Awareness Explorers
If you want to awaken peace and love in daily life, pure awareness is always available as the background of all experience. Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor explore ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature.
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212: Life Force
05/08/2026
212: Life Force
Awareness Explorers episode 212: Life Force In this episode Jonathan and Brian explore the nature of life force energy, two paths to access the life force, and possible obstacles to its full expression. • Includes a guided meditation focusing on how we can get out of its way and allow the universal life force to express itself through our temporary form with all of its talents, gifts, abilities, and limitations. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on Unsplash
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211: Salvadore Poe, Guest Explorer
04/24/2026
211: Salvadore Poe, Guest Explorer
Awareness Explorers episode 211: Salvadore Poe, Guest Explorer In this episode we talk to Salvadore Poe, a spiritual teacher and author who shared his journey from rock musician to spiritual awakening, and described his concept of “having a holiday,” that is, recognizing pure being without fixing on any particular experience. The discussion covers topics including spiritual bypassing, doership, and meditation practices. • Includes a guided meditation leading you to relax the focus of attention, notice the movements of life, and see that what you are is not moving. This pure being at the core of all of the movement is that which never moves, and is who you essentially are. To learn more about Salvadore Poe, please visit: Books by Salvadore Poe: Liberation IS: The End of the Spiritual Path The Way of Freedom: Conversations with Salvadore Poe Blown Wide Open: A Collection of Holidays The Audacity of Freedom: A Journey of Spiritual Liberation Discussed in this episode: Jnani: A Sanskrit term for a wise person, sage, or "knower of the Self" within Hindu philosophy, particularly in jnana yoga, the Hindu "path of knowledge" or wisdom. Bhakti: A Sanskrit term meaning intense love, devotion, attachment, and surrender to a personal deity or guru, often serving as a path to spiritual liberation. It is often practiced as bhakti yoga, focusing on devotion through service. Karma: Karma Yoga, or the "yoga of action," is a spiritual path focused on selfless service, purifying the heart, and reducing ego by performing duties without attachment to results. Shiva Shakti Amma Ajja Dolano:: Dzogchen: Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection," is the highest teaching in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, focusing on recognizing the innate, radiant, and empty nature of the mind. It emphasizes that enlightenment is not a distant goal but is already inherently present and requires only recognition through effortless, non-conceptual awareness. I Am That book by Nisargadatta Maharaj POK (Perfectly Okay): Perfectlyokay.org is the social and support center of Jeffery Martin’s Finders Course alumni community, Tiruvannamalai and Mount Arunachala: Arunachala hill has been considered sacred for centuries and is located within the temple town of Tiruvannamalai, one of the most ancient heritage sites of India and the home of the Ramana Maharshi Ashram. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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210: The Problem of Compartmentalization
04/10/2026
210: The Problem of Compartmentalization
Awareness Explorers episode 210: The Problem of Compartmentalization In this episode we explore the problem of compartmentalization and how applying spiritual awareness to some areas of life (such as meditation), but not others (such as money or relationships) creates a spiritual identity that fails to integrate shadow material, thereby inhibiting the cultivation of non-dual awareness alongside engagement in ethical, human action. • Includes a guided meditation helping you to visualize a challenging compartment in your life and to bring impartial witnessing to that compartment, while gaining insight into what obstacles trigger reactivity and impede your true nature. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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209: Neelam, Guest Explorer
03/27/2026
209: Neelam, Guest Explorer
Awareness Explorers episode 209: Neelam, Guest Explorer In this episode we talk to Neelam about her awakening with H.W.L. Poonja, known as Papaji, the role of trust in awakening, how the nervous system’s capacity to be present is the “missing link” between a desire for truth and the ability to experience it, and how a true feeling of “okayness” enables us to rest in our true nature. •Includes a guided meditation leading us to the direct experience of presence by noticing the spaciousness that is already here and has always been here, thereby nurturing the growing capacity of the nervous system to rest in presence. To learn more about Neelam, please visit: And on YouTube: @NeelamSatsang And here are some upcoming 2026 events with Neelam: 1. Sunday 3/29 Free Open Zoom - Set Your Heart on Fire Ask questions, connect, and engage with Neelam. Explore the themes: Freedom is your Final Destination, and Challenges are Stepping Stones to Awakening! Details and registration on Neelam.org at Upcoming Events: 2. April 3-Week Intensive - Sundays 4/12, 19, 26 The intensives are always a beautiful opportunity to engage directly with Neelam and the Sangha. Join for one, two or all three weeks. Freedom is your Final Destination, and Challenges are Stepping Stones to Awakening! Details and registration on Neelam.org at Upcoming Events: Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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208: Trina Dawn, Guest Explorer
