Behind the Mic: Why We Created Surreal Life Podcast

Sirel Rayburn
Jul 10
2 min read

By Tristan Duran, The Spiritual Realist

Five women in white dresses sit on grass, smiling and chatting. The background is a mix of green grass and dirt, creating a relaxed vibe. The Sanctuary. Surreal Life Podcast.

I never thought the girl sitting across from me at a spades table in jail would become my soul sister—let alone that I’d be co-hosting her dream podcast with her. But here we are...Over ten years later. Co-creating a space that feels more like a portal than a podcast.

If you would’ve told me then that I’d be holding space for other women to speak their truth, I probably would’ve laughed through my anxiety and trauma responses. Back then, I didn’t even know what truth felt like. I just knew I didn’t want to die. And I didn’t want to keep living like that either.

For most of my life, I thought I was just depressed. Turns out—I was deeply out of alignment. My body had been screaming at me for years. But I kept numbing out. Choosing what was safe or expected instead of what was true. And the further I got from myself, the louder the resistance became.

The Surreal Life Podcast isn’t just a show.

It's a space for the messy middle. For healing that doesn’t perform. That doesn’t preach. That doesn’t pretend. We’re not professionals. We’re women who’ve lived through hell and decided to alchemize it into something holy.

This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a living, breathing community.

Surreal Life Podcast started as just that, a podcast. It's morphed into something.... well just magical. We created The Sanctuary as an extension of that energy. It’s a private, sacred story-sharing space for people in their cocooning era. You don’t have to show up perfect. You just have to show up real.

Each Sanctuary session is intimate and intentional, guided by our full team:

Me, Tristan – The Spiritual Realist
Sirel – The Surreal Mirror
Jennifer – The Seer
Jana – The Soul Curator
Shaeylea – The Spell Breaker

You’ll be seen. You’ll be supported. You’ll be reflected back to yourself in the most soulful way possible.

Want to be a guest on the podcast?

Some people just know. They feel the pull. That inner nudge that says:

“I don’t know how I found this… but I know I’m supposed to be here.”

If that’s you, you can apply to be a guest on the podcast → We don’t do interviews in the traditional sense. This is about resonance. Alignment. Truth.

And just a little secret? We’re building something even bigger.

We’re planning retreats—but not some curated Instagrammable escape.

We’re talking:

Deep healing
Real remembrance
Energetic rebirth

The kind of space we used to dream about when we were still trying to survive. The women who are magnetized to this energy? They feel like you’ve known them for lifetimes. We’re doing meaningful work. We hold each other through the breakdowns and the breakthroughs. It’s not always pretty, but it’s powerful.