Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Waking Up With Ryan

What if everything you think you know is getting in the way of what’s actually here? Ryan explores a paradox at the heart of awakening: the deeper you go, the less certain you become. Drawing on teachings from Buddhism, Christianity, Socrates, and Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, he makes the case for a “beginner’s mind” — releasing our need to know, explain, predict, and control so there’s room to actually experience what’s in front of us. A guided practice follows with a mantra for meeting the day without all the answers: “I do not know, and I am open.”

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Three weeks into fatherhood, Ryan keeps hearing the same warning: the moments you’re desperate to get through may become the ones you’d give anything to have back. From changing diapers and folding laundry to walking the dog or driving your kids to school, ordinary life can feel like a list of tasks to finish rather than a life to actually experience. Ryan explores what changes when we bring our full attention to these seemingly mundane moments — and the miracles hiding inside them. A guided practice follows with one simple reminder: “This is my life, and I am here for it.”

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The feelings you’re afraid will overwhelm you aren’t the problem — believing you can’t handle them is. Ryan uses the image of a rock dropped into a small bowl versus a vast lake to explore what happens when fear, worry, and other difficult emotions enter our lives. Rather than resisting those feelings and turning pain into suffering, the practice is to expand our sense of who we are and discover how much we can actually hold. A guided meditation follows, inviting you to become the lake: expansive, undisturbed, and capable of allowing every ripple and wave to pass through.

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Stop trying to figure it all out. After a chance conversation with someone facing a major career transition, Ryan challenges the impulse to think, strategize, and force our way toward the “right” answer. Instead, he makes the case for asking the universe for guidance — and actually trusting what comes back. Ryan shares how that surrender has shaped some of the biggest decisions in his own life, from love and family to career and home. A guided practice follows with a simple invitation: “I am willing to be shown.”

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What if the first thing you did each morning wasn’t check your phone, run through your to-do list, or brace yourself for the day ahead? Ryan leads a short breath practice designed to ground you before the world starts pulling at your attention. Using a simple four-count inhale, hold, exhale, and hold, you’ll release tension, reconnect with your body, and create more space to meet the day with choice instead of reactivity. The practice closes with three questions from A Course in Miracles — an invitation to loosen your grip on what happens next and become more available to guidance, connection, and the unexpected.

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Ryan sits down with actor Taye Diggs for a deeply personal conversation about the drive to keep achieving — and what happens when you finally stop. Taye opens up about growing up around poverty and abuse, being bullied for his dark skin, and discovering a sense of belonging and possibility through theater. He looks back at joining the original cast of Rent, becoming an unexpected sex symbol in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and the ambition that kept him chasing the next level even as his dreams were coming true. They explore how divorce and fatherhood upended the life he thought he had figured out, why even spirituality can become another form of striving, and the possibility that after a lifetime of searching, the next step isn’t another practice or achievement at all. Maybe it’s simply learning to stop, sit with what’s there, and hear the words: “Relax. You’re okay.”

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What if your spiritual practice is actually helping you avoid the very emotions you need to feel? Ryan explores spiritual bypassing — using ideas like “fear isn’t real” or “it’s just the ego” to stay disconnected from pain, anger, sadness, and resentment. He explains why emotions that aren’t fully felt don’t simply disappear; they stay stuck, shaping how we move through the world. A guided practice follows, helping you meet discomfort without resistance, recognize awareness as your true nature, and repeat: “I am willing to feel whatever arises.”

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Modern life makes it easy to avoid stillness — and the uncomfortable emotions that surface when there’s nothing left to distract us. Ryan uses the invention of electric light as a metaphor for how we’ve learned to escape the “dark,” both literally and within ourselves, where fear, pain, insecurity, and old wounds live. But avoiding those places keeps them unhealed. A guided practice invites you to become still, meet the darkness without resistance, and recognize the growth and life force that can emerge when you’re willing to be present with what you’d rather avoid.

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You didn’t lose your light as you grew up — you learned to protect it. Ryan explores how childhood hurts, rejection, fear, and vulnerability teach us to close off parts of ourselves, building walls that can later block creativity, connection, love, and self-expression. The way back isn’t to become more confident or radiant, but to feel what those defenses were built to avoid. A guided practice follows, inviting you to revisit those old protections, let the wall fall brick by brick, and allow the light that’s been there all along to shine through.

