In the mornings, I listen to Alan Watts talks for 10-20 minutes over breakfast. The Waking Up app has his entire collected talks available in a user friendly format, so I listen there. The specific content of whatever he’s talking about is less important than the feeling he gives off while talking. He might be discussing nonduality, or Zen Buddhism, or quantum physics, or the mystery of love, and while the content is fascinating, the real value lies in the feeling underlying the content.

As I sense it, he is speaking from a place of pure presence, of non-instrumental play, of not forcing, of talking just for the fun of it. And that, to me, is the greatest teaching of “mindfulness.” I can tell you about mindfulness, how to be mindful, and how to meditate, but the best teaching is simply for me to be mindful as I’m speaking (or writing). If I can just do that, then no matter what I say, it will be a good teaching.

There’s a saying I can’t quite remember, but it goes something like this: When error is spoken sincerely, it becomes truth. When truth is spoken insincerely, it becomes error. Just focus on the sincerity, which no one can teach you, and the rest will take care of itself. You know if you’re being sincere or not. And you can use this feeling as a compass to guide action, or inaction, in any moment.

In the spirit of Alan Watts’ talks, I decided to create a short collection of my own talks, alongside music I like, as a sort of tribute to Watts’ style and to the major impact he’s had on my life. I view this collection as a “meditation album.” The tracks are not formal guided meditations, but they are meditative. Anything can be experienced or done in a meditative way - solely for its own sake as opposed to for the sake of some ulterior motive. The tracks are meant to be experienced in whatever way feels good to the listener, while sitting in silence, while driving, while walking, while doing anything you might do while listening to music or podcasts.

I initially submitted this collection as a course on an app where I have several other available courses (maybe you’ve listened to one or a few of them - you can find them here), and I was excited to share this meditation album with those who have enjoyed my previous courses. However, the course was summarily rejected due to not being goal/outcome-oriented enough. And this is exactly what the course is not meant to do. It is not meant to improve you. It is not meant to help you achieve an outcome. It is meant to remind you of something you already know if only you would stop grasping for improvement. I’m not dismissing the pursuit of improvement, rather I’m emphasizing the importance of deeply knowing you don’t need to improve anything. Improve because you enjoy the feeling of improvement, not because you’re supposed to, or have to in order to become good enough at some point in the future.

After the initial sting of course rejection (I was a bit emotionally triggered and remembered days of graduate school in which I was reprimanded on several occasions for not doing things the way I was supposed to). Excuse my language if you don’t like it, but I felt a sort of internal defensive “Fuck that - I don’t want you to have these anyway!” reaction (I can laugh about it upon reflection, haha). So I felt motivated to post the meditative collection for free elsewhere. And so I have.

I’m happy to announce that you can now find this album on any major streaming platform.
I’ve titled it, Vibing Meditation: Album of Enlightenment

It is a collection of short talks exploring psychospiritual concepts, sharing tales of enlightenment from Zen and Taoism, and offering a few messages of gratitude and unconditional love. Each track is accompanied by music selected specifically to complement the feeling of the talk. I intend the listener to simply feel the vibration, to not worry about making sense of the talk, but rather to just feel it. Just feel it. When you do this, my hope is you sense I am speaking as purely as possible from the present moment, and inviting you to join me there (HERE!).

So, if you’re interested to have a listen, you can find the album anywhere. I’ve also embedded the tracks below via Spotify (my streaming service of choice). If you find one you like, you might just repeat it daily as a reminder of the feeling of Right Now.

You already know everything you need to know. Sometimes you just need help remembering.

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