This last moonth has been one where flexibility has had to be the key. The next few moonths are poised to be similar in flavour.
The reason being is that my main two initiatives for 2024 are in a state of flux, with uncertainty around their aspects and timing.
So I have prerecorded two introductory shows for the new Soulwaves channel on Ethereal TV. Their launch date of June seems to have slipped, which doesn’t surprise me at all as it’s a massive undertaking on their part, not least with herding many cool cats. If I am honest, I prefer doing interviews outside the summer months anyway when I prefer to be outside! So I am not rattling that cage and am happy for it all to run its course.
Slightly more unsettling but also potentially really good news is that Insight Timer are changing the way that they remunerate teachers. As this is my main revenue stream, as I am loyal to them for the opportunity they gave me, I will have to adjust and potentially augment some of my plans.
I was planning to put all of my Magnum Opus on to the app and have already re-published the first part of my trilogy, the book Flavours of Thought, on the app. I was about to upload the companion book in an eight part mini-series, Recipes for Fresh Thinking, and have two recipe-themed courses up already with a third lined up for July.
My intuition is to hold off doing any more. Partly as they are not getting the traction I had hoped for but mainly as my intuition is to re-publish and re-purpose the second part of the trilogy, Planes of Being.
The third and most expansive part of the trilogy is The Path to Overstanding. This was going to be tricky to upload as it has so many materials as attachments and Insight Timer do not allow them to be appended to courses. What they are about to launch though is our ability to sell events and mentoring services through the app.
This means access to The Path to Overstanding could be repurposed as a subscription-based monthly mentoring programme. I already have it hosted on MySoundwise and can augment access with live sessions that themselves will get uploaded, thus augmenting the level of Overstanding.
So for a moonth, I plan to do nothing apart from observe and post my current mix of free meditations and music, the serialisation of the audiobook version of Soulwaves and courses.
By way of fitting example, let me share a guided visualisation with you here, that I just happened to upload last moonth … funny how art emulates life !
And you can see the interview with the CEO of Insight Timer, Christopher Plowman, on the ringing in of these changes here https://youtu.be/t_NgITxD324
On the 27th February, which is a year to the day since we moved out for our house refurb to proceed, my audio studio was back in operation … and I am back on a roll.
What’s more, on the 28th February, the workmen left site and the drilling and banging stopped, the skip has gone and we can now park in our own drive. Thankfully we have very forgiving and generous neighbours!
Before the 27th, I’d already been busy but mainly remastering existing materials. I am aiming to migrate my esoteric archive of materials over to Insight Timer (whilst also paralleling them up on Soundwise for backup reasons).
So on Insight Timer, you will find three new courses :
– and very shortly, I’ll be publishing another course called Becoming a Channel.
I also squeezed in recording a brand new meditation specifically written for the leap year and published on the 29th Feb called Take a Leap (geddit) and you will also find a Norwegian version from the uber-talented Siri Opli.
I am also three parts (of ten) into the serialisation of my novel Soulwaves : A Future History : which you can find under this new playlist
But the biggest momentum, causing the ball to pick up speed, is the creation of a series of new courses based on my two books, Flavours of Thought and Planes of Being.
They came out when audiobooks weren’t much of a thing, Flavours being published in 2009 and Planes in 2012. They are contemporisations of the Major and Minor Arcana.
So this year, I am creating two three part courses, that’s six in total on the Flavours of Thought and the Recipes of Fresh Thinking. Then I will create two courses from Planes of Being.
Listen to this recent IT Live for an overview and more background …
This will make a huge archive of my legacy content to the millions of meditators on Insight Timer.
My hope is that by the end of this year, Insight Timer will allow us to upload other assets, by way of PDF and images, to courses on the app. Then, in 2025, I will be able to follow on by publishing the Tree and Cube of Overstanding materials.
Now all of this activity has caused me to think. When this is all done, my work is really done.
For the first time in well over a decade, I have started this year without much of a plan. I sense a New Dawn is coming, along with yet another death-less reincarnation.
Over the holidays, I mind-mapped the content I’d created since I morphed into being a storyteller, meditation guide and ambient composer. You will find a version of the map below. Note that there is another level of detail again to be seen, click here if you’d like to see it as it lists all my Insight Timer tracks.
Incidentally, I was a little surprised to find I had uploaded 300 tracks to Insight Timer in just over 6 years, that’s around 1 a week – and doesn’t include the courses !!
Having completed this task, it feels both cathartic and necessary in order to avoid running full tilt into 2024. This stock-taking has been brought about in no small part because we have been out of our home for nine months, while our home has been transformed into something more expansive, functional and eco. The refurbishment process will still take another month or so to complete but it’s getting there and we are now making our home into a home.
