Meditation Workshop

Meditation Workshop - 1/18/2025 - OKC Conference

“Perhaps the real trouble was our almost total inability to point imagination toward the right objectives. There’s nothing the matter with constructive imagination; all sound achievement rests upon it. After all, no man can build a house until he first envisions a plan for it. Well, meditation is like that, too; it helps to envision our spiritual objective before we try to move toward it.”

- Bill Wilson, 12 & 12, Pg. 101

Attention meditation - Daily Reflection... How to read spiritual books.

• Choose a page from a daily reader you wish to use

• Become quiet and composed

• Carefully read the page several times, phrase by phrase, endeavoring to realize the meaning of the words.

• Wait for a line to go “ping” and strike a chord within as being of relevance to yourself, your life or a particular situation.

• Memorize the line and repeat it over and over, entering as deeply as possible into the meaning and application into your life.

• Return to this each time you get distracted.

• Continue to meditate on the words and meaning until you feel a sense of realization

Awareness Meditation - Breath Meditation

“[Meditation is] bringing your awareness to anything but your thoughts.” - David Lynch

• Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and bring your attention to your natural breath.

• Focus on the sensation of air entering and leaving the tip of your nose. Feel the coolness of the inbreath and the warmth of the outbreath.

• Bring your awareness to the subtle pause between breaths—a quiet, still moment where one breath ends and another begins. Rest your awareness in this gap.

• Let your attention be fully absorbed by the rhythm of your breath and the stillness at its transitions

• If your mind wanders, gently return to the breath. This practice cultivates presence and peace.

Eckhart Tolle suggests becoming aware of the unconscious gap at the tip of your nose between your inbreath and outbreath.

Intention meditation - Centering Prayer Meditation - Silence.

“Silence is Gods first language; everything else is a poor translation.” - Thomas Keating

• Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to the Higher Powers presence and action within.

• Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to Higher Powers presence and action within.

• When engaged with your thoughts*, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word. *thoughts include body sensations, feelings, images, and reflections

• At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.

The sacred word is sacred not because of its inherent meaning, but because of the meaning we give it as the expression of our intention and consent. Examples: Love, Let Go, Serenity, Peace, Silence, Faith, Trust, etc.

“Sitting comfortably” means relatively comfortably so as not to encourage sleep during the time of prayer. By “returning ever-so-gently to the sacred word” a minimum of effort is indicated. This is the only activity we initiate during the time of Centering Prayer.

A PRAYER BEFORE SILENT PRAYER (Meditation)

Divine and Hidden Friend,

I often feel that I fail at prayer, but I rejoice that your Spirit prays ceaselessly in the cellar of my heart. Grant me the grace to sit still. That I may hear the Spirit's silent song, ever flowing like a river deep within, singing my love for you. Quiet my restless heart. Calm my roving, runaway mind. As now, in communion with all the earth and her many children, enter into the song of love. The prayer of stillness.

Amen.

20 Minutes SILENT MEDITATION.

My time of prayer is finished, trailing its ashes like an incense stick burned to

the end. Quiet my mind before it passes judgment on this prayer, my gift of time to you.

How can l judge its worth, this struggle to still my mind in you, my efforts to feel your presence in my prayer? Only you can judge the simple song of love sung in the noisy chambers of my heart, often drowned by the wail of fear or the sweaty shouts of work that must be done. You my hidden Friend, waited in patience as memories called from the past and future prospects clamored for attention, filling my mind with yesterdays and tomorrows, stealing my sense of your presence. As I prepare to go about my work today, may my intention to live in your present moment be the pattern for this day and my life. With your help, may I forever do only one thing at a time, always in communion with you my Beloved, with all my heart and mind and soul.

Amen.