Opening Minds, Opening Hearts cover art

Opening Minds, Opening Hearts

Opening Minds, Opening Hearts

By: Contemplative Outreach Limited
Listen for free

Are you seeking to deepen your interior life through the practice of Centering Prayer? Do you have a desire to develop a closer connection to the divine as well as those around you?

Opening Minds, Opening Hearts is a podcast for both the curious meditator and long-time practitioner of Centering Prayer. On each episode, hosts Colleen Thomas and Mark Dannenfelser will reflect on the method of Centering Prayer with some friends of Contemplative Outreach who share their personal experiences of encountering God through the prayer, and through their work in the world. Topics discussed will include New Monasticism, the value of silence, the practice of contemplation and the call to social action.

Through this podcast, we hope to provide new perspectives on the future of this prayer in the rapidly changing spiritual and technological landscape. Centering Prayer is a practice and a gift and we are excited to share this blessing with our listeners.Contemplative Outreach Limited Christianity Spirituality
Episodes
  • S4 EP4 - Accepting Our Basic Core of Goodness with Howard B

    S4 EP4 - Accepting Our Basic Core of Goodness with Howard B
    Jun 7 2026
    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!
    Show More Show Less
    56 mins
  • S4 EP3 Bringing Our Trauma Into God's Presence with Lawrence Hamilton

    S4 EP3 Bringing Our Trauma Into God's Presence with Lawrence Hamilton
    May 24 2026
    Welcome back to Opening Minds, Opening Hearts. In this episode, we are joined by Lawrence H, who was introduced to Centering Prayer while serving time at Folsom State Prison in 2009 and has since dedicated his life to sharing the practice with others. In a conversation full of honesty, hard-won wisdom and real hope, Lawrence shares what it truly means to bring our trauma into God's presence and allow it to be transformed. Together, we also explore the dark night of the soul and how Father Thomas Keating understood it not as something to be feared but as a profound and hidden work of divine therapy that carries us toward deeper freedom.

    More about Lawrence’s prison ministry:
    • Prison Contemplative Fellowship: https://youtube.com/@pcf_praestolari?si=viiL99d4tJDxq5ey
    • Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition to view the documentary Holding Still: https://www.catholicprisonministries.org/holding-still
    To learn more about the mission of Contemplative Outreach’s Prison Outreach Service Team (COPOST), visit: https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/prison-outreach-homepage/


    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

    Season 4 of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts was made possible in part by a grant from the Trust for the Meditation Process, a charitable foundation encouraging meditation, mindfulness, and contemplative prayer.

    We are extremely grateful for their support [of TMP] and would be grateful for any additional support that you, as a listener, might offer. Your donation helps Contemplative Outreach [us] to freely offer the wisdom of the contemplative tradition and Centering Prayer to all who are interested.

    If you are a grateful listener and would like to support this podcast, go to: https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/opening-minds-opening-hearts-podcast-donation/ to make a donation of any amount.

    This season of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts is produced by Rachael Sanya
    Show More Show Less
    49 mins
  • S4 EP2 Becoming Who We Already Are with Reverend Nhien Vuong

    S4 EP2 Becoming Who We Already Are with Reverend Nhien Vuong
    May 10 2026
    Welcome back, everyone! We are so glad you are joining us. In this episode, we are joined by the Reverend Nhien Vuong, contemplative teacher, ordained minister, founder of the Evolving Enneagram, and author of The Enneagram of the Soul, for a deeply personal and illuminating exploration of the Enneagram as a sacred companion to Centering Prayer on the journey of divine therapy. Together, we explore what it truly means to move from a life shaped by the question 'what is wrong with me?' to the lived and felt knowing that we are already whole, and the profound and practical ways the Enneagram and Centering Prayer work together as companions on the same journey toward wholeness and freedom.

    To connect with Nhien, check out:
    • Her Evolving Enneagram Community: https://www.evolvingenneagram.com/
    • Her YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@evolvingenneagram
    • Her Enneagram of the Soul Book Journey Training & Certification Program: https://evolvingenneagram.com/enneagram-of-the-soul-facilitator-training
    • Her Contemplative Practices & the Enneagram 12-week cohorts: https://evolvingenneagram.com/contemplative-enneagram-community
    • Her (New!) Mighty Networks Contemplative Community: http://bit.ly/472KcnC
    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!
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 5 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet