The Welcoming Prayer: Letting Go Into Presence

Join this guided contemplative practice to release what you're holding onto and arrive more fully in the present moment. Through this timeless practice, you'll learn to welcome your experience exactly as it is, letting go of the need for security, approval, and control. As you move through each step, notice where you feel tension in your body and gradually open to something larger than yourself. This practice cultivates deep acceptance, inner peace, and freedom from anxiety. Whether you're seeking stress relief, emotional balance, or simply a way to be more present, this practice offers a pathway home.

Transcript

Hello and welcome. I'm chuckling a bit because I'm going to be talking about the welcoming prayer. Pun intended. The welcoming prayer was created by. A person by the name of Mary Rozowski. She passed away in 1993. And she was part of the contemplative outreach. Organization. And there's basically sort of four movements to. The prayer, You become aware of your body. And then you become aware of what's there. You become aware of what is. And then you let go of different desires. And then finally you rest in peace. In presence or mystery or higher power or whatever word you might use for that. I find that the best way to. Learn something like this is to actually Practice it. So let's begin. Just become still and notice your breath. Let yourself arrive in the present moment. Gently become aware of your interior state. Notice what's here. What are you feeling emotionally? What are you feeling physically? Don't try and change it. Don't try and fix it. Welcome it. And B. Aware of what is here. You can say to. The experience that you welcome it. I welcome everything that comes to me in this moment. Because I know it is for my healing. I welcome all thoughts, Feelings. Emotions. Situations, Persons, And conditions. Just welcome what. Is coming to mind. Often I will practice this prayer when I'm sort of being Assaulted. If you were, It's kind of a strong word, But. By fear or. . . Anger or overthinking. And then I just become aware of what's going on in my body and instead of trying to push it away or fix it. I welcome it. And so if anything is surfacing for you right now, I invite you to. Just simply welcome it right now. If it helps at all, You can just say to your mind and to your body that that you'll pick it up later if you're sensing some resistance. But for now. . . Just welcome. Whatever is surfacing. And the next step is to just release some of our desires. It'll become aware of. You'll probably become aware of. How whatever this feeling or thought or person or situation is connected to these different desires. So. . . If you want to, If you're, I just invite you to say. That you let go of your desire for security. That you let go of your desire for approval. That you let go of your desire to. Change the situation. Person. Place or a thing. And that you let go of your desire to control. Since we're learning this, I'll just go through those one more time. You can just say, I let go of my desire for security. I let go of my desire for. Approval. I let go of my desire to change any situation, Condition. Person or myself. I let go of my desire for control. And then just be open to a loving presence and rest. Hopefully you're experiencing some peace. Just rest. In that piece. Rest in Peace. Awareness. Just trust that you don't need to solve everything. Right now. Whatever the situation or thing or person. Feeling that. Maybe you felt needed fixing. It doesn't have to be resolved right now. And then just gently return to your day. You can do. Many rounds of this throughout the day if you'd like. And I will often do that. This is something I've done. A prayer that I've turned to since. 2005. I have the little booklet here that I learned it from. And the date. When I first began it as November 5th. 2005. Anyways. . . Peace to you. Thanks for joining me. I hope that was helpful. Take good care.