conscient podcast

pressing pause
An extended break from the production of conscient podcast, balado conscient, a calm presence and related social media
Why do this? 
One reason is that I noticed that I sleep better when I don’t produce podcasts or essays about the end of the world as we know it.
Imagine that.
But it’s also because my learning and unlearning journey, which I began back in 2020, some 5 years ago, has come full circle. 
It feels like the end of a chapter.
I sometimes think of it as a five-year mission to explore strange new art, to seek out solutions to the ecological crisis and to boldly talk about things that have never been talked about before. 
Maybe they have, but it’s worth repeating.
You know, it was a trek, with many mistakes and a few discoveries. 
And, of course, there are many, many more stories yet to be told that can inspire us to action, or at the very least comfort us in troubled times.
There are many more examples of transformative artworks that I hope we will know about and eventually experience.
There are many more questions, good questions, to be asked by artists.
Also, artists can play a role in providing us with a few moments of respite and escape from the doom and gloom around us. 
I see the value in this kind of media and storytelling work and support whoever is doing it, as best I can. 
But for me, it’s time to press pause. 
There’s a quote that I want to read to you that’s my northern star. It’s by the great Vietnamese zen master Thich Nhat Hanh:
What we most need to do is to hear within us the sound of the Earth crying. 
I’m going to think about this and have it at the heart of my daily life and think about what it means to listen deeply to the sounds of the earth crying, which is essentially ourselves. 
How can this insight lead to healing?  We’ll see where my spirit takes me.  I really have no idea where it’s going to go.  
Before ending this last Substack posting I wanted to remind you that I’ve recently published four new podcast episodes of conscient podcast, 2 in English et 2 en Français. 
On conscient podcast: 
An ENCORE presentation of e41 – emergency preparedness from 2021 with Jen Rae, a Melbourne, Australia based artist, researcher, facilitator and educator of Canadian Red River Métis and Scottish descent who talks about the intersection between art, emergency preparedness, disaster risk-reduction and resilience, which seems very timely in 2026 as these issues are amplified. There is some very good ideas and positive energy coming out of Jen’s work. 
e244 roundtable - death as transformation, recorded on December 2, 2025 and originally broadcast on December 13, 2025 as an episode of the Making Waves radio program, where I moderated a panel of sound artists and previous guests of conscient podcast, Azul Carolina Duque, Kenneth Newby, andWendelin Bartley about our understanding of ‘death as a natural transformation of energy and consciousness, not an end’ and how our practices as sound artists relate to this transition.
Sur le balado conscient :
un episode ENCORE l’épisode 27 - l’énergie créatrice libreavec l’artiste sonore, musicienne, réalisatrice radio, sculpteure et une bonne amie de longue date, Hélène Prévost qui nous parle de sa tristesse pour l’état du monde et comment l’art, s’il est libre, peut devenir un puissant levier de changement et de ralliement social. Un bon rappel pour 2026. 
é171 - villeray acoustique avec deux artistes sonores, Magali Babin et Chantal Dumas, le collectif dB, un entretien enregistré pour un article dans la Revue Circuit, qui parle du projet de recherche-création Villeray acoustiqueune exploration de l’écoute de ce quartier de Montréal comme expérience sensorielle. Vous allez entendre notre conversation et aussi une prise de son du parc Jarry à Montréal par Magali Babin. 
There you go.
Thank you so much for reading and listening over these many years. 
It’s been my privilege to be able to express myself and receive your feedback. 
Thanks to my guests and collaborators on all these platforms.
I’m now going to go silent for a long time, possibly forever, depending on the outcomes of my reflections. 
Take care. 
See you down the road…

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES
Hey conscient listeners,
I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020. It’s my way to give back.
This Indigenous Land Acknowledgement statement was developed by members of the Algonquin community for my former employer the Canada Council for the Arts. I have adapted slightly to make it my own.
I acknowledge that my studio, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.
I recognize the Algonquins as the customary keepers and defenders of the Ottawa River Watershed and its tributaries. I honour their long history of welcoming many Nations to this beautiful territory and uphold and uplift the voice and values of our Host Nation.
Further, I offer my respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and honour commitments to self-determination and sovereignty that have been made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples.
I acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada and fervently believe the Arts contribute to the healing and decolonizing journey we all share together
In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.
Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.
Share what you like, etc
I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible.
Claude Schryer
Latest update on January 9, 2026

