Coming home : a guide to teaching christian meditation to children.
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Even the smallest of children can learn to be still. Being still is very different from being quiet. It is in their stillness that God can speak to their hearts.’
Most Rev Michael Putney, former Bishop of Townsville
‘No one doubts that children can pray. Children can be present in the here and now with extraordinary intensity and naturalness. The Townsville experience shows that children can go much further than ‘guided meditation’ can take them.’
Laurence Freeman, OSB
The Bible verse, ‘Be still and know that I am God’, is the great challenge of our modern, busy, fast paced world. It is a great challenge to us as adults, but also to those of us responsible for teaching children. Like adults, children yearn for the experience of meeting God. In these pages, Ernie Christie shows us how meditation can help children in that search for God and in finding a sense of their own personal wholeness.
Based on the tradition of meditation taught by the late Benedictine monk John Main OSB and practised by The World Community for Christian Meditation, this book is a complete introduction to helping children meditate in the classroom and in daily life. It will inspire and encourage anyone serious about helping children to grow to their full potential.
This book is result of a pilot project by the Catholic Education Office of the Diocese of Townsville, Australia, who implemented a Diocesan wide programme to teach meditation to children from preschool to year twelve. This book offers teachers the certainty that children can and like to meditate.
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The Dark Night of the Soul
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Now in paperback: a distinguished psychiatrist, spiritual counsellor and bestselling author shows how the dark sides of the spiritual life are a vital ingredient in deep, authentic, healthy spirituality. Gerald G. May, MD, one of the great spiritual teachers and writers of our time, argues that the dark 'shadow' side of the true spiritual life has been trivialised and neglected to our serious detriment. Superficial and naively upbeat spirituality does not heal and enrich the soul. Nor does the other tendency to relegate deep spiritual growth to only mystics and saints. Only the honest, sometimes difficult encounters with what Christian spirituality has called and described in helpful detail as 'the dark night of the soul' can lead to true spiritual wholeness. May emphasises that the dark night is not necessarily a time of suffering and near despair, but a time of deep transition, a search for new orientation when things are clouded and full of mystery. The dark gives depth, dimension and fullness to the spiritual life.
The Dwelling of the Light Praying with Icons of Christ
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To look at an icon of Christ is to do far more than view an image of human life lived long ago. As Christians in the Orthodox tradition have understood for nearly 1500 years, it is to brought into the presence of the one who radiates the light and force of God. Such an encounter cannot leave us unchanged.
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Emotional Healing and Self-esteem
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How can parents and teachers support children in their personal development? How can child care providers help kids find self-esteem, poise and inner peace? How can children learn to let go of stress and agitation? This book presents a range of personal development exercises for children and adolescents that introduce the skills of relaxation, visualization, and meditation. The exercises are clear and accessible and help elementary and junioror high-school students understand their inner world. Teachers, counselors, child care workers and parents will all discover new methods for teaching relaxation and quiet inner focus, movement meditations, and exercises that develop self-esteem. Students will gain newfound creativity, a language to articulate their feelings, and skills for attaining a calm and balanced outlook. Step-by-step guidelines are provided on planning, presenting and integrating inner-life skills programs into group work. Family and group communication games are also included.
The Impact of God
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St John of the Cross testifies to a God who longs to meet us in our deepest need. Whilst rejection and imprisonment played their part in the life of this sixteenth-century Spanish friar, John's poetry and prose reveal the beauty and power of a wondrous God. It gives us courage to believe in the possibility of change in our own lives, however unlikely or impossible this may seem. Father Iain Matthew uses this classic inspirational Christian writing as his starting point, and offers five interpretations which make its richness relevant to the modern reader.
Intimacy with God
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A book on prayer by the monk who founded the Centering Prayer movement.
Invitation to Love 20th Anniversary Edition
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Invitation to Love provides a road map for the journey that begins when Centering Prayer is seriously undertaken. Pointing to some of the recognizable landmarks on this journey, as well as to its ultimate destination, Father Keating addresses common questions regarding contemplative practice: How will it affect my life? Where does it lead us spiritually? What obstacles will I encounter along the way? How does it work? Following on from Open Mind, Open Heart, this book establishes a dialogue between the insights of contemporary psychology and the classic Christian spiritual masters, providing a solid conceptual background for the practice of Centering Prayer. This is a practical book, articulating the stages of the process of spiritual growth, and outlining how we might develop a deeper relationship with God and move from contemplation to action.
