Explore every episode of the podcast The ZDoggMD Show

True lies such as self-help is hopeless, "selfless leadership" is anything but, and spiritual bypass IS THE WHOLE POINT 🔥 The innocent, impersonal simplicity of THIS. Kat Van Oudheusden's books, free Zoom meetings, and more here. Why Kat’s personal story and “how I woke up” don’t make sense anymore, and the relief when story stops mattering Why seekers cling to the story of what Kat did, and what it’s like being a female voice in the male-dominated radical non-duality space The two extremes: “no one here, nothing to do” versus “we’re all love and a higher version of me,” and why they meet in a circle How self-inquiry can use the selfing mechanism to short-circuit itself Natural inquiry versus “artificial” inquiry from YouTube teachers, and life disillusioning beliefs one at a time Why everyone sees this in their own sequence, and how the mind turns whatever happened just before into the teaching Kat’s six aspects of no self and the essential inquiries in her book Seeing No Self Testing inquiries with more than 100 people over three years, mostly by WhatsApp Inquiry as a framework without a fixed path, process, or recipe Zubin’s early intellectual understanding, the energetic knot, and the belief that things always work out for the best If there is no doer, does “stop seeking” even make sense, and how radical non-duality and inquiry compare Zubin’s fossil record of contradictory expressions, from stages of enlightenment to “there is nothing to do” “We’re all liars”: no one can speak the truth about non-duality, and 8 billion versions are equally true or untrue Why judging another version of non-duality means you don’t understand it “I am no one” as another form of selfing, and freedom when it’s all seen as impersonal COVID, “alt-middle,” and how all positions were seen as impersonal Irreversible seeing versus the lived experience, which can still be contracted, egoic, and selfing A body that isn’t owned, being 50 and 53, parenting, and playing roles without believing in them The non-dual identity, and the relief when the camera turned off Why all of it is useful nonsense, and how Rupert Spira’s and Tony Parsons’s messages each landed Inquiry as breadcrumbs, direct recognition, and the seeking mechanism going into overdrive Why the spiritual world is full of ego, $10,000 retreats, and the myth of progress in being human Donald Hoffman’s nightly meditation, and Zubin’s spontaneous inquiry into materialism versus consciousness “We’re all end-stage seekers,” and the seahorse analogy for belief in a separate self The pretend game of separation, TED talks, and years working in university systems Why nobody wants what impersonal offers, and the non-duality police versus the personal religion crowd in the comments Morality, the separate soul that needs saving, and “sinners in the hands of an angry God” Zubin’s unworthiness reactor, and being grateful that nothing solved it Never having mystical experiences, and why that makes it doubtless Non-duality as the next lingo, and posting insight on social media AI-generated clips of soundbites, and doing meetings anyway The recursive loop of confusion, and “my thoughts are also just this” The end of hope, and impersonal hope The descriptive versus prescriptive fallacy, and practicing non-attachment Why it’s all innocent, and Kat’s book title joke “Isness” Romantic music, the hero’s journey, and not taking any of it seriously Servant leadership as selfless leadership, and why a self trying to be a servant leader is the worst kind Zubin’s wife as an example of effortless servant leadership Momentary glimpses, and “where did the moment go?” Shadow work and internal family systems, and why digging through the trash only finds more trash Looking where the self is not, rather than into more of it Spiritual bypass: “you have to bypass,” and why accusing others of bypassing is the least spiritual thing to do Kat’s name, growing up in Thailand, and plans for a part two Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Polish the turd of “me” long enough and it still won’t shine. A Thursday Zen rant for anyone who’s done everything "right" and is still seeking that enlightenment fix. From our live YouTube conversation here. Topics: A warning to the seeking energy that wants to polish itself until the self disappears Zubin’s story: the doctor and YouTuber who was miserable no matter what he achieved The core sense of brokenness, unworthiness, and separation behind the seeking The spiritual path as becoming an enlightened self, and the books and teachers that went with it Meditation, self inquiry, and resting as the I am, and why it felt like torture Glimpses and retreat insights as experiences for a “me” The spiritual industrial complex and why YouTube feeds it A slow, torturous disillusionment with every practice and guru A message for seekers: there is no future, no better, and no one Why wanting to lose the me is the me wanting the me gone Shadow work and trauma stories as more of the same story The nuclear reactor of unworthiness, and what happened when it collapsed What changed: spontaneous yes and no, no more people pleasing, and a nicer guy Whether you need spiritual practices (if they show up, they show up) Preferences remain, but nobody is left to own what people think Comment: panic attacks, the second arrow, and life showing up as panic Why it feels impossible to the one who wants it The mirage and the water, and how nothing is rejected Tony Parsons and Jim Newman, and how everyone points differently Disillusionment with teachers, and “I’m not a teacher” Free will, progress, and moving through the universe A Star Trek tangent (Kirk versus Picard) Zoroastrian roots, the Avesta, and why no belief stuck Is “no self” just another belief, and how daily life has changed Is non-duality another form of escapism, and what spiritual bypass looks like Money, wealth, and a message with no conditions Zen at war and why beliefs are useless The word “influencer,” and the loving character underneath the oppositional one Money fears, doubt, and Tim Cliss’s “doubtless uncertainty” Supporting your kids and the fear of ending up on the street Would mega wealth change anything, and billionaires as powerful seekers Studying Zen Buddhism, and why practice is an epiphenomenon Why awakening seems correlated with practice The descriptive versus prescriptive fallacy, and teachers who sell techniques Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I sent a kid off to college and a some sort of crazy adult came back 🫣😂 WARNING: contains spiritual ego collateral damage and one ANGRY cat named The Mitch! From our YouTube Live conversation. Nina (Z-Pupp) is home from Vassar for fall break, and the live is for Nai Nai to see her Why Nina left California for a school where she knew no one Double majoring in music and econ, and why she didn’t go to NYU for the music business Chamber music, her professor, and live-streamed orchestra concerts watched at home on the big TV Mendelssohn, and the screen photo texted to her mid-concert Making friends, her surprise roommate, and the case for a small liberal arts college Poughkeepsie versus New York City, and the train into the city A violin lesson in San Francisco, playing a Sarasate duet, and favorite composers The one dining hall, the bagel place, and the acai bowl shop where strangers pitched Vassar to her on the college visit Winning a concerto competition, and Nina’s opinion of Vivaldi The campus petting zoo and its ferret, chinchilla, and baby kangaroo The Mitch the cat: escape attempts, getting caught, and Nina the cat whisperer Professors’ outfits, music theory capes, and