What do you think?
Rate this book
The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence
An experiential guide for exploring the convergence of psychological healing and spiritual awakening that happens most clearly and powerfully in the depths of the heart
“The Deep Heart is what I call a living book, that rare gem of a book that is alive with the presence of its author . . . A book like this should be felt and experienced as much as it should be read.” ―Adyashanti
The great human quest is to discover who we really are―a discovery that changes our lives and the lives of those around us. With The Deep Heart , spiritual teacher and psychotherapist Dr. John J. Prendergast invites us on a pilgrimage within, using the heart as a portal to our deepest psychological and spiritual nature.
The “deep heart” is Prendergast’s term for our heart center―a subtle center of emotional and energetic sensitivity, relational intimacy, profound inner knowing, and unconditional love. “The heart area is where we feel most deeply touched by kindness, gratitude, and appreciation, yet it is also where we feel most emotionally wounded,” writes Prendergast. “Whether we realize it or not, the heart is what we most carefully guard and most want to open.”
Throughout The Deep Heart, Prendergast expertly combines the boundaried wisdom of psychotherapy with a spacious, embodied path to liberation, bringing attention to both the joys and pitfalls of each approach with the compassion of a friend who’s walked the path for decades.
In this experiential guide, Prendergast invites you to tune into your inherent wisdom, love, and wholeness as you journey into the deep heart. Through precise and potent meditative inquiries, insightful stories, and reflections drawn from Prendergast’s intimate work with students and clients, you’ll begin to open your heart, see through your core limiting beliefs, and discover the true nature of your being.
“The Deep Heart is what I call a living book, that rare gem of a book that is alive with the presence of its author . . . A book like this should be felt and experienced as much as it should be read.” ―Adyashanti
The great human quest is to discover who we really are―a discovery that changes our lives and the lives of those around us. With The Deep Heart , spiritual teacher and psychotherapist Dr. John J. Prendergast invites us on a pilgrimage within, using the heart as a portal to our deepest psychological and spiritual nature.
The “deep heart” is Prendergast’s term for our heart center―a subtle center of emotional and energetic sensitivity, relational intimacy, profound inner knowing, and unconditional love. “The heart area is where we feel most deeply touched by kindness, gratitude, and appreciation, yet it is also where we feel most emotionally wounded,” writes Prendergast. “Whether we realize it or not, the heart is what we most carefully guard and most want to open.”
Throughout The Deep Heart, Prendergast expertly combines the boundaried wisdom of psychotherapy with a spacious, embodied path to liberation, bringing attention to both the joys and pitfalls of each approach with the compassion of a friend who’s walked the path for decades.
In this experiential guide, Prendergast invites you to tune into your inherent wisdom, love, and wholeness as you journey into the deep heart. Through precise and potent meditative inquiries, insightful stories, and reflections drawn from Prendergast’s intimate work with students and clients, you’ll begin to open your heart, see through your core limiting beliefs, and discover the true nature of your being.
208 pages, Paperback
Published December 10, 2019
144 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 30, 2025
I appreciate this flavour of spiritual writing. Prendergast captures an essential balance between the transcendent and the immanent which can be easily overlooked in spiritual engagement. He will point to the emptiness of reality, while still emphasizing the necessity of diving deeply into challenging emotions. It is made clear that to “bypass” emotional difficulties by moving outward into emptiness is to negate our true nature, which is found by going inward, into the heart. After reading this, I realize why many Zen/Tao writings have left me feeling estranged from aspects of self, as they tend to put their focus on the transcendent, while I desperately need to make sense of my immanent human experience. Now I am clearer than I ever have been on my path home.
March 31, 2023
Three and half stars rounded to four, the information is good but I prefer other books of this genre and wouldn’t go back to it but sure it will hit the spot for some.
February 9, 2023
Originally published in "Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction," Vol. 26, NO. 4, December 2020, p. 73.
