“Humor is how I handle the world. Whether it's a defense mechanism, whether it's a shield, whether it's to get information out of people, whether it's to get something off my chest that you couldn't get with any other kinds of delivery, humor is how I live.” Jim Martin

This one’s for the pun lovers, the meme-generators, and...the meditation-curious. Jim Martin is all of these things and a potato. Trust me, this free-form intro will go somewhere riotously fun and inspiring and, ultimately, enlightened. As founder of The Unusual Buddha, a multi-platform community that explores meditation, spirituality, and metaphysics through an irreverent, contemporary lens - and that lens often has a potato filter over it. Jim says the goal of his mini meditation “empire” (seriously, he’s everywhere) is to provide practical, accessible meditation resources. I say the goal is to deliver deeply resonant content under cover of giggle-wrap.

When you think of diving into meditation and/or Buddhism, wall-to-wall laughter probably isn’t the first image that comes to mind. That’s the point. “I found a lot of people who were quite frankly assholes,” say Jim of the early days of his own spiritual journey. Gatekeepers - people entrenched in a dogma of their creation for a practice that doesn’t follow one - clocked him for every “mistake” he made upon their rigid path to enlightenment.

Capitalism’s homogenously-packaged om-ing and status-label meditation pillows wasn’t the right fit either. So, he created his own community. “I feel like you could reach more people if it weren’t always pitched the same way,” he says. That’s not to say that Jim’s funny memes and quick meditations aren’t rooted in an expansive knowledge of and devotion to his practice. Instead, he’s a modern-day student of Buddhism with a fresh way of alternating belly laughs with poignant truths.

Jim’s approach to all things is ease. Curious minds can find The Unusual Buddha resources wherever they’re most comfortable hanging out, including YouTube and podcast. You all know I’m over here on IG stalking and laughing!

Jim believes that the tools for creating inner peace shouldn’t be so difficult to gather or understand. Nor should the practice itself feel so weighty. His rationale is, if you’ve got eight seconds to take a full breath, congratulations! You’ve just meditated. “I mean, something as simple as one in breath, one out breath, you can absolutely do it!”

No bells, no whistles, no fancy cushion. A fun potato filter might help tho…

GUEST CONTACT INFO

I'm Jim Martin founder of Theunusualbuddha.com. In our community, we cover meditation, spirituality, and metaphysics in a fun and contemporary way. Meditation resources that are practical and in plain language are our goal.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

CWH021: The Woke Olympics with Scott Tusa In Love with the World - A Monk’s Journey Through The Bardos of Living And Dying - by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and Helen Tworkov

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