The Zen Gateway's Podcast

In this podcast, Jamie and Martin discuss how the past conditions the present and what we do now reinforces the future. How fateful is our behaviour and what is the role of free-will in the process of transformation?
 
How did early psychology see the past affecting the present and what models did it apply to help the patients who came to see them for help?
How has this model changed from early psychodynamic to 3rd Wave CBT. 
Discovery of the Unconscious and its everyday influence on our behaviour.
The importance of the role of 'self' in this model of psychology.
The importance of early relationships in the role of adult depression and eating habits.
How does the process of transformation relate to this theories?
Is consciousness important for change to happen?
How the role of belief has become central to change in Cognitive therapies
How does the Buddha's teaching of no-self require a change of approach to transformation. 
The Yogacara answer to continuity of characteristics and personality in the absence of a self.

In this podcast:
 
What are the different subjects that we can meditate upon?
Developing the skill of one-pointed meditation.
Moving onto different types of meditation subjects.
Martin and Jamie discuss their own experiences of different types of meditations they have used. 
Breath based meditation for developing that initial skill of one-pointedness in meditation.
Use of mantras, chakras, mandalas, koans, prayer and use of spiritual texts for contemplation.
Awareness as a process that is not 'me'. Awareness of thoughts of self. 
The inner landscape that goes beyond 'me'. 
Traditional methods of meditation collective wisdom which we can tap into today in our own meditation practice.

How do we as conscious beings best interact with new technology?
In this episode:
Outsourcing labout is a major benefit of technology but what do human beings lose in this transfer?
The difference between the meditating mind and the scrolling mind.
How can meditation/Zazen rescue attention away from outside messaging and emotional seizure?
Creating a personal audit for our use of technology. How do we lay down our red lines for media use?

In this podcast:
 
How do we take mindfulness off the cushion and into the Monday morning commute?
How might we transition from a retreat environment back into our daily life with its demands and distractions?
Exploding a few myths around life in a Buddhist temple and a retreat environment.
Retreat environments are a microcosm of daily life.
Emotions can be amplified after a silent retreat due to pressure cooker environment and release.
Do you need to have a temple or retreat environment to do Zen training?
Creating anchors to remember to practice in the hurly-burly of the working day.
Routine as a container for chaotic impulses.

In this podcast:
 
What is the role of Chaos in spiritual development.
The reaction against rationalism & chaos as a creative force - Dadaism
The challenge of a crisis is to bring forth personal creativity to get out of it.
Initiation can be a deliberate attempt to create a crisis for the novice or neophyte. 
Anxiety: the loss of control of ourselves and the environment.
How fictional narratives resist change & uncertainty.
Archetypal stories of crisis and the hand of providence.
What happens when we open up to chance and uncertainty?