Music 6 brief invitations to experiment with Christian meditation.
I invite listeners to engage with these invitations in two ways.
If you are listening while out in the world,
Walking,
On public transport,
Or while doing some other task,
Consider dipping into each of these invitations for a few seconds.
If even that is not possible,
Consider this track the briefest of tasters into Christian meditation and plan to return to it when you have a quiet moment.
If you are sitting somewhere quiet where you can engage more fully,
Use that opportunity to settle into each meditation in turn for around a minute.
Having sampled all six,
The invitation will be to choose one and to try it for a full five minutes.
Are you ready?
One.
Begin by becoming aware of your breath and following it for a time in and out.
Turn your attention to the space between your out breath and your in breath.
Notice anything that arises there.
If it feels right for you,
Rest yourself in that space.
Two.
Begin by becoming aware of your breath and following it for a time in and out.
Continue breathing with the consciousness of your breath as a symbol of love flowing in and through you.
Another variant of this might be to visualize or to be conscious of your breath as a wave.
Begin a symbol of love washing in and through you.
If you are a Christian,
You may alternatively use your breath as a symbol of the Holy Spirit flowing in and through you.
More Bagpipe?
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3.
Begin by becoming aware of your breath and following it for a time in and out.
Continue breathing with a sense of God's presence in the air you are breathing in and around you.
Notice what you feel when you become conscious of this presence in and around you.
3.
Begin by becoming aware of your breath and following it for a time in and around you.
4.
Choose a focus,
A sacred word,
Phrase or symbol.
In the John Mayne tradition of Christian meditation,
Meditators are encouraged to use the word maranatha,
Meaning come Lord Jesus.
Other Christians use elements of the Jesus prayer.
The centering meditation tradition uses the breath and a sacred word or symbol.
In all this,
The particular word,
Phrase or symbol matters very little.
Instead,
It's used as a way of intentionally and repeatedly returning to a sense of God's presence.
Having chosen your word,
Phrase or symbol,
Begin by becoming aware of your breath and following it for a time in and out.
Allow your attention to rest on the word,
Phrase or symbol.
Gently and repeatedly return to your focus.
Some people find it helps to return to the focus with each in-breath.
When you become distracted and aware of thoughts,
Note the content and then gently return to your focus.
3.
Very enterprising.
5.
Begin by becoming aware of your breath and following it for a time in and out.
Allow your attention to rest in a sense of God's presence.
Gently and repeatedly return to this focus.
Some people find it helps to return to this focus with each in-breath.
When you become distracted and aware of thoughts,
Ever so briefly note the content and then gently return to this sense of God's presence.
That is the full rest phase of discovery.
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Closeness and intimacy.
Gratitude.
And so on.
Choose one emotion or heart movement to begin with.
And so on.
Consider making one of these a practice you use each day this week.
It can help to identify in advance when in your routine would suit you and to plan some sort of reminder.
If more than 5 minutes feels possible,
It is better to aim for a short time like 10 minutes daily or almost daily than a longer time less frequently.
After a week,
You might try one of the other exercises.
They are each exercises that can become part of a regular meditation practice.
The brief meditation forms described here reflect ideas from brother Lawrence,
The practice of the presence of God,
Thomas Keating,
John Mayne and Anthony de Mello.
Christian meditation practices have a long history and have experienced a revival in the last 100 years.
It can help to have the support of others to develop a spiritual practice like meditation.
If you are interested in Christian meditation of the sort you have experienced in this recording,
You may want to investigate the Christian meditation communities in your area.
They are springing up everywhere and are often advertised online along with the location and times when they meet.
