In this episode I am once again joined by Lorin Roche PhD, meditation teacher and author of “The Radiance Sutras”.

I first met Lorin at the Summit at Sea conference in 2015 where we were both teaching. We attended each others’ workshops and immediately hit it off.

In those days, we both taught on the California conference circuit and were often booked to teach at the same gatherings. Over the years we spent many weeks enjoying extended conversations, raucous dinners, and long evenings of music and poetry. In short, we became true friends.

It was a desire to share the rich conversations I was having with friends like Lorin that contributed to my decision to start the Guru Viking Podcast. And so, naturally, I asked Lorin to be my first interview subject. He went on to become one of my most popular, recurring guests.

On the 18th of April 2026, Lorin died. What follows is our last interview and conversation, recorded a few months before his passing. The episode covers many of Lorin’s most characteristic teaching themes and I have also included some of the conversation we had before and after the main episode content.

There are many poignant and amusing stories from the years of my friendship with Lorin and there is a lot worth saying about his approach to meditation. One day, I might record an episode dedicated to those themes.

For now I will say that it is obvious to all that Lorin was a vivacious man - the essence of his approach to teaching meditation was an encouragement to wholeheartedly embrace life. But I can also report that behind the scenes and off the stage Lorin was a generous man, irreverent, funny, and very kind.

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https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep365-the-last-interview-lorin-roche-phd

Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.

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Topics include:

00:00 - Intro

01:5 - Boats, geese, and hummingbirds

07:05 - Meditating with the flow of nature

08:14 - Being human is like being president of Earth

11:35 - The miracle of attention

13:51 - Teaching was easier in the 70s

15:15 - Agencylessness is a dumb idea

16:38 - Human reaction time

17:52 - Attending to the inner life

18:44 - Evil meditation teaching

19:58 - Misunderstandings about Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras

22:55 - Taming the body

26:33 - The genius of yoga

28:01 - Pros and cons of stopping the mind

28:57 - Where meditation went wrong

35:47 - Tuning the instrument

38:56 - Limitations of the “tuning” metaphor

43:24 - Monastic ideas sabotage lay people

45:41 - Religion vs meditation

50:56 - Is Loren’s approach self-indulgent?

56:18 - Peak experiences and enlightenment

59:20 - Loren’s drug experiences

01:02:20 - LA Yoga community’s enthusiasm for drugs

01:04:50 - Loren asks about Steve’s meditation

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Previous episodes with Lorin here:

- https://www.guruviking.com/search?q=lorin

To find out more about Lorin visit:
- www.lorinroche.com 
- www.radiancesutras.com 
- www.meditationtt.com

For more interviews, videos, and more visit:

- https://www.guruviking.com/

Music 'Deva Dasi' by Steve James