YNB Podcast

Eben Britton spent 6 seasons in the NFL as an offensive lineman for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Chicago Bears, made millions and lived out the childhood dream – then walked away from the game at 27, physically wrecked and spiritually empty. Today he's a men's coach, speaker and guide who helps people move through the exact darkness he once barely survived.They called him "the banner man" – the guy on the horse out front, calling everyone into battle. There's a Viking warlord in him and an inner poet in the same body. For years the warrior ran the show. Then the injuries piled up, the "family" he'd bleed for on the field revealed itself to be a billion-dollar business that saw him as just another body and the man underneath all that violence finally had nowhere left to hide.In this episode of Man's Search for Meaning, we go far past the highlight reel:We get into what it actually feels like when the light goes off and your whole identity dies overnight – the ruptured appendix he read as a whisper from God, the descent into addiction and the doorstep of su*cide and the one night that pulled him back. Then it goes even deeper: God, plant medicine and why the "quick fix" is a lie, the industrialization of spirituality, my own Vipassana breakdown, fatherhood, the inner child, and a deeply touching story about his mother's miscarriage…An unfiltered, deeply human conversation about broken masculinity, ego death, faith, healing and what it really means to come home to yourself.

Hey Savages! If this conversation moved you and you feel called to support the mission to build one of the most impactful podcasts in the world, you can help me bring Man's Search for Meaning to life: https://gofund.me/d38e51dcaThank you for believing in this before the rest of the world does. Truly means everything to me.Danny Miranda built The American Dream twice before he was 30 – a six-figure e-commerce business, then a podcast with millions of views and guests like ⁠‪@AlexHormozi‬⁠, ⁠‪@garyvee‬⁠ and ⁠‪@StevePressfield‬⁠.And then, at the very peak, he walked away from all of it. A Long Island kid who went from interviewing billionaires to hosting men's retreats, studying hypnotherapy, and chasing one thing above everything else: love.In this episode of Man's Search for Meaning, we go far past the highlight reel:We talk about what it actually feels like to have it all and still feel profoundly empty, the difference between force and flow, and why he walked away from his podcast at its absolute peak. Then it gets wyld: the David Hawkins book that rewired his life, a past life regression, the Native American man he saw in a vision – and the ten-foot statue in Sedona that stopped him cold a week later. Past lives, synchronicity, God, and what it means to build a life around love instead of achievement. An unfiltered, deeply human conversation about success, emptiness, faith and the courage to walk away and start over.Get in touch with Danny: ⁠https://dannymiranda.com/⁠⁠https://x.com/heydannymiranda⁠⁠  / heydannymiranda  ⁠

Dr. Curtis Crane is America's leading gender-confirmation surgeon – a former mechanical engineer turned reconstructive urologist and plastic surgeon who has operated on more than 10,000 trans-patients. The New York Post once called him "Dr. Frankenstein." His friends call him the guy obsessed with quantum physics who throws the wyldest parties in Austin, Texas. He calls himself someone drawn to the fringes of life.In this episode of Man's Search for Meaning, we go far past the politics: We talk about what it actually costs to help people become who they are, the prank phone call that changed his entire life, the tragedy of As Nature Made Him, and where medicine ends and the law begins. Then it gets cosmic: the Big Bang, the quantum field, why he believes consciousness is non-local, that "there's only one of us" and that connection is the surest path to transcendence – before ending on one of the most hilarious and unhinged stories I've ever recorded.An unfiltered, deeply human conversation about gender, God, suffering, science and what actually frees a person.

What does it really take to become a man — and what does a broken, unequal society do to the men inside it?In this raw, unscripted 2.5-hour conversation, South African men's work leader Craig Makhosi and I go where most people don't have the balls to: fatherlessness, whiteness, apartheid's living legacy, racial injustice and why South Africa remains the most unequal country on Earth.Craig has spent 20 years in men's work with the ManKindProject, teaches isiXhosa, lived with sangomas, and has devoted his life to bridging South Africa's racial divide. He speaks with rare honesty about privilege, shame, rage, Ubuntu and the raw work of becoming a man in a country still carrying its past.This is the longest episode of Man's Search for Meaning so far — and it's long for a reason.In this episode we explore:What actually makes a man — biology, fatherhood, integrity & accountabilityThe ManKind Project, rites of passage & why modern men are starving for initiationGrowing up white in South Africa, Xhosa nannies & the "unbearable whiteness" of privilegeSangoma culture, ancestors, Christianity & holistic healingUbuntu — what "we are who we are through our relations" really meansThe roots of segregation, how apartheid started & the story of Piet Retief ("K*ll the Wizards")Race, prejudice vs. institutional racism & South Africa's war-zone statisticWhiteness, guilt, shame & what a privileged man can actually doMatriarchy, men's work & healing the global masculinity crisisHesse, Huxley & Jung — the two selves inside every manWorthiness, self-forgiveness & what makes life meaningful

Whitney Wheelock is not your typical spiritual teacher. He worked at the Federal Reserve Bank, sold wine for a billion-dollar conglomerate, married his childhood babysitter at 21, got divorced at 26 — and then left America to find deeper meaning.What followed: 10 years living with a Tantra guru in India. But not the the kind of Tantra most people think of. Not candles and intimacy workshops. A rigorous, ancient philosophical system that asks the deepest questions about reality, consciousness, God, free will and what's actually real in this reality.In this conversation, Whitney shares… * what made him walk away from everything the Western world told him to want* what his teacher Shanmuka showed him about trust, truth, and surrender * why he believes there is no right and wrong. * what a near-death experience in South Africa taught him about fear* and why he says the most psychedelic experience of his life wasn't a drug — it was Shavasana.This is one of the most challenging, perspective-shifting conversations I've ever had on this podcast.Get in touch with Whitney: Website: https://www.skasta.org/Email: [email protected]

Nathan Maingard is a musician, hippie, psychonaut, coach and father.Nathan went through iboga, Vipassana and ayahuasca ceremonies with the Huni Kuin - and came out the other side as a dedicated husband and father. In this conversation, we talk about what happens when you stop running from stillness. We go deep on feminism, the manosphere, Andrew Tate and why both extremes are symptoms of the same disease. We talk about why men's work changed both of our lives.Why marriage is the hardest and most rewarding container for growth.Why fatherhood isn't about becoming someone new - but about finally being here.And why his 1 y/o daughter taught him more about how to be present than any spirituality book ever could.Nathan also shares his journey from crystal meth addiction to iboga-assisted healing - and why forced stillness can re-traumatize those who were silenced as children.This one's raw. This one's real. This one might piss some people off. That's how you know it matters.Connect with Nathan Maingard via: https://nathanmaingard.com/

Robert Paddock is a millionaire, investor, entrepreneur – and one the most inspiring men I’ve ever met. Not because of his success in business, but because of how he shows up in life as a husband, a father and a man who has done the work. I’d been looking forward to this episode for a very long time and its already one of my all-time favorites. If you’re tired of superficial self-development, this conversation might hit different. Expect to learn:• How Rob broke free from his addiction to suffering• What psychedelics revealed to him about fatherhood - including the moment he met his future children• What real men’s work actually is (and why most people misunderstand it)• How to set boundaries and say no without guilt• The relationship between aggression and safety• Why Rob tells me to get married • What it really means to live a meaningful lifeIf that resonated with you, you can find more of my writing here:• Substack → https://substack.com/@yannicknoahbernard

Francis Michael is an award-winning actor and director, and one of the most quietly inspiring humans I’ve met. He’s appeared in productions like The Crown, Eye in the Sky, and The Widow, and is also the founder of the Queer Writers Incubator. This conversation goes far beyond identity labels or surface-level self-development talk. Francis speaks about the tension between who he was taught to be and who he actually is: He opens up about growing up queer, suppressing parts of himself, moving through pain, confusion and darkness, and slowly learning to claim his truth. We also explore how that journey shaped his work as an artist, the relationship to his body and the path that led him into spaces like sexological bodywork, qigong and deeper self-expression.Here’s the timestamps: 0:00 How We Met 2:18 What Is A Tantric Temple Night? 5:50 Francis’ Relationship to His Sexuality12:15 Francis’ Tools for Personal Development12:57 The Power of Shadow Work 15:01 Homosexuality Is Not “Unnormal” 16:01 How Francis Discovered His Homosexuality 20:41 Why Are We All So Attached to Labels? 22:05 What Really Makes A Man24:57 Masculine vs. Feminine Energy27:50 About The Philosophy of Qigong29:14 How Do We Find Balance? 32:02 You Don’t Need Balance 36:35 THIS Is Spiritual Bypassing 40:34 What Makes Life Worth Living 44:34 What’s Missing in Spiritual Practices  51:29 What is Sexological Bodywork? 54:21 How The Mind Has Taken Over Our Body 1:08 Francis’ Work As An Actor & Director 1:02:11 How to Live One’s Truth 1:08:14 What makes life meaningful?  1:09:33 Francis’ Upcoming Director Debut Find Francis and his work on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/francischouler/ https://www.instagram.com/queerwritersincubator/ #acting #tantra #sexuality #qigong #spirituality #lgbtq #queer #queerpodcast #homosexuality #spiritualbypassing #selfexpression #selfactualization #therapy #bodywork

Rob Bennett might be the wildest therapist alive.He’s 77 years old, works as a psychedelic therapist – and plays dark techno at one of Berlin’s most iconic clubs. But his story starts decades earlier in apartheid South Africa.In this conversation we go all the way back: Rob growing up as a white kid under a racist regime, secretly supporting the ANC, losing friends to state violence and eventually having to flee the country. We talk about L$D in London, hash in Goa, meditation in Indian ashrams, studying psychology in Wales and landing in Berlin in the midst of the Cold War – just in time to dance through the fall of the Wall and into the techno underground.This is not “another podcast”. It’s a brutally honest look at a life shaped by racism, grief, psychedelics, love, music and the constant question: How do you stay human in a fvcked-up world?This is the YNB Podcast – real conversations with extraordinary humans. No script, no superficial bs. Just unfiltered Truth.