Death might be one of the most relational acts possible. I think death is that threshold moment where that illusion is dissolved. Our death is a moment of redistribution of nutrients, of memory, of rhythm, of vibration into the wider field, from the illusion of a single self into the remembering of an entangled self. I love to think about death as a teacher of surrender and a trust in the intelligence of regeneration. 
- Azul Carolina Duque
(Below is the script that you can hear me narrate in this episode.)
Its January 20, 2026. I was going to publish this roundtable called death as transformation later this year to inaugurate the 7th season of the conscient podcast but I changed my mind – imagine that - and have added it to season 6 because I’ve decided to take a long break from producing both of my podcasts and my Substack in order to do some thinking and meditation and self-care but I wanted to get this very special episode out to you now in case I decide not to continue with the podcast after my break.
It's one of those pivotal moments. 
Here’s back story on this episode. 
In November 2025, Artistic Director of New Adventures in Sound Art, Darren Copeland, asked me if I would like to participate in an episode of his monthly Making Waves radio program, which is broadcast on WGXC 90.7 FM in New York's Upper Hudson Valley and also available as a podcast. 
Darren wanted to talk about one of my favorite topics, climate change and asked me what would I like to talk about specifically? And to my surprise I immediately answered: death. 
I went on to explain that I meant death in the sense of how our spirit and consciousness continues when our body goes back to the earth, and what might this spirit and consciousness sound like? I was also interested in how this heightened awareness might help us relate to complex issues like climate change and societal disruption. 
So I helped Darren select an expert panel of sound artists and on December 2, 2025, I moderated a 55 minute recording for the December 13, 2025 edition of Making Waves that featured three former guests of my conscientpodcast : Azul Carolina Duque, who you can hear on e211 art as medicine, Kenneth Newby who you can hear on e207 living with grace and Wendelin Bartley who you can hear on e222 restoring our connection with nature.
So what you’re about to hear is a rebroadcast of this conversation.
This conversation is quite magical because we were able to share some very intimidate stories about our own vulnerabilities, our relationship to death and how our practices as sound artists relates to this transition. 
You’ll hear that I ask each of my guests to respond to this 12-word sentence by a friend of mine, Tim Brodhead: 
Death as a natural transformation of energy and consciousness, not an end.
And won’t worry the episode is actually a lot of fun and quite enlightening. It’s really more about transition than an end. I’m so pleased that it concludes this chapter of the conscient podcast and in a way begins whatever might come next. 
Thanks so much for listening. Thank you Darren, Azul, Kenneth and Wendelin.
See you next time. 

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES
Hey conscient listeners,
I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020. It’s my way to give back.
This Indigenous Land Acknowledgement statement was developed by members of the Algonquin community for my former employer the Canada Council for the Arts. I have adapted slightly to make it my own.
I acknowledge that my studio, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.
I recognize the Algonquins as the customary keepers and defenders of the Ottawa River Watershed and its tributaries. I honour their long history of welcoming many Nations to this beautiful territory and uphold and uplift the voice and values of our Host Nation.
Further, I offer my respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and honour commitments to self-determination and sovereignty that have been made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples.
I acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada and fervently believe the Arts contribute to the healing and decolonizing journey we all share together
In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.
Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.
Share what you like, etc
I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible.
Claude Schryer
Latest update on January 9, 2026