Every once in a while a special book falls into your hands at an opportune moment, like a personal gift from the universe. So it was for me when The Deep Heart arrived on my doorstep during the Covid-19 Pause, when half the world’s population is living with strict curtailment of movement and the meaning of “essential travel” is the focus of much scrutiny. That the essential journey at the core of human longing is not exterior at all, but an interior one, forms the premise of the book.
Pilgrimages to religious or secular destinations have been familiar experiences for people across many traditions, and at their core “these journeys are attempts to return to wholeness—to recover our innocence, openheartedness, and inherent knowing” (10). Mirroring our physical travel in the world, the inner journey has the same goal but occurs through a shift of attention from head to heart. “The inner pilgrimage is a profound surrender into a different way of knowing, feeling, and being. It requires an attunement to and trust in something in the core of our being that is as compelling as it is invisible” (11). Chapters lead the reader along this inner pilgrimage with explorations of core beliefs, psychodynamic and existential levels, and the wounded heart among many other themes.
Moving from head to heart is a lifelong journey as we seek our true home consciously or not. Awakening to what is most true, most valuable, and most alive in us constitutes the thread of the inner journey. “There are three broad stages in this pilgrimage. First we attend to this radiance with increasing intimacy and devotion. Second, we recognize that this radiant presence is who we fundamentally are, rather than merely a beneficent state of being—our mind, heart, and gut awaken to the infinite. Finally, we align our daily lives with our deepest knowing….These stages can also be viewed as orienting toward, awakening to, and increasingly embodying our true nature” (173).
Intended as an experiential guide, “One of the main purposes of this book is to awaken your inner teacher. For this to happen, you need to listen to your heart wisdom—your deepest knowing” (7). This is a book to savor slowly, allowing time for its insights to penetrate into your being. Guided meditations and inquiries are interspersed with exploration of key concepts.
John Prendergast offers the perspective of a depth psychotherapist, retired adjunct professor of psychology, and spiritual teacher. A student of European Advaita Vedanta proponent Dr. Jean Klein, and American spiritual teacher Adyashanti, his astute conversational writing invites the reader to move from clear head to deep heart as a portal into the fullness of life.
A list of Additional Resources includes work by Adyashanti, A.H. Almaas, Cynthia Bourgeault. Readers familiar with these spiritual guides will recognize thematic continuity and appreciate suggestions for further exploration.
Seekers of deeper understanding and meaning will find in this book wise counsel for movement toward integration, wholeness, and freedom. The meditations and inquiries are designed for use in personal practice and could also be fruitfully employed in groups focused on nurturing spiritual growth. Spiritual Directors, religious leaders, and counselors will find nourishment for the ministry of bringing close attention and loving presence to their clients and congregations. There is no better time to cultivate the gifts of open-hearted presence in our anxious world by embarking on an inner pilgrimage toward the Deep Heart with this skillful guide.
Amelia Stratton-Smith, MTS, is a spiritual director in Rochester, New York, USA. She is an ordained Elder, Deacon, and member of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and received a Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary, in San Anselmo, California, USA. Please contact her at ameliajean123@gmail.com.
The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence
by John J. Prendergast, PhD
Boulder: Sounds True, 2020
208 pages, CAD$17.04, GBP£11.55, USD$12.19
Reviewed by Amelia Stratton-Smith
Originally published in "Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction," Vol. 26, NO. 4, December 2020, p. 73.
Every once in a while a special book falls into your hands at an opportune moment, like a personal gift from the universe. So it was for me when The Deep Heart arrived on my doorstep during the Covid-19 Pause, when half the world’s population is living with strict curtailment of movement and the meaning of “essential travel” is the focus of much scrutiny. That the essential journey at the core of human longing is not exterior at all, but an interior one, forms the premise of the book.
Pilgrimages to religious or secular destinations have been familiar experiences for people across many traditions, and at their core “these journeys are attempts to return to wholeness—to recover our innocence, openheartedness, and inherent knowing” (10). Mirroring our physical travel in the world, the inner journey has the same goal but occurs through a shift of attention from head to heart. “The inner pilgrimage is a profound surrender into a different way of knowing, feeling, and being. It requires an attunement to and trust in something in the core of our being that is as compelling as it is invisible” (11). Chapters lead the reader along this inner pilgrimage with explorations of core beliefs, psychodynamic and existential levels, and the wounded heart among many other themes.
