Attaching to God: Neuroscience-informed Spiritual Formation

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 ...

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,...

In this BONUS episode (before season 8 starts), host Geoff Holsclaw starts experimenting with regular guest hosts to dive deeper into certain topics. This episode sees the return of David Clayton, a spiritual director, supervisor of spiritual directors, and a trained behavior analyst and facilitator of psychological safety. David will bring us the "voices from the Kellia"—the monastic "cells" in the heart of the desert. As a twist of sorts, we believe the insights of Christian asceticis...

In this special book launch episode, Geoff interviews Summer Joy Gross about why spiritual directors are reading and recommending Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection. This episode touches on the need to balance between intimacy and independence in spiritual life and the benefits of using attachment theory in understanding one's relationship with God. Summer has just written a book called, The Emmanue...

Here is an audio snippet of our new book. Description below. Please buy and review. ______ Does it feel like you experience life in a totally different way than others? Like you are living somewhere else, and you can’t build connection or intimacy with God like others can? There’s a good chance that you, like so many of us, have tried it all: read your Bible more, gone to church more, prayed more, and delved deeper into self-awareness. But you still struggle with discontent, anxiety, avoidan...

Should Christians be teachable, and how can we discipline desire, that’s what we are talking about today, and stories learning to attach more deeply with God. In this episode of the Attaching to God podcast, host Geoff Holsclaw welcomes Dr. A.J. Swoboda to discuss the virtue of having a teachable spirit. The conversation explores the challenges of remaining teachable in a culture that often discourages vulnerability and humility. Dr. A. J. Swoboda is a professor, writer, and pastor. He ...

Is corporate worship just the transfer of information? Or to whip up our emotions into a frenzy? Or does corporate worship do something else? In this episode, host Geoff Holsclaw engages with Reverend Dr. Joshua Cockayne about corporate worship, joint attention in spiritual formation, and perspectives from developmental psychology, attachment theory, and neuroscience. This episode challenges the traditional dichotomy between cognition and affect, proposing a more nuanced understanding of wors...

Is society producing more narcissists, or producing more people susceptible to abuse by narcissists? How has narcissism evolved in our internet age? In this episode, we explore the evolving nature of narcissism in the internet age and its impact on church communities. We discuss the shift from authority-based to algorithm-based influence, the rise of performative narcissism, and the attack on empathy. Our guest is Dr. Chuck DeGroat, the Professor of Counseling and Christian Spirituality and E...