The thing about a preparedness mindset is that you are thinking into the future and so if one of those scenarios happens, you've already mentally prepared in some sort of way for it, so you're not dealing with the shock. That's a place as an artist that I feel has a lot of potential for engagement and for communication and bringing audiences along. When you're talking about realities, accepting that reality, has the potential to push us to do other things. 
Welcome to another ENCORE episode of conscient podcast. 
I do this because if you missed an episode the first time it was published you can hear it again. 
However this is the last ENCORE episode for a while because I’m taking break from the production of this podcast, of its sister French language version, balado conscient as well as my a calm presence Substack for what looks like undetermined period of time. 
I wrote about this in my last Substack posting called pressing pause. 
My plan is to meditate on my next steps in this ongoing learning and unlearning journey and do a bit of self-care as I learned to do during the Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet course last fall.
But before pressing pause, so to speak, I wanted to publish this ENCORE episode because it’s about an issue that we will be talking about increasingly in the months and years to come: which is, how do we, as artists and cultural workers, respond more effectively to emergency situations and to ongoing societal disruption. 
And who better that Jen Rae, a Melbourne, Australia based artist, researcher, facilitator and educator of Canadian Red River Métis and Scottish descent.
And before going any further I want to acknowledge that Jen Rae lives, creates and works on the unceded traditional lands of the Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung, Woi Wurrung, and Wathaurong people of the Kulin Nation and offers deep respect to their elders - past, present and emerging. 
So, this 47-minute conversation was recorded, remotely, on May 10, 2021. Jen and I talked about a wide range of issues including the intersection between art, emergency preparedness, disaster risk-reduction and resilience. 
Here are some of the questions that were raised: 
How do we embrace an emergency preparedness mindset? 
What do we increase our focus on community resilience?
How can we challenge Western-centric narratives? 
How can we further value inclusivity? 
How can art and speculative fiction in particular, help free our minds and inspire action?
You’ll find some answers, also more questions, at the The Centre for Reworlding in Australia, where Jen is the creative research lead. 
I’m also publishing this ENCORE episode to listen back to conversations recorded during the COVID pandemic. 
For artists, in particular, it was a tough time. For a few of us it created opportunities for new forms of digital engagement but for most artists it was a nightmare of lost income, isolation and disconnection. 
COVID, difficult as it was, can be thought of as a kind of test run for larger scale emergencies that will come as the climate crisis and related disasters unfold. So I’m grateful that artists like Jen Rae and The Centre for Reworlding are proactively are working, and this is a quote from their web site, to ‘advocate for the mainstream integration of culture & the arts in climate action and disaster management discourses, policy frameworks and all-years education’.
So let’s go back to 2021. And, as I did with all of my episodes at that time, you’ll hear excerpts from previous episodes that try to connect the thinking of my guests with some previous guests and that’s a lot of fun. It was a lot or work but then I had a lot of time on my hands. 
So without further ado, episode 41 ENCORE. Warm thanks to Jen for this 2021 conversation and hopefully we’ll talk again if and when I come back to producing this podcast. 
For more information on Jen’s work, see https://www.jenraeis.com, http://www.fairsharefare.com/ and The Centre for Reworlding.
Links to a selection of Jen’s work mentioned in this episode:
REFUGIUM: film premiering 27 April 2021 (online and in real life - in collaboration with Claire G. Coleman)
Who needs artists in a climate crisis?: Raising the Bar, 13 November 2019
Refuge Talk Series: Preparing for a pandemic (21 May - 1:01:35-1:08:08), Living in a pandemic (27 May) and Recovering from a pandemic (4 June)

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES
Hey conscient listeners,
I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020. It’s my way to give back.
This Indigenous Land Acknowledgement statement was developed by members of the Algonquin community for my former employer the Canada Council for the Arts. I have adapted slightly to make it my own.
I acknowledge that my studio, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.
I recognize the Algonquins as the customary keepers and defenders of the Ottawa River Watershed and its tributaries. I honour their long history of welcoming many Nations to this beautiful territory and uphold and uplift the voice and values of our Host Nation.
Further, I offer my respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and honour commitments to self-determination and sovereignty that have been made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples.
I acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada and fervently believe the Arts contribute to the healing and decolonizing journey we all share together
In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.
Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.
Share what you like, etc
I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible.
Claude Schryer
Latest update on January 9, 2026

uplift
here are some uplifting words for the new year drawn from 9 episodes of conscient podcast et 3 extraits du balado conscient
This posting of a calm presence was designed as an audio listening experience though it also exists in written form, here.
Ceci est un episode bilingue. Afin de faciliter la compréhension des extraits en anglais, j’ai ajouté une transcription de l’épisode en français dans les notes d’épisode. J’ai aussi ajouté un petit sommaire oral en français à la fin de chacun des épisodes en anglais. Personnellement, je trouve intéressant d'écouter quelqu'un parler dans une autre langue, car je peux me concentrer sur le ton et l'intonation de la voix. 
This is a bilingual episode. For those who do not understand French I have added a transcript in English in the episode notes. I also created a short English language oral summary for each of the French language episodes. Personally, I find it interesting to listen to someone speak in another language because I can focus on the tone and inflection of the voice.
Please note that the pace of my narration is rather slow with the occasional short silence.
This is how I like to listen to narrations, with lots of space to ponder what is being said but also to consider what might lie in between the words and in the timbre of the voice. I’m also recording this reading in one take, flubs and all, similar to a late night radio monologue where it’s ok to be imperfect and where time is suspended. 
Finally, a reminder that I now publish a calm presence postings one  at a time, for a few weeks and then replace it with a new one and so on. In other words, what you’re listening to now, recorded on January 1, 2026 at 8.51 am it will be erased sometime in February 2026, never to be published again but I hope it might be retained in memory for those who  need it, which is why I created this Substack in the first place, for those in need of a calm presence.

