Centering Prayer: 5 in the Morning

Start your year by centering your day in quiet prayer. Beginning our mornings with intention and peace through the practice of Centering Prayer is life-changing. Will you pause and practice being quiet for 5 minutes with God today? 

Whether you are new to meditation or seasoned, find your rhythm as Whitney guides you in developing a meditative practice to ground yourself. Follow these practical steps to cultivate stillness and make space for a personal connection with God in your daily life.

Use this practice daily and notice how it shifts your mornings. 

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

Hi, this is Whitney, and you're listening to Exploring Peace Meditations. As I record this, it's the start of a new year, and we often set intentions or have longings in our heart for ways in which we would like for our lives to be different, would like for our lives to be different. One of my longings this year is to be more intentional in quiet mornings, and so I've heard from quite a few of you that you'd like a little help in this. This opportunity for Centering Prayer is designed to be non-intimidating and to help you be accountable to begin your day in peace. So listen once, listen repeatedly, but I'd be honored for you to join me as we explore the gift of God's peace.

Speaker 1 1:02

Take a moment to settle into your seat. Take a moment to settle into your seat or, if your body likes, to take a shape or posture on your yoga mat. Find that shape, a shape of stillness that you can be in for about five minutes of quiet. This is an opportunity to ground yourself in God's love and peace and presence, and let God guide your heart and your mind for the day ahead. Allow your eyes to soften, take a nice full inhalation through your nose and slowly and gently release it out of your mouth. Now again, breathe in deeply, inviting God's peace and presence into your being. Now breathe it out slowly. Now breathe it out slowly. Allow your breath to find its natural rhythm.

Speaker 1 2:17

Is there a word or phrase that feels sacred and grounding and holy to you? I often use the word peace. You could use my word or find your own Shalom Light, yahweh. Breathe, take a moment and allow a simple, sacred word to rise up. Let it come to your mind. Let this be your word today and then, quietly in your heart, we'll hold that word as we prepare to enter the silence. Let the word be your companion when your mind wanders. Offer the word, repeat it silently as many times as you need to. Creator God, thank you for this new day, thank you for this morning. Be with us. No-transcript. Thank you.

Speaker 1 8:29

I'm going to take a deep breath, take a breath in on purpose, a little more full, and a long breath out on purpose, a little more full, and a long breath out on purpose, a little more lengthened. Thank you, god, for this prayer time, for this quiet time, for this opportunity to start our day with you. In your holy name, we pray Amen. Thank you for exploring the gift of God's peace with me. I hope you'll take another five minutes tomorrow to simply be quiet. Whether we do it together or alone, we are together in community. You can find out more about the community that supports this podcast at exploringpeacecom slash community. We'll have a live yoga and meditation session coming up later this month and I'd love to meet you there. If you'd like to find my books, you can find those at WhitneyRSimpsoncom. Until next time, may God's peace be with you.