Christian Contemplative Prayer & Meditation For Beginners - by Thomas J Bushlack

COURSE

Christian Contemplative Prayer & Meditation For Beginners

With Thomas J Bushlack

This course will provide you with everything you need to know in order to start practicing contemplative prayer and meditation in the Christian tradition. Along the way, you will also learn about the history and theology of contemplation. You will also have the opportunity to develop a closer friendship and intimacy with God, and a deeper appreciation of how Scripture supports contemplative prayer. Additional positive impacts may include lower stress, a greater sense of purpose, improved mental, physical, and spiritual health, and healthier relationships.

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Meet your Teacher

Thomas J Bushlack
St. Louis, MO, USA

My goal is to create spaces for contemplative practices to give way to practical wisdom and compassionate action. The vision that guides my work is to share the fruits of contemplation with others, and my mission is to inspire students of all ages to mindfully and intentionally participate in their ongoing process of change and growth for their own wellbeing and for the common good of all. I also help busy professionals eliminate overwhelm, break through burnout, increase productivity, and get re-centered in their purpose, guided by Divine Wisdom.

10 Days

4.5k students

4.9 stars

17 min / day

Love

English

Lesson 1

Friendship With God

On this first day, we will explore some of the examples in the Scriptures and in Jesus' life that invite us into the process of contemplative transformation. You will also learn the meaning of some of the terms used in the course such as "contemplation", "contemplative prayer", "meditation," and "mindfulness". You'll get to do a short, simple practice based on Psalm 46 that you can begin doing right away.

Lesson 2

Scripture & Contemplative Prayer

All Christian contemplative practices begin with Scripture. Today, you will hear the stories of the first Christian contemplatives - the desert mothers and fathers who lived in the caves of Egypt - and how they began the practice that developed into Lectio Divina (which means "sacred reading"). You'll learn how to practice Lectio Divina on your own and the four moments you will encounter during Lectio Divina: reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplative rest.

Lesson 3

Methods & Forms Of Practice

Contemplation begins when we begin to move beyond words, images, and language into interior silence, stillness, and resting in God. Today, we will explore some of the tried-and-true methods and forms of practices from the Christian tradition that facilitate this movement into contemplation. We conclude by uniting the breath with the "Jesus Prayer" (or Prayer of the Heart), which you can begin doing on your own.

Lesson 4

Heartfulness

Regular contemplative prayer and meditation helps us to shift from living in our heads and moves us into our heart center. Practice brings us into a new way of being in the world, where we're able to move beyond dualistic, critical, or judgmental habits of thinking. With heartfulness, we're in tune with God's presence and connected to infinite compassion for ourselves and others. Today's lesson includes a guided practice to help you "place the mind in the heart" and develop heartfulness in daily life.

Lesson 5

Fruits & Benefits Of Contemplative Practice

The good news is that you cannot fail your contemplative practice! As long as you show up and do the practice, then the fruits and benefits will manifest in your life. Today, we will explore three fruits of contemplative prayer and meditation: detachment, equanimity, and discernment. You will learn what these three fruits are, and how you can welcome them intentionally into your daily life. This lesson concludes with a guided practice to welcome these gifts into your life.

Lesson 6

Theology Of Contemplation

Today, you will learn everything you ever wanted to know about three Christian teachings that are important for understanding the theology of contemplation: the Incarnation, grace, and divinization (or deification). You'll also learn about the three phases of contemplative transformation that most people experience as part of this journey: illumination, purgation (or purification), and union. There are some big theology words here, but we break them down, so they make sense for applying to your practice.

Lesson 7

Psychology Of Contemplation

Today, we're exploring where ancient contemplative practices meet modern psychology and neuroscience. This is one of the most exciting and fascinating new areas of experience, insight, and research into contemplation. You will learn about how your practice can help you to find deep healing and integration from traumatic experiences, emotional pain, the effects of daily stress, and anxiety. Our learnings and practice today will guide you toward showing up as a more whole, present, and spiritually integrated person in your life.

Lesson 8

Love + Justice = Contemplation In Action

All the fruits of benefits of contemplative practice make it easier to show up in life as a loving presence to others and as advocates for justice in our communities. Today's teachings and guided practice will show you how to use your practice to intentionally bring a greater commitment to justice for the most vulnerable people in your community into your work in the world. The sure sign of spiritual growth and maturity is the loving ways that we show up for ourselves and others as reflections of God's love for all people and all of creation.

