• E119: Escaping the Pull of Ego: A Call to Liberation

    Michael Singer — October 9, 2025

    The root of all human suffering is ego—defined as our personal preferences, desires, and resistance to reality. Consciousness—our true self—is inherently divine,...

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    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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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

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.

 

E111: The Mind Isn’t the Problem—It’s That You a...

The deep spiritual teachings emphasize that the real problem is not the mind itself but our attachment to it and the impressions we’ve stored inside that distort our experience of life. We mistakenly look outward for solutions to this problem, when the real work is to release the inner disturbances that block the natural flow of energy and cause suffering. Spiritual liberation is found by turning inward, observing the mind, letting go of stored pain, and returning to the joyful, transcendent nature of consciousness itself.

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

Acharya Shunya: The Five Phases of the Vedic Afterlife...

In the second half of Acharya Shunya’s talk, she shares her personal journey from tradition to transformation, offering practical tools and Vedic insights to help us embrace our greater purpose here.

Through her personal experiences, practical guidance, and teachings from her lineage, Acharya Shunya offers us a roadmap to awakening and living a more meaningful, empowered life.

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.

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S3 E5: Experiencing Love and Joy Instead of Fear and D...

“When your personal self isn’t taking over,” teaches Michael Singer, “your heart is full and your mind is clear.” So what stops this from happening? Our fears and our desires.

In this episode, Michael shows us how to replace the never-ending pursuit of what you think will make you OK with that which will actually fill you with unconditional love and joy.

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

Andrea Gibson: Facing Mortality and Being Adored and C...

Great poets expand our view—of ourselves, of each other, and of the entire universe. Andrea Gibson was named Colorado’s 2023–25 Poet Laureate for their celebrated verses on love, LGBTQ issues, spirituality, mental health, social justice, and more. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Andrea about their approach to work and how their journey through cancer radically changed that approach. 

Listen now to this poignant conversation featuring Andrea’s reading of their poem, “Acceptance Speech After Setting the World Record in Goosebumps” and exploring spiritual surrender, finding joy in every instant, facing challenges, moving through grief, the life force of the universe within us, self-love and loving the whole world, trying softer (not harder), the power of relaxation, identifying the keys that open your heart, staying with our fear, activism and loosening our attachment to desired outcomes, being yourself fully, the gift of mortality, giving the present moment the cold shoulder, why authenticity is the most important thing when it comes to writing, the pull of creativity, 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.

Getting Off the Crazy Train: Living a Soul-Directed Li...

For decades, New York Times bestselling author Cheryl Richardson has been renowned as a self-care coach for professionals and other high achievers. But when she entered her elder years, life surprised her. All of her many achievements became less important than a new landscape of joys and aspirations that began emerging. “The journey through midlife and beyond,” Cheryl says, “is a shift from less ego to more soul.” In this uplifting episode, she joins host Tami Simon to share practical insights for anyone, at any “calendar age,” to move beyond outer accomplishments and approval, and nurture a deeper life of pleasure and purpose.

Timeless Classics

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)

Father Greg Boyle: The Answer to Every Question Is Com...

Father Greg Boyle is a Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit devoted to intervention, social reintegration, and job training for former gang members. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Father Greg and Tami Simon discuss the work of Homeboy Industries and what it takes to move from a culture of violence to one of open tenderness. Father Greg describes the path that brought him to working with gang members—specifically his experiences in Bolivia, where his experiences with the poor brought to life the teachings of the Gospels. Tami and Father Greg talk about living the tenets of one’s faith and what it means to offer love no matter the situation. Finally, they speak on the judgments many have of gang members and other criminals, and how we can seek a compassion that can “stand in awe at what people have to carry, rather than in judgment of how they carry it.” (63 minutes)

Gabor Maté: The Roots of Healing

Dr. Gabor Maté is an author, speaker, and physician who specializes in addiction, stress, and childhood development. His many books include In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts and When the Body Says No. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Maté about his views on modern mental health evaluation—specifically the widespread diagnoses of ADHD and depression. They discuss the connection between emotional expression and immune response, as well as how the body can be an effective teacher. Finally, Dr. Maté comments on how mental health issues can often be rooted in compensating behaviors from childhood and how healing can be approached from a bio-psycho-social perspective. (68 minutes)

Most Recent

E95: Relax, Release, and Rise: The Real Work of Spirit...

Deep spiritual growth is not about collecting more techniques but about releasing the inner disturbances we have stored from our past. These suppressed energies—called samskaras—remain inside, continuing to influence and limit our lives. Instead of struggling to cope with life’s experiences, we can learn to welcome them as opportunities to release these past blockages. Over time, this leads to purification of the heart and the ability to remain undisturbed, even in the face of intense experiences. Our natural state is one of unconditional joy, love, and divine energy—reclaim it!

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

E94: Spiritual Freedom Is Simpler than You Think

Life is fundamentally simple—we’re sitting on a tiny planet spinning through infinite space for a few years, and that’s it. We make it complicated by deciding how everything must be for us to be okay. This creates suffering, anxiety, and endless worries. Spirituality is about opening up, honoring, and appreciating life as it is. As we let go of ourselves, life becomes joyful, creative, and rich, not because it changed, but because we did.

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

E93: The Practice of Unconditional Openness

When you’re open, life feels beautiful and joyful; when you’re closed, everything seems wrong. This leaves you with two choices: find things that open you or find out how not to close. The first leads to a life of struggling with people, places, and things to match your preferences, while the second leads to the spiritual state of unconditional well-being. Make your choice.

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

E92: Releasing the Meaningless Moments That Create the...

The central spiritual teaching is that we are not the mind but the awareness behind it. The personal mind, composed of impressions from past experiences, creates a false sense of self (ego) that causes suffering and distraction. Spiritual growth begins by recognizing this addiction to the personal mind and learning to lean away from its pull rather than engaging with or resisting its thoughts. This process allows divine energy (Shakti) to emerge and guide us deeper into the source of consciousness.

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

E91: Allowing Life to Remove Your Blockages

The foundational flaw in human behavior is the belief that “I’m not okay.” What follows is the lifelong attempt to fix this through external achievements, relationships, and coping mechanisms. Spiritual growth begins by shifting from trying to fix one’s discomfort to inquiring why the discomfort exists in the first place. Life itself becomes the guru, revealing daily why we close our hearts. The only true practice is to let go of resistance in every moment, allowing life to sculpt us into our highest nature, which is already pure joy and love.

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

E90: How to Stop Minding and Start Living

“Do you mind?” We “mind” everything, from traffic to childhood memories, and this habitual minding creates endless mental ripples that disturb our peace. Spiritual growth is not found through adding practices but through subtracting resistance, through relaxing and letting go of what disturbs us. Every moment becomes an opportunity to free ourselves by choosing not to mind, and over time this unlocks profound freedom and transformation.

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

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E72: Let It Be: The Path to Inner Freedom

There is great spiritual depth behind the phrase “Let It Be.” It presents the wisdom that resisting reality leads to psychological suffering. By understanding how perception is filtered through the mind and influenced by past experiences, we learn that true freedom lies in allowing experiences to pass through us without clinging or pushing away. Spiritual growth involves learning to relax in the face of discomfort and reclaiming the awareness behind it all—the consciousness that is always present, whole, and free.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

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

E83: You Are Not Broken—You’re Just Full of Unrele...

The belief that your inner state is fundamentally not okay, and you must spend most of your life struggling to be okay, is the cause of great suffering. Eventually, you will come to realize that it is only because you stored unresolved past experiences inside your heart and mind that you don’t feel a natural flow of great joy within. These stored blockages get triggered repeatedly, creating mental and emotional turmoil. Real spiritual growth comes through recognizing this pattern and learning to release these inner blockages rather than resisting or suppressing them.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

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

E3: The Yoga of Letting Go – Staying True to You...

How do we free ourselves from the endless pull of external events and the turmoil of our thoughts and emotions—to return to the seat of the true self? Like a balloonist seeking to rise skyward, the key is to stop fighting the ropes that are holding us down, and to practice the moment-by-moment yoga of letting go. When we do, we cease to be an instrument of the personal self and start being a liberated expression of the divine will.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

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

E4: Finding Peace Beyond Fear and Desire

What creates the inner disturbances that cause us to struggle? At the root, teaches Michael Singer, lie the polarities of desire and fear: the psyche’s need to hold on to what it likes and push away what it doesn’t. In this episode, Michael reveals how inner freedom arises not from struggling with these forces but by allowing their natural flow of coming and going to pass right through us.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2024 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.

E6: The Spiritual Path: A Long and Winding Road

The spiritual path is not solely about positive experiences like love and light. It involves confronting and overcoming internal blockages formed from past experiences we’ve resisted or suppressed. True spirituality involves continuously working through these obstacles, which leads to a beautiful inner state.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

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

Timeless Classics

E13: The Mind: Prison or Liberator?

The mind can act as either a prison or a liberator, depending on how we use it. By holding on to uncomfortable past experiences, we trap ourselves in suffering. Expanding our thoughts beyond ourselves allows us to break free of the prison of mind. Through this process, we can liberate our consciousness, experience peace, and ultimately achieve enlightenment.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

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

E14: From Thoughts to Awareness: Reclaiming Your Divin...

In this talk, Michael explains that the mind need not be an obstacle to spiritual growth but can actually be a great tool when used properly. This involves realizing you are not your thoughts, any of your thoughts—rather, you are the awareness observing them. By remaining centered in this awareness, free from the pull of personal thoughts and emotions, one can experience great states of natural joy, love, and divinity.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

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

E15: Contemplating Truth: The Path to Inner Freedom

There are two fundamental truths that can help free you from the bondage of the ego. The first is your relationship to the vastness of the universe, and the other is how short your time is on this tiny planet. By acknowledging these truths, you can free yourself from the burden of personal preferences, opinions, and the mind’s fixation on past experiences. Embracing these deep truths leads you to a greater sense of perspective and a life of freedom that comes from releasing ego and harmonizing with Reality.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

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

E16: When the Mind Becomes Disturbed

The mind, like the ocean, can be calm or disturbed, but the same consciousness is observing both states. Rather than trying to fix or overreact to a disturbed mind, one can learn to step back and observe the disturbance without feeding it. Ultimately, ceasing to thrash around in the disturbed mind allows the mental energies to settle down naturally. This process of letting go of the impulse to struggle leads to greater inner peace and spiritual growth over time.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

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

E17: The Power of Acceptance: Evolving Beyond the Ego

Life is a spiritual journey where every experience serves as an opportunity for growth and evolution. The core of human suffering stems from attachment to the ego and resistance to the natural flow of life. By recognizing that we are not our egos but are instead the divine consciousness that is aware of the ego, we can transcend suffering and embrace inner peace. The ultimate purpose of life is spiritual liberation, achieved by letting go of resistance, aligning with reality, and embracing love and compassion in all circumstances.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

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

 

E18: Beyond the Mask of the Ego: Embracing Pure Awaren...

Consciousness is the foundation of all meaning, because without awareness, nothing has significance. People mistakenly identify with their ego, which is simply a collection of thoughts and self-concepts they are aware of. This false identification leads to tremendous suffering. True spiritual enlightenment comes from recognizing that the self is not the ego but the pure awareness behind it.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

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

 

 

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