This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com — Responses to comments on the Wim Hof thing. — Is football like sex work? — How to behave in the End Times. — A few words in defense of Woody Allen and Joe Rogan. — The night Daryl Hanna asked me to sign a copy of Sex at Dawn. Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. “Party at the End of the World,” by Carsie Blanton. “Accidentall…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com Meet me in the kitchen! Anger vs gratitude. The perverse appetite for disaster. Who are we to judge? Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. "Roll the Bones,” by Shakey Graves. “Watch it Fall,” by Billy Strings. Tangentially Speaking with Chris Ryan is a reader-supported publication. To support this thing, please consider becoming a free…

This was originally episode 122, recorded in Portland, OR, in April, 2015. This conversation is about as uninhibited as they come. We bounce from shitting in Asia to how to compliment someone’s g******s to my experience giving a TED talk to eating disorders to group sex. Never a dull moment with Nikki. I’m so glad to see her getting the attention she deserves these days. Sometimes, the good guys win. Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. “Wicked Little Pill,” by Bird York....

I met Aaron at the Budokon retreat this summer, and I was immediately impressed by his candor, kindness, and the depth of his intellect. Then, when I learned that he led men’s groups, I thought he’d be a great guest for the podcast, since I know little about that world and, in fact, have some resistance to what often ends up being somewhat exploitative of men’s very real sense of alienation and desperation. But Aaron seemed like the real deal, so I invited him to set me straight on...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com Try to fix this old house again, or should we burn it down and start over?

Deborah and her husband lost everything but their lives and each other when Hurricane Helene washed away their house a few weeks ago. Deborah’s experience of this “emergence” is framed by her experiences as a Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, and author. I greatly appreciate her trust in sharing her thoughts and insights — even while still immersed in the rawness of her grief and shock at almost being swept away with her home and everything in it. Listen to her explain what it’s like to find...

Retired in 2016 after five terms as Colorado’s only Green Party county commissioner, Art Goodtimes has worked as a newspaper editor and he had a 40+ year run writing weekly and monthly op-ed columns for print and online publications including the Telluride Times, the San Miguel Journal, the Telluride Times-Journal, the Watch, the Daily Planet, the MontroseMirror.com, and Colorado Poets Center. Art studied to be a Roman Catholic priest for seven years, and has continued to marry people as a...

I'm back. Thanks for your love and support over these past few difficult weeks. Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. “Into the Mystic,” by Van Morrison. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com This is a continuation of my (I hope) never-ending conversation with Cameron Shayne, martial arts expert, legendary movement/yoga teacher, iconoclast, deep thinker, gentle bad-ass, and all-around awesome dude. Learn more about Cameron and Budokon University, which he runs with his wife, Melayne (also awesome!). Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Bas…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com This is the “director’s cut” of the article I posted a few days ago, tracing the ancient origins of the eternal political debate back to the conflicts between an agricultural approach to social organization and the hunter-gatherer approach. What’s old is new and what’s new is ancient.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com Andrew Gold is an investigative journalist, podcaster and filmmaker who has made and presented documentaries for the BBC and HBO. He presents the popular podcast Heretics, where he has interviewed Richard Dawkins, Jon Ronson and David Baddiel amongst many others. His documentary on exorcism won several international festival awards and his research in G…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com Shawn Kubli is an American immunologist and surfer, currently land-locked in Toronto, Ontario. Working in the biotech industry for Treadwell Therapeutics, his research group develops living drugs – cell therapy – that harness the intrinsic power of the immune system to fight cancer. Shawn’s academic background in evolutionary genetics and ecology shape …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com Gender controversies at the Olympics. What is a woman? How pronoun preference is like religion and veganism. What is intimacy and how can we nurture it? What is valuable? What is beauty? How is attraction contextual? Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. “Take Me Down,” by Honey We Three. “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton. Paid version:…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com Cameron Shayne is considered the father of the Mixed Movement Arts culture. Cameron pioneered the phrase and concept of Budokon Mixed Movement Arts in 2001 by combining the combat arts of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts together with Yoga, Crawling Patterns, Mobility, Calisthenics, and Cognitive Studies into a single black belt system known as Budokon (BU warrior, DO way, KON spirit).  Based in...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com A bit about how 2024 is like 1934 and the appeal of MAGA is like the appeal of Socialism then. Age is sedimentary, not linear. And what to do when heart, spirit, and animal desire don’t align? I love him/her, but I’m not that attracted. How to learn and grow without leaving a trail of destruction behind us. Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin a…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com Abbey and Liam have been married for over a decade, and have been exploring an open relationship for most of that time. They are unusually thoughtful, open, and articulate about the joys, challenges, and surprises they've encountered along the way. You can learn more about them here. Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Paid version: …

Mark is a good dude who has lived a good life. You can see it in his face. Not a life without challenge or disappointment, but a life of meaning and purpose and love and kindness. (How could a “good life” ever be free of challenge and disappointment?) I really enjoy hanging out with this guy. We talk travel, music, film, theater, Manhattan in the 80s and 90s, Crestone in the 2000s…. Life, death — all the juicy stuff. Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. “Brazil,”by Django...

In an age where we’re told to always strive for efficiency, monetization, and TOTAL OPTIMIZATION, doing something purely for the f**k of it becomes a subversive, revolutionary act. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Paleontologist-Futurist Michael Garfield is devoted to helping navigate our age of accelerating weirdness and helping cultivate the curiosity and play we'll need to thrive in it. As host and producer of Future Fossils Podcast, Michael refuses to be enslaved by a single perspective, creative medium, or intellectual community, walking through the walls between academia and festival culture, theory and practice — speaking and performing everywhere from Moogfest to Burning Man, SXSW to Boom...

Mark Nelson is an American ecologist and author based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His research focuses on closed ecological system research, ecological engineering, restoration of damaged ecosystems, and wastewater recycling. Nelson was one of the eight original crew members of Biosphere 2 in 1991. Marks books can be found here and here. Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range; “If I had a Million Dollars,” by Barenaked Ladies; Outro: “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton. This is...

I met this incredible woman over a decade ago (ep 87), when she was in a very difficult spot, suffering from constant pain, unable to move or care for herself. She was preparing to die. In the years since, I’ve seen the light in her grow stronger and stronger. She’s recovered from severe scleroderma, written a book about her journey, been profiled on a Netflix series, featured in Gabor Maté's NYT bestseller The Myth of Normal, and continuously explored her inner world with the help of sacred...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com What values underlie this podcast? Russell Brand in search of universal human values. How not to be a fool for love (or for Andrew Tate). Looking back at life — both the parts lived and unlived — from here. Jimmy Carter and the value of some types of shame. How Ozembic symbolizes American life in 2024. Artificial cures for artificial problems and the su…

Bill first picked up a camera in 1965, at age 20, little knowing that photography would become his profession. Since then camera work has taken him to India, China, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Alaska, Egypt, Ireland, Bhutan, Zambia, Chilean Patagonia and the American West. Bill’s images have appeared in magazines, books, calendars, newspapers, catalogs, annual reports.  In 1995 Bill moved to the San Luis Valley, took up residence in a travel trailer near Crestone, Colorado and started building...

Neil Strauss is a wildly successful writer and podcaster. He’s written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and just about every other high-profile platform you can think of. His best-selling books include The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists (2012), Everyone Loves You When You're Dead: Journeys Into Fame and Madness (2011), and The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships (2015). In January, 2023, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, a book Strauss wrote with...