SPIRIT IN PRACTICE
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults
WORKSHOP 2: PERSONAL SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
BY ERIK WALKER WIKSTROM
© Copyright 2008 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 8:48:35 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening, we shall hear the right word. Certainly there is a right for you that needs no choice on your part. Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom which flows into your life. Then, without effort, you are impelled to truth and to perfect contentment.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
This workshop looks at the solitary component of the practice of spirituality. There is a Zen saying that no one else can eat your food for you, no one else can go to the bathroom for you, and no one else can live your life for you. And, of course, no one else can do your practice for you.
When the subject of personal spiritual practices comes up, one word seems to rise above all the rest: prayer. Prayer is an expansive concept that can be practiced in an endless variety of ways. Contemplatives and mystics have always argued that the real purpose of prayer is to quiet the chatter and remove the distractions that keep us unable to hear the "still small voice" that is within each of us. That voice can be called various things—God, Spirit, Life, our inner wisdom, our higher self. But many of us live in such a tumult of inner and outer noise that if such a voice were speaking to us, we could hardly hear it.
Prayer, then, can be understood as a tool by which we learn to quiet the noise and listen. What are we listening for, or to? That needn't be known at the outset. If something is speaking to us—if there is a spirit singing in us—then we will know it when we hear it. The problem with telling people what they should be listening for, as some institutional religions do, is that when we don't hear what we're expecting to hear, we may give up listening altogether. Ironically, one of the few things that all religions seem to agree on is that when the sacred speaks, it is usually in an unexpected way. This workshop teaches that the first thing to learn is to listen, and only then to discover to whom or what we are listening.
This notion of listening is also central to many "mindfulness" practices taught by various Eastern traditions. For in fact, all of the great personal spiritual practices can be seen as aiming toward the same target. They are all ways of putting us in touch with ourselves at our deepest, with what the poet Mary Oliver calls our "one wild and precious life."
Our better selves, our higher wisdom, our inner knowing, the collective unconscious, the Spirit of Life, deity—whatever we call it, it is forever speaking to us, encouraging us to make healthy choices, to live up to our ideals, to take the way of the greatest good. All of the various practices that our human family has created are merely ways for us to discover this "voice" so that we might benefit from what it has to say.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Sharing Names | 5 |
Activity 2: The Story of Pablo Casals | 10 |
Activity 3: Prayer and Meditation | 35 |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: Experiencing Meditation | 15 |
Alternate Activity 2: Experiencing Intercessory Prayer | 30 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Leaders are encouraged to prepare for the workshop not only by gathering supplies and reviewing the workshop's activities, but also by practicing centering, prayer, or meditation. Before the workshop, take some time to engage in a spiritual practice that helps connect you with the sacred, with the Spirit of Life, with the ground of your being. You may wish to spend extra time with that practice before you offer Spirit in Practice, allowing yourself to access the kind of groundedness or energy that you want to embody as a teacher of spiritual practices. What kind of energy do you want to share with your group? How do you want to be as a leader? Hold these questions, and your responses, in your mind as you engage in a practice that connects you with the Spirit of Life.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As participants enter, invite them to sign in, create name tags, and pick up a schedule for the workshop series if they have not already done so. Direct their attention to the agenda for this workshop.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Welcome participants to Spirit in Practice.
Ask the group to turn to "Transcendental Etude" by Adrienne Rich, 665 in Singing the Living Tradition. You may wish to share with participants that Adrienne Rich is a contemporary American feminist, poet, teacher, and writer. Invite a participant to light the chalice as the group reads responsively.
After the reading, ask the group to turn to "Voice Still and Small," 391 in Singing the Living Tradition. Invite the group to join in singing. If the group is largely unfamiliar with the song, you may need to teach them the tune.
Including All Participants
If your congregation has large-print and/or Braille versions of Singing the Living Tradition, make those copies available for participants who might need them. Using a microphone for this activity helps more people hear you.
