Melanie Ryan, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, Tibetan Buddhist teacher, and metaphysician who teaches golden shadow work internationally. Melanie Ryan is an authorized teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche by the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York (2017). She is a writer and entrepreneur, owner of holistic healing centers, Ancient Wisdom Today, LLC, and the publishing company, Bodhi Books, LLC. 

 

There is a golden shadow! Melanie Ryan brings a positive perspective to shadow work that immediately connects us with our basic goodness. This is the ground of our work.  Within us is our true nature, a golden buddha, already filled with wisdom, love, creativity, and compassion. In the golden shadow method, we focus on this inherent enlightened nature. 

 

The Golden Shadow Method developed over decades of worldwide travel and study of ancient wisdom traditions. For over three decades, Melanie Ryan has studied with indigenous elders and spiritual masters throughout North America, South America, Central America, Europe, and the Far East. Her training includes Tibetan Buddhism, shamanism, Jungian psychology, past-life regression, naturopathic medicine, Asklepian dream healing, vision questing, vinyasa yoga, and reiki energy healing. 

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Melanie continues to study Vajrayana Buddhism and Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan medicine) with Dr. Nida Chenagtsang. She holds a master’s degree in metaphysics from Delphi University (2026). Melanie has studied psychology since the age of seventeen. She began her career earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Hartford (1992) and holds a dual master’s degree in clinical social work and clinical research from Fordham University (1995). 

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Disillusioned by the limitations of the modern U.S. healthcare system, Melanie founded The Center for Health and Healing (2012), an award-winning holistic health center that served the Hudson Valley region of New York for nearly a decade. Just prior to the 2020 pandemic lockdown, she closed the center and devoted herself to homeschooling her son and writing books. In 2020, she opened Ancient Wisdom Today, an online and in person holistic healing center, as well as published The Golden Shadow Method and began teaching it worldwide. Melanie teaches online courses and leads retreats in the United States, Europe and soon the Far East.  She serves on faculty of the world-renowned Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York.

 

Coming soon in 2026, Melanie’s ground-breaking book, Triggers are Treasures will be published. This teaches how to reverse our perspective on triggers, seeing them not as our enemies, but our allies and teachers. This is the first volume in the book series called, “The Secrets of the Golden Shadow,” a course Melanie began teaching online in 2021. 

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Today, Melanie Ryan and her husband, Andy Steigmeier, live in the mountains of northern Georgia near the Cherokee National Forest, where they lead small private retreats, workshops, and educational programs for children and adults. They devote their work to their son, Justin Bodhi Steigmeier, and to the benefit of all beings. 

 

In 2027, Melanie Ryan, her husband Andy Steigmeier, and son Justin Bodhi Steigmeier will be featured in Tragical, A Journey from Tragic to Magic, a documentary series called Remembering the Soul.