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Tapasya Loading episodes
- Buying New Gear for Your Studio (and Why It Won’t Help)
In the whirlwind of year-end sales and irresistible deals, many artists find themselves caught in a familiar cycle of seeking external fixes for deeper creative uncertainties, often without realizing the true cost. This pattern, fueled by emotional urges rather than genuine progress, can leave musicians chasing fleeting highs that never quite resolve the underlying doubts.
Read the full blog post (with academic references):
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/blog/stop-buying-gearExplore coaching + courses for independent artists:
holisticmusicianacademy.com–––
Work with me:
→ C.I.A.R. self-paced course:https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/ciar
→ HMA group coaching & 1:1 mentorshipshttps://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/coaching
Join the newsletter:
→ holisticmusicianacademy.com/newsletterConnect:
IG: @everynowheremusicYT: Tapasya LoadingPodcast archive: https://www.tapasyaloading.com/Music and Audio Production: www.everynowheremusic.com
Episode Notes / Text : www.tlwrites.com
30 min - From Busyness to Sustainability w/ Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir
Sæunn happens to be one of the most respected cellists in the world, performing with orchestras like the Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and Iceland Symphony, and in venues like Carnegie Hall, Barbican, and Suntory Hall, to name just a few accolades. She’s basically one of the best out there, for those who find language like that easier to understand.
But what makes Sæunn stand out beyond her accolades are the challenges she throws at accepted narratives both in the classical music world and beyond.
Sæunn is the kind of kindred spirit I don’t have to circle around or soften edges for. There’s an immediate intellectual and emotional honesty and shared language that allows us to get straight to the heart of the matter without performance.
This was her first reappearance on Tapasya Loading since lockdown.
The last time we spoke, the world was paused. And both of us have stepped away from academia as full-time identities since, and re-examined calendars from a different lens as performing artists as well.
A central thread in this chat is our shared fascination, and frustration, with how many co-artists remain passively locked into inherited industry narratives.
So we talk candidly about how many of these myths get internalized, shape behaviour, and how difficult it can be to step outside them without feeling like we’re risking our worth.
We reflect on the assumption of being ‘busy’ being the same as being ‘good’, and the fear and freedom that comes when we’re no longer chasing multiple forms of what are essentially external sources of validation.
Complete Episode
https://www.saeunn.com/
www.findTL.com
Explore coaching + courses for independent artists:
holisticmusicianacademy.comWork with me:
→ C.I.A.R. self-paced course:https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/ciar
→ HMA group coaching & 1:1 mentorshipshttps://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/coaching
48 min - Signal vs Noise: Music Production Turned Psychological Literacy
In a world overwhelmed by information, the concept of "signal-to-noise ratio" as used in music production can be a powerful life philosophy in our everyday lives. Clarifying what truly matters amidst the distractions can steer us from reactive chaos to intentional harmony.
Read the full blog post (with academic references):
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/blog/signal-to-noiseExplore coaching + courses for independent artists:
holisticmusicianacademy.com–––
Work with me:
→ C.I.A.R. self-paced course:https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/ciar
→ HMA group coaching & 1:1 mentorshipshttps://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/coaching
Join the newsletter:
→ holisticmusicianacademy.com/newsletterConnect:
IG: @everynowheremusicYT: Tapasya LoadingPodcast archive: https://www.tapasyaloading.com/22 min - Why Seeking Help Can Feel Wrong
Seeking help can feel like a luxury or something that qualifies us as 'weak' by default.
By the time we finally are ready to reach out, we've experienced what I refer to as one of the Five D's—Death, Disease, Divorce, Discernment, and Disillusionment.
Today's episode explores how these critical junctures often arise when we ignore the subtle signals that nudge us towards change. I go on to try to offer an alternate take: the benefits of a proactive approach that challenges the cultural narratives of self-sufficiency that often hinder our growth.
📖 Read the full blog post (with academic references):
👉 https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/blog/death-disease-divorce-discernment-disillusionment🎓 Explore coaching + courses for independent artists:
👉 holisticmusicianacademy.com–––
🧭 Work with me:
→ C.I.A.R. self-paced course:https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/ciar
→ HMA group coaching & 1:1 mentorshipshttps://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/coaching
📝 Join the newsletter:
→ holisticmusicianacademy.com/newsletter📲 Connect:
IG: @everynowheremusicYT: Tapasya LoadingPodcast archive: https://www.tapasyaloading.com/26 min - Creative Agency vs AI and the Problem with Problem-solving w/ Miles MiniaciProfessor Miles Miniaci returns to the podcast, with another exchange filled with effortless resonance and curiousity.A mentor writing instructor, we crossed paths serendipitously at the Tate Modern in London right after my master’s graduation ceremony, to launch immediately into the beginning of this sober and astutely honest, ongoing conversation that is made so striking by his wise lens.We begin with zero-sum thinking, the insiduous presumption of someone else gaining something results in the loss of another. We explore mindsets that run the risk of shaping everything from politics to personal worldview, and how easily it can seep into the arts. Territorial behaviour, the subtle panic around “running out of space,” and the pressure to compete instead of expand.We talk about the shifts that open up when we stop operating from there and move on to modern obsessions with 'solving' things as the poor man's version of creativity.Fix the draft. Streamline the process. Optimise the workflow. The fast track to flattening the very beauty art tries to build, how it shows up in our inner world, and why some of the most meaningful work comes from staying with a question rather than rushing to answers.We eventually return to the topic that brought Miles to the podcast the first time: AI and creativity. Back in the day when we first talked, AI was still speculative.Now, as it's embedded so many corners of the creative world, the conversation an honest check-in about what has actually changed as opposed to the poles of 'warning' or 'celebration'Authorship, agency, and voice, and how the temptation to hand over too much to a tool can quietly disconnect the creator from the work, while acknowledging ways in which AI can genuinely support the process when present, awake, and responsible for the final expression.
Complete Episode
https://www.milesminiaci.com/https://findtl.com
Join the waiting list for my Artist Mastermind and get your first month free.
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/group-coaching
Courses:
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/courses
1:1 Mentoring:
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/1-on-1-mentorship
Music and Audio Production: www.everynowheremusic.com
Episode Notes / Text : www.tlwrites.com
Music and Audio Production: www.everynowheremusic.com
49 min - Where the Music Lives: Bandmates, Cities and the home within w/Corey CongilioIn this episode, I reconnect with guitarist, educator, and fellow Effortless Mastery retreat graduate Corey Congilio—a musician whose presence in the Nashville scene is more than skill; it’s a standard.Corey’s work as a pioneering educator has shaped players across generations, with a roster of students that include the likes of artists like Seal and countless guitarists who’ve come to rely on his clarity, precision, and grounded musical wisdom.But beneath the technique and the résumé lies the real connective tissue of our friendship: a shared devotion to the inner world of the artist.Our common love and passion beyond the obvious is a vision of a music industry where musicians are more conscious of one of the most underaddresed skillsets of a professional aritist in the current era: personal development.Corey is a self-proclaimed 'therapy junkie', while I took things to a whole different level by getting certified as a therapist myself and eventually making coaching an integral extension of my artistic practice.A significant part of this conversation dives into the soul-level decisions behind where we choose to live and create. Corey breaks down why Nashville became his creative ecosystem—not for the clichés, but because the city demanded, shaped, and refined him. I share my own unconventional pull toward Berlin: both choices rooted less in career strategy and more in inner alignment, curiosity, and the need for a different kind of creative oxygen.From there, we shift into the heart of Corey’s newest chapter: the release of his debut solo EP—a reclamation of artistic identity after years of amplifying other people’s visions in one of the world’s most competitive music environments.We explore:the psychological shift from sideman to solo artist.the intricacies of collaboration and the invisible emotional contracts musicians enter.why hiring the right bandmates is an energetic choice as much as a musical/logistical one.the realities of touring: mental endurance, boundaries, and humanity.the subtle anatomy of a classic Nashville Live-band studio workflow.how location, community, and self-awareness shape the art we make.
(This is the official edited release of our exchange. The uncut version lives inside the community.)
Complete Episode
https://coreycongilio.com/https://findtl.com
Join the waiting list for my Artist Mastermind and get your first month free.
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/group-coaching
Courses:
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/courses
1:1 Mentoring:
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/1-on-1-mentorship
Music and Audio Production: www.everynowheremusic.com
Episode Notes / Text : www.tlwrites.com
Music and Audio Production: www.everynowheremusic.com
Episode Notes / Text : www.tlwrites.com
39 min - On the Mat Forever w/ Ryan Hurst
Ryan Hurst returns to Tapasya Loading on the launch of his much-awaited book On The Mat Forever (OTMF), with a conversation that leaves as powerful and deep an imprint as our first 3 years ago.
Ryan holds four black belts, and spent twenty-eight years in Japan immersed deep in the study of martial arts and its philosophy.
(He is also a pretty serious guitar player, even if mostly a quiet one.)
The fact that most people have no idea about any of this is a clue towards the brand of humility and restraint that mark real mastery like his.
‘’Posture, breath, mindset’’.
These were the three words that kept me steady when everything else felt like it was falling apart during one of the hardest chapters of my life, hours after I’d just learned of a health scare my mum was going through when OTMF reached me..
We talk about that and how the book has been a companion through personal storms, and why it feels so needed right now.
We explore the tension between the two dominant archetypes of martial artists today, and differences he notices in how masculinity expresses itself across cultures as he moves into a new chapter with core philosophies of ‘mutual benefit and welfare’ taking the forefront in a world where kindness, generosity, and calm are often misread for weakness in times of confrontation. And we unpack the dissonance of reverse culture shock. How it can be a reminder that it is not our environment that defines us-but how we respond to it.
Timeless truths of the true warrior that risk being buried under noise, and why OTMF is an endeavour to bring them back to where they belong.
Connect with Ryan:
https://www.stayonthematforever.com/
https://gmb.io/
Instagram: @ryhurst
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GMBfitness/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GMBFitnessSkills
(This is the official edited release of our exchange. The uncut version lives inside the community.)
