The DPO Project

This week Master Zi, Vindesh, and Caitlin continue their conversation about empowered feminine archetypes.  We pick up with Caitlin describing her personal life philosophy and how working with a lot of masculine energy has been an important part of the healing process.  Master Zi and Vindesh discuss different archetypes and how understanding your own temperament promotes flow. 

This week Zi and Vindesh explore a topic they can only speculate about, but recognize it when they see it.  What makes a woman empowered? There are different models of archetypes in nature we can draw examples from.  However, typically femininity is diminished in western society.  Zi and Vin discuss modern day examples of women who get things done, and which character traits help them flow.  

In this episode Zi and Vindesh discuss why it's essential we learn to identify and subdue ego.   Zi shares what he's learned from his teachers about understanding the ego.  Without exploring our relationship with ego, it can quickly govern us and limit our perspectives.  He provides exercises to develop better self-awareness.

This week Zi and Vindesh measure the odds of living a life with less stress and anxiety.  By understanding the way the brain works, we can begin to shift it's patterns and break free from what no longer serves us.  Zi and Vindesh discuss why understanding certainty and uncertainty is key to finding harmony in your life.  

This week Master Zi and Vindesh discuss what makes a relationship work.  We see the divorce rates skyrocketing since the pandemic took off as well as a gambit of matchmaking dating shows that depict emotionally disconnected couples.  Zi describes this phenomenon as a failure to thrive, and he has ideas on how to make partnering up a smoother process.

This week Zi and Vindesh consider a different perspective.  What would a cosmic being think of humanity if it was observing from a distance?  With this idea in mind, we can begin to become a dispassionate observer.  Zi discusses the different brain functions taking place when someone begins to train thought patterns and tips to navigate managing anxiety when making decisions. 

In part two of the Purpose of Passion series, Zi and Vindesh explore what happens in a passionless society as well as a culturural landscape with too much romance.  It is challenging to walk the middle path, but it is the most sustainable solution.  Zi discusses  Buddha's Eightfold Path and how following the Dharma can lead one to calmer seas and a vibrant way of life.

This week Zi and Vindesh explore the purpose of passion.  Without passion the world would have no art, music, or expression.  However, too much passion is also unsustainable.  Zi discusses why it’s vital to our health to have an understanding of the forces that propel us to move forward in the world.  Hinduism and the texts teach valuable lessons for what a passionless society looks like, and when...

Zi and Vin pick up their discussion about creating narratives and solutions that hinder your personal growth.  Drawing on their own life experiences, they explore solutions and actionable steps one can take to gain more personal freedom.  Zi tells the story behind the Hero asana in yoga and how important it is to understand in modern times.  

This week's episode is part 1 of a two part series where Zi and Vindesh focus on the correlation of the brain, and how it can improve or hinder overall health.  The brain loves efficiency.  It's less energy to think of a different route home, when we can take the same road without thinking.  However, the habits we have aren't always serving us despite how little effort it takes to perform them.  Z...

This week Zi and Vindesh welcome Katy Kvalvik, creator of the Harmony Method, to this episode about finding solutions during this current health crisis.  It's easy to get stressed and lost in all of the information we see on the news and internet.  They explore how we got to this point and what makes this pandemic different than other outbreaks.  Katy describes her own experience of recovering fro...

If we can think about our lives as if we are a character in grandiose cosmic drama, what role would you want to play?  This week Zi and Vindesh discuss that understanding the part you play in your life can help you succeed in any direction you go.  It is difficult, or as Zi chooses to say, it is a challenge.  We are made stronger from our challenges.  When it comes to fulfilling your health goals,...

There is a movement in tai chi that depicts one of life’s hardest lessons.  Change is difficult.  In order to have stories, we must be able to turn the page.  Zi and Vindesh explore what happens when we avoid change and how it corrupts our overall health and wellbeing.  The cost of not changing is too high to avoid it.  They continue to discuss how nature is our best teacher and what it can teach...

An expression near and dear to Vindesh’s heart, sacred cows are a certain set of ideas or beliefs that we hold on to and believe to be true.  This episode Zi discusses how “sacred cows” protect our reality and reinforce belief systems that hinder the human condition.  Anything that unburdens you, decongests you.  Zi and Vindesh explore the different sacred cows in current cultural landscape and ho...

This week Zi and Vindesh get fired up in their discussion about managing outrage and what the consequences are to your health if it's not kept in check.  What are you outraged by?  Zi suggests an exercise that clarifies what triggers are and what you can do to mitigate them.  They explore the cultural shift taking place since George Floyd was killed during an arrest as well as the recent protests...

Building on the conversation from last week about compassion and empathy, Zi and Vindesh discuss how the little acts of sacrifice are often missing in our lives.  These acts of choosing an intimate moment with a partner over a game on tv, going to work knowing that your children will have a better future, or exercising in favor of watching Netflix contain so much more than we think.  When we can k...

What is the difference between empathy and compassion?  This week Zi and Vindesh talk about the cases of Susan Smith and Amy Cooper, who each used empathy as a form of empowerment.  It's important to read and understand our environment and those that inhabit it.  However, the understanding is not as important as the action.  Compassion requires practice and knowing the difference can save lives, b...

What does it mean to be a hero? Mythology has left us bread crumbs and role models like Hercules to draw from, but how do we modernize this ancient archetype?  This week Zi and Vindesh invite some heroes on the podcast, Dave and Kevin.  They share their experience as an investigator and fire fighter, respectively. Their friendship with Zi has taught them about heroism.  By facing our challenges, w...

Sometimes, it is the accumulation of many small injuries that land the final blow.  However, this isn't just a strategy you find in combat.  We see this dynamic played out with our partners, bosses, and friends.  What started as something little, that was glossed over initially, becomes a huge argument.  How did it get to this point?  Zi and Vindesh explore how this topic impacts not only the rela...

The checks have gone out and been cashed.  Some parts of the country have started to lift restrictions.  We patiently stand by for the vaccine, which Bill Gates thinks should be mandatory. Why this virus and why this technology?  This week Zi and Vindesh lead us into the murky territory of the conspiracy of asking questions. Dissent has been confused as disloyalty before in human history.  It is s...

Death can be a great teacher.  Delving deep into the topic of life and death, Zi shares a meditation he learned from his time studying with the Yoga Sadhus in India.  Thinking about death could be the key to living life.  If you were to lose someone tomorrow, what might you say them?  Sharing the story of losing his brother, Zi opens up about how that event helped him to become more openhearted.  

  As the quarantine continues, so does the global rise of divorce rates.  This week Zi and Vindesh discuss the relationship dynamics that this pandemic is revealing.  Now that we are no longer glued together by familiarity, we are facing challenges in some our closest relationships.  How do you manage a healthy dialogue with your partner with out compromising your own form of expression? Going int...

A few weeks in and we're still trying to make sense of this pandemic.  One day the dow is up, the next it plummets along with our plans and ideas to navigate this.  Many of us have had to readjust to the new normal.  Gratitude is an anchor in the chaos.  This week Zi and Vindesh discuss why mind is one thing worth controlling.     

It's been a few weeks since we have hit the reset button.  Still under quarantine, we have had to cancel travel plans, events to celebrate life's milestones, and our entitlement to think we were guaranteed those things.  Time is an endless taskmaster, but for now in this moment, we get a second to pause.  Zi and Vindesh discuss what we are gaining collectively through this pandemic.  They explore...

Continuing the conversation of the world's response to COVID-19, Zi and Vindesh question the cost of herd mentality.  Special guest David Nik joins the podcast and discusses how martial arts philosophies are a good tool in developing critical thinking skills.  As a society, we've thrown critical thinking out of the window.  This is still an opportunity.  With objective analysis of any situation, s...