Centering prayer

Overview

As the name suggests, centering prayer is the use of breath to focus inwards; to clear the mind of all thoughts and to rest in the Divine without words. It is the highest or purest form of prayer.

Centering prayer is a special method of contemplation in which the person simply attends to the presence of God within or at the centre of one’s being. A mantra or short phrase is sometimes repeated to keep one’s attention centred. An example is the Jesus Prayer, which requests, ‘Jesus, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner’ when repeated in a mantra.

In praying using centering prayer we are stilling the mind and body, calming the heart and opening ourselves to the presence of God.

A Centering Prayer Experience

- You may wish to light a candle.

- Find a comfortable position to enable you to remain still, then close your eyes.

- Repeat a sacred word (e.g love, peace, Jesus) as an intention to consent to God’s presence.

- If you become aware of other thoughts/sounds/feelings, gently return to your sacred word.

- At the end of your experience, remain in silence with your eyes closed for a couple of minutes.

A Breathing Exercise

Note: For meditation, students should NOT lie down. They should remain seated, with straight backs. If children go to sleep, they are not meditating, they are relaxing.

Close your eyes and let your body come to a quietness and stillness.

Listen to your breathing.

Breathe in slowly….

Breathe out slowly. …. (Repeat 3 or 4 times)

Practise breathing in through your nose and out through pursed lips. This is a special way of breathing when we meditate. Feel your breath as it comes in through your nose and as it passes over your lips.

Now, as you breathe in, count to four in your mind: In, two three four; and then blow out through your lips, out, two, three, four. You might pray as you breathe: Come Lord Je- sus.

Continue this pattern of breathing.

Now, discontinue your mantra. As you sit in stillness and silence, be prepared to wait as the Spirit of God surrounds you and rests with you and in you and by you, becoming part of you, even as you become part of the very pulse of the universe. Rest in God, even as God rests in you. There is nothing to do, but wait and rest in God….

When you are ready, come back to the present, take a deep cleansing breath and open your eyes.

You might wish to journal this experience, or to offer a prayer of thanks to God for the experience.

Resources

Use an App e.g. Centering Prayer to support and enhance your prayer experience

Borrow the Singing Bowl kit from BCE 'The Library'