Pandemic Zen
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Pandemic Zen episodes

  • Freeze Frame

    Paul discusses the ongoing pandemic and its effects on our psyches and everyday lives. Taking an even deeper dive into the “Stopping…” koan, Paul associates insights from quantum physics’ theories of time and reality with the Zen approach of directly experiencing the elements of one’s actual life with openness, attentiveness and the letting go of story-making. 

     

    Credits:

     

    Recorded by:

    Paul Gerstein, MD

     

    Podcast channel creation and website design:

    James Kieffer – kiefferconsulting.com

     

    Intro music:

    Dancing for the Answers, Nick Mulvey

     

    Ending music:

    Time Has Come Today, The Chamber Brothers

    22 min
  • Jumping on the Horse Thief’s Horse

    Podcast channel is given the name, “Pandemic Zen” and the general theme of using mindfulness to deal with real-life adversity. Paul explains the Zen phrase, “Jumping on the back of the horse thief’s horse” to describe methods of intentionally turning the concept of meaning to one’s advantage in exploring an underlying truth.

     

    Credits:

     

    Recorded by:

    Paul Gerstein, MD

     

    Podcast channel creation and website design:

    James Kieffer – kiefferconsulting.com

     

    Intro music:

    Dancing for the Answers, Nick Mulvey

     

    Ending music:

    Riders On The Storm, The Doors

    19 min
  • That I Am

    Going further into “Stopping” and the reliance on intellectual meaning vs. the “meaning” of the sheer experience of sensory actuality. Paul discusses the insight of “What it means is that it is (and nothing more).” We look into the non-interference of naming with directly-experiencing. Awakening and enlightenment are explored in a fresh way. “Awakening is waking up the fact that things appear.” 

     

    Credits:


    Recorded by:

    Paul Gerstein, MD

    Podcast channel creation and website design:

    James Kieffer – kiefferconsulting.com


    Intro music:
    Dancing for the Answers, Nick Mulvey

     

    Ending music:

    The Lantern, The Rolling Stones

    27 min
  • Pandemic Zen

    In this first episode, Paul discusses the implications of the global COVID-19 pandemic and how attending to one’s sensations can be a doorway to a fresh relationship with the challenges of everyday life. Using the koan, “Stop the sound of the distant temple bell”, we explore a method of looking both through and behind the world of form to contact the ‘Source’ of reality.

     

    Credits:

     

    Recorded by:

    Paul Gerstein, MD

     

    Podcast channel creation and website design:

    James Kieffer – kiefferconsulting.com

     

    Intro music:

    Dancing for the Answers, Nick Mulvey

     

    Ending music:

    Who’ll Stop The Rain, Creedence Clearwater Revival

    34 min

About Pandemic Zen

From the publisher's feed

An experimental podcast exploring the healing and life-sustaining potential of Zen insight, meditation and mindfulness in a modern world of existential challenges to health, happiness and our very survival.