Living the Tao-A Spiritual Podcast

Mikel Steenrod
  • 4.3 (9)
  • Spirituality
  • Updated Biweekly

Living the Tao with Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod Living the Tao is a spiritual podcast exploring traditional Taoist teachings, spiritual cultivation, and the practice of Taoism in everyday life. Hosted by Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod, lineage holder of the Four Ascendant Tradition, the podcast offers a perspective rooted in a living Taoist tradition rather than modern interpretations of Taoist philosophy alone. Through long-form teachings, practical discussions, stories, and occasional conversations with Morgan and other guests, Living the Tao examines the relationship between ancient Taoist training and the realities of modern life. Topics include Taoist meditation, qi cultivation, karma, spiritual transformation, self-awareness, intuition, emotional resilience, traditional doctrine, and the cultivation of clarity and character. Episodes explore not only what Taoist teachings mean, but how they are understood, practiced, and applied in ordinary life. Drawing on traditional teachings and decades of practice, Mikel Steenrod examines the assumptions, habits, and perceptions that shape human experience. The result is a podcast that invites listeners to look beyond familiar explanations and consider what it means to live in harmony with the Tao. New episodes and subscriber content 🎧 Full-length episodes are released on the first Friday of each month. ⚡ Living the Tao Shorts arrive biweekly, offering shorter discussions, practical observations, and insights into Taoist life. 🔒 Living the Tao subscribers receive additional episodes, deeper doctrinal discussions, commentary, and exclusive material through Supercast. Explore more Taoist teachings Living the Tao is part of a broader collection of educational resources developed by Mikel Steenrod and the Four Ascendant Tradition, including articles, online courses, training videos, and study materials. Taoist philosophy, history, and everyday practice: https://www.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com Qi Gong, martial arts, and traditional wellness training: https://www.watermountainvirtual.com Premium episodes and subscriber membership: https://living-the-tao.supercast.com Looking for older episodes? Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and some other podcast apps may display only part of the Living the Tao back catalog. For access to the complete available free-feed archive, use our direct podcast RSS feed in a compatible podcast player: https://podcast.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com/feed.xml

  1. Oct 6 ·  Bonus

    Shorts | The Future Is Already Visible—If You Know How to Look

    Can the present tell you what is going to happen next? In this episode of Living the Tao Shorts (2-32), Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod and Morgan explore observation, situational awareness, and the Taoist idea that much of what seems mysterious may already be unfolding in plain sight. Steenrod shares stories from his own training, including moments when his teacher appeared to predict exactly what strangers were about to do. What first seemed almost supernatural eventually pointed toward something more fundamental: the human mind is constantly gathering information, recognizing patterns, and anticipating what comes next. The problem is that fear, hope, expectation, media, and story can obscure what we are already perceiving. This episode also looks at why observation is a trained skill, why modern habits may weaken it, and why Taoist practice often begins not with becoming something extraordinary, but with recovering capacities that are already part of being human. Sometimes the future is not hidden. Sometimes we simply fail to look. Prefer to watch the video version? https://youtu.be/EYHsOoZLHUA 🌐 Explore more Taoist teachings: https://www.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com 🎧 Listen to more Living the Tao Shorts & full episodes: https://podcast.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com -From Beginner to Expert, examine our collection of free videos and articles on qi gong: https://www.watermountainvirtual.com/qi-gong-collection/ Premium Episodes, Full Catalog (4x the content), AMA, and episode commentary: https://living-the-tao.supercast.com Intro music: “Finding Movement” by Kevin MacLeod — licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Source: incompetech.com

    Shorts | The Future Is Already Visible—If You Know How to Look

  2. Oct 2

    The Map Is Not Reality

    What if the problem isn’t you—but the map you’ve been given? In this episode of Living the Tao, Master Mikel Steenrod and Morgan explore the Taoist distinction between reality itself and the social mind’s representation of it. Humans do not simply create maps of the outside world; those same maps also define what we are supposed to feel, value, experience, and become. The discussion moves from the idea that “reality repeats” into the ways artificial repetition can create an artificial reality. Steenrod examines why direct experience matters more than intellectual understanding, how the Tao may provide just enough experience to disrupt the social mind, and why real transformation requires more than thought alone. Along the way, the conversation connects reality to the Red Dust, the complete human, intellect, emotion, intuition—and, unexpectedly, cannibals. Because sometimes the deepest question behind “What is reality?” is really: What are we beneath the map? Prefer to watch rather than listen? https://youtu.be/4lPCAAnS1u0 🎧 Listen to more Living the Tao Shorts & full episodes: https://podcast.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com The supercast version of this episode has extensive commentary: https://living-the-tao.supercast.com Intro music: “Finding Movement” by Kevin MacLeod — licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Source: incompetech.com

