SoulStream, Living from the Heart Podcast

What if the land you live on actually knows you? In this episode, we visit with Deb Metzger, an eco-spiritual companion, farmer, and retired Lutheran minister who has lived her whole life within two miles of the Ohio farmland that raised her. Deb shares stories of a nuthatch that helped her grieve, wildlife holding vigil at her father’s death, and a vow made kneeling beside a murdered coyote. Toge...

In this episode of Living from the Heart, we speak with Victoria Loorz, MDiv, wild church pastor, eco-spiritual director, and cofounder of the Center for Wild Spirituality. Victoria is the founder of the first Church of the Wild in Ojai, California, and author of Church of the Wild. After twenty years serving in indoor churches, she began helping people rediscover spiritual community with the land...

Welcome to the SoulStream Living from the Heart podcast, a space where we slow down, listen deeply, and explore the sacred invitations woven through ordinary life. Today, we’re joined by Paul Burgmayer, a spiritual director, supervisor, musician, former scientist and educator, and the author of the new book, The Making of Modern Spiritual Direction , which is available now. In this conversation, P...

Welcome to SoulStream Living from the Heart , a space where we slow down, listen deeply, and explore what it means to live with authenticity, compassion, and connection. Today’s episode feels a little special. This is our 50th episode, and it’s a chance to pause, to give thanks, and to reflect on the many stories, voices, and shared moments that have brought us here. SoulStream is a contemplative...

Welcome to the SoulStream Living from the Heart podcast, a space where we slow down, listen deeply, and explore what it means to live with greater authenticity, compassion, and connection. Today, we’re joined by two wonderful guides on this journey, Brent Unrau and Cherie Tetz. Both are longtime facilitators with SoulStream’s Living from the Heart program, and they bring years of experience in spi...

In this episode of the SoulStream: Living from the Heart podcast, Rod sits down with Suhail Stephen, spiritual director, pastor of West End Abbey in Winnipeg, and founder of the School of Mercy and Justice, for a conversation about what it means to be present to God and to others. Suhail shares his origin story in spiritual direction: a “magnetic attraction” to something he couldn’t yet name, root...

What if the story of the cross wasn’t just something from the past… but something you could step into and experience right now? In this episode, we spend time with Sacred Journeys , a deeply moving art exhibit by textile artist Karen Brodie . Through quilted panels, personal reflections, and simple spiritual practices, the Stations of the Cross come alive. I’m joined by SoulStream partner Kim Alex...

In this conversation, we speak with spiritual directors Esther Hizsa and Jan Evans about the transformative journey of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in Daily Life , often called the 19th Annotation . They share how this ancient spiritual practice invites people into a deeper relationship with God through daily prayer, imagination, reflection, and weekly spiritual direction over the course of se...

Pearl Nieuwenhuis, a spiritual director with an MA in spiritual formation, shares her profound journey from an internal struggle to co-facilitating "the art of spiritual direction." She speaks to finding God's mystery in the ordinary and the profound transformative effects of contemplative practices. The Evolving Nature of Spiritual Direction Pearl recounts her early experience of spiritual direct...

On the SoulStream Living from the Heart podcast, we sit down with teacher and spiritual director Laurel Pritchard for a thoughtful conversation about listening, contemplation, and living from the heart. Laurel reflects on how spiritual direction found her during a season of intense study, silence, and a longing for deeper conversation, and how contemplation for her has become less about adding and...

In this episode of SoulStream Living from the Heart, Rod Janz sits down with spiritual director and pastor Gordie Lagore for a thoughtful conversation on recovery, contemplative practice, and what it means to live from the heart. Gordie shares how a season of severe burnout reshaped his life, leading him into spiritual direction, deeper self-care, and a spirituality rooted in love rather than stri...

In this episode of the SoulStream Living from the Heart podcast, Rod sits down with longtime spiritual directors Sue Vander Woude and Doug Schroeder to explore the art of spiritual direction. Together they talk about how they each discovered this work, how contemplation slowly reshapes a life, and what it means to live from the heart rather than the head. They share reflections on listening, prese...

