Body awareness into prayer
Mother Anne Clarke, Abbess OSB, Malling Abbey
This is a simple exercise that awakens a whole-body awareness as a preparation for prayer. It brings our minds into our bodies and makes it easier to bring our whole being to our prayer, to embody loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength and all our mind [Luke 10:27].
First it is helpful to wake up our bodies, loosen up, shake out any tension. Animals do this instinctively after a shock. The following is a sequence I like to use that requires no special teaching. With practice you will find your own way by listening to what your body needs.
- stand up, shake hands, feet, whole body
- pound down your front, bend over to pound up your back
- loosen your head, roll your shoulders, swing your pelvis
- feel your way into what your body needs
- shake one more time
- now stand
quietly with hands hanging by your side,
feet firmly planted
a little apart
- close your eyes or let your eyes look ahead softly, unfocused
You can sit at this point or continue standing as feels appropriate for you.
Feel your spine erect, down through your legs to your feet on floor, head balanced on the top of your spine, letting go any tension in the joint between spine and skull. Let your breath rise and fall gently.
Bring your awareness to your right arm, feel it from inside, let it fill up with awareness right to the tips of the fingers. Feel the life, the energy, in your arm. Maybe it tingles a bit, feels more alive.
Now bring your awareness in the same way to your right leg, still aware too of your right arm.
In the same way your left leg…
Your left arm… feel all your limbs full of life and energy.
Let this awareness of life and energy flow into your torso through your hips and shoulders to your spine, let the energy flow up from your feet and hands, up your spine to the top of your head.
Feel the aliveness that fills you from your middle right out to finger tips and toes. Receive the gift of your being, grounded on the earth and reaching up to heaven, holding together the physical and the spiritual.
Let your awareness be centred in your heart, sitting deep within yourself but wide and open, not focused on anything particular, Receive whatever is there without judgement or labelling. It simply is.
Let your face soften into a gentle smile as you acknowledge the presence of God both deep within yourself and also utterly beyond all things.
Now consciously mark your intention to enter the place of prayer by saying a simple prayer or making the sign of the cross.
I like to use the following words as I make the sign of the cross:
‘In the power of the Spirit [fingers from head to heart, the Spirit descending into my heart] and in union with Christ [fingers from left shoulder to right, my body united with the incarnate body of Christ] let us pray to the Father [hands together for prayer, in the simplicity of a child of God]’.
Continue with what ever is your chosen form of prayer either standing or sitting as you feel drawn. Find a position for your hands that feels comfortable for you – they could be held together or resting in your lap if you are seated or outspread in front of you if you are standing, reaching out to God in an ancient Christian gesture of prayer. Let your hands express your intent to be present to God and to receive God’s gift of prayer.
© The Benedictine Community at Malling Abbey 2025