Attaching to God: Neuroscience-informed Spiritual Formation

Epizode

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  (Cross Post) The Head-Heart Disconnect: Cultivating a Deeper Relationship with God (with Colleen Ramser) 07.10.2026 44min

  This episode is cross-posted from Here, Not There, by Colleen Ramser, where she turns the tables and interviews me about the work we do and the upcoming Attaching to God Summit, focused on Deepening Relationships. Below are Colleen's show notes. What if the gap between what you believe about God (head) and what you feel (heart) has something to do with the way your brain learned to protect you? Geoff Holsclaw explores how attachment theory, relational neuroscience, and theology can dee...
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  150 From Inner Shadows to Secure Souls (with Dr. Alison Cook) 30.09.2026 34min

  Does security come from the outside? Or is security something we can cultivate from within as we become more and more anchored in God’s unshakable love? Geoff Holsclaw talks with therapist and psychologist of religion Dr. Allison Cook about her new book, The Secure Soul: Finding Inner Strength and Connection When Trust Doesn’t Come Easily. They talk about internal family systems (parts work), and how the soul adapts to disconnection by creating "shadows". Drawing on her own story of bel...
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  149 Worship & Awe as Aspects of Mental Health (with Joshua Knabb) 17.09.2026 41min

  Mental health resources increasingly focus on the self as the antidote to psychological suffering, offering strategies for prioritizing self-care and self-esteem. Yet as people focus more on the self, their suffering may actually worsen. Clinical psychologist Joshua Knabb argues that when people focus less on the self and more on God, their mental and spiritual health may improve. Clinical psychologist and California Baptist University professor Dr. Joshua Knabb joins the Attaching to God pod...
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  148 Forming Fathers and Men (Father's Day special with Rusty McKie) 18.06.2026 36min

  Geoff Holsclaw welcomes Rusty McKie—spiritual director, somatic coach, pastor, author of The Art of Stability, and founder of Steadfast Ministry. In this special Father’s Day episode, Geoff and Rusty talk about how seasons of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation shape both midlife discernment and a boy’s transition into manhood. Rusty explains his burden to help fathers and sons navigate adolescence through Man School, a discipleship framework designed to form Jesus-loving men...
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  147 Sin as Disorder and Asceticism as Healing, pt 2 (Voices from the Kellia—with David Clayton) 15.06.2026 56min

  Geoff continues talking with regular guest David Clayton about how the Desert Fathers and Mothers understood sin as discorder (of all kinds) and how asceticism was a path toward freedom to love God and others. They discuss sin not merely as rule-breaking but as patterns that impair clear seeing, free choosing, and loving well. Asceticism is presented as training that frees the heart by reshaping habits, while emphasizing grace, mercy, and the hope to “begin again” each day. They particu...
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  146 Sin as Disorder and Asceticism as Healing, pt. 1 (Voices from the Kellia—with David Clayton) 21.05.2026 1h 4min

  In this episode on early Christian monasticism, Geoff and regular guest David Clayton explore how the Desert Fathers and Mothers understood sin as discorder (of all kinds) and how asceticism was a path toward freedom to love God and others. They discuss sin not merely as rule-breaking but as patterns that impair clear seeing, free choosing, and loving well. Asceticism is presented as training that frees the heart by reshaping habits, while emphasizing grace, mercy, and the hope to “begin agai...
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  145 The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery (with Dr. Lee Warren) 07.05.2026 49min

  What if you have more power over how you experience your life than you think? What if you could learn how to change the patterns that are keeping you stuck? What if there is a life-changing art of self-brain surgery? Geoff and Cyd Holsclaw interview neurosurgeon, trauma survivor, and author Dr. Lee Warren about the shift from feeling like a helpless “patient” to acting with agency like a “doctor.” Drawing from bereavement after his son’s death and the breakthroughs of functional MRI observati...
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  144 Discipling The Diseased Imagination (with Dr. Justin Bailey) 30.04.2026 36min

  You often hear that we live by the stories we tell about our lives and the lives of others. But how does that actually work? It works through our imaginations, that part of the mind that allows us to see what’s deeper, that ‘something more’ of experience, that reality bigger than the world. Dr. Justin Bailey joins the show to talk about how the imagination dwells at the heart of discipleship and spiritual formation, how it helps us go deeper than just believing and behaving, and how we...
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  When God Seems Distant: From Dry Seasons to Spiritual Growth (with Kyle Strobel) 22.04.2026 46min

  Host Geoff Holsclaw interviews Dr. Kyle Strobel (Institute for Spiritual Formation, Talbot School of Theology) about his book When God Seems Distant: Surprising Ways God Deepens Our Faith and Draws Us Near. Kyle explains “early consolation” as a common season where God gives pleasure and zeal that can mask unformed character, and how this can be followed by “the desert” where these early consolations are removed. But these seasons are God’s gift to reveal the heart and grow love. ...
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  142 When Believing Isn’t Blind, but It Doesn’t have Sight Either 07.04.2026 33min

  During this Easter week, Geoff and Cyd Holsclaw talk about how we walk by faith, and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), but that this isn't just blind faith. They discuss walking by faith, emphasizing that Christian faith is relational trust and attachment rather than merely ideas, and that faith crises often begin with emotional wounds and ruptures in church relationships that later get translated into doctrinal doubt. They argue resurrection faith is not blind, citing reasons why it is reaso...
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  141 Exchanging our Emotional Yo-Yos for Jesus's Yes 07.04.2026 29min

