"I have several practices that guide me. These practices are my lifeline. They help me touch the state of 'receptivity and listening.' They help me be in the presence of God and say yes to God's guiding impulse in my heart. I don't do all of these practices all the time. When I'm on a silent retreat, for example, I might focus on one particular practice. Other times I might mix my practices, depending on the needs of the day. I also sometimes follow Thomas Merton's advice; he apparently said, "I don't pray on my days off." Taking a short break from practicing at times might be a very healthy way of resting in natural openness to God and thus deepening one's spiritual life. So, here are some of my favorite practices. All of them have helped me so much.
"The first practice that is really important to me is Conversational Prayer. Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth-century Carmelite monk, encouraged people to simply talk to God every day as they go through the tasks of their day. The Hasidic master Rebbe Nachman of Breslov said, 'Talk to God as you would talk to your very best friend. Tell The Holy One everything.' And, so I follow their advice. I try to begin my meditations with a conversation with God. I try to open every single corner of my heart and life to God. I try to invite God in, so all can be seen, acknowledged, and related to this all-accepting and reassuring presence that I feel as a result. I speak of my joys, my struggles, and at times of special difficulties I just sit there and cry until there are no more tears to shed. Sometimes I also invite some of the saints that I feel close to. I talk to them, I cry with them, and I rejoice with them. This practice usually leads to a receptive silence in which I can simply say yes to God and what may be, where I can let go of my ideas about what's right and simply surrender to God's will.
"My second practice is a practice of silent meditation or contemplative prayer. The method that I practice is inspired by Centering Prayer. This prayer, as Fr. Thomas Keating puts it, is 'a very simple method in which one opens one's self to God and consents to his presence in us and to his actions within us.' This practice has been really life changing for me. It helps me to sit in silence in the presence of God so the 'Divine Therapist' can do the work of healing and renewal on me. This practice usually fills me with a great deal of trust. It helps me to bear witness to and to respond to all the tragedies that I see daily in the lives of the homeless kids that I work with.
"One of the practices that I love the most is the Prayer of the Name. My early mentor Sr. Vandana Mataji, who had a small hermitage at the foothills of the Himalayas and who was both a Catholic Nun and Hindu Sanyasini, emphasized the role of this prayer as a spiritual bridge between religions. This prayer is truly universal and, with some variations, it is practiced by Sufis, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians.
"I love the words of a Sufi mystic al-Ghazali, who said, 'Dear Friend, Your heart is a polished mirror. You must wipe it clean of the veil of dust that has gathered upon it, because it is destined to reflect the light of divine secrets.' This practice really helps me to clean the dust of my heart and live in the 'remembrance' of God. Another Sufi said, 'It is said that remembrance of God begins with the repetition of God's Names by the tongue. Then, the repetition of the tongue descends and becomes the remembrance of the heart. Finally, the remembrance of the heart deepens and becomes the remembrance of the soul. At first, you chant the Divine Names, then they chant themselves, and then God chants through you.' So I aspire to live in the presence of God every day by carrying my prayer beads with me and repeating the name of God. I do it whenever I walk around the city, when I am on the subway, or when I am doing something that does not require my full concentration. This is one of my favorite practices, and I have been practicing it since I was nineteen years old. At times, I also combine this practice with a conversational prayer. I simply love this practice. What a beautiful and simple way to touch God.
"Lectio divina is another practice that I incorporate into my life. It is an ancient practice that was first established as a monastic practice in the sixth century by St. Benedict. Lectio is a prayerful way of reading a sacred text for inspiration, not information. I often carry with me short sacred passages that I like to revisit. I approach them with my heart and I try to be present to them with all of my being. In the process, I often feel like the 'soul' of the text touches my deepest core and opens my whole life to God.
"Sacred Body Practices, while very challenging for me personally, are also a part of my spiritual life. I find things like yoga, A.I.M., Thai yoga massage, and hiking extremely useful. These practices open and strengthen my body, reintegrating it, making it possible for the presence that I experience during my contemplative prayer to truly descend into my body. Lately I have been blessed to work with a seventy-one-year-old friend and mentor, Anthony Macagnone, who after spending the last forty years studying yoga, martial arts, and other mind-body systems, developed A.I.M. (Alchemy in Movement), which is a truly life-changing method of working with the body.
"Spirituality is a whole-person enterprise, and as such, I would like to again mention the importance of psychotherapy and shadow work. In my view, contemplative practice needs to be supplemented by psychotherapy. Many practitioners are victims to what John Welwood calls 'spiritual bypass,' in which we use spiritual ideas and practices to avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks. Speaking of this need for an integration of good psychology with contemplative practice, Welwood says that 'we need a larger perspective that can recognize and include two different tracks of human development — which we might call growing up and waking up, healing and awakening, or becoming a genuine human person and going beyond the person altogether.' Stressing the importance of this, he concluded that 'we are not just humans learning to become buddhas, but also buddhas waking up in human form, learning to become fully human. And these two tracks of development can mutually enrich each other.' In my life, psychotherapy is one of the biggest gifts that I have ever received. It has completely enriched and transformed my journey into Life and into God.
"Finally, the last practice that I would like to mention is a practice of Spiritual Friendship. Brother Wayne Teasdale, in his book A Monk in the World, quotes a well-known story about the Buddha and his student Ananda, who once asked the Buddha about the importance of spiritual friendship. 'Master, is spiritual friendship half of the spiritual life?' he asked. The Buddha replied, 'No, Ananda, friendship is the whole of the spiritual life.' So I find that spiritual friendships create a container and make our spiritual lives possible.
"My friends inspire me when they share the gift of their presence and authenticity with me. They help me stay committed to my path and remind me why I am here in times of doubt and resignation. They speak truth about my life to me, when I try to avoid it. By doing so with love and acceptance, they help me look into difficult areas of my life and to have courage to work on them. Finally, they share my joys and my sorrows with me. This creates a tremendous energy of gratitude and celebration."
