Meditation, mindfulness and prayer

In our modern western society, we live in a fast-paced, technologically advanced, and sometimes chaotically changing state, with so many different things demanding our attention all the time. Juggling home life, work, families, education and social media can leave us busy, stressed, worried and sometimes feeling out of control with racing thoughts and pounding hearts.

Christians should not shy away from all practice, but be discerning about that which will be helpful for their mental and spiritual health.

It is no surprise then, that we are advised to slow down and switch off sometimes. We should pay attention to things which are beneficial to our mental health and wellbeing and find ways to find calm, peace and stillness in the frenetic pace of life around us. Various techniques, some of which are spiritual and some which are purely health-focused, are on offer everywhere. Some of these techniques are called meditation and some are called mindfulness. Sometimes these terms are used interchangeably. A regular short period of mindfulness is thought to be generally beneficial to anyone of any age and is often used in schools. See https://mindfulnessinschools.org/

Meditation and mindfulness are often seen to originate primarily from religions such as Buddhism, yet there is a strong Christian tradition for both, which we will look at later on. Therefore, Christians should not shy away from all practice, but be discerning about that which will be helpful for their mental and spiritual health.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness aims in general to allow a person to focus on the immediate moment, rather than worrying about the future or what has been done. That focus might contain a technique for controlling breathing, listening to your body, repeating words or a few sounds, or just becoming more deeply aware of your immediate environment. Often people practising mindfulness are invited to notice stray thoughts and physical sensations and let them pass by before returning to the present moment.

Through practising mindfulness, many people have become less anxious and stressed and feel more peaceful, not least because it is a way of becoming aware of how our thoughts press on us and invite us to worry. By refocusing back on the moment, rather than ruminating about the past or the future, anxieties can be calmed. The charity Mind www.mind.org.uk/ notes that mindfulness practice does help some people with anxiety, but it also notes that it does not work for everyone. Sometimes mindfulness practices and techniques can be offered as a surefire way to feel better about oneself and some people have been confused and disappointed, not least because when they are not meditating, the anxieties and concerns can come flooding back in. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/mindfulness/about-mindfulness/

Meditation

Through practising mindfulness, many people have become less anxious and stressed and feel more peaceful

In addition to techniques called ‘mindfulness’, there are also many techniques for stilling the mind called ‘meditation’. The NHS offers some steps for simple meditation for example https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-wellbeing-tips/how-to-meditate-for-beginners/.

It is sometimes said that there are nine different categories of meditation including:

Mindfulness (as described above)


Focused meditation – using something visual, like a candle flame, to focus on, counting beads or breaths, or listening to a sound.


Mantra meditation – repeating words or sounds as the focus.


Movement meditation – this could be doing something like yoga or tai chi, or simply walking.


Transcendental meditation (TM) – this is the type of meditation many people associate with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the Beatles and is usually taught by a TM teacher.


Visualisation meditation – this is often recommended to people as a way of banishing low self-esteem and negative thoughts, by focusing on positive thoughts and imagination.


Love/Kindness meditation – this focuses on emotions of kindness and compassion towards others and claims to help people let go of anger, resentments, guilts and fears.


Relaxation meditation – this is a technique for tightening and relaxing different muscle groups in the body in order to release tension and feel more peaceful and at ease.


Spiritual meditation – this may include techniques developed in different religions for focusing on spiritual matters or on the divine. Many people use meditation techniques which are associated with Buddhist practice, but there are many variations on these techniques and the way they are taught and administered.

...repeating the Jesus Prayer: ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner’.

There are also many teachers and leaders available on ‘how to’ meditate and many variations on the advice and teaching given. Not all teachers are the same though, and you have to be careful who you choose and it is advisable to check what background and experience they have.

Some concerns about intense and prolonged meditation practice

Just as the charity Mind notes that mindfulness doesn’t help everyone, so there are instances where people have become unwell from using very intense and prolonged forms of meditation. Some meditation teachers and some meditation retreats encourage long periods of silent and profound meditation, which for some people can end up being distressing or actually precipitating mental illness. As an analogy: you might be able to hold your breath for half a minute or so without feeling any ill effects, but if you tried to hold it as long as a free diver, you might do yourself real harm. Not everyone is equipped for rigorous and prolonged mental discipline and things can go wrong. The website www.meditatinginsafety.org.uk gives advice about how to choose a meditation practice sensibly and a leaflet, Practising Meditation in Safety, is available from the Church of England.

Christian Prayer and Meditation

Sometimes, prayer gets added to the list of meditation practices to choose from, and sometimes this is conflated with the rich history of contemplative and prayerful practice that exists in many different faith traditions. But Christian prayer is neither simply mindfulness nor meditation, though it may have elements of both. In general, prayer and meditation in the Christian tradition is not individualistically focussed like mindfulness or some other forms of modern meditation, but is a way of involving body, mind and spirit in a movement towards God. Prayer, then, is God-focussed, rather than person-focussed and while it can indeed bring us into the present moment, stilling our distracted thoughts and calming our anxieties, its purpose is better to know God and bring our needs and the needs of those around us, into the heart of God’s love. Some prayers have a mantra-like feel, such as reciting the prayers of the rosary using its beads, or repeating the Jesus Prayer: ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner’.

