MF 001 Introduction to Meditation Freedom Podcast

This is the first episode!

In this episode, I go over the following:



* Why Meditation Freedom podcast

* How the title came about

* The format of the show

* Why this show was created

* A little bit about myself



Introduction

Before I get out of the way, and dive right into the first interview on the next episode, I want this first short 000 episode to just briefly explain the format of this podcast, and a little bit why I started this podcast with the topic of talking with meditators and meditation teachers on why they meditate, and where meditation meets their own daily life. I really want this to be for you and about bringing you as much value as possible, and as little fluff or excess words.

Lest I try to hard right from the start, I’ll try and keep myself from falling into the trap of never finishing recording this first episode, so I’ll preface this whole podcast adventure with this well known refrain from Leonard Cohen’s song called Anthem:

Ring the bells that still can ring,

Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack in everything,

That’s how the light gets in.”

I love this quote, such a great reminder in this context that you got to start somewhere with what you have. It comes from such a human and real authentic place I think. So to apply this quote to this particular situation, I’ll share with you later how this podcast to me is just one of the creative and many ways ring those bells. And these bells will not always sound perfect, I know it will take me a while to figure out how to do the hosting job and audio well. And frankly, I could spend the next year learning how to become an NPR podcast, or I can just start and learn as I go, I would rather just get going and learn along the way what to do. I wouldn’t want to try and give you the perfect NPR experience actually, I want to make mistakes and be human. But I do hope to be able to get the guests to open enough so that they’ll hopefully let some more light in. So this is all about creatively illuminating what is dark.

First a few words about the Podcast format:

I’m releasing the first 3 episodes today since this is launch or intro week, so definitely check out the interviews in the next two episodes. By releasing several episodes, this allows you to subscribe to this podcast, which I hope you will! Next week and on-wards, I will create and release one episode each week for the time being. Each episode will be around approximately half an hour, sometimes a few minutes more, and sometimes shorter like this episode, depending on how well it flows. This podcast will consist primarily of interviews with meditation teachers and long time students or practitioners of meditation and mindfulness. They will be from all walks of life and have different perspectives and views.

I am not planning to be excessively rigid in the format of this podcast, leaving room for spontaneity, creativity, wonder and not knowing if you know what I mean! So I definitely want to experiment, and tweak to allow you to get the most value out  of it. Also, if you the listener come up with feedback that tells me something needs changing, I will make some adjustments if needed. I’ll be listening or reading carefully, and looking forward to your feedback, and and make adjustments if needed.

To give you a sense of the focus of the interviews for this podcast. The questions are going to be about the how the interviewee’s came to a meditation practice, their struggles and tough times, their Aha moments, explore some of the “benefits and results” they they have seen from a regular meditation practice. While especially nowadays, outcomes and results are very important in society, I’ll also want to explore with the guests how they’re relationship with expectations and outcomes, or ideas of gain/loss has shifted perhaps, goals and results too.