Living the Tao-A Spiritual Podcast

What would a Daoist utopia actually look like? A perfect society? A better political system? A sacred rulebook everyone finally agrees to follow? Not exactly. In this free episode of Living the Tao (1-187), Master Mikel Steenrod and Morgan explore the Daoist view of utopia, and why Taoism begins with personal liberation rather than social control. The conversation moves through the Tao Te Ching, C...

In this Living the Tao short (2-25), Master Mikel Steenrod and Morgan explore the role of animals in Taoism. Cranes, deer, cats, turtles, tortoises, three-legged crows, and many-tailed foxes all appear as symbols, teachers, guides, or mythic beings. But the strongest lesson comes from the turtle. When the storm comes, the turtle does not fight it. It sinks below the turbulence, spends the least en...

In this trailer for the subscriber-only episode (1-186) of Living the Tao, Master Steenrod introduces the Tao Sphere, the highest sphere in the Four Ascendant Sphere system. The Tao Sphere is not an escape from ordinary life. It contains the Social Sphere, the Martial Body Sphere, and the Qi Sphere. To approach it, a practitioner must bring the whole self into relationship with the Tao. This episo...

In this subscriber-only episode of Living the Tao (1-185), Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod continues his study of the I Ching with Hexagram 46, Pushing Upward, and Hexagram 42, Increase. Both hexagrams point toward action, but they do not describe the same kind of movement. Pushing Upward is steady ascent: small efforts, proper support, and the presence of the “great person.” Increase is sudden oppor...

What was the world like before social mind became the dominant force shaping human experience? In this Living the Tao Short (2-24), Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores a question that sits at the intersection of Taoist doctrine, history, and esoteric practice. According to the tradition, there was a time when the influence of social mind was far weaker, allowing human beings to access levels of...

In this trailer for the subscriber episode “What Is Death?”, Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod introduces a deeper Taoist examination of life, death, fear, and return. Rather than offering a simple comfort story, this episode asks what death actually is. Master Steenrod explores life as ordered differentiation, death as movement back through chaos, and the Taoist idea of return through Pu, Hundun, Hexa...

What is meditation, really? In this episode (1-183) of Living the Tao, Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores meditation from a classical Taoist perspective. Rather than focusing on posture, breathing, or techniques, he examines the deeper principle behind all meditative practice: the mind acting upon the mind. Along the way, Mikel discusses the influence of the Social Mind, why most people live ac...

Most people think stress comes from big problems. Taoism suggests something different. In this free Living the Tao Short (2-23), Master Mikel Steenrod explores how sudden changes—whether they seem good or bad—place demands on the body and mind. Using weather as a starting point, he explains why rapid shifts can drain our reserves, disrupt our balance, and gradually affect both quality of life and...

Before the Jade Rabbit became the dominant symbol of the moon, another creature occupied the lunar imagination of ancient China—the mysterious Three-Legged Moon Toad. In this subscriber-only episode of Living the Tao, Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores one of the oldest and most overlooked symbols associated with Yin. Beginning with the children's tale of Jip Jip, the moon toad who gradually co...

In this episode of Living the Tao, Master Steenrod explores the ancient myth of the Fusang tree, the ten suns, and the mysterious three-legged crow that became one of the great symbolic images of East Asian spirituality. Beginning with the ancient legend itself, the episode examines how the Sun Crow myth evolved from early shamanic and mythological roots into Taoist cosmology, esoteric symbolism,...

Is there really a “Daoist diet”? In this episode of Living the Tao Shorts (2-22), Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores one of the most misunderstood subjects in Taoist practice: food restrictions, dietary cultivation, and the purpose behind them. Rather than rigid rules or moral prohibitions, traditional Daoist approaches to diet were often based on observation, experimentation, longevity, and en...

In this subscriber episode of Living the Tao, Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores the “bedrock” beneath Taoist cultivation and asks a deceptively simple question: What should a person actually build within themselves? The discussion examines the original meaning of Wu Wei beyond passivity, the dangers of spiritual status-seeking, and the Taoist concept of Ling — the subtle spiritual presence tie...

