The Divided Life and the Quest for True Self

Parker Palmer reflects on the consequences of living a divided life and the quest for wholeness.  This podcast is one segment on the new 5-CD set from Sounds True, called An Undivided Life: Seeking Wholeness in Ourselves, Our Work & Our World.

Download or play podcast: The Divided Life and the Quest for True Self

The Clearness Committee

During his appearance on PBS's Bill Moyers Journal in February 2009, Parker Palmer spoke about being present for someone suffering from depression.  Participants in our retreats have the opportunity to experience this way of relating in a practice called "Clearness Committee."  Please have a listen to this short piece that includes Parker's description of the practice, and come back to our site to learn more about retreats in your area where you might be able to experience this important part of our work.

Download or play podcast: The Clearness Committee

The Courage to Teach in Korea

A new voice on our podcast this time!  In October 2008, our Associate Director Terry Chadsey spoke about Courage to Teach at an international Education Symposium on Creativity in Seoul, Korea. His talk described the experience of teachers in Courage to Teach seasonal retreat programs and illustrates how “we teach who we are.”  He recreated the presentation for this podcast.  If you haven't heard it already, please also listen to Parker Palmer's recent appearance on the National Public Radio Program "Speaking of Faith."

Download or Play Podcast: Courage to Teach in Korea

Back to School

In this podcast, we hear from Parker Palmer on three timely topics.  In the first segment, he reads his essay on Autumn, which appears in Let Your Life Speak (Jossey-Bass, 2000).  In the second segment, he speaks about the relationship between the inner and outer lives, and in the final segment, reflects on the study Trust in Schools by Tony Bryk and Barbara Schneider.

Download or play podcast: Back to School

The Soul of the Citizen/ Summer

This podcast has two parts. First, Parker Palmer reflects on how circles of trust can contribute to diminishing divisiveness and to restoring the soul of the citizen, and thus, the soul of democracy. In the second part, Parker reads his essay on "Summer," which is included in his book, Let Your Life Speak (Jossey-Bass, 2000). Enjoy.

Download or play podcast: The Soul of the Citizen/ Summer

Leadership and Change

The work we help people do inwardly has consequences in the larger world.  It's true for the teachers, physicians, and clergy who go back to their institutions not only with personally renewed hearts, but with new ways of being in the world which spread renewal to others.  It's also true for leaders, the best of whom are able to bring their own identity and integrity into their public work, those whose inner transformation flows out into a needy world. 

In this podcast, Parker Palmer speaks of the link between inner work and institutional and social transformation.

Download or play podcast: Leadership and Change

In Solitude and Community

This is the second installment of a conversation with Parker Palmer, Marcy Jackson of the Center, and Estrus Tucker, a Courage & Renewal Facilitator from Ft. Worth, Texas.

In this part of the conversation, from a CD included in the new Tenth Anniversary Edition of The Courage to Teach, Parker, Marcy, and Estrus reflect on the impact and the value of Courage to Teach, the retreat series for educators.

"[Courage to Teach] is not just a vacation or a weekend away from home, but the soul-deep support of a chance to have conversations about things that really matter and a chance to grow, from the inside out."

What do we mean by "The Courage to Teach"?

This podcast is the first in a series of recordings that are included on CD in each new copy of Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach , Tenth Anniversary Edition.

Marcy Jackson, Co-Director of the Center for Courage & Renewal, and Estrus Tucker, Courage & Renewal Facilitator and President/CEO of Liberation Community Inc. in Ft. Worth, Texas, join Parker Palmer in reflecting on the history of both Courage to Teach, the book celebrating its tenth anniversary, and Courage to Teach, the program for the personal and professional renewal of educators, which is also in its tenth year.

Check back often for more podcasts of the same conversation.

Download or play podcast: What do we mean by "The Courage to Teach"?

Standing in the Tragic Gap

What does it mean to stand in the "tragic gap,” the gap between the difficult realities of life and the knowledge of what is possible? In this podcast, Parker Palmer speaks about the tragic gap, and about the importance of having a capacity to stand in it, especially for those who want to help make this a better world.

Download or play podcast: Standing in the Tragic Gap

Undivided Life

What does it mean to live a divided life, one in which we keep our inner lives separate from our interactions in the world? In this podcast, Parker Palmer speaks about the powerful reasons for us to care about, and work toward, living an undivided life.

Download or play podcast: Undivided Life