    The Map Is Not Reality

  3. Trailer

    Trailer | The Fall's Power of Transformation

    Fall is Taoism’s great season of transformation. In this trailer for Living the Tao Episode 1-199, Master Mikel Steenrod introduces the deeper meaning of seasonal change: transformation is inevitable, but it does not always mean progress. The full Supercast episode explores upward, sideways, and downward transformation, Hungry Ghost traditions, spiritual journeying and retreat, the White Tiger, Lin Jun, and the old warrior whose white hair becomes the tiger. Living the Tao, Episode 1-199: Fall’s Power of Transformation Available now for Supercast subscribers. Premium Episodes, Full Catalog (4x the content), AMA and episode commentary: https://living-the-tao.supercast.com

    Trailer | The Fall's Power of Transformation

  4. Sep 22 ·  Bonus

    Shorts | What are You Without the Voice in Your Head?

    What are you without the voice talking inside your head? In this episode of Living the Tao Shorts (2-31), Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod and Morgan explore one of the most basic—and surprisingly difficult—questions we can ask: What is the self? Is the self the internal narrator commenting on your life? Your memories? Your experiences? And if that familiar voice falls silent, have you actually lost anything at all? From there, the conversation moves into mortality, Daoist immortality, and the human desire for permanence. Why do we assume that something must last forever in order to have value? Why would creatures who have never experienced permanence make permanence the measure of importance? Along the way, there are ancient immortals, geological spans of time, and even the realization that after a few hundred years of serious spiritual cultivation, immortals apparently spend quite a bit of time going to parties. But beneath the humor is a distinctly Daoist question: perhaps the truth of who you are is not an idea called the “self,” but the experience of actually living. And perhaps the long spiritual journey ends somewhere unexpected—with becoming what you already are. Prefer the video version?  https://youtu.be/UYbdcemMAFM 🌐 Explore more Taoist teachings: https://www.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com 🎧 Listen to more Living the Tao Shorts & full episodes: https://podcast.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com -From Beginner to Expert, examine our collection of free videos and articles on qi gong: https://www.watermountainvirtual.com/qi-gong-collection/ Premium Episodes, Full Catalog (4x the content), AMA, and episode commentary: https://living-the-tao.supercast.com

    Shorts | What are You Without the Voice in Your Head?

  5. Trailer

    Trailer | The Fractured Self

    What if the reason you cannot make yourself do something is not a lack of discipline—but a divided self? In this trailer for Living the Tao Episode 1-198, The Fractured Self, Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores the gap between what we say we want and what deeper parts of us may actually be doing. The episode begins with three simple possibilities: unwilling, unable, or uneducated. From there, it moves into a deeper Taoist problem—how the socially conditioned self becomes fragmented, how that fragmentation interferes with choice and capability, and why spiritual development requires more than outward compliance. The goal is not simply greater control. It is greater internal coherence. Listen to the full episode on Supercast. Premium Episodes, Full Catalog (4x the content), AMA and episode commentary: https://living-the-tao.supercast.com

    Trailer | The Fractured Self

  6. Trailer

    Trailer | Watching, Blessing, Living

    What if the future is already visible in the present? In this trailer for Living the Tao Episode 1-197, Master Mikel Steenrod introduces one of the simplest—and most demanding—skills in Taoist training: observation. He explains why his teacher could often predict what was about to happen simply by watching carefully, how judgment interferes with perception, and why learning to see what is actually there can become a form of Taoist practice. The episode then moves into advanced Qigong training and the practice of blessing, where thousands of repetitions can expose an uncomfortable question: is what you believe about yourself actually true? Watching, Blessing, Living explores observation, wu-wei, symbolic truth, qi, and the difference between reality and the stories we tell ourselves. This full episode is available to Living the Tao subscribers on Supercast.  Premium Episodes, Full Catalog (4x the content), and episode commentary: https://living-the-tao.supercast.com

