, it was a story, a Sufi story where a king asked his, you know, philosophers, he said, listen, I, I, I want a ring. I want a ring, I want an artifact. Something that, uh, when I am happy, it keeps me in perspective. And when I'm down, it allows me to, you know, just move on and not worry about it. He says, go, go figure it out.

And I want this to be like a very small, like I want it to be on my ring. I want something very small. And so the flosses, they went thought and thought and thought, and then the line that they came up with was that they inscribed on the ring was this too shall pass. That's what you've, you've heard of this one, so it's a good point.

To your, to your point.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. Because sometimes it's hard to remember that when something's in your face and

Chris McDonald: Life is hard. It can be challenging, right? Yeah. That's where gratitude comes in, right? Because I think it can, and I'm glad you mentioned the neuroscience too, 'cause I think I was thinking that as you were talking about how this can rewire our brain.

Sohale Sizar: It does. I mean, it literally re rewires our brains to such a degree that even people who have heart health. Uh, like cardiovascular issues have less of it to that degree, of course, depression, anxiety, and those other things. So you're, you are rewiring the brain with gratitude. And the truth is that a lot of us struggle to be grateful though.

I mean, about 100 million Americans buy a journal and struggle or, and end up failing to journal. Yeah, because it's just like, ugh, busy. You got things to do. And so how do we build tools and bring tools to people that meet them where they're at and can help them rewire? 'cause a lot of these narratives we have in our mind are scarcity oriented, are from years and years.

In the making.

This course bridges the gap between yoga and mental health therapy. You'll learn trauma-informed practices rooted in neuro. Science and polyvagal theory, practical somatic tools to help clients regulate and reconnect. How to build your confidence in teaching yoga. Plus, how to use yoga as a supportive modality within your scope.

As a therapist, you don't have to keep second guessing your next steps. This course gives you the structure and clarity you've been looking for. Don't miss out. Go to yoga the therapy room.com/yoga-basics. That's yoga the therapy room.com/yoga-basics today. What are some misconceptions with gratitude?

Sohale Sizar: Oh, I got a good one for you.

Toxic positivity.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah, so the idea that some people see, and some people, I've never heard of this, so I'll say what is toxic positivity? So toxic positivity is this idea that we're just always happy and negating some of the struggles or hardships or down moments in life, right? It's just, it's literally just denying.

Pain or, or suffering. And so we're just gonna be positive, but to a toxic degree, a way of, of denying maybe our humanity. And so some folks say, well gratitude or view gratitude as toxic positivity. Like, oh, it's just about being happy all the time. It's not about acknowledging what I'm going through, and that's not true.

What gratitude is doing is just shifting awareness. To what we get to have and when we shift our awareness to what we get to have, it builds this domino effect where we then move and live from a place of joy and happiness or, or at least with a little bit more of a lift in our step to then move forward in a constructive and positive manner.

Also transform what I'm feeling into an opportunity versus as a liability.

Chris McDonald: That's beautiful. So it's acknowledging it too. The pain. Of course. You don't have to minimize, because I think that toxic positivity is often minimizing people's struggle. Oh, chin up smile. Yeah, smile in your vein. That that irritates me.

Sohale Sizar: Exactly.

Chris McDonald: So what did you create to help with this issue? Because I know I'm familiar with your program soul, so can you share what that is? What's involved with that?

Uh, I, I tried to build a gratitude journalist growing up. I had journals. I journaled a lot, and I, I would always write something I'm grateful for. And then you go to college and you get more addicted to the phone and all this other stuff. And so, you know, I, I lost the habit. I lost that, you know, attitude and then I realized I really needed it.

So, a friend of mine says, we're gonna do gratitude challenge together. So long story short, we buy gratitude journal. She buys one, I buy one. We hold each other as accountability buddies. She ends up doing it for months on end. I do it for five days and I fail. It's okay. Yeah. So I refuse to say that I failed 'cause I knew it was important.

So what I would do instead is I would write an email to myself. So I'd write what I'm, you know, I'd type what I'm grateful for. I'd schedule, send it, come back to my inbox three to five days later, and then I'd reply to myself and schedule again, send it again. So I do that for. Three years. And what ends up happening is, uh, my friends and family, they heard about this hack.

Out there like me. And if you could help them build this habit, then the world would be a more loving, united and beautiful place. And so that led to Soul. And Soul is a tool that sends spontaneous nudges of gratitude prompts over text message. So, iMessage, WhatsApp, SMS, you get this text message of a gratitude prompt and you can get those prompts in whatever tradition you want.

Christian Mysticism, Buddhism, Sufism, um, you can get prompts around self-compassion and write in your text messages. You reply to the prompt, the photo. Voice memo, just text back and it's all encrypted in this online journal where you can remember the moments you've been loved. That's in short what Soul is doing.

I mean, I can go on forever, but this is, you know, yeah, I'll stop there.

And I, I, I of course picked the Buddhism Yeah. Perspective 'cause I love it so much. But, but it's just right on track with it. It's just phenomenal.

Sohale Sizar: How do you like the Buddhism path? Actually, I think it's great.

Chris McDonald: Okay.

It's just nice. 'cause it's not like every day or several times, it's like it's that randomness that it's like, oh, it kind of takes me out of it. But in a good way.

Sohale Sizar: I agree with you. I mean, so often we're running around back to back or doing this or doing that. Right. And it's to have a moment of pause, uh, is, is very the secret pause.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. And that's what that, it's funny you mention that because you're. It's a pattern that I hear throughout everybody. So the prompts, as you mentioned, are spontaneous. You don't know when you can receive the nudge. If you wanna make a schedule, you can. Yeah. Um, but the spontaneity actually creates more of this novelty.