When people asked Jesus how to pray, he gave them the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ which speaks of intimate relationship with God; of honouring God in devotion: longing for God’s will to be done; fulfilment of our needs; forgiveness; and protecting from distractions and temptations to evil. This is a deeper and richer path to peace because it locates freedom from our anxieties not in our own mental disciplines, but in God’s love. This article, by former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, sets out well how prayer is both similar and different, and richer and more satisfying, than most of the techniques of today’s meditation and mindfulness practice. http://rowanwilliams.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/2854/archbishop-on-prayer.html

Continued below...

The long history of Christian meditative practice

One of the important things to realise about the difference between modern ‘secular’ forms of meditation and mindfulness and Christian prayer and meditation, is that the latter has evolved out of a very long tradition of seeking God and seeking to do God’s will.

For example, meditation in the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) might involve repeating and remembering the Law of God in order to understand and to follow God’s holy commands:

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.” Psalm 119 v 97.

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it [or murmur it] day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Joshua 1 v 8

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.” Psalm 119 v 97.

In the New Testament, Jesus tells his followers not to make public displays of piety, but “whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” Matthew 6 v 6. Jesus emphasises the importance of making proper time and space to draw close to God and spend time in prayer and contemplation.

The first groups of Christians came together for prayer and worship as is recorded in the later parts of the New Testament, but a tradition of contemplation and meditation grew up especially in the first monastic communities.

For example, in the third century hermit monks sought prayerful solitude in the desert in places such as Egypt and Syria and attracted others to form communities around them. Some of their activities, undergirded by a strict lifestyle and prayer, were focussed on meeting needs of others; however others focussed on profound inner meditation and silent prayer in a more mystical sense, often using the Jesus Prayer mentioned above. Both groups believed in a rhythm of constant prayer to keep a person ever close to God, but this was not like today’s meditation practice; it was often based around hearing, learning and reflecting on the Bible.

As the monastic tradition in Christianity continued, these two forms of meditation grew and evolved. The practice based on learning and reflecting deeply on Scripture (called Lectio Divina) was especially emphasised in Western Christianity. For example, the monastic Rule of St Benedict includes both prayer and manual work – these two things are bound up with one another and with serving God. St Benedict also set down the times of Lectio Divina and contemplation that would keep up a rhythm of prayer throughout the day. Christian monastic meditation was also associated with purifying the mind from worldly cares and desires, and by practices of fasting and humility. Prayer and meditation was therefore understood as built into the very fabric of living a faithful Christian life.

Christian monastic meditation was also associated with purifying the mind from worldly cares and desires, and by practices of fasting and humility.

In Eastern Christianity (sometimes called Orthodox), the repetition of the Jesus Prayer remained a particular focus of Christian spirituality. Another form of meditation and contemplation involved the use of icons, religious pictures, which the person contemplating would not simply look at the surface image, but try, through prayer, to see beyond the image, like looking through a window, to the deeper reality to be discovered beyond.

As time went on, and more holy texts were committed to writing, the rhythm of prayer in monastic life in the West generated written reflections and meditations which could be used to encourage and direct others. Sometimes these included powerful visions in which God revealed insights and gave wisdom to the person steeped in prayer. One very well known example is the 14th century Revelations of Divine Love given to the enclosed nun Julian of Norwich. You may have heard of some of her most famous sayings about how we can imagine God and be sure of God’s love.

In later centuries the emphasis on prayer and meditation as a way to concentrate on God and receive inspiration about God’s purposes for the world, was lessened by other study disciplines for understanding Scripture. However, there were still other techniques developed, such as the ‘Examen’, within the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola, as a directed form of meditative reflection, focussed on coming before God, giving thanks, reflecting on the day past, reviewing thoughts and actions and looking forward to the day to come, making each of these elements God-focussed.

Today, Christians may continue to use forms of Lectio Divina to guide their understanding of God through Scripture. And many Christians still use the Spiritual Exercises to offer their days to God and guide their spiritual development. Yet other Christians use traditions of repetitive prayer using beads or holding a cross, or continue in the tradition of contemplating icons, or moving around those pictures showing the last days of Jesus, known as the Stations of the Cross, which can be seen in many churches. Music too, can be a focus for Christian meditation. Sung prayer has always been a monastic tradition, but quiet, repeated, sung words and phrases are a feature of some forms of worship, including some groups which are called ‘new monastic communities’ or the musical monastic community known as Taizé.

Prayer and meditation was therefore understood as built into the very fabric of living a faithful Christian life.

Some Christians can shy away from meditative practice, because of associations with the practice of other faiths, or because the speed and complexity of modern-day life make it difficult to follow Jesus’s words about finding space and time to concentrate on God. Yet Christians are encouraged to contemplate the good things which flow from following Jesus and give thanks for them, and by this means enter a state of deep spiritual peace and protection. The Apostle Paul encouraged the church in Philippi with these words:

“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4 v 6-7).

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.” (Philippians 4 v 8)

Some Useful Books on Christian Meditation Traditions

Rowan Williams, Where God Happens: Discovering Christ in One Another (on the Desert Fathers)

Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

Henri Nouwen, Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons

https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-spiritual-exercises/

https://www.cbcew.org.uk/stations-of-the-cross/

https://www.taize.fr/en