pressing pause

An extended break from the production of conscient podcast, balado conscient, a calm presence and related social media

Why do this? 

One reason is that I noticed that I sleep better when I don’t produce podcasts or essays about the end of the world as we know it.

Imagine that.

But it’s also because my learning and unlearning journey, which I began back in 2020, some 5 years ago, has come full circle. 

It feels like the end of a chapter.

I sometimes think of it as a five-year mission to explore strange new art, to seek out solutions to the ecological crisis and to boldly talk about things that have never been talked about before. 

Maybe they have, but it’s worth repeating.

You know, it was a trek, with many mistakes and a few discoveries. 

And, of course, there are many, many more stories yet to be told that can inspire us to action, or at the very least comfort us in troubled times.

There are many more examples of transformative artworks that I hope we will know about and eventually experience.

There are many more questions, good questions, to be asked by artists.

Also, artists can play a role in providing us with a few moments of respite and escape from the doom and gloom around us. 

I see the value in this kind of media and storytelling work and support whoever is doing it, as best I can. 

But for me, it’s time to press pause. 

There’s a quote that I want to read to you that’s my northern star. It’s by the great Vietnamese zen master Thich Nhat Hanh:

• What we most need to do is to hear within us the sound of the Earth crying. 

I’m going to think about this and have it at the heart of my daily life and think about what it means to listen deeply to the sounds of the earth crying, which is essentially ourselves. 

How can this insight lead to healing?  We’ll see where my spirit takes me.  I really have no idea where it’s going to go.  

Before ending this last Substack posting I wanted to remind you that I’ve recently published four new podcast episodes of conscient podcast, 2 in English et 2 en Français. 

On conscient podcast: 

• An ENCORE presentation of e41 – emergency preparedness from 2021 with Jen Rae, a Melbourne, Australia based artist, researcher, facilitator and educator of Canadian Red River Métis and Scottish descent who talks about the intersection between art, emergency preparedness, disaster risk-reduction and resilience, which seems very timely in 2026 as these issues are amplified. There is some very good ideas and positive energy coming out of Jen’s work. 
• e244 roundtable - death as transformation, recorded on December 2, 2025 and originally broadcast on December 13, 2025 as an episode of the Making Waves radio program, where I moderated a panel of sound artists and previous guests of conscient podcast, Azul Carolina Duque, Kenneth Newby, andWendelin Bartley about our understanding of ‘death as a natural transformation of energy and consciousness, not an end’ and how our practices as sound artists relate to this transition.

Sur le balado conscient :

• un episode ENCORE l’épisode 27 - l’énergie créatrice libreavec l’artiste sonore, musicienne, réalisatrice radio, sculpteure et une bonne amie de longue date, Hélène Prévost qui nous parle de sa tristesse pour l’état du monde et comment l’art, s’il est libre, peut devenir un puissant levier de changement et de ralliement social. Un bon rappel pour 2026. 
• é171 - villeray acoustique avec deux artistes sonores, Magali Babin et Chantal Dumas, le collectif dB, un entretien enregistré pour un article dans la Revue Circuit, qui parle du projet de recherche-création Villeray acoustiqueune exploration de l’écoute de ce quartier de Montréal comme expérience sensorielle. Vous allez entendre notre conversation et aussi une prise de son du parc Jarry à Montréal par Magali Babin. 

There you go.

Thank you so much for reading and listening over these many years. 

It’s been my privilege to be able to express myself and receive your feedback. 

Thanks to my guests and collaborators on all these platforms.

I’m now going to go silent for a long time, possibly forever, depending on the outcomes of my reflections. 

Take care. 

See you down the road…

*

END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020. It’s my way to give back.

This Indigenous Land Acknowledgement statement was developed by members of the Algonquin community for my former employer the Canada Council for the Arts. I have adapted slightly to make it my own.

• I acknowledge that my studio, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.
• I recognize the Algonquins as the customary keepers and defenders of the Ottawa River Watershed and its tributaries. I honour their long history of welcoming many Nations to this beautiful territory and uphold and uplift the voice and values of our Host Nation.
• Further, I offer my respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and honour commitments to self-determination and sovereignty that have been made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples.
• I acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada and fervently believe the Arts contribute to the healing and decolonizing journey we all share together

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on January 9, 2026