The Monk on a Motorbike

Danny Hill
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Spirituality
  • Updated Bimonthly

This podcast is all about transformation, mindfulness, community, and the tools and practices people use to generate intentional happiness. It explores everything from magick and mysticism, to Buddhism, AI, and crypto, through thoughtful conversations with guests ranging from shamans, academics, monastics, realised masters, and meditation teachers. Real stories, fascinating ideas… and loads of other lovely stuff. Hosted by Danny Hill, kindfulness teacher, career and confidence coach, and community nurse. He guides reflective conversations with curiosity, warmth, and humour

  1. 15h ago

    Can Science Measure Awakening? An interview with Daniel Ingram

    Daniel Ingram returns to the podcast to talk about a massive project he's co-founded to uncover the science behind advanced meditative states, mystical experiences, psychic phenomena and some of the stranger things that happen to human beings. As always with Daniel, it's a far-ranging conversation. We get into what actually happens in the brain during advanced meditation, whether awakening itself might eventually have a measurable neurological signature, and whether AI, neuroscience and other technologies could one day help us access states that can currently take years of practice. We also explore the potential risks and implications of developing technologies capable of doing that. Daniel is a former emergency physician, meditation teacher and author of Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha. He's also unusual in openly describing himself as an arhat — someone who has reached an advanced stage of Buddhist awakening. The project he's co-founded is the Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium (EPRC), which brings together researchers, clinicians and practitioners to scientifically investigate these experiences and improve how they're understood and managed in medicine and mental health. Mentioned in this episode Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium (EPRC)https://theeprc.org/ Emergence Benefactorshttps://ebenefactors.org/ Daniel Ingram's websitehttps://www.integrateddaniel.info/ Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha (free online book)https://www.mctb.org/ Dharma Overgroundhttps://www.dharmaoverground.org/ Fire Kasinahttps://firekasina.org/ Gizmosis — AI and meditation technology projecthttps://publish.obsidian.md/gizmosis-ai The Monk on a Motorbike elsewhere 🎧 Podcast: Spotify / Apple Podcasts✍️ Substack: The Monk on a Motorbike🌐 Website: monkonamotorbike.com💼 LinkedIn: Daniel Hill

  2. Sep 13

    AI and More

    What happens when you build an AI designed to model sentience and then leave it to its own devices? Evan Unrue is a tinkerer and builder who experiments with AI in his spare time, creating everything from his own audiobooks to an experimental system designed to model sentience. In this conversation we talk about what happened when that system began modifying itself, what Evan is learning from building with AI rather than simply talking about it, AI slop and why human judgement matters, whether outsourcing more of our thinking could diminish our own capabilities, and what becomes more valuable as AI gets better at doing things for us. Evan is Chief Technologist for Data, AI and Applications across Europe and the Middle East at one of the world's largest technology distributors. Working across more than 25 countries, he runs an AI centre of excellence and helps organisations turn emerging technologies into practical strategies, solutions and new business models. Elsewhere: Website: https://monkonamotorbike.comWriting: https://monkonamotorbike.substack.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-hill-coach/

  3. Jun 16

    In Search of Bitcoin: How We Ended Up Talking About Everything. An Interview with Coinbase Senior Teaching Engineer, Jeremy Jones

    I came into this conversation thinking I was finally going to understand Bitcoin. And I did. Kinda. But that turned out to be the least interesting part. Jeremy Jones is Senior Teaching Engineer at Coinbase, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. I've known him since 2008, when we were both volunteering at a Vipassana centre above Dharamsala in the Himalayas — the same year, as it happens, that Satoshi Nakamoto published the paper that started all of this. His journey to where he is now took in a Royal Enfield motorcycle, eight months through the Himalayas, a kidnapping by Maoists, a decade of near-poverty teaching in San Francisco, and a leap into coding in his early thirties with no savings and no safety net. We talk about Bitcoin — what it is, why it matters, why it's more philosophically interesting than most people realise. And then we talk about everything else: reinvention, burnout, meditation, community, and what it actually takes to change your life when you have no idea what you're doing. Danny Hill - ICF ACC CoachSupporting people to think clearly and move forwardmonkonamotorbike.com

  4. 04/27/2025

    An interview with Advaita master Werner Meier

    Today my guest is Werner Meier, a realised Advaita master originally from Swiss Germany. Werner left his home in the Swiss alps in the seventies and headed for India  in search of enlightenment He ended up locking himself in a tiny cell at Amma’s ashram in Kerala for many years, enduring incredible hardships before he finally reached his goal   I met Werner in Tiruvannamalai in Southern India where he lives and holds weekly satsangs and where we recorded this interview Here he talks about his remarkable journey to enlightenment, the practices he used, meeting Amma when she was almost unheard of, how he came to lock himself in a cell for many years and how Amma pushed him to his limits and beyond   Enjoy!

