Body scan meditation allows you the opportunity to connect with yourself in the present moment through awareness of your body—to stop and listen to what your body is communicating to you. God made us as physical beings, not just mental and emotional beings. We can assume that this was intentional—that there is value in paying attention to this part of God’s creation that is the body. Your body, along with the rest of you, reflects God’s image (Gen. 1:27) and is a “temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19). You look like God and God lives within you. If you want to experience God, experiencing your body is an excellent place to begin.
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Sitting practice almost invariably brings attention to the breath--the physical sensations of the in-breath and the out-breath. The breath is a powerful anchor for the attention and can serve as an intimate metaphor for God's presence in the moment. With each breath, we are reminded that our moment-to-moment existence rests entirely in God's hands--that each moment of our life is a gift, not of our own making. We have no control over whether the next breath will come. Each breath also can remind us of the creation Breath that God breathed into dust..."In the beginning"... to give us life. This Breath of the Holy Spirit continues to breath in us and transform us. When we experience the breath, we have the opportunity to remember that God is present, that God's Spirit dwells in us, that we receive each moment as a gift from Him.
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Lovingkindness is a form of meditation that can be practiced as prayer for self and others--a discipline of wishing well. This meditation is most typically a repetition of four different phrases (or variations thereof): "May I/you be safe. May I/you be happy. May I/you be healthy. May I/you live with ease." These phrases, or prayers, are typically lifted for oneself, for a loved one, for an acquaintance, for a difficult person, and for the entire world.
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While meditation is most typically practiced in stillness, bringing mindfulness into movement is also powerful in honing present-moment awareness. This is often practiced through yoga, a word in the Sanskrit language that means union or yoke. Mindful yoga brings union to body, mind, and spirit by cultivating awareness of experience in the moment. We can use the practice of yoga to notice the body in new ways, to notice how the mind interacts with the body, and to notice God's gifts to us through physical movement. We can also use mindful yoga as a practice of caring for our bodies, nurturing the temple within which God's presence dwells. In doing this, we open our entire selves up to God's love and care. We offer our bodies and our hearts to God as a way of seeking the union with Him to which we are called (John 15:4), a way of tending to weariness and receiving instead his light yoke (Matthew 11:28-30).
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