ACTIVITY 1: SHARING NAMES (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce yourself and your co-leader(s), and invite participants to take turns sharing their names. As participants introduce themselves, invite them to stand (if they are willing and able) and to speak loudly or use the microphone so they can be better seen and heard.
Including All Participants
Using a microphone for this activity helps more people hear one another.
ACTIVITY 2: THE STORY OF PABLO CASALS (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Read the story "Pablo Casals" aloud. Provide copies of the story to people who prefer to read along.
After sharing the story, invite participants to take a moment to quietly center themselves, to let go of any tension or emotions that are not needed for the next hour, and to breathe deeply. You may ring a bell at the beginning and end of this silent time, or simply invite people into the silence and then gently bring them out.
After the silence, invite participants to discuss their responses to the story. Keep the discussion brief and focused, allowing time for your own concluding remarks. Ask:
Conclude by emphasizing the value of practice, whether it is just for a few minutes a day, an hour a week, or half an hour each morning. Practice can help us grow spiritually, deepening our connection with and commitment to the ground of our being.
Including All Participants
Be sure that all participants can hear the story, or have the story interpreted for them. Using a microphone for this activity helps more people hear the story. You may wish to print out copies of the story in advance for participants who are hard of hearing or who prefer to read along.
ACTIVITY 3: PRAYER AND MEDITATION (35 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that the group is now going to discuss two of the most common personal spiritual practices, prayer and meditation.
Ask the group to free-associate around the word "prayer." What words and phrases—positive and negative—come to mind when they think of "prayer"? Write the words and phrases on a sheet of newsprint labeled "Prayer." Spend a few minutes collecting these words and phrases until the group has generated enough to fill the sheet.
Now ask the group to go through the same process to free-associate around the word "meditation." Write these words and phrases on a second sheet of newsprint labeled "Meditation."
When the second newsprint sheet is full, ask the group to look at the two sheets side by side, comparing the words and phrases written for "prayer" and for "meditation." Ask:
You may wish to bring up some of the points made in this workshop's Introduction. For example, you might point out that contemplatives and mystics have always argued that the real purpose of prayer is to quiet the chatter and remove the distractions that keep us unable to hear the "still small voice" that is within each of us.
Explain that both prayer and meditation are highly compatible with Unitarian Universalist values and beliefs and can be meaningful to the practitioner regardless of his/her beliefs about divinity.
Close by distributing Handout 1: A Unitarian Universalist Prayer Bead Practice. The handout describes a form of prayer designed for Unitarian Universalists by the Reverend Erik Walker Wikstrom, author of these Spirit in Practice workshops. Explain that this practice is something that participants can explore on their own.
Including All Participants
Using a microphone for this activity helps more people hear one another.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather participants around the altar or centering table. Affirm the good work that participants have done in this workshop.
Offer an opportunity for the group to reflect back over the workshop, seeking what are sometimes called "like and wishes." Ask participants, if they wish, to briefly share something they particularly liked about their experience and one thing they wish for in the future. If the group is small or there is extra time, allow participants to speak freely. If the group is large or time is tight, limit people's sharing so that all who wish to share will have the opportunity.
Distribute your customized Taking It Home handout. Review the ideas for how to continue exploring the workshop's subject with friends and family.
If you have chosen to encourage journaling throughout the Spirit in Practice workshop series, remind participants to write in their journals. (See Workshop 1, Alternate Activity 2: Introduction to Journaling.)
Make any announcements concerning the next meeting, especially any changes to routine (such as a change in meeting time or place, a guest presenter, etc.).
Close the workshop with this ritual: The leader takes the hand of the person on his/her right while saying, "I put my hand in yours so that we might do together what we cannot do alone." That person, still holding the leader's hand, then takes the hand of the person on his/her right, saying the same thing. When this saying has gone completely around the circle and everyone is holding hands, the workshop has ended. Extinguish the chalice.
