Waking Up With Ryan

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On the Waking Up with Ryan podcast, coach Ryan Weiss explores how the first five minutes of your day can shape everything that follows. Through short daily audio and video episodes (10–12 minutes), he delivers powerful "moments of awakening" designed to interrupt the inertia of fear, ego, and judgment, helping listeners reconnect with themselves before the noise and demands of the day take over.
Blending wisdom, meditation, and practical insight, Waking Up with Ryan offers a daily ritual that grounds, inspires, and empowers listeners to move through life with greater intention. More than just a podcast, it is an ongoing exploration of self-discovery, presence, and what it truly means to remember who we are.

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68 episodes
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English

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Yesterday · 14 min
Where Do You Find Your Calm? Lay the Foundation.
How do you stay grounded when life seems determined to pull you in every direction? Between the demands of everyday life, unexpected challenges, and the stories our minds tell us, it’s easy to lose touch with the peace we know is possible. Ryan draws on the imagery of a towering tree and the deep roots that keep it standing through a storm to explore what it means to build a foundation within yourself. A gentle guided visualization invites you to discover a place of safety and stillness you can return to, no matter what the day brings. 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.
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Friday · 1 hr 18 min
Marianne Williamson on Fear, Forgiveness, and What A Course in Miracles Really Teaches
Ryan sits down with spiritual teacher and bestselling author Marianne Williamson for a wide-ranging conversation about A Course in Miracles, the teachings that changed both of their lives, and what decades of spiritual practice actually look like when life gets hard. Marianne takes Ryan back to the 1970s and the strange series of events that first brought A Course in Miracles into her life, before unpacking its central ideas about fear, love, forgiveness, and the power of the mind. She opens up about emerging from her most recent presidential campaign and spending a year reckoning with what had happened — forgiving others, confronting her own mistakes, and eventually arriving at a much more radical idea of personal responsibility. They explore why Marianne believes psychic pain should be listened to rather than simply suppressed, why forgiveness isn’t about excusing what someone did, and how carrying old grievances into the present can cause us to miss the very opportunities life is putting in front of us. Marianne shares one painful example from her own past — a lunch she entered carrying a grievance, only to discover afterward that the woman across the table had actually come to her seeking help for her husband. Along the way, Ryan and Marianne talk about spiritual teachers and ego, fear as the absence of love, the difference between surviving and truly moving beyond what happened to you, and the daily work of choosing differently when life gives you another chance. This is a conversation about what it means to move spiritual wisdom out of the realm of ideas and actually live it. 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.
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Thursday · 13 min
Why Waking Up Feels So Hard
Why does spiritual awakening sometimes feel like such an uphill battle? Drawing on a metaphor from spiritual teacher Adyashanti, Ryan compares the journey of awakening to a rocket fighting against gravity. Just as a rocket needs tremendous force to escape Earth’s gravitational pull, we must work against the deeply ingrained beliefs and habits of the ego that keep pulling us back into old ways of thinking. But Ryan explores what happens when that pull begins to loosen, and life’s challenges no longer have the same power over us. A guided practice follows, inviting you to balance the effort of spiritual growth with something equally important: the willingness to soften, surrender, and trust that life is carrying you forward. 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.
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Wednesday · 11 min
Peace Is Easy Until Someone Pushes Your Buttons
What if your most important spiritual practice happens after you leave the yoga mat or meditation cushion? Ryan explores why meditation, yoga, and prayer are only preparation for the real work of spiritual growth: how we show up in everyday life. It’s easy to feel peaceful during a morning practice, but what happens when someone pushes your buttons, a relationship becomes difficult, or an old habit takes over? Drawing on A Course in Miracles, Ryan challenges us to see life’s conflicts as opportunities to practice what we’ve learned, take responsibility for our reactions, and choose a more loving response. A short guided meditation follows, preparing you to carry that awareness into the challenges of the day. 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.
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October 13 · 13 min
How to Love the People You Can't Stand
Why does spiritual awakening sometimes feel like such an uphill battle? Drawing on a metaphor from spiritual teacher Adyashanti, Ryan compares the journey of awakening to a rocket fighting against gravity. Just as a rocket needs tremendous force to escape Earth’s gravitational pull, we must work against the deeply ingrained beliefs and habits of the ego that keep pulling us back into old ways of thinking. But Ryan explores what happens when that pull begins to loosen, and life’s challenges no longer have the same power over us. A guided practice follows, inviting you to balance the effort of spiritual growth with something equally important: the willingness to soften, surrender, and trust that life is carrying you forward. 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.
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October 12 · 11 min
The Meaning of Life
