SoulStream, Living from the Heart Podcast

Deepen your connection to God, yourself, and others.
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On the SoulStream “Living from the Heart” podcast, we explore encountering God personally, integrating body, soul, mind, and spirit to live authentically in Christ. We discuss becoming open to God’s presence, overcoming obstacles, embracing transformation into Jesus’ image, and cultivating supportive practices. Additionally, we delve into understanding prayer as responsive to the Holy Spirit, ancient practices, and living out contemplative prayer to love neighbors, care for the earth, and seek justice. soulstream926.substack.com

  1. JAN 22

    Trusting the Quiet Work of Love

    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 more about letting go. We talk about the rare gift of being truly heard, learning to live with uncertainty, and meeting our thoughts and emotions with kindness. Resources mentioned in the conversation • SoulStreamA community offering training, courses, and retreats in spiritual direction and contemplative practice. • Regent CollegeA graduate school of theology where Laurel studied during a formative season of her spiritual journey. • Thomas KeatingTrappist monk and teacher of centering prayer • Centering PrayerA contemplative prayer practice rooted in silence and consent to God’s presence and action. • Spiritual DirectionA contemplative practice of listening and companionship focused on noticing God’s movement in everyday life. • The EnneagramA personality framework Laurel references, particularly identifying with Enneagram Type Four. • Desmond TutuReferenced for his wisdom around holding the pain of the world with prayer and compassion. • Brian DoerksenMentioned in a story about embracing the life we are given without wishing for another. The last Living from the Heart podcast episode on SubStack: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit soulstream926.substack.com

    36 min

  2. 12/24/2025

    Rooted and Grounded in Love with Gordie Lagore

    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 striving. Together they explore the limits of performance-based faith, the gift of silence, the role of therapy and trauma healing, and the importance of supervision and accountability for spiritual directors. Gordie closes with a simple Ignatian practice: noticing how God has loved you today and how God has loved through you. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Glittering Images, by Gerald MayAn early and formative introduction to spiritual direction and the inner life. Julian of NorwichReferenced for her enduring wisdom and trust in divine love, especially the phrase “all shall be well.” Henri NouwenNamed for his insights on the false self, belovedness, and emotional honesty before God. Thomas MertonMentioned in connection with contemplative spirituality and dismantling the false self. Jeff ImbachGordie’s longtime spiritual director, who played a central role in his healing and formation. SoulStreamReferenced as Gordie’s training context and as a model for safe, accountable spiritual direction. Aging to Saging by Richard RohrUsed as a framework for reflecting on life seasons, eldering, and the gift of aging. Ignatian ExamenHow has God loved me today, and how has God loved me through me? EMDR Trauma TherapyNamed as a helpful companion to spiritual direction in trauma and recovery work. The EnneagramUsed as a tool for self-awareness and compassion, with Gordie identifying as a Type Nine. The last Living from the Heart podcast episode on SubStack: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit soulstream926.substack.com

    41 min

  3. 11/29/2025

    How to Live From the Heart in an Overthinking World

    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, presence, freedom, and the quiet transformation that happens when someone finally has a safe place to be fully themselves. Resources Mentioned * “Working the Angles” by Eugene Peterson * The writings of Henry Nouwen * The writings of Richard Rohr * Thomas Keating’s teaching on centering prayer * The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius * Soul Stream spiritual direction training program * Centering prayer groups and contemplative prayer gatherings * Looking for a spiritual director? Learn more here. * SoulStream The last Living from the Heart podcast episode on SubStack: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit soulstream926.substack.com

    42 min

  4. 11/07/2025

    Cassidy Hall on Queering Contemplation and Living from the Heart

    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 deepens our connection to God, to one another, and to ourselves. Resources Mentioned: * New Seeds of Contemplation – Thomas Merton * Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Theology – Rev. Dr. Pamela Lightsey * Upstream: Selected Essays – Mary Oliver * 1946: The Movie (documentary) * Contemplify Podcast with Cynthia Bourgeault * Writings by Thomas Keating, Richard Rohr, and Henry Nouwen * Quote by Alan Watts * SoulStream Cassidy Hall: * Queering Contemplation: Finding Queerness in the Monastic Heart (book) * Day of a Stranger (documentary film about Thomas Merton) * In Pursuit of Silence (documentary film, co-producer) * The Work of Beauty (film project) * Encountering Silence (podcast, co-host) A quote by Thomas Merton from his book, New Seeds of Contemplation: “Many poets are not poets for the same reason that many religious men are not saints: they never succeed in being themselves. They never get around to being the particular poet or the particular monk they are intended to be by God“ A quote by Alan Watts (“In My Own Way: An Autobiography 1915-1965”): “I have always done things in my own way, which is at once the way that comes naturally to me, that is honest, sincere, genuine, and unforced; but also perverse, although you must remember that this word means per (through) verse (poetry), out-of-the-way and wayward, which is surely towards the way, and that to be queer—to “follow your own weird”—is wholeheartedly to accept your karma, or fate, or destiny, and thus to be odd in the service of God, “whose service,” as the Anglican Book of Common Prayer declares, “is perfect freedom.”’ —Alan Watts Mary Oliver's quote (essay “The Artist’s Task”): “Creative work needs solitude. It needs concentration, without interruptions. It needs the whole sky to fly in, and no eye watching until it comes to that certainty which it aspires to, but does not necessarily have at once. Privacy, then. A place apart—to pace, to chew pencils, to scribble and erase and scribble again. It needs the whole sky to fly in. It needs a field of silence. And the voices of critics should be hushed.” Last Living from the Heart podcast episode on SubStack: The Sacred Work Within: Honesty, Wholeness, and the Journey Through the Low This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit soulstream926.substack.com

    47 min

  5. 10/24/2025

    The Sacred Work Within: Honesty, Wholeness, and the Journey Through the Low

    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 when life feels difficult. Resources Mentioned Books * In the Low: Honest Prayers for Dark Seasons by Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson * Prayer: Forty Days of Practice by Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson * May It Be So: Forty Days with the Lord’s Prayer by Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson * Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari Other Mentions * Wayne Thiebaud—American painter known for his colorful, semi-realist works * Burden Bearers—A counseling and care ministry mentioned during Rod’s story * SoulStream This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit soulstream926.substack.com

    24 min

  6. 10/10/2025

    From Burnout to Wisdom with Ben Katt

    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 how real change starts with listening for those inner whispers, saying yes to the unknown, and getting help along the way. He shares how mentors and spiritual companions became guides on his path, helping him integrate—not defeat—the parts of himself driven by success and approval. Rod and Ben talk about contemplative practice, simple meditation habits, and the courage it takes to slow down. Ben describes his work teaching meditation in prisons through the Within Project, showing how personal healing can ripple outward into service. They draw from Joseph Campbell, Pema Chödrön, and Richard Rohr to explore what it means to let go, find wisdom in suffering, and keep returning to the heart. In the end, Ben reminds listeners that the hero’s journey isn’t about escaping life—it’s about entering it more fully. The way forward, he says, is always within. Resources Mentioned * The Way Home: Discovering the Hero’s Journey to Wholeness at Midlife—Ben Katt * When Things Fall Apart—Pema Chödrön * The Hero with a Thousand Faces—Joseph Campbell * Falling Upward—Richard Rohr * Atomic Habits—James Clear SoulStream Ben’s Website This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit soulstream926.substack.com

    44 min

  7. 09/11/2025

    A Poem a Day for 19 Years: How Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Turned Grief Into Praise

    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 showing up to the blank page can be life-changing. Rosemerry shares the profound story of losing her son Finn in 2021 and her father soon after. From that grief came her most recent book, The Unfolding, which she describes as written in the key of grief but with a melody of praise. She reads her poem Still Here, about breathing in the first minutes after loss when life insists we keep going, and The Blessing, a meditation on cottonwood catkins and belonging. We talk about the beauty of truth-telling, why authenticity matters more than polish, and how nature is a lifelong teacher. Rosemerry closes with what living from the heart means to her: openness, connection, and the willingness to love and be loved. Resources and MentionsRosemerry’s website: wordwoman.comHer podcast: Emerging FormHer spoken word album: Risking Love (available on YouTube)Her latest book: The Unfolding SoulStream This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit soulstream926.substack.com

    44 min

  8. 08/19/2025

    Amy Frykholm on Julian of Norwich and All Shall Be Well

    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 Julian’s writings helped shape her own spiritual journey and how she sees suffering, love, and the voice of God in our lives today. They also talk about Amy’s current work, including her translation of Julian’s Revelations of Divine Love and her weekly lectionary reflections. Amy Frykholm: Amy’s website Amy’s Lectionary Essays SoulStream Links: Living from the Heart SoulStream Upcoming Events, Courses and Retreats The Art of Spiritual Direction Training Course This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit soulstream926.substack.com

    54 min
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On the SoulStream “Living from the Heart” podcast, we explore encountering God personally, integrating body, soul, mind, and spirit to live authentically in Christ. We discuss becoming open to God’s presence, overcoming obstacles, embracing transformation into Jesus’ image, and cultivating supportive practices. Additionally, we delve into understanding prayer as responsive to the Holy Spirit, ancient practices, and living out contemplative prayer to love neighbors, care for the earth, and seek justice. soulstream926.substack.com

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