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Most of us decide who deserves our love based on how they act, whether we trust them, or whether they love us back. Ryan challenges that habit with a different idea: love doesn't have to be a response to someone else — it can be the way you choose to move through the world. He explores how judging who is "worthy" of love keeps us contracted, while seeing beyond personality, history, and ego helps us remember our shared humanity. A guided practice follows with the mantras "I am love," "I love," and "I choose love."

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Those on a path of growth tend to be great givers — and terrible receivers. Ryan flips the script: refusing to receive isn't humility, it's denying someone else the joy of giving. You're deserving of receiving simply because of who you are, not what you do or give. A guided practice with the mantra "I am willing to receive" helps open you into that flow, plus a nudge to ask for the support you actually need.

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Inspired by a scene from The Madison, Ryan explores why the best thing you can offer someone you love isn't advice — it's your presence. Real support means trading "here's what you should do" for genuine curiosity and the question "what's true for you?" A practice follows, guiding you to hold the people in your life — and eventually the whole world — in that same spacious, non-judging support.

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While filming in the Himalayas with a living saint, Ryan's heart began pounding uncontrollably at the sight of an unfamiliar village — moments before being told, "You lived here." Ryan shares this personal past-life experience not to convince anyone of past lives, but as a reminder of how easily we forget the divine amid life's practicalities. Includes a guided practice for welcoming in the universe's miracles and reconnecting with the moments that once shook you awake.

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Underneath every fear — money, relationships, health, purpose — is one root fear: the fear of death, born from believing you are your body. Ryan unpacks the idea that you're the energy driving the vehicle, not the vehicle itself, and shares the teaching "die before you die" — letting the belief in a separate, limited self fall away now, rather than waiting for your final moment. Closes with a practice built around the mantra "I am loving awareness."

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Every part of your life — your work, your relationships, your body, even your pain — is an invitation to wake up. In this episode, we explore why awakening isn't about finding a "better" version of yourself, but about peeling back the layers of identity, ego, and fear that cover who you've always been. Includes a short guided practice to help you drop back into presence and remember who you truly are.

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Feeling stuck waiting on something you can't control? On this Ask Ryan episode, we hear from a listener who’s struggling to find patience with things outside their control. In this episode, Ryan unpacks what impatience is really covering up — fear, loneliness, disappointment — and offers a powerful metaphor for why you have to contract before you can expand again. Plus: how to become the person who can hold what you're asking the universe for.

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Ever rush to cheer someone up just to make your own discomfort go away? In this episode, Ryan unpacks the difference between real support and codependency — showing why trying to "fix" someone else's pain often has more to do with our own inability to sit with discomfort. Through a story about a father and daughter, Ryan reveals what people actually need when they're struggling: a safe space and validation, not advice.

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In this episode, Ryan explores the difference between truly experiencing life and getting lost in our mental interpretation of it. Inspired by Ellen DeGeneres' bit about the friend in the movie theater who won't stop asking "what's happening," he unpacks how our minds constantly predict, judge, and narrate rather than simply witnessing what's in front of us.

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In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, Ryan reframes the search for purpose as a prayer rather than a plan. Drawing on A Course in Miracles and his own journey from dance and music into coaching, he shares why chasing a "purpose" often backfires—and offers a simple practice instead: notice what you love, ask to be used, and trust the process. The episode closes with a guided meditation to help you connect with what's already an answer to prayer in your life. Whether you're feeling stuck in your career or just craving more clarity, this episode offers a gentle, faith-rooted way to reconnect with what truly moves you.

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As the High Holidays approach, Ryan reflects on why the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur can feel unexpectedly heavy — and reframes that discomfort as an invitation. This episode explores the healing potential of the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, what it means to "bring your broken pieces to the altar," and includes a guided meditation to help you sit with what you're ready to release and transform. Whether or not you observe the holidays, this episode offers a grounded practice for honest reflection, forgiveness, and renewal as you step into the new year.

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In this Ask Ryan episode, Ryan responds to a listener who feels stuck, exhausted, and disconnected — waiting for a break that never comes. Ryan reframes this painful "in-between" chapter through the metaphor of a caterpillar dissolving into imaginal soup before becoming a butterfly, showing how embracing uncertainty (rather than fighting it) aligns you with the universe's timing. The episode closes with a guided practice to release resistance and invite the universe's guidance into your day.

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What if everything you're searching for — peace, clarity, purpose — is already here, and the mind is just the thing standing in the way of seeing it? In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, we explore why the relentless drive to "better yourself" can quietly become the ego's cleverest trick for keeping you from the truth of who you already are. Through a simple story about a father searching frantically for the glasses perched on his own forehead, we unpack how seeking can blind us to what's already present. Then, settle into a short guided breathing practice designed to draw your attention out of the noise of the mind and back into stillness — where the peace and joy you've been chasing have been waiting all along.