the jean jacket comeback The Cocteau Twins, and whether they count as emo Whether the Mitch is fat or just fluffy, and “you can’t win with women who know everything” What Nina misses most about home (her car), and feeling stuck in Poughkeepsie San Francisco tech bros, cappuccino art, and the vocal fry of Pacific Heights Dining hall slop, the freshman 15 in reverse, and joining a squash class and biking How Stanford benefits help pay for tuition Drop-off night, hotel bourbon, and a musician tip from the chat Professor Navega’s threat to “snap her neck” for being late Affluent classmates, generational wealth, and debutante parties Parties, Halloween weekend, and Zubin’s freshman 15 at Berkeley Nina’s take on the awakening stuff: “we just gotta live in the here and now, even though that doesn’t exist” Zubin agrees that awakening talk is nonsense, and why he keeps talking about it Vermont hippie colleges and the leg hair debate Crying (or laughing) at drop-off, and doom scrolling in the rental Volvo Halloween costumes: a chicken onesie and a Love Island robe with dollar store snakes Is college worth it in the age of AI: connections, Swiffers, and learning to be an adult Side hustles, and “what is a Zubin” showing up in Shorts feeds Donald Hoffman, conscious agents, and the homunculus Whether the kids had an awakening: telling Nina “nothing is real” during COVID and her existential crisis at 10 Spiritual ego, and why a “me” with a new insight wants to inflict it on its kids Watching Nina grow up on the channel, the Big Pharma video, and Dr. House of Cards “Gaffes” and “C’s get degrees” versus “P equals MD” The stumbling block of teaching what you just learned Amenemope, the Bhagavad Gita, and Nina’s plan to take it next semester Using AI, just not for art or music Zubin’s Zoroastrian upbringing and chanting from the Avesta at 11 Zubin’s “it’s all just this” take on oneness and consciousness Arjuna, Krishna, and killing your brother’s army AI flattery, and Zubin’s British lady Claude voice in the car Nina’s cognitive science class, “Chat with Pat,” and why the chatbot folds under pushback Whether Claude is conscious, and who is having the experience Saying please and thank you to AI, and older people finding company in chatbots Waymos, who is liable when AI goes wrong, and the doomer argument Dallas hospitality, a midnight hotel check-in, and an Uber ride into the MAHA conspiracy Chatty Ubers in Poughkeepsie and New York Whether Dallas counts as the South Wrap-up, solfege, and sending Nina back to school (she’ll be back in December) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tobias Ricardo spent 15 years as a Hindu monk and had pretty much every spiritual experience on the menu: kundalini fireworks, blissed-out “I am” states, retreats, the works. The real freedom turned out to be seeing that all of it was happening to and for a “me” who was never actually there. If you’ve had glimpses that never seem to stick, and you keep thinking you just need one more retreat, maybe check this conversation out 😉 Click here for all my usual links, music, videos, podcast, Supporter Tribe and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I sat down with Tim Cliss to talk about how nobody's home, how there's no prize at the end of the "spiritual" search, and how compassion works a lot better once there's no "you" left to get in its way. Also featured: psychedelics, ego death, and the surprisingly good news that hope is doomed 🥳 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I got an email this morning with the subject: "I died and you helped. Thanks." 😳 Here's the resulting YouTube LIVE discussion! Topics covered: Reading an email from a longtime viewer describing two years of awakening, contraction, and finally the realization there was never anyone on the journey Why the end of seeking is surprising precisely because it's so ordinary, not some mystical attainment Why "unconditional love" and other spiritual language are imperfect pointers, and what they're actually gesturing at A follow-up phone call with email author, and what it's like when nothing lands or sticks between two people who've been through this Losing the impulse to fix or save other people once agency is seen through Compassion as natural, unforced acceptance of everything, including one's own conditioning The nuclear reactor analogy for how unworthiness gets walled off in childhood, and what happens when it melts down Processing anger and grief, including a viewer whose son is becoming homeless, and why there's no such thing as spiritual bypassing Revisiting the fury felt at the Hiroshima museum and how it naturally resolved Money, financial fear, and how the drive to "keep hustling" has changed Why the VPZD show and other seemingly contradictory activities still arise and make sense How the self attaches itself to actions after the fact to preserve the illusion of free will and agency The self described as a verb ("selfing") rather than a fixed thing Heaven, hell, and why eternity of any single experience, even pleasure, becomes hell Marriage, kids, and whether family changes how someone relates to death Closing reflections on watching a daughter start college, liberal arts education, and the peace out Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The sense of self may die, but these termites eating my house are still VERY much alive 😉 My recent livestream on TikTok. Some of the topics touched on: Beliefs as an endless, dissolving process. The VPZD show as a dance of conditioning between hosts and audience. Fighting for a cause as really fighting for identity. Communicating needs with a partner. Book recommendations for exploring non-duality. A partner's neediness as a mirror for one's own conditioning. Doctor as just another fallen-away identity. Finding meaning in a meaningless existence. Why human consciousness defaults to negativity. Letting go of the belief that you should be positive. Getting contradictory antivax and pro-vax accusations back to back. Substituting one identity paradigm for another. Reflecting on the 30s, 40s, and 50s as different flavors of seeking. Flu shot risk tolerance and personal choice. The shingles vaccine decision. Nothing is happening, yet the characters keep playing their story out. Political yard signs causing friction with a spouse. Sitting with the shock of losing a friend badly. What is the point of any of this. Termites, relative and ultimate reality. Letting go of tribal fighting. The Macklemore and Ed Sheeran controversy revisited. Viewers sharing Macklemore songs and other political art. Richard Wagner as beauty coexisting with bigotry. Working with insects as a way to understand fear. Closing thoughts on why this TikTok live feels accepting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A live YouTube conversation about dropping our oldest child off for college, ending with an overpriced bottle of hotel Jim Beam drunk out of plastic cups by a Homewood Suites firepit. Yeah, enlightenment ain't what the gurus have been selling us 😭😅 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back from Japan to talk about being "alone together," why the "loneliness epidemic" is something engineered by the "me", and how bliss, grief, Fauci, and a three-dollar vintage shirt all fit into the same perfect unfolding. Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: ⁠https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A live Q+A wandering through our Sunday zoom meeting with the awakening group, to Jesus Christ Superstar, to the death of "ZDoggMD" as an identity, through moral injury, openness as the prerequisite for everything, why spirituality is a beautiful farce, and what it's like when worry about the future just stops sticking. Health 4.0 son! Contact me, watch all the videos, and join the Supporter Tribe for future zoom meetings here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I tell ya, there's something about these ephemeral TikTok live conversations that just gets this Zubin character all lit up 🔥 Here's a recording just for y'all who listen to the podcast (these live shows normally go POOF immediately after airing on TikTok). As always, you can hit me up hello at zdoggmd.com, and check out all the things here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A two-hour conversation with a fellow "Z" that's for no one and goes exactly nowhere. Perfect! 😅 We talk about addiction as hole-filling, and the hole that can never be filled; the seeking energy and what it actually wants; the dying process of identity deconstructing in reverse order; why the sense of a separate self is not a thought but an embodied energetic misunderstanding; why there's no practice because the person can't get rid of itself; what's actually longed for (not what the mind thinks); hopelessness as freedom... the real kind; the solidity trap and why making things real is the suffering; the sense of separation as the literal root of all suffering; what happens when you die; compassion as simply this communication; the end of the comparing mind; all the struggle of me for nothing; patterns falling away spontaneously; grief and loss and awe; and liberation as the end of the need for liberation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No subject, no object, just phenomena arising. From my TikTok live on consciousness, hope, meaning, the freefall of no belief, and what it's like when the self-critical voice quietly stops showing up. Plus: row your boat. Contact form, more videos, and membership options here. https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One phone call with cardiologist and recovering alcoholic Rishi Menon and BOOM: we're instant Stepbrothers 😂 We dive into failing med school, 20 years of proving worthiness, recovery, suicidal ideation, burnout, the Enneagram as software, body changes after letting go, and why practice probably isn't causative but shows up anyway. Full video here. ⁠Click here for website, contact form, links to all the things, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's really only two questions. Exploring the first can lead to a more comfy prison cell, and REALIZING the second shows there never was a prison cell at all. Both are ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. Live conversation from the Z-Shed! Click here for website, contact form, links to all the things, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"You" can never really trust this moment. And yet THIS, here, now, IS pure trust itself. A Friday Zen Live on the unconditional acceptance of what is, why the separate self can never surrender into this, the second arrow that never landed, and an old biker dude who took the longest dump in trail bathroom history 💩 ⁠⁠Contact form, videos, links, and all the things here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What goes up must come down, and for the spiritual seeker, that pendulation is one of the most specific and painful flavors of suffering there is. This Friday Zen LIVE from YouTube explores why the ups and downs are the same no-thing, what natural compassion looks like when you never practiced or play-acted it, Douglas Harding's headless way, and much more. ⁠Contact form, videos, links, and all the things here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My baby is now at senior prom, I got a splitting headache, and somehow this is the perfect moment to talk about no-thing-ness. A Friday Zen YouTube live (4/24/26) on retreats, the seeking apparatus burning out, no-thingness appearing as everything, and why the mind is a real a-hole 🕳️ Contact form, videos, links, and all the things here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nina chose Vassar — and that news kicks off a wide-ranging Monday Zen live that covers a lot of ground. We start with the "spiritual journey" in full: from burning out as a doctor, to a spontaneous awakening in Las Vegas, to years of meditation, retreats, shadow work, and psychedelics, all of it eventually collapsing into the simple recognition that it was always just this. Along the way: why lying becomes nearly impossible when there's nothing left to protect, what every psychedelic from 5-MeO-DMT to Salvia Divinorum pointed at (spoiler: this), the honest question of whether awakening is liberation or just a very specific kind of dissociation, monogamy and marriage as story, why spiritual authority dissolves completely at some point, and how the whole journey lands you right back where you started ...except the circle never quite closes. Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: ⁠https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd⁠ Support us with a 1-time donation and get a personal email response from me: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zdoggmd⁠ More about Dr. Z: ⁠https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just got back from spring break touring colleges with my oldest ZPupp (yeah, wasn't she just a frickin' BABY yesterday?). Rochester, Vassar, and NYU. This episode is the full debrief...the steel cut oats, the Hogwarts campus, the NYU dean who told an auditorium full of accepted students and families that it's depressing to be poor, and what all of it reveals about ambition, projection, and just letting life life itself since the script is already written, bruh. Full video, originally LIVE on YouTube, here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From BTS documentaries to grieving your own college experience through your kid's eyes, life keeps surfacing exactly what needs to be seen. An April Fools live conversation that somehow landed on death, freedom, and the scrote-sichord 🤭 Topics: The Dr. Oz April Fools Prank — A Fond Memory BTS Documentary: Schmos, Celebrities, and the Cosmic Joke "Everything Seems Fine and Yet" — What's Been Coming Up Nina's College Stuff What I Actually Felt at 18 — Grieving the College Experience UC Berkeley: The Real Story Professor Fristrom and the Lab That Saved Me It's Never About Someone Else — It's Always About You Era Ending or Projection? The Party Degree I Never Got to Have Everything You Ever Learned Is Happening Now The 529 Account Question and the Opportunity Cost of College What If You Just Invested the Tuition Money Instead? Waking Up, Growing Up, Showing Up — Ken Wilber and the Story Models All Beliefs Are Provisional — Go Down the Rabbit Hole, Then Let Go The FIRE Movement and the Trap of Seeking Freedom Spiritual Bypassing: You Can't Actually Do It What's Your Biggest Fixation That's Left? The Trap of "Someday I'll Be Free" What Happens When You Die? Kids and the Double Arrow of Suffering Stage Models of Awakening — Useful Until They're Not How Long Do You Meditate? Zero. Everything Is a Meditation. A Medical School Musical Interlude ADHD, Psychiatric Labels, and Just Zubining Is Awakening Even Desirable? Awakening as Death Followed Immediately by Hilarity From the Outside It Looks Like Existential Crisis — And That's Exactly Right Is "We" Closer to Truth Than "I"? Religious Awakening vs. Non-Dual Awakening — Same Flavor, Different Tradition "How Is This Here the Same as This There?