Invitation to Solitude and Silence
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Winner of a Christianity Today Book Award! Much of our faith and practice is about words?preaching, teaching, talking with others. Yet all of these words are not enough to take us into the real presence of God where we can hear his voice. This book is an invitation to you to meet God deeply and fully outside the demands and noise of daily life. It is an invitation to solitude and silence. The beauty of a true invitation is that we really do have a choice about embarking on this adventure. God extends the invitation, but he honors our freedom and will not push himself where he is not wanted. Instead, he waits for us to respond from the depths of our desire. Will you say yes? This expanded edition includes a guide for groups to use both in discussing the book content and in learning to practice silence together.
Jesus, the Mantra of God
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Jesus, Mantra of God explores the practice of the mantra in prayer. It comes out of the style of meditative prayer initiated by John Main and continued by his disciple Dom Laurence Freeman, OSB and the World Community for Christian Meditation. At the heart of this prayer is the Indian concept of mantra - focus upon a word or phrase of spiritual significance. The mantra, says John Dupuche, 'is like a key to unlock the storeroom from which the disciple of the kingdom brings forth things both new and old' (Matthew 13:52). The first part of the book enriches the reader's understanding and practice of the mantra, based on faith, and looks at the related aspects of hearing, breathing and the body. With this heightened understanding, the practitioner comes more fully to see the face of Christ, who is the divine Mantra, and so enter into the silence of God. The second part examines the intimate relationship between mantra-meditation and the cycle of the liturgical year. In meditation, one can relive the events of the sacred story or deepen the spiritual impact of the major festivals of the Church's year. A brief appendix deals with visualization, another aspect of contemplative prayer.
Jesus the Teacher Within
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While many people have problems with the church - including most churchgoers - the person of Jesus is an indispensable force in the achievement of any authentic spirituality. The conflict between faith and experience is eased in the rediscovery of the essential unity and simplicity at the heart of Jesus' teachings. Embarking on this journey of rediscovery, this book takes as its starting point a question that Jesus himself asked his disciples, 'Who do you say I am?' For the many Christians who have never taken this question seriously, Laurence Freeman explores this question in the light of some of the big issues of religious understanding:the historical reality of Jesus, the experiential reading of the Scriptures, personal conversion,the inner journey.
The Listening Life
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Christianity Today's 2017 Book of the Year Award - Spiritual FormationLogos Association Bookstore Award, Best Christian Living Book for 2016Bookwi.se's Favorite Books of the Year, Non-Fiction"Be quick to listen, slow to speak." --James 1:19How would our lives change if we approached every experience with the intention of listening first?In this noisy, distracting world, it is difficult to truly hear. People talk past each other, eager to be heard but somehow deaf to what is being said. Listening is an essential skill for healthy relationships, both with God and with other people. But it is more than that: listening is a way of life.Adam McHugh places listening at the heart of our spirituality, our relationships and our mission in the world. God himself is the God who hears, and we too can learn to hear what God may be saying through creation, through Scripture, through people. By cultivating a posture of listening, we become more attentive and engaged with those around us. Listening shapes us and equips us to be more attuned to people in pain and more able to minister to those in distress.Our lives are qualitatively different--indeed, better--when we become listeners. Heed the call to the listening life, and hear what God is doing in you and the world.
Merton and Hesychasm
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This profound work introduces the West to Eastern Christian spirituality through the lens of Thomas Merton, as practiced from the time of the Desert Fathers. Contributors to this volume present the riches of Christian contemplative methods and experience dating back to their original Christian source.
Mindfulness and Christian Spirituality
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The spiritual practice of mindfulness has continued to gain popularity throughout the years. But what exactly does this practice offer to Christians? In Mindfulness and Christian Spirituality, Tim Stead explores how practicing mindfulness can help Christians better live out their faith. Stead explains what mindfulness is and what is beneficial about it. He also reflects on how it can impact what and how we believe and seeks to find how mindfulness enables our Christian faith to work for us. Mindfulness practices that are designed to help readers make space for God in their everyday lives are included.