03/13/2026
208: Trina Dawn, Guest Explorer
Awareness Explorers episode 208: Trina Dawn, Guest Explorer In this episode, we talk to Trina Dawn about the “seeker” identity as a mind-created story, which perpetuates suffering by resisting the present moment. •Includes a guided meditation using questions to help you notice what’s shining right here, right now without any effort, and without words or labels, and that’s already awake. To learn more about Trina Dawn, please visit: Or watch on these platforms: YouTube: @trinadawn111 TikTok: @trinadawn111 Facebook: Instagram: trinadawn111 Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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207: Tani Thole and Leslie Rogers, Guest Explorers
02/27/2026
207: Tani Thole and Leslie Rogers, Guest Explorers
Awareness Explorers episode 207: Tani Thole and Leslie Rogers, Guest Explorers In this episode we talk to Tani Thole and Leslie Rogers, founders of the Light Dark Institute, about their philosophy of integrating shadow work for spiritual growth, by bringing love to the most unloved parts of the self, which are the source of internal and external conflict. • Includes a guided meditation from Tani inviting you to explore some part of yourself that you struggle with or reject, to notice the drain on your life force as a result of rejecting this part, and to bring appreciation and gratitude for how this part is actually watching out for you. Tani Thole and Leslie Rogers are the founders of the Light Dark Institute, devoted to helping people fall in love with the parts of themselves and the world that they’ve most rejected. Their work weaves shadow exploration, embodied power play, and bold encounters with the raw, untamed places we usually turn away from. Known for making even the most challenging inner terrain feel safe and accessible, they support leaders and seekers alike to meet the darkness with love — and to live, lead, and relate from a place of wholeness. To learn more about Tani Thole, Leslie Rogers, and the Light Dark Institute, please visit: Awareness Explorers listeners can receive $100 off Tani and Leslie’s “Playing With Darketypes” 9-week online course that starts on March 30, 2026. Just go to… …and use the discount code: AWARENESSEXPLORERS The discount code is valid through March 15th. 2026. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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206: Preparation for Meditation
02/13/2026
206: Preparation for Meditation
In this episode, Jonathan and Brian debate the value of pre-meditation rituals for enhancing meditation. We outline several practices to enhance meditation, and we also contrast pre-meditation rituals to create deep experiences, versus viewing meditation as simply allowing “what is.” • Includes a guided meditation helping you to transition from your busy day by breathing into any part of your body that is tense or contracted, and by putting aside any story going on in your head. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on Unsplash
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205: Back to Basics with Ramana and Nisargadatta
01/30/2026
205: Back to Basics with Ramana and Nisargadatta
In this episode we review the core non-duality teachings of Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj, including their inquiries into the nature of the Self. These teachings have been among the most influential in the present-day satsang and nonduality movements in the West. • Includes a guided self-inquiry meditation to trace the “I” thought to its source as the knower of all experience, and to help the listener identify as pure, choiceless, allowing, loving awareness. A good place to get a feel for the teachings of both Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj is the YouTube channel, “Eternal Life | Non-Duality” from @EternalLife7, here: The “Spiritual Laughter” YouTube playlist mentioned in this episode can be found here: Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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204: Relationship, Awakening, and MDMA
01/16/2026
204: Relationship, Awakening, and MDMA
In this episode we explore relationships as a path to awakening that reveals obstacles to love, and how MDMA can serve as a catalyst to open-heartedness. The book we discussed in this episode is To learn more about Ecstasy for Couples, please visit: For more information about the amygdala, which was mentioned in this episode: Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on
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203: Kate Alvo, Guest Explorer on Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE)
01/02/2026
203: Kate Alvo, Guest Explorer on Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE)
In this episode, we talk to Kate Alvo about Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) how they can release tension held in the body from stress and from traumas of the past, as well as how releasing stored tension naturally quiets the mind, offering a physical pathway to presence that can facilitate awakening. • Includes a guided meditation to help listeners tune into their bodies and notice direct present-moment experience without judgement. To learn more about Kate Alvo, please visit: The books we discussed in this episode: The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process: Transcend Your Toughest Times by David Berceli Shaking Medicine: The Healing Power of Ecstatic Movement By Bradford Keeney Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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202: The Future of Transformational Technologies
