Attendees of Healing Care Ministries Spiritual Formation & the Art of Spiritual Direction Cohort often ask me for an outline of motions for a mirroring demonstration I do to the song “You Know Me” by Stephanie Gretzinger. I’ve been asked to videotape it but I hesitate because it is often a profound experience of the participant being felt and known by God. I feel videotaping is an intrusion of that experience. In the photos above you find me mirroring with my dear friend Sarah.

Mirroring is done to face-to-face and is most powerful with high levels of attunement and empathy from the “minister” to the one being ministered to under the power of the Holy Spirit working through you. It is often used in Dance/Movement Therapy but I have found it to be a powerful tool in spiritual direction and in teaching embodied prayer.

In this powerful picture above from Crotched Mountain, an organization that offers amazing experiences to those with disabilities, we see dancer Michelle Pearson mirror dance with a participant. How trUly BEaUtiful!! 

Here’s a basic outline, but note that this often changes in the moment given the needs of the person I am mirroring:

You have been (arms pointing towards the “back” of the room, indicating the past)
and You will be (arms swing forward, indicating the future)
You have seen (hands start in front of eyes and move outward as if opening the eyes)
and You will see (hands like blinders on either side of the face, attuning to the person you are mirroring)

You know when I rise and when I fall (arms rising to right on “rise” and circling all the way around towards floor on “fall”)
When I come or go  (right hand reaches right, left hand reaches left)
You see it all (hands from in front of eyes spreading outward)
You hung the stars (hang stars with hands)
and you move the sea (arms flow like water)
And still You know me (hands to heart)

Whoa oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh (hand-to-hand, push right hand pressing their left hand back and they will most often press into their own right hand and press your left hand back and continue pressing into each hand back and forth with the music)
You know me (hands to heart)
[repeat]

Nothing is hidden from Your sight (hands start in front of eyes and move outward as if opening the eyes, making the movement big because he sees it all)
Wherever I go, You find me (run forward and circle back around until you meet face-to-face, hand-to-hand again)
You know every detail of my life (touching your own head and face, indicating he knows every hair on your head)
You are God (arms extend upward to God)
and You don’t miss a thing (upward extended arms open and circle outward. I sometimes shake my head to emphasize he doesn’t miss a thing!)

You memorize me (hands back to head and face, as if God’s hands are memorizing every details of your face)

The song:

Mirroring is a powerful technique of attunement. Considering the vicarious nature of dance, I ask the audience to put themselves in the person’s shoes and let their mirror neurons fire. Mirroring can be done to any song with which you connect and also to which the person you are ministering to connects. I will often have them select a song and mirror dance to the song of their choice. As you work together with someone, and they develop a vocabulary of movement, you can ask them if they feel comfortable leading you as you mirror them.

Comment with your experiences or questions below.

Blessings of ARTistry, CREATivity & BEaUty, Jody

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(c) 2018 Jody Thomae

Jody Thomae is the author of God’s Creative Gift—Unleashing the Artist in You, a devotional book with Bible studies to nurture the creative spirit within and to serve as a resource for creative Christians, artists, musicians and worshippers. She has been involved in worship arts ministry since 1997, coordinating artistic involvement in church services and regional worship events through dance, drama, poetry and fine arts and has had the opportunity to perform, teach, choreograph, preach, coordinate and lead workshops in the area of creativity, spirituality and embodied prayer. She has also recently released a devotional CD, Song of the Beloved.

Her passion is for the revelation of God to be made more real through the prophetic use of the arts in church and formational 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. Life scriptures include Psalm 27; Isaiah 50:4-7; and Zephaniah 3:14-17.