Author Interview:
Nhien Vuong on Love As Reality
Interviewed and originally published by Closer than Breath
Reprinted here with permission
- Closer Than Breath
Reading Time 5 mins
Author Interview:
Nhien Vuong on Love As Reality
Interviewed and originally published by Closer than Breath
Reprinted here with permission
I am THRILLED to share this email interview with Unity minister and contemplative retreat leader Rev. Nhien Vuong, J.D., M.Div.
In it, Nhien explores heart-centered spirituality, love as Reality, and how to approach Centering Prayer with more effortlessness.
Specializing in spiritually mentoring individuals from diverse wisdom traditions around the world, Rev. Nhien is the founder of Evolving Enneagram, a community-based interspiritual hub “where contemplation meets the Enneagram.” Nhien is the author of The Enneagram of the Soul: A 40-day Spiritual Companion for the 9 Types (Hampton Roads, April 7, 2025).
Discover how Nhien’s personal quest for wholeness led to her awakening to our collective unity and belovedness–and gain tips for spiritually surrendering to Divine Love.
Nhien’s answers are written beneath my questions, which are bolded.
Would you be willing to share some of your personal journey of contemplation and transformation?
Yes, I would be honored to share.
Most people who meet me today are surprised to discover the depth of sadness and loneliness that marked the first half of my life. Certainly, being born into wartime Vietnam and fleeing my native country with my family to start anew as political refugees in the very fractured United States largely impacted my sense of alienation. Still, from as far back as I can remember, I felt like the black sheep not only in the Southern California town where I grew up but also within my own biological family.
I spent the first few decades of my life compulsively–in fact, outright addictively and codependently–trying to earn my right to exist and somehow belong in the world. While I was accomplished by societal standards, I found that the more effort I put into seeking external validation, the more inauthentic, worthless, and empty I felt!
Eventually, I hit a bottom and found myself in a 12-step recovery room in 2004. There, I quickly discovered the transformational power of meditation and, through it, a new relationship to myself, others, and the Divine. I was introduced to centering prayer in about 2006 via a Unity textbook by Rev. Paul Hasselbeck called Heart-Centered Metaphysics.
Like many, I initially turned to contemplative practice mainly when in pain–in times of crisis. Over the past decade, however, centering prayer—along with practices such as welcoming prayer and somatic inquiry—has become a devotional practice, integral to my everyday life.
Over the years, as I’ve repeatedly surrendered my ego’s extensive and often urgent-feeling agenda and been willing to sit and do apparently nothing at all, I have felt my heart begin to overflow with a love I never imagined was possible. I was gifted with a received experience of wholeness, oneness, and unity.
As a little girl, I often despaired that others didn’t love or understand me enough. Nowadays the love in my heart seems to continually expand and bridge any sense of separation. I’ve experienced miracles of healing and forgiveness among nearly all my family members–incuding some whom I never thought I’d ever speak to again! Moreover, I understand what it means to love complete strangers now, as Love itself doesn’t require knowing or understanding any particular thing about another person, much less agreeing with them on religious or political issues. It simply is–or isn’t! And more and more, Love IS. It’s right here. I feel love simply because Love is within me and because Love, it turns out, is the very fabric of Reality.
How does your awakening to Love relate to your work in the world?
The love in my heart isn’t (yet) there every second of the day (in fact, it might feel absent for days altogether!). Yet even in the first few years of my awakening, this love was present and strong enough to inspire me to quit my well-paying law career in San Francisco, move to the Midwest (where I knew no one), and pursue a calling to become a Unity minister–to serve our conscious evolution.
At core, no matter what subject I’m teaching, whether it’s the Enneagram, Unity principles, or centering prayer, all I hope that I’m really teaching is Love–not as a feeling but as a natural state of BEING–and more specifically, how to surrender our barriers to the Love that we already ARE.
The idea of surrendering or “letting go” to Love is so essential to the contemplative path–yet it isn’t always easy! Could you offer some final words of guidance for those struggling?
For sure. Surrender is core to opening to our contemplative heart as it is the effort we make toward effortlessness. First, language can help. Sometimes the term “let be” can feel easier than the term “let go.” We can let our distractions just “be”!
Second, somatic awareness can support our surrender process. Until I became more somatically attuned, I didn’t realize how often I stood with my arms crossed. My physical and attitudinal posture was very closed. I started to experiment with uncrossing my arms and even standing with palms slightly opened toward others. I noticed that my attitude instantly became more receptive.
When we engage our centering prayer sit, we might take note of our physical posture first. Maybe your body is exhibiting some defensiveness. If so, start there, adjusting yourself physically first, dropping your shoulders and unfurrowing your brow. Maybe your body is indicating some grasping. If so, try exaggerating that sensation, clenching your fists more tightly to sense how your attitude might be like that. Then let your hands release into an open palm position. This physical contrast might help you to sense the inner difference between striving for Love and surrendering to Love!
I hope this serves!
Indeed! Where can we learn more about your work?
Join me in January!
I will be exploring this in depth at the 2025 Centering Prayer Summit. My talk is titled: The Contemplative Heart of Unity.
To register or learn more and find out about the other inspirational speakers (including keynote speaker Cynthia Bourgeault!), please click the button below.
Author, Unity Minister, Retreat Leader
www.evolvingenneagram.com
1 thought on “Author Interview: Nhien Vuong on Love As Reality”
Reading this made me reflect on my own journey of learning to love without expectations or boundaries. The idea that Love just exists within us and connects us beyond differences feels like such a profound truth.
Thank you for articulating in that way something I feel deeply. 🙏💙