By Benedicte Vibe Christensen In June 2018 Pat Johnston, the interim administrator of Contemplative Outreach, asked me to mentor Brother Columba, a young monk (then 26) in a monastery in […]
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“Deliberately dismantle the emotional programming of the false self”
by Cherry Haisten member of Welcoming Prayer service team At the end of early editions of Open Mind, Open Heart appears a list Thomas Keating calls “Means of Extending the […]
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Dealing with the Unloading of Trauma and Grief
Q: Over the last few months I’ve been experiencing a lot of deep grief during Centering Prayer periods followed by understandings outside of prayer into trauma that occurred when […]
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Practicing from a sacred space within
Q: Prior to discovering Centering Prayer I practiced meditation using a mantra. Somewhere along the way I found myself inside a space like the cleft of a rock, which I […]
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Sounds of Nature and Centering Prayer
Q: There is a small creek in our backyard and I enjoy practicing Centering Prayer while sitting on the back porch or opening a window so I can hear […]
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“The Greatest Experience of God is No Experience”
Q: I heard you share this quote: “The greatest experience of God is no experience of God” (Thomas Keating). This saying has me very confused. My life has been filled […]
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The Cross of Uncle Raymond
by Tom Agness Rochester, New York, USA I have never liked crucifixes. For years, the emphasis on the bloody death of Jesus Christ, his anguished face, without the corresponding […]
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Using the Sacred Glance in Centering Prayer
Q: Can someone explain using the sacred glance in Centering Prayer, instead of the sacred word? A:Â The sacred glance in Centering Prayer is a beautiful symbol of our consent […]
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Body Sensations and Unloading
Q: I haven’t been a practitioner of Centering Prayer very long; or rather, I haven’t been as disciplined as I sometimes desire. However, I want to ask about my body’s […]
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Transitioning from Mindfulness to Centering Prayer
Q:Â I’ve been practicing mindfulness for many years. A carryover from this practice is the tendency for a beautiful pulsating image to manifest in the area between my eyebrows a […]
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