In this special trailer for Living the Tao Episode 1-178, Master Steenrod explores the ancient Taoist symbolism of feathers, thunder, and liberation. What does it mean to shake off the “red dust” of the world? Why were feathers associated with transcendence, freedom, and the feathered immortal? And how did older Taoist traditions understand thunder as a force capable of breaking emotional and spir...

What does Taoism say about manifestation? And why doesn’t Taoism actually use that word? In this episode of Living the Tao, we explore the Taoist concept closest to manifestation: invocation. Rather than wishing for outcomes, Taoist practice focuses on directing choice and karma within a universe shaped by probability. The discussion looks at why some changes are easier to bring about than others,...

Is consistency really the key to success? In this Shorts episode of Living the Tao (2-21), Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod examines one of the most common ideas in modern self-improvement—and challenges it from a Taoist perspective. Through a discussion on repetition, flexibility, and human behavior, this episode explores: The limits of discipline when it becomes mechanical The importance of adaptabi...

What if everything you were trained to become… wasn’t enough? In this subscriber-only episode of Living the Tao, Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores the ancient story of Wangziqiao—a Zhou-era prince who mastered the refined arts of order and discipline, only to walk away from them in search of something deeper. After years of training in the mountains, he is given a simple object—a whistle carve...

In this subscriber-only episode of Living the Tao, Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores one of the most difficult and universal parts of life: waiting. Drawing from the ancient wisdom of the I Ching, Steenrod examines why nearly 28% of its hexagrams deal with waiting, delay, or obstruction in some form. Focusing on Hexagram 12 — Standstill and Hexagram 5 — Waiting, he explains the profound differ...

Why don’t we see spirits, demons, dragons, and other beings described in Taoist traditions? Are they somewhere else — or are we simply not perceiving them? In this Living the Tao Short, Master Mikel Steenrod and Morgan explore how assumptions shape reality and how the social mind filters what we experience. The discussion moves through expectation, normalization, and the idea that perception is li...

Most people approach qi as something to be gained—more energy, more vitality, more power. But the reality is more complicated. In this subscriber episode (1-175) of Living the Tao, Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores the Qi Sphere within the Four Ascendant Sphere framework and the often overlooked truth behind internal development: the ability to accumulate qi is not determined by technique alon...

In this subscriber-only episode (1-174), Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores the turtle as an organizing force within Taoist thought. Beginning with a classic teaching story of a turtle withdrawing beneath a storm, the discussion expands into the turtle’s deeper symbolic and practical roles across Taoist tradition. The episode examines how the turtle shell became an early tool for extracting ord...

Free will is usually treated as a human question — do we have it, or are we determined? In this Living the Tao Short, the discussion moves in a different direction entirely. Starting from a Taoist premise that everything is Dao, the conversation explores what that means for equality, change, and the nature of choice. If the Dao neither favors nor disfavors anything, then how does anything happen?...

What if the feeling that you’re separate… isn’t real? In this episode of Living the Tao, Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod and Morgan explore one of the most powerful illusions shaping modern life—the belief that we are disconnected from nature, from reality, and from the Dao itself. At the center of this discussion is the concept of the social mind—a framework that creates identity, belonging, and mea...

Does humor always come from pain? In this upcoming subscriber episode of Living the Tao, we explore a different possibility—one rooted in Taoist thought. Through classical perspective, lived experience, and a story that took nearly a decade to unfold, this episode looks at how humor can arise not from tension or injury, but from clarity. What happens when expectation is interrupted? What happens w...

Does the universe have a specific purpose for your life? In this Living the Tao Shorts episode (2-18), Master Mikel Steenrod and Morgan explore a question often associated with the Buddhist idea of dharma—the belief that each person has a role or destiny within a larger cosmic plan. But does Daoism see life that way? Daoist philosophy offers a surprisingly simple perspective. Human life generally...

There is an immortal in Taoist tradition who does not declare her power. She simply states that she has watched the sea turn into land… three times. In this episode (1-171), Master Mikel Steenrod examines the fragmented legend of Magu, one of the oldest known immortals in Taoist tradition, and what her story reveals about early Taoist practice, shamanic origins, and the true nature of immortality....