dropping the great burden | Associate Zen Master, Valerie Forstman

A new podcast episode is out! (Apple, Snipd, Spotify, RSS)

On the third episode of my new podcast, "Less Than One," I sat down with Valerie Frostman, former professional flutist, and now associate Zen Master and guiding teacher at Mountain Cloud Zen Center.

Her story starts in a place many of us know too well—grinding away at a high level, chasing perfection, until something inside her pushed back. For her, it the eventual realization she was losing her love for the very thing she'd given her life to.

What happened next is where it gets wild.

A friend suggested she try sitting at a Zen center. First night, 25 minutes of silence, and despite her distracted mind going chatter (what mediators call "monkey mind"), she felt like she'd come home. That was 30 years ago.

Why you should listen

For the high performers: Valerie directly addresses the fear that meditation will make you soft or kill your edge. Spoiler: it won't. She explains how laying down what she calls "the great burden" actually freed up her mental bandwidth. You don't lose your drive—you just stop wasting energy on all the unnecessary mental overhead.

For the curious: We break down what Zen actually is (beyond the greeting cards and perfume bottles), what koans are, and how to start a (serious) practice.

For anyone who's lost someone: At the end, I asked Valerie about dealing with loss. I lost my dad over a decade ago and still miss him . Her response...that those we've lost are "right here" in ways we might not expect.

A few moments that stuck with me:

• When she realized "unconditional love isn't something you give or receive-it's what you are"

• Her teacher saying a human personality is just "a lump of karma" (we're all still our messy selves, just held together less tightly)

• Time collapsing into a single point where the only moment that exists is now

If you're even slightly curious about meditation, or if you're already practicing but want to go deeper, this one's worth your time.

You can find Valerie's teaching at mountaincloud.org if you want to sit with her online or visit Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe.

Let me know what you think.

Be well,