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What if everything you thought about the "honeymoon phase" is backwards? In this episode, Ryan unpacks a conversation with a friend that reframed his entire understanding of early relationships — arguing that real intimacy isn't found in the giddy first weeks of attraction, but on the other side of conflict, trust, and repair. Ryan breaks down the difference between attraction and attachment, why actions (not words) reveal who someone really is, and how staying in the room during hard moments is what actually builds lasting connection. The episode closes with a short guided practice to help you turn conflict into connection in your own relationships.

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Being human means living with fear — but a miracle isn't a distant, biblical event. It's a shift in your thinking, a move from fear to love, and it's available to you right now. In this episode of Waking Up With Ryan, we explore what it really means to invite a miracle into your life, then move into a guided meditation to help you release what feels too heavy to carry alone and open yourself to receiving help from something bigger than you.

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Judgment against yourself isn't truth — it's an old wound asking for love. In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, we explore how the ego's earliest beliefs about our worth get replayed as self-criticism, and why compassion — not correction — is the way through. Learn to meet your inner judgments the way you'd comfort a hurting child: with presence, love, and total acceptance.

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Dolly Parton passed away this week at 80 years old, and this episode is a tribute to the magnificent, purposeful life she lived. We dive into the story behind her song "Coat of Many Colors" — the childhood memory of a rag coat sewn with love — and the powerful lesson it holds: real worth doesn't come from what the world can see, it comes from love. Join Ryan for a reflection on Dolly's life and a guided meditation to help you infuse today with that same love, on purpose.

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What if the life you're forcing to happen is smaller than the one trying to unfold through you? In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, we explore the shift from asking "What do I want?" to asking "What wants to happen through me?" — moving from the small, fearful mind to the vast truth of who you really are. We close with a guided meditation to help you surrender your agenda and open to life's greater will.

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Just because something is "normal" doesn't make it healthy. In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, we explore the difference between what's normal — stress, rushing, reactivity — and what's actually optimal: presence, slowness, honesty, and self-care. Ryan walks through why choosing your own path can feel lonely, how to pause instead of reacting from old patterns, and closes with a guided breathing meditation to help you reconnect with who you really are. If you've ever felt out of step with the world around you, this episode is your reminder: you're not broken, you're just awake.

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Your mind is constantly vacillating — between past and future, good and bad, success and failure — and most of us are addicted to following it wherever it goes. In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, we explore the difference between the mind that never stops moving and the awareness underneath it that never moves at all. Drawing on a line from A Course in Miracles, Ryan guides you through a simple but powerful shift: resting back into the presence that's always here, beneath every thought. Includes a guided meditation to help you practice coming home to yourself. Perfect for your morning routine — a few minutes to wake up, breathe, and remember who you really are.

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Healing isn't something you force — it's something you allow. In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, we explore why the mind's constant analyzing, replaying, and strategizing can actually get in the way of the emotional healing your body already knows how to do. Just like a physical wound heals on its own if you stop picking at it, your emotional pain has its own natural intelligence — if you let it be. Ryan guides you through a short practice to quiet the mind, turn toward what you're feeling, and give yourself permission to heal. Good morning, love — let's begin.

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Ryan sits down with actress and advocate Jamie-Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos, Entourage) for an unfiltered conversation about awakening through adversity. Jamie opens up about living with multiple sclerosis for 25 years, the belief that she was "a problem" that shaped her early life, and how vulnerability finally set her free. They explore codependency and letting parents own their own healing, the terrifying near-death experience of her son Beau and what he brought back from it, and the on-set moments with James Gandolfini and Aida Turturro that pushed her toward authenticity. This episode begins with a short guided morning meditation before diving into a conversation about self-advocacy, generational trauma, and learning to ask for help.

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Jamie-Lynn's memoir, And So It Is... https://www.book-ends.org/product/jamie-lynn-sigler-signed-copy-of-and-so-it-is-/DPKMOZRHFMBHNS3DAEAUFFFB

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What if every thought you have right now is just an old memory painting itself onto the present moment? In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, we explore how the mind's library of past experiences quietly shapes — and often distorts — how we see the world, other people, and ourselves. Drawing on insights from Adyashanti, A Course in Miracles, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke research, and Alan Watts, Ryan unpacks why losing the "concept" of things (like a bird, or a conversation, or a relationship) can actually restore the wonder we felt before language and memory took over. The episode closes with a guided practice for surrendering your thoughts, opinions, and interpretations to the universe — an invitation to meet this moment fresh, without the weight of the past.

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What if love isn't something you have to learn — but something you just have to stop blocking? In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, Ryan explores a life-changing idea from A Course in Miracles: that we don't need to be taught what love is, we simply need to remove the blocks we've built against recognizing it's already here. Ryan unpacks the role of the Holy Spirit (or whatever name resonates with you) as a bridge between our fear-based human thinking and the truth of love, then leads you through a guided practice to identify what's blocking you and invite in the presence, wisdom, and healing that's always available. A gentle, grounding morning session for anyone ready to see the "hands in front of their eyes" and let a little more light in.

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What if the first five minutes of your day determined the entire trajectory of your life? In this episode, Ryan explores what it means to wake up each morning and consciously invite the universe in — rather than defaulting to the small, separate thinking that keeps us stuck. Drawing from A Course in Miracles and years of personal practice, Ryan shares how a simple daily surrender ("I'm willing") opened the door to career breakthroughs, love, family, and even this very podcast. This episode includes a guided morning meditation to help you ask the questions that matter most: Where would you have me go? What would you have me do? What would you have me say, and to whom?Press play, take a deep breath, and let's wake up together.

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That knot in your stomach before something new? It's not a sign to stop — it's a sign you're expanding. In this episode, Ryan explores why fear, nervousness, and anxiety are inevitable companions to any meaningful growth, drawing on stories from legendary performers like Liza Minnelli and Meryl Streep who leaned into their nerves rather than away from them. You'll learn how to reframe that anxious feeling as a signal of impending expansion rather than a warning to retreat — and then settle into a guided practice to help you meet the unknown with more presence, courage, and self-trust. If you've been putting off something because it scares you, this episode is your permission slip to take the leap anyway.

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In this Ask Ryan episode, Ryan responds to a listener navigating divorce, narcissistic abuse, and codependency. He unpacks what narcissism really is, why gaslighting erodes your sense of self, and how to start rebuilding trust in yourself after a relationship has chipped away at your foundation. Ryan introduces his "emotional fitness" framework — feel, inquire, tend — as a practical tool for sitting with uncomfortable emotions instead of running from them, then leads a guided practice to help you stop abandoning yourself to keep others comfortable. If you're healing from a hard breakup or learning to put yourself first, this episode offers both compassion and a concrete path forward.

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What if the people who hurt you most didn't stumble into your life by accident — but signed up for the role? In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, Ryan shares a powerful visualization: imagining your soul choosing every relationship before you were born, including the ones that challenge you the most. He explores how the people who push our buttons aren't obstacles to our growth — they're catalysts for it. Through a guided practice of gratitude and release, Ryan invites you to reframe your most difficult relationships as intentional assignments for healing, without excusing harm or inviting anyone back into your life who doesn't belong there. This episode is a gentle but honest look at forgiveness, boundaries, and what it really means to rise above what triggers you.

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Life doesn't always go according to plan — and that's exactly where the growth happens. In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, we explore what it really means when things don't work out the way we hoped, and why those disappointments aren't obstacles to your healing — they're doorways to it.

Drawing on the Yoga Sutras and a reminder from Leonard Cohen ("The crack is where the light gets in"), Ryan walks through how our unprocessed emotions get stirred up in moments of disappointment, and offers a guided practice for pausing, noticing what's arising in the body, and letting yourself be more fully seen and healed — instead of getting swept into old stories and reactive patterns.

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Most of us were taught that believing in ourselves too much is arrogant — that playing small is humble. But what if that belief has it completely backwards?

In this episode, Ryan explores the difference between the ego's grip on your identity and the truth of who you really are. He breaks down why knowing yourself as a light, as an extension of the divine, as something miraculous — is actually the most humble thing you can do. Because you didn't create yourself to be that. You were created as it.

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What if the destination you're chasing doesn't exist? In this episode, Ryan dismantles one of the most common traps on the spiritual path — the belief that awakening is something you arrive at, rather than something you're already living.

Drawing on the wisdom of Byron Katie, Gangaji, and the great enlightened masters, Ryan explores why comparing yourself to "awake" teachers keeps you stuck, what it actually means to love what is, and how surrendering to the present moment — messy, imperfect, and human as it is — is exactly how miracles happen.