Moving from head to heart is a lifelong journey as we seek our true home consciously or not. Awakening to what is most true, most valuable, and most alive in us constitutes the thread of the inner journey. “There are three broad stages in this pilgrimage. First we attend to this radiance with increasing intimacy and devotion. Second, we recognize that this radiant presence is who we fundamentally are, rather than merely a beneficent state of being—our mind, heart, and gut awaken to the infinite. Finally, we align our daily lives with our deepest knowing….These stages can also be viewed as orienting toward, awakening to, and increasingly embodying our true nature” (173).
Intended as an experiential guide, “One of the main purposes of this book is to awaken your inner teacher. For this to happen, you need to listen to your heart wisdom—your deepest knowing” (7). This is a book to savor slowly, allowing time for its insights to penetrate into your being. Guided meditations and inquiries are interspersed with exploration of key concepts.
John Prendergast offers the perspective of a depth psychotherapist, retired adjunct professor of psychology, and spiritual teacher. A student of European Advaita Vedanta proponent Dr. Jean Klein, and American spiritual teacher Adyashanti, his astute conversational writing invites the reader to move from clear head to deep heart as a portal into the fullness of life.
A list of Additional Resources includes work by Adyashanti, A.H. Almaas, Cynthia Bourgeault. Readers familiar with these spiritual guides will recognize thematic continuity and appreciate suggestions for further exploration.
Seekers of deeper understanding and meaning will find in this book wise counsel for movement toward integration, wholeness, and freedom. The meditations and inquiries are designed for use in personal practice and could also be fruitfully employed in groups focused on nurturing spiritual growth. Spiritual Directors, religious leaders, and counselors will find nourishment for the ministry of bringing close attention and loving presence to their clients and congregations. There is no better time to cultivate the gifts of open-hearted presence in our anxious world by embarking on an inner pilgrimage toward the Deep Heart with this skillful guide.
Amelia Stratton-Smith, MTS, is a spiritual director in Rochester, New York, USA. She is an ordained Elder, Deacon, and member of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and received a Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary, in San Anselmo, California, USA. Please contact her at ameliajean123@gmail.com.
The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence
by John J. Prendergast, PhD
Boulder: Sounds True, 2020
208 pages, CAD$17.04, GBP£11.55, USD$12.19
Reviewed by Amelia Stratton-Smith
Originally published in "Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction," Vol. 26, NO. 4, December 2020, p. 73.
Read
June 17, 2020Excellent read
If you're truly interested in a life of wholeness, authentication and substance then meeting, knowing and recognizing your deep heart is essential. This book will get you there
If you're truly interested in a life of wholeness, authentication and substance then meeting, knowing and recognizing your deep heart is essential. This book will get you there
November 8, 2021
This book was a mandatory reading as part of a 200 hour yoga teacher training course. It was one of two books we had to read throughout the months of training. The Deep Heart was tougher to read as I wanted to delve into the words and really ingest what John Prendergast was conveying.
There are some beautiful meditation moments throughout the book. I will be the first to admit that I am not the best at meditation. It is hard for me to sit still and just be. Although hard, I was able to ask myself the questions and ponder the emotions those meditations evoked.
This is a book that may have you opening up more. It may even help in finding a way or understanding to love yourself and others more fully and deeply.
There are some beautiful meditation moments throughout the book. I will be the first to admit that I am not the best at meditation. It is hard for me to sit still and just be. Although hard, I was able to ask myself the questions and ponder the emotions those meditations evoked.
This is a book that may have you opening up more. It may even help in finding a way or understanding to love yourself and others more fully and deeply.