12/19/2025
202: The Future of Transformational Technologies
In this episode, we explore how technology is accelerating human transformation and consciousness, and we outline the five key areas that are driving this shift: psychedelics, nootropics, gadgets, new techniques, and AI coaching. • Includes a guided meditation leading us to recall a specific, highly awakened or peaceful experience and how to amplify the feeling with deep breaths and visualization. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on Unsplash
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201: Amy Islip, Guest Explorer
12/05/2025
201: Amy Islip, Guest Explorer
In this episode we talk to Amy Islip about her experiences with guided MDMA therapy, the profound spiritual awakening that ensued, and the resulting embodiment of spacious, open-hearted, love. • Includes a guided meditation leading us first, to rest in what is, free from stories and plans, allowing our bodies to soften, dissolve, and expand, and then, leading us to draw that expansiveness back into our bodies, minds, and the roles we play in everyday life. To learn more about Amy Islip, please visit: Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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200: Recurring Themes
11/21/2025
200: Recurring Themes
In this episode, we respond to ChatGPT’s summary of the top 15 recurring themes throughout the 200 episodes of Awareness Explorers to date, and elaborate on the ways they point to the realization of our true nature as infinite awareness. • Includes a list of Brian’s Key Principles of Awareness, which can serve as a guided meditation. And here is a link to Pamela Wilson’s “Cave of the Heart” meditation that we talked about in this episode: Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on Unsplash
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199: Guru Pros and Cons
11/07/2025
199: Guru Pros and Cons
In this episode we discuss gurus and spiritual teachers and explore the potential benefits as well as the potential risks involved in following a guru. • Includes a guided meditation leading us toward finding our inner guru and asking a deep personal question. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on Unsplash
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198: Beth Miller, Guest Explorer
10/24/2025
198: Beth Miller, Guest Explorer
In this episode we talk with Beth Miller, author of Awakening is Not for the Faint of Heart: Risk Everything for Love, about her profound shift in consciousness, the integration of therapy and spirituality, and insights from long COVID, which was ultimately a gift, providing deep healing and spiritual growth, and requiring intense presence, surrender, and trust in life. To learn more about Beth Miller, please visit: BethMillerPhD.com Or email her at bmillerphd@gmail.com Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 6 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 47 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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197: Michael McCord, Guest Explorer
10/14/2025
197: Michael McCord, Guest Explorer
In this episode we talk to Michael McCord, president of San Francisco Zen Center, on bringing Zen practices into daily life and work, and how enlightenment is seen as an ongoing process of increasing awareness, not a fixed end state to achieve. • Includes a guided meditation introducing the Zen practice of breath counting. To learn more about Michael McCord, please visit these San Franciso Zen Center pages: and on YouTube: Or email him at: michael.mccord@sfzc.org The Zen manual discussed in this episode is the Tenzo Kyokun (Instructions for the Cook). This site has links to a few translations: Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 6 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 47 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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196: Stephen Zerfas, Guest Explorer
09/26/2025
196: Stephen Zerfas, Guest Explorer
In this episode we talk to Stephen Zerfas, co-founder of Jhourney, which offers retreats facilitating rapid access to jhana meditation states, described as positive feedback loops between attention and emotion, offering profound states of gratitude, peace and non-duality. • Includes a guided meditation focusing on relaxing the body while turning our attention to positive concepts such as gratitude and wishing for the well-being of all others. To learn more about Stephen Zerfas, please visit: and on X: @jhanatech The Oxford professor Stephen mentions in this episode is Shamil Chandaria. To learn more, please visit his YouTube page: And the books recommended in this episode: Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhānas, by Leigh Brasington The Path to Nibbāna. How Mindfulness of Loving-Kindness Progresses through the Tranquil Aware Jhānas to Awakening, by David C. Johnson Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 6 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 48 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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195: How to Be with Bad News
09/12/2025
195: How to Be with Bad News
In this episode we discuss strategies for handling bad news as an awakening person, balancing awareness and action.. • Includes a guided meditation addressing the dichotomy between taking action and acceptance, and how to bring these two seeming opposites into a workable equilibrium. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 6 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 47 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on Unsplash
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194: Embracing the Middle Way