Mindfulness for Beginners
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We may long for wholeness, suggests Jon Kabat-Zinn, but the truth is that it is already here and already ours. The practice of mindfulness holds the possibility of not just a fleeting sense of contentment, but a true embracing of a deeper unity that envelops and permeates our lives. With Mindfulness for Beginners you are invited to learn how to transform your relationship to the way you think, feel, love, work, and play--and thereby awaken to and embody more completely who you really are. Here, the teacher, scientist, and clinician who first demonstrated the benefits of mindfulness within mainstream Western medicine offers a book that you can use in three unique ways: as a collection of reflections and practices to be opened and explored at random; as an illuminating and engaging start-to-finish read; or as an unfolding "lesson- a-day" primer on mindfulness practice. Beginning and advanced meditators alike will discover in these pages a valuable distillation of the key attitudes and essential practices that Jon Kabat-Zinn has found most useful with his students, including: Why heartfulness is synonymous with true mindfulness The value of coming back to our bodies and to our senses over and over again How our thoughts "self-liberate" when touched by awareness Moving beyond our "story" into direct experience Stabilizing our attention and presence amidst daily activities The three poisons that cause suffering--and their antidotes How mindfulness heals, even after the fact Reclaiming our wholeness, and more The prescription for living a more mindful life seems simple enough: return your awareness again and again to whatever is going on. But if you''ve tried it, you know that here is where all the questions and challenges really begin. Mindfulness for Beginners provides welcome answers, insights, and instruction to help us make that shift, moment by moment, into a more spacious, clear, reliable, and loving connection with ourselves and the world. Includes a complete CD with five guided mindfulness meditations by Jon Kabat-Zinn, selected from the audio program that inspired this book. Contents Part I Entering Beginner''s Mind The Breath Who Is Breathing? The Hardest Work in the World Taking Care of This Moment Mindfulness Is Awareness Doing Mode and Being Mode A Grounding in Science Mindfulness is Universal Wakefulness Stabilizing and Calibrating Your Instrument Inhabiting Awareness Is the Essence of Practice The Beauty of Discipline Adjusting Your Default Setting Awareness: Our Only Capacity Robust Enough to Balance Thinking Attention and Awareness Are Trainable Skills Nothing Wrong with Thinking Befriending Our Thinking Images of Your Mind That Might Be Useful Not Taking Our Thoughts Personally Selfing Our Love Affair with Personal Pronouns--Especially I, Me, and Mine Awareness Is a Big Container The Objects of Attention Are Not as Important as the Attending Itself Part II: Sustaining Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction A World-Wide Phenomenon An Affectionate Attention Mindfulness Brought to All the Senses Proprioception and Interoception The Unity of Awareness The Knowing Is Awareness Life Itself Becomes the Meditation Practice You Already Belong Right Beneath Our Noses Mindfulness is Not Merely a Good Idea To Come Back in Touch Who Am I? Questioning Our Own Narrative You Are More Than Any Narrative You Are Never Not Whole Paying Attention in a Different Way Not Knowing The Prepared Mind What Is Yours to See? Part III: Deepening No Place to Go, Nothing to Do The Doing That Comes Out of Being To Act Appropriately If You Are Aware of What Is Happening, You Are Doing It Right Non-Judging Is an Act of Intelligence and Kindness You Can Only Be Yourself--Thank Goodness! Embodied Knowing Feeling Joy for Others The Full Catastrophe Is My Awareness of Suffering Suffering? What Does Liberation from Suffering Mean? Hell Realms Liberation Is in the Practice Itself The Beauty of the Mind That Knows Itself Taking Care of Your Meditation Practice Energy Conservation in Meditation Practice An Attitude of Non-Harming Greed: The Cascade of Dissatisfactions Aversion: The Flip Side of Greed Delusion and the Trap of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies Now Is Always the Right Time The "Curriculum" is "Just This" Giving Your Life Back to Yourself Bringing Mindfulness Further Into the World Part IV: Ripening The Attitudinal Foundations of Mindfulness Practice Non-Judging Patience Beginner''s Mind Trust Non-Striving Acceptance Letting Go Part V: Practicing Getting Started with Formal Practice Mindfulness of Eating Mindfulness of Breathing Mindfulness of the Body as a Whole Mindfulness of Sounds, Thoughts, and Emotions Mindfulness as Pure Awareness
The New Creation in Christ
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Introduction / Laurence Freeman -- Bede Griffiths rest in peace / Milo Coerper -- The monastic ideal according to John Main -- The extension of the monastic ideal to the laity -- The way of meditation with a mantra -- Mantra meditation in the Eastern tradition -- The future of contemplative life in the church -- Questions and responses -- Writings of Bede Griffith -- Writings of John Main -- The world community for Christian meditation.
