Tangentially Speaking With Dr. Christopher Ryan

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.comThis 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.comThis 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.comAndrew 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.comShawn 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.comGender 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.comCameron 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 Los Angeles, CA, during the 90's, Cameron established himself as one of the pioneering voices and transmitters of contemporary yoga, martial arts and the movement culture. Cameron and his wife Melayne are close friends of ours, having hosted our annual retreat for the past few years at their fantastic compound outside Whitefish, Montana.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.comA 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.comAbbey 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 Reinhardt; Outro: “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton. 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

In an age where we’re told to always strive for efficiency, monetization, and TOTAL OPTIMIZATION, doing something purely for the fuck 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 Festival, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to Long Now's Ignite Talks to The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors.Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Transition music: “Olympus Mons,” by Michael Garfield. Outro: “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton. 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

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.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 a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

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 plants (ayahuasca) and other modalities. Her initiation into the world of healing by way of her own near death experience is as authentically “shamanic” as anything I’m aware of in the modern world.You can learn more about the retreat she’s leading in Costa Rica here.This video of Mee Ok and Gabor Mate will give you a sense of the incredible journey my friend is taking. 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.comWhat 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 a strawbale house.Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Outro: “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton. 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

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 music producer Rick Rubin. In 2019, Strauss launched To Live and Die in LA., a true crime podcast following the death of Adea Shabani. It hit No. 1 on the iTunes podcasts, and was in the top 10 for four months. His latest project is To Die For, which explores the world of Russian sex espionage.Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Outro: “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton.Join us in Montana next month at the Budokon/Sex at Dawn retreat. Pick up some of that whipped tallow skin balm here. (Use code: CHRIS15 f

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.comA “director’s cut” of one of my most popular posts on Substack: What We Fall in When We Fall in Love. The Raymond Carver story I mention is in this collection. Music (paid version): “Trampoline,” by Joe Henry.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.comCover versions of well-known songs that illuminate some quality in the original that was dormant, waiting to emerge, like a cicada.

As a follow-up to my recent post about some things ethical non-monogamy is not, I thought it might be fun to consider some things ENM can be, in the best of circumstances. In light of the volume and vehemence of the feedback my first post received, it seems this is an issue folks are interested in, so maybe this will be an on-going series. 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