Postures of Prayer & Praise are
“outer representations of an inner reality”

In Luke 10, when the lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, he asked him how to inherit eternal life. Like a learned rabbi, Jesus turned the question back to the lawyer, who answered:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus confirmed his answer as true, with a command and a promise: “Do this and you will live.”

When I teach on embodied prayer and worshiping with your whole self (including the often-excluded body), I am often asked where to begin. “EMBODIED” — a 7 day exploration of postures of prayer and praise — is designed as a starting (or restarting point) for those wanting to engage their bodies in prayer and worship.

• Perhaps you have never used your body to pray or worship?
• Or perhaps you’ve danced like David before the Lord and are looking for a new way to explore the movement of worship that flows freely from your sinew and bones?
• Or perhaps you’re looking for an embodied way to spend an intentional week of prayer and worship before the Lord?

Whatever your reason, I’m glad you’re here.

Below you will find 7 postures with Biblical basis and ideas for exploration as you put it into practice. If you choose, you can explore one every day for a week.

EMBODIED DAY 1 :: Hands Raised
EMBODIED DAY 2 :: Palms Down
EMBODIED DAY 3 :: Palms Up
EMBODIED DAY 4 :: Hands Together
EMBODIED DAY 5 :: Hands to Heart
EMBODIED DAY 6 :: Hands Flat (Prostrate)
EMBODIED DAY 7 :: Hands Clapping

You can also find the full Embodied feature translated to Spanish here: EMBODIED Spanish Posturas de oración y adoración

If you’d like to learn more about embodying your spiritual life consider joining me at Rooted & Reaching Lakeside studio on the shores of Pleasant Hill Lake in North Central Ohio for a Rooted & Reaching Embodied Care (RREC) REtreat or dive deeper into helper others live a more fully embodied, whole hearted life through the RREC Certificate Program. 

Also, as a continuation of this journey, over time I will post additional ways to explore a more embodied way of journeying with Jesus. I will link those posts here as they become available:

EMBODIED: New Embodiment Resources
Embodying an Incarnational Advent 
EMBODIED: I Wish You Would Dance
EMBODIED: Resources Galore 
EMBODIED: Walking a Labyrinth
EMBODIED: Christ-Centered Breath Work
EMBODIED: Christian Meditative Prayer Beads
EMBODIED: How We Treat Trauma
EMBODIED: CaraMayan
Returning to Center: An Embodied Prayer
EMBODIED: Praying with Play-Dough
EMBODIED: Worship Dance TV
EMBODIED: Go Into Nature…
EMBODIED: Flowing Grace 

Before you begin this journey, I found this gem of a video and thought it would be a great place to start. The thoughts and reasons behind different postures of worship shared is trUly BEaUtiful and insightful.

You can do start this embodied journey anytime…

…when you want to set a season aside to embody your prayers and worship

…when you feel fragmented and want to bring your whole self back together again

…when you want to come before Jesus in a new and embodied way.

Won’t you join us on this journey?

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below. And please, feel free to share your experience. I welcome your thoughts and observations.

Welcome to the embodied life! Eternal life!
Shine brightly!

Blessings of ARTistry, CREATivity & BEaUty, Jody

(C) 2018 Jody Thomae
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Jody Thomae is the author of several Bible studies including Jesus in My Practice and Voices of Wisdom in the Body. Jody has been involved in worship arts ministry since 1997 and is a lecturer on creativity, embodiment, and spirituality with Healing Care Ministries. Her passion is for the revelation of God to be made more real through the prophetic use of the arts in church and the use of creativity in formational and healing ministry. It is her desire to portray the message of Christ’s desperate and unfailing love for His people to help sustain the hearts of the broken and weary. She is particularly interested in the reclamation of the body in the spiritual journey.

All her books are available through Amazon. Contact Jody at yogafaithjody@gmail.com for pricing on bulk amounts for your creative ministry team or group study. Enjoy a creative spiritual journey through her devotional CD, Song of the Beloved, available through most music outlets including YouTube and Spotify.