Including All Participants
Using a microphone for this activity helps more people hear you.
Be sure to be inclusive of people with a variety of living situations—living alone, with a significant other, in a family, with housemates, etc.—in the way you explain the Taking It Home activities.
You may wish to adapt the closing ritual to make it more comfortable for people who are averse to holding hands. You can change the words to "I reach out to you so that we might do together what we cannot do alone" and change the accompanying gesture to reaching rather than holding hands.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
After the workshop, co-leaders should make a time to get together to evaluate this workshop and plan future workshops. Use these questions to guide your shared reflection and planning:
TAKING IT HOME
Read Handout 1: A Unitarian Universalist Prayer Bead Practice. Experiment with it. You may wish to create your own set of prayer beads as described in the handout. You can also use the handout to compose your own personally meaningful prayer, with or without beads. Practice praying in this way daily and see how it shapes you.
Journal about your experiences of meditation and prayer. Which have you engaged in? What was it like for you? What are the most personally meaningful forms of meditation and prayer you've experienced? Where would you like to go with a personal spiritual practice?
Discuss personal spiritual practices with friends, family, co-workers, or housemates. What practices have they found meaningful? If they don't engage in personal spiritual practices, why not? What needs and longings might be fulfilled by engaging regularly in prayer, meditation, or other personal spiritual practices?
Follow these tips for developing your personal spiritual practice:
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: EXPERIENCING MEDITATION (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that meditation is one form of personal spiritual practice. It's a spiritual "practice" not only because it's something that we engage in for centering, but also because it truly takes practice to sit still and quiet the mind. Use these or similar words to introduce the meditation:
Nearly all forms of meditation involve paying more attention to your breathing than usual. Even though we breathe in and out more than twenty thousand times per day, most of us go through our lives without being very conscious of our breath. Practitioners of meditation find that in becoming conscious of each in-breath and out-breath, they become more centered and peaceful. If they have practice, they are able to quiet their minds as they focus on their breathing. In many ways, it's the opposite of how we normally think: normally, we pay attention to our thoughts and ignore our breath.
Some Buddhist forms of meditation use this focus on the breath to help the practitioner focus on the present moment, simply being in the here and now. Other forms encourage practitioners to sit and breathe in a certain way so that they transcend the present moment and experience an elevated realm of pure consciousness.
Invite participants to sit in their chairs or move to the floor where they can sit or lie down as they feel comfortable. Make pillows and cushions available to participants who would like them.
Lead the guided meditation in Leader Resource 1: Breathing Meditation. Read slowly and clearly with a calm voice. Pause between sentences so that listeners can visualize each image and action you describe.
When the meditation is through, invite participants to return to the large group for discussion of these questions:
Including All Participants
Offering several options for posture and positions during meditation includes people of all abilities and mobility levels. When you read the meditation, use a microphone and/or choose to stand or sit near participants who are hard of hearing so that they can hear you better.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: EXPERIENCING INTERCESSORY PRAYER (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Tell the group that they are going to experience a contemplative approach to intercessory prayer. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, "intercessory prayer" is prayer on behalf of someone else. For those who are familiar with it, the term may conjure up images of "prayer lists" and the rote recitation of the names of people "who are in need of prayer." Encourage people to keep an open mind and heart.
Explain that you are about to lead the group in a silent, meditative form of prayer. This prayer has three parts.
Ask participants to find a comfortable position in their seats. After a moment or two, guide the group in prayer with the words from Leader Resource 2: Guided Intercessory Prayer.
After sounding the bell at the end of the guided prayer, allow a few moments for participants to refocus their attention. Then ask the group to divide into pairs. Invite each pair to spend five minutes discussing their experiences: What was it like to pray for these three people in this way? Participants will take turns being speakers and listeners. You may wish to ring the bell halfway through (after two and a half minutes) to signal speakers and listeners to switch.