Lesson 9

Interspirituality & World Religions

Interspirituality invites us to explore the mystic heart beating at the core of all the world's great contemplative, spiritual, and religious traditions. Interspirituality offers an alternative way of living in a Christian - that is, the deeper we grow in friendship with Christ, the more our hearts are opened to all other people of goodwill on the planet we become, and we're able to affirm the truth, beauty, and goodness we see in all traditions. In a guided practice together, we will explore the deeper identity, the True Self within that exists beyond labels and narrow identities, and the freedom that comes from living out of this nameless Self.

Lesson 10

Deeper Into The Silence

Our Buddhist friends suggest that we always cultivate a "beginner's mind" whenever we sit down to practice. Contemplation is a lifelong journey and this is just the beginning. Today, we will review some of the core ideas, terms, and practical tips that have been offered in the teachings. I leave you with words of inspiration and encouragement, and a final guided meditation intended to set you up for a lifetime of moving deeper into silence toward union with God.

Ask your teacher

This course includes 106 community questions and 6 audio replies from Thomas J Bushlack. The community classroom and teacher audio replies are only available via the app.

106

4.9 (379)

Recent Reviews

Sam

December 23, 2025

Thank you. This was very informative and just what I was looking for

Maggie

May 1, 2025

This course was very insishful as I learned about contemptive prayer, mantras, mystics and other spiritual practices as an opening to the mystery of infinite love. The practices shared were very helpful as an invitation for connection to have sacred space to experience sitting with the mystery of the contemplative practice

Sean

April 12, 2025

Amazing! I’m going to listen to it again. I really enjoyed this a lot. It helped solidify questions I had about a part of my relationship with God I felt I was missing. Thank you!

Sharon

March 24, 2025

Amazing course with so much information and insight. I plan on doing this course again ❤️

Kendra

February 27, 2025

This is a course I would recommend to others. I have learned so much and appreciate the balance between gaining knowledge anout contemplative prayer and the opportunity to practice. I still have a lot to learn and I expect I will return to this course for support. Thank you Thomas.

Richie

February 21, 2025

Thank you! Enjoyed this course. Recommended!

Cynthia

February 12, 2025

Very good. I repeated many lessons and happy to have found thie study on Insight. Thank you.

Jeff

January 24, 2025

Thank you, Tom, for creating such a practical, well organized and easy to follow course on Christian contemplative practices. I was excited to discover a Christian-based class on deepening my relationship with God by learning about various meditative practices, the history and theology behind them, and their life-transforming benefits. Your segment on Lectio Divina really resonated with me and I look forward to incorporating that practice into my daily quiet time with God. Bless you for creating this course!

Pegi

January 20, 2025

This was my first introduction to Christian Contemplative prayer and I loved it. However, I would like further guidance in making it practical.

Tumi

January 13, 2025

A perfect course to learn the history and theology on contemplative practice. It has given me all I need to do contemplative meditation and prayer on my own going forward. A beautiful course. Thank you so much! 😊

James

November 4, 2024

I knew from the start that I would enjoy this course, but I didn’t realize just how impactful it would be. I’m so grateful to have found it. Discovering the deep tradition of contemplation and meditation within Christianity has been eye-opening. To anyone considering this course, I highly recommend giving it a try. Thank you, Thomas!

John

September 30, 2024

I loved this course! It is very informative and really helps you build a foundation for a prayerful contemplative practice.

Deb

July 15, 2024

Awesome course!!!! Perfect time and space on my human journey of life!!! Blessings to you on your continued teaching! 🙏🏻♥️

Stacy

July 6, 2024

Such a beautiful course. I'm glad I took time to do it.

Michael

June 16, 2024

I am grateful to have found this course. Excellent, and exactly what I needed.

Jase

May 29, 2024

An excellent course.

Dani

May 20, 2024

Thank you! I very much enjoyed this practice.

Timmy

February 4, 2024

I am one of those who did not relate to the religion of my childhood, and went searching for something else in the religious traditions of Asia. This course has helped me realised that my understanding of christianity, God, and my relationship with God has been superficial. This course has given me the tools to start finding my way back to christianity, but a new and, to me, much deeper kind of christianity. Thank you Thomas for a great course.

Tina

December 26, 2023

This was a wonderful course. I will go through it a second time as there was so much information. Thank you.

Joanna

October 19, 2023

Wonderful

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