Starting the ⌜Insight cast⌟
This week, I started my podcast, the ⌜Insight cast⌟. It is about sharing my learnings from studying Tao Te Ching (道德经). I am happy that I took action and published the 1st episode. Here is a brief reflection of how it came together and why I believe it will bring many benefits to the future of Pause and me as a person.
Tao Te Ching
Some years ago, my father gave me this book ⌜The meaning of Tao Te Ching⌟. He told me this book was given to him by Ren Farong (a Taoist monk), the author of this book. For the first time, I understood what this ancient text from 25 centuries ago was about. I have kept it close ever since.
I caught myself reading Tao Te Ching when I face difficult challenges. The wisdom in this book often give me fresh perspectives and help me move forward. In some ways, I see Pause as a digital expression of the Tao. I find it is quite magical that this book was directly handed down to me (through my father) from the author himself.
Anyone can share genuine insight
Several weeks ago, I started thinking about the idea of doing a podcast to share what I learned from studying Tao Te Ching. I was both excited and terrified of that idea. I was excited because it is an excellent way to internalize the learning and practice how I can communicate it. I was terrified because I have only seen Gurus like Eckhart Tolle, Allan Watts, and Wayne Dyer sharing their insight about Tao Te Ching. I felt I am not qualified.
I spoke with a friend. She encouraged me: “if you do it from genuine understanding, it will be good!” I took it in and started preparing my 1st episode.
The first thing I needed was to find a good English translation. After some research, I landed on Stephen Mitchell’s translation. As the translation is poetic and the expressions are most relevant to modern living. I also refer to the translations from Dr. Wayne Dyer and Gia-Fufeng & Jane English.
I found an outstanding teaching series on YouTube. It was taught by Professor Li Zhonghua from Peking University. It offers sentence by sentence interpretations of the Tao Te Ching with incredible clarity.
I knew this would be a fantastic learning and sharing experience. I am ready to use my podcast as a channel to share genuine insight.
The benefits
I believe there will be many benefits to gain if I manage to keep up the weekly updates of the ⌜Insight cast⌟.
1. ‘To teach is to learn twice.’
I never tried to explaining Tao Te Ching to anyone. To clearly express the message, I need to feel confident in my understanding and organize words in a clear, concise, and (hopefully) engaging way. The process of cross-referencing multiple teachings in both English and Chinese has been a gratifying experience that deepened my understanding.
I recorded the 1st episode without any script. I had a general framework of what I want to speak and trusted the words would flow out in ways that make sense. It took me 3 hours to record because sometimes I would repeatedly record a series of sentences until I am satisfied with the words used, the logic, the speed, and the timbre.
Then I spend 2 hours editing. Reducing noise, cut out my breathing, and remove rambling. That was a process I focus on what kind of listening experience I want my audience to have.
As a result, I can say that my understanding has deepened. And I feel proud of how the 1st episode turned out to be.
2. Expend channels to reach potential audiences
With the ⌜Insight cast⌟, I have a new way to reach new audiences. The voice content can be used in different social media channels to engage new users and enhance the retention of existing users.
3. Prepare voice-based wisdom content for Pause
Wisdom contents and guided meditations have been the traditional ways of mindfulness teaching. It is what Pause needs to embrace. Starting the ⌜Insight cast⌟ is the first step of creating our wisdom content and practicing voice-guided meditation skills. With consistent learning and improvement, I believe we will find our unique ways of providing voice-based wisdom content to our users in the future.
Easier than expected
Another part of starting a podcast is, of course, the equipment setup. It turned out to be relatively simple and quite enjoyable. I needed three things:
1. a good Microphone: I bought a Yeti Blue USB Microphone (1100 DKK)
2. an audio editing software: I used Audacity is an excellent audio editing tool. It has powerful features like reduce noise. And it is FREE (unbelievable)
3. a podcast hosting site: I chose SoundCloud (Free to start and easy setup)
I could recommend it to anyone who wants to start a podcast.
Rarely do some things make me feel that I will be doing it consistently. Keep updating the ⌜Insight cast⌟ is one of them. I look forward to continued learning and sharing. While writing, I got a notification from SoundCloud that I got my first follower. What an excellent way to end this article. ☀️
