Future Chi

Ep 37: Memory - Focus, Brain Fog, Clarity and Clearing Your Mental Hard Drive

Losing track of what you were doing, thinking, or talking about? Struggling hold your attention on one thing at a time? Productivity in the western world is declining at a rapid rate and brain fog, short attention spans and an inability to stay focused are the easily attributed causes. But what’s the underlying reason for this? Will this decline in mental performance create a knock on effect that will undermine our future?
Addressing the core of the problem is the only way forward. In this week’s episode Jost and Leon focus in on the root of short attention spans, what’s causing their rapid increase and what we can do about it. Jost talks about the nature of information overload that clogs up our mental hard drives, how the Liver regulates this, and how the Lungs can help us declutter and reboot our systems to ensure we aren’t holding onto unnecessary ‘files’. As it turns out Chinese medicine understood the concept of the computer thousands of years ago, and that ejecting old files - or old energy - was a daily necessity. Jost also talks about the blood, sweat and Chi that goes into creating something new, and how clarity and focus are required to lay the right groundwork and make things happen. Leon talks about how good art, good design, good photography, and good architecture transcend the technological tools of the time, how AI is only a small part of a big future picture we can’t yet see, what sustainable design really is, and the importance of focusing on the details. He also talks about the film Johnny Mnemonic and what happens when your mental hard drive can't handle the input.
Problems can’t exist without solutions, and we’re all born with the solution. Don’t wake up to external ideas, opinions and information (ie your phone). Wake up instead to breath work, exercise, and grounding. Clear out the old and start anew each day, and get busy doing what we’re here to do.
 
View the Episode Sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-37-memory
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/

Ep 36: Speaking Up - Thoughtcrimes, Censorship, Zombies, Self Expression, and Understanding the Battle

What concerns you and what are you willing to speak up about? Is it a prepackaged ideology or is it what you really think, really feel, and really believe? While it was once common to speak up, express opinions and engage in spirited debates, it’s now difficult to say anything without fear of offending someone. If we can’t speak up about how we really feel, we can’t come together and have a coherent discussion about what really needs to be done. We’re now experiencing unprecedented levels of division, but how did we get here? What’s caused us to identify and attack each other’s differences instead of recognising what unites us?
A lot of pain was generated over the last few years. Wilfully divisive language, attitudes, and policies came from multiple angles… be it from employers, friends and family, the media, or our leaders. Speaking out was encouraged as long it fit the narrative, and for many others this lead to a spiral of self censorship and suppressed emotions. But no matter what side you found yourself on, it’s becoming increasingly hard to move forward without addressing what happened. 
We need to speak up. If we don’t say what truly matters to us we create underlying patterns that cause problems in our physical and mental health, and the symptoms are now coming to the surface thick and fast. 
In this episode Jost and Leon get into the topic of self censorship, self expression, and the importance of getting to the root of what divides us. Jost talks about his post-pandemic heart healing workshops and the debilitating levels of PTSD they revealed, the connection between immunity and our belief patterns, and how negative thoughtforms (known as Phlegm in Chinese medicine) can spread and stop us from seeing inside ourselves and seeing reality. He also talks about the connection between this and ‘yo-yo flus’, weight gain, and brain fog, and how to begin the healing process and fight for our right to health and happiness. Leon talks about zombie bureaucrats, useful idiots and misguided righteousness, and the connection between thoughtforms and the face-huggers from Alien. Jost and Leon also talk about losing friends, how to view George Orwell’s 1984 from a health perspective, and the importance of understanding the battle before engaging in it. 
Speaking up is essential for our health and our sanity, so let’s start the inner journey of self healing and ensure that what we express outwards is clear, true, and real. 
 
View the Episode Sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-36-speakingup
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/

Ep 35: Dreams - Soul Journeys, Freedom, Nightmares, and the Mystery of Sleep

What are dreams and what do they mean? What do they tell us about our true selves? What does it really mean to ‘dream big’? How do we follow up on those dreams and what happens when they become nightmares?
In this week’s episode Jost and Leon enter the dream world and discuss what happens when we go to sleep, where our soul goes, and the messages our body sends us through dreams. When we sleep our awareness is in the spiritual world and we aren’t impacted by constraints of physical reality. Dreams are associated with freedom, with infinite possibilities, and with the ability to live on our own terms and abide by our own rules. But in the real world realising your dreams is hard work, and when we try to follow outdated constructs (like the Australian or American dream) it’s easy to become disappointed and disillusioned about where we’re headed.
Jost talks about dream analysis in Traditional Chinese Medicine and how dreams bring symptoms forward that need to be looked at and corrected. He also talks about the soul’s journey during sleep, how it exits the body and what happens when it returns. Jost and Leon discuss possession and creating from within, and how their different experiences in the past set them on their respective paths to the inner world. They also talk about the dream of music and self expression, lucid dreaming, the hard work behind magic, and the pursuit of not perfection - but process.
To dream we must first experience limitations and restrictions, and be faced with something seemingly impossible. To have a dream then means to uncover what is suppressed, to break free, and to move forward and create the new. So it’s time to reevaluate and redefine dreams, and to resolve the things that are holding us back.
 
View the Episode Sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-35-dreams
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/

Ep 34: Evil - Light vs Dark, Cosmic Battlefields, Quantum Entanglement, and Spiralling Up

The fight between good and evil is as old as the ages, but who started it? Who’s winning? It feels like the good guys are losing the fight lately, but what are the origins of evil? What roles do free choice, reincarnation, the ego, and the mundane world play in its development? How do we pick our battles, do the right thing, and remain hopeful even when things are at their darkest?
This week Jost and Leon shine some light into the darkness for an unexpectedly entertaining look at evil. In the process they cover the afterlife (and the before-life), limbo, quantum entanglement, emptiness and form, waves and particles, and most importantly - how to fight evil by making our bodies, minds, and spirits stronger. 
In this episode Jost gets into the yin and yang of good and bad, and the fact that they are two sides of the same coin. Evil does not exist in the spirit world, but rather it’s something that is acquired here in the physical realm; you can’t be evil unless you’ve experienced life on earth first, and therefore everything we do here matters. We are here to expand, to follow the way, and live in accordance with our nature, and evil intent is a result of resisting these things, resisting the tao, and trying to control others. Jost also touches on the dangers of getting entangled in the normal world and a downwards spiral of negativity, and how the past few years has introduced us to a new battleground: immunity. Jost and Leon also talk about the correlation between movies and our perception of life, the crushing mundanity of shopping malls, and how to avoid getting caught up in the periphery. 
We have no choice but to trust in balance. Don’t get entangled, focus instead on what you can create. What we’ve been experiencing lately is the starting point for something totally new. So stick to your idea, stick to your guns, and stick to who you are. Spiral up!
 
View the Episode Sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-34-evil
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/

Ep 33: Heart Health - Timelessness, Consciousness, Expansion, Return, and 8 Billion Ideas

This week Jost and Leon have a timely heart to heart, about heart health. While cardiovascular issues have long been the world’s biggest killer, the Heart is much more than just a physiological machine. The Heart is the seat of the mind, the coordinator of all other organs, and our internal command centre. Its job reach out into the unknown, expand, and return with new information. So the more stressed the heart becomes the less able it is to see its way forward and this leads to despondency, pessimism and confusion about who we are, where we’re going and what we’re here to do. 
In this episode Jost takes us on health journey over the past few decades and gives a rundown on why a sudden spike in heart conditions hasn’t come out of the blue. From the Liver-wrecking overdrive of the 90’s, to the Spleen-burnout mental overstimulation of the 2000’s, to the Kidney-punishing 2010’s, this organ progression paved the way for a massive health crisis that has now reached the Heart. Jost goes on to explain that since the Heart’s role is to create and express ideas, it is also directly linked to our purpose. But if there are disruptions to this process - which we are experiencing now more than ever - then plaque builds up, arteries constrict and the results are inevitable. Leon talks about what happens when external security slips from our grasp, the struggle to see into the future with optimism, and the need for slow art to combat the freneticism of insatiable algorithms. 
Jost and Leon also talk about guerrilla marketing in the 90’s (involving Egyptian themes, Chinese medicine and Harley Davison chains), the timelessness of good design, and the relationship between our internal software and hardware…or rather, heartware. 
 
View the Episode Sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-33-heart
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/

Ep 32: Reality - The Multiverse, Kali Yuga, Intelligent Design, and Getting a Grip

What is real? Who can we trust and how do we know what to believe? What is the underlying nature of reality and how do we tell truth from fiction anymore? With the rapid emergence of reality distorting technologies, conflicting narratives and a propaganda fuelled mainstream media machine, we're becoming programmed to doubt everything we see and hear. On the flip side, thanks to podcasts and new media, we have a growing ability to make up our own mind about the world. But this is only a piece of the puzzle, and we can't rely simply on an analysis of the external world to make a decision on what's real.
In this first episode of season 2, Jost and Leon get into the reality of being real with a discussion that delves into the increasingly weird and wild ride that is 2023. Jost discusses the argument for intelligent design and the non-randomness of the universe, the origins of consciousness and information, and how to return to the source. He also gives a detailed but dynamic definition of 'chi', talks about how modern day physics is still catching up with the Taoists of old, and how to transcend the craziness of this world by tapping into the cosmic self. Leon talks about the triumph of practical effects over CGI in film, the zen concept of 'eko hensho' (self illumination), the uphill battle of choosing the right battles to fight, and the beginnings of UFO disclosure. 
Jost and Leon also discuss the singularities and the multiverse, Kali Yuga and the cycles of creation and destruction that appear in cultures all over the world, and the clash between good and evil. They also chat about the slippery slope of criticism and emotional entanglement that takes us away from our true selves.
View the episode sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-32-reality
 For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/

Episode 31: Future

As we come to the end of Season 1 of the Future Chi podcast we’re reflecting on the first 30 episodes - where we came from and where we’re headed. Most importantly we’re asking the question: what does the future hold? 
We’re on the precipice of something new and we’re heading for a crash or renewal, but we also can’t dwell on what’s to come; the future needs us to work in the present, to build our practice, and live correctly. In this episode Jost and Leon discuss how Neanderthals may have been the first martial artists, how the Taoists were the original futurists, and the dangers of moving into a mental construct of reality instead of a physical one. Jost talks about the need to work with technology and not hand over to it, how we must always return to the beginning but forget the past, and how internal chaos gives rise to external destruction (and what we can do about it). Leon talks about what Mark Zuckerberg and Mikhail Kalashnikov have in common, the devaluation of physical fitness and the warrior class, and how the future could probably do without post-it notes. 
In typical Future Chi fashion the conversation also covers aliens, artificial intelligence, the apocalypse, global warming, intuition, augmented reality, censorship, time travel, evolution, and how to save the world. It’s a wild ride and a fitting way to end the first season in preparation for the next.
The future is about feeling our way forward, cultivating our health, and building our intuition. So what’s the future of chi? The future is chi. 
 
View the Episode Sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-31-future
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/

Episode 30: Renewal

This week we’re sounding the alarm on how ‘alarming' everything is, including the...alarming rise in anxiety. Even western medicine has begun to arrive on the fact that physchotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and isolated approaches to mental health aren’t enough on their own to treat anxiety. A connection to the body is key, but how do we move from the thinking body into the feeling body? How do we get into a state of non-thought and return to the root?
In this episode Jost talks in depth about the origins of anxiety and unexpected and alternative ways to transcend it, which include climbing down cliffs, riding a Harley Davidson or driving a modified BMW. He also talks about impossible mountain bike trails, how many interpretations of Taoism aren’t quite accurate, and how we can’t get to a state of non-thinking through the mind, but rather the body. Leon talks about the Taoist mountains of China, fake martial artists, and the greatest car ever made. Jost and Leon also discuss why you shouldn’t do tai chi, why sages need no self promotion, and the unsung value of anonymity.
We must cultivate a return to centre daily, and first experience ourselves in emptiness before get bogged down in thought and mental constructs. In doing so we’ll experience a return to Tao, a return to the root, and ultimately, experience renewal. 
 
View the Episode Sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-30-renewal
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/

Episode 29: Flow

What happens with excess yang (heat) and not enough yin (cooling) to counter it? What happens when oxygen and fluids fail to flow properly? It turns out the same thing that happens in a car engine happens inside of us: poor circulation causes overheating, stagnation, and ultimately a break down. Today we experience a lot of stimulation - a lot of up, up, up - and not enough relaxation, grounding, and returning to centre - and as a result our engines are overheating and a lot of “check engine” lights are appearing. But if we don’t know how to read the warnings and treat ourselves, the results can be catastrophic.
This week Jost and Leon focus on the fast-growing pathology ADHD and how traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) chalks it up to poor flow and an overabundance of heat. They talk about the correlations between vehicle dynamics, consumer electronic technology, and shoes when it comes to ‘using it or losing it’, and how this relates to our mind, body, and soul. Jost talks in depth about the Taoist’s mastery of frequency, pitch, and the 5 elements, and how our job is to establish the spirit in the physical world. Leon talks about his recent trip to China, how relaxation is key to developing power, and spending time with a master.  Jost and Leon also talk about the correct way to drive a rental car, how we should elect trees instead of politicians, and how breathing is the first step to combating, working with, and ultimately treating ADHD. 
 
View the Episode Sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-29-flow
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/

Episode 28: Intuition

How many worries can we have simultaneously? These days it seems like an infinite amount: we worry about health, the environment, politics, war, economics, identity, security, purpose. We check every worry box without knowing what do do about it and where to go next. An old era has ended and a new one is emerging but what do we do in this time of transition? A myriad of disruptions are changing reality as we know it, and ‘normal’ is gone and not coming back. Getting in touch with our nature, pursuing our interests and cultivating skills is the way forward…but we need to trust our intuition to get there. 
In this episode, Jost and Leon talk about the importance of true education, of real teachers, and ultimately the value of mentors who can guide us in the right direction. Jost talks about his background in social services and the importance of the intuitive understanding of a subject which must precede an academic one. He also talks about being in the presence of true mastery, the impact that good teachers and experienced mentors had on him as a student, and the woeful lack of grounded educators in today’s universities. Leon picks up the baton and gets stuck into his battles with educational institution, how teaching design is a family business, and how students get screwed over by teachers who lack foundational skills. 
Jost and Leon also discuss the endless cycle of academic analysis that gets in the way of feeling and empirical experience, which they find is happening in their respective fields of traditional Chinese medicine and design. They also share their experiences of learning tai chi, how the right teacher intuitively guides the student based on their individual needs, and how one-on-one mentorship may very well be the future of education. So don’t wait, get intuit! 
 
View the Episode Sketch here: https://futurethingy.com/episode-28-intuition
For more about Jost: https://jostsauer.com/
For more about Leon: https://futurethingy.com/