May 27, 2021
I'm not great at feeling. Blame Asperger's, rough childhood, whatever. This book speaks to the deepest feeling parts of you which I felt little resonance. I read it with thoughts that it might help strengthen a weakness and out of curiosity to learn from the experience of someone who clearly spends most of their time there.
A few times it seemed to touch something deep inside, but most of the time it remained intellectual. Maybe my failing, not the books'; I rate based on how it was for me and my tastes, not necessarily it's potential contribution to society as a whole.
A few times it seemed to touch something deep inside, but most of the time it remained intellectual. Maybe my failing, not the books'; I rate based on how it was for me and my tastes, not necessarily it's potential contribution to society as a whole.
October 22, 2019
This is essentially stories and experiences from the author's life with some meditations. While mostly interesting, I didn't connect with it and didn't get much value from it other than to see that examples of opening up and a-ha moments. These can be inspiring. I'm confident some readers will benefit from this well-written book.
I really appreciate the NetGalley advanced copy for review!!
I really appreciate the NetGalley advanced copy for review!!
May 5, 2020
John's book is the perfect antidote to what is going on in the world right now with the coronavirus. Resting in and as our Truest Self gives us the inner resources to meet our outer circumstances with more peace, equanimity and love, whatever they may be. Thank you, John, for your contribution to a more peaceful world!
January 9, 2023
I prostrate ten thousand times before the sacred lotus feet of this book. What an unimaginable grace it is to have opened the doors of my life for these pages to fly in.
It is truly the deep heart of the integrative spiritual field I am humbly exploring. It is an altarpiece, a guru, pocket-sized. It is a portal indeed.
Thank you.
It is truly the deep heart of the integrative spiritual field I am humbly exploring. It is an altarpiece, a guru, pocket-sized. It is a portal indeed.
Thank you.
November 22, 2025
I powered through listening to this book before a meditation retreat. It was the perfect book at a perfect time in my life. So many beautiful gems, I often struggled to follow along because I was lost in thought reflecting on each meaningful phrase that came up. I'm looking forward to reading a physical copy next time and taking more time to really marinate in each meditation exercise.
December 2, 2019
The Deep Heart is a book with some interesting stories. This is the type of book you will either have a connection to or not. Well written.
October 25, 2022
The lessons on this book are told gently and with love. They are vital for wellbeing. The book was spiritually challenging but optimistic and I think I will return to it many times.
June 22, 2023
Immanent vs transcendental experience
February 2, 2024
A mindfulness and meditation true guide. Simplifying various practices with plenty of guided meditations to get you started in trying those valuable ideas.
January 13, 2025
Good not excellent
Read
February 5, 2024a beautiful spiritual guide to heart awakening
I write this review after my 7th read of the Deep Heart. Each read brings my understanding closer to the deepest location within my being . John offers thoughtful gentle guidance for one to not only understand what inhibits us from greater vulnerability and intimacy with our own direct experience, he provides practices and insights that lead us there- into the deep heart. I am sure I will reread this book many more times as I believe that the journey into the deep heart is unending- thank you John🙏🏼
I write this review after my 7th read of the Deep Heart. Each read brings my understanding closer to the deepest location within my being . John offers thoughtful gentle guidance for one to not only understand what inhibits us from greater vulnerability and intimacy with our own direct experience, he provides practices and insights that lead us there- into the deep heart. I am sure I will reread this book many more times as I believe that the journey into the deep heart is unending- thank you John🙏🏼
January 26, 2020
John Prendergast thank you!
Your understanding and eloquent interpretation of the unfolding of the deep heart is truly poetic. Your warmth and wisdom resonates through every page. I highlighted most of them to go back to later!
Your understanding and eloquent interpretation of the unfolding of the deep heart is truly poetic. Your warmth and wisdom resonates through every page. I highlighted most of them to go back to later!
December 27, 2025
Releasing our attatchments to self-stories, images, and living in full awareness and presence.
A journey to get to the point where we recognize that our full awareness and living potential has always been with us.
A journey to get to the point where we recognize that our full awareness and living potential has always been with us.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews