What does it mean to become a living Buddha? This time on The Flower Heads Show, Dakota explores the legend of Japanese monk Tetsu Monkai, the mystery of sokushinbutsu, and awakening to our own Buddha nature.

In this episode, Dakota explores:

• Becoming a living Buddha via mummification 
• The legend of Japanese monk Tetsumonkai
• The immortal diet of sokushinbutsu
• Dakota’s mountain journey to see the living Buddha-body of Tetsu Monkai
• Transcending the body and seeing our own Buddha nature
• Waking up from the habitual entropy that we are all lost in 

“I sit there under Tetsumonkai. I got to sit there and look at his mummy body, his sokushinbutsu, his living Buddha-body. I had a deep realization—I saw in that moment that the meaning of Tetsumonkai is that there is no Tetsumonkai. Becoming the immortal Buddha is to transcend the body, to die within the body, to realize the truth while you are in the body. When you look at Tetsu Monkai, you’re looking at your own Buddha nature.” —Dakota Wint

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In loving memory of our dear friend, Dr. Robert Thurman, Dakota shares a recent interview with him in which they explore the bardos and the joyful wisdom of seeing all beings as a Buddha.

You can help continue Dr. Thurman’s life’s work to preserve Tibetan culture. Visit Tibet House to learn more.

Help us celebrate 10 years of Be Here Now Network and support the next chapter of Ram Dass Here and Now. Gifts are matched dollar for dollar through June 30. Learn more and give here: BHNN 10th Birthday Fundraiser

In this insightful & heart-opening episode, Dakota and Robert Thurman explore:

• Choosing love just as Ram Dass did
• How the Romans twisted the teachings of Jesus
• Becoming Jesus and doing something really good ourselves 
• The connection between psychedelics and the bardos 
• The healing that comes after collapse
• Adoring all things just as they are
• Feeling the spark of bliss and connection
• Art as a spiritual practice 
• Taking responsibility for our next lives
• Life-long learning as the highest spiritual practice

About Dr. Robert Thurman:

Robert Thurman (1941-2026) was an American Buddhist author and academic who wrote, edited, and translated many books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, before retiring in June 2019. He held the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West. After education at Philips Exeter and Harvard, he studied Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism for almost thirty years as a personal student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He wrote both scholarly and popular books and lectured widely all over the world. As President of the American Institute for Buddhist Studies, he convened the First Inner Science Conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Amherst College in 1984. He was also a founding trustee of Tibet House New York. Check out his most recent book Wisdom Is Bliss: Four Friendly Fun Facts That Can Change Your Life.

"We have allowed the more heavily diluted people to take over and spread their misery over all of us. It will collapse, and we’ll heal them by taking away their power and letting them turn their attention to healing themselves.” —Dr. Robert Thurman

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What does it mean to see psychedelics as tools or guides instead of solutions?

Dakota and his guest, Your Mate Tom, look at how transpersonal experiences provide insight yet still require real-world integration, self-work, and spiritual practice to fully embody.

If Dakota’s perspective resonates with you, you’ll enjoy Tom’s documentaries, vlogs, and in-depth interviews that explore psychedelics, personal transformation, and the world at large through a different lens. Check it out over on the ‘​​Your Mate Tom’ YouTube channel: Your Mate Tom

(Sorry folks, no extended interview this week. All the goodness is packed into this episode!)

This time on The Flower Heads Show:

• What can be learned from spending time with shamans 
• The pharmacy of the Amazon jungle 
• How Bhavani Baba helped Dakota direct the wisdom of Sapo to the right place
• How psychedelics give us a hall pass to accept our power
• Putting what psychedelics show us into practice
• Loving yourself first and treating your mind, body, and heart well
• Wisdom and unconventional teachings from Neem Karoli Baba 
• The basic yet profound practice of feeding people and chanting the name of God 

About Dakota Wint:

Dakota Wint is a documentary filmmaker, vlogger, podcast host, and spiritual teacher from Detroit, Michigan. His films and podcasts revolve around current events, strange spirituality, and taboo traditions. You can subscribe to his podcast, A Place for Humans, HERE. Dakota grew to fame as an internet personality via his popular YouTube channel, Dakota of Earth. Dakota hosts retreats around the world and runs a non-profit focused on cultural and language preservation. Learn more about current happenings on his website.