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is just DUMB SIMPLE...so much so that the mind that always wants to know, always wants to make sense, simply won't believe it. From 3am despair during college admissions season to spontaneous tears on the leg press, life keeps showing up as exactly what it is. Original YouTube live video here. College admissions process and Nina's New York school visits Waking up at 3am — absorbing stress and feeling it fully Why meditation techniques eventually stop arising on their own Non-dumbality: reality as too simple and ordinary for any concept to touch The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path — why the Buddha gave instructions at all The "fake it till you make it" paradox of spiritual practice Crying at the gym and spontaneous emotional release Who or what is choosing what happens next? The tree of belief metaphor — falling through branches on the way down Nothing is hidden: object permanence as a functional lie Zen stink and the spiritual ego that thinks it woke up What awakening actually means (and why the story collapses) Angelo, gratitude, and why spiritual content no longer lands Ram Dass on other people's awakening being none of your business Gratitude roll call to those who "taught" me What's actually being transmitted in these live shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nothing arrives. Nothing persists. And you were never behind. Monday Zen Live, original YouTube conversation here. 0:00 Welcome & The Imaginarium — Why the World Is a Story 1:38 Krishnamurti's "Filthy Word" and Taking the Story Sincerely 4:05 When the Whole Thing Just Drops 6:13 Absolute Freefall — This Is Pure Unadulterated Chaos 7:49 Nothing Ever Arrives Before It's Gone 9:18 Descartes Got It Almost Right — But Not Quite 11:43 Staring at a Blue Sky: The Instability of Appearance 13:02 Emptiness Isn't Magical 14:43 Is This Too Extreme a Negation? 16:05 Love Is Real — But Not How You Think 18:10 Awareness Isn't Fundamental — A Bone to Pick 20:05 Dogs Don't Live in the Imaginarium 22:06 You Don't Have to Believe Me — Let Go of Belief Entirely 23:24 Whatever Is Arising Right Now? That's It. 25:27 Why Unknowing Gets Rejected — By Society and the Ego 27:13 Always Exactly Where We Need to Be 27:38 The 5-MeO-DMT Realization: Nowhere to Go, Nothing to Seek 29:04 Perfect Days — A Film About Total Liberation 29:36 When the Dream Character Wakes Up (and Gets a Spiritual Ego) 34:33 Appearance Noticing Itself as Appearance 35:52 Isness, Thusness, Beingness — Words Pointing at Nothing 44:43 Why Zubin Blocked All Spiritual Content 47:38 How AI Pointed Back to the Unknowable 49:34 The Spiritual Entertainment Industrial Complex 52:06 Does Zubin Want More Followers? 54:22 Why He Stopped Practicing Medicine 1:04:08 Spiritual Apologism and the Self-Deception of Influence 1:03:00 Mark and Sharon at Chemo — What Live Is Really For 1:10:13 When You Cringe at Your Own Words (And When You Don't) 1:12:09 Wrap-Up & Peace Out Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why every concept, belief, and story falls utterly short of what's actually HERE. From YouTube LIVE. 0:00 Welcome & The Imaginarium We Live In 0:48 No Thought or Belief Can Touch What Is 2:24 The 180° Inversion: Concepts Are the Abstraction 5:50 How the Separate Self Generates Suffering 13:02 Did the Past Actually Happen? 15:00 Who Designed the Dance? On Illusion and Creation 18:10 Is There Even a Witness? Appearance Without a Knower 21:03 Why Reality Is Boring (and That's the Point) 24:48 The Bahiya Sutta: Simply the Seen 26:10 Music, Tones, and What Sound Is Actually Showing You 28:05 Is There a Path to Awakening? 31:32 Is Enlightenment a Stable State? 33:58 Privilege, Poverty, and Who Gets to Wake Up 35:42 Dreams, Sleep, and the Continuity of Appearance 38:48 What If Someone Hates Life? 43:48 Am I a nihilist?? 45:37 Wrap-Up & Signing Off Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when the seeking stops? We explore the paradox of the spiritual path, why role models don't make sense anymore, and how life just keeps life-ing — perfectly, with nobody doing it. A Monday live conversation on YouTube about nothing and everything. https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd for all the things. 0:00 Introduction: Post-Daylight Savings Monday 1:05 Why Time Changes Mess With Our Circadian Rhythms 4:28 Is There Meaning in Names? 5:24 Spirituality as Just Another Story 7:17 This Is Not a Popular Message 8:02 When Interest in TED Talks and Podcasts Dies 11:07 YouTube Is Actually Great (When You Stop Caring) 11:39 What Happens After Death? 13:14 You Can't Learn This — The Paradox of Seeking 17:03 Speaking to People Where They Are 19:25 Radical Honesty: There's Nothing to Do 21:01 There's No Continuity — Only Memory 23:05 Julia, the Rug Is Going to Be Pulled Out 24:04 How Do You Relate to Dream Characters? You Don't. 27:02 Presence Is Just Radical Acceptance 29:22 My Wife's Plant Obsession (House Tour Moment) 30:00 The Tragic Florida Prank Story 35:01 Humans Aren't Terrible or Good — Just This 36:17 Life Can Get Better (Paradoxically) 37:14 If People Had to Slaughter Their Own Animals 39:01 Revisiting the Past as Part of Realization 42:01 Dating Ads During the Live Stream? 43:00 Nothing Happens Outside What's Immediately Apparent 44:04 The Anus Meditation (Yes, Really) 45:00 Guilt About World Events 46:46 Does Seeking Energy Come Back? 50:02 Subjectification and the Fluxy State 51:04 Am I in the Epstein Files? 57:52 Better or Worse Than Seven Years Ago? 59:02 Getting Pulled Back Into the Story 1:00:22 Country Joe McDonald Has Passed 1:02:02 AMAs and the Dissolution of Questions 1:03:05 Should I Do a Daily Practice? 1:06:02 Why Would You Want to Be on a Podcast? 1:08:50 Would I Go on Joe Rogan? Nah. 1:10:50 Daniel Schmachtenberger 1:14:12 Closing: The Paradox of Talking to 100 People Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Another fun live conversation about the (un)reality of "me." YouTube video is here. All the links are here. 0:00 Introduction: The "Me" Will Never Be Enough 3:01 What Is the "Me"? The Illusion of the Separate Self 5:05 The Seeking Energy: Why We Never Feel Whole 7:24 Midlife Crisis and Spiritual Seeking as More of the Same 9:57 The Unsatisfaction Machine: Worthiness and Unworthiness 11:46 Hope and Hopelessness: The Self in Time 13:22 Pain vs. Suffering: What's the Difference? 15:08 The Spiritual Circus: Why Seeking Doesn't Work 17:03 Ego Extinction and Meditation: The Trap of Trying 19:26 The Paradox: Awakening Happened, Then the "Me" Claimed It 22:00 Surrender Is Impossible for the Self 23:00 Jim Newman and Radical Non-Duality 25:04 What Is Belief? The Self Trying to Know 27:05 Is Science Truth? Dreams Within Dreams 29:05 Real and Unreal: The Bear Chasing You 31:01 Nothing Is Wrong: Even Resistance Is This 33:05 It's Radically Simple 35:07 The Dream Logic Paradox: Why Teachers Say "Nothing to Do" 38:14 Your Journey Is Just an Appearance 39:48 There Is No Experience, Only Appearance 42:02 Questions That Stop Making Sense 44:09 This Is Not a Popular Message 45:58 What a Relief: When the "Me" Is Seen as Futile 48:36 Grief and Loss: The Emotional Process of Letting Go 51:06 Being Yourself: What Disney Actually Meant 53:01 Full Compassion Without Detachment 54:06 Negative Emotions: Felt Fully, Then Gone 57:00 Progressive Path vs. Radical Pathlessness 59:04 Awareness? I Can't Find It 1:01:31 Closing: The Ordinary and Extraordinary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spiritual "influencers" may just be the Final Bosses in the game of delusion 🤮 Watch the YouTube video here. https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd for all the things. 