Living Untethered

    —
June 14, 2022

Living Untethered

Michael Singer June 14, 2022

Michael A. Singer is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, the New York Times bestseller The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection, and, most recently, Living Untethered: Beyond the Human Predicament. 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 retreat 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.

In this podcast, Michael joins Sounds True’s founder, Tami Simon, to speak about his latest book. Tami and Michael discuss the first question for the spiritual journey, “Are you in there?”; the “three-ring circus” of the outside world, the thoughts in your head, and the emotions that emanate from your heart; the energy of Shakti; removing the samskaras (or energy blockages) within you; resistance, will, and accepting reality; practicing the little things—the “low-hanging fruit”—on the path of surrender; the proper use of positive thinking; the mantra “I can handle this”; witness consciousness and the practice of “relax and release”; the art of transmutation; piercing the spiritual heart; and more.

Michael A. Singer is author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Untethered Soul and the New York Times bestsellers The Surrender Experiment and Living Untethered, all of which are published worldwide. He had a deep inner awakening in 1971 while working on his doctorate in economics and went into seclusion to focus on yoga and meditation. In 1975, he founded Temple of the Universe, a now long-established yoga and meditation center where people of any religion or set of beliefs can come together to experience inner peace. Along with his nearly five decades of spiritual teaching, Singer has made major contributions in the areas of business, education, health care, and environmental protection. Discover more here.

Author photo © Timothy Davis

600 Podcasts and Counting…

Subscribe to Insights at the Edge to hear all of Tami’s interviews (transcripts available too!), featuring Eckhart Tolle, Caroline Myss, Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, Adyashanti, and many more.

Meet Your Host: Tami Simon

Founded Sounds True in 1985 as a multimedia publishing house with a mission to disseminate spiritual wisdom. She hosts a popular weekly podcast called Insights at the Edge, where she has interviewed many of today's leading teachers. Tami lives with her wife, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Rasberry and Bula, in Boulder, Colorado.

Photo © Jason Elias

Also By Author

E142: The Illusion of Problems and the Return to the G...

Problems occur when consciousness becomes identified with external objects and forgets its own nature as pure, eternal witnessing presence. Ego emerges when we build a self-concept based on our past experiences, which leads to suffering whenever reality doesn’t align with internal expectations. The path to liberation begins by accepting what is and allowing our past stored blockages to be transmuted through spiritual practice and clarity. The true self is the unchanging observer, resting in pure consciousness beyond the personal mind, where the divine experiences creation.

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

E141: The Logic of Letting Go—Will, Mind, and the Pa...

The use of logic, reason, and will is integral to spiritual growth. The body, heart, and mind are divine gifts meant to help consciousness experience life, but suffering arises when the mind becomes identified with its past experiences. Spiritual liberation involves recognizing our free will, practicing letting go in daily life, and gradually purifying the stored emotional residue that shapes our personal preferences and suffering. Through this process, consciousness begins to rise, ultimately merging with the divine, leading to complete oneness and inner transformation.

© 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.

You Might Also Enjoy

David Brooks: Perception Is an Act of Creation

What does it mean to truly see another person—not just their surface, but their soul, their yearning, their infinite dignity?

This week, Tami speaks with David Brooks—acclaimed New York Times columnist, author, and PBS NewsHour commentator—about his remarkable journey from emotional guardedness to what he calls “heart vision.” In this profound interview on Insights at the Edge, David shares the mystical experiences that transformed his understanding of human connection, including a pivotal moment in a New York subway when he suddenly perceived everyone around him as souls in motion.

Join Tami and David to explore:

  • David’s emotional awakening and the journey from cerebral detachment to human vulnerability
  • The distinction between diminishers and illuminators—and how we see others
  • Why attention is the ultimate form of generosity and morality
  • The difference between heart intelligence and mental intelligence
  • How perception itself is an act of creation, not passive observation
  • Practical skills for seeing others deeply: the on/off switch of attention, being a loud listener, and avoiding the topper trap
  • Why he identifies as a religious rather than a spiritual person
  • The moral order of the universe and how our yearnings reflect something woven into reality itself
  • How rupture and repair shape us—and why staying in pain can be necessary for growth

David’s wisdom reminds us that in a world increasingly dominated by data and algorithms, the art of truly seeing another human being remains our most sacred—and most practical—capacity.

Listen now to discover how cultivating the illuminator’s gaze can transform every relationship in your life.

This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.

Frank Ostaseki: “I’m Allergic to the Notion of a G...

What truly matters when we face the end of life? After decades of sitting at the bedside of hundreds of dying people, Frank Ostaseski has distilled the deepest human concerns into two essential questions: Am I loved? Have I loved well?

This week on Insights at the Edge, Tami welcomes Frank Ostaseski—co-founder of America’s first Buddhist hospice, the Zen Hospice Project, founder of the Metta Institute, and author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully. Frank brings extraordinary wisdom from his pioneering work in compassionate end-of-life care, along with profound personal insights from his own encounters with heart surgery, strokes, and the transformative vulnerability of being “on the other side of the sheets.”

Join Tami and Frank to explore:

  • The two essential questions that arise when facing death—and what they reveal about living fully now
  • Why emotional flexibility is the true condition for healing and transformation
  • How to meet our own fear and pain without abandoning ourselves or others
  • The practice of “allowing” as a path to both wisdom and compassion
  • What happens in the dying process: surrender, reconstitution, and coming home
  • Why Frank is allergic to the notion of a “good death”
  • The indestructible love that emerges when we keep our hearts open through pain
  • How to practice dying by paying attention to everyday endings

This conversation is for anyone grappling with loss, change, or the fundamental questions of existence—offering not prescriptive answers, but the profound medicine of honest presence and the recognition that our vulnerability itself is one of our most beautiful human qualities.

For more with Frank Ostaseski:

Year to Live Course (Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

Spirit of Service (Upaya Zen Center)

Awareness in Action: The Role of Love (Upaya Zen Center, Frank Ostaseski & Sharon Salzberg)

This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.

A.H. Almaas and Henry Shukman: “The Many Faces of Aw...

What if awakening isn’t a single destination but an endless unfolding of reality’s many faces? This week on Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon facilitates a groundbreaking conversation between two of the most profound spiritual teachers of our time: A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of the Diamond Approach, and Zen teacher Henry Shukman.

In this rare dialogue, these teachers—meeting for the first time—explore how different wisdom traditions point to distinct dimensions of awakened experience. Rather than claiming all paths lead to the same mountaintop, they celebrate the unique territory each tradition reveals: from the “blazing forth” of creative emptiness to experiences where consciousness itself dissolves, from the recognition that each point contains the entire universe to the discovery that everything is made of love.

Join Tami, Hameed, and Henry to discover:

  • Why awakening is an endless process rather than a final arrival
  • The profound difference between thinking and heart-knowing
  • How to navigate the fear that arises at the threshold of ego dissolution 
  • The role of trust, compassion, and basic trust in profound transformation 
  • What happens when individual consciousness completely ceases 
  • Why nothingness and being are inseparable faces of reality 
  • How grief and catastrophic loss can become doorways to awakening 
  • The Zen teaching of uni-locality—experiencing that one point is everything 
  • Why love may be the most fundamental nature of reality itself

This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One

>
Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap