CENTERING PRAYER
Tonight we tried centering prayer as our method of meditation. Here's a way to approach centering prayer:
1. Choose a word that is sacred or meaningful to you.
2. Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly, and silently introduce this word.
3. When you become aware of thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.
4. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes. (Click here for more on how-to.)
Here's what Thomas Keating says about Centering Prayer in Open Mind, Open Heart. (He talks about it from a Christian perspective, but you can bring this approach to any form of meditation and substitute words wherever you feel comfortable.):
"The root of prayer is interior silence. We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words. But this is only one expression. Deep prayer is the laying aside of thoughts. It is the opening of mind and heart, body and feelings--our whole being--to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond words, thoughts, and emotions. We do not resist them or suppress them. We accept them as they are and go beyond them, not by effort, but by letting them all go by. We open our awareness to the Ultimate Mystery whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing--closer than consciousness itself. The Ultimate Mystery is the ground in which our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment."
1. Choose a word that is sacred or meaningful to you.
2. Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly, and silently introduce this word.
3. When you become aware of thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.
4. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes. (Click here for more on how-to.)
Here's what Thomas Keating says about Centering Prayer in Open Mind, Open Heart. (He talks about it from a Christian perspective, but you can bring this approach to any form of meditation and substitute words wherever you feel comfortable.):
"The root of prayer is interior silence. We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words. But this is only one expression. Deep prayer is the laying aside of thoughts. It is the opening of mind and heart, body and feelings--our whole being--to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond words, thoughts, and emotions. We do not resist them or suppress them. We accept them as they are and go beyond them, not by effort, but by letting them all go by. We open our awareness to the Ultimate Mystery whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing--closer than consciousness itself. The Ultimate Mystery is the ground in which our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment."
