The Prayer Thread is a collection of teachings and practical prompts to help as we learn to pray in community. This text was originally delivered on June 12, 2024 as a short teaching at our online weekly prayer sit.
When I first began to seriously sit in quiet prayer, I am sure that at least a year passed before my physical body could rest in the stillness of the sit. Day after day—especially in that first year, but even now, ongoing—my body simply cannot rest. It is as if I have forgotten how to be at ease in myself. My knees hurt, so I adjust my legs. My back hurts, so I straighten up in one moment and soften in another. My neck aches, so I look up or down, to the left or to the right. My shoulders feel tight, so I adjust my hand position. So much attention and energy goes into adjusting!
I could easily confuse “getting it right” or “feeling perfect” as the purpose of my prayer. However, over time, I have come to recognize that the energy and attention that I put into adjusting is not about the doing or the perfecting. Rather, the adjusting is part of the prayer, in service to the work it takes to remember resting, to be at ease within myself and the others around me—inclusive of, when I surrender deeply to the rest, the entire cosmos!
To practice prayer as the memory of resting reminds me of the ease with which Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden. Surely I am not the first to have forgotten! Whenever we practice prayer as rest, may we remember the ease of deep interconnection!
