• E188: The Illusion of Self—Breaking Free from Ego

    Michael Singer — June 8, 2026

    Ego is the false self, created from past experiences, that constantly judges, fears, and tries to control life to feel okay. Suffering comes from identifying with these inner...

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  • Insights At The Edge

    Tami Simon’s in-depth audio podcast interviews with leading spiritual teachers and luminaries. Listen in as they explore their latest challenges and breakthroughs - the leading edge of their work.

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Subscribe to The Michael Singer Podcast

Join the New York Times bestselling author of The Untethered Soul, The Surrender Experiment, and Living Untethered for this free series of curated teaching sessions, recorded at his Temple of the Universe yoga and meditation center.

Meet Your Host Michael Singer

Michael A. Singer is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Untethered Soul, The Surrender Experiment, Living Untethered, and several popular Sounds True programs, including the Living from a Place of Surrender online course. In 1971, while pursuing his doctoral work in economics, he experienced a deep inner awakening and went into seclusion to focus on yoga and meditation. In 1975, he founded Temple of the Universe, a yoga and meditation center where people of any religion or set of beliefs can come together to experience inner peace. Through the years, he has made major contributions in the areas of business, the arts, education, health care, and environmental protection. Author photo © Timothy Davis

Most Recent

Andrea Owen: “Embodying Big Prize Energy”

What does it take to truly bet on yourself—to trust your own resilience, wisdom, and worthiness even when life falls apart?

Tami Simon speaks with Andrea Owen, a global keynote speaker, professional certified life coach, and author whose books have sold more than 300,000 copies, including the popular How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t. Andrea’s new audio immersion workshop with Sounds True—Live Like You Give a Damn: 25 Bold Moves to Get Honest, Face the Hard Stuff, and Show Up for Yourself—offers fierce compassion and practical wisdom for anyone ready to stop abandoning themselves and start living with authenticity and confidence.

In this conversation, Tami and Andrea explore:

  • What roller derby taught Andrea about falling down and getting back up—and why you have to actually take action to build confidence
  • The concept of “big prize energy” and what it means to turn up the volume on your authentic self 
  • How to recognize patterns of self-abandonment and reclaim your inner authority 
  • Why action creates confidence, not the other way around—and what it means to “rush the net” 
  • Learning to trust your body’s wisdom and your own resilience, especially during heartbreak 
  • The importance of parenting yourself and accepting that life will hand you “sh*t sandwiches” 
  • How detachment in relationships differs from disconnection, and why it’s essential for wholeness

Andrea brings refreshing honesty, humor, and decades of coaching experience to questions about confidence, relationships, and personal transformation. If you’re ready to stop waiting for permission and start trusting yourself, this conversation offers both inspiration and practical tools for showing up fully in your own life.

Listen now and discover what becomes possible when you live like you give a damn.

Go deeper with Andrea’s new audio immersion workshop from Sounds True, Live Like You Give a Damn: 25 Bold Moves to Get Honest, Face the Hard Stuff, and Show Up for Yourself. With wisdom, humor, and honesty, Andrea offers stories, concrete steps and practical exercises to remind you that it’s every person’s birthright to live a fulfilling life. Learn more at https://www.soundstrue.com/products/live-like-you-give-a-damn

Note: This interview originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at https://www.join.soundstrue.com

E136: The Root of All Stress—Resistance to Reality

Stress and suffering arise not from external events but from our internal resistance to them—based on our inner preferences, fears, and desires toward what is happening. The outer world manifests from vast cosmic forces beyond our control, while our inner reactions are shaped by past impressions we have held onto. The path to liberation lies in relaxing and letting go of resistance, allowing life to flow through us without obstruction, thus opening to inner peace, joy, and spiritual freedom.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E135: The Yoga of Wisdom—The Path to Liberation

Jnana Yoga is the path of wisdom through which one contemplates the vastness of creation until the personal mind dissolves into the infinite. God is seen as conscious energy (Chit Shakti) manifesting the entire universe. Interestingly, scientists see the entire physical universe as emanating from an omnipresent quantum field. Despite this knowledge, we suffer. The cause of suffering is that our individual rays of consciousness are distracted by, and identify with, the objects they are aware of. This creates the ego, the false sense of “I”. with all its personal struggles. Through the practices of surrender, witness consciousness, and letting go, one’s consciousness can rise again into divine union and eternal bliss.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

Customer Favorites

Ep 7: We Are a Part of a River of Time

Jess and Joanna explore the third phase of the spiral: Seeing with New Eyes. In this part of the spiral, the fog of our pain begins to lift off, and what comes in its place is a feeling of greater connection and belonging. Jess and Joanna talk about Deep Time, a way of understanding ourselves as a part of a long lineage of human and planetary history, and how our imaginations are an essential tool for “plugging back in” to the great web of life we’re a part of. 