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES
Hey conscient listeners,
I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020. It’s my way to give back.
This Indigenous Land Acknowledgement statement was developed by members of the Algonquin community for my former employer the Canada Council for the Arts. I have adapted slightly to make it my own.
I acknowledge that my studio, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.
I recognize the Algonquins as the customary keepers and defenders of the Ottawa River Watershed and its tributaries. I honour their long history of welcoming many Nations to this beautiful territory and uphold and uplift the voice and values of our Host Nation.
Further, I offer my respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and honour commitments to self-determination and sovereignty that have been made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples.
I acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada and fervently believe the Arts contribute to the healing and decolonizing journey we all share together
In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.
Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.
Share what you like, etc
I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible.
Claude Schryer
Latest update on January 9, 2026

(note: to read the original a calm presence Substack posting click here)
It’s Thursday November 27th, 2025, at about 10pm. 
I’m sitting by a fireplace at our cottage in Duhamel Québec and I want to tell you a story called 4%.  
When I turned 50 on December 3rd, 2009, I decided to take 50 days off from my work, which was not easy at the time. My goal was to sort through the many boxes of stuff in our basement: letters, sketches, notes, articles, posters, booklets and so on.  
At the end of the 50 days I wrote a Facts and Arguments article, ‘I took 50 days of when I turned 50’ that published in the Globe and Mail on February 18, 2010 about how and why I got rid of 80% of my archives during those 50 days off. 
Here are two excerpts from that article: 
I dug a hole in the snow and spent the next three hours burning the documents, page by page. Sometimes I would hesitate over an item but decided to see the process through. As paper transformed into ash, I internalized the voices and messages frozen in those documents. They will now die with me. I thanked the authors and my collaborators. This felt good and right. I smelled like a forest fire. 
I started composing music when I was 12 in North Bay and have been active in a number of cultural fields since, including music, arts administration, programming and event production. Like many people, I kept records of my work - photos, recordings, scores, correspondence, programs and essays. I'm not quite sure why I kept it all, but I figured one day I would know. Perhaps it was vanity, but more likely an act of self-preservation.
It's 16 years later now and I have no regrets. 
In fact, as I turn 66 in a few days I’m about to get rid of another 80% or so of the remaining 20% of my archives which leaves me with about 4% of my original belongings and that feels just about right. 
Why did I do it?  
Mostly it’s because I don’t want to leave a mess for my family when I die but there’s another reason…
I’m currently taking a course called Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet(ZASP), which is a learning journey to nurture insight, compassion, community, and mindful action in service of the Earth, based on the work of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and has been developed by the monks at Plum Village in France. 
One of the course’s many teachings refers to the Diamond Sutra, a 9th century Mahāyāna Buddhist text that focuses on concepts of emptiness, reality and wisdom. 
What caught my attention during the course, and made me think about my archives, was how the Diamond Sutra questions the notions of self (separation), of what it means to be human, of our relations with all living beings and of one’s life span. As I processed these teachings, I felt it was a good time to let go of non-essential things. 
So, what did I get rid of and why? 
Gone are my cassette and DAT tape collection of field recordings from the 1980’s and 1990’s. Many of these sounds are in my compositions but the rest have no value. I threw out some back in 2010 but it’s now time to let them all go as the tapes fall apart. I create a little ritual to thank the voices recorded before letting them go.  
Gone are piles and piles of articles and essays about acoustic ecology, climate change, environmental art and so on. I don’t think I’ll ever get around to reading them, so I gave away those that had value and burned the rest. 
Gone are documents and minutes from organizations that I helped to incorporate like the WFAE, CASE, SCALE and so on. I trust that my colleagues in those organizations have kept key documents in their corporate archives so my files are now redundant.
I’ve streamlined my digital footprint on the internet, for example, I removed all 80 of my a calm presence Substack postings, which I now publish one at a time, this posting being the latest, which replaces erasure and so on. This lightens things up and keep me more anchored in the present. 
I love books but gave away most of my books in the ‘take one - leave one’ community library in front of our house and trust that they will find their way to the right people.  
I also gave away unused clothing and objects around the house are no longer required but that others might be able to use.  
I’m telling you this because you might go through a similar process at some point in your life. It’s good to think about what we leave behind and in what kind of order. 
So, what did I keep? 
A few binders, organized chronologically, with original manuscripts, photos, letters, certificates, etc. and an SSD drive with my digital originals (essays, podcasts, my Substack, electroacoustic compositions, etc.). I also kept a few t-shirts but that’s about it. It all fits in a medium sized box. 
That’s it. 
I plan to continue learning and engaging with issues I care about, of course, but it’s a bit of fresh start. I’ll be going to the library more. I might even buy a new book or audio book once in a while, but the idea now is to keep knowledge flowing in the present – to read listen to things as they come out - and to keep the archives very light.  

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES
Hey conscient listeners,
I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa).
It’s my way to give back.
In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.
Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.
Share what you like, etc
I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible.
Claude Schryer
Latest update on December 5, 2025