As a result, during this time, I am not doing too much apart from testing the water with a couple of ideas but largely just allowing the Universe to give me a sign or three … kind of having a sabbatical for an unspecified amount of weeks and months.
The first of these tests is the generation of a short meditation, with minimal guidance, but which invites the listener to embark upon their own journey of enquiry. If it goes down well, I have ideas for a whole series of them and their introduction will see the phasing out of the Just for Today style meditations (there are more than enough of those already).
The second is available exclusively for Insight Premium subscribers. I am merging and morphing the audiobook version of Soulwaves : A Future History and the ambient album of the same name into a multimedia version. The 100 chapters will be split into 10 parts of 10 chapters each. I plan to create one part a month but may publish them more quickly if the demand is there. The first ten chapters are available from today.
p.s. If you have any ideas or requirements for materials that will inspire, edutain and help you, let me know by way of comments below …
p.p.s. I plan to move all my legacy courses, as well as the Path to Overstanding materials, to a new platform (for me) called Systeme.io. Note though, if Insight Timer reinstate PDF and video uploads, I would rather consolidate them there … just putting that out there !
So our three month temporary rental has come to an end and we are now in the moho for the rest of Spring, all of Summer and we hope just the start of Autumn. The photo above is going to be our main location – one, cos of the view and two, as it is 3 mins drive to our house.
In other news, my audio studio has been reinstated which means that, at weekends I can record stuff (as no building work) and in the week write new stuff and edit old stuff. This is just perfect as I can keep the Overstanding project plate spinning. Also, Insight Timer are just on the cusp of launching ad hoc Premium content. You have to search for it at the mo but our profiles will be updated over June so it’s findable. I am in the beta release so have 8 tracks uploaded already see below.
It’s also inspired me to start a project I have had in mind for many years. One of my inspirations for my novel Soulwaves was Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. While not as funny as ‘The Guide’, the observant amongst you will spot the references, like Deep Thought and the teleporting dolphins.
To this day, the original radio show is by far the best version – better than the book, TV show or film.
In lockdown, inspired by the novel Soulwaves, I composed an album of ambient music to augment the book. Now is the time to merge the audiobook and album into a mullti-part ‘meditale’ … streaming soon exclusively via Insight Timer Premium. Watch and listen to this ‘space-time’.
It’s fair to say the last three orbits of the Sun have been interesting for humanity. We’ve had two years of global pandemic and a year where the prospect of WW111 has raised its head. In the UK, we’ve seen the worst excesses of an incompetent and corrupt so-called government play out.
Of course, while all this doom and gloom might sound terrible and as if the world is about to end, we should realise that cosmic forces are playing out and influencing affairs on our planet.
While some of the world is in turmoil, it has also shown the best side of humanity. In all probability, the UK Tory government has engineered its own oblivion. Regime change will see an end to hostility between Russia and Ukraine. Do not forget of course other areas of tension and conflict too. The threat of global climate change being one of them.
So what can we do as individuals to help turn the tide. Well, my mission to help get the whole world meditating, one person at a time – with the help of Insight Timer, continues.
With this in mind, I have a whole year of meditations, ambience and courses planned for release, as we orbit our home star once more. There will be at least one new meditation and one new ambient track available to listen to free each month. I also plan to release at least three new courses, one every three months, which are available to Insight Timer Premium subscribers.
By way of example, just this month, I’ve published these already …
The Cube of Space
I am also extending the materials for the Path to Overstanding. This year we will be exploring a glyph called the Cube of Space – it is like a software upgrade for the soul and some even call it “a death-less reincarnation”.
Note there is no fear-based New Year sale, just maintenance of last year’s prices. It is mindfully and soulfully designed to be an investment affordable to as many people as possible at less than the price of a takeaway pizza a month. This year it will include live ‘moonthly’ group mentoring sessions for those walking the Path or considering embarking upon it – they are called Uberstandings.
Note that you can also take the first step on the Path to Overstanding for free.
Talking of extensions, we are also extending our house and, at the same time making, it as eco-friendly as possible. While doing this is of course introspective, we also want to share our experience of how to restore old, tired, mouldy and cold housing stock.
So this year’s blogs will document my journey and include a mix of how the house refurbishment is going along and an update on progress on the ongoing construction of my metaphorical ‘house of enlightenment’.
I guess I have literally become a builder of the new Adytum – which is one reason I had to unsubscribe as a student of BOTA so I would not plagiarise their materials. My aim remains the same – to take what has been made esoteric (and difficult to understand) and make it exoteric (both accessible and practical in its application).
For the first time in well over a decade, I have started this year without much of a plan. I sense a New Dawn is coming, along with yet another death-less reincarnation.
The Cube of Space