Listening Like Dolphins: How “Super Pod” Invites Peace Through Sound

There is something profoundly calming about listening to the natural world when we slow down enough to truly hear it.

The ocean, in particular, carries a kind of ancient wisdom. Its rhythms regulate, its vastness humbles, and its sounds reach parts of us that words often cannot. That’s the space musicians Sudama Mark Kennedy and Joss Jaffe explore in “Super Pod,” the newly released single from their forthcoming album Whale Dreaming — a project rooted in deep listening, sound healing, and peace.

Built around the playful, high-frequency calls of dolphins, “Super Pod” blends authentic marine mammal vocalizations with a global ensemble of instruments to create a buoyant, uplifting soundscape designed for relaxation, meditation, yoga, and gentle focus. Rather than placing human musicians at the center, the track allows the dolphins themselves to lead — reminding listeners what it feels like to follow nature instead of trying to control it.

“After living inside the purrs of my cat Nunu on Purrfection 44, it felt natural to listen even more deeply to the ocean,” says Kennedy, a musician, poet, and healer whose work centers on sound as a vehicle for joy and peace. “On ‘Super Pod,’ the dolphins really guide us; the human instruments are there to follow, support, and celebrate their exuberant songs.”

That intention is felt immediately. Instruments such as ngoni African harp, shakuhachi flute, and Indian tabla flow gently around the dolphins’ calls, supported by spacious ambient textures and ASMR-adjacent details. The result is music that feels light and joyful, yet grounding — happy without being overstimulating, soothing without becoming sleepy.

For Jaffe, a Billboard Top 10 New Age artist and longtime contributor to meditation and world music spaces, that balance was key. “We wanted ‘Super Pod’ to feel uplifting yet still calming enough for a massage room, a slow-flow yoga class, or a long exhale after a busy day,” he shares.

Super Pod serves as the first glimpse into Whale Dreaming, an album conceived as a deep-listening, oceanic journey where whales and dolphins are treated as ancient teachers rather than background sound. Across the project, real recordings of belugas, humpbacks, blue whales, orcas, and dolphins are woven together with sitar, shakuhachi, didgeridoo, ngoni, tabla, guitar, bass, zither, and subtle sound design.

The music was recorded as what Kennedy describes as an “underwater raga,” with instruments carefully arranged around the marine mammal recordings rather than layered over them. This approach allows the natural sounds to remain central, creating a flowing, meditative environment that supports emotional release, stillness, and reflection.

In a world that often feels loud, rushed, and fragmented, projects like Whale Dreaming offer something quietly radical: an invitation to listen more deeply — to nature, to ourselves, and to the rhythms that bring us back into balance.

In my own work around peace, I often return to the idea that peace isn’t something we force — it’s something we attune to. Sometimes that attunement comes through stillness. Sometimes through nature. And sometimes through sound that reminds us how to listen again. This belief sits at the heart of The Peace Guidebook, where peace is understood not as passive calm, but as a daily practice of presence, awareness, and connection.

“Super Pod” is available now on major digital platforms including Apple Music, Spotify, and Bandcamp, with the full Whale Dreaming album releasing February 16. Listeners are encouraged to explore the track during moments of rest, study, yoga, meditation, or whenever a reminder of peace feels needed.

Sometimes, peace doesn’t arrive through words or effort. Sometimes, it arrives through sound — playful, ancient, and alive — reminding us that harmony has always been part of the world around us.

About Sudama Mark Kennedy

Sudama Mark Kennedy is a musician, poet, and healer whose twelve albums span kirtan, folk jazz, spoken-word, world jazz funk, and meditative soundscapes, all unified by a focus on healing-intentioned music that brings joy and peace to the listener. He holds a BA in Creative Writing from Princeton and an MA in Shamanism and South Asian Religion from UC Santa Barbara, and has spent three decades pioneering energy medicine and sound healing as professional modalities. His viral cat-purr raga Purrfection 44 (The Meow Mix) has garnered hundreds of thousands of streams and editorial playlisting on major platforms.

About Joss Jaffe

Joss Jaffe is a Billboard Top 10 New Age artist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist known for his work in meditation, world, and devotional music. On Whale Dreaming he contributes tabla, ngoni African harp, and spacious ambient production, helping bridge authentic nature recordings with contemporary wellness and world-music aesthetics