Jul 14, 2023 3 min read Insights

Weekly Insights from The Meditation Course - My Top Ten Podcast Episodes

Each week, for subscribers of the meditation course, I publish what I call a "Weekly Insight", which is something related to my training that is useful or practical. Often, it's an article or a podcast I've created based on a class I taught that week. But this time, it is slightly different.

My Analysis of The Meditation Course Podcast

This week, I did some data analysis on my podcast. I've been running the podcast since 2018. It's normally recordings of classes I've taught, although it might often just be a meditation. There are about 200 podcast episodes related to mindfulness, meditation and resilience. They have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. I have regular listeners throughout the world.

Data Analysis

I wanted to do two things. One is I wanted to look at some new functionality from a piece of software called ChatGPT. It now writes code, so I learned I can use it for data analysis. So I used analysing the podcast to test it. It passed with flying colours, so the results are in for the most popular podcasts.

Calculating A Popularity Rating For All Episodes

I used several different criteria to decide on the popularity. So I set up an analysis that told me which episodes people are more interested in, which ones they listen to for longer and which they listen to more than once.

My Most Popular Podcast Episodes

The results are in, and generally speaking, the most popular episodes are on one of three subjects: Mindful walking and walking meditation, relaxation, and meditations to enhance sleep, rest, or energy. You'll be able to see the list in this article, along with the popularity rating.

Guided Mindful Walk: A Top-Rated Episode

As you can see, my guided mindful walk has exceptionally high ratings. It's been listened to tens and thousands of times. I have updated it a few times to make it more useful and added some podcast notes, which I shall add to the bottom of this article.

Here are the links to the most popular podcast episodes.

Here is a clickable list of podcast episodes from "The Meditation Course Podcast" by Robert Mitchell:

*Note that the availability of these episodes might depend on your region.

Show Notes for the Mindful Walking - Guided Mindful Walk Episode

This episode guides you on your mindful walk. You can pause at any point and move between the sections.

Timestamps:

00:00 Preparing to leave for your mindful walk (5 mins)
05:00 Connecting to your senses before you set out (1.30 mins)
06:32 Setting out for your walk, connecting to your breath and body. (5.28 mins)
12:00 Connecting to what you can see. (2.12 mins)
14:12 Connecting to your environment through your body. (1.43 mins)
15:55 Connecting to sound. (1.07 mins)
17:02 Connecting to the Present Moment - Experiencing Mindfulness. (2.33 mins)
19:35 Summary and making mindful walking part of your life. (2.07 mins)
21:42 Ending your walk. (2.07 mins)
27:04 End

Using this recording

You can pause or repeat any section. I suggest you try the walk in the order of recording for the first time, as I introduce the awareness and connection activities in a specific order. Still, when you are familiar with the recording, you can use it however you wish.

You can also do individual sections or a part of the episode if you only have a short time.

Guidance on mindful walking

Make sure you are safe on your walk. Don't walk in places where you need to navigate or avoid traffic or other potential problems.

About mindful walking

Mindfulness is the undistracted awareness of the experience in the present moment. Mindfulness practices, like meditation and mindful walking, are designed to enhance your connection to the present moment.

Mindful walking is similar to walking meditation.

Where to walk

If you can, walk in or near nature, whether it's a park, gardens, streets with trees, or, if possible, the countryside.

When to walk

A mindful walk doesn't need to be an addition to your daily life. You may not need to find extra time to do it. Many of us walk regularly. We might walk to work, school, to visit someone, to the shops and so on. Regular walks can become mind-wandering sessions. Listening to this recording can convert a walking mind-wandering session into a helpful mindfulness practice.

You can use the timestamps at the top of these notes to play various parts of the walk in any order you wish.