• 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...

  • The Michael Singer Podcast

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco.

    Listen Now
    Subscribe:
  • 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.

    Listen Now
    Subscribe:

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

[ENCORE EPISODE] Jon Kabat-Zinn: Befriending Pain

**SPECIAL ENCORE PRESENTATION**

Current statistics tell us that 20% of the US population has some form of chronic pain, defined as severe discomfort that has continued for six months or more. That’s more than 50 million people. Jon Kabat-Zinn has received international acclaim for his leading work in bringing the life-changing practices of meditation and mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. In this inspiring podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Jon about his empowering new book, Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief, and how we can greatly improve our lives (and our entire world) by reframing the way we relate to our thoughts, our minds, and the sensations of our bodies.

Listen in as they discuss the epidemic of chronic pain and the power of mindfulness to ease suffering of all kinds, the myth of the “good meditator,” the body as the starting point for practice, exploring your “emotionally freighted thoughts,” our longing to be who we really are, working with the mind and learning to inhabit a space of embodied awareness, the refuge that is meditation practice, letting go of our stories, befriending the sensory field of what we call pain, the miracle of life on Earth, the Buddha’s teaching on mindfulness as the direct path to liberation, surfing the waves of your own experience, unity within diversity and the arising of compassion, focusing on what’s right instead of what’s wrong, how we are all on a growth curve on life’s journey, and more.

Note: This episode 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 join.soundstrue.com.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Listeners of Insights At The Edge get 10% off their first month at

www.betterhelp.com/soundstrue

E127: Unconditional Well-Being — The Practice of Non...

Our lives are governed by the programming from our past experiences that create preferences, defenses, and closures which block the natural upward flow of shakti. Spiritual work is learning to not close—releasing stored disturbances, relaxing in the face of triggers, and practicing openness in ordinary situations until we experience unconditional well-being. Sustained openness liberates your inner energy, leading to overwhelming love, joy, and, ultimately, spiritual union.

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

Tama Kieves: Being Available to Infinite Intelligence

What if the voice telling you to be practical is actually blocking you from your greatest life? Tami Simon speaks with Tama Kieves, who walked away from Harvard Law School success to follow an inner calling she couldn’t ignore. Together they explore why self-doubt can fuel spiritual seeking, how kindness unlocks genius, and what happened when Tama chose to be “the one who loves” with her difficult parents.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Listeners of Insights At The Edge get 10% off their first month at www.betterhelp.com/soundstrue.

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 join.soundstrue.com.

Customer Favorites

E86: The Addiction to Self: Breaking Free from the Ego...

Spiritual growth begins not by seeking higher states, but by fully recognizing how we built the ego out of thoughts from our past and are now identified with it. Our resultant preferences and suppressed past experiences make us suffer and constrict our awareness to ourselves. True liberation comes not by spiritualizing the ego, but by relaxing behind it and allowing reality to pass through while remaining centered in our true nature as consciousness.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

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

Spencer Sherman: The Inner Mastery of Money

Spencer Sherman was named one of the top wealth advisors in the United States, has an MBA from Wharton School, and is the founder of a sustainable financial firm with Buddhist values. With Sounds True, Spencer is the coauthor of The Money and Spirit Workshop. He also is bringing his work on the inner mastery of money to the Inner MBA program, a nine-month training program Sounds True is producing in partnership with LinkedIn, Wisdom 2.0, and MindfulNYU. In this podcast, Sounds True founder Tami Simon speaks with Spencer about how we can shift from having a neurotic, confused, or highly charged relationship with money to enjoying a wise, healthy, and uncharged relationship. Spencer introduces the iceberg metaphor, sharing how our financial literacy doesn’t actually drive our money behaviors as much as our fixed, unconscious beliefs and emotions do. Tami and Spencer also discuss the connections between money and Buddhism, exploring self-worth, fear, generosity, equanimity, and more.

What Is Wanting to Find Expression Through You?

Dr. James Hollis is a Jungian analyst, a former director of the Jung Society of Washington, DC, and a professor of Jungian Studies for Saybrook University of San Francisco/Houston. He is the author of The Middle Passage, Living an Examined Life, Through the Dark Wood, and Living Between Worlds, among many others. With Sounds True, he’s released the expansive audio program A Life of Meaning: Exploring Our Deepest Questions and Motivations. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with James about the journey for personal fulfillment—how it starts, what it demands, and how it changes your life. James explains what it really means to take responsibility for your life’s path, as well as how you can rediscover and reclaim your innate authority. Tami and James discuss how childhood experiences shape our present behavior and what it takes to live fearlessly. Finally, they talk about overcoming lethargy and the joy of becoming comfortable with mysteries.

Timeless Classics

Most Recent

S3 E2: Letting Go of Reactive Energies

There’s nothing even remotely spiritual about going through life reacting to events. In this episode, Michael Singer explores how to become aware of our emotional reactions, navigate the energies that drive them, and learn to respond to triggering events with greater consciousness.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.
© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

S3 E1: Your Highest Technique – Relaxing Behind Your...

