Meet Ryan Polly – Interspiritual Guide & Ritualist
Living in Truth, Powered by Love
My work is rooted in the belief that we are all called to live in our truth, powered by love. This mantra guides both my personal journey and the way I serve others through ceremony, coaching, teaching, and writing.
My Story
My life has been shaped by profound difficulties and an unwavering desire to make sense of it all. By the age of nineteen, I had lost both of my parents: my father when I was two, and my mother when I was eighteen. I was raised in a broken home marked by the abuse of my stepfather, and I always felt somehow different, worried about things beyond my years that other kids didn’t understand.
I became a parent at sixteen and spent the next many years disconnected, angry, and depressed. Still, something within me kept pulling, quietly guiding me back toward myself. These experiences taught me what it means to rise from woundedness, transform pain, and discover the radical self‑love required to live authentically.
Spiritual Background
My spiritual life began in Christian devotion, moved through a season of atheism, and reopened into an interspiritual heart in 2016. Loss and hardship taught me how to hold grief and rebuild a life shaped by meaning and practice; those experiences continue to inform how I facilitate ceremony and hold space.
As an interspiritual Guide & Ritualist, I honor that no single path contains the whole of truth; all paths point to the same Divine source. My role is to create spaces where authenticity, courage, and transformation can flourish, drawing on ancient practice and contemporary insight.
Since 2016 I’ve studied across several complementary traditions: contemplative Christian mysticism, Tibetan Buddhist practice in the Tergar lineage, embodied Daoist formation in the Qingcheng Mountain Longmen line, Toltec wisdom teachings, Celtic earth-based and shamanic practices, and other ancestral and animistic forms. I’ve worked directly with teachers and mentors in these streams and continue in study alongside those communities.
I move between the secular and the spiritual depending on what best serves the people I’m with. Some come for accessible, contemporary ritual forms; others for explicitly contemplative practice. When a ritual or teaching draws from a particular lineage, I name the source and make clear what is lineage-held and what I’ve adapted for inclusive, modern use.
Training and Credentials
I hold a Ph.D. in Transformative Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies and am ordained as an interfaith and interspiritual minister through One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in New York City. I am also a Certified Professional Life Coach, with additional training in psychology, human development, and consciousness studies.
In addition to my academic and spiritual training, I bring years of executive leadership and consulting experience centered on organizational and leadership development and change. I have worked with businesses across industries including manufacturing, healthcare, insurance, banking, and food services. This background grounds my work in the realities of human development, organizational life, and transformational leadership.
I’ve served as a keynote speaker, represented by Bright Side Group before taking a break to focus on career building and family. Speaking and teaching remain a vital part of my work, and I continue to expand this practice to reach wider audiences on themes of ritual, transformation, and interspiritual living.
The integration of psychology, coaching, leadership, and spiritual wisdom allows me to hold space for others with both depth and practicality.
Life in Maine
I live in Maine with my spouse, children, and a lively crew of animals, including a dog, cat, goats, mini‑horses, and chickens. Music and songwriting are another way I connect with Spirit, reminding me that transformation is not only possible, but beautiful.