Open Mind, Open Heart
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This is the 20th anniversary edition of Continuum's best-selling spiritual classic, which has sold over half a million in the English language and has appeared in 10 foreign-language editions (Croatian, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesia, Italian, Korean, Polish, and Portuguese). The new edition consists of a substantial new preface, an expanded glossary, some changes in terminology, and a reordering of several chapters.
Sacred Reading
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Examines the Western tradition of lectio divina (a spiritual and prayerful approach to reading the sacred texts) in order to help readers expand their spiritual approach to living. Paperback
The spirit of Generation Y : young people's spirituality in a changing Australia
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"The Spirit of Generation Y extends current understanding of young people's inner lives in a rapidly changing world. Targeting a group more often associated with cyberspace than the church pew, it offers an important and innovative reading of the impact of dramatic socio-cultural changes on young people's spiritual lives in late modernity. Drawing on data from a national survey and over one hundred in-depth interviews, The Spirit of Generation Y explores the worldviews and values of those born after 1980, now in their teens and early twenties. It describes in detail the three major types of spirituality found among them: Traditional, New Age and Secular. Despite the prominence in the mass media of alternative spiritualities, this book argues that for the most part, young people are not active spiritual seekers, but instead have a highly individualistic and relativistic approach to life and spirituality, and are hardly familiar with religious traditions. The authors show that spirituality is strongly associated with many other aspects of young people's lives: their sense of meaning, their search for happiness, and particularly their social concern and civic engagement. The study's findings and conclusions are compared with other relevant research and theory, and implications are suggested for understanding and communicating with Generation Y, and for pastoral care and youth ministry, especially in schools."--Publisher.
The spirituality revolution : the emergence of contemporary spirituality
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The spiritual life is no longer a specialist concern, restricted to those who belong to religious traditions. The spirituality revolution is a spontaneous movement in society, a significant new interest in the reality of spirituality and its healing effects on life, health, community and well being.
The Spirituality Revolution: The Emergence of Contemporary Spirituality recognises that we have outgrown the ideals and values of previous times and reveals an image of the spiritual situation of our era. Recent discoveries in physics, biology, psychology and ecology have begun to restore status to previously discredited spiritual visions of reality and this book illustrates the ways in which we might uncover a universal spiritual wisdom that could transform our splintered world. Topics explored include the current state of the Western experience of spirit, our need for spiritual guidance when we cannot turn to organised religion in their traditional forms, and the creative potentials of spirit in education, personal experience, contemporary philosophy and popular feeling for the environment.
The Spirituality Revolution addresses a major social issue which requires immediate attention if we are to creatively respond to spiralling outbreaks of depression, suicide, addiction and psychological suffering. It is a much-needed contribution to the field, of great interest to analytical psychologists, counsellors, educators and social workers, and to all those interested in spirituality and the future of religion.
The Way of Unknowing
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John Main understood that the remedy for the malaise that affects individuals and nations alike was the love of Christ. He taught that when we build our lives on the rock-like foundation of this love, we become rooted in the ultimate reality, and the winds and storms of life, and even death itself, no longer have power over us. In the short chapters of this book, he shows how we can find the way to this foundation and root ourselves in the eternal love that nothing can destroy. The way is simplicity itself, but it is also a way of dispossession. Daily meditation brings us to the place where our lives become wholly immersed in the Spirit of God, but it requires that we come empty handed and prepared to walk the way of unknowing.
What Is Contemplation?
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Why do we think of the gift of contemplation, infused contemplation, mystical prayer, as something essentially strange and esoteric reserved for a small class of almost unnatural beings and prohibited to everyone else? It is perhaps because we have forgotten that contemplation is the work of the Holy Ghost acting on our souls through His gifts of Wisdom and Understanding with special intensity to increase and perfect our love for Him. These gifts are part of the normal equipment of Christian sanctity. They are given to all in Baptism, and if they are given it is presumably because God wants them to be developed. Their development will always remain the free gift of God and it is true that His wise Providence sees fit to develop them less in some saints than in others. But it is also true that God often measures His gifts by our desire to receive them, and by our cooperation with His grace, and the Holy Spirit will not waste any of His gifts on people who have little or no interest in them.
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