When the sharing is through, invite participants to return to the large group for discussion of these questions:
Including All Participants
When you read Leader Resource 2: Guided Intercessory Prayer, use a microphone and/or choose to stand or sit near participants who are hard of hearing so that they can hear you better.
If you notice participants struggling to hear one another in their pairs, allow some pairs to leave the room and find a quieter space. If two participants require American Sign Language interpretation and you have only one interpreter, pair up those participants. If more than two participants need ASL interpretation, find a second interpreter to help.
SPIRIT IN PRACTICE: WORKSHOP 2:
STORY: PABLO CASALS
Pablo Casals, born in Vendrell, Spain to a Puerto Rican mother, is thought by many to be the greatest cellist who ever lived. His recordings of the Bach Cello Suites, made between 1936 and 1939, are considered unsurpassed to this day.
Casals’ prodigious musical talent became evident early. By the age of four he could play the violin, piano, and flute (having been taught by the church organist and choir director). When he first heard a cello at the age of 11, he decided to dedicate himself to that instrument, and he had already given a solo recital in Barcelona three years later at the age of 14. Five years later he was on the faculty of the renowned Municipal School of Music in Barcelona and was principal cellist of the Barcelona Opera House. He gained international acclaim in a career of such length that he performed in the United States for both President Theodore Roosevelt and President John F. Kennedy.
Yet even having attained such unquestionable mastery of his instrument, throughout his entire life Casals maintained a disciplined regimen of practicing for five or six hours every day. On the day he died, at the age of 96, he had already put in several hours practicing his scales. A few years earlier, when he was 93, a friend asked him why, after all he had achieved, he was still practicing as hard as ever. “Because,” Casals replied, “I think I’m making progress.”
SPIRIT IN PRACTICE: WORKSHOP 2:
HANDOUT: A UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST PRAYER BEAD PRACTICE
What follows is not intended to dictate how to pray, but rather is a suggested structure onto which you can hang your own developing prayer practice. It draws upon the prayer practices of a number of religious traditions and seeks to put together a pattern of prayer that you can tailor to your own needs and understandings. This practice uses the image of a journey, one form of prayer moving into the next.
Preparation: The first, largest bead provides a way into this prayer journey. While touching it, you might gently breathe in and out a few times, sing a favorite hymn, or recite a passage of scripture that centers you and creates a space within for the prayer that is to follow.
Entering In: With the four small beads at the beginning of the prayer circle, you enter into this “journey” of prayer. With each bead you might recite the verses of a Buddhist gatha, such as:
Breathing in, I relax body and mind.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment,
I realize this is the only moment.
You might call on the spirits of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Or you can create your own entering prayer. I say:
Open my eyes, that I might see your face in everyone I encounter this day, myself included.
Open my ears, that I might hear your voice in whatever forms it takes.
Open my hands, that I might freely give whatever is mine to share.
Open my heart, that I might live and love more fully in you.
Take the time here to be fully intentional about this time.
Naming: The first medium-size bead is for naming the sacred and the holy as you encounter it. In traditional prayer terminology, this is praise and thanksgiving. You can think of it as naming the places in your life where miracles abound, a chance to “count your blessings,” or a way of beginning your prayer centered in the awareness of the ways in which the holy is happening in your life.
The Small Beads: The three sets of five small beads between the medium-size beads are for “breath prayer.” Many of the world’s religious traditions encourage a short, repetitive prayer tied to the breath. You say one line on the in-breath and a second on the out-breath. You can use two lines from tradition or scripture—the classic from the Christian tradition is “Jesus Christ / have mercy on me”—or you can create your own. Once you settle on a two-part phrase, keep saying the same thing. Part of the power of a breath prayer is its repetition. Live with it long enough for it to become a part of you.
Knowing: The second medium-size bead is for giving voice to the broken, wounded, worried places in your soul. (Traditionally, this is called a prayer of confession.) It is the chance to take a “fearless moral inventory” and to give voice to what lurks in the shadow. Prayer calls on us to be authentic, whole people, and knowing where we are weak and wounded is essential.
