The best-selling author of The Wisdom Jesus and The Meaning of Mary Magdalene demystifies the popular Christian meditation method rooted in contemplative prayer Centering Prayer is the path to a wonderful and radical new way of seeing the world. It is not, as is sometimes thought, simply an act of devotional piety, nor is it simply a Christianized form of other meditation methods. Cynthia Bourgeault here cuts through the misconceptions to show that Centering Prayer is in fact a pioneering development within the Christian contemplative tradition. She provides a practical, complete course in the practice and then goes deeper to analyze what actually happens in Centering Prayer: the mind effectively switches to a new operating system that makes possible the perception of nonduality. With this understanding in place, she then takes us on a journey through one of the sources of the practice, the Christian contemplative classic The Cloud of Unknowing, revealing it to be among the earliest Christian explorations of the phenomenology of consciousness. Cynthia Bourgeault’s illumination of the Centering Prayer path provides compelling evidence of how important the practice has become in the half-century since it first arose among American Trappist monks, and of its maturation and refinement over the ensuing years of sincere study and practice. It will resonate with beginners on the Centering Prayer path as well as with seasoned practitioners.

"Examines how the practice of Centering Prayer can shape our character and effect our daily interactions with others"--

This book relates Centering Prayer to different religious practices and the various conceptual backgrounds out of which Centering Prayer has arisen. Contributors include Eugene Sutton, Mercedes Scopetta, Ferdinand Mafood, and Mark Lodico.

Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening is a complete guidebook for all who wish to know the practice of Centering Prayer.

This book, with its ecumenical group of contributors, celebrates Centering Prayer as a common ground for Christian unity. It marks the first time that people other than William Meninger, Basil Pennington, and Thomas Keating (the three Trappist monks who distilled Centering Prayer from the Christian contmeplative heritage) have written in depth on Centering Prayer, its benefits and effects in daily life and ministry. There are pieces by Thomas R. Ward, Jr., Gustave Reininger, Thomas Neenan, David Walton Miller, Paul Lawson, Sarah Butler, David Forbes Morgan, Sandra Casey-Martus, and Jim Clark.

The practice of prayer and meditation in modern Western Christianity is rooted in the Eastern tradition of early Church prayer as well as the wisdom of early Church fathers. In Centering Prayer, M. Basil Pennington, the author of the highly acclaimed Daily We Touch Him, returns to these roots, offering contemporary Christians a new approach to ancient prayer forms. Pennington combines the best of the Eastern spiritual exercises (such as the Jesus Prayer) with a spirituality for today's world. Addressing the obstacles that discourage people from praying well, he explains how to relax for prayer, how to listen to and be directed by the Other, and how to handle the pain and distractions that can stifle attempts to communicate with God. Centering Prayer has sold more than a quarter million copies since it was first published in 1982. In this eminently practical book, simple, inspiring instructions will help readers find the comfort and the guidance they seek through prayer.

Contemplative prayer is a way of saying yes to God’s transformative presence. Centering Prayer for Everyone is the most welcoming and accessible guide to Christian contemplative practice available. Focusing on five practices—lectio divina, visio divina, walking meditation, chanting the Psalms, and the silent practice of centering prayer—this practical guide collects in one volume everything needed to learn these practices, including concise instructions, readings, and programs. Clearly formatted so that instructions and programs are easy to find at a glance, Centering Prayer for Everyone can inspire beginners to enter the practices immediately and includes detailed instructions for starting and facilitating both in-person and digital prayer groups. This inclusive handbook explicitly welcomes everyone to these practices, whatever their beliefs or doubts, including Christians, meditators from other traditions, twelve-step members, and anyone filled with longing for spiritual transformation and connection with God.

Adele Calhoun's Spiritual Disciplines Handbook has become a standard for those who want to expand their knowledge of spiritual practices. Now this beloved resource has been revised throughout and expanded to include thirteen new disciplines along with a new preface by the author, giving us practical guidance in our continuing journey toward intimacy with Christ.

What if prayer could be simple rather than strenuous? Anxious, results-driven Christians can never pray enough, serve enough, or study enough. But what if God is calling us not to frenzied activity but to a simple spiritual encounter? What if we must merely receive what God has already given us? In Flee, Be Silent, Pray, writer and contemplative retreat leader Ed Cyzewski guides readers out of the anxiety factory of contemporary Christianity and toward a God whose love astounds those quiet long enough to receive it. With helpful guidance into solitude, contemplative prayer, and practices such as lectio divina and the Examen, Cyzewski guides readers toward the Christ whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light. Ready to shed the fear of the false self and the exhaustion of a duty-driven faith? Flee. Be silent. Pray.

These days, many of us live in a state of overreactive fight-or-flight response and chronic stress. The demands of modern life pull us in all directions and can often put the meaningful connections in our lives at risk--connections to our deepest selves, to others, and even to God. But there is good news. New developments in brain science have recently proven that an intentional practice of pausing for a few minutes of meditation, prayer, or other contemplative practice actually rewires our brain in ways that make us calmer, less reactive, and better able to see the bigger picture. In Practice the Pause, spiritual director and writer Caroline Oakes offers easy-to-understand explanations of how this new brain science is confirming what every spiritual tradition has been telling us for millennia: by practicing the pause, we become more self-aware and better able to understand others. We become more "God aware." With a refreshing focus on the Eastern Christian understanding of Jesus as a master of wisdom, Oakes shines a spotlight on Jesus's own centering pause practice as a transformative path for personal and social change. We learn that even a seven-second pause practice can move us beyond the fight-or-flight responses of our ego in our daily lives and actually equip us to cultivate the common good in the world.