A Basic Practice

In the first post of this series I said that meditation serves the powwower by helping them to get out of the way, so that God can work across an uncluttered bridge. In the second, I drew a map of the ways Christians have sat with God, and suggested trying one corner of it for a week. This post is for anyone who read those and thought, “all right, but what do I actually do?” What follows is a basic practice. It is sitting, the breath, something to return to, and a way to end.

A time and a place

Ideally, you’ll want to keep a specific time period for meditation. A set time makes the habit easier to develop. There’s no bad time to meditate, but there are bad conditions. You usually don’t want to be exhausted, and you want a clear head, but times near waking up and going to bed are ideal for many: before the day has a hold on you, and after it has let you go. Kelpius is realistic about it. He grants that a set hour isn’t always possible, “but we must however take some Time daily to perform this Prayer.” If you can meditate in the morning and the evening, that’s great too.

Start short. Five consistent minutes done every day will serve you far better than half an hour done when you “feel like it.” You can lengthen it later. When five minutes seems too quick, add a minute. When that seems too quick, or you feel you’re ready, add another minute. Keep going until you’re meditating for ten minutes, then start adding five minutes at a time. A final time of twenty minutes is plenty for a daily practice.

As for the place, you need very little. Powwow is a plain tradition, and sitting can be as plain as the work: a quiet room, a chair, perhaps your Bible within reach. You don’t need an altar, a cushion, or anything to buy. You can sit facing a cross, a candle, an open Bible, a window, or nothing at all. Make the space fit your comfort and personality. This is a retreat from the world into the bosom of God.

The seat

Use an ordinary chair with a firm seat. Sit a little forward in the chair, so your back holds itself up straight and you’re not leaning. Put both feet flat on the floor, roughly parallel to each other if that’s comfortable. Let your hands rest on your thighs, palms down, or together lightly in your lap. Let the spine be straight, but not stiff, with the head balanced on your neck, chin dropped just slightly. What you’re after is a position that you can forget about. If you keep shifting and adjusting, something in the seat is wrong, so fix it once and then leave it alone.

Close your eyes, or leave them half-open with your gaze resting on the floor a few feet ahead of you. Either is fine. Some people find closed eyes make it too easy to fall asleep, and some find open eyes invite distraction. Try both and keep what works.

The breath and the anchor

Take three slow, deep breaths through the nose, letting your shoulders drop a little on each out-breath. Then stop managing the breath and let it go back to its own pace. I’ll say a good deal more about the breath in the next post. For now, it’s enough to let it settle you and then leave it alone.

Next, take up one thing to return to. I’d suggest one of two.

The Lord’s Prayer, said slowly. Say it inwardly, one phrase at a time, and let each phrase have room before the next. “Our Father.” A pause. “Who art in heaven.” A pause. You aren’t trying to get through it. If a phrase holds you, stay with it. Kelpius, as I quoted last time, says every petition of this prayer “contains so much, that one may perform a good long ardent Contemplation on it.” Sometimes you’ll get through it once or twice, and sometimes you won’t get past “Thy will be done.” Both are fine.

The Holy Name. Choose one short word, “Jesus” or “Lord,” and let it rest in the heart, said inwardly and unhurriedly. This is close to the Jesus Prayer and to the “little word” of The Cloud of Unknowing that I described in the last post, though the Cloud wants a word of one syllable, which “Lord” is and “Jesus” isn’t. The word is a prayer of its own, a way of turning toward God and saying here I am each time you say it.

Whichever you choose, stick with it for a while.

When the mind wanders

It will! Within a minute you’ll find yourself thinking about work, or what to make for dinner, or whether you’re doing this right, or how great it’s going. Minds do that, and noticing it is where the practice begins.

When you notice you’ve drifted, come back to your anchor. Don’t scold yourself, and don’t stop to examine where you went. Just return, gently, to the phrase you were on or to the Name. If you have to return fifty times in five minutes, then you’ve practiced returning fifty times.

This is where sitting connects to the work. In the first post I said that most of what meditation does for the powwower is subtraction: setting yourself down, again and again, so that when someone is in the chair you already know how. Every return is one small act of setting yourself down, so a sitting full of wandering and returning may be the most useful kind.

Some days will be dry. Nothing settles, and the whole time feels scattered. Kelpius knew those days well and answers the complaint directly:

On those days he gives two remedies. You can stir up the will, lifting the mind to “Love, Confidence, Resignation, and turning inwardly.” Or you can remain “quite resigned to God,” performing what he calls “a Prayer of Patience,” and let the comfort be delayed. Showing up is the faithful part. The rest is God’s.

Closing

Don’t jump up when the time is done. Let the anchor go and sit a moment in silence. Then close with a few words that hand the time back to God. Make the sign of the cross if that is your habit. Open your eyes, take one more breath, and notice the room around you before you stand.

Afterward, if you keep a notebook, write a line saying what you prayed and whether you came away more settled. Over weeks, that record will show you more than any single sitting can.

Where to begin, today

Choose a time today and sit for five minutes. Don’t judge any one sitting. Judge the week. What you’re looking for is the same fruit I named last time: a little more awake, a little more at peace, and a little more ready to get out of the way.

May God bless the work of your hands, and the work of your mind.

✠ ✠ ✠
Arthur

Sources

• Johannes Kelpius (attr.), A Short, Easy, and Comprehensive Method of Prayer (Philadelphia, 1761); modern edition: Kirby Don Richards, A Method of Prayer: A Mystical Pamphlet from Colonial America.
• The Cloud of Unknowing (14th century), trans. Carmen Acevedo Butcher (Shambhala, 2009), ch. 7.