Listening: The third medium-size bead is for listening to “the voice of quiet stillness” within. This is a chance to sit in the Mystery, gently breathing. (Depending on the tradition, this is called meditation or contemplation.) Far too often, people think of prayer as “talking to the sacred,” forgetting that in any good conversation we must make room to listen as well as speak.
Loving: If your prayer journey is just for your own sake, then it is ultimately hollow. The fourth and last medium-size bead provides a place to bring the concerns of others—family, friends, communities, the world—into your prayer. These prayers of intercession, as they are traditionally called, are a chance to encourage your prayer to move outward. Call to mind people and situations you know who are in need, or sit quietly and see who (or what) comes to mind.
Closing: Whatever you said to enter into your prayer time, repeat with the four beads at the end of the circle.
Putting It All Together: You can take the journey of this prayer practice all at one time (expect to spend at least 30 minutes), or you can spread it out during the day (for example, Naming after breakfast, Knowing at lunch, Listening before dinner, and Loving before bed). Some people carry their beads with them everywhere, like “worry beads,” and find that simply touching them—while in line at the bank, or when waiting for a friend—brings them into a prayerful place.
This practice is expanded—and a Unitarian Universalist perspective on prayer is more fully explored—in Erik Walker Wikstrom’s Simply Pray: A Modern Spiritual Practice to Deepen Your Life (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=622) (Skinner House Books, 2005).
SPIRIT IN PRACTICE: WORKSHOP 2:
LEADER RESOURCE: BREATHING MEDITATION
Kevin Durkin
Lie on your back in a comfortable position with arms and legs extended. If there is any pain in your back, place a pillow under your knees. Move your legs so that the distance between your feet is slightly greater than the width of your hips. Move your arms so that your hands are about nine inches from your sides. Please be comfortable.
Let yourself feel the weight of your body. Trust that the earth is there to support you. Trust that the weight of the body will be supported by the earth. Accept the support of the earth.
Listen to the sound of your breath. Listen to the sound of the breath as it enters the body. Be completely absorbed in listening to the sound of the breath. Does the breath have a soft sound, or does the breath have a harsh sound? Tune the sound of your breath as a musician would tune an instrument. Let the sound of your breath be soft and full.
Notice how your breath flows in. Does the breath come in one side of the nose more than the other? Is one nostril more open than the other? Notice if it changes as you continue breathing.
Feel how the breath flows up into the head. What does it sound like?
Mentally trace the path of the breath as it enters the nose and flows up into the head and then down the throat. How does the sound change? Is the throat open and soft? Relax the throat. Let it feel warm and open as the breath flows down the throat and into the chest.
Mentally trace the path of the breath down the chest and into the lungs. What does the breath sound like as it enters the chest? Be soft as you let the chest fill to the brim with breath.
Notice how the breath enters the chest. Do both sides of the chest fill equally? Does one side of the chest expand more than the other side of the chest? Fill both sides of the chest equally and listen to the sound of the breath as it fills the lungs.
Now listen to the sounds of the breath as it leaves the lungs. Keep the chest full as you exhale, and listen to the sound of the exhalation.
Mentally follow the path of the breath out of the chest, the throat, and the nose, and keep listening to the sound of the breath.
Keep breathing consciously and listening to the breath as the mind comes to a restful place.
[Allow two or three minutes of silence for continuation of conscious breathing.]
Notice where the mind has gone. Is it still on the breath, or did it wander off? Where did it go? Bring the mind back by listening to the breath.
Deepen each breath and bring the mind back into your body. Now roll to the right side and let your eyes softly open. When you feel ready, come up to a seated position.
