Daoist Practice Isn't What You Think — Dr. Livia Kohn on Awareness, Time & the Dao

Daoism is often misunderstood as philosophy or belief. But in practice, it is something else entirely. In this conversation, Dr. Livia Kohn presents Daoism as a lived process—one that reorganizes how experience unfolds. Rather than striving toward outcomes, Daoist practice cultivates the conditions for experience to arise naturally. Through breath, stillness, and the release of cognitive fixation, perception begins to shift. This conversation explores: • The dissolution of ordinary awareness • The distinction between constructed self and natural self • Methods of clearing such as "mind fasting" and "sitting in oblivion" • Why time slows—or disappears—in deep practice • How ethics emerges from alignment What begins as method becomes perception. What becomes perception becomes a way of being. Dr. Livia Kohn is one of the world's leading scholars of Daoism and Chinese religion. A longtime professor of religion and East Asian studies at Boston University, she has authored and edited more than 30 books on Daoist philosophy, meditation, longevity practices, and internal cultivation. She is also the founder and organizer of the International Daoist Conference and served for many years as editor of the Journal of Daoist Studies. Her work bridges rigorous scholarship with a deep understanding of Daoism as a lived, embodied tradition. Explore more conversations and writings: https://innerlifewithmarkwiley.com/integral-being-conversations/