Words From Silence: A Contemplative Podcast

I’m delighted to share today’s episode featuring Rohadi Nagassar, an author, podcaster, and minister who writes and speaks on the topics of decolonization, justice, identity and culture, and deconstructing religion. In today’s conversation, we’re discussing his brand new book, Whole and Human: Forty Meditations for Liberating Body and Spirit, which releases on May 26th . Our discussion centers on...

Today’s episode features my good friend Aaron Manes, who is a spiritual director and Enneagram practitioner in the Dallas area. I’m excited to share this conversation about the somatic Enneagram: what it is, how it leads to a more embodied experience of the Enneagram, and a little about the different energies of the head, heart, and gut centers of intelligence. This is packed full of good informat...

I’m delighted to share this interview with certified leadership coach, consultant, and author Tracey Gee! You’ll want to hear this insightful conversation about her book, The Magic of Knowing What You Want: A Practical Guide to Unearthing the Wisdom of Your Desires. One of the questions I ask people in spiritual direction that often seems to catch them off guard is, “What do you want?” Depending o...

I’m grateful for this opportunity to share with you the sacred story of my dear friend, spiritual director Marian Schulze! Marian and I graduated together from the same spiritual direction program and became fast friends about three years ago, when the program began. We are both Enneagram 6s, and I loved talking with Marian about the interaction of our Enneagram number with our spiritual growth. I...

For this episode, I had the privilege of talking with poet, speaker, and public theologian Drew Jackson about poetry, spiritual practices, and contemplative activism. If you’ve followed my Instagram profile any length of time or have met with me in spiritual direction, you have probably heard me reference Drew as my favorite poet. Stick around to the end of the episode, and you’ll get to hear him...

I’m excited to share this rich conversation I was honored to have with Pastor Trey Ferguson, who has been one of my favorite social media follows for a few years now. Pastor Trey has a great depth of wisdom, insight, humor, and inspiration to share with us as we explore faith, doubt, and wholeness. In this episode, he will explain what he means by the term, “Theologizin’ Bigger,” which is the titl...

Have you wondered what exactly spiritual direction is? This one’s for you! This week’s episode features spiritual director Emily Turner Watson, a beautiful soul who is sharing a bit about her journey with spiritual direction. We talked about how she draws on a diversity of experiences in various faith communities, both in her own life and in her heritage, in her work of spiritual direction. We als...

It was an absolute honor to have the opportunity to talk with author and LPC Audi Kolber. I have admired and appreciated Aundi since I first encountered her work in 2019, and she has written several informative, practical, and paradigm-shifting books since then. In this episode, we talk about her new book, Take What You Need: Soft Words for Hard Days, and how it builds on her previous work. We als...

I loved having the privilege of talking with Jenai Auman about her book, “ Othered : Finding Belonging with the God Who Pursues the Hurt, Harmed, & Marginalized.” In this episode, you’ll hear insights from Jenai’s experience of healing from religious trauma. We talked about contemplative activism, invitations during times in the wilderness, and the role of contemplative practices in healing. Jenai...

I’m happy to share this delightful, thoughtful conversation with author Marla Taviano! I first found Marla around 2018 through her White Girl Learning bookstagram account, where she shares recommendations for books by BIPOC authors. I have enjoyed getting to know her and her writing since then. This episode is a bit longer than usual because we covered so many topics—Marla’s deconstruction journey...

Today’s episode is a short one discussing nine Enneagram-inspired invitations to rest, along with a short practice to help you choose and reflect on one that resonates. I’m including a free printable PDF bookmark (see below). Here is a link to the 7 types of rest from Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith that has been helpful for myself and for directees. Below are the nine invitations to rest. Below the nine...

I’m excited to share episode 8 of Words From Silence! Today’s episode is with Natalie Grace Drew, who joined me for a conversation about nonviolence. Natalie is passionate about this topic as it is deeply personal to her. She served in the infantry before she began the healing process of practicing nonviolence toward others and eventually, toward herself. Nonviolence helped pave the way for her to...

I’m grateful to introduce my friend Malinda Fugate to you in this author interview for episode 7 of Words From Silence! We got to talk about her new book, Stories from the Sidelines, in which she shares imaginative retellings of the stories of lesser-known people from the Bible and explores how these sidelines stories can speak to us today. A little more about Malinda… When she isn’t writing, Mali...

Episode 6 of Words From Silence is live! In today’s episode, Andrea Holme shares part of her sacred story of healing after divorce. We discuss ideas for how individuals and faith communities can love and support divorced folks and single parents well. Andrea is the mom of two young adults who keep her cool-adjacent. Avidly indoorsy, in her off hours she can be found crafting with words or yarn. Sh...

I’m excited to share episode 5 of Words From Silence with you! I had the privilege of talking with spiritual director Adam Shields about discernment: what it is, what it’s not, and how our ability to discern well can be impacted by things like cultural bias and trauma. Adam has spent about the past year reading and studying this topic, so I’m grateful for the opportunity to benefit from his extens...

Today's guest is author and spiritual companion Lisa Colón DeLay. Lisa is a Puerto Rican-born author, broadcaster, teacher, and spiritual companion who centers her projects on spiritual formation. She is the host of the weekly Spark My Muse podcast, which began in 2014. She is the author of The Wild Land Within: Cultivating Wholeness through Spiritual Practice, as well as an upcoming book on the C...

This week’s podcast episode is an Introduction to Contemplative Practices: Grounding in Times of Stress with my friend Andrew Bowles. Andrew and I met through an Enneagram cohort, and he is a soon-to-be certified Enneagram teacher as well as a hospital chaplain. This episode provides an introduction to contemplative practices— what they are, why we do them, and how we can get started. We discuss h...

Today's guest is my dear friend Kim Verriere. Kim is a trained spiritual director and is the founder of Greater Love Collective. In this episode, we talked about the purpose of rituals, the journey of transformation, 4 female archetypes, and the sacred feminine. We also talked about my unusual 40th birthday ceremony that Kim facilitated. You can find Kim on Instagram @ kimvspiritualdirector , Face...

Welcome to Words From Silence, a contemplative podcast with Lindsay O'Connor. Today's episode is an introduction to the podcast, Lindsay, and the idea of contemplative activism. To share comments, questions, or ideas for podcast topics or guests, head over to Lindsay's Substack and send a message! Get full access to Words From Silence at lindsayloconnor.substack.com/subscribe