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Ryan sits down with actress Jennifer Grey about what a good death can look like. They discuss her mother's recent passing and what it meant to be truly present for someone as they leave this world — being hyper-intentional and dignified in those final moments. They explore how facing death instead of turning away from it can actually help us live more beautifully right now: the gift of a terminal diagnosis, the power of forgiveness, saying goodbye on your own terms, and the difference between the body we live in and who we really are underneath it. This is one of the most beautiful conversations Ryan has had about grief, love, and what it means to let someone go with peace. Before diving in, let's take a few minutes together to arrive and breathe.

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In a world flooded with noise and competing agendas, how do you know what's actually true? In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, we explore why questioning your own beliefs — not just the world's — is the first step toward clarity. Ryan unpacks why your mind works like a sponge that's absorbed a lifetime of other people's opinions, and why real presence begins with the willingness to be wrong.

You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You never know whose life you're quietly shaping. In this episode, Ryan shares a powerful moment from a dance class where he learned, years later, just how deeply a single act of kindness had impacted someone's entire life path — a reminder that our presence, energy, and small choices ripple further than we realize.

Ryan explores how showing up with love, compassion, and presence can change the trajectory of someone's day — even a stranger's — and guides you through a short meditation to help you carry that intention into your day.

You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We talk a lot about boundaries in personal development — but what if you've been thinking about them all wrong? In this episode, Ryan reframes boundaries not as walls meant to keep people out, but as sacred, inclusive spaces you get to fill with what you truly want: love, emotional intelligence, creativity, and honest connection.

You'll learn how to communicate your boundaries with clarity and compassion, turn conflict into deeper understanding, and know when it's time to lovingly let someone go. The episode closes with a guided practice to help you open your heart and fill your own boundary with love — so you can carry that energy with you into the rest of your day.

You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maya Angelou once said, "People will forget what you said... but they will never forget how you made them feel." In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, we explore what it really means to make someone feel loved, seen, and safe — and why that starts with how safely and authentically you're able to be with yourself.

Ryan unpacks the real root of connection: not achievement, not what you say or do, but the felt sense of permission — permission to be exactly as you are, without judgment or the need to change. When you're deeply rooted in your own self-acceptance, the people around you can finally relax, drop the performance, and feel truly at ease in your presence.

You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most of us wait for the big breakthrough — the retreat, the plant medicine ceremony, the peak meditation — to feel spiritual connection. But real spiritual depth isn't found in rare peak moments; it's found in how you meet this moment, right now.

In this episode, we explore what happens when we forget the sacredness of the present — even in the middle of the most ordinary tasks — and how a simple shift in attention can reveal the miracle already unfolding around you. Drawing from a moment of unexpected awe in the ocean, we reflect on presence, gratitude, and what it means to live reverently in the small things.

You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most of us have been sold the wrong idea of meditation — the image of a serene person sitting in perfect stillness, blissfully at peace. So when we sit down to meditate and instead find noise, restlessness, and discomfort, we assume we're doing it wrong… or that meditation just doesn't work for us.

In this episode, Ryan explores a definition of meditation from spiritual teacher Adyashanti that reframes the entire practice: true meditation isn't about achieving peace or stopping your thoughts — it's the practice of letting everything be as it is, without needing to change it.

You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Horses have been reading human energy for millions of years — long before words existed for emotional awareness. This episode explores what equine therapy reveals about trust, discomfort, and the parts of ourselves that tend to get pushed down and avoided. Horses stop the moment there's a mismatch between what someone feels inside and what they show on the outside — and the same holds true for people in daily life. You can't pull a horse forward when it senses something's off, and in truth, discomfort can't be outrun either. It doesn't disappear; it builds, until it eventually surfaces on its own terms.

You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if the very thing you're chasing — the relationship, the career, the money — is being pushed further away by your need for it to happen?

In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, Ryan explores why grasping for what we want (or forcing ourselves to "let go" of it) misses the real work: building a relationship with your inner world. Drawing from a conversation with an old friend who's spent decades wanting a relationship to "come in," Ryan unpacks the difference between temporary happiness and true inner peace — and why avoiding sadness and loneliness by chasing outside things keeps us stuck.

You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We spend years striving for awakening — more practices, more books, more teachers, more effort — but what if the very act of striving is what keeps it out of reach? In this episode of Waking Up with Ryan, we explore why awakening isn't a destination to arrive at, but a truth that's already here, right now, underneath the mind's stories about who you are and where you're headed.

You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.