Spiritual Wanderlust

Celtic Spirituality & Sacred Skinny Dipping - with Nick Mayhew Smith

You might describe Nick Mayhew Smith’s spirituality first and foremost as immersive. Driven by a desire to touch, see, and experience, Nick has travelled the length and

PLAY: the Secret to Letting Go - with Interplay co-founder Cynthia Winton-Henry

What do dancing and playing have to do with theology? Join us for a rich, embodied conversation with our very special guest today, Cynthia Winton-Henry. Cynthia is the c

Modern Day Merton - with Dave Denny

It’s not a stretch to say Dave Denny is what Thomas Merton would have looked like today, had he lived. Both avid writers, teachers, interspiritual pioneers, activists, a

Ask a Spiritual Director a Question: How to Reconstruct your Spirituality, When illness gets in the way of your dreams, & more - with Karl Thienes & Kelly Deutsch

Join us for our *first ever* Ask a Spiritual Director a Question! Host Kelly Deutsch invites one or more guest spiritual directors to answer your burning questions. Leave

The Neurobiology of Presence - with Bonnie Badenoch

Have you ever been struck by someone’s depth of presence?  Like when you meet a wise, holy person. The depth of their presence overwhelms us, floods our body with their

The Buddha, Bible, and Gender - with Carl McColman

Welcome to season 4 of the Spiritual Wanderlust podcast! I can’t think of a better way to start the season than a conversation with contemplative teacher, Carl McColman.

Coming Soon: Ask a Spiritual Director a Question

Hey spiritual adventurers! We want to hear your questions. We’re about to start the 4th season of the SW podcast, and want to know: What are your longings? Your conund

What is Celtic Spirituality?

Have you ever wondered what Celtic spirituality is, exactly? I mean, we're familiar with Saint Patrick and Celtic music and nature-loving, but what's all the fanfare abou

Let Your Heartbreak Be Your Guide - with Adam Bucko

Get ready for a real deep dive, ya’ll. From his childhood in oppressed Poland, to being an undocumented immigrant in the US, meeting Christ in India, and founding a new m

Birthing the Holy - with Christine Valters Paintner

During this time of Advent - of darkness and winter in the northern hemisphere - our bodies are inclined to hibernate. We curl up by the hearth and wait, attentive to the

Life as Poetry - with Kathy Henderson Staudt

Poetry and the Contemplative life share a lot in common. Both require an attentiveness to life, a depth of presence, a sort of immersion in reality. Kathy Henderson Stau

Mysticism & Longing

In this episode, we turn the tables! Our guest host Karl Thienes puts Kelly in the hot seat to ask her all sorts of burning questions about the interior life. Join us to

A Female Rumi - with Chelan Harkin

I’m excited to introduce to you a little-known poet, whose work deserves wide attention. (I’ve been sharing her writing with all of my friends!) She reminds me of a moder

“The infinite is inside of us” - with Ronald Rolheiser

What do the mystics mean by “divine union”? Why is suffering such a big deal for them - and what role does it play in our contemplative path? Today I have joining me a f

Loving Acceptance of our Helplessness

In this episode, host Kelly Deutsch shares frankly about her difficulty accepting her chronic illness, while returning guest Karl Thienes shares his momentary identity cr

The Making of a Saint - with Fr. Bob Wild

Today I have joined a unique guest who has spent much of his life as a hermit, and is now in charge of the cause for canonization of a Russian mystic. That means he’s the

Revealed: Little Known Russian Mystic

I bet you haven’t heard of Catherine de Hueck Doherty. But she was one of Thomas Merton’s mentors! She’s this Russian spitfire with a life that reads like a movie.   He

Glimmers: Finding the Divine in Everything with Regis Martin

If I have a spacious and spritely spirituality, Dr. Regis Martin is partially to thank. He was my first ever theology professor, and he opened my eyes to this magical uni

The Desert Mother - with Tessa Bielecki

Tessa Bielecki is a hermit with a crackling vitality. She prays the Jesus prayer while she’s swimming her daily laps and says that sometimes she talks too much (with a sp

Mysticism and Creation Spirituality - with Matthew Fox

Fifty years ago, a young Matthew Fox asked Thomas Merton where he should go to study the mystics. What followed was a lifetime passion for Christianity’s mystical traditi