Right. And, uh, that's really wonderful because as you mentioned it, it makes it more powerful.

Sohale Sizar: I think, yeah, I do. And, and, and it, and it really speaks to actually what I believe that we need more of in the world, which is mercy. We need to, we need more mercy to ourselves. So many of us are doing so much. You know, I, I recent, recently read that in hunter Gatherer days, or like before Technology, the brain used to make about 22,000 decisions a day.

Now, after this advent, as we're all on our phones, we make more than 35,000 decisions a day. Ooh. And we're talking about decisions like, do I like this post? Do I. Yeah. Uh, you know, like little things, but what they do is they accelerate cognitive load, right? They build up this cognitive load where then we feel tired.

Chris McDonald: That self-compassion piece is so important. I share that a lot with clients too. And it is a practice, just like mindfulness, meditation can be a practice 'cause it's not easy.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah. We have a choice. Like truly they're a choice to be negative and complain, or a choice to see the positive. And, uh, I, I, I hope for younger children we have, so I, for certain universities, you know, Stanford, uh, business schools offering soul to all students and Fairfield University and Oh, nice.

A few others. Yeah. Because if you build those habits early on, as you imagine, you build those habits, 18, 19, 20 or whatever, you're in college and then you go and move through life it. So many of us are not taught these habits. Exactly. And so then we have to relea, you know, we have to learn 'em and, and I'll tell you, I'm the number one student right here.

I am learning every day.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah.

Chris McDonald: It can be integrated in your system. Yeah.

Sohale Sizar: Agreed. And also I feel like it takes humility to learn it when you're older because, I don't know, maybe, maybe I'm, uh, I'm this way, but I'm saying I thought I knew this like right.

I thought like, am I really going down to the basics again? You know? And that's me framing it as the basics. Which is wrong. Uh, which I've gotten over because it's just part of this seasons of life.

Chris McDonald: Yeah, exactly. And I think it's hard when people say, oh, just keep a gratitude list now. Do you know how many gratitude lists I've started?

And then I get away from it. It's just hard to keep up with it. So I think it is trying to create sustainable practices for yourself.

Interestingly, or, and there is so many things one could be grateful for, like the feeling of a pen in your hand. You know, the feeling of. Your feet in sand. If there's no beach, the feet in grass, there's no grass. Your hands under the shower. If there's no shower, you know, the fact that you're able to see, if there's no sight, then it's, it could be able to walk.

You know? I mean, it's just, there's so many. Yeah.

Chris McDonald: I love how you connect all those.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah. It, uh, it goes to the smallest details. It doesn't have to be some grandiose thing. It, it, it can be something just so small. Even one word can be the seed that leads to the tree.

Chris McDonald: See that leads to the tree and I think it can start in the morning.

One thing I've tried in the morning when I wake up is to be grateful for my breath. Grateful. I woke up starting the day that way.

Sohale Sizar: That's true. You know, so there's a lot of people out there who wake up in the morning and are not grateful that they woke up in the morning. That because they're down, you know, it's real.

Chris McDonald: We gotta set that tone. So you created a link for yoga in the therapy room, listeners, can you talk about that?

Sohale Sizar: Yeah. So, uh, folks will have a gift of a month thanks to you, and, and they could try Soul Out, and I believe we have prompts that are also related.

To your story and to, which is wonderful. So now folks who are part of the community, it's so exciting. Yeah. Can, can be a part, really a part of the community in the daily, not, they don't have to be on an Instagram, they don't have to wait for the algorithm to, you know, show up what they want. Right. In your text messages, you get meaningful prompts, um, from Chris.

Which is a major honor for us, and we're very humbled about it. So they'll get prompts, they'll get the text messages. Um, you can even get it over email if you want, but text message or email and you can, you know, reply back. And again, everything is encrypted. Only you read your journal and it's a way for you to actually build this.

Chris McDonald: And I'm so honored to be a part of it too. So what's the best way listeners can find you to learn more about you?

Sohale Sizar: Yeah, so they can reach out over Instagram at so light, so bright. And, uh, our soul, I believe you probably put in the show notes, but bring on soul is our Instagram.

They can reach out either, either way, you know, uh, I'm very much eager to hear feedback if you have thoughts, perspectives. I wanna know,

Chris McDonald: especially mental health therapists, that might be able to be a good guidance for you too. Absolutely.

Sohale Sizar: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if there's, because we, if we are now in a time where we need to come together to support each other in our efforts.

Chris McDonald: than it's everlasting, right?

Sohale Sizar: It is. And that is everlasting.

That's a good high five from here, high five. That's a good one. Yes.

Chris McDonald: My brain woke up today. Oh, awesome. But thank you so much for coming on the the podcast today. I really appreciate it.

Sohale Sizar: Thank you for having me. It was a really fun conversation. Thank you so much.

Chris McDonald: Thanks. That wraps up another episode. Be sure to tune in next Wednesday when another episode drops listener, as I so appreciate you being here today.

Do you want more peace in your life? Integrating gratitude can help backed by research. Soul makes it easy to build a gratitude habit and discover your inner self soul sends you personalized spontaneous text messages with our expert back prompts. It's just like texting a friend. Respond back to gratitude prompts with text, photo, video, or voice memo.

Thanks for listening to today's episode. The information in this podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only. It's given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher. Or the guests are giving legal, medical, psychological, or any other kind of professional advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast.

Yoga is not recommended for everyone and is not safe under certain medical conditions. Always check with your doctor to see if it's safe for you. If you need a professional, please find the right one for you.