Staci Boden begins every episode of her podcast by asking the listener to slow down. Don’t drive off the road, but if you can, close your eyes and breathe. It’s the opposite of what every podcasting course teaches.

“For me, that starting off — it’s actually a very quick settling that I do. And I’ve always done that, not only in podcasting. When I sit with people, when I sit with groups, the training I have is to always start with what we call a grounding.”

Boden didn’t design this as a podcast opening. She brought a practice she already used — in her work as an energy healer, with individual clients, with groups — into her podcast feed because that’s how she works with people. The grounding came first. The podcast was just another setting where it made sense to do it.

Her opening sits in direct opposition to the conventional wisdom about openings. The first thirty seconds matter most. Hook the listener. Promise something. Don’t lose them. The competitive frame treats the listener’s attention as something fragile you must capture before it slips away to the next thing in the queue.

Boden’s openings do the opposite of capturing. They ask the listener to settle into themselves before the content begins. To find a place inside their bodies. To prepare to receive rather than be reached for. These aren’t different versions of the same move. They’re two opposite theories of what a listener is.

The hook treats the listener as a target. You aim at their attention, you fire, you hit or miss. The grounding treats them as a participant. You ask them to bring something to the conversation — presence, attention, a willingness to slow down. The work of the show begins from that mutual settling, not from the host having captured something the listener was reluctant to give.

Most podcasting advice assumes the first relationship is the only viable one. The medium is competitive, attention is scarce, you cannot afford to ask anything of the listener before you’ve earned it. Boden’s experience suggests another version exists. The listener who’s been asked to settle before content starts might bring something the captured listener can’t — something the show in fact requires of them.

Boden’s approach isn’t free. Her openings cost her listeners. Anyone arriving expecting podcast norms — fast intro, tight hook, payoff in under ninety seconds — is going to bounce. The grounding selects against the casual listener almost by design. From the metrics the industry tracks, this is bad. Episodes get fewer plays. Listeners drop in lower numbers.

But the grounding also selects for the kind of listener who can do the harder work the show is doing. Boden’s podcast is about following energy — a practice that requires the listener to be present in their body, not just in their headphones. A listener who can’t sit through a short settling exercise isn’t going to be able to do the deeper attending the show is built around. The opening isn’t a stylistic choice. It’s a screening function.

Fewer listeners, but listeners who arrive in a different state. More bounce, but more depth from the ones who stay. Whether that’s the right side of the trade depends on what you think podcasting is for. If the goal is reach, the hook wins. If the goal is the kind of attention that lets a show do something to a listener they’ll carry with them after the episode ends — the grounding might be doing more work than the metrics can measure.

Boden’s choice doesn’t necessarily generalize. Most shows aren’t designed around bodily practice; most don’t need a settled listener to function. But what would your show look like if you stopped assuming the listener had to be captured, and started assuming they could be invited to bring something instead? “More listeners” isn’t necessarily the right answer to that question. It’s just the only answer the standard frame can give.

This field note references the Podtalk episode “Connection with Staci Boden,” published October 16, 2023.

This work was produced using AI language models directed through an editorial system designed by Craig Constantine. The author selected all source material, designed the creative framework, directed the editorial process, and made all acceptance and revision decisions. The prose was generated by AI under sustained human editorial direction.