Who it is for
For people who want to explore nonduality through careful questions and bodily sensing.
Life and places
- A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, he worked as a psychotherapist and for twenty-three years taught counselling students at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco; he is retired from both. 4
- He studied for many years with Jean Klein and with Adyashanti. 4, 7
- Since 2015 he has offered residential retreats with his wife Christiane, in the United States and in Europe, and he also teaches online. 4, 6
Where to start
- Chapter 1 of The Deep Heart (Sounds True, 2019), The Pilgrimage from Head to Heart, free in the publisher's sample, with questions such as Who are you, really? and a short heart meditation. 3, 8
- In Touch (Sounds True, 2015), on the felt sense of inner knowing in the body and on undoing core limiting beliefs. 5, 9
- Your Deepest Ground (Sounds True, 2025), a guide to embodied spirituality and to the ground on which a heart-centred life can rest. 1, 10
Public context
Works
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The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence
Book · 2019 · Sounds True, Boulder
His book on the Deep Heart as loving awareness and on the inner pilgrimage from head to heart, with meditations and questions of self-inquiry. Foreword by Adyashanti.
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In Touch: How to Tune In to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself
Book · 2015 · Sounds True, Boulder
His guide to the felt sense of inner knowing in the body, to core limiting beliefs and to the somatic signs of our deepest nature.
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Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality
Book · 2025 · Sounds True, Boulder
His book on the ground of being as the basis of embodied spirituality and of a heart-centred life.
The short summaries are ours.
In their own words
Short passages in the words of John J. Prendergast, each with its source. Where the quoted text is not in the language of this page, a translation follows and says whose it is.
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This light of loving awareness is always here, regardless of our conditioning.
The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence · Chapter 1, The Pilgrimage from Head to Heart, p. 9 (publisher's sample) · d29ab4jczcfgm5.cloudfront.net -
If we are scrupulously honest, we discover that we actually don’t know what we are, where we are, or when we are. This discovery is unsettling and profoundly liberating.
The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence · Chapter 1, The Pilgrimage from Head to Heart, p. 13, paragraph beginning "If we are scrupulously honest" (publisher's sample) · d29ab4jczcfgm5.cloudfront.net -
We discover that we can rest in not knowing. This is not the same as being ignorant.
The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence · Chapter 1, The Pilgrimage from Head to Heart, p. 13, paragraph beginning "We discover that we can rest" (publisher's sample) · d29ab4jczcfgm5.cloudfront.net
Documented teaching relationships
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Teaching areas recognised by Adyashanti
Open Gate Sangha, the organisation that publishes Adyashanti's teachings, names John Prendergast as one of three students to whom Adyashanti gave formal dharma transmission in a private ceremony, asking them also to share the dharma.
Stated by an institution · adyashanti.opengatesangha.org
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Learned personally with Jean Klein
John J. Prendergast writes that he studied for many years with Jean Klein; Dorothy Hunt's website says the same.
Self-reported · listeningfromsilence.com , dorothyhunt.org
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Invited to teach by Dorothy Hunt
Dorothy Hunt writes in 2012 that she had recently asked John Prendergast to share the dharma as a teacher in her lineage; his own website says he was invited to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt in 2011.
Self-reported · dorothyhunt.org , listeningfromsilence.com
Teaching relationships are documented statements. They confer no trust and do not attest realisation.
Sources
- John Prendergast · Listening from Silence His own website, with Adyashanti's endorsement of Your Deepest Ground; read. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- The Deep Heart · publisher Publisher's page with an endorsement by Adyashanti by name; refers to the book. accessed 8 Oct 2026
- The Deep Heart · publisher's sample Publisher's sample with the table of contents and chapter 1, read in full; the foreword named in the table of contents is not included. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- About John J. Prendergast · Listening from Silence His own biography on his website; read in full. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- In Touch · Listening from Silence Book page on his own website with the description of In Touch; read in full. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Public Events · Listening from Silence Events page of his website with a retreat in November 2026; read in full. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Lineage · Dorothy Hunt Dorothy Hunt's own text of 2012, introducing John Prendergast as a teacher she asked to share the dharma; read in full. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- The Deep Heart · Open Library Catalog record of the 2019 edition (Sounds True). accessed 19 Oct 2026
- In Touch · Open Library Catalog record of the 2015 edition (Sounds True), with a foreword by Rick Hanson. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Your Deepest Ground · Open Library Catalog record of the 2025 edition (Sounds True). accessed 19 Oct 2026
Compiled by us from the sources listed. Last checked 19 Oct 2026.
E-mails about gatherings with John J. Prendergast: coming soon.