“The sapo (toad) works. The psychedelics work. But we have to look at where they’re pointing and not confuse the light within the substance itself with what it shows us. It is a spotlight saying, ‘Hey, look over here.’” — Dakota Wint

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When does spirituality cease to be sacred and become performance?

Dakota shares the drastically different encounters he had with Aghori while traveling through India. He brings on Dr. Robert Svoboda to learn more about Aghora practices and shares some of the extreme practices he encountered while traveling through India.

In this episode, Dakota dives into:

• The performative and theatrical dimensions of religious ritual
• Dakota’s firsthand experience with the Aghori of India
• Learning the power of spiritual practice through Bhavani Baba
• The Aghori ritual of Shava Sadhana (meditation on the corpse)
• Lessons from Vimalanda on illusion and superficiality 
• Loving your mother as a spiritual practice 
• Seeing through the relative and connecting to ultimate reality 
• The practice of non-attachment to passing experiences and states

Check out Dr. Svoboda’s renowned books on the Aghori HERE.

About Dr. Robert Svoboda:

Dr. Robert Svoboda is the first Westerner ever to graduate from a college of Ayurveda and be licensed to practice Ayurveda in India. During and after his formal Ayurvedic training he was tutored in Ayurveda, Yoga, Jyotish, Tantra and other forms of classical Indian lore by his mentor, the Aghori Vimalananda. He is the author of twelve books including Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution and the Aghora series, which discusses his experiences with his mentor during the years 1975 – 1983.

In the years since 1986, Dr. Svoboda has traveled extensively, spending three months per year on average in India. He often speaks on Ayurveda, Jyotish, Tantra and allied subjects in locales across the world.

“Something that Vimalananda emphasized repeatedly is that the least important part of Aghora is the external part, the part where you’re applying a bunch of ashes and showing off, because that’s the superficial part. The important part is what's on the inside.” –Dr. Svoboda

Join Dr. Svoboda’s courses, watch the latest video in Dr. Svoboda’s 5 Minutes series on Youtube and follow Dr. Svoboda on Facebook and Instagram for updates, events, and new content. You can also check out www.drsvoboda.com

About Dakota Wint:

Dakota Wint is a documentary filmmaker, vlogger, podcast host, and spiritual teacher from Detroit, Michigan. His films and podcasts revolve around current events, strange spirituality, and taboo traditions. You can subscribe to his podcast, A Place for Humans, HERE. Dakota grew to fame as an internet personality via his popular YouTube channel, Dakota of Earth. Dakota hosts retreats around the world and runs a non-profit focused on cultural and language preservation. Learn more about current happenings on his website.

"We are just now in this festival with these Aghoris, there are animal sacrifices happening, there are exorcisms happening, there are people bleeding, people flailing on the ground, thousands of people just trying to get some energy from this festival. This is a very localized, specific energy portal. This is where I begin to see the power of spiritual practice—through Bhavani." –Dakota Wint

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We invite you to sit back and enjoy the full interview from Ep.3 of the Flower Heads Show, featuring Dr. Robert Svoboda.

Dr. Robert Svoboda is the first Westerner ever to graduate from a college of Ayurveda and be licensed to practice Ayurveda in India. During and after his formal Ayurvedic training he was tutored in Ayurveda, Yoga, Jyotish, Tantra and other forms of classical Indian lore by his mentor, the Aghori Vimalananda. He is the author of twelve books including Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution and the Aghora series, which discusses his experiences with his mentor during the years 1975 – 1983.

In the years since 1986, Dr. Svoboda has traveled extensively, spending three months per year on average in India. He often speaks on Ayurveda, Jyotish, Tantra and allied subjects in locales across the world.

