Ep365 : The Last Interview - Lorin Roche PhD

In this episode I am once again joined by Lorin Roche PhD, meditation teacher and author of “The Radiance Sutras”. I first met Lorin at the Summit at Sea conference in 2015 where we were both teaching. We attended each others’ workshops and immediately hit it off. In those days, we both taught on the California conference circuit and were often booked to teach at the same gatherings. Over the years we spent many weeks enjoying extended conversations, raucous dinners, and long evenings of music and poetry. In short, we became true friends. It was a desire to share the rich conversations I was having with friends like Lorin that contributed to my decision to start the Guru Viking Podcast. And so, naturally, I asked Lorin to be my first interview subject. He went on to become one of my most popular, recurring guests. On the 18th of April 2026, Lorin died. What follows is our last interview and conversation, recorded a few months before his passing. The episode covers many of Lorin’s most characteristic teaching themes and I have also included some of the conversation we had before and after the main episode content. There are many poignant and amusing stories from the years of my friendship with Lorin and there is a lot worth saying about his approach to meditation. One day, I might record an episode dedicated to those themes. For now I will say that it is obvious to all that Lorin was a vivacious man - the essence of his approach to teaching meditation was an encouragement to wholeheartedly embrace life. But I can also report that behind the scenes and off the stage Lorin was a generous man, irreverent, funny, and very kind. … https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep365-the-last-interview-lorin-roche-phd Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’. … Topics include: 00:00 - Intro 01:5 - Boats, geese, and hummingbirds 07:05 - Meditating with the flow of nature 08:14 - Being human is like being president of Earth 11:35 - The miracle of attention 13:51 - Teaching was easier in the 70s 15:15 - Agencylessness is a dumb idea 16:38 - Human reaction time 17:52 - Attending to the inner life 18:44 - Evil meditation teaching 19:58 - Misunderstandings about Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras 22:55 - Taming the body 26:33 - The genius of yoga 28:01 - Pros and cons of stopping the mind 28:57 - Where meditation went wrong 35:47 - Tuning the instrument 38:56 - Limitations of the “tuning” metaphor 43:24 - Monastic ideas sabotage lay people 45:41 - Religion vs meditation 50:56 - Is Loren’s approach self-indulgent? 56:18 - Peak experiences and enlightenment 59:20 - Loren’s drug experiences 01:02:20 - LA Yoga community’s enthusiasm for drugs 01:04:50 - Loren asks about Steve’s meditation … Previous episodes with Lorin here: - https://www.guruviking.com/search?q=lorin 
 To find out more about Lorin visit:
- www.lorinroche.com 
- www.radiancesutras.com 
- www.meditationtt.com For more interviews, videos, and more visit: - https://www.guruviking.com/ Music 'Deva Dasi' by Steve James