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

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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.

Tell Ryan about yourself! https://wakingupwithryan.com/hello

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

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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.”

Tell Ryan about yourself! https://wakingupwithryan.com/hello

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

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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.

Tell Ryan about yourself! https://wakingupwithryan.com/hello

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

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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.”

Tell Ryan about yourself! https://wakingupwithryan.com/hello

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

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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.”

Tell Ryan about yourself! https://wakingupwithryan.com/hello

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

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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.

Tell Ryan about yourself! https://wakingupwithryan.com/hello

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

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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.

Tell Ryan about yourself! https://wakingupwithryan.com/hello

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

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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."

Tell Ryan about yourself! https://wakingupwithryan.com/hello

Follow on Substack (@WakingUpWithRyan)

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.