prayer

EMBODIED: Resources Galore!

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What is an “embodied spirituality” and what does it mean to embody your spiritual experience? How do we bring our bodies to our prayer, worship and other spiritual practices? There are many great resources I want to share with you that explore these questions.

I recommend these books…

  • Jesus In My Practice: Bringing the Questions of Jesus to My Movement, My Meditation & My Mat by Jody Thomae. On Amazon.
  • Voices of Wisdom in the Body: a Christ-Centered & Bible-Based Exploration of Energy by Jody Thomae. On Amazon. Also available in a Group Study Edition.
  • Embodied Prayer: Towards a Wholeness of Body, Mind & Soul by Celeste Snowber Schroeder. You can preview the book here.
  • The Wisdom of the Body: a Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women by Christine Valters Paintner. You can find out about both the book and an online course that accompanies it here.
  • Dance—the Sacred Art: The Joy of Movement as a Spiritual Practice by Cynthia Winton-Henry. You can preview that book here.
  • Prayer of Heart & Body by Fr. Thomas Ryan. Find out more here. NEW!! You can hear more from Fr. Tom Ryan in this video about The Theology of Christian Embodiment.
  • Praying with the Body: Bringing the Psalms to Life by Roy DeLeon. There is also a DVD to accompany this book. Read a review and find out more here.
  • New!! Body Prayer: the Posture of Intimacy with God by Doug Pagitt & Kathryn Prill. Find out more here.
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EMBODIED: Flowing Grace

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I love this short and sweet video called Flowing Grace from Paul Denniston of Grief Yoga. Whether your holiday season is busy and chaotic or filled with the pain of loss and grief, take a moment to flow in grace…

Click here for a longer chair practice that combines movement, breath and sound to connect to love, peace and grace. It is a quiet, simple practice that focuses on letting go of the negative in order to be filled with peace and contentment. If you are struggling this holiday season, I recommend exploring more of Paul’s resources on his website or on Facebook. Continue reading

EMBODIED: Abide Christian Meditation

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I’ve recently discovered the Abide app. You can listen to daily scripture meditations, as well as meditations geared towards anxiety, anger, addiction, depression, fear and grief. There are meditations on blessing and forgiveness and even ones to help you drift off to sleep. Moreover, many of these Bible-based meditations are very embodied in nature, encouraging body-oriented relaxation and simple breath prayers like….

Exhale chaos
Inhale peace

Exhale anger
Inhale love Continue reading

EMBODIED: Walking a Labyrinth

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Sending you to two different articles on the embodied practice of walking a prayer labyrinth. The first is at Guideposts and includes four different ideas of ways to pray through the labyrinth. You can find that article here. The second is at Patheos and includes a short history on labyrinths, as well. Find the Patheos article by clicking here. Finally here’s a world-wide labyrinth locator to help find one near you. Continue reading

EMBODIED: Resting in the Midst

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We all need times of rest and replenishment in order to live whole-hearted and fully-embodied lives. However, in our crazy, hectic, fast-paced society, it is really difficult to make time or space for rest. Even when we are utterly exhausted we keep pushing: one more task… one more errand… one more project… one more phone call… one more appointment… one more   fill in the blank  . Our bodies cry out to stop, to slow down, to breathe, and yet, we keep right on pushing through.  And, worse, if something goes wrong (which *news flash* it’s bound to), it’s even more difficult to rest, because we are driven to fix things, to solve problems and to make them go away.  Continue reading

EMBODIED: Beautiful Prayer for Healing

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Join Morgan Day Cecil for a short embodied prayer inspired by Fr. Thomas Ryan, recorded at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, Australia. The choir singing in the background is so BEaUtiful!

You can check out MORE EMBODIED SERIES posts here!

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EMBODIED: Christ-Centered Breath Work

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This edition of EMBODIED is a Christ-centered, breath-oriented, mindfulness practice. Although it was created specifically for those who have experienced trauma, you do NOT have to have experienced trauma to benefit from this quiet, Bible-based meditation. Truth is, we all have wounding, hurtful moments in our life, and we can all benefit from allowing God’s breath to breathe healing into every part of our being.

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EMBODIED: Christian Meditative Prayer Beads

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Mala prayer beads are very popular these days, not only among those who do yoga, but as a fashion trend. After I purchased my first mala, I began to research prayer beads and ropes from other religious traditions and eventually tore my mala apart to reconstruct it with Christian symbolism instead. Prayer beads or ropes are used across many spiritual traditions to help one pray. Traditional malas are used by Hindus and contain 108 beads. Rosaries are used within the Catholic tradition and contain 50 beads. Chotki are used within the Orthodox Christian tradition and contain 33, 50, 100, 150 or more prayer beads (or often knots instead of beads).

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Selah prayer beads are my own original, Christ-centered design for contemplative prayer beads. The word Selah is taken from the Book of Psalms. Hebrew scholars believe it is a musical term indicating a place of pause, reflection or a place to take a breath. Selah prayer necklaces are constructed with 100 beads, 10 of which are called Selah beads. These beads are meant to serve as stopping points, places for you to pause and reflect as you pray your way around the circular design of the necklace.

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EMBODIED: Praying with Play-Dough

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Hello Fellow Worshipers! Found this recipe for play-dough with essential oils at One Essential Community and thought I would share it with you. You can find full instructions with photos and essential oil blend ideas.

Playdough is a wonderful way to use the embodied sense of touch during prayer and meditation time. Add essential oils and we include the sense of smell. You can add the following scriptures to embody your prayer, meditation and Bible study time: Continue reading

EMBODIED: Worship Dance TV

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Introducing Vibeke Kiiskila, founder of Unity Dance Center and host of Worship Dance TV. I had the wonderful pleasure of spending some time talking with her about my journey in worship dance, embodied prayer and creative ministry. You can listen into our conversation here:

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EMBODIED: Go into nature…

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Go into nature…

…and let it teach you.

Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher. 
William Wordsworth

Believe one who knows: you will find something greater in woods than in books.  Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.
Saint Bernard de Clairvaux

Whenever I have found myself stuck in the ways I relate to things, I return to nature. It is my principal teacher, and I try to open my whole being to what it has to say. 
Wynn Bullock

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EMBODIED :: CaraMayan

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Screen Shot 2019-04-12 at 2.17.09 PMToday I would like to introduce you to an embodied spiritual practice called  CaraMayan. CaraMayan is a way of moving to the Bible for exercise, fitness, worship and prayer.  It is a Christian alternative to Yoga and Tai Chi based on dance and pilates movement. It was created by my friend Mary Jones, founder of the International Christian Dance Fellowship. I’ve had the privilege of meeting and spending time with Mary, and it was an honor to sit under her teaching and fellowship over a meal. She is truly a treasure in the kingdom of God!!

Not sure if anyone’s coined the term “Physio Divina”, but perhaps today is the day we do! In Lectio Divina (sacred reading) we read a passage of scripture several times to savor its meaning. In CaraMayan we experience the same type of meditation, except through physical movement. May you be blessed as you put this into practice.

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Kintsugi of the Soul, edition 32

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Today’s Kintsugi of the Soul* might require a tissue or two! This precious little girl named Abigail is fighting an incurable cancer, and the Freeport Police Department made her dream of becoming a police officer come true and stands beside her as she fights “the bad guys” in her body!!

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Kintsugi of the Soul, edition 16

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As we journey through the CHRISTmas season, in today’s Kintsugi of the Soul,* we hear the story of a miraculous healing of Amber Nesbitt during the Christmas season 2005:

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Kintsugi of the Soul, edition 5

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This week’s Kintsugi of the Soul features a man many of you have probably already heard about, Nick Vujicic, who was born without arms or legs. The first video is him speaking at Saddleback Church. It’s a long video so if you don’t have time to listen to the whole thing this week, at least tune in for the first six and a half minutes. God is using him to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to millions of people worldwide; protect the unborn; and influence those in powerful positions. His goal is to preach the Gospel to everyone across the globe… 7 billion people! To this point over a half million have put their faith in Jesus Christ through his evangelism efforts!! Praise God!

Note: in his intro video he speaks about John 9, which is one of the Bible Studies in chapter 7 of my most recent book, The Creator’s Healing Power—Restoring the Broken to Beautiful.

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Practicing the Presence of God through Creative Prayer Stations

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“Practicing the Presence” was created for a Healing Care Ministries seminar called The Essentials. The essence of this seminar to help those in caregiving ministries understand how to position people for lasting, healing change, particularly through engaging the right hemisphere of the brain through creative spiritual practices. “Practicing the Presence” was done each morning in lieu of traditional worship. Each day is spent focusing on one member of the Trinity with the following themes: Creator God, Christ our Royal Redeemer, and Holy Spirit, Flame of Love.

Included here are resources, coloring pages, accompanying scriptures and photographs so you can recreate this for your own church or ministry. Hand-outs are provided and can be used with permission by leaving the website and copyright information intact at the bottom of each page. Coloring pages were created by Pauline Mae Blankenship (©2018) for “Practicing the Presence,” and if you have The Creator’s Healing Power—Restoring the Broken to Beautiful, you will recognize these coloring pages from the book. She has graciously offered them for our use, and you will find links within each section below.

Each day we started in silence, which was broken with Lectio Divina. Then participants were released to explore creative prayer stations. Every day, one station included a cross with artwork to create a space where folks could kneel and pray, and another included the coloring pages at two large tables with coloring supplies:

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EMBODIED :: Postures of Prayer & Praise #7, Hands Clapping

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

Exploring: Hands Clapping – Restoration & Victory

Psalm 47:1-3 – Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph! For the Lord Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth. He will subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet.

Christ the King is our victory. As we shout praises and clap our hands, he stands up against injustice and rights the wrongs in our lives. Let us use a voice of triumph — one that speaks truth, victory, restoration and freedom — even in places of our lives that do not appear victorious. God is in control. Christ is on His throne. Continue reading

EMBODIED :: Postures of Prayer & Praise #6, Hands Flat

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

Exploring: Bowing Low, Prostrate with Hands Flat – Submitting

I Chronicles 29:20 – Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the LORD your God.” So they all praised the LORD, the God of their fathers; they bowed low and fell prostrate before the LORD and the king.

I Kings 18:38-39 – (Elijah) Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD – he is God! The LORD – he is God!” Continue reading

EMBODIED :: Postures of Prayer & Praise #5, Hands to Heart

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

Exploring: Hands to Heart – Pondering/Treasuring

Job 23:12b – I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

Luke 2:16-20 – Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Treasuring and pondering means taking time to remember all God has done in your life, to consider what He has planned for your life, to look at those gifts/talents that are uniquely yours to do that which God has uniquely designed you for. It is being still and quiet before the Lord.  Continue reading

EMBODIED :: Postures of Prayer & Praise #4, Hands Together

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

Exploring: Hands Together – Prayer

Philippians 4:6 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Colossians 4:2 – Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

When we are anxious, our hands are wringing, but notice the attitudes of thankfulness and watchfulness that are to accompany our prayers. It’s not about what He can give us, but acknowledging and being thankful for what He has already given us and being watchful to see how He will answer our prayers, sometimes in ways we don’t expect. Continue reading