Welcome to A Prayer Practice,
A podcast by The Gathering.
I'm Kelly Weber,
And I'm a spiritual director.
A few years ago,
I went through training to be a certified mindfulness educator.
At the same time,
I was also practicing centering prayer.
The two were closely connected contemplative practices.
Studying both at the same time and meeting people in both circles of community gave me an interesting glimpse into the fruits of contemplative practice.
Whether someone was practicing mindfulness meditation or centering prayer,
The next step forward in either practice was a deeply felt compassion for others.
It was pure compassion,
Not diluted by duty or egotism.
I felt it in myself,
And I saw it in others.
I've thought a lot about this,
Wondering what it is that moves people in these practices towards an empathetic posture of suffering with others.
That's the definition of compassion,
To suffer with.
As always,
I'm speaking more from personal experience than expertise,
But here's what I think.
Our rational brains are awesome,
But they're limited.
Our defenses house in our brains through justifying,
Detaching,
Projecting,
Repressing,
Denying.
You get the picture.
These defenses are helpful for us in certain parts of our lives,
But not in every part.
When we slow down and quiet the chatter of our brains and listen for the still,
Silent voice of God,
We make room for our hearts.
We bring our feelings centers to the forefront where usually our thinking centers are.
In bringing our hearts online,
We bring a new kind of receptivity that in our hearts resilience allows us to hear the story of our lives and the lives of others with the capacity to hold space for whatever is happening.
For reality,
We no longer overuse those defensive postures to protect us.
Rather,
We can hold in our heart space all that is without fear of it breaking us.
Instead,
It breaks us open to receive greater love and express greater love.
Sorry if this all sounds like pie in the sky woo woo stuff,
But it's hard to talk about the ineffable.
So today's practice is less about praying together and more about committing to try out a daily practice in silence and stillness with the intention of inviting God to quiet the chatter and defenses of our minds and open the resiliency and love of our hearts.
You can come back to this recording each day just to sit in quiet contemplation for five minutes or however long you would like.
I'll lead you into the quiet and then you can sit for as long as you'd like.
Let's begin.
Start by finding a quiet,
Comfortable place.
You might want to have some touch points around you that hold sacred meaning,
An icon,
A Bible,
Prayer beads,
A candle,
Whatever you'd like.
Sit either in a chair or on the floor and feel the ground beneath you,
Holding you,
Grounding you.
Allow gravity to give you a sense of the weight of your body.
Notice that you have a body.
You are not just a floating head,
Though we move through the world so much as if we were.
Once you have a felt sense of your body,
Then notice this beautiful rhythmic process happening at the very center of your body,
Your breath.
Notice your breath going in your nose or your mouth,
The cool air as it moves down your throat into your lungs and fills your diaphragm.
And then notice your out-breath,
Warm and tinged with relief.
Let your shoulders drop,
Your belly relax.
Notice the pull of the weight of the earth and at the same time the lightness of the sky,
Gently encouraging your spine to be long,
Your neck to be free.
Follow your breath for a few cycles.
Give your attention to it.
If your attention wanders to thinking or judging or planning,
That's okay.
When you notice,
Just gently return to following your breath.
You're not doing it wrong if your mind wanders.
That's what minds do.
As we sit here in grounded,
Centered stillness,
We consent to be in the presence of God and to God's action within.
We are all in the presence of God,
And we are all in the presence of God.
We are all in the presence of God,
And we are all in the presence of God.
And to God's action within.
Silence is God's first language.
We come to the silence knowing that God knows the longing of our hearts,
The needs of our spirit,
The comfort of our minds.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
Be.
Amen.
Thanks for praying with me today.
Take this blessing and may it open your heart.
May you find moments of stillness in your days.
May you find spaces where silence dwells.
And in these moments and spaces,
May your heart feel safe and brave and resilient and flexible and open.
And may it be imprinted with the compassion of Christ who abides in that wide,
Well within.
Be well,
Friends,
And join me next week when we continue our practice.