00:00 - Introduction: Live Comments Make It Wondrous 01:46 - BAFTA Tourette's Incident and Nobody Wins 02:41 - Spiritual Influencers Are the Worst 06:14 - F**k all the gurus 09:05 - "Spirituality" isn't something I wanna talk about anymore 11:20 - The Deep Secret: Just What's Appearing 12:06 - Cipher in the Matrix: Wanting to Go Back In 15:01 - Coming All the Way Back to Sleep (Zero Fucks Given) 17:33 - The Seeking Stops Naturally (You Can't Make It Stop) 19:45 - Dentist Story: Not Witnessing, Just Everything Everything-ing 24:24 - Retreats, Poetry Rounds, and Narcissistic Bullshit 29:34 - Turning the Dharma Wheel: I Don't Know What That Means 32:04 - Buddhism's No-Self Gets Distorted Into Attainment 35:00 - Why Be Silent? It's Here in the Talking Too 37:13 - Ashley Selfie Moment: Breaking Retreat Rules 40:05 - Another's Experience Isn't Your Experience (Don't Replicate) 43:35 - Closing: Power Corrupts, Pure Luck of Conditioning Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zero f***s given in this Facebook LIVE episode 🤭, we explore time, growth as illusion, spiritual mansplaining, why there isn't even consciousness, why nothing cannot stay nothing, the 10 Fetters Buddhist model from separate self to liberation, and more! Kevin Shanilec's interpretation and guide to the Fetters is here. Video archive, audio podcast, music, Supporter Tribe membership, email & more. Support us with a 1-time donation. 00:00 - Introduction: Zero Fucks Given, Social Security Disappointment 01:53 - Time as Flickering Light on a Timeless Screen 05:16 - How Is This Different Than a Dream? 08:00 - Fix the Fixer by Dissolving It 10:18 - Growth Is an Illusion: Nothing Takes Place 13:28 - Church Without the Priest: Feeling Christ Consciousness 16:32 - Spiritual Mansplaining to My Wife (Then She Woke Up) 24:37 - The Unborn: Everything Is Perfectly Managed 30:10 - Why Is Life Hard? (The Question Makes No Sense) 37:17 - Awareness Obsession: Then I Realized There Isn't Consciousness 43:25 - Nothing Cannot Stay Nothing (Why Appearance Exists) 48:13 - The 10 Fetters: Buddhist Model of Liberation 58:04 - How the Fetters Build Backwards from Delusion 1:06:12 - Total Wellness? The Question Falls Away 1:08:20 - Berkeley Meetup Plans, Jim Newman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A beautifully spontaneous Monday Zen LIVE (YouTube video here) that I intended as members-only but accidentally went public—and the accident was perfect orchestration by nothing for no one 🤡 We dive deep into identifying as awareness, exploring why it's a beautiful trap that feels like spacious liberation but is still an experience that comes and goes (disappears under anesthesia), and how Nisargadatta used "rest as I Am" as universal solvent until awareness itself dissolved into the magic space of nothingness. Core teaching: nothing takes place, nothing becomes real—all kinds of stuff occurring but never arriving, never becoming solid. I share a painful 3am dream where dream-self was fully mind-identified, seeking validation and connection, feeling "I will never be okay"—and how waking up allowed full feeling without secondary resistance, showing deep unworthiness conditioning still arising but now without stickiness. We explore accommodating all views without ultimate belief (genocide, shootings, political polarization), trauma integration requiring full acceptance and love, and the 2026 heart opening that's matured into natural service without seeking return. Practical experiments: energetic availability on hiking trails where open-hearted presence makes strangers spontaneously smile and greet you (reproducible N-of-1 trial), eye gazing as intimacy practice that breaks down defenses (harder with intimates where stakes are high), horses reading human micro-expressions better than we read each other, chronic illness healing or arising with awakening (body-mind changes, sensitivity increases), discovering Gospel of Thomas as Christian Zen ("kingdom of God spread upon earth yet men do not see it"), free will question collapsing into nonsense, what is your true nature inquiry ("just keep looking"), rich man/camel/needle as rich with concepts and beliefs, and pain practice at dentist using Bankei's "everything is perfectly managed in the unborn" to dissolve second arrow. See all the things, become a member and more here! 00:00 - Introduction: Fear of a Black Hat and Snowed In America 03:35 - Responding to Reality vs. Created Environment 06:11 - Identifying as Awareness: The Beautiful Trap 10:46 - The Unborn: Nothing Takes Place, Nothing Becomes Real 15:07 - Guided Drop Into Pure Awakeness (Meditation) 18:06 - Dream of Mind Identification and Validation Seeking 24:37 - The Magic Space of Nothingness 30:10 - Genocide, Gaza, and Accommodating All Views 35:41 - Trauma Integration: Feeling It Fully to Release 42:12 - Heart Opening and Being of Service Without Return 48:00 - Energetic Availability: The Hiking Trail Experiment 57:23 - Eye Gazing: Breaking Down Defenses Through Intimacy 1:08:53 - Free Will Question Doesn't Make Sense 1:11:11 - What Is Your True Nature? Just Keep Looking 1:20:43 - Gospel of Thomas: Christian Zen and Kingdom of Heaven 1:25:09 - Pain Practice: Second Arrow and the Unborn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when the mind stops telling stories? We explore insomnia and radical acceptance, the trap of identifying as awareness, why "the world is waking up" is just another story, and my journey from Doc Vader to whatever the f**k this is 😂 All the things are here. Topics and Timecodes: 0:00 - Going Live & Technical Difficulties 1:26 - When You Can't Say Anything Anymore 2:31 - Karma Yoga: Life as Sacred Practice 4:14 - Sleep, Insomnia & Radical Acceptance 7:02 - Sleep During Awakening: My Experience 8:38 - Waking Up at Night: Working with Panic & Repressed Emotion 10:24 - No Distinction Between Waking, Dreaming & Deep Sleep 11:43 - The Mind Creates Reality: Manifestation & Reconditioning 13:29 - Free Will, Determinism & Letting Go 13:53 - Dreams, Vivid Experiences & Higher Planes 15:00 - When Desire & Attachment Start to Fall Away 16:03 - Meaning Is Created: An Existentialist View 17:01 - Watching Thoughts: The Mirage of the Mind 19:02 - Who Thought This Thought? The House of Cards Collapses 21:04 - The "I Want to Wake Up" Trap 21:52 - Who Is Awareness Appearing To? 22:17 - Getting Stuck at "I Am Awareness" 23:04 - What Is the Unborn? 25:00 - Wide Angle Camera Fun (Tech Break) 26:04 - The Universe Is Unfolding As It Should 26:31 - Absolute vs. Relative: There's No Distinction 27:25 - From Doc Vader to This: My Journey Since 2019 30:35 - Burning It All Down: Deleting Twitter, Losing Followers, Finding Joy 31:05 - Gratitude for Spiritual Friends: Angelo, Simon, Ishwar 32:03 - When Suffering Arises After Awakening 33:31 - Resilience Is a Story: Working with Negativity 34:06 - Processing Emotions About Iran & the Ayatollah 36:07 - Letting Things Be Unsticky Even When You Care Fully 36:36 - Talking to Conservative Christian Parents About Buddhism 37:28 - All Paths Point to the Same Thing 40:25 - Jesus Was Enlightened 41:13 - Identifying as Awareness vs. Non-Duality: What's Beyond? 43:05 - Resurrecting Jesus by Adyashanti (Book Recommendation) 43:42 - Is the World Waking Up? (Spoiler: It's a Story) 46:05 - What's My Meditation Practice? It Changes Daily 47:03 - When Seeking Falls Away 48:00 - Don't Force-Feed Awakening: Many Called, Few Chosen 49:00 - Energy Grounding & Chakra Work 51:03 - The Brutal Side of Awakening 51:26 - Apple Watches & Fitness (Curveball Question) 52:32 - What Is "The Story" vs. Reality? 