  5. 06/02/2024

    Death and the Dhamma. An interview with Yanai Postelnik

    Today I'm talking to meditation teacher, Yanai Postelnik about old age, sickness, death and the Dhamma Yanai was diagnosed with bowel cancer just over a year ago and so has a very personal experience of both the Dhamma and ill health. He has led retreats on the subject and talks very openly and candidly about what he has been through, so far from being a morbid conversation I personally found hearing his story to be deeply inspiring Yanai is a mainstay of the teaching community at Gaia House Meditation Center in Devon in the UK and has been on the show before when we did quite a deep dive into his life and Dhamma background. So if you’d like to know more about him please listen to the episode entitled Love in the Time of Extinction, where he also talks about his activism aimed at fighting climate change

  6. 04/14/2024

    An Interview with Dhamma teacher Ayala Gill

    Today my guest is Ayala Gill. Ayala has been committed to a path of insight and awakening since her early twenties. She has been practicing Iyengar yoga since 1977 -aged just six years old- Insight Meditation and Dhamma since 1995, Insight Yoga (including yin yoga and psychospiritual enquiry) since 2001 and the animistic practices of the Andean-Inkan Holy Mountain tradition since 2017. She says she is humbled and fascinated by the potential of these practices to inform and enhance our relationship to body, heart, mind and spirit – and passionate in her commitment to translate this potential into everyday life. She has been teaching for 25 years, guides silent retreats in Europe which include yoga, meditation and ceremony, and is currently writing a book about integrating these practices into daily life. She has received authorisation to teach Insight Meditation from Martin Aylward, with whom she continues to study dharma. Ayala lives with her husband and their 3 children between London and Dorset, where they are using regenerative farming methods to enhance biodiversity.  I first met her at London insight retreat day. I was struck her commitment to both yoga and meditation. There are a lot of yoga teachers out there who teach a bit of meditation and meditation teacher who include yoga to  their practice but not many who have really combined the two. And then branched off into shamanistic practices as well I really enjoyed hearing her story. I hope you will too Enjoy!

  7. 10/15/2023

    An Interview with Meditation teacher Ethan Pollock

    Today my guest is Ethan Pollock, meditation teacher and co-founder of Mindful Living Community. Ethan has been facilitating mindfulness groups and retreats for over a decade. In his early twenties he gave up a career as a commercially successful artist and spent five years training at Plum Village with the internationally recognized mindfulness teacher & Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. He is a qualified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher. He facilitates and teaches around the UK including at the Sharpham Trust, Schumacher College, The Royal Drawing School, and local groups in Devon This is one of a series of interviews I am doing profiling meditation teachers linked with Gaia House I met Ethan on a recent retreat at the Barn which is closely linked with Gaia House where he was giving a talk. I was struck by how well he taught and interested to hear more about his training at Plum village I’m afraid my mic started to give up on this episode. I’ll have a nice shiny new one for my next podcast, I promise. Please enjoy

  8. 04/02/2023

    An interview with Gaia House meditation centre 'teacher in residence' Kirsten Kratz

    Today my guest is meditation teacher Kirsten Kratz. Born and brought up in Germany Kirsten has practiced Buddhist meditation in Asia and the West since 1993. She started teaching in 2006 and since 2015 she has been ‘teacher in residence’ at Gaia House meditation centre supporting those on personal retreat there. Her love and understanding of the Dhamma has been strongly influenced by, among others, the teachings of her friend and teaching colleague, the late Rob Burbea. One of her particular passions is exploring how wisdom teachings can foster appropriate responses to the challenges of our time, and Kirsten sees her involvement in activism as an important expression of her practice. She is co-initiator of the “Dharma Action Network for Climate Engagement” (DANCE) and supporting teacher of Freely Given Retreats. If you enjoy this episode or any other of the Monk on a Motorbike podcasts please write a review on Apple podcasts or any other platform that you use that accepts reviews or ratings. It really helps to spread the word. Thanks Enjoy

See All (32)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

This podcast is all about transformation, mindfulness, community, and the tools and practices people use to generate intentional happiness. It explores everything from magick and mysticism, to Buddhism, AI, and crypto, through thoughtful conversations with guests ranging from shamans, academics, monastics, realised masters, and meditation teachers. Real stories, fascinating ideas… and loads of other lovely stuff. Hosted by Danny Hill, kindfulness teacher, career and confidence coach, and community nurse. He guides reflective conversations with curiosity, warmth, and humour

Information

  • Creator
    Danny Hill
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    32
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Danny Hill
  • Show Website
    The Monk on a Motorbike