"I better not to answer."

That's what Tomo said when I asked him if he felt enlightened. He has meditated every morning for four years at a Zen temple in Kyoto. He runs a coffee shop: Zen Coffee Kyoto. He paints faceless men in suits, a portrait of the man his father was, and the man he refused to become.

We talked about what Zen meditation actually is (much simpler than the apps will tell you), the philosophy of wabi-sabi, why he thinks the answer is removing, not adding, and what happens to your body and mind after years of daily practice. He shared a Taoist parable about a butterfly that I'm still thinking about. And at the end of the episode, he guides a five-minute meditation you can do right now, wherever you're listening.

In this episode:

- What Zen meditation is — and what people get wrong about it

- The philosophy of wabi-sabi explained without buzzwords

- Why a sararīman is Tomo's nightmare

- The Taoist butterfly parable

- A guided five-minute meditation with Tomo

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TIMESTAMPS

[00:00] Intro

[03:00] What Zen meditation actually is

[06:00] Stop adding, start removing

[12:36] The question Tomo refused to answer

[13:48] The faceless men he paints

[15:00] Wabi-sabi

[17:00] The butterfly parable

[23:30] What four years of daily meditation actually does to you

[25:30] Guided five-minute meditation

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#MeditacionZen #WabiSabi #Kyoto #MindfulnessPractice #FilosofiaJaponesa #CreateWhatMatters

What if the tension in your hips is holding more than just tightness?

In this episode I sit down with Laura Rodenas — somatic healer, yoga teacher and founder of Samudra Yoga Space — recorded live in Bali. Laura went from corporate architecture in London to becoming one of the most sought-after somatic healing teachers in the world, and the turning point was a single accident that left her unable to move.

We go deep on why the hips are the body's emotional vault, how generational trauma gets stored and passed down through the female lineage, what TRE (Trauma Release Exercises) actually is and why shaking is the body's most natural healing mechanism, and why knowing your trauma inside out does not mean you are releasing it.

This one hit close to home. An honest, embodied conversation about what real healing actually looks like.

Samudra Yoga Space: @samudrayogaspace

What happens when you've done 20 silent retreats, lived in a monastery for 7 months — and still can't stop being reactive with the people you love?

That's where Cenk Matalon's journey began. A dedicated Buddhist meditator, trained psychotherapist, and the creator of Sacred Monogamy, Cenk discovered that spiritual practice — as profound as it was — could not touch the deepest layers of his emotional life. The shadows were waiting at home.

In this episode recorded live in Bali, Indonesia, Ale and Cenk explore a question that most of the spiritual world avoids: what does it mean to stop transcending your humanity, and finally inhabit it?

In this conversation:

✦ The shadow of spirituality: what spiritual bypassing is, and how it quietly destroys intimacy

✦ Why your relationship is the most difficult — and most powerful — spiritual path available to you

✦ The mud of your becoming: why the mess in your relationship is not an obstacle, it's the path

✦ Sacred Monogamy vs. modern love: beyond codependency and hyper-independence

✦ Emotional cheating, plan Bs, and why full commitment is supposed to feel terrifying

✦ The real reason people cheat — and what fear of intimacy is actually about

✦ Why emotions are not problems to manage — they're your relational GPS

✦ Dearmoring the heart: what lives underneath your deepest wounds

✦ Your partner as a portal of consciousness

This is not a conversation about having better relationships. It's about becoming someone who can hold one — with yourself first, and then with another human being.

Find Cenk at cenkmatalon.com | @cenkmatalon

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If this conversation stirred something in you —a question, a memory, a quiet "that's me" —you're exactly who this podcast is for.

Create What Matters was built for the ones who are done living on autopilot.For the ones building a life from the inside out.Not performing it. Actually living it.

Every episode, we bring you a conversation that challenges, expands and reminds you of what you already know deep down.

Because the ultimate guru?

Is you.

Hit Follow on the Spotify ❤️ so you never miss what's coming next.The best conversation might be the next one.