Learning to Pray
A Prayer of Presence
Here I am...
as I am
In the world...
as it is
Supported by Grace
Open to God's Love
Present
to my life
In Christ
The Body Prayer
Familiar forms of the body prayer include making the sign of the cross, walking a labyrinth, reverencing the cross, gestures of the celebrant during the Great Thanksgiving and Gospel reading.
An interesting example of Christian body prayer comes from Julian of Norwich, who lived during the time of the plague in England in the 14th c. Julian experienced severe bodily pain when she was thirty years old, during which she received visions, which she later recorded in Revelations of Divine Love. Julian wrote, “The fruit and the purpose of prayer is to be “oned” with God in all things.”
Julian’s Body Prayer is comprised of four poses and intentions: Await, Allow, Accept, and Attend.
The first pose, Await, is a posture of receiving, held with cupped hands extended at the waist to receive the presence of God.
The second pose, Allow, is a posture of opening, reaching up with the hands open to the coming of God’s presence.
The third pose, Accept, takes in whatever comes, standing with hands cupped at the heart, head bowed.
The final posture, Attend, is assumed with hands extended and palms open in willingness to act on what has been given.
Interestingly, the movements of body prayer can have the same effect as the movements of yoga. Julian of Norwich experienced this connection, as perhaps some of us do, as divine union, what she called a ‘oning’ with God. The idea of ‘oning’ is not unlike the meaning of the word yoga, which is Sanskrit and translates as ‘to yoke’ with the divine.
Six Gestures of Prayer
- Being: I am here–with openness, sincerity, authenticity, and purity of heart. (Prayer hands at heart)
- Bowing: I acknowledge that I am standing in, with, and before wholeness and holiness. I submit to this wholeness and empty myself into its mystery. (Bowing)
- Opening: Opening, our capacity to receive loving energy deepens. (Raising hands up)
- Receiving: Having consented to a process of emptying, there is in us a certain spaciousness to receive. (Gathering hands at heart)
- Sharing: But this is not to be grasped or hoarded. Indeed, it can’t be. It is most deeply held as it is shared and given away. Turning from one side to another, arms wide open, look around and see how the seeds of this mysterious love are being scattered and multiplied.
- Grounding: All this is being carried in an embodied being who is connected to both earth and heaven. I am here. I am awake. I am connected. I am home (Hands placed down, flat at one’s side, grounded into the earth)
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