Angel City Zen Center - Beginners Only Podcast

Latest Episodes:

A Quiet Cockiness (Zen 101) w/ Dave Cuomo Feb 21, 2025

Show notes

Dave gives us an intro to Zen talk for beginners of all experience levels, including instruction on how to not meditate while meditating, some light (uncannily relevant) history, and advice and encouragements for whole heartedly engaging in the modern day. How do we learn what no one can teach us? Is Zen the avoidant lover of spiritual practices? And does Dave’s attachment to it make him the worst kind of ambassador? Find out here!

Chaotic, Reckless, Wakefulness (How to train Zen) w/ Gyokei Yokoyama Feb 14, 2025

Show notes

Gyokei takes an honest historical look at the tough love of monastic training, and the rebels and reformers who tried to improve it along the way. What kind of people are we trying to cultivate, and what kind of monks are we actually making? What does it take for a monk to be so bad even Dogen won’t sit with them? And does meeting the great matter of life and death actually require risking your life? Find out here!

Open Secrets (How to teach Zen) w/ Dave Cuomo Feb 07, 2025

Show notes

Dave looks into Zen’s famous wariness towards teachers and teaching, while delving into his own hang ups around the role as he prepares to formally play it. Are we all doomed to unwittingly adopt our teachers hang ups and issues? Is obedience just a matter of finding someone to tell you to do what you want? Is liberation just telling ourselves that whatever we’re doing is what we really want?? Find out here!

Spiritual Anarchy w/ Dave Cuomo Jan 31, 2025

Show notes

Dave tries to find some harmony between the power of rigid forms and the chaos of personal liberation, with mixed results, and offers up a practical guide to finding fundamental self worth along the way. Is conforming to tradition a process of maturity, or a great way to stamp out the precious life and humanity from the things we love? Can Zen be an antidote to our corporate consumer culture? Can Dave properly use the word “noumenon” in a sentence without sounding pretentious? Find out here!

An Unsettled Life w/ Henry Zander Jan 24, 2025

Show notes

Henry eloquently confronts an all too relatable existential crisis of accomplishment as he graduates college and tries to figure out who he is when the stress he knew himself by suddenly falls away. Who are we when our burdens of purpose have run their course? Is setting aside 30 minutes a day to feel panicked the remedy we really need? Are a humble plate rice and beans the best recipe for a hot Buddha Body?? Find out here!

Epiphany! (What Am I Doing Here??) w/ Andy Thomas Jan 10, 2025

Show notes

Andy generously shares his personal practice story (don’t call it a spiritual journey…) from young Catholic doubts to a midlife crisis that sent him exploring the wilds of the mind in Tibetan Buddhism, and why he turned his back on it to face the wall with us. Can Tibetan Buddhism teach us a few things we lack? Can Zen find a way to help Vajrayana relax? Is anxiety and crisis the best thing that can happen to your meditation?? Find out here!

The Body Poetic w/ Henry Zander Jan 03, 2025

Show notes

Henry gets us out of our heads and into our bodies with encouragements for a more embodied understanding of what zazen is really doing with us. How can we convince our minds to let the body take the wheel for awhile? How do we translate a stillness that doesn’t speak in sense? Can Henry quote the late great Jacques Lecoq without giggling?? Find out here!!

The Raw Impulse of Inspiration (Body/Mind Practice) w/ Dave Cuomo Dec 20, 2024

Show notes

Dave brings us a clear and lucid roadmap to working through the mind and body in zazen, from distracted self to senseless samadhi through a recently unearthed recording of a foundational practice discussion with his old teacher, Michael Elliston. How can consciousness let go of its own consciousness? Is breath practice mortally dangerous actually? If the willful mind is an illusion, who put it up to that, who’s really calling the shots, and… can we have a word with them?

The Good Prison (Sh*t Talk & Criticism) w/ Jordan Mylet Dec 13, 2024

Show notes

“Would it necessarily be so bad to call out other people, to call out ourselves? What if the fact that we’re all sometimes petty, selfish, thoughtless, and cruel doesn't negate us from being people worth caring about?” - Jordan Mylet

Jordan bravely wades into the muddy waters of shi*t talk and judgements in Zen. Our vows tell us to not criticize, they also tell us to tell the truth… Is liberation always polite? How much self-regulation is healthy in a relationship? Can denigration be a trust building exercise? Are the kids becoming unreasonably nice?? Find out here!

Embodied Economics w/ Dave Cuomo Dec 06, 2024

Show notes

“I don't want to fight things anymore. I’d rather just make them beautiful. If we have to do something, let's make it art.” - Dave Cuomo

Dave tries to find a harmony between practiced embodiment and practical economics while sinking into the ocean of sound, being, and time. Is there an honest living waiting for us on the other side of our pretensions? Can we be sincere while still being savvy? Was monastery life awesome actually despite everything we may have said previously?? Find out here!

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Angel City Zen Center – Beginners Only Podcast

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected