I have been practicing some form of meditation since 1999, my first year as an undergraduate at UNC-Chapel Hill. I read a book on Taoist meditation techniques and started sitting. I then I about Zen and started sitting zazen. My meditation practice was off and on until 2008, when I entered a Methodist seminary in Durham, NC. I began to be interested in contemplative practices within the Christian church and sought out a mentor for Centering Prayer and started a centering prayer group along with new friends at seminary. I would say that my love for contemplatives started initially when I discovered Taoist sages, Zen monks, Hindu ascetics, and later early Church Fathers and Mothers.
I was drawn to the writings of Thomas Merton and encountered Trappist Monks when I was in seminary during a spiritual retreat. I used to visit Mepkin Abbey (http://mepkinabbey.org/wordpress/) on a more regular basis, and spent a month there as a Monastic Guest while in seminary. My last year in seminary, I became Catholic. I tell people that I came into the Catholic Church through the back door, being pulled by the contemplatives of the monastic tradition.
Currently, I am a member of the Religious Society of Friends. In the eyes of the Catholic Church, I remain Catholic, and only a confession away to be an upstanding member.
My prayer life consists of daily starting my day with intercessory prayer and silence. I have set prayers I have memorized, and I go through them to open my heart and mind to the will of a God of my understanding. I prefer the Quaker term of Divine Presence. I then sit in silence about 20 minutes, and sometimes invoking the sacred word as taught by Fr. Keating in practicing centering prayer if I get distracted. I intersperse my prayer life with zazen, more specifically a sitting practice called shikantaza, which roughly translates to just sitting. I became more disciplined in my sitting while I was in seminary, and often sat with the Buddhist student group.
As a father of a 4 months old daughter, I've had to be little more flexible with my prayer life and meditation practice. When I awake in the morning, I am often waking up to my daughter getting up to start her day. I usually change her diaper, read to her, play with her and sing to her about an hour before she takes her first nap of the day. I pray and meditate while holding her. I am sitting on a couch rather than on a meditation cushion. My sitting on a zafu has been irregular, but I still try to just sit when I hold my daughter on my couch.
My night time prayer has been also more fluid and flexible. I rarely sit on the cushion, but I try to pray and do some deep breathing as I lay in our bed. I try to open myself to my body sensations, to my own breath and the breathing of my daughter and wife.
I will try to return to a more disciplined meditation practice, especially with the sitting posture on the zafu once my daughter sleeps through the night [keep your figures crossed :)].
I was drawn to the writings of Thomas Merton and encountered Trappist Monks when I was in seminary during a spiritual retreat. I used to visit Mepkin Abbey (http://mepkinabbey.org/wordpress/) on a more regular basis, and spent a month there as a Monastic Guest while in seminary. My last year in seminary, I became Catholic. I tell people that I came into the Catholic Church through the back door, being pulled by the contemplatives of the monastic tradition.
Currently, I am a member of the Religious Society of Friends. In the eyes of the Catholic Church, I remain Catholic, and only a confession away to be an upstanding member.
My prayer life consists of daily starting my day with intercessory prayer and silence. I have set prayers I have memorized, and I go through them to open my heart and mind to the will of a God of my understanding. I prefer the Quaker term of Divine Presence. I then sit in silence about 20 minutes, and sometimes invoking the sacred word as taught by Fr. Keating in practicing centering prayer if I get distracted. I intersperse my prayer life with zazen, more specifically a sitting practice called shikantaza, which roughly translates to just sitting. I became more disciplined in my sitting while I was in seminary, and often sat with the Buddhist student group.
As a father of a 4 months old daughter, I've had to be little more flexible with my prayer life and meditation practice. When I awake in the morning, I am often waking up to my daughter getting up to start her day. I usually change her diaper, read to her, play with her and sing to her about an hour before she takes her first nap of the day. I pray and meditate while holding her. I am sitting on a couch rather than on a meditation cushion. My sitting on a zafu has been irregular, but I still try to just sit when I hold my daughter on my couch.
My night time prayer has been also more fluid and flexible. I rarely sit on the cushion, but I try to pray and do some deep breathing as I lay in our bed. I try to open myself to my body sensations, to my own breath and the breathing of my daughter and wife.
I will try to return to a more disciplined meditation practice, especially with the sitting posture on the zafu once my daughter sleeps through the night [keep your figures crossed :)].
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