Self-Defined Human Podcast

Blake Shields Abramovitz is a meditation teacher and an actor, and this is a followup to our conversation from October of 2020, which you can hear in Episode 7: When Meditators Get Cancelled.

In this episode, we talk about piano playing, awakening, multiple selves, what happens as you go down the path of insight, psychedelics, and acting.

I hope you enjoy it.

0:01:50 – Cancel culture at meditation centers, freedom of speech
0:11:50 – Piano teachers giving Michael a hard time (again), mob mentality
0:16:25 – Michael’s piano playing ability, what role piano plays in Blake’s life
0:19:51 – Breaking the rules in piano playing, how Michael developed his way of playing
0:23:36 – Why singing is hard to learn
0:29:10 – How singing leads to awakening
0:35:07 – How to talk about awakening with people who haven’t had experiences like that
0:38:16 – The wisdom function
0:41:54 – Michael’s nostalgia for a creative period of time
0:47:08 – What intentions do piano teachers have?
0:54:04 – What if you just mess around on the piano? Multiple selves
0:56:47 – The Karate Kid
0:58:58 – Technical meditation vs. intellectual meditation
1:07:11 – Going down the road of insight, getting less attached
1:10:10 – Moments when things shifted for Blake
1:13:38 – What’s the deal with psychedelics?
1:45:48 – Acting
1:54:47 – Meditation for actors

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nomichaelhere.substack.com

Why it’s easier to perform well in real life than when you’re practicing. Anti-perfectionism. Different types of personalities. Sometimes adrenaline is what makes you do a good job. It’s just conservation of energy.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nomichaelhere.substack.com

What’s the deal with perfectionism? In this episode, I’ll talk about where it comes from, why it’s a problem, and what to
do about it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nomichaelhere.substack.com

Is “Michael Korman” a character, or a “real” person? Are you? What’s the difference?

All your questions answered in this episode.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nomichaelhere.substack.com

Let’s talk about habits. And why science is not always such a great thing.

(You might be interested in my blog post How to Build Habits)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nomichaelhere.substack.com

This is a conversation I had with Ruth Djatmiko. Ruth is a piano teacher in Amsterdam. She also recently started meditating with my No Problem course. I asked her to have this conversation because I wanted to hear about her difficulties with meditation and how she relates it piano playing.

01:45 – Definition of “meditation”
04:49 – Michael’s meditation routines
06:02 – Does meditation require sitting? Can walking be meditation?
08:09 – Is playing music a meditation posture?
11:29 – Is sitting important even if it’s uncomfortable?
12:21 – Is sitting REALLY useful?
13:17 – Is 2 hours of meditation too much?
14:58 – How to build up longer periods of time
19:09 – Does meditation change how you look at the world?
21:00 – The No Problem meditation course
23:44 – Why is Michael angry at piano teachers?
27:39 – Piano practice
29:05 – Sight-reading vs. studying
35:11 – What’s the point of classical music?
38:53 – Appreciating music after studying it.
40:32 – Fugues
43:21 – Should Michael appreciate piano teachers’ opinions?
44:20 – Doing what works, how Michael came up with ignoring musicality
47:42 – Meditation, music, spreading ideas
49:46 – Free improvisation
52:16 – Michael’s path to a music degree
55:56 – Difference between amateur and professional musicians
57:05 – Feeling the stress of classical musicians

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nomichaelhere.substack.com

Let’s talk about human nature. Should we be generous? Are we inherently selfish?

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nomichaelhere.substack.com

The stories you tell yourself aren’t “true” or “false”. They’re tools, like a hammer or a screwdriver. In this episode, I talk about why that’s important, and give an exercise for helping you destroy your own personality in a blaze of contradictions.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nomichaelhere.substack.com

Did Jordan Peterson invent “cultural Marxism”? Is oppression real? Do we have to take down Bill Gates in order to become rich? In this special episode of the Self-Defined Human Podcast, we take a break from meditation and offend some people who never gave a damn about meditation in the first place.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nomichaelhere.substack.com

I hope this episode isn’t too boring. If it is…well…you should be meditating. It might do you some good.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nomichaelhere.substack.com