Heart Yoga Radio

LAO TZU 57

In this podcast, we consider Chapter 70 Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. This chapter shows Lao Tzu in expansive mood, urging on us the absolute immediacy of the Tao and the ease with which it is available to us. Click this link to buy me a coffee :) [Free. 23 minutes.]

NATURAL LIBERATION

In this podcast, we jump off into the matter of spontaneous, natural liberation from a consideration of the text The Natural Liberation Through Naked Vision. We discuss the practicalities of this way of being, its resonances with Zen, the question of asceticism and Nietzsche's take on it.  Amongst other things! [Free. 26 minutes.]

TAOIST DIALECTICS

In this podcast we playfully and seriously outline our eccentric take on 'Taoist Dialectics'. This entails brief encounters with Plato's The Sophist and Hegel's Logic as well as an engagement with a parable told by Taoist master, Chuang Tzu. We relate all this to personal resilience in these apocalyptic times. [Free. 32 minutes.]

LAO TZU 34

This podcast engages with Chapter 47 of The Tao Te Ching which deals with solitude and meditation. The style of meditation alluded to is a letting be rather than a cultivation and gives rise to an intuitive knowledge, a sense of the bigger picture. We suggest how acquaintance with this wonderful meditation can produce social goods and is sorely needed in these interesting times. [Free. 16 minutes.]

LAO TZU 16

In this podcast, we elucidate Chapters 27 and 28 of the Tao Te Ching. Both chapters deal with the character of the sage and how s/he might operate as a ruler who can bring about harmonious social organisation. The wisdom of the sage is considered to be different from what is ordinarily understood as goodness. In Chapter 28, the meditative approach that is associated with sagacity is outlined. It's emphasis is on receptivity, letting be, yin energy, flow and oneness whilst not denying the value of creativity, practical activity and taking care of people. [Free. 29 minutes.]

LAO TZU 15

In this podcast, we comment on Chapters 25 and 26 of The Tao Te Ching. In the first part, we elucidate Lao Tzu's cosmology and the categories of earth, heaven, the human and the Tao. We particularly highlight how, for Lao Tzu, the transcendent and the immanent are mutually dependent and how this precludes life-negation. Lao Tzu, we take it, arrives at this tremendous vision through his own contemplation and goes on to point out to us how we might do the same and how simple that task is. We flesh out Lao Tzu's contemplative [non] method, hopefully with some practical pointers. [Free. 37 minutes.]

LAOTZU 13

This podcast deals with Chapters 21 and 22 of The Tao Te Ching. Chapter 21 is poetry impelled by Lao Tzu's encounter with the ineffable and Chapter 22 outlines the non-doing doings that can allow us to experience a similar encounter. [Free. 29 minutes.]

LAO TZU: PART NINE

In this podcast, we discuss Chapter Fourteen of the Tao Te Ching. LaoTzu, here, points out the lack of qualites of "The One" and the boundary-less-ness that allows us to encounter it. We hasten to add that there is no boundary between the ten thousand things and their boundaries [which are the luminous ordinary] and the One. [Free. 20 minutes.]

TIME TO STOP AND STARE

Misquoting W. H. Davies, I recommend taking time to stop and stare in this podcast. I draw attention to resonances between Davies' sentiment and the nature paintings of the Sung and Yuan dynasties which often feature tiny figures dwarved by vast landscapes. [Free. 21 minutes.]

LAO TZU: PART EIGHT

In this podcast, we discuss Chapter Thirteen of The Tao Te Ching. In this chapter,  Lao Tzu recommends that we drop 'status anxiety' and reconsider our received notions of success and failure. We relate Lao Tzu's insights to modern life and recommend them for your consideration! [Free. 33 minutes.]