The ZDoggMD Show

Latest Episodes:

The Miracle Of This Moment (w/John Astin) Sep 20, 2022

Show notes

A deep dive down the rabbit hole of our astonishing, non-conceptual experience of what IS.

John Astin is a health psychologist, meditation teacher, musician, and the author of four books on spiritual practice, including This Extraordinary Moment. His guided meditations can be found on Sam Harris's Waking Up app. He has a Ph.D. in health psychology and is an adjunct professor of clinical and counseling psychology at Santa Clara and Notre Dame de Namur Universities. Find his books, teachings, and more on his website. Here's our prior interview with John. Here are all our videos on consciousness, meditation, and awakening.

Video: https://zdoggmd.com/podcasting/john-astin-2/

Topics & Timecodes:

0:00 Intro

1:52 What are we? How consciousness identifies with its contents

6:33 The thought/conceptual world vs. the experiential world

11:25 Concepts can’t capture raw experience, quantum physics vs gross reality

16:24 The conceptual world and the spiritual “journey”, the nature of impermanence

23:37 How “long” is NOW?

28:06 What is living truth relative to the thought world, the pragmatic benefit of realization

34:43 Integrating absolute realization into daily life

41:09 Mind reduces infinity to finite and a sense of lack, non-duality

44:47 Coming off retreat and “reintegrating”, the “commentary” of thought consciousness

52:31 What IS anxiety experientially?

57:04 Conceptual thought world removes “magic” from experience

59:30 The power of attention and discernment in inquiring into experience

1:06:20 The apparent spiritual “journey”

1:10:38 Awakening and realization over time

1:12:52 We are wired to seek enjoyment

1:19:48 The radiant beauty of everything regardless of mental labels, what is art?

1:29:37 The miracle of what IS

1:40:17 A guided meditation/inquiry on presence: intro

1:42:19 Guided meditation on presence

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Do We Need These Omicron-Specific Boosters? (w/Dr. Paul Offit) Sep 16, 2022

Show notes

A must-watch deep dive into some science!

Vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit is less than impressed with evidence to support the Omicron BA.4/5 "bivalent" booster shots now rolling out for everyone 12 and older. We also talk polio and monkeypox and flu 👍

Video: https://zdoggmd.com/paul-offit-10/

Topics & Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

1:10 A brief history of the Covid vaccines, groups that benefit from boosting

5:12 Incubation periods and vaccination "goals," preventing infection vs. severe disease

10:54 Bivalent vaccine, the FDA's EUA approach, crucial dosing issues (ancestral strain vs. bivalent)

17:15 BA.4/5 booster immunogenicity data (or lack thereof), mouse data & vax safety profile

21:40 Why Paul himself would pass on the new booster, incubation periods, why Covid zero is a fantasy

24:28 Paul's "perfect" bivalent vaccine

25:37 Yearly targeted boosters, myocarditis and the Thai children's study

28:39 BA.4/5: MIS-C, boosters & long Covid, data from JAMA's Italian study

31:28 Comparing BA.4/5 & the yearly flu vax, timing of the yearly flu shot

38:45 Polio's resurgence, injected inactivated vs. live oral polio vaccines, the role of sanitation

48:05 Monkeypox and a history of smallpox vaccines

56:43 Reflection w/Dr. Offit: what he's gotten right, what he's gotten wrong and where to go from here

1:01:57 Final thoughts

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California's COVID Medical Misinformation Bill Sep 14, 2022

Show notes

Should California discipline doctors who "disseminate misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19?" Here's one California physician's take.

Video: https://zdoggmd.com/misinfo-bill/

And here's the interview with Dr. Paul Offit I referenced. Read the full text of AB2098 here.

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More about Dr. Z: https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/

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Why A Public Health Mob Turned On Dr. Leana Wen Sep 01, 2022

Show notes

Seriously y'all, you can't make this s**t up 😂 When Dr. Leana Wen changed her hard core Covidian tune, the Twitter mob went into full attack mode. All to cancel her from speaking at a panel on "the backlash against public health" Oh, the irony! Here's an excellent related op-ed with links and a discussion I had with Dr. Vinay Prasad on The VPZD Show about this.

Video: https://zdoggmd.com/leana-wen/

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The Three Great Untruths Destroying Our Kids Aug 23, 2022

Show notes

Three pervasive distortions are at the root of tremendous suffering for children AND adults.

