Standing Nowhere

Jacob Buehler
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Personal Journals

Standing Nowhere: Honest conversations about life, faith, and whatever's on my mind.A podcast for people who don't fit neatly into one box. Host Jacob Buehler, a working father and longtime meditator, talks about life as it's actually lived: solo reflections, conversations with guests, what's happening in the world, and the occasional detour into movies, music, and art.Spirituality is still part of the mix, from mindfulness to the big questions about trust and meaning, but it's one thread, not the whole show. Some episodes are loose and unscripted. Some are deeper dives. All of them are honest.No dogma. No guru pedestals. No niche.If you've ever questioned everything and found some peace in not knowing, or you just want company on the drive, this is for you.

  1. 3d ago

    Meditation Is Doing You

    If you say “I am meditating,” you may have it backwards. This week I look at mindfulness, meditation, awareness, and prayer, and at the strange idea underneath all of them: that the “you” doing the practice might not be who you think it is. Starting from the morning sitting practice I keep coming back to, we untangle concentration, awareness, and mindfulness (the awareness of being aware), then follow the thread into free will, why thoughts seem to think themselves, and what the Taoists meant when they said opposites can’t exist without each other. Along the way: the spaces between thoughts, grace as waking up, why peace can show up while life is still a tornado, and why the universe might be playing hide-and-seek with itself. You don’t have to take my word for any of it. Sit for five minutes, watch your breath, and see what you discover. I’d love to hear what this stirs up for you. Reach out through the links below and I may give you a shout-out on a future episode. If you’re in a dark place right now, you’re not alone. In the US, you can call or text 988 anytime. Want to share a thought? Support the show --- 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/standingnowhere ⭐ Leave a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/standing-nowhere/id1822619607?action=write-review 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/standing.nowhere/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@standingnowherepodcast 💬 Discord: https://discord.com/invite/4yfaU7x4nF 📧 Email: standingnowherepodcast@gmail.com Standing Nowhere is a contemplative spirituality podcast exploring mindfulness, meditation, and what it means to be human through vulnerable storytelling.

  2. Oct 27

    Trust the Unknown

    After six months away, I’m back. This episode is an honest update on where I’ve been: why I stepped back from the show, what happened when I tried to climb the ranked ladder in Overwatch while practicing presence (and lost it in a zipper-merge shouting match), a summer of 60-plus-hour weeks in gig delivery, 35 pounds lost, and the job I almost landed. I also talk about what faith means to me when things are hard (trust, not belief), why I think AI mimics the way our minds work, and where Standing Nowhere is headed: looser episodes, more guests, and more of whatever’s on my mind, with plenty of spirituality still in the mix. If you’re going through a rough stretch too, you’re not alone in it. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more than you’d think. Want to share a thought? Support the show --- 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/standingnowhere ⭐ Leave a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/standing-nowhere/id1822619607?action=write-review 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/standing.nowhere/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@standingnowherepodcast 💬 Discord: https://discord.com/invite/4yfaU7x4nF 📧 Email: standingnowherepodcast@gmail.com Standing Nowhere is a contemplative spirituality podcast exploring mindfulness, meditation, and what it means to be human through vulnerable storytelling.

  3. Apr 22

    Every Day Something Is Dropped

    Awareness is the greatest treasure in my life, and lately I've felt it getting covered up. In this episode, I talk honestly about the habits that have been dulling that clarity — caffeine, late-night routines, social media, comfort habits, and the constant pull to stay stimulated. This isn't a self-help episode, and it's not a grand declaration that I've fixed anything. It's more of a life update: a recognition that some habits don't need to be ripped away by force. Sometimes they're just ready to fall off when you finally value presence more than what's been covering it. Along the way, I reflect on the Buddha, Jesus, Paul, Lao Tzu, Alan Watts, and Osho — all pointing, in different ways, toward the same thing: awareness isn't something you manufacture. It's what remains when the noise starts to drop. Want to share a thought? Support the show --- 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/standingnowhere ⭐ Leave a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/standing-nowhere/id1822619607?action=write-review 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/standing.nowhere/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@standingnowherepodcast 💬 Discord: https://discord.com/invite/4yfaU7x4nF 📧 Email: standingnowherepodcast@gmail.com Standing Nowhere is a contemplative spirituality podcast exploring mindfulness, meditation, and what it means to be human through vulnerable storytelling.

  4. Apr 16

    The Skin Sheds When It's Ready

    There's a version of yourself you can see clearly — and then there's where you actually are right now. That gap can feel like failure. This episode begins with a story about a declined card on my wife's birthday, a Lord of the Rings book hidden at the bottom of a Target basket, and the quiet shame of walking back to the car with nothing. From there, it becomes a reflection on vairagya — the falling away of desire — and why transformation can't always be forced. You can't rip the skin from the snake. It sheds when it's ready. With reflections on patience, habit, self-compassion, and a closing reading from Thomas Merton. Want to share a thought? Support the show --- 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/standingnowhere ⭐ Leave a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/standing-nowhere/id1822619607?action=write-review 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/standing.nowhere/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@standingnowherepodcast 💬 Discord: https://discord.com/invite/4yfaU7x4nF 📧 Email: standingnowherepodcast@gmail.com Standing Nowhere is a contemplative spirituality podcast exploring mindfulness, meditation, and what it means to be human through vulnerable storytelling.