Complete Episode
https://www.reztone.com/
https://findtl.com
Join the first cohort of my Artist Mastermind and get your first month free.
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/group-coaching
Courses:
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/courses
1:1 Mentoring:
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/1-on-1-mentorship
Music and Audio Production: www.everynowheremusic.com
Episode Notes / Text : www.tlwrites.com
45 min - Surrender, Mortality and why Sound Remains w/ Rez Abbasi
Guitarist, composer and educator Rez Abbasi joins T L Mazumdar for a conversation that begins with music but doesn’t end there.
Born in Karachi and raised in California, NYC-based guitarist Rez Abbasi has long been a bridge between worlds: jazz, South Asian and urban traditions, intellect and instinct, virtuosic precision and play.
A teacher at the New School in New York, apart from being a touring and recording artist, he is known for a sound that is as fearless as it is fluid, garnering him a brand of quiet, irrefutable respect amongst peers and audiences alike that is rare in the current music industry.
His latest album Sound Remains, dedicated to his late mother, becomes the quiet centrepiece of this exchange.
We talk about what happens when music begins to outgrow technique and extrinsic goals, when surrender starts to feel more powerful than control.
We touch on how ‘jazz’, in its modern form, has grown increasingly slick, and how that polish both reveals and conceals something about the times we live in.
Mentoring comes up as well. Not as a profession, but as a practice in awareness, a way of transmitting freedom rather than formulas.
As the dialogue deepens, it becomes less about the conventional mechanics of music and more about what keeps us playing at all.
Rez speaks of loss and of finding presence inside it. I share how the the loss of my father last year, and recent health-scare of my mother, peeled away my tolerance for pretense in an industry and lifestyle in a world where so many of us still feel pressured to play along with very questionable rules.
What emerges is not grief alone, but a quiet clarity about why we keep returning to sound after the noise fades.
(This is the official edited release of our exchange. The uncut version lives inside the community.)
Complete Episode
https://www.reztone.com/
https://findtl.com
Join the first cohort of my Artist Mastermind and get your first month free.
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/group-coaching
Courses:
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/courses
1:1 Mentoring:
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/1-on-1-mentorship
Music and Audio Production: www.everynowheremusic.com
Episode Notes / Text : www.tlwrites.com
42 min - Why Artists Stay in Unstable Systems (Even When It Hurts)
You play the gig. You get the praise.
Then silence.You send the pitch. No reply.Then—out of nowhere—a playlist bite.Enough to keep you hooked. Not enough to feel whole.
This episode is about a subtle but powerful loop most artists find themselves in without even realizing it:
**Intermittent reinforcement**—a reward system rooted in the nervous system, mirrored in the music industry, and normalized in relationships, rehearsal rooms, and even digital platforms.In this solo episode, I explore:
– What intermittent reinforcement actually is (beyond pop psych)– How it shows up in artist careers through gigs, praise, playlists, and power dynamics– Why our nervous systems get addicted to “maybe”– How scenes like *Whiplash* aren’t just cinema—they’re memory– And what a healthier, rhythm-based alternative could look likeThis one’s personal. For every artist who’s confused their grind for devotion.
For every creator who's stayed too long because something *almost* happened once.
📝 Join the Free Training:
→ https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/artist-mindmap📖 Read the full blog post (with academic references):
👉 https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/blog/artists-and-intermittent-reinforcement🎓 Explore coaching + courses for independent artists:
👉 holisticmusicianacademy.com–––
🧭 Work with me:
→ C.I.A.R. self-paced course:https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/ciar
→ HMA group coaching & 1:1 mentorshipshttps://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/coaching
📲 Connect:
IG: @everynowheremusicYT: Tapasya LoadingPodcast archive: https://www.tapasyaloading.com/33 min - Artists and Trauma-Bonding
Art often emerges as a vital sanctuary for those navigating life's deepest fractures, offering a sense of connection and safety.
Yet, this very refuge can unwittingly evolve into a subtle trap, where unprocessed wounds forge unbreakable ties that blur the line.
As artists chase authenticity and belonging, they may find themselves ensnared in cycles of pain and relief that hinder true growth and joy.
Unprocessed trauma can distort the mind into mistaking familiar feelings (even if painful) for safety, and survival for intimacy.Free Training:
artistmindmap.com
Read the blog post.
Join the first cohort of my Artist Mastermind and get your first month free.
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/group-coaching
Courses:
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/courses
1:1 Mentoring:
https://holisticmusicianacademy.com/page/1-on-1-mentorship
27 min
About Tapasya Loading
From the publisher's feed
Podcast for the holistic musician.
From Grammy-Award winners, NY Times best-selling authors, and lesser-known heroes, Indian-German Musician/Educator T.L. Mazumdar engages in conversations with path-breakers meant to open minds for artists and audiences alike.
DISCLAIMER : The views of guests are not necessarily reflective of T.L. Mazumdar’s. T.L. Mazumdar is not affiliated to any religious institutions or organizations.