{"podcast":{"title":"Deconstructing Yourself","slug":"deconstructing-yourself-57243","podcast_index_feed_id":57243,"rss_url":"https://rss.art19.com/deconstructing-yourself","website_url":"https://deconstructingyourself.com","image_url":"https://content.production.cdn.art19.com/images/42/27/fa/ba/4227faba-743f-4b34-8a46-5ad37ffbd99f/a8f04bc49fa95ff9c41dc54dbf496cd3611bdf06e6fc984a359899ae116e4a2de4a208efded4b6a6271986a4f51fe4494a55c22f381a7d91659fb1ca60cae3cc.jpeg","author":"Michael W. Taft","episode_count":112,"summary":"Dedicated to liberation in all its forms, Deconstructing Yourself is passionate about fearlessly investigating, attempting, and questioning all things to do with awakening, meditation, mindfulness, brain hacking, consciousness, neurofeedback, and more. Your host Michael W. Taft interviews some of the most interesting thinkers, authors, and teachers around, as well as other offerings. In this hard-hitting, radical, and fun podcast we look at secular post-, non-, un- Buddhism, Vajrayana, nondual Hindu Tantra, philosophy, the neuroscience of the sense of self, neurofeedback and the consciousness hacking movement, aspects of artificial intelligence, entheogens, and much more. If you’re looking for fresh directions, free from dogma and conformism, think of the Deconstructing Yourself podcast as the radical cafe where you can hear from the most interesting luminaries either from the outside edges of dharma, or a fresh take from more traditional teachers. If you’re interested in more, check out the Deconstructing Yourself website at https://deconstructingyourself.com .","last_synced_at":"2026-06-21T06:18:15.814279+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/deconstructing-yourself-57243"},"episode":{"title":"A Conversation with Wystan","slug":"a-conversation-with-wystan","published_at":"2026-04-28T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/deconstructing-yourself-57243/a-conversation-with-wystan","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/deconstructing-yourself-57243","url":"https://rss.art19.com/episodes/ebb106fe-2744-4414-988d-c42886ed5737.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg90cmFuc2NyaWJyBjoGRVQ%3D--952c5701c84ad333c69d5faa668f8177091704f0","audio_url":"https://rss.art19.com/episodes/ebb106fe-2744-4414-988d-c42886ed5737.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg90cmFuc2NyaWJyBjoGRVQ%3D--952c5701c84ad333c69d5faa668f8177091704f0","summary":"Host Michael Taft interviews meditation teacher Wystan about teaching awakening outside a strict lineage framework, cultural translation of Buddhist practice, why awakening does not “come with a Buddhist label,” the tension between preserving traditional forms and adapting them for modern students, devotion as a powerful but often avoided dimension of practice, the heartbreak of compassion as barriers of separateness break down, the importance of turning toward suffering rather than distracting from it, gratitude and forgiveness as possible “neo-Brahmaviharas,” why shamatha and vipashyana training can prepare students for more direct nondual practices, and Wystan’s encouragement that awakening is real, possible, and worth pursuing. Wystan is a meditation teacher threading together influences from training in Theravada, Zen, Vajrayana, Dzogchen, and Shinzen Young's systematic secular approach in service of awakening. Learn more at https://www.wystantbs.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .","meta_description":"Host Michael Taft interviews meditation teacher Wystan about teaching awakening outside a strict lineage framework, cultural translation of Buddhist pract…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2122,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/deconstructing-yourself-57243/episodes/a-conversation-with-wystan/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/deconstructing-yourself-57243/a-conversation-with-wystan.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}