Dakota speaks with Dr. Svoboda about:

• The performative and theatrical dimensions of religious ritual
• Dakota’s firsthand experience with the Aghori of India
• Learning the power of spiritual practice through Bhavani Baba
• The Aghori ritual of Shava Sadhana (meditation on the corpse)
• Lessons from Vimalanda on illusion and superficiality 
• Loving your mother as a spiritual practice 
• Seeing through the relative and connecting to ultimate reality 
• The practice of non-attachment to passing experiences and states

Check out Dr. Svoboda’s renowned books on the Aghori HERE.

“Something that Vimalananda emphasized repeatedly is that the least important part of Aghora is the external part, the part where you’re applying a bunch of ashes and showing off, because that’s the superficial part. The important part is what's on the inside.” –Dr. Svoboda

Join Dr. Svoboda’s courses, watch the latest video in Dr. Svoboda’s 5 Minutes series on Youtube and follow Dr. Svoboda on Facebook and Instagram for updates, events, and new content. You can also check out www.drsvoboda.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

An honest look at faith, hope, and letting go. Dakota shares spontaneous moments of awakening and sits down with Raghu Markus to talk about taking leaps of faith and embracing the mystery.

For more conversation about faith, spirituality, and psychedelics, listen to this episode's full interview with Raghu here in The Flow Heads Show's podcast feed, or watch the video version over on Be Here Now Network’s YouTube Channel.

Welcome back to The Flower Heads Show! In this episode, we explore:

• Mental health struggles and facing nihilism with a new, awakened perspective 
• Dakota’s spontaneous moment of faith and pure grace
• What it means to trust the mystery and release control
• Spirit messages during an indigenous psychedelic ceremony in Mexico
• The profound truth that arises in moments of silence
• A powerful reflection on faith from Raghu Markus
• Sinking into faith and surrendering to the present moment 

About Dakota Wint:

Dakota Wint is a documentary filmmaker, vlogger, podcast host, and spiritual teacher from Detroit, Michigan. His films and podcasts revolve around current events, strange spirituality, and taboo traditions. You can subscribe to his podcast, A Place for Humans, HERE. Dakota grew to fame as an internet personality via his popular YouTube channel, Dakota of Earth. Dakota hosts retreats around the world and runs a non-profit focused on cultural and language preservation. Learn more about current happenings on his website.

"All spiritual practice is about remembering, for me. This is my spiritual practice. It's about paying attention so that when these moments happen, I can be conscious of them. So, when the ‘love serve remember' message comes through in the form of a mushroom, in the form of Maharaj-ji, in the form of someone asking me for some change, in the form of my own mother, any way that it approaches, my practice is to try to remember." –Dakota Wint

About Raghu Markus:

Raghu Markus spent two years in India with Neem Karoli Baba and Ram Dass. He has been involved in music and transformational media since the early 1970s. He is currently the Executive Director of the Love Serve Remember Foundation and hosts the Mindrolling Podcast on the Be Here Now Network. Along with Duncan Trussell, Raghu also recently co-created The Movie of Me to the Movie of We.

“When you speak about intentionality with a being that is no longer in two, no duality, you're missing the point…there is no intentionality, it is just whatever is in the flow of that which is true.” –Raghu Markus on Neem Karoli Baba

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This interview was featured in Ep. 2 of The Flower Heads Show. Listen to that full episode here in The Flower Heads Show podcast feed, or watch the video version over on Be Here Now Network’s YouTube Channel. 

Raghu Markus, executive director of Love Serve Remember Foundation, chats with Dakota Wint about meeting Neem Karoli Baba and sustaining spiritual practice without psychedelics.

