RevGals Friday Five Meme: Spiritual Disciplines Edition

Mary Beth, over at RevGals offers this Friday Five Meme:

For today's Friday Five, please share with us five spiritual practices or disciplines from your experience. They can be ones that you have tried and kept up with, tried and NOT kept up with, ones that you flirt with at various times, or even practices that you have tried and found are definitely NOT your cup of tea. Let us know what's worked for you...and not.

1. Silent prayer/meditation: My primary spiritual discipline, one I have practiced since I was 19 years old (so, uhm, 35 years, give or take a few years when I gave it up because I didn't think it helped me - only to find out it does help me feel focused, grounded, and clear-headed.)

2. Walking: When I am preparing a sermon or need to think something through in a deeper way I take a walk. Often I walk my dogs. My most favorite was walking my dogs at a big dog park in Chicago that had woods, fields, and a pond. My spiritual director used to comment on the section of Tobit 6.2:and the dog came out with him and went along with them. So they both journeyed along.

3. Yoga: I have practiced yoga for twenty five years. Sometimes my yoga practice is regular and consistent, and other times I set it aside for a year or so. Eventually I return to it and find it a wonderful way to stretch and strengthen as well as relax the tension I hold in my body. My spirituality is centered on holistic care of mind, body, and spirit. Prayer/meditation, reflecting on scripture, being attentive to the concerns of the world around me, and yoga help me with this.

4. Reflecting on scripture: reading in general is something I like to do and because what I read feeds my soul, reading is a spiritual discipline. But more specifically reflecting on scripture and preparing a sermon for Sunday morning is one a spiritual discipline that continues to open me up to the power of the Word to transform me.

5. Knitting Sometimes my knitting is a form of prayer - I pray while I knit. So far I have not made prayer shawls, but I have knit scarves/stoles for a mom whose son had brain cancer. My thought was that she could carry/wear the prayers with her to appointments and the hospital and whenever she needed to feel held in prayer. The scarf is made in a loose stitch with ribbon and a mixed texture yarn in her purple, her favorite color. She can wear it with her everyday clothes. And I knit prayer socks for the son who was struggling with chemo-related narapathy in his feet.

Comments

Crimson Rambler said…
oh Terri, thank you, especially for Tobias's dog! who never DOES anything but just "goes along with them."

Do you know the della Robbia rendering of the group? The dog is quite wonderful!

Thank you for this, this morning!
Robin said…
Love this, especially the dog.

I forgot to add walking to my list, which I am about to do right now. Sadly, my dog is now too old for anything beyond maybe half a mile.
Mary Beth said…
love Tobit's dog. I maintain that my dogs are hugely important spiritual companions. The one ONLY asks to sit on my lap when I am praying. Hmm!

thanks for mentioning knitting, also. Great!
You write about these regularly...they have become a part of your body, mind, and spirit. What would you recommend for a beginner in yoga? (dvd or book since nothing is offered here)
Jan said…
I really like how you included your LIFE!! Thanks for opening my mind and heart. BTW, I love your new profile picture.
Terri said…
purple, Gaiam makes some beginner level yoga DVD's - one I like is AM and PM Yoga with Rodney Yee and Patricia Walden. Both the AM and PM practices are about twenty minutes long and include a short meditation. There is also a meditation yoga DVD that Rodney Yee offers, but because the meditation is set to music and I prefer silence I don't use it often. Another Gaiam yoga DVD, which is slightly more advanced, and is a 60 minute practice is Yoga Conditioning for Women by Suzanne Deason.

Also getting a simple book that talks about the purpose of yoga practice and poses will help you understand the blending of movement and breath, of stretching and holding poses, of stregthening and releasing...
angela said…
I like Suzanne Deason's balance ball wrkout as it has a lot of yoga in it. I'll look for the AM and PM too.

Love what you have to say about walking and knitting. It just calms me...though I often knit prayers for a person I'm knitting for into it like...um...spells. Oh, dear you have some special hug knitting and how important that is that the son and mom can feel you with them as they walk that journey as Christ around them. So important.
RevDrKate said…
Ah yes, the yoga that comes and goes. I'm still awaiting the rebirth of practice, or desire perhaps! But yes when it it is alive and well, there is nothing like it! Loved all your answers.
Sandy said…
I have been wanting to explore yoga, thanks for the encouragement! Maybe one day my knitting will improve to the point that I can use it as a form of prayer (rather than simply thinking about what I'm doing!)

Popular posts from this blog

The Bleeding-heart: a poem by Mary Oliver

A Funeral Sermon: Healed by Love

Luke: A Mary Oliver Poem