Spiritual Practices Episodes
March 27, 2023
Ep 114 The Spiritual Practice of Fasting
Send us a text Fasting can occur in many forms, both for religious and non-religious reasons. And, as we’ll explore on the podcast, there are many personal and communal benefits that can come from it. But also, as we’ll discover today, it’s not uncommon to find that fasting has been something that …
Feb. 6, 2023
Ep 107 Expanding Your Self-Care
Send us a text Today we’re talking about the expansiveness of self-care because, as it turns out, there are no less than six types of Self-Care. What we need in one season of life may look very different from what we need in another. What our internal list of “shoulds” tells us we ought to be doing…
Jan. 2, 2023
Ep 102 The Value of Retreats
Send us a text On this week’s podcast, each of us shares a bit about our deep love and appreciation for retreats - and in a variety of ways! Join us as we talk about best practices for preparing, what to do if you don’t feel like you have the time, and why different seasons of your life may call fo…
Dec. 26, 2022
Ep 101 Three Ways to Engage the New Year
Send us a text On this week’s podcast, each of us takes a moment to share things we are excited about as we enter into the New Year. Join us as we discover together that, while some of us have plans that involve our family and friends, others of us intend to spend some time in reflection by ourselv…
Dec. 19, 2022
Ep 100 The Power of Pause
Send us a text Taking a moment to pause is a practice that can enrich both our inner and our outer lives. Have you ever finished a meal only to feel like you hadn’t even tasted it? Maybe you know all too well the experience of running from one thing to the next. Do you ever feel pressed for answers…
Dec. 5, 2022
Ep 98 The Value of Lectio Divina
Send us a text Lectio Divina is a Latin phrase that literally translates to mean “Divine Reading.” It’s a contemplative practice that can help us slow down and immerse ourselves in what we’re seeing (and hearing) on the page, which often leads to experiences of deeper spiritual connection. Whether …
Nov. 7, 2022
Ep 94 Growing our Awe-wareness
Send us a text When was the last time you saw something so beautiful and inspiring that it caused you to stop in order to really take it in? Maybe you heard a story about how someone else was doing something to make the world a better place, and it moved you to feelings of hope and excitement of yo…
Oct. 3, 2022
Ep 89 Art, Creativity, and the Contemplative
Send us a text Art and creativity can be a useful way of opening our awareness. So many moments in our lives can leave us feeling disconnected and out of touch. Today we talk about how engaging our creative side can help us slow down and open to possibility. We name our own struggles with feeling v…
July 4, 2022
Ep 76 Calming the Nervous System
Send us a text Today we’re talking about how contemplative practices can help us when our bodies and nervous systems are feeling unsettled due to stress or trauma. Many of us have heard about the body’s ability to access fight, flight, or freeze at the turn of a dime. When that happens, the thing t…
June 13, 2022
Ep 73 Finding Our Outdoor Personality
Send us a text We often talk about nature as a pathway to the contemplative here on the podcast. But what if we don’t consider ourselves outdoorsy? As it turns out, how we engage the outdoors seems to involve both our personalities and the evolution of our personalities. Today we take some time to …
May 23, 2022
Ep 70 Poetry and the Contemplative Life
Send us a text Poetry can sometimes feel like an acquired taste, like maybe you either love it or you don’t. But what many of us find as we pursue a contemplative life is that poetry can become a helpful way to slow down and take a nice, long look. We sometimes find that poetry becomes a doorway to…
March 21, 2022
Ep 61 What’s All the Hype about Gratitude
Send us a text “I’ve been on a gratitude journey for many years. And I’m still not where I want to be. But I see change…” “I was up in the middle of the night, and I realized my brain was still working. I had to breathe. I had to slow down…” Life is a mix of good and challenging. Join us as we expl…
Feb. 21, 2022
Ep 57 The Spiritual Practice of Staying Steady
Send us a text For most of us, it’s easy to get tossed around by our circumstances. Conversations we’re in can throw us for a loop, and before we know it, we’re drowning in the emotion and struggle of it all. But today we talk about ways to get this thing that Scripture calls “Transcendent Peace” –…
Jan. 17, 2022
Ep 52 Dreams as a Spiritual Practice
Send us a text Dreams happen to all of us, even if we aren’t in the habit of paying attention to them. In this episode, we talk about how setting an intention to engage our dreams can be both informative and even transformative. Join us as we talk about the practice of allowing our dreams to become…
Dec. 27, 2021
Ep 49: Invitation to Year-End Examen
Send us a text In today’s episode, we take a look at a spiritual practice that can help us make sense of our lives. Whether the questions are big or small, whether we’re looking for themes or goals, whether we use paper or conversation, it all brings us to a space of reflection that can help us ent…
Nov. 22, 2021
Ep 44 Is Self-Care Just a Buzzword
Send us a text Our culture is always talking about self-care, and so today we ask: Can the contemplative life help me with this? Many of us are so easily plagued with self-doubt: Am I doing enough? Am I doing it right? Is this the meaningful life I was hoping for? And so today we take a moment to t…
Oct. 25, 2021
Ep 40 Three Ways to Engage the Enneagram
Send us a text Today we talk about the Enneagram as a way to help us understand how we - and those we interact with - show up in the world. We may hear ourselves asking sometimes: Where does that come from? Why does that happen? Or we may even feel confused about why so many of us aren’t entirely c…
Oct. 18, 2021
Ep 39 Running as a Contemplative Practice
Send us a text Today, Wendy Porterfield and Liz Kravitz join us to talk to us about how running has evolved into a spiritual practice for them – a place where they can release and let go, where they can process, and where they can connect with others in a sense of meaning and accomplishment. Join u…
Sept. 20, 2021
Ep 35 The Powerful Spirituality of Music
Send us a text One of the great things about music is the power it has to move us – to draw us out, to speak to us, to help us become more receptive – both to our experiences and to our feelings. In this episode, we “sing the praises” of music, pointing out how helpful it can be in interfaith setti…
Aug. 30, 2021
Ep 32 How to Meditate
Send us a text In today’s episode, we spend some time talking about the how-to’s of meditation and what some of our personal preferences are, all through the lenses of our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. Do you sometimes wonder: Am I doing this right? What does it even mean to meditate? Join us…
Aug. 9, 2021
Ep 29 Sensory Infused Living
Send us a text Today, instead of examining “what am I thinking,” we take a moment to ask, “What am I feeling, seeing, smelling, touching, tasting?” In other words, how does wonder open up our awareness – aka – our contemplative experience? Our senses offer us so much – calm, delight, awe…May we all…
Aug. 2, 2021
Ep 28 Contemplative Storytelling
Send us a text Today we talk about our stories, why they matter and how we’re changed as we interact with both our own stories and the stories of others. As it turns out, research and experience show that sharing our stories helps us overcome pain, adversity, and struggle. But sadly, many of us suf…
July 26, 2021
Ep 27 Invitation to Rest
Send us a text Today we talk about rest! As we begin to move towards post-pandemic life, some of us have questions: Do we like our old pace? Are there rhythms we’ve enjoyed that we want to keep? Today we talk about the many benefits of rest. Because let’s face it, productivity is great! It’s caused…
July 5, 2021
Ep 24 Connecting with God thru Creation
Send us a text Today we’re talking about some of the many ways in which Nature seems to have the power to bring us in touch with The Divine, allow goodness to flow in our lives, and even help us navigate our more difficult seasons. How we interact with nature may change depending on the season of l…