Recorded in Rishikesh, India, Dakota and Raghu discuss:

• The day that Raghu met Neem Karoli Baba
• God, humanness, and experiencing the ineffable 
• Intention of truth and the universe rather than the individual ego
• Neem Karoli Baba’s apparent immunity to psychedelics 
• Instructions from Neem Karoli Baba: Feed people, love people
• Integrating psychedelic teachings rather than continuing to return to them for answers
• Having faith and letting go of our self-fixation

About Dakota Wint:

Dakota Wint is a documentary filmmaker, vlogger, podcast host, and spiritual teacher from Detroit, Michigan. His films and podcasts revolve around current events, strange spirituality, and taboo traditions. You can subscribe to his podcast, A Place for Humans, HERE. Dakota grew to fame as an internet personality via his popular YouTube channel, Dakota of Earth. Dakota hosts retreats around the world and runs a non-profit focused on cultural and language preservation. Learn more about current happenings on his website.

“In that time, I was so invested in the psychedelic as being the answer, and maybe lacking faith and spirituality because it doesn't have the same direct experience as the psychedelic. But now, slowly, slowly, eight years later, we're back here, and I think I have changed my mind. My mind got changed. My mind got rolled." –Dakota Wint

About Raghu Markus:

Raghu Markus spent two years in India with Neem Karoli Baba and Ram Dass. He has been involved in music and transformational media since the early 1970s. Currently, he is the Executive Director of the Love Serve Remember Foundation and hosts the Mindrolling Podcast on the Be Here Now Network. Along with Duncan Trussell, Raghu also recently co-created The Movie of Me to the Movie of We.

“When you speak about intentionality with a being that is no longer in two, no duality, you're missing the point…there is no intentionality, it is just whatever is in the flow of that which is true.” –Raghu Markus on Neem Karoli Baba

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the debut episode of The Flower Heads Show, filmmaker Dakota Wint shares his journey to India, his time with Ram Dass, and the raw experiences that pushed him beyond his comfort zone and into real transformation.

Welcome to The Flower Heads Show, Dakota discusses:

• Meeting Ram Dass via Zoom at a retreat in Ojai, California
• How to project love in today’s tense global climate
• The many lessons we can learn from our time in this human incarnation
• The meaning of ‘satsang’ and the positive impact of connecting with your soul tribe
• Dakota’s trip to India, following in the footsteps of Neem Karoli Baba
• Connecting with spirituality through Krishna Das’s devotional music 
• Confronting the uncomfortable and reflecting on mortality
• Dakota’s experience with the Aghori people and their controversial mystical practices 
• Hitting a boiling point as society (politically, socially, etc.)

About Dakota Wint:

Dakota Wint is a documentary filmmaker, vlogger, podcast host, and spiritual teacher from Detroit, Michigan. His films and podcasts revolve around current events, strange spirituality, and taboo traditions. You can subscribe to his podcast, A Place for Humans, HERE. Dakota grew to fame as an internet personality via his popular YouTube channel, Dakota of Earth. Dakota hosts retreats around the world and runs a non-profit focused on cultural and language preservation. Learn more about current happenings on his website.

“Varanasi will confront you with a lot of things you won’t be confronted with anywhere else in the world. This uncomfortability is what spirituality is. A lot of people think that spirituality is the sunflowers, the sunset. These things are very beautiful, but when it all cracks, that’s the ‘real real’. When you watch a body burn, you think of everything in your life…your fate is ash, your fate is dirt, you will spend more time being dead than being whatever you are right now." – Dakota Wint

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Welcome to The Flower Heads Show, with Dakota Wint!

The Flower Heads Show is a journey into the wild, unpredictable, and transformative edges of life. Your host, Dakota Wint ( also known as Dakota of Earth over on YouTube), shares his own extraordinary path—from time with Ram Dass in Maui to years of travel through India filled with psychedelics, sadhus, magic, and the full spectrum of human experience. Along the way, Dakota brings in fascinating guests with unbelievable stories of their own. Expect a mix of adventure, spirituality, and raw storytelling that blurs the line between the mystical and the everyday.

Check out more of Dakota's adventures on YouTube at dakota of earth.

Episode 1 of The Flower Heads Show is premiering Feb. 16.

Full video episodes are available on the Be Here Now Network's YouTube channel. Click here to subscribe!

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