What if the meaning of life isn’t to accomplish anything, but simply to be alive? Drawing on the words of philosopher Alan Watts, Ryan challenges the idea that we’re here to build successful careers, achieve our goals, or make something of ourselves. Instead, he explores the possibility that our deepest purpose is to notice, appreciate, and participate in the extraordinary life already unfolding around us. When we stop treating life as something to conquer, even our ambitions can become expressions of joy and gratitude rather than struggle. A guided practice follows with a simple two-word mantra for remembering the gift of being here: “Thank you.” 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.
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October 9 · 9 min
The Most Powerful Thing You Can Pray For
What if you've been praying for the wrong thing? Ryan challenges the way we often approach prayer — asking God or the universe to change our circumstances, solve our problems, or give us what we want. Instead, he suggests a more powerful kind of prayer: asking to be changed ourselves. Rather than praying for an easier life, what if we asked to release the fears, limiting beliefs, and sense of separation that keep us from remembering who we truly are? A guided practice follows, inviting you to surrender those old beliefs and make room for love, abundance, and a deeper sense of possibility. 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.
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October 8 · 13 min
You Just Had A Breakthrough. Don’t Post It Yet.
Not every insight needs to become something you immediately share. Ryan reflects on the early days of his own awakening, when every new realization made him want to tell everyone — and how even that enthusiasm can become another way for the ego to take over. Instead of turning wisdom into a new identity as the “spiritual person,” he invites us to let each insight take root like a seed, giving it time to be tested, lived, and absorbed until it becomes part of who we are. A guided practice follows, trusting that the deepest wisdom doesn’t need to be announced — it reveals itself in how you live. 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.
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October 7 · 12 min
It Won’t Always Feel Like This
When life is good, we want it to stay that way. When life is hard, we’re afraid it will. Ryan explores the one thing we can count on in either case: everything changes. Our bodies, circumstances, relationships, thoughts, and seasons of life are always in motion — and attaching our sense of safety to any of them puts us on shaky ground. Instead, Ryan asks us to look beneath everything that comes and goes and notice what remains. A guided practice follows with a deceptively simple question: “What is always here?” 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.
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October 6 · 9 min
The More I Heal, The Worse I Feel
Sometimes the deeper you go on your spiritual journey, the worse life seems to feel. Ryan compares awakening to anesthesia wearing off after surgery: the pain isn’t suddenly appearing — you’re becoming more able to feel what was already there. Greater awareness can make old relationships, patterns, and situations harder to tolerate, and even leave you wondering why everything seems to be falling apart. Ryan explores why this increased sensitivity is actually part of the journey, and why the answer isn’t another practice to make yourself feel better, but learning to slow down, stop resisting, and trust your capacity to be with whatever arises. 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.
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October 5 · 14 min
Why Can’t I Shut My Brain Off?
What if you could use the very mind that distracts you to become more present? Ryan pulls back the curtain on the practice he uses before recording each episode — quieting the mental noise so something deeper than his own thoughts can come through. He explores how an untrained “monkey mind” can cloud our experience like grime on a window, and how intentional language can turn that same mind into a tool for awakening. A guided practice follows with the words Ryan uses himself to become open, available, and receptive: “Dear universe, use me. Let me be a vessel.” 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.
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October 2 · 13 min
What If You Don’t Have To Know?
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.” 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.
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October 1 · 11 min
One Day You’ll Miss This
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.” 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.
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September 30 · 13 min
You Can Handle More Than You Think
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 Follow on Substack (@WakingUpWithRyan) You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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September 29 · 15 min
Stop Trying To Figure It All Out
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 Follow on Substack (@WakingUpWithRyan) You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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September 28 · 14 min
A Short Breath Practice
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 Follow on Substack (@WakingUpWithRyan) You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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September 25 · 46 min
Taye Diggs on Trauma, Ambition, and the Discomfort of Sitting Still
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 Follow on Substack (@WakingUpWithRyan) You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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September 24 · 14 min
How Spirituality Can Keep You Stuck
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 Follow on Substack (@WakingUpWithRyan) You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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September 23 · 13 min
Why You Can’t Sit Still (And What It’s Costing You)
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 Follow on Substack (@WakingUpWithRyan) You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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September 22 · 15 min
Shine Your Light Like a Care Bear
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 Follow on Substack (@WakingUpWithRyan) You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@wakingupwithryan), YouTube (@wakingupwithryanpod), or visit wakingupwithryan.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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