  In this episode of the Attaching to God podcast, Geoff and Cyd Holsclaw explore the ancient Christian “Great Exchange”, that Jesus became what we are so we could become what he is—taking on humanity, sin, weakness, and death to give righteousness, strength, adoption, and life. They contrast Peter’s Passion-week emotional “yo-yo” with Jesus’ steady “yes,” holding both intimacy and independence with the Father and his disciples through the Last Supper, Gethsemane, and the cross. The episode clo...
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  140 How Examined Weakness Becomes Formative (Voices from the Kellia—with David Clayton) 01.04.2026 50min

  Geoff Holsclaw and regular guest David Clayton continue their monastic series, exploring how “unexamined strength becomes brittle” while "examined weakness becomes formative." Using desert monasticism as a “laboratory of revelation,” they describe how removing distractions exposes deeper emotions, thoughts, and disordered attachments, all of which invite humility, integration, and grace. They also address caricatures of asceticism as self-striving by framing the practices as the strippi...
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  139 Why A Doomscrolling World Needs a Return to Joy 31.03.2026 26min

  Hosts Geoff and Cyd talk about how to return to joy in a doomscrolling world by creating small moments to turn toward God instead of compulsively turning to devices. They explore why people doom scroll—negativity bias, seeking control, dopamine loops, emotional avoidance, fear of missing out, and “revenge bedtime procrastination”—and how constant exposure to global danger can overwhelm the nervous system and fuel comparison and anxiety. They emphasize that “choosing joy” requires active...
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  138 Is Humility Bad For Your Self-Esteem, or Good For Loving Others? (Voices from the Kellia) 26.03.2026 1h 6min

  In a world of self-promotion, self-esteem, and self-worth, is there a place for Christian humility? What can we learn from the monks of old and how they connected humility to love? Host Geoff Holsclaw welcomes back David Clayton (Spiritual Director and Forensics Behavioral Analyst) to continue our monastic series (Voices from the Kellia), where they talk about how humility for the monk was not just about feeling like a worthless wretch, but about creating space for love for others by receivin...
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  137 What If God Actually Likes You? 24.03.2026 26min

  Cyd and Geoff continue their Lent/wilderness theme by challenging common images of God as stern, aloof, or judgmental and emphasizing instead that God’s face is turned toward us with joy. Using the Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6:22–27), they describe two dynamics: “amplification of joy” (God’s face shining upon us) and “returning to joy” (God turning toward us to bring peace), illustrated through parent-infant eye contact and attunement that builds resilience. Join them to remember that&nb...
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  136 The One Thing Your Soul Actually Wants 17.03.2026 24min

  In this new episode, Geoff and Cyd explore joy as a crucial part of practicing Lent, making Lent worthwhile by creating space for a deeper connection with God. They begin with a gratitude practice, and then reflect on Hebrews 12:1–2 and “the joy set before Jesus" as he endured the cross. They link this to wilderness experiences and the concept of spiritual bypassing. Join 5000 others for the 3rd Annual Attaching to God Summit, focused on Deepening Relationships. Register for FREE (and g...
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  135 Tested with Jesus (3): "Worship Me" and the Attack on Love 03.03.2026 25min

  In this final Lent episode on Jesus’ temptations, Geoff and Cyd Holsclaw explore the third temptation as an attack on Jesus’ agency—shifting from anxiety-driven hyperactivation to independence-driven deactivation of attachment. They discuss how modern pressures like hustle culture, comparison, and radical self-reliance can pull people toward building “lesser kingdoms” instead of using their agency to love God and others. Jesus refuses Satan’s offer of power and chooses worship and service to ...
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  134 Tested with Jesus (2): Attack on Faith and Falling from the Temple 24.02.2026 20min

  The Attaching to God podcast continues a three-week Lenten series on the Temptations of Jesus. This episode reframes Jesus’ second temptation as an attack on his secure attachment to the Father—an attack on FAITH, provoking anxiety and testing whether God is really available. Geoff and Cyd talk about all the different reasons we develop “trust issues” and how they come out in our lives. They define faith as embodied reliance and lived loyalty, they share practical examples, and offer a practi...
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  133 Tested with Jesus (1): Stones to Bread and the Attack on Hope 18.02.2026 22min

  The Attaching to God podcast returns after a break to begin a three-week Lenten series on the Temptations of Jesus. Hosts Cyd and Geoff Holsclaw (co-founders of the Center for Embodied Faith) reframe Jesus’ first temptation as an attack on his secure attachment to the Father—an attack on hope. The hosts connect this to modern anxieties that push people into “protection mode,” explain Jesus’ scripture-based response (“not by bread alone”), define hope as expectant waiting rooted in attachment,...
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  132 Is Joy Even More Central Than Love? (Replay for Thanksgiving) 26.11.2025 21min

  What is so important about joy? The great commandment is to love God and others, but is joy even more central than that? Where does joy fit in the landscape of political outrage and cynicism, in the seriousness of life today? We're talking about it. Looking at why joy and love are so connected. Join 5000 others for the 3rd Annual Attaching to God Summit, focused on Deepening Relationships. Register for FREE (and get Swag Bag gifts sent to your email). Stay Connected: The&nb...