Contemplation asks us to let go of everything and simply rest in the Divine presence. But how, exactly, do we do that? In this episode, Thomas introduces more formally the method of Centering Prayer, developed by the spiritual giant, Father Thomas Keating. What we find in Centering Prayer is that attention follows intention. Each time our attention wanders, we gently renew “our intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.”

Upcoming workshop: Thomas will be in Salt Lake City May 15-17 to guide students in embodied practice, meditation and all sorts of surprises! Scholarships and financial aid always available.

Most people in the Christian world are familiar with the spiritual discipline of fasting. We abstain from food and drink for a designated time to draw our hearts closer to God. But what about letting the faculties of our mind fast. In the words of an anonymous writer from the 14th century, you will at first find this “terribly painful,” but in time, “would not willingly give it up for all the material joys and rest in the world.” Come, join us in the fast!

Upcoming workshop: Thomas will be in Salt Lake City May 15-17 to guide students in embodied practice, meditation and all sorts of surprises! Scholarships and financial aid always available.

Passage from the Book of Privy Counseling:

“Relying on God’s grace to lead and guide you, you will come to [the] deep experience of his love by following the path [of contemplation]. It demands that you always and ever strive toward the naked awareness of your self, and continually offer your being to God as your most precious gift. But I remind you again: see that it is naked, lest you fall into error. Inasmuch as this awareness really is naked, you will at first find it terribly painful to rest in for any length of time because, as I have explained, your faculties will find no meat for themselves in it. But there is no harm in this; in fact, I am actually delighted. Go ahead. Let them fast awhile from their natural delight in knowing. It is well said that man naturally desires to know. Yet at the same time, it is also true that no amount of natural or acquired knowledge will bring him to taste the spiritual experience of God, for this is a pure gift of grace. And so I urge you: go after experience rather than knowledge. On account of pride, knowledge may often deceive you, but this gentle, loving affection will not deceive you. Knowledge tends to breed conceit, but love builds. Knowledge is full of labor, but love, full of rest.”

—Anonymous author, The Book of Privy Counseling, translated by William Johnston.

Thomas guides a longer, deeper practice in this episode, weaving the themes from the previous five episodes together. Whether you’re a regular listener or first-timer, this episode provides a great opportunity to internalize some of the deep principles at work in contemplation and to bring your own unique flavor to them.

Upcoming workshop: Thomas will be in Salt Lake City May 15-17 to guide students in embodied practice, meditation and all sorts of surprises! Scholarships and financial aid always available.

Contemplation is all about cultivating a relationship with the Divine, and relationship is inherently vulnerable. It’s not surprising then that when we set out to cultivate this most unique of relationships that we find ourselves putting up defenses—resisting the process of deepening our encounter with God. But even our resistance proves to be a great resource in opening our hearts in prayer.

Upcoming workshop: Thomas will be in Salt Lake City May 15-17 to guide students in embodied practice, meditation and all sorts of surprises! Scholarships and financial aid always available.

In this two-part episode, Thomas offers guidance on trauma-sensitive practice. Any time we practice meditation or prayer that goes beyond the thinking mind, it can create an environment where intense experiences arise in the body. Which leads to part II, the Divine Therapy. We can learn to trust this purification process and be healed through our prayers beyond what we ever imagined was possible. Ultimately, God invites us not only to heal through prayer, but to become healers ourselves as we learn to bear one another’s burdens.

Upcoming workshop: Thomas will be in Salt Lake City May 15-17 to guide students in embodied practice, meditation and all sorts of surprises! Scholarships and financial aid always available.

In a world where the mind and body are too often split, not only do we do a lot of talking in our prayers, but we forget what a vital instrument the body is in our prayer life. In reality, we can’t pray without the body. Our body IS prayer. In this episode, you’ll learn to “ride the waves” of the body’s knowing into deeper communion with the Divine. Welcome to One Heart, One Mind, One Body.

Upcoming workshop: Thomas will be in Salt Lake City May 15-17 to guide students through practices from his recent book, At-One-Ment. Scholarships and financial aid always available.

It’s not uncommon for people who have been praying their whole lives to hit dry spells and even to wonder if anything worthwhile is happening when they pray. In this episode, Thomas explains how too much talking can drown out the “prayer of quiet,” which promises to take us to new depths in our relationship with the Divine.

Upcoming workshop: Thomas will be in Salt Lake City May 15-17 to guide students through practices from his recent book, At-One-Ment. Scholarships and financial aid always available.

In this inaugural episode, Thomas McConkie introduces the lost jewel of contemplation in the Christian tradition. He shares a brief spiritual autobiography, invites the listener to come see for themselves, then dives right in with a wisdom bomb from Howard Thurman: on cultivating atmosphere and spiritual presence.

Upcoming workshop: Thomas will be in Salt Lake City May 15-17 to guide students through practices from his recent book, At-One-Ment. Scholarships and financial aid always available.

The sun is setting on Mindfulness+. She lived a good, full life. But don’t fret! Where there is a sunset, there is always a sunrise. Look for a new podcast, One Heart One Mind, by Thomas McConkie on this same feed in the coming days.

You’ve heard something like this before—without death, we could never know the preciousness of life. When a loved one falls ill, suddenly our relationship with them is imbued with an entirely new quality. But what happens when the loved one who falls ill isn’t human? What if it’s a lake whose life we mourn? In this season finale, Thomas shares about a close friend of his who initiated him in death, and Great Salt Lake, who is now in dangerous decline. He invites us all to reconsider what personhood is, and what it might mean to open our hearts to the lands that sustain us.

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