John Prendergast
John J. Prendergast, Ph.D. is the author of The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence (2019) and In Touch: How to Tune in to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself (2015), and the forthcoming Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality (2025). He is a retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies and a retired psychotherapist. He studied for many years with the European sage Jean Klein as well as with the American spiritual teacher, Adyashanti, who gave John dharma transmission in 2023.
Courses and Lecturesby John Prendergast
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Articlesby John Prendergast
The Deep Heart: It’s not the Pump
When I write about the human heart I’m not referring to the physical pump on the left side of the chest, despite its interesting electromagnetic qualities. Rather, I mean the…
The Deep Ground: Towards an Embodied Spirituality
When I write about the ground I am referring to the felt-sense of support and stability that lies beneath the body. Our deepest ground is underground. There are different levels to this sense of being grounded. On one level – the most obvious one – we feel rooted in and connected to the earth. Another level, less frequented, is archetypal. Here we may be pulled down into an underground realm on a mythic journey.
Self Recognition
Our body’s deep sensitivity is calling us home. Yet home is not somewhere, some when, or something other than what is already wholly present now. Our true nature is not some inner state that will be found in the future. It is always here and now, unbounded by space or time. It can never be objectified.
The Head and the Heart
Join master psychotherapist and spiritual mentor John Prendergast in the course Sense of Inner Knowing, where he will gently help you open your own heart. In seven vibrant sessions, John guides us back to the deep intelligence available through our bodies. Every class includes a guided meditation based on somatic ways of inner knowing. You’ll experience how to recognize subtle signals of resonance or dissonance. These signals can guide your choices and help you navigate life’s challenges.