Video: https://zdoggmd.com/3-great-untruths/

Read Haidt & Lukianoff's book The Coddling of the American Mind. Watch my related video on The Social Dilemma. Watch my interview on existential risk with Daniel Schmachtenberger.

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Reality Is Not What You Think (w/John Astin) Jul 11, 2022

Show notes

What happens if you drop the mental labels, constructs and THOUGHTS about reality, and just look directly at your immediate experience? Strap yourself in because psychologist John Astin helps us see what's right in front of us, now and always 🤯

John Astin is a meditation teacher, musician, and the author of four books on spiritual practice, including Searching for Rain in a Monsoon. He has a Ph.D. in health psychology and is an adjunct professor of clinical and counseling psychology at Santa Clara and Notre Dame de Namur Universities. Find his books, teachings, and more on his website. Here's the interview with Donald Hoffman that we referenced and check out all our videos on consciousness, meditation, and awakening.

Video: https://zdoggmd.com/podcasting/john-astin/

Topics & Timecodes

0:00 Introduction

9:01 The role of psychedelics, self transcendence & wonder

13:25 Awakening to non-dual reality

18:10 The miracle of our present experience

25:00 How words and concepts can’t capture experience

28:35 Conceptual vs. Experiential perspective: an exercise

34:10 Analogy to the vase illusion image: parts and whole coexist

49:28 The inconceivability of any experience, including emotions like worry and anxiety

58:29 The fractal/holographic nature of reality, the oneness of experience

1:01:28 Awakening as a sense of homecoming

1:05:15 The paradox of suffering and our frame of reference

1:09:50 “Relative” medicine vs. “Ultimate” medicine, clarifying the nature of pain

1:17:18 The impermanence of experiential phenomenon

1:26:40 The paradox of striving/seeking, allowing experience to be

1:29:00 Drifting reality and what is attention, the groundless nature of experience

1:33:28 The paradox of meditation and effort, the role of teachers

1:43:06 The dreamlike quality of waking experience

1:45:20 Zoom as an abstraction vs. in person experience

1:48:50 What is meditation? What is common to all experience: one taste

1:55:05 What is consciousness? Reality is “just this”; what is “presence”

2:04:55 All views are partial, the Alt-Middle, Integral perspective, thoughts are just thoughts

2:07:43 McGilcrist and left brain vs right brain, Jill Bolte Taylor

2:10:40 Wrapping up, links, and the book This Extraordinary Moment

Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd
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Omicron Boosters, Kids' Vaccine & More (w/Dr. Paul Offit) Jul 06, 2022

Show notes

Why did Dr. Offit vote NO on Omicron-specific boosters at the FDA advisory meeting? What's up with vaccine for the youngest kids? AND MUCH MORE...

All our videos with Dr. Paul Offit here. And check out Paul's recent op-ed on variant-specific boosting in Stat News.

Video: https://zdoggmd.com/paul-offit-9/

Topics & Timecodes:

00:00 Intro, Omicron-specific vaccine, brief COVID history, what is a bivalent vaccine

06:56 The FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee, political agendas & the seemingly declining burden of proof

13:15 Booster vs. 3rd dose, understanding age stratified risk, potential for vaccine escape

16:52 My dad's COVID story, risk calculation, the problem with broad stroke policies

20:50 What happens to old COVID variants, predictions for the upcoming winter surge

23:07 Viral infection patterns, specifically in children, MIS-C

28:52 Severe disease, death and long COVID in children, vaccine uptake in children

33:53 Kids under 5 & the COVID vax, community vs. individual benefit

38:45 COVID vax mandates & their effect on childhood immunizations, public health messaging

43:58 Recognizing & overcoming bias, Dr. Offit's emotional experience upon approval of the rotavirus vax

47:59 Paul shares his COVID experience, long COVID as a biopsychosocial condition, final thoughts

Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd
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Beyond The COVID Culture Wars (w/David Fuller) Jul 01, 2022

Show notes

A pandemic post-mortem that looks ahead to how a post-COVID awakening might unfold, with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller.

Find more from David and his guests here, check out the recent live show we did together. Here's the Culture Wars 2.0 piece we referenced.