08/29/2025
194: Embracing the Middle Way
In this episode we discuss the concept of the Middle Way and explore how to move beyond polarities in spiritual practice and daily life, thus finding a balance between extremes and recognizing the interconnectedness of all things. • Includes a guided meditation in which we bring two opposite energies together to sense how they are intertwined and to feel a balance and a gentle equilibrium as we use breath to weave the two together. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 6 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 47 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on
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193: Kat van Oudheusden, Guest Explorer
08/15/2025
193: Kat van Oudheusden, Guest Explorer
In this episode, we talk to Kat (Katrijn) van Oudheusden, author of Seeing No-Self, and Beyond Illusion, about discovering the illusion of separation, and her set of essential inquiries that use empirical investigation of direct experience to point to our true nature. To learn more about Kat van Oudheusden, please visit: Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 6 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 7 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 46 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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192: Samuel Jacob, Guest Explorer
08/01/2025
192: Samuel Jacob, Guest Explorer
In this episode we talk to Samuel Jacob, a contemporary spiritual teacher specializing in radical self-inquiry. He emphasizes the immediate availability of awareness, completeness, and happiness in the present moment. • Includes a guided meditation focusing on being aware that all appearances arise “here” without effort, and emphasizing the relaxation of any attempt to arrive here, which is where the I, awareness is. To learn more about Samuel Jacob, please visit: or on YouTube: @being-happiness or on Instagram: @samueljacobness Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 6 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 7 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 45 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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191: Inward and Outward Paths
07/18/2025
191: Inward and Outward Paths
In this episode we explore the concepts of the inward and outward facing paths. They are presented as different approaches in various traditions that, if pursued to their core, eventually arrive at a direct experience of a unified life. • Includes a guided meditation that extends the ancient neti neti practice of excluding all concepts of what you conceive yourself to be, and then re-including all so-called outer experience, thereby seeing that all is awareness and not separate from your true self. Short phrases to help you get a handle on the inward and outward facing paths: Nothing you can name or conceive of is awareness. Nothing you could name or conceive of is not awareness. Meditating with your eyes closed and looking within at awareness, and meditating with your eyes open and looking at the world as awareness. “Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. And between the two my life flows.” ― Nisargadatta Maharaj The song Jonathan mentioned in this episode is “Impermanence” by John Astin: Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 6 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 7 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 5 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 45 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by Vladislav on
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190: John Travis, Guest Explorer
07/04/2025
190: John Travis, Guest Explorer
In this episode, we interview John Travis, founding teacher of Mountain Stream Meditation Center, exploring his spiritual journey and teachings, and his emphasis on the importance of integrating mind, heart, and body in spiritual practice. • Includes a guided meditation grounding attention in the body and sense perceptions as a pathway inward to the recognition of awareness as encompassing everything, thus breaking the illusion of separateness. To learn more about John Travis, please visit: and Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 6 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 7 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 8 in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 45 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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189: Trauma and Awakening
06/20/2025
189: Trauma and Awakening
In this episode, we discuss the relationship between trauma and spiritual awakening, and how trauma can not only obscure awareness but can also catalyze awakening. We also describe some effective trauma healing approaches. • Includes a guided meditation helping us to see an upsetting incident from the past within the larger peaceful space of pure awareness, which is unshaken by traumatic experience, and which holds and supports everything. The YouTube playlist mentioned in this episode: Particularly, “” Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 5 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 5 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 7 in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 44 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on
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188: Exploring Intuition
06/06/2025
188: Exploring Intuition