In this episode:

We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.

Ep 1: Love and Loss

As Joanna Macy approaches the end of a long life dedicated to healing our imperiled planet, she begins the conversation with Jessica Serrante, her student and dear friend, “standing afresh with what it’s like to live on Earth at this moment.” As we look into the face of the climate crisis, injustice, and war, difficult feelings arise; all are welcomed.

You are invited to join them at Joanna’s kitchen table, and invited into a deeper sense of your belonging and love for our world.

In this episode:

  • How to connect with the great possibilities that still exist for us even in these precarious times Joanna reflects on her awakening of environmental consciousness
  • Jess reflects on how meeting Joanna changed her life
  • Love, laughter, heartbreak, and the Work That Reconnects
  • Bonus Exercise: “Open Sentences”—a practice for partners

We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.

Terry Real: Standing Up to One Another with Love

Terry Real is a family therapist, public speaker, and the founder of the Relational Life Institute. Terry’s written works include I Don’t Want to Talk About It, How Can I Get Through to You?, and The New Rules of Marriage. With Sounds True, he has created the audio program Fierce Intimacy: Standing Up to One Another with Love. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Terry about his somewhat unusual, do-or-divorce approach to couples therapy. They talk about deal breakers in relationships and why they don’t necessarily need to end a partnership. Terry explains what it means to hold a “core negative image” of a partner, why this is all too common, and why recognition of that core image can actually strengthen a relationship. Finally, Terry and Tami discuss what “fierce intimacy” truly entails and why canny relationship skills are the very same qualities that will help the human race rise to meet the challenges of the future. (64 minutes)

Timeless Classics

Most Recent

E26: Why the Outside Affects the Inside: Finding Inner...

If our consciousness dwells inside, why do external circumstances have such a strong effect on our inner well-being? It is attachment to past experiences that creates a mental filter that distorts reality as it comes in. By releasing stored emotions and judgments, we can access a natural state of joy and peace, regardless of external events. The path to self-realization involves continuous self-awareness and letting go of attachments, ultimately leading to a life of authenticity, freedom, and bliss.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E25: The Ego and the Self: Navigating the Inner World

A spiritual person recognizes that they are not their thoughts, but the awareness observing the thoughts. While the impersonal mind is a powerful tool for intellectual and creative tasks, the ego mind is merely a mental construct that constantly seeks validation and control. By practicing witness consciousness and letting go of the ego, one can transcend mental noise and experience inner peace and spiritual fulfillment.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E24: From Resistance to Service: A Journey Toward Spir...

The essence of a spiritual life involves embracing both acceptance and service. Most of our suffering comes from resisting reality and trying to control life’s outcomes. In truth, we have very little control over essential aspects of our lives. By accepting life as it unfolds, we free ourselves from unnecessary stress and anxiety. This acceptance is not passive; it leads to the ability to serve life in meaningful ways, bringing love, peace, and compassion into the world.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E23: The Journey from Fear to Freedom

Your life here on Earth is limited to the time between your birth and death. What do you want to do with that time? Do you want to live a life based on mental fears and emotional insecurities? People spend tremendous energy trying to protect themselves from psychological discomfort and rejection. You do not have to live that life—you can live a life of acceptance, where external circumstances no longer have the power to control your mental or emotional state.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E22: Finding Peace Through Truth and Acceptance

Embracing deep truth involves being willing to look at human existence in relation to the universe—we are all on a small planet in the middle of nowhere for a brief moment in time. To avoid facing this truth, we make up personal beliefs and create a self-concept (ego) that leads to tremendous suffering and conflict. The key to living truthfully is to let go of the ego, embrace the vast reality of life, and focus on serving life instead of serving yourself.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E21: The Art of Being Done: A Life Without the Struggl...

What if the secret to happiness is not being somebody, but being willing to be nobody? Imagine living without the need to prove or protect yourself, without the constant drive for acceptance or the fear of failure. What if you could just be real? Life would become effortless, free from judgment, and full of peace. True liberation isn’t about escaping the world—it’s freeing yourself to live in harmony with it. Be done with ego and discover true peace.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

Listener Favorites

E37: From Complaints to Contentment: A Guide to Inner ...

We live on an extraordinarily amazing planet compared to any others we have seen. Yet, despite this, we are prone to complaining on a daily basis. Personal dissatisfaction arises from judging and resisting reality and suppressing past emotional pain. This creates the buildup of lifelong inner blockages that cause even more suffering and dissatisfaction. By releasing these blockages and transcending the limitations of the personal mind, we can achieve spiritual growth and experience true contentment and joy.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E87: The Path to Nonduality

Nonduality is not an abstract philosophy but a practical spiritual path rooted in everyday life. The Universe is one unified system, but we can’t see it that way because we need certain parts to be certain ways. This is because we don’t feel whole within ourselves, so we differentiate the outside based on what we think will make us feel better or worse. Once we feel whole and at peace inside, everything is free to be as it is—one nondual reality.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E140: God Wants to Experience It All—Will You Let Hi...

