Pneuma with Daniel Finneran

“How interesting (it is) to trace the history of a single raindrop!”  In this guided meditation, we’ll join the American outdoorsman, conservationist, and writer John Muir as we contemplate the dramatic life story of a single raindrop.  Muir was a man of extraordinary depth.  In this episode, we’ll accompany him to lofty poetic heights–high, in fact, as the craggy summits atop which he made his ho...

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888 - 1965) was an Anglo-American poet.  A devout Christian, Eliot was an important figure in the Modernist movement that sprang to life in the first quarter of the 20th century. "Four Quartets", a uniquely sublime work by which all his other poems are eclipsed, addresses the theme of time.  It's a theme on which, as you doubtless know, so many of our meditations here on Pne...

Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not take Toward the door we never opened Into the rose-garden. This is an excerpt from the first poem of TS Eliot’s masterpiece, “Four Quartets”.  It is, in my opinion, the most memorable part of “Burnt Norton”. In this episode, we’re going to meditate on the theme that Eliot presents: Regret.  Be sure to listen to my prior episode about r...

Charlotte Brontë (nom de plume "Currer Bell") was an English novelist.  She lived between 1816 - 1855.  She was the eldest (and most gifted) of an immensely talented trio of sisters, which included Emily and Anne. Her most famous work, “Jane Eyre” is also one of the finest in the English language.  In this episode of “Fall Asleep With Me”, I read one of my favorite scenes: that in which our eponym...

“Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre; remorse is the poison of life.” In Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 masterpiece, “Jane Eyre”, Mr. Rochester issues this stark warning to young Jane, the novel’s titular character and heroine.  In this episode, we’ll focus on remorse, contrast it with regret, and implement techniques to relieve us of its heavy burden.  I ask you, dear friend and listene...

Join me for an Alternate Nostril Breathing Session!  This simple breathing technique, to which I commit a few minutes every single day, is deceptively powerful.  Not only does it invigorate me with fresh oxygen and vital energy, but it helps to balance my body–the left side with the right.  This episode is a simple tutorial to which anyone can follow along.  If you like this content, be sure to su...

George Eliot (the manly nom de plume behind which Mary Ann Evans cloaked her true identity) was an English novelist.  She lived between 1819-1880. Her most famous work, “Middlemarch” is also one of the finest in the English language.  In this episode of “Fall Asleep With Me”, I read one of my favorite scenes: that in which Will Ladislaw and Dorothea Casaubon (finally) express their love—in word an...

What if you had to live your life not only once, but innumerable times over?  Would this be a blessing? A curse?  Would you delight in the opportunity to live it again?  Or, if you haven't lived such a good life thus far, would you bewail the prospect?  In his work, "The Gay Science", Friedrich Nietzsche explores this idea. He does so through his doctrine of "Eternal Recurrence", of which the Pre-...

The concept of the Unimaginable “I” is one to which, so far as I can tell, the Czech-French writer, Milan Kundera, is chiefly responsible for having given life.  Kundera, twice expelled from the Czech Communist Party (of which he was, in his youth, a devout member) published a book in 1984 entitled The Unbearable Lightness of Being , about which I talk, at some length, on my sister channel, Finner...

zzzzZZZZzzzz 😴😴😴 Hello everyone!  Welcome to this latest installment of “Fall Asleep With Me”. In this series, I read classic bedtime stories and great works of literature to which you can (and most assuredly WILL) fall asleep!  Tonight’s episode is a sleepy, dream-inducing reading of “Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh.  Please subscribe to this channel for many more sleepy bedtime stories...

To breathe deeply into the abdomen with the diaphragm–that’s precisely the way in which Nature intended us to breathe!  And yet… We’ve unlearned this simple technique (for which a remedial lesson is urgently needed!) Together, let’s relearn how to breathe properly.  Follow along, and–within a few minutes’ time–you’ll significantly improve the quality of each breath. You’ll lower your stress, impro...

Since its inception in Autumn of 2022, Pneuma has accumulated 50,000 downloads (almost exclusively on Spotify)! I just want to take this opportunity to THANK everyone for supporting this channel and for helping our community grow. Behind every number is a person, a deeply complex and unique human being, to whom I extend my sincerest gratitude.  It’s my goal for Pneuma to become the FIRST (and perh...

Are you ready?  Here’s the secret:  Gaining mastery over your emotions is as simple as replacing one word with another.  When angry, do you say: “I am angry”?  Try this: the next time that you’re visited by the emotion of anger, simply substitute the word “ feel ” for “ am ”.  “I feel angry” is much different from “I am angry”.  Feelings are fleeting. They are visitors to which you can either open...

Grounding (or mindfully connecting your bare feet to the earth) is one of the simplest, least expensive, and most powerful things that you can do for your health.  And guess what?  With a little guidance, it’s something at which you can become an expert in just a few minutes’ time!  In this episode, I’ll help you to become a “grounding” pro! I’ll lead you through my own grounding practice, to whic...

The title, I think, says it all!  In this video (over whose script I toiled for weeks!), I count down from 100 to 0 in a super SLEEPY tone of voice.  My prediction is that you won’t make it past 75.  When you wake up, be sure to comment below with the last number you remember hearing.  I’m curious to know if there’s a soporific “sweet-spot” at which everyone falls asleep. Please consider subscribi...

Through winter-time we call on spring, And through the spring on summer call, And when abounding hedges ring Declare that winter’s best of all… –WB Yeats Is it not the case that we’re incessantly looking ahead to the future?  That we very seldom stop and appreciate the season in which we’re living?  That we live not in the present moment, in the sacred “here and now”, but in the distant times and...

In a previous episode, we meditated over a question than which, in my opinion, there simply is none bigger, more profound, nor more important:  “TO BE, OR NOT TO BE”.  (Or, in other words: to keep on living, or to give up and die). This is the famously quotable line with which Act III of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” opens.  Hamlet, the troubled Prince of Denmark does what he does best: he dithers. I sup...

zzzzZZZZzzzz 😴😴😴 Hello everyone!  Welcome to this episode of “Fall Asleep With Me”. In this series, I read classic bedtime stories to which you can (and most assuredly WILL) fall asleep.  Tonight’s episode is a sleepy, dream-inducing reading of “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak.  For what it’s worth… I’m not so sure the mischievous, misbehaving, wolf-boy Max is totally deserving of...

Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got Till it’s gone … The legendary Joni Mitchell (to whom the Counting Crows don’t hold a candle!) said it best: “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”.  GK Chesterton, the great English essayist, cultural critic, and Christian apologist of the early 20th-century wrote something very similar in his article, “ On Being Moved”. In i...

Shhhh!  Hello everyone!  Welcome to this special bedtime episode of Pneuma. This is a sleepy, dream-inducing reading of “Goodnight Moon”--a book to which, so far as I can tell, the entire English-speaking world has been falling asleep since its publication way back in 1947.  Can you believe that this timeless book (of which every newborn child is the recipient!) is over three-quarters of a CENTURY...

The marrow–be it of a bone or of a book–is the deepest, healthiest, most sought-after thing that we can nourish ourselves with.  It is the hidden flake of gold, the buried piece of diamond for which we all dig–than which every lustrous rock and special stone is far less valuable.  In this episode, we draw our inspiration from the great French Renaissance writer, François Rabelais.  In his immortal...

“To be, or not to be, that is the question…” Verily, ‘tis a line quotable not only by every English-speaker, but most non-English-speakers who are scattered across the world.  And while it deserves, and shall forever deserve, our quotation, it no less demands our contemplation.  I’m convinced that this line, and the entire passage of which it’s the opening and defining part, is more than mere poet...

Good morning!  Are you looking to boost your confidence as you prepare for the trials and tribulations of the day ahead?  Are you looking to uplift your spirit and strengthen your resolve as you embark upon a new and daunting journey?  I can assure you: you’ve come to the right place!  Take a seat, close your eyes, attend to your breathing, and join me on this 15-minute affirmation meditation, at...

A simple, soothing guided meditation for when you drink your tea.  I assure you: this episode will enhance what is, on its own, without my meager contribution, one of the great human institutions of which we have the good fortune to partake: teatime.  Let us take the opportunity (the opportuni-TEA?--I couldn't resist!) to employ some mindfulness while we enjoy this delightful beverage.  Tell me, w...

No doubt—this world in which we live is a crazy one!  From political unrest, to economic uncertainty, to global pandemics, and interminable wars, you might begin to feel as if there’s no escape.  Rest assured, there is.  The path is simple: all you need to do is retire into yourself and find your inner peace.  Join me on this soothing meditation to rediscover your inner peace and, above all, to ke...