54:53 - Closing: This Beautiful Satsang Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A spontaneous conversation between two friends walking the path together. Why 'you're already awake' can be harmful, the impossibility of bypassing the hard painful work, K-Pop Demon Hunters as dharma transmission, and much more. Full video here. Simon Brown's YouTube channel is here and his free Substack is here. Here's our earlier podcast on trauma. And here's our prior talk on compassion. Video archive, audio podcast, music, Supporter Tribe membership, email & more. Support us with a 1-time donation. More about Zubin. 0:00 Introduction - Spiritual Friendship Across the Atlantic 2:22 "You're One of the Dearest People I Turn To" 4:00 The Mind Creates the Abyss, The Heart Crosses It 5:00 The Relational Intimacy That's More Than Its Parts 7:00 Hell Is Other People vs. Recognition of Non-Separation 10:00 Opening the Clown Chakra (Becoming Baba Z-Dogg) 12:00 Why Ram Dass Makes You Cry Instantly 16:00 Alan Watts AI Warnings 18:00 Ram Dass's Journey from Harvard to Surrender 20:00 "He Can See All of Me and Still Loves Me" 23:00 Ram Dass's Decades of Practice (Not Just Surrender) 25:00 "Everything's Already Awake" - Why This Message Can Make People Sick 28:00 Unbearable Compassion and Meeting People Where They Are 33:00 Delusion as Seeing Incorrectly What's Actually Here 35:00 The Problem with One-and-Done Awakening 38:00 "You're Going to Die. Everyone You Know Will Die" 41:00 Ram Dass Holding Hands of Strangers as They Die 44:00 Only Sensible Response Is Compassion 47:00 Turn Towards the Unconditioned/Deathless 52:00 Society's Duality and Taking Sides 57:00 The Pure Freedom Beyond Conditions 1:00:00 Play, Spontaneity, and Shame 1:03:40 The Goldfish Bowl Story - How Play Gets Beaten Out 1:07:00 "This Really Hurt and I Love You" 1:09:00 The Trance of Unworthiness We All Inherit 1:13:34 K-Pop Demon Hunters as Liberation Teaching 1:16:00 Barbie Movie and Repressed Emotion 1:18:00 Perfect Days - Liberation Through Cleaning Toilets 1:21:00 "It's a Wonderful Life" and the Universal Heart 1:24:00 What's Gone That You Don't Notice 1:27:00 Taking the Exquisite Risk of Vulnerability 1:28:40 "Pee Here Now" - The Non-Dual Amusement Park Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We healthcare people love accomplishment, competition, clear instructions, and maps—which can make the awakening process feel like straight TORTURE 😂 From YouTube LIVE. 00:00 - Introduction: The Comparing Mind in Healthcare 01:37 - Bringing Your Own Folding Chair to Kiss God's Ass 03:06 - The Millisecond of Clarity vs. Macro Seconds of Ego 04:12 - You Can't Do Any of This Wrong 05:27 - 3 Levels: Gross Reality, Witness Consciousness, Absolute 08:22 - 3 Schools: Ram Das Work, Dogen Zen, Neo-Advaita 13:10 - All Three Approaches Have Their Place 16:08 - Nisargadatta: "I Am That" and the Absolute 19:07 - You Cannot Fuck This Up (The Perfection of Unfolding) 23:10 - Mind as Fabrication Machine: How Insights Recondition 29:50 - Spiritual Bypass: Go Ahead and Try It 36:47 - The Well of Grief: Drowning to Find Gold Coins 41:00 - Complex PTSD and Mismatched Jigsaw Mind 47:07 - Despair and Depression as a Stop Along the Way 53:23 - Extrasensory Powers, Dreams, and Karma 1:00:10 - Dreams Show You Have No Control 1:04:28 - The Paradox of Effort: Effortless vs. Mindfulness Practice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An intimate Christmas Eve morning livestream exploring what we're really celebrating: heart-based amazement and love as the pervasive fabric of reality, not some Hallmark conception. We discuss sitting in the unknown without the constant churn of thought creating expectation, how an itch evolved from meditative deconstruction to just allowing what is, and why all religions—Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism—point at the same unsayable thing through different words. Includes reflections on Jesus's teachings about unconditional love and kingdom of heaven, Adyashanti's "Resurrecting Jesus," my grandfather's journey from atheism to experiencing God as absolute magic, and why free will versus determinism is neither/both/doesn't ultimately matter when you're here now. Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: ⁠⁠https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd⁠⁠ Support us with a 1-time donation and get a personal email response from me: ⁠⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zdoggmd⁠⁠ More about Dr. Z: ⁠⁠https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/ Timecodes and topics: 00:00 - Introduction: Christmas Eve Live 00:36 - What We're Celebrating: Heart-Based Amazement 01:31 - Love: Human Conception vs. Pervasive Fabric of Reality 03:05 - Working Holidays as a Hospital Doctor 05:44 - Sitting in the Unknown Without Expectation 11:24 - How Do You Stay in the Unknown? 14:16 - Being Itchy: From Deconstruction to Just Allowing 17:04 - Societal Constructs: Taking Sincerely, Not Seriously 19:04 - Religions Pointing at the Same Thing 22:43 - Jesus: Unconditional Love and Kingdom of Heaven 25:49 - Resurrecting Jesus by Adyashanti 27:18 - My Grandfather in India: From Atheist to "God is Real" 29:43 - Free Will, Determinism, or Neither and Both 32:28 - Kingdom of Heaven Spread Upon the Earth 35:07 - Closing: Stay in the Presence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From our Saturday night YouTube live conversation. Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: ⁠https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd⁠ Support us with a 1-time donation and get a personal email response from me: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zdoggmd⁠ More about Dr. Z: ⁠https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Live conversation with Eshwar Segobind. We talk about why love skeptics become love advocates, the trauma response that becomes 'you,' why babies cry at birth (cosmic joke alert), and the nature of the clown chakra. Plus: there's a lot of duality in non-duality 😉 Our previous conversation is here. https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd for all the things. 00:00 Opening - The Creator and Clown Chakras 02:05 "There's a Lot of Duality in Non-Duality" 04:10 The Love Skeptic's Journey 07:00 Emptying to Be Filled with Love 10:00 The Child and the Immune Response 14:00 Seeing Love Everywhere 17:00 The Realest Fake Thing That Never Was 21:00 Trauma Response as the Self 28:00 Why Zubin Became ZDoggMD (Protection Mechanism) 30:14 "We're Already Dead - Now What?" 33:00 Devotion and True Prostration 39:00 The Cosmic Joke of Rebirth (Baby's First Cry) 42:00 Best Birth Buddies and Spiritual Gurus 45:00 Shadow Work Can't Be Avoided 49:00 The Child Calling You Home 56:00 Kathy Nails It: "Zubin is the Original Child" 1:00:00 Grocery Store Analogy and Payment Due 1:05:00 Buddhism and the Seeker's Problem 1:11:00 Everything Points Back to Love 1:17:00 Nihilism to Fullness Journey 1:23:00 The Projection Game 1:30:00 Depersonalization 1:36:00 2D Vision and Sensory Experiences 1:42:00 Two Nuts in a Sack (Closing) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A spontaneous live conversation about discovering an AI tool that pulls clips from long videos—creating decontextualized shorts that make me sound like an asshole, which is exactly what the algorithm wants. We explore why Buddhist stories ultimately don't matter, how the spiritual circus is just the next level of illusion, the whole "suffering is optional" nonsense, the raft metaphor and spiritual bypass, non-dual therapy and somatic experiencing, DMT as serious business that's also nothing, and the massive relief when awakening itself—the last belief—finally drops. 