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4. STILLNESS: The essential spiritual practice of simply being still gives us a point to become aware of the movement, the flow, the dance. We become still and appreciate movement. Life is impossible without movement. But in stillness we learn how to move better, how to respect the whole creation more fully, even how to control movement for useful purposes. Of course our control is always quite limited and elusive. We think we have things under control only to find out that nothing is going as planned. That's OK! God has everything under control and that's all that matters. God is mysterious, elusive and holy. We are intimately, intricately and infinitely connected to God and everything God has created and is creating. It's wonderful. It's real. Stillness is the first of the 12 practices at www.abundancetrek.com. In addition to my thoughts, you will find resources I have found extremely helpful in developing this essential practice, the practice which opens the gate to more and more abundance, joy, wisdom, beauty, love, truth, peace, justice and freedom. LET'S GO! Joseph Naft offers wonderful wisdom on the practice of stillness. LET'S GO!. Joseph Naft's Inner Frontier website is one of the best "places" on the internet for developing a powerful spiritual practice. LET'S GO! Breathe deeply. Breathe fully. Breathe! Breathe deeply! Breathe fully! We need to become completely aware of this life force within us. We need to be constantly grateful that we live, that we breathe, that we can enjoy the abundance of creation breath after breath after breath. Yoga is a very powerful way to practice stillness. Doing Yoga, we learn to move our bodies in a rhythm connected to our breathing which promotes stillness. This is taught wisely and gently by the well known Yoga teacher, Erich Schiffman. In a great video -- Ali MacGraw - Yoga Mind & Body (2003) -- he guides us through the basic Yoga positions. In conjunction with this video, he wrote a book, Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness, which is illuminating, inspirational and comprehensive. You can find this book in print. You can begin reading right now. Click right here for the free, somewhat condensed, internet edition. I love the chapter on Stillness. LET'S GO! Yoga
isn’t for everyone. There are other ways to enter the wonderful realm of
stillness. Meditation isn’t for everyone but most of us can benefit immensely if we find a way to establish some kind of mediation practice. If you want to begin this practice, I would suggest simply sitting in a relaxed and upright position, breathing deeply and fully, perhaps focusing on an object visually or listening to music or chants or your own sacred word or mantra. There are many methods. Explore on your own and see if one works for you. Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina are spiritual practices which have been very important to me in recent years. So, there is a special place for exploration of these practices. You may want to skip ahead and explore the Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina "place." I like to use the Mindfulness Bell to remind me to be awake, aware, connected at this time, at all times, all the time. If you open this in a new window (usually found with a right click on the mouse), you can set the bell or bells to ring at intervals of your choice as you do other things on your computer. I like to use the big bell as my ending bell for a time of centering. LET'S GO! Here
are some of my favorite books on Meditation or Centering:
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