In this episode we discuss intuition, its nature, how to access it, and its relationship to awakening. • Includes a guided meditation helping you to cultivate the open receptivity required for intuition. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 5 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 5 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 5 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 7in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 43 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on
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187: Robert Rugg, Guest Explorer
05/23/2025
187: Robert Rugg, Guest Explorer
In this episode we talk with Robert Rugg, author of Awakening to Effortless Being: Realizing Your Infinite Self, about his spiritual journey, his teachings on effortless being, his approach to self-realization, and how to incorporate the principles of wholeness into daily life and interactions with others • Includes a guided meditation inviting us to rest in the stillness, the silence, the presence, the space of beingness, the aliveness which has always been here, and which is noticing and allowing everything, and to watch how life takes care of life. To learn more about Robert Rugg, please visit: And you can also view his YouTube channel, @effortlessbeing5162: and check out his books: Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 5 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 5 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 5 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 7in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 45 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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186: Rituals
05/09/2025
186: Rituals
In this episode we explore the topic of rituals and their impact on experiencing deeper peace, love, and joy in life. • Includes a guided meditation in which we reflect on past meaningful ritual experiences, imagine new possibilities for personal rituals, and consider timing and context for implementing new rituals. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 5 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 5 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 7in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 43 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on
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185: Pernille and Todd Lent Damore, Guest Explorers
04/25/2025
185: Pernille and Todd Lent Damore, Guest Explorers
In this episode we talk to Pernille and Todd Lent Damore, founders of the Awakening Curriculum, about the Wheel of Identification, which is their framing of the Ten Buddhist Fetters, as well as practical applications to wake up moment to moment in the midst of everyday life. Their focus is on direct experience with no resistance and no labels. • Includes a guided meditation exploring the felt sense of where “you” are located, by exploring where it seems to be showing up within the space of our senses, including visual, auditory, and bodily sensations, and looking at our raw experiences without labeling them. To learn more about Pernille and Todd Lent Damore, Guest Explorers, please visit: Or if you have questions, you can email: And you can also view their YouTube channels: @TheAwakeningCurriculum on YouTube and @unfetteredmindfulness on Youtube Todd’s Book: Only in Your Mind: Not Quite Poems from the Not So Linear Awakening Path Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 5 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 5 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 7in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 43 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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184: What Makes an Ideal Human?
04/11/2025
184: What Makes an Ideal Human?
In this episode we look at twenty-five possible qualities of being an ideal human, and explore their relevance to awakening. • Includes a guided meditation taking several qualities of an ideal human, and sending them in a circle from fully imagining them to be your experience, through letting them go, to being with the wordless knowingness that you are. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 5 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 5 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 7in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 43 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by on
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183: Amy Albright and Drew Pierson, Guest Explorers
03/28/2025
183: Amy Albright and Drew Pierson, Guest Explorers
In this episode, we discuss neurofeedback, consciousness, and practical techniques for achieving higher states of awareness with Dr. Amy Albright and Dr. Drew Pierson , founders of Holon, a blend of science, technology, and spirituality. • Includes a guided practice combining breath awareness, skin sensation, and tailbone alignment to help connect to a sense of oneness and earth energy. To learn more about Amy Albright and Drew Pierson, please visit: The full version of the Holon Breath Practice is available at the above website, or at the link below: Sens.ai neurofeedback headset: Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. NEWS: Awareness Explorers has made the following top listener charts on Goodpods: # 5 in the Top 100 awakening All time chart # 6 in the Top 100 joy All time chart # 5 in the Top 100 awareness All time chart # 7in the Top 100 consciousness All time chart # 43 in the Top 100 meditation All time chart To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: Or on our Awareness Explorers website: To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit and You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian
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