Centering Prayer – Our Discipline for May, 2013

Welcome to the month of May! Spring has sprung and we are hear because we are ripe and open to growth during this season of growth and new life!

In May we dedicate ourselves to a new discipline, the practice of Centering Prayer. This particular discipline places a stong emphasis on interior silence. The participant's sole occupation is to establish and maintain the will or intention to "consent to God's presence and action during the time of prayer." (Father Thomas Keating)

In Centering Prayer, we seek to center our hearts, minds, and spirits on God, on the creator. We seek his presence. This practice is all about our relationship with God. Metaphorically, we crawl into the Divine lap and do our best to stay there, centered in Presence with a capital P.

One of our chief modern day guides for this practice is Father Thomas Keating. To learn more about this practice, check out Keating's Youtube instructional piece at
           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IKpFHfNdnE. 

Keating's first guideline makes reference to a "sacred word," a single word or brief phrase to anchor or center us in God. Possible sacred words might include Father, Mother, Creator, Spirit, Love, Jesus, Abba, Yahweh, Peace, or Breath of Life.

We hope you will join us and practice Centering Prayer with us on any of the Tuesdays in May. We meet at Yoga Roots at 444 E. Mitchell in Petoskey from 7:30-8:30 pm. Have a great May!

Toby Jones, founder of Living Vision 

As April came to a close, we wrapped up our practice of Lectio Divina. This Benedictine scripture based discipline was so powerful for all of us, that the suggestion was made that I post each of the passages we used to guide each of our Tuesday night practices. It is helpful to remember that we at Living Vision are an inclusive and integrative community, so we honor the practices and scriptures of all the great spiritual traditions and pathways. In posting these passages, our hope is that you might use them periodically to enhance your own spiritual practice. Grace and Peace to all!

April 9 -"The mind is restless, no doubt, and hard to subdue. But it can be brought under
               control by constant practice and by the exercise of dispassion."
                                         - from the Bhagavad Gita - Hinduism

April 16 - "Seeking help through patience and prayer is difficult, unless on is humble and
                   submissive."
                                        - from the Koran - Islam


April 23 - "I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you
                  may be children of your Father in Heaven. For God causes the sun to rise on
                  the evil and the good. He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
                                        -  from the New Testament Gospel of Matthew - Christianity

April 30 - "Just as a farmer can't predict when the fruit will ripen, so we can't predict
                  when Awakening will occur. So just keep your practice strong; the rest will
                  take care of itself."
                                         - from the Tipitaka - Buddhism

  * Our practice throughout the Tuesdays in May is Centering Prayer. All are welcome to join
     us at Yoga Roots in Petoskey from 7:30-8:30. For more information contact
     tobyjones48@gmail.com.