Buddhist-ish podcasts

I drive an hour each day, each way to commute from home to my office.  That gives me a lot of time in the car to think about life.  It also creates a natural separation between my home life and work life.  If I have a rough day at work, I am usually over it before I get home.

However, many days I spend that time driving listening to some very good podcasts.  Some are specifically Buddhist and some are accidentally so.  Here's the run down of my favorites:

(Note: Each of these podcasts are available via iTunes.  I'll provide a link to the group's main site as well for reference.)

The Mindfulist - www.TheMindfulist.com:  Gwen Bell and Patrick Reynolds are two very cool meditation practitioners who provide a weekly dose of reality-based Buddhist thought.  I fell in love with their style as a listener of "Zen is Stupid" which was the progenitor of their current endeavor.  Gwen is a brilliant and lovely social media consultant who brings energy and enthusiasm to the table, while Patrick is a laid back, video-game-playing yoga teacher who is the Yin to Gwen's Yang.  This podcast usually runs about 20 minutes long and I rarely walk away from it without the nugget of a teaching that follows me throughout the day.

Against the Stream - www.AgainstTheStream.org:  If you're an inked up, wild-child, punk-rocker, western buddhist--or you play one on TV--you should check out Noah Levine.  Noah is my age, which for some reason gives him credibility with me, and has studied with Jack Kornfield, Raam Dass, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  He is also covered with tattoos and takes an in-your-face approach to the dharma.  His books, Dharma Punx and Against the Stream are both on my night-stand and are very approachable.  The podcast is a blend of Levine and his contemporaries providing various guided meditations and dharma talks.  Very good stuff indeed!

Buddhist Geeks - www.BuddhistGeeks.com:  This podcast is not belied by its tag line-- "Seriously Buddhist, seriously geeky."  The program is generally an interview with Buddhist teachers and I enjoy the variety of traditions and lineages represented among them.  It's a little more academic than my other favorites, but never fails to have real-world application.

Alan Watts Podcast - www.AlanWattsPodcast.com:  The classic philosophy from a classic western Buddhist compiled by his son, Mark.  Each podcast is a quick shot of classic Watts and will resonate with you throughout your day--no mind-altering substances required!

All Souls Unitarian Church, Tulsa Oklahoma - www.AllSoulsChurch.org:  While not really a Buddhist podcast, this one is very important to me.  I have recently "signed the book" at our local Unitarian Universalist Church and enjoy it very much.  Because I was raised in a bible-thumping family in bible-belt USA, I still have a very strong cultural need for that Sunday morning, sitting in the pew experience.  This podcast from a UU church in Tulsa offers an inspiring and diverse collection of Sunday morning church services that are well-produced and meaningful.  Sometimes the various pastors are preaching with spirit in the vein of a southern Baptist revivalist and sometimes it's more like a quiet dharma talk.  Either way, the messages are always relevant and colorful.

I'm a bid public radio geek, so here is a list of not necessary Buddhist, but still excellent podcasts that I regularly enjoy:

This American Life - www.ThisAmericanLife.org
A Way With Words - www.WayWordRadio.org
Radiolab - www.RadioLab.org
The Moth - www.TheMoth.org
The Story - www.TheStory.org