00:00 - Introduction: Going Live on a Whim 00:39 - "Asian Intelligence "and AI Discovery 01:23 - Discovering Vizard.ai for Clip Generation 02:04 - The Problem with Decontextualized Shorts 02:50 - Tich Nhat Hanh Quote and Dependent Origination 03:38 - Why These Shorts Make Me Sound Like an Asshole 04:24 - Feeding the Algorithm Beast 05:09 - Mental Masturbation and Going Live as Therapy 06:04 - Mountains Are Mountains: Why Stories Don't Matter 07:23 - The Spiritual Circus vs. The Regular Circus 08:43 - Psych Patients and Meaninglessness 09:49 - Suffering is Optional? Shut the Fuck Up 11:03 - Knowledge Acquisition and Adyashanti's Wall 12:03 - Psychedelics Discussion with Kids 12:52 - The Raft Metaphor and Spiritual Bypass 14:52 - Trust and Verify: Teachers Who Build Rafts 16:44 - DMT as Serious Business and Nothing 18:20 - How to Feel the Love Pouring from Awareness 20:33 - The Mystery of the Appearance 21:48 - Non-Dual Therapy: The Ultimate Paradox 24:30 - Somatic Experiencing and Bliss Sessions 25:22 - Radical Acceptance vs. Self-Love 27:04 - Watching Non-Duality Videos: "What's This Clown Saying?" 28:26 - The Orchestra Concert and Family Life 28:49 - Awakening: The Last Belief to Drop 29:41 - Closing: My Beloved, Peace Out, Only Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, make dinner for your kids and have them complain about it 😉 From my Friday Night LIVE show on YouTube. Here's a link to all the things. 00:00 Why Friday Night Zen Live? 01:13 The Adolescent Phase of Selfing/Not-Selfing 02:27 Alternating Between Self and Empty Radiance 05:04 Suffering and Core Unworthiness 10:03 Why Therapy's "Reframing" Misses the Point 14:00 Living in Story Land (Trump, Veganism, and Meaning) 17:20 Everything Driven by Unworthiness 22:21 Time Is a Story - This Has Always Been 26:04 Attachment to Outcomes and the Separate Self 30:14 The Primary Human Operating System: Unworthiness 35:31 What About Love? 41:03 On Medicine and Health 3.0 49:33 The Compulsion to Make Videos for No One 52:02 "After Awakening" - The Mind's Favorite Story 57:13 The 5-MeO-DMT Revelation: "It's Just This" 1:01:02 Privilege, Causation, and Different Gates 1:05:12 The Weather Pattern of Seeking 1:09:24 Music as Pure Emotion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We spend our entire lives pretending to be something we think we really are—until one day the mask slips. In this live Facebook conversation we explore what happens when identity unravels, how negative self-talk might simply vanish, and how the body keeps the score even when the mind lets go. From Shakespeare's stage to the Bahiya Sutta, from catastrophic thinking to kundalini energy, we examine the deepest taboo in the human collective: that we might not be what we think we are. ALSO: f**k Halloween! 😭🎃 Video, blog post summary, and ways to join the Supporter Tribe here. Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: ⁠https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd⁠ More about Dr. Z: ⁠https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/⁠ Chapters and timecodes: 00:00 - Halloween Childhood Trauma 01:45 - The Human Costume: Living Behind the Mask 04:12 - When Identities Start to Unravel 07:18 - The Peace That Passes All Understanding 09:17 - Why Words Can't Capture "Reality" 10:52 - Shakespeare's Stage: All the World's a Play 13:43 - Belief in Thoughts as the Root of Suffering 16:48 - Beginnings and Endings Have No Middle 18:01 - Dread as a Self Knowing Texture 21:39 - Longchenpa: "One May Well Burst Out in Laughter" 23:05 - Catastrophic Thinking and Email Anxiety 25:29 - Can We Control Our Minds? The Illusion of Choice 28:28 - The Disappearance of Negative Self-Talk 31:00 - No Positive Self-Talk Either: Beyond Good and Bad 33:00 - Trauma, the Body Keeps the Score 35:27 - Kundalini Energy and Awakening Experiences 39:00 - Tai Chi in Flushing, Queens Botanical Gardens 42:00 - Yoga, Weight Loss, and Letting the Body Be 46:42 - We Are Everything: Control and Influence 48:10 - The Descriptive-Prescriptive Fallacy 52:04 - The Bahiya Sutta: "In the Seen, Merely the Seen" 57:16 - Thoughts Are Just Bird Songs 58:26 - Gratitude for Co-Creating This Space 01:00:12 - Two Types of Acceptance: Mind vs. Innate Reality 01:03:09 - Closing Thoughts and How To Support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On what would have been my father’s 86th birthday, I found myself reflecting not just on loss, but on the nature of belief itself—and how our attachments to ideas can become the very weapons that tear us apart. Originally from a conversation I had on Facebook live. Watch the video and read a summary here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of The ZDoggMD Show was recorded in front of a live studio audience...on Facebook. Which is always a little bit of magic 🪄 What happens when the appearance that seems to construct our sense of self, our sense of the one who EXPERIENCES experience...just stops? A (previously) live interactive exploration of what's left when YOU leave (listen to find out what the hell that means 😂). Full video with a great AI summary of everything covered, click here. Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: ⁠https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd⁠ Support us with a 1-time donation and get a personal email response from me: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zdoggmd⁠ More about Dr. Z: ⁠https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/⁠ Topics and chapters: 00:00 - Introduction: What is Freefall? 01:47 - Pure Experience and Centerless Wonder 03:15 - Flow States and the Dropping of "Me" 04:50 - The Spirituality Story Problem 06:38 - Speaking from Silence 08:29 - The Illusion of Self and Awakening 10:03 - When the "Me" Starts to Crack 14:23 - The Impossibility of Words 16:05 - Direct Experience vs. Conceptual Knowledge 18:04 - Birds Birding, Trees Treeing 21:06 - Problems with "Aware Space" Concepts 24:42 - Criticizing Spiritual Teachers and Concepts 27:11 - The Perfection of What Is 28:25 - Questions About Existence and Determinism 30:14 - Aging and Letting Go 32:40 - The Jupiter Storm Metaphor 34:18 - The Great Defeat: Personal Story 39:04 - Free Will vs. Determinism Discussion 41:14 - Exhaustion as Your Best Friend 44:00 - Life Without "Me" 46:06 - The Spiritual Seeking Trap 49:33 - Rick and Morty References and Mr. MeSeeks 52:31 - Final Thoughts and Closing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the threads of awakening drop and spirituality itself falls away, what's left? Peep our earlier introduction interview on the Multidharma Threads model ⁠here on YouTube⁠ or ⁠here on Apple Podcasts⁠. And a deeper dive into each thread here. ⁠⁠Dr. Pierce Salguero⁠⁠ has studied spirituality through decades of practice and scholarship, specializing in hathayoga, meditation, shamanic rituals, spirit healing, Thai medicine, and Buddhist philosophy. He is now a professor researching Asian history, religions, and healing traditions. His Multidharma framework distills the lessons from a lifetime of exploration of spirituality, providing a novel framework for modern seekers. Here's a⁠⁠ deep dive into the Multidharma Threads model⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Pierce's books and more⁠⁠. ⁠Pierce's newsletter to get notified when his full-length Threads book drops.⁠ ⁠And here's a link to zoom meetups that discuss the Threads model. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kogen is a Zen priest in the Soto tradition, in the lineage of Tangen Harada Roshi. Find his books, retreats, and more here and follow him on YouTube here. In this conversation we talk about Kogen's Japanese Zen monastic background, the intersection of traditional monasticism and modern spiritual practices, the differences between early Chinese and later Japanese Zen, the format of the student-teacher relationship in Zen, monk life in a Japanese monastery, interpersonal dynamics among monks, the difference between spirituality and dogmatic religion, a deep pointing to non-separation as a relief for human suffering, the need for multimodal modern support for issues such as trauma in spiritual settings, two fantastic books Kogen has translated/edited, and much more. Watch the video here. Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: ⁠https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd⁠ Support us with a 1-time donation and get a personal email response from me: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zdoggmd⁠ More about Dr. Z: ⁠https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A deep dive into the core experiential threads that might arise during spiritual awakening, ultimately unique to each human. Peep our earlier introduction interview on the Multidharma Threads model here on YouTube or here on Apple Podcasts. ⁠Dr. Pierce Salguero⁠ has studied spirituality through decades of practice and scholarship, specializing in hathayoga, meditation, shamanic rituals, spirit healing, Thai medicine, and Buddhist philosophy. He is now a professor researching Asian history, religions, and healing traditions. His Multidharma framework distills the lessons from a lifetime of exploration of spirituality, providing a novel framework for modern seekers. Here's a⁠ deep dive into the Multidharma Threads model⁠⁠. ⁠ ⁠Pierce's books and more⁠. Pierce's newsletter to get notified when his full-length Threads book drops. And here's a link to zoom meetups that discuss the Threads model. Two resources Pierce mentioned for spiritual emergencies/crises: Cheetah House Spiritual Emergence Network Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: ⁠⁠https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd⁠⁠ Support us with a 1-time donation and get a personal email response from me: ⁠⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zdoggmd⁠⁠ More about Dr. Z: ⁠⁠https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/⁠⁠ Timecodes and Topics: 0:00 - Intro 0:05 - Recap of prior Threads discussion, psychiatric vs. spiritual crises 20:45 - The Emptiness Thread: Experiences, practices, pitfalls, integration & release 1:03:29 - The Unity Thread: Experiences, practices, integration & release 1:30:13 The non-dual endpoint of all the Threads 1:35:15 The Energy Thread: Experiences, practices, integration & release 2:09:36 - The Psyche Thread: Experiences, practices, pitfalls, integration & release 2:54:23 Integration and release of all the threads 3:04:46 Spiritual emergency or crisis vs. psychiatric & resources to help Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here's the new Facebook "Awakening Stuff" channel. Here's the unlisted YouTube video for this show. Here's where you can join our Supporter Tribe to participate in Zoom meetings on this stuff. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When our cherished beliefs painfully fall away, we're left squarely in the unknown and the unknowable...which is pure freedom itself 🔥 Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: ⁠https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd⁠ Support us with a 1-time donation and get a personal email response from me: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zdoggmd⁠ More about Dr. Z: ⁠https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this live episode of Sunday Zen, we dive deep into the themes of trust, surrender, and the Threads of Awakening model introduced by Dr. Pierce Salguero. I've been reflecting on how traditional spiritual models can leave us feeling lost, stuck, or even scared, and how Pierce's approach offers a more inclusive framework that resonates with my own experiences. We share insights on the different threads—emptiness, energy, unity, and psyche—and how they manifest in our lives. We discuss the challenges of spiritual ego, which I've grappled with myself, and discuss the role of psychedelics in opening new pathways of understanding. And we touch on the importance of embracing the unknown as the true entry point to the nature of reality. General topic list: Trust, surrender, and the Threads of Awakening model by Dr. Pierce Salguero Critique of traditional spiritual models and their limitations Overview of the Threads of Awakening: emptiness, energy, unity, and psyche Correlation of different practices with specific threads The concept of trust and surrender in spiritual awakening The illusion of control and the orchestration of life Personal reflections on spiritual ego and its challenges The role of psychedelics in spiritual experiences and awakening Embracing the unknown and the nature of reality The integration and release of spiritual threads Personal experiences with fear and health challenges Reflections on retirement and identity loss The impact of spiritual teachings and teachers The role of community and religious services in spiritual growth The significance of heart-centered practices and connecting with others The influence of spiritual traditions and identities, such as veganism Reflections on personal spiritual journey and insights The importance of radical honesty and self-awareness The concept of non-doership and its implications Personal anecdotes and experiences related to spiritual growth Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: ⁠https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd⁠ Support us with a 1-time donation and get a personal email response from me: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zdoggmd⁠ More about Dr. Z: ⁠https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many, traditional spiritual frameworks leave us feeling alienated and invalidated, firing up the engine of fear and seeking when our own experiences don't fit their mold. Multidharma is a new map that drops "stages of awakening" and instead recognizes multiple threads that might unfold—such as emptiness, oneness, energy, and psyche—providing a more inclusive space for the vast diversity of human experience. Dr. Pierce Salguero has studied spirituality through decades of practice and scholarship, specializing in hathayoga, meditation, shamanic rituals, spirit healing, Thai medicine, and Buddhist philosophy. He is now a professor researching Asian history, religions, and healing traditions. His Multidharma framework distills the lessons from a lifetime of exploration of spirituality, providing a novel framework for modern seekers. Here's a deep dive into the Multidharma Threads model. Pierce's books and more. Timecodes and topics: 0:00 Intro 0:55 Why Multidharma Threads awakening model was needed 22:21 What is awakening, intro to “emptiness” and “oneness” Threads 47:33 The “energy” Thread 1:00:31 The “psyche” Thread 1:23:33 The hero archetypes of each Thread and spiritual perfectionism 1:27:37 Guiding inquiry questions for each Thread 1:34:04 Braiding of the Threads 1:40:18 Integration of the Threads 1:50:56 Thread release and the Autopilot Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: ⁠https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd⁠ Support us with a 1-time donation and get a personal email response from me: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zdoggmd⁠ More about Dr. Z: ⁠https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humans are gonna human, bro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chop wood, carry water 😉 Full video here. Contact form, videos, Supporter Tribe and more here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At what point does spirituality eat its own tail? Full video here. Contact form, videos, Supporter Tribe and more here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices