Standing Nowhere
A podcast about waking up — not to new beliefs, but beyond them.
What happens when we stop standing on any fixed idea of who we are or what life means?
Standing Nowhere explores spirituality, mindfulness, and the mystery of being human through honest conversation and reflection.
Host Jacob Buehler blends story, humor, and real-life experience as a working father and seeker, drawing from mysticism and contemplative traditions to point toward what can’t be captured in words — presence itself.
No dogma. No certainty. Just curiosity, compassion, and the ongoing discovery of what remains when there’s nowhere left to stand.
If you’ve ever questioned everything and found peace in not knowing — welcome home.
Episodes
18 episodes
Laughter vs Ego — Spiritual Practice for Real Life
Three years ago I was broke, sharing an apartment with scorpions, and couldn't see a way forward. Then I discovered that laughter—the real, spontaneous kind—can be a powerful spiritual practice.In this episode we explore why ego and humo...
•
Episode 18
•
36:30
Facing the Demon — Working with Fear, Gratitude, and Presence
Fear contracts our awareness around imagined loss. In this episode, Jake explores how financial uncertainty, self-doubt, and the pressure to perform are showing up in his life right now—and more importantly, how turning toward these inner demon...
•
Episode 17
•
27:39
The Ever-Full Sea — Nonattachment and Desire in Practice
In this solo reflection, we look at the mind’s “stickiness”—how craving pulls us off-center—and explore nonattachment as freedom, not austerity. Drawing from the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, the Buddha, and the poets, we unpack the ever-f...
•
Episode 16
•
36:56
Kill the Buddha — Spiritual Materialism, Ego, and Practice
Kill the Buddha? In this episode I unpack the famous Zen koan to expose spiritual materialism, ego traps, and how to ground practice in real life—on the cushion, in traffic, and in hard conversations. We look at the subtle ways the ego turns sp...
•
Episode 15
•
45:19
Rose Colored Glasses — Kate Mageau on Abuse and Healing
Kate Mageau is a therapist, author, and toxic-relationship survivor who joins me to talk candidly about the mechanics of abuse, the long arc of healing, and what it takes to rebuild self-trust without losing tenderness or hope.Together w...
•
Episode 14
•
53:29
Keep Moving — From Hesitation to Wholehearted Action
Hesitation can feel holy—like you’re safeguarding a perfect outcome—but it often becomes a kind of living death. This episode wrestles with wobbling (that anxious, double-minded stall) and what it takes to move with trust anyway.From Ein...
•
Episode 13
•
49:21
Unburned — Diane Buehler on Abuse, Faith, Motherhood
One afternoon in California, Diane Buehler quietly buckled her four young children into the car and left home for good—fleeing ten years of domestic abuse. In this special episode (the first with a guest on Standing Nowhere), host Jaco...
•
Episode 12
•
1:11:23
Anger Belongs — Transforming Anger with Mindfulness and Compassion
Anger is a blazing fire—blinding, burning, all-consuming. Within its flames is a chance to wake up with mindfulness and compassion and see ourselves more clearly.Picture a moment of calm—fresh off a morning meditation—shattered when anot...
•
Episode 11
•
48:58
Not Too Tight, Not Too Loose — Effort without striving in work, parenting, and practice
What happens when effort becomes a trap—when we mistake striving for strength, control for care? As one old hymn puts it: ‘Lay your deadly doing down—down at Jesus’ feet.’From the exhaustion of gig work to the pressure of parenting, from...
•
Episode 10
•
1:00:58
Trust the Silence — Morning Stillness, Beatitudes, and Surrender
“Live in the nowhere that you come from, even though you have an address here.” Rumi’s words echo through this gentle exploration of stillness amidst chaos. In a noisy sushi bar on a Friday night, Jacob quietly drafts an episode about ...
•
Episode 9
•
36:19
Reverence to Be — Failure, Forgiveness, and Compassion’s Quiet Work
“The greatest teacher, failure is.” — Yoda 🕊️ (Just as a wise Master once said, failure can be our teacher.)In this soulful episode, Jacob turns the grind of everyday life into a spiritual lesson. Standing Nowhere Episode 8 finds our hos...
•
Episode 8
•
50:10
Falling into Flight — Avenged Sevenfold’s “Life Is But a Dream” Explained
This is a reflection, not a review. I unpack Avenged Sevenfold’s Life Is But a Dream… as a spiritual journey—from the plastic sheen of consumerism to ego dissolving into loving awareness, with grief and wonder braided through the whole....
•
Episode 7
•
35:32
Gone Like Smoke — Impermanence, Loss, and the Peace That Follows
“Everything that has the nature to arise… has the nature to pass away.” — The BuddhaIn this deeply honest episode, Jacob shares the emotional aftermath of car trouble, financial pressure, and fatherhood as his son steps into adulthood. W...
•
Episode 6
•
42:32
When the Mud Settles — Peace in the Pressure and the Spaces Between
What if your life didn’t need to be fixed—but simply witnessed?In this episode, Jacob shares a vulnerable story about his car failing at the worst moment, old fears flaring up, and the strange stillness that followed. Through parenting, ...
•
Episode 5
•
42:16
The Moon, Not the Finger — Mysticism Explained: Labels, Measurement, Mindfulness
Mysticism isn’t magic—it’s the direct experience behind every label. In “The Moon, Not the Finger,” we explore how names, borders, and even inches are useful fictions; why doctrines and measurements can’t touch what’s real; and how to rec...
•
Episode 4
•
47:24
Sky Behind the Thoughts — Breath, Awareness, and Compassionate Attention
What if your thoughts are thinking themselves? In this third episode of Standing Nowhere, host Jacob Buehler guides you through a simple, anywhere practice—on a cushion, a chair, or even while commuting—to watch the breat...
•
Episode 3
•
45:52
Faith Beyond Belief — From Doctrines to Direct Experience, and the Mystery that Remains
“I reached a point where the idea of not existing was more appealing than existing,” the host confesses. From that brink of despair, a quiet transformation took root—one that now fills even ordinary moments with a gentle sense of meani...
•
Episode 2
•
1:03:36
I Don’t Know What I’m Doing — Gig Work, Mindfulness, and Starting This Podcast
On my 42nd birthday, I finally hit record. This first episode is a raw, honest origin story: life in the gig economy, working 50–60 hours a week to keep the lights on, and the moment in my car when everything bottomed out—and opened up. From to...
•
Episode 1
•
45:39