The essence of spirituality is recognizing that you are not your body or mind, but pure consciousness capable of experiencing the body, mind, and all of creation. By resisting certain life experiences and clinging to others, you create inner blockages that form the false concept of self and become the root of suffering. The key to liberation is learning to fully experience each moment without resistance or clinging, letting every experience pass through to touch the depth of your being. This unfiltered experiencing is what is meant by living in alignment with creation, with God, and with your true Self.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E113: The Perfect School: Life as the Path to Liberati...

The purpose of life is to release the inner blockages (samskaras) that obscure the natural flow of energy and keep us trapped in patterns of fear, desire, and resistance. External events are not punishments but opportunities to see and let go of what is stored within, transforming suffering into growth. Liberation comes through non-resistance, relaxation, and surrender—using every moment of life as a chance to purify and return to the wholeness of the Self.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

 

E180: From Ego to Freedom—The Path to Liberation

The personal mind creates suffering by making everything be about “me,” which generates fears about the future and attachments to the past. These stored impressions form the ego, which distorts reality and causes continuous psychological disturbance. Liberation comes from letting go of these patterns and practicing acceptance—learning to handle whatever arises without resistance.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2026 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E151: Living Untethered—The New Year as a Doorway to...

As you enter this new year, reflect upon how clinging to past experiences and resisting reality leads to suffering and prevents you from knowing the true meaning of life. Spiritual growth is about learning to let go of inner disturbances through conscious awareness and relaxation, rather than trying to make the outer world match our inner programming. By releasing your inner blockages, you expand into a being of unconditional love and clarity who uplifts the world around you through genuine presence and service.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2026 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

Timeless Classics

E76: From Suppression to Surrender: The Journey Home

The root of suffering lies in our stored impressions and unresolved emotional experiences from the past. These form the personal mind and are the foundation of our self-concept. Spiritual growth is about learning to relax through the discomfort of cleansing, rather than having to control life to match our preferences. Liberation happens by becoming a “letting go machine,” which, over time, allows us to align with our natural state—eternal, conscious, blissful being.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E77: The Journey from Intellectual to Experiential Tru...

There is a fundamental difference between knowing something intellectually and experiencing it directly. In spiritual practice, realization arises not from thinking or believing but from resting in the seat of consciousness and ceasing to be distracted by thoughts, emotions, and ego. The ultimate path to enlightenment involves letting go of identification with the personal self and returning to the direct, experiential awareness of one’s divine nature. God-realization is not a belief, it is a lived experience of merging back into the ocean of universal consciousness.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E78: Understanding Shakti: The Flow of Conscious Energ...

Shakti is the universal life energy that flows through the body, mind, and heart, and its flow is the basis of all emotional and physical experiences. Blockages created from suppressed past experiences distort this flow, leading to mental, emotional, and physical suffering. Instead of releasing these blockages, most people try to manipulate the external world to avoid triggering them. True spiritual growth is the art of letting go of these blockages and allowing Shakti to flow freely. Ultimately, this leads to a life filled with love, joy, and Self-Realization.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E79: Beyond the Mind: Escaping the VR of Thoughts and ...

Human beings are living inside a kind of “virtual reality” created by their own minds. This VR is built from thoughts, past experiences, emotions, and beliefs that they hold onto and identify with, forming their egos and self-concepts. Spiritual awakening involves stepping back from this constructed reality, witnessing it without getting lost in it, and ultimately letting it go to merge with a higher, freer state of consciousness. True liberation is compared to taking off the VR goggles and realizing the infinite reality beyond the limited personal world created by these mental constructs.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E8: Achieving Inner Awareness by Letting Go

Life feels complicated only because we become entangled in our thoughts, emotions, and external experiences. Spiritual growth involves recognizing that our conscious awareness, which is transcendent to these phenomena, is the essence of our being. As such, we do not have to become overly identified with these fleeting experiences. By learning to handle all of life’s experiences without reactive resistance, we can maintain inner peace and return to the source of our being.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E80: Wavelets of Consciousness: The Field of Mind Expl...

The mind is a field of infinite energy that generates thoughts like wavelets or ripples in a lake. These wavelets are transient and harmless unless we hold them in place by focusing undue attention on them. Held in place, these wavelets freeze and become the mental patterns of our ego and belief systems, which distort our perception from then on. Liberation comes from learning to relax and not resist energy as it passes through, and by letting go of the older patterns as they arise.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.