    Trailer | Watching, Blessing, Living

  7. Sep 8 ·  Bonus

    Shorts | Karma: No Consequence, No Power

    What if karma isn’t a cosmic system of reward and punishment? In this Living the Tao Short (2-30), Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod and Morgan unpack the idea of the karmic nursery—a condition in which actions may have social consequences without accumulating the kind of karmic weight that produces lasting power. That protection comes with a tradeoff: no consequence also means no power. Steenrod explains why karma, in this framework, is not the universe handing out justice. Instead, karmic accumulation depends on consistency. A person may act positively, negatively, or neutrally—but without consistency, little accumulates. Leave the nursery, and actions begin to add up. They can build power, diminish it, move you toward what you seek, or move you away. The conversation also explores why someone might choose to return to the nursery, why doing so can mean living a “much smaller life,” and why the karmic nursery is not simply a product of the social mind. A short discussion about consequence, responsibility, ling, and what it means for your actions to truly matter.   hat if the future already exists—and your choices still matter? In this Living the Tao Short, Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod and Morgan explore the Taoist concept of nonlinear time: a model in which past, present, and future are not simply points moving along a single line. The conversation moves from memory and our ordinary experience of time into much stranger territory. If every moment remains part of existence, does that mean everything is predetermined? Steenrod argues that it does not. Change, in the Taoist model he describes, does not necessarily depend upon linear time. Along the way, they examine why our sense of the past may be tied to fading memory, why every action may remain part of existence, why Taoism resists placing the individual at the center of creation, and why nonlinear time was traditionally a subject reserved for more advanced practice. The future has already happened. And somehow, you may still be writing it.   Prefer the video format?  That's here: https://youtu.be/gI1MFRJGASs 🌐 Explore more Taoist teachings: https://www.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com 🎧 Listen to more Living the Tao Shorts & full episodes: https://podcast.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com -From Beginner to Expert, examine our collection of free videos and articles on qi gong: https://www.watermountainvirtual.com/qi-gong-collection/ Premium Episodes, Full Catalog (4x the content), AMA, and episode commentary: https://living-the-tao.supercast.com

    Shorts | Karma: No Consequence, No Power

  8. Sep 4

    The 4 Spheres, Camelot and an Old Shirt

    Can Qi stop a bullet? That question opens a much larger discussion about the Four Spheres and a common human mistake: trying to solve a problem with the wrong kind of tool. In this episode (1-196), Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores why physical force, social influence, intelligence, Qi practice, and other approaches each belong to different kinds of problems. The issue is not simply whether one sphere is “stronger” than another, but whether the method being used actually fits the situation. Along the way, Steenrod and Morgan look at Taoist martial skill, surgeons and swordsmen, negotiation, asymmetric warfare, intelligence networks, revolution, and why force often becomes most useful only after better options have already disappeared. And then there is Camelot: Arthur, the Round Table, Merlin, the dream of the perfect kingdom—and Steenrod's observation that he owns shirts that have apparently lasted longer. A practical discussion about timing, strategy, Qi, and why lasting change usually begins before the crisis does. Prefer to watch rather than listen? https://youtu.be/-6_6SYmIn8Q 🎧 Listen to more Living the Tao Shorts & full episodes: https://podcast.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com The supercast version of this episode has extensive commentary: https://living-the-tao.supercast.com Intro music: “Finding Movement” by Kevin MacLeod — licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Source: incompetech.com

    The 4 Spheres, Camelot and an Old Shirt
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4.3
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

Living the Tao with Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod Living the Tao is a spiritual podcast exploring traditional Taoist teachings, spiritual cultivation, and the practice of Taoism in everyday life. Hosted by Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod, lineage holder of the Four Ascendant Tradition, the podcast offers a perspective rooted in a living Taoist tradition rather than modern interpretations of Taoist philosophy alone. Through long-form teachings, practical discussions, stories, and occasional conversations with Morgan and other guests, Living the Tao examines the relationship between ancient Taoist training and the realities of modern life. Topics include Taoist meditation, qi cultivation, karma, spiritual transformation, self-awareness, intuition, emotional resilience, traditional doctrine, and the cultivation of clarity and character. Episodes explore not only what Taoist teachings mean, but how they are understood, practiced, and applied in ordinary life. Drawing on traditional teachings and decades of practice, Mikel Steenrod examines the assumptions, habits, and perceptions that shape human experience. The result is a podcast that invites listeners to look beyond familiar explanations and consider what it means to live in harmony with the Tao. New episodes and subscriber content 🎧 Full-length episodes are released on the first Friday of each month. ⚡ Living the Tao Shorts arrive biweekly, offering shorter discussions, practical observations, and insights into Taoist life. 🔒 Living the Tao subscribers receive additional episodes, deeper doctrinal discussions, commentary, and exclusive material through Supercast. Explore more Taoist teachings Living the Tao is part of a broader collection of educational resources developed by Mikel Steenrod and the Four Ascendant Tradition, including articles, online courses, training videos, and study materials. Taoist philosophy, history, and everyday practice: https://www.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com Qi Gong, martial arts, and traditional wellness training: https://www.watermountainvirtual.com Premium episodes and subscriber membership: https://living-the-tao.supercast.com Looking for older episodes? Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and some other podcast apps may display only part of the Living the Tao back catalog. For access to the complete available free-feed archive, use our direct podcast RSS feed in a compatible podcast player: https://podcast.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com/feed.xml

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