What if the most powerful thing a teacher can do is refuse to be your guru? That's the question at the heart of this conversation — and honestly, it's one I had to sit with myself before we even hit record.

My guest is Frank Inzan Owen who has become a co-Wayfarer and teacher on my journey. I found him through a secondhand book my wife picked up from a friend's moving pile. Ten pages in, I knew I had to find whoever wrote it. That search eventually led me here... to one of the most important convos I've had about walking our own path.

We get into what it really means to be a wayfarer, the difference between a teacher and a guru, and why I recently had to admit I was looking for someone to just tell me the right way forward. LOL. Spoiler: that's not how this works.

Frank is a wayfarer of a nature-centric contemplative path rooted in East Asian traditions. He's a poet, hill walker, organic gardener, and facilitator of a Jungian-informed practice he calls Soulfaring. He curates a Substack called The Luminous Procession that I can't recommend enough!

🌐 https://soulfaring.org/

🌐 https://www.theluminousprocession.com/

Want more info on The Wayfaring Method coach training and certification?

🌐 https://outofstep.life/wayfaringmethod

[0:01] Welcome to Season 2 + Wayfaring Method cohort is open

[1:06] How I found Frank — the secondhand book story

[4:39] Check-in: one word each — mental, emotional, spiritual, physical

[6:26] What is a Wayfarer? The word across traditions

[9:08] The shift from way seeker to wayfarer — and what Soul Faring is

[13:18] The tension between the wayfarer and the guru model

[14:23] I asked Frank to be my mentor. His response changed everything.

[16:46] Frank's history with teachers — and the clear mirror

[20:16] The triangle: where is the point aimed?

[24:57] "Not passed down — passed over, like a cup of tea"

[29:05] When a teacher told me my eclectic spirituality meant I was "lost"

[31:40] "But what if I do it wrong?" + You're never not on the path.

[35:20] The models for direct experience are the mentor

[41:24] "It sounds like that faucet is running dry" — the oasis image

[46:13] Practice as antidote + the world of red dust

[51:54] If you're only doing yoga in the studio, you're not doing yoga

[53:30] The Aikido subway story + where to start as a wayfarer

📘 The Mist-Filled Path — Frank MacEowen

📚 Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind — Shunryu Suzuki

📚 Future Shock / The Third Wave / Power Shift — Alvin Toffler

📚 Aikido and the New Warrior — "A Kind Word Turneth Away Wrath"

🌬️ Numa Breathwork

Out of Step is hosted by Andrew Carruthers — outofstep.life