RHW Podcast Episode 14 – Reaching Hurting Women Ministries

Hi Friends! Welcome to Episode 14 of the Reaching Hurting Women Podcast: A Contemplative Path of Recovery. Here we are learning new ways of coping with our daily struggles. My name is Tamara and I will be your host. Today we are talking about: Contemplative Practices

As I stated in the introduction here at Reaching Hurting Women we are taking a Contemplative Path to Recovery. By that I mean we are using contemplative spiritual practices to help us cope with the challenges of not only addiction recovery but also the challenges that come with every day life in general.

What are contemplative spiritual practices? Well they are ways where we can be intentional and deliberate about matters of the soul. They are tools that help us become more aware of God’s presence in our normal life; they inject the sacred into activities that might otherwise be ordinary. By applying contemplative spirituality we can take anything we might be doing: like cleaning house or gardening for instance, and turn them into a sacred spiritual experience.

Contemplative prayer is at the heart of the spiritual practices where we open ourselves to the mystery of Jesus Christ. What we are talking about is taking the essence of contemplative prayer and applying it to other activities so that we are keeping God’s presence at the center of whatever we are doing.

Now let’s talk about the different categories of contemplative practices and the various activities included in them. I have Eight Categories of Contemplative Practices and the different activities in each of the categories. I’m not going to go into detail about most of them, because we will be learning more about many of them in the months to come. But this will give you a nice overview of contemplative practices. As I list them off, be thinking about how you can apply these activities and practices to help you cope with your daily struggles. Let’s get started…

Stillness Practices: Connecting with God in quiet reflection.

Silence
Centering Prayer
Meditation
The Jesus Prayer
Lectio-Divina
The Daily Examen
Breath Prayers
Journaling

Movement Practices: Connecting with God through your body in motion.

Walking Meditation
Yoga
Tai Chi
Dance
Sports
Labyrinth walking
Pilgrimage

Creative Practices: Connecting with God through creative expression.

Painting
Writing
Gardening
Sewing/Knitting
Sculpting
Music/Singing/Chanting
Cooking
Calligraphy

Relational Practices: Connecting with God by being present with others.

Worship
Visiting
Listening
Communion
Conversations
Telling Stories
Volunteering

Learning Practices: Connecting with God through intellectual exploration and discovery.

Reading the Bible
Studying Christian Doctrine
Studying Christian Church History
Reading inspiring books
Having Theological Conversation

Influencing Practices: Connecting with God as an agent for change.

Voting
Attending a protest
Coaching
Teaching
Leading a team
Writing a letter

Serving Practices: Connecting with God by sharing your gifts and resources.

Feeding the hungry
Giving blood
Serving your neighbor
Giving / Pledging Money

Ritual Practices: Connecting with God through ceremonial, cultural, religious traditions.

Sabbath
Sabbatical
Retreats
Liturgy of the Hours
Creating a Sacred space
Building an altar
Pilgrimage

This list is designed to help you get started with your own contemplative practices. Remember, our goals are to connect with God in the midst of our activities. That means anything we do can become a contemplative practice if we have God at the center.

Quickly, let’s talk about some of the benefits of contemplative practices.