SPIRIT IN PRACTICE: WORKSHOP 2:
LEADER RESOURCE: GUIDED INTERCESSORY PRAYER
Spirit in Practice
Workshop 2
Leader Resource 2
I invite you to close your eyes. Breathe in and breathe out, slowly and gently. Bring quiet to your mind—gently bring stillness to your thoughts, to that sometimes racing internal monologue. Prepare yourself to find a stillness—to hear “a still small voice” or “a voice of quiet stillness” within.
While in this quiet place, allow the thought of a person you know very well—someone you know and love—to come into your consciousness. Do not force it. Allow it to come on its own. This person can be living or long gone.
And when someone comes to mind, don’t hang on to them. Let the thought of this person quietly flow on, just as you’re letting thoughts about other things flow out on the current of your breathing.
Other people may come to mind. Or one may just keep coming back. Either way, do not become attached to any of the thoughts, but notice if there are any which have particular energy.
Eventually the thought of one person should distill out and you’ll realize that this is who you want to pray for.
Now ask—God, your higher power, your own inner knowing—what it is you should be praying for. You might “hear” words; you might become aware of a feeling; you might get an idea for something you should do. Whatever it is, notice it, but don’t hold on to it too tightly. Keep returning to your quiet breathing.
Pray that prayer. You can say “This is what I wish for you,” “This is what I pray for you,” “This is what I hope for,” or any other words that feel genuine to you. Focus on your intentions and hopes for this person, allowing yourself to feel all the emotions that come with your intentions and hopes.
[Allow two minutes of silence.]
I now invite you to repeat the same process, this time thinking of a person you don’t know well.
Allow the thought of a person you don’t know very well to come into your consciousness. Do not force it. Allow it to come on its own.
Now ask—God, your higher power, your own inner knowing—what it is you should be praying for. You might “hear” words; you might become aware of a feeling; you might get an idea for something you should do. Whatever it is, notice it, but don’t hold on to it too tightly. Keep returning to your quiet breathing.
Pray that prayer. You can say “This is what I wish for you,” “This is what I pray for you,” “This is what I hope for,” or any other words that feel genuine to you. Focus on your intentions and hopes for this person, allowing yourself to feel all the emotions that come with your intentions and hopes.
[Allow two minutes of silence.]
I now invite you to repeat the same process, this time thinking of a person you are in conflict with. This can be someone who is close to you or someone you know only from afar.
Allow the thought of a person you are in conflict with to come into your consciousness. Do not force it. Allow it to come on its own.
Now ask—God, your higher power, your own inner knowing—what it is you should be praying for. You might “hear” words; you might become aware of a feeling; you might get an idea for something you should do. Whatever it is, notice it, but don’t hold on to it too tightly. Keep returning to your quiet breathing.
Pray that prayer. You can say “This is what I wish for you,” “This is what I pray for you,” “This is what I hope for,” or any other words that feel genuine to you. Focus on your intentions and hopes for this person, allowing yourself to feel all the emotions that come with your intentions and hopes.
[After two minutes, sound the bell.]
I invite you to slowly open your eyes and return your attention to our group.
FIND OUT MORE
Wikstrom, Erik Walker. Simply Pray: A Modern Spiritual Practice to Deepen Your Life (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=622) (at secure.uua.org/bookstore/product_info.php?cPath=&products_id=1425) Skinner House Books, 2005.
Nhat Hanh, Thich. The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=343) (at secure.uua.org/bookstore/product_info.php?cPath=13&products_id=1018), Beacon Press, 1987.
Easwaran, Eknath. Meditation: A Simple 8-Point Program for Translating Spiritual Ideals into Daily Life (at www.amazon.com/Meditation-Simple-Program-Translating-Spiritual/dp/B000NX1YA4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225397464&sr=8-4) (at secure.uua.org/bookstore/product_info.php?cPath=13&products_id=1695) Nilgiri Press, 2004.
Hallman, Laurel . Living by Heart (at www.uusdn.org/laurel_hallman.html), a guide to a daily devotional practice of reflection and reading poetry. Video and workbook.