Centering prayer is a prayer of intention to consent to God’s Presence and His action within us.
This practice is the foundation of Contemplative Practices. I am going to discuss, why, how and when.
WHY:
There is so much I don’t know about myself and my motivations for saying and doing the things I do and say. I would often say “Why did I say that and react that way?” Or “Why am I feeling so uncomfortable desiring to run (eat, play card games, Netflix binge) and numb myself?”
Most of the time I would act on these unconscious emotions without any idea of what was going on.
My conscious, subconscious and unconscious are always at work. I can notice my conscious and choose how to respond in the moment. I can retrain my subconscious feeding my mind with positive , uplifting, encouraging words with the things I look and listen to. However, my unconscious is stored with old thoughts, reactions, that were there since childhood and even from the womb, that I have no idea about.
Centering Prayer is directly allowing the unconscious to receive Gods healing.
I shut up and do NOTHING or NO THING. I am in the presence of the Divine Therapist .
Consistent practice builds a reservoir of silence and healing that I experience in everyday life . My motivations shift and I am not reacting in the same ways. I am not even thinking in the same way.
HOW:
This is the easy part(LOL). Twice a day for twenty minutes, I SIT with my eyes closed, feet firmly planted and back straight.
As soon as I close my eyes, thoughts, feelings, agendas, bombard my mind. It’s like going into a kindergarten class with no teacher and my thoughts are the children throwing things, fighting with each other, yelling and just out of control until the teacher walks in and the focus shifts.
The teacher is the sacred word, I say as soon as I sit down and close my eyes.
The word is sacred only for the purpose of shifting the focus to consenting to being in God’s Presence and receiving His action within me.
It can be any word that does not cause me to feel something, meaning its not a charged word.
Some examples are: God, Jesus, Abba, Father, Mother, Mary, Amen, Love, Listen, Peace(mine), Mercy, Let go, Silence, Faith, Trust.
Do Not Change the word in the midst of the prayer.
When:
I’ve already told you when. Twice a day for 20 minutes optimal time 30 minutes. I am a 20 minutes twice a day women and because I have no idea what God is doing, I simply accept the thoughts and let them go. If I notice I am spending time thinking about a thought, I gently say my sacred word silently CONSENTING to Gods presence and action within.
Try it over a month and notice what happens. Send a reply to this blog and let me know your experience.
Resource:
Open Mind, Open Heart by Thomas Keating