  5. Apr 7

    The Fear Is the Story

    Jacob thought the reason he hadn't done more interviews was scheduling. But one night it hit him — it wasn't really the schedule. It was fear. Not fear of talking to people, but fear of what they might bring with them. Grief. Pain. Loss. Truth. In this episode, he traces that fear back to a Lyft ride in Las Vegas he's never forgotten — a stranger gets in the car, bursts into tears, and shares a story of devastating loss. From there, Jacob reflects on compassion, what it really means to suffer with another person, and why this may be exactly where Standing Nowhere is meant to go next. Closes with a reading from Osho. Want to share a thought? Support the show --- 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/standingnowhere ⭐ Leave a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/standing-nowhere/id1822619607?action=write-review 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/standing.nowhere/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@standingnowherepodcast 💬 Discord: https://discord.com/invite/4yfaU7x4nF 📧 Email: standingnowherepodcast@gmail.com Standing Nowhere is a contemplative spirituality podcast exploring mindfulness, meditation, and what it means to be human through vulnerable storytelling.

  6. Mar 31

    The Avatar I Called Jacob

    For most of my life, I never questioned it. I was Jacob. My thoughts, my experiences, my feelings — that was me. Then meditation started doing something I didn't ask it to do. In this episode I'm talking about self — or more precisely, the growing suspicion that the self you've spent your whole life protecting might not be what you think it is. I share the moment this cracked open for me mid-delivery, crying alone in a car, and trace the thread through Buddhism, early Christianity, the language we use every day, and what years of daily Zazen practice have quietly done to my sense of who I am. This is not a lecture. It's an open thread. Closing with readings from Thomas Merton and Ramana Maharshi. Want to share a thought? Support the show --- 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/standingnowhere ⭐ Leave a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/standing-nowhere/id1822619607?action=write-review 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/standing.nowhere/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@standingnowherepodcast 💬 Discord: https://discord.com/invite/4yfaU7x4nF 📧 Email: standingnowherepodcast@gmail.com Standing Nowhere is a contemplative spirituality podcast exploring mindfulness, meditation, and what it means to be human through vulnerable storytelling.

  7. Mar 24

    Knocking From the Inside

    We act on what we perceive, not what's real. And we rarely know the difference. In this episode Jacob examines perception at every level — the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, the assumptions we make about strangers, the myths nations tell themselves about their own goodness, and the deepest illusion of all: the mind's projection of a divided reality onto what is fundamentally one. Along the way: a gas bill that wasn't overdue, the astronauts who saw no borders from space, the Vedantic concept of Maya, and three traditions — Jesus, Lao Tzu, and the Third Patriarch of Zen — arriving at the exact same place. Plus St. John of the Cross, Meister Eckhart, and a 13th century Persian poet whose civilization is being bombed right now. The rope was never a snake. But try telling that to your nervous system. Want to share a thought? Support the show --- 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/standingnowhere ⭐ Leave a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/standing-nowhere/id1822619607?action=write-review 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/standing.nowhere/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@standingnowherepodcast 💬 Discord: https://discord.com/invite/4yfaU7x4nF 📧 Email: standingnowherepodcast@gmail.com Standing Nowhere is a contemplative spirituality podcast exploring mindfulness, meditation, and what it means to be human through vulnerable storytelling.

  8. Mar 17

    The Map Is Not the Road

    Most of us spend our spiritual lives in the hearing and understanding phase — and never quite cross into direct experience. In this episode, Jacob opens in real time, frustrated after seven false starts, becoming the thesis of the episode before he even names it. From sitting on a cushion at 6:30am to waddling through a grocery store in compromised underwear, this is what direct experience actually looks like. Why belief won't keep you warm on a cold night. Why 100% of your thoughts are outside your control. Why the dreamer is not separate from the dream. Closes with a wisdom reading from Thomas Merton's New Seeds of Contemplation.  Want to share a thought? Support the show --- 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/standingnowhere ⭐ Leave a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/standing-nowhere/id1822619607?action=write-review 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/standing.nowhere/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@standingnowherepodcast 💬 Discord: https://discord.com/invite/4yfaU7x4nF 📧 Email: standingnowherepodcast@gmail.com Standing Nowhere is a contemplative spirituality podcast exploring mindfulness, meditation, and what it means to be human through vulnerable storytelling.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Standing Nowhere: Honest conversations about life, faith, and whatever's on my mind.A podcast for people who don't fit neatly into one box. Host Jacob Buehler, a working father and longtime meditator, talks about life as it's actually lived: solo reflections, conversations with guests, what's happening in the world, and the occasional detour into movies, music, and art.Spirituality is still part of the mix, from mindfulness to the big questions about trust and meaning, but it's one thread, not the whole show. Some episodes are loose and unscripted. Some are deeper dives. All of them are honest.No dogma. No guru pedestals. No niche.If you've ever questioned everything and found some peace in not knowing, or you just want company on the drive, this is for you.

Information

  • Creator
    Jacob Buehler
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    43
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Standing Nowhere
  • Show Website
    Standing Nowhere