Cassidy Hall joins host Rod Janz for a conversation about queerness, contemplation, and living from the heart. Cassidy shares how reading Thomas Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation led her to visit 19 Trappist monasteries in the United States. That journey opened her to silence as a space of healing and discovery. Together they discuss queering contemplation, mysticism, and how authenticity deepen...

Author and songwriter Justin McRoberts joins us on the SoulStream Living from the Heart podcast to discuss his new book In the Low: Honest Prayers for Dark Seasons. Justin speaks openly about living with depression, navigating ADHD, and what it means to seek wholeness instead of perfection. We talk about faith, burnout, and learning to trust that something good is already growing inside us, even w...

This episode begins with the idea that every life holds a hero’s journey. Ben Katt joins Rod Janz to talk about how his adventure began on a rainy run around Seattle’s Green Lake. That day, a quiet inner voice told him, “If you don’t have your heart, you have nothing.” It marked the start of an inner quest that led him to trade achievement and perfection for presence and authenticity. Ben explains...

Our guest today is poet, teacher, and performer Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. Since 2006, Rosemerry has written a poem every single day. What began as a 30-day challenge with friends grew into a way of living. For her, the page has become a place to practice presence, curiosity, and trust. In this conversation, we explore how a daily creative practice can change the way we see the world and how showi...

In this episode of Soul Stream: Living from the Heart , Rod Janz sits down with writer and podcaster Amy Frykholm to talk about her deep connection with the medieval mystic Julian of Norwich. Together they explore Julian’s famous words, “All shall be well,” her surprising story as the first known woman to write a book in English, and her vision of a Christ who suffers with us. Amy shares how Julia...

In this conversation, Amy Bratton shares her story of living a multivocational life rooted in love, spiritual formation, and Canadian soil. As a writer, teacher, and leader with the New Leaf Network, Amy invites us into a more profound understanding of what it means to be formed by God, to live from the heart, and to reimagine church in small, faithful ways. We explore the language of perfect love...

In this conversation, we sit down with professor, researcher, and Telecare Executive Director Bill Strom for a deeply meaningful exploration of what it truly means to listen. With stories from his life and insights from his research, Bill invites us into the heart of supportive listening as a practice that forms us, heals us, and draws us closer to each other and to God. We talk about the kind of...

Do you long to come home? You’re not alone. Many of us experience a restlessness, a desire to come home to ourselves and to God. We grapple with the masks we wear and at times feel disconnected from our authentic selves in Christ. It’s a journey we all navigate, and together—during the Living from the Heart course—you will be invited to explore and experience a deeper sense of belonging and purpos...

In this episode, we sit down with Bradley Jersak , author, theologian, and university principal, for a rich and moving conversation about the life and writings of Simone Weil. Bradley shares how Simone's fierce honesty and mystical vision changed his life during a season of deep unravelling. We explore her understanding of affliction, attention, desire for God, and the mystery of divine love in a...

In this episode, we welcome Dr. Peter Traben Haas, author, pastor, and contemplative guide, for a rich conversation about silence, beauty, and the invitation to deeper spiritual union. From his home in the majestic San Juan Mountains of Telluride, Peter shares how landscape becomes liturgy and how the presence of God can be found in quiet walks, sacred words, and the inner stillness of centering p...

Felicia Murrell joins us to explore the life-changing influence of love in a world increasingly shaped by either/or thinking. Felicia is a spiritual director and companion, author, speaker, and master life coach. A former ordained pastor, she brings decades of lived experience in faith communities—and a profound attentiveness to the presence of love. We speak of her southern upbringing and the spi...

In this episode of the SoulStream Living from the Heart Podcast, we welcome poet, writer, and visual artist David Gate. David joins us from his homestead in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, where he and his partner raise animals and grow food with intention and care. David speaks honestly about his journey, from his roots in the UK and the charismatic church to his evolving spirituality...

What does it mean to truly come home to yourself? In this episode of the SoulStream Living from the Heart Podcast, I have the privilege of speaking with Tracy Cochran, author of Presence: The Art of Being at Home in Yourself . Tracy is a gifted meditation teacher whose journey has been one of discovering presence not only in peaceful moments but in life’s most challenging circumstances. Join us as...