Waking Up With Ryan

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.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.