In this season opener, Michael Singer guides us into the understanding and practice of what he calls “the highest technique,” that of relaxing in the midst of your resistance to life’s events—and then fully experiencing the present moment.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.
© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

The Michael Singer Podcast: Season 3 Trailer

Are you ready for the next chapter in Michael Singer’s profound (and often irreverent) wisdom? Check out this audio trailer from Sounds True founder Tami Simon, announcing Season Three of The Michael Singer Podcast.

Join us on [September 13th] for the first new episode of this acclaimed podcast.

S2 E5: Look into the Lake of Life

Who are you in the eyes of the universe? Here, Michael talks about our perceptual relationship with the universe—illuminating how we project ourselves onto the unfolding of reality.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com. 
© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

S2 E4: Taking Care of Your Inner Environment

A filthy home is an open invitation for rats and roaches to move in. In the same way, Michael reveals that neglected thoughts and emotions attract destructive unconscious behaviors.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.
© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

 

S2 E3: The Commitment to Stay Conscious

Even when you’ve devoted yourself to spiritual work, it can be difficult to maintain mindful awareness. In this episode, Michael speaks on the difficulty of maintaining consciousness and equanimity when we seem hardwired to be hooked by outside stimuli.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.
© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

Listener Favorites

E182: Stop Closing Your Heart—The Real Path to Love ...

The key to opening the heart is learning not to close it. The heart is very sensitive, and it closes due to stored past impressions that create a sense of fear and the need for self-protection. Thus, people seek external conditions for the heart to feel safe enough to open. But as conditions change, the tendency to close is still there. The true path to living with an open heart is learning not to close, by handling life’s experiences without resistance. Through awareness and practice, one can release stored impressions and live in a naturally open, loving state.

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

E184: Acceptance—For Everything There Is a Season

Suffering is not caused by external events but by our resistance to reality and our inability to handle what has already happened. Acceptance means acknowledging reality and our internal reactions to it, not through suppression, but through allowing stored emotional energy to release. Through this process, one becomes peaceful, free from ego-driven preferences, and capable of living in harmony with life as it unfolds.

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

E183: The Impersonal Nature of Reality

The personal mind creates suffering by taking everything personally and forming preferences about how life should be. In truth, life’s events are the outcomes of vast chains of cause and effect stretching through time and space. Suffering arises when we deny the reality of these causes and resist the events that are unfolding before us, as well as those that have unfolded in the past. Spiritual liberation comes from learning to align with reality as it is and then working to raise it as it passes before us.

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

E112: The Dance of Shakti: Conscious Energy and Libera...

All of life is Shakti, the universal conscious energy that vibrates at different rates to manifest as physical form, thoughts, emotions, and the flow of spiritual energy. Our suffering arises when we resist life’s experiences and block this flow, storing disturbances that shape the personal mind and distort our lives. Freedom comes when we stop pushing experiences down, let old disturbances rise and pass, and learn to relax in the face of life so that the inner flow of shakti can carry us back to our natural state of joy, openness, and oneness with God.

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

 

E176: From Distraction to Liberation—The True Spirit...

You are not your thoughts, emotions, or experiences—you are the consciousness that is aware of them. Spiritual growth is the process of ceasing to be distracted by all the inner commotion and learning to let go of the stored blockages that keep you identified with the personal self. When you release these blockages, consciousness naturally expands back into the state of freedom, peace, and unity.

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

E164: The Fall from the Garden—Distraction, Identifi...

Consciousness is the experiencer of all things, and spiritual growth means realizing you are that consciousness, not what you are conscious of. When our awareness is consistently distracted by objects, be they outside or in, we begin to identify with them, which creates lasting inner impressions. From these, we form the ego with its constant attempts to control life. Liberation comes through inwardly relaxing, letting go, and remaining in witness consciousness, allowing stored disturbances to dissolve and restoring us to the natural state of freedom and oneness.

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

Timeless Classics

S1 E5: Your Highest Intention: Self-Realization

Have you ever pushed a thought aside or stuffed an emotion away deep inside? Most of us have! Michael Singer teaches that this is an act of will stemming from a simple intention: to feel better. In this podcast, he discusses the incredible power of our human will and how we use it, (for better or worse) in this deep exploration of intention and the pathway to self-realization and spiritual freedom.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.
© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

S2 E1: From Fighting to Harmony – Changing Your ...

The world’s great wisdom traditions all speak on the value of surrender. In this episode, Michael discusses what it takes to grow beyond spiritual resistance.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.
© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

S2 E2: The Stages of the Spiritual Path – A Cont...

How do you know when you’re actually walking the path or when you’re just strengthening your ego? Here, Michael considers the gateways to and pitfalls of spiritual work.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.
© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

S2 E3: The Commitment to Stay Conscious

Even when you’ve devoted yourself to spiritual work, it can be difficult to maintain mindful awareness. In this episode, Michael speaks on the difficulty of maintaining consciousness and equanimity when we seem hardwired to be hooked by outside stimuli.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.
© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

S2 E4: Taking Care of Your Inner Environment

A filthy home is an open invitation for rats and roaches to move in. In the same way, Michael reveals that neglected thoughts and emotions attract destructive unconscious behaviors.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.
© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

 

S2 E5: Look into the Lake of Life

Who are you in the eyes of the universe? Here, Michael talks about our perceptual relationship with the universe—illuminating how we project ourselves onto the unfolding of reality.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com. 
© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.