I love the discipline of  “breath prayers” and I use them often in my day to relax, refocus, and de-stress.  I’ve started using them at the beginning of my walking as a form of warm-up, too.

I like to “collect” prayers to use in different situations.  Of course, you don’t need special words or phrases to get God’s attention, but sometimes I need them to get MY attention focused in the right place.

I’ve been reading a series of books lately by a woman named Liberty Savard and I have been really blessed by some of her teaching on prayer.  I took some of her suggestions and created a breath-prayer exercise for the beginning of my walking.  I thought I’d post it here in case you’d like to use it, too:

1. As you inhale slowly, pray “I bind myself to God’s truth, authenticity and integrity“ – and really visualize yourself “inhaling Christ” as it were. Pause for a brief second or two and then
2. Exhale and pray “I loose myself from all falsehood, lies, and deception” and imagine those things leaving your body. Pause.
3. Inhale and pray “I bind my will, passions, and purposes, to the will, passions and purposes of God” visualizing yourself inhaling these properties. Pause.
4. Exhale and pray “I loose myself from false pretensions, selfishness, greed, and fear” and exhale those things from your life. Pause.
5. Inhale and pray “I bind my mind to the mind of Christ, to hear the thoughts, intents, and purposes of His heart ”. Pause.
6. Exhale and and pray, “I loose myself from wrong thinking, behaviour, and attitudes”. Pause.
7. Inhale and pray “I bind my feet to God’s path for me, and my hands to the special work He’s ordained for me to accomplish in His Kingdom”. Pause.
8. Exhale and pray “I loose myself from the strongholds of unmet needs, unresolved issues, and unhealed hurts”. Pause.

I have a feeling that a prayer like that throughout your day could vastly change the way you see things!

Happy walking!

Darlene

(PS – don’t you think that picture looks just like me?  LOL!  I don’t know who owns it, but it’s pretty cool!)

On Wednesday I shared the experience I have with walking with a Rosary. Another cool meditation tool for walking is walking a labyrinth.

I heard about labyrinth’s a few years back when I got very involved with studying Catholic Mysticism. After that I looked for opportunities to walk one, and while there aren’t many around here, there are a couple – one at Kingsfold Retreat Centre, and one at the FCJ Christian Life Center

I love walking the Labyrinth because there’s a slow rhythm, there’s mindfulness, and there’s peace. You go into the centre with something on your heart, seeking God’s will, and come out with peace. It’s a very long walk covering a very small space, and unless you’ve walked that particular labyrinth or pattern several times, you are always suprised at where you end up, at how the path unfolds. It’s kind of like life. I just wish I could walk life with the same kind of mindfulness as I walk a labyrinth!

This morning I stumbled on this article about the labyrinth, and thought it was a helpful piece to understand how it works and how to walk it. This article from Kingsfold is also very helpful.

If you want to find a labyrinth near you, check this Labyrinth Locator

If you want to read more about the Labyrinth, here’s a great book: Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth

Happy Walking!

Darlene

PS – you can even get a labyrinth on your iPod Touch (I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ my iPod Touch!) here: iPause