Opening Minds, Opening Hearts

In our final guest conversation of the season, we explore with Counselor Educator 
Dr Jesse Fox, the intersection between ancient Christian contemplative practice and modern psychological understanding. Jesse has dedicated his career to researching how Centering Prayer and divine therapy truly work, and in this conversation, he shares both his personal journey and his clinical wisdom about why spiritual transformation is not a cure for suffering, but rather an invitation to meet God in the midst of it. 

To connect further with us:
Visit our website: www.contemplativeoutreach.org
Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prayerofconsent
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prayerofconsent
Check out our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@prayerofconsent

Stream and Download the Opening Minds, Opening Hearts Podcast NOW for FREE on Apple Podcasts, Amazon and Spotify!

When 12-Step recovery meets the contemplative tradition, something profoundly practical emerges. Jim McElroy has spent decades at that intersection, sharing how Centering Prayer and the Welcoming Prayer offer those in recovery a new relationship to pain, not an escape from it. In this conversation, through vulnerable storytelling and the wisdom of Thomas Keating, Jim explores healing as integration rather than elimination, and how both practices bridge the language of 12-Step powerlessness with the contemplative language of consent.

Featured Resources:
12 Practice for Daily Life: The Welcoming Prayer - Twelve Steps, Thomas Keating: https://youtu.be/i7VcDwgTyas?is=ga1OmV6AkbfCejnp
Welcoming Prayer resources: https://cp12stepoutreach.org/welcoming-prayer/
12StepOutreach Centering Prayer resources: https://cp12stepoutreach.org/
To connect further with us:
Visit our website: www.contemplativeoutreach.org
Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prayerofconsent
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prayerofconsent
Check out our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@prayerofconsent
Stream and Download the Opening Minds, Opening Hearts Podcast NOW for FREE on Apple Podcasts, Amazon and Spotify!

In this episode, we are joined by Heather Ruce, a spiritual director and somatic practitioner, to explore how healing truly happens in the body. Heather shares how understanding the nervous system and integrating somatic practices deepen rather than compete with Centering Prayer. Together, we explore what it means to include our whole self in the divine therapy, how the body holds unintegrated material waiting to be processed, and why practices like orienting to our senses and opening to pleasure are essential companions to our contemplative practice.

To connect with Heather, check out:
Her website: heatherruce.com
Her Substack: https://substack.com/@heatherruce
Her Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heatherruce/

To connect further with us:
Visit our website: www.contemplativeoutreach.org
Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prayerofconsent
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prayerofconsent
Check out our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@prayerofconsent
 
Stream and Download the Opening Minds, Opening Hearts Podcast NOW for FREE on Apple Podcasts, Amazon and Spotify!

We're back after a short break, and we're now at the mid-season mark of season four. In this episode, we step back from guest conversations to reflect on what we've been learning and the themes that have emerged so far.

We explore what it means to bring our pain into the light, reflecting on suffering as a kind of fracture and separation, and unpacking the paradox that we are already whole while also needing to do the patient work of dismantling the false self. And at the heart of it all, we consider why we are always returning: to the sacred word, to our wholeness, to each other, and to God.

To connect further with us:
Visit our website: www.contemplativeoutreach.org
Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prayerofconsent/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prayerofconsent/
Check out our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/coutreach
Stream and Download the Opening Minds, Opening Hearts Podcast NOW for FREE on Apple Podcasts, Amazon and Spotify!

This episode weaves together three healing modalities: 12-step recovery, psychotherapy, and Centering Prayer, through the wisdom and lived experience of Howard B. Howard shares what it truly means to accept our basic core of goodness as our true self, and why that acceptance becomes the foundation from which we can look at our shadow and false self. Together, we explore how this radical acceptance, grounded in the belief that we are loved unconditionally, transforms not only how we see ourselves but how we show up in the world. 

To connect further with us:
Visit our website: www.contemplativeoutreach.org
Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prayerofconsent/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prayerofconsent/
Check out our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/coutreach
Stream and Download the Opening Minds, Opening Hearts Podcast NOW for FREE on Apple Podcast, Amazon and Spotify!