Video: https://zdoggmd.com/covid-culture-wars/

Topics & Timecodes:

0:00 Intro

4:40 Health 3.0 & a broken healthcare system going into the pandemic

7:50 Rebel Wisdom’s central curation function

11:00 Zoom vs. in person and the effect on connection

23:53 Internet subcultures “leaking” into the real world, Jan. 6th

26:15 The Post-Secular Religiosity of everything, including COVID

31:15 The rise of conspiracy narratives during COVID

37:05 Questioning our own thinking, personal growth

44:10 Hermeneutics of suspicion & a culture of bullshit

56:00 Conspiracies thrive in gaps in the mainstream narrative

57:30 Pre/trans fallacy & the COVID antithesis space

1:05:00 Paradox of being outside the institutions: audience capture

1:09:48 Tech platforms’ warping effect on creators

1:13:40 Jordan Peterson’s tragic arc

1:17:54 The return of the “repressed”

1:24:00 Return of psychedelic medicine

1:29:44 Limitations of psychedelics

1:34:13 Meditation & Awakening, pitfalls

1:38:58 Ayahuasca

1:44:12 Culture War 2.0 & Memetic Tribes

1:53:15 Post Pandemic Awakening & Personal Growth

Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd
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Feeding Your Baby: The Formula Crisis & Beyond (w/Mirine Richey) Jun 14, 2022

Show notes

Just getting infants and toddlers fed seems harder than ever given formula shortages and lack of support for moms.

Lactation consultant and educator Mirine Richey, MPH, IBCLC helps us unwind all the knots. Learn more about her work at Florida State.

Video: https://zdoggmd.com/formula-crisis/

Topics & Timecodes:

0:00 Intro, the role of the lactation consultant

05:25 Infant nutrition, diversity among lactation specialists, physical breastfeeding vs. feeding breastmilk

08:17 Social determinants, challenges for low socioeconomic and the highly educated, maternal advantages & benefits of breastfeeding

14:50 Infant advantages & benefits of breastfeeding

19:34 Breastmilk vs. formula cost (both monetary and social)

23:11 Debriefing past trauma & why it's often uncomfortable to talk about breastfeeding, more neonatal benefits

27:53 Composition of human milk, immune properties, HIV considerations, positioning for bottle feeding

31:39 Tongue-tied babies, breast-shaped bottles, maternal mental health & the effect of stress on infants, breastmilk is best

41:21 Formula composition, cow milk vs. goat milk based, clever marketing, soy based formulas

50:29 The simplicity of supplementing with formula & it's effect on milk supply, the formula industrial complex, clever marketing

59:43 Baby friendly hospitals, informed consent, alternatives to breastfeeding, donor milk, synthetic milk

1:05:25 Milk production for multiples, pumping pros & cons, mastitis, temperament & personality in infants & beyond

1:14:58 The formula crisis, causes & possible solutions

1:18:40 Final thoughts, tying it all together, finding a lactation consultant

Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd
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Your Senses Are Gates To Awakening (w/Dr. Angelo DiLullo) Jun 12, 2022

Show notes

Most of our lives are spent lost in the thought stream. But the senses can be our gateway to unfiltered reality right here and now.

Video: https://zdoggmd.com/sense-gates/

Get Dr. Angelo DiLullo's book on awakening, Awake: It's Your Turn, here. Check out Angelo's YouTube channel with excellent pointer videos here. Sign up for Angelo's email list for future meditation retreats and updates here. And watch ALL of our videos on awakening with my fellow Dr. D here.

Topics & Timecodes:

0:00 Intro

1:49 Awakening as a process beyond conceptual knowing

4:00 What to do when thought intervenes on unfiltered reality

7:01 The paradox of the personal and impersonal

8:50 The paradox of practice vs. non-practice

11:12 Investigating the sense gates: sound and hearing

21:10 The non-dual experience of hearing (JUST hearing)

26:10 The prerequisite role of Self-inquiry in awakening

27:52 Investigating the sight gate: gazing into infinity

33:40 Attuning to subtlety and refining perception

36:52 The importance of “just stopping”

40:11 The end of suffering and living truth investigating itself

Video show archive, audio podcasts, music parodies, Supporter Tribe membership options, merch, social media, and email contact form: https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd
Support us with a 1-time donation and get a personal email response from me: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zdoggmd
More about Dr. Z: https://zdoggmd.com/about-z/

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