Meditation and Yoga
Have you wondered about beginning a meditation practice but didn’t know how to get started? Perhaps you have an on-going practice and would like to meet with a group to support your practice. We are forming a contemplative meditative group – Come To Your Senses - that will meet twice weekly in early evenings on the Labyrinth at FUMC.
This practice will incorporate gentle stretching to bring one’s attention to one’s body and the present. The breath will be the primary technique used to come to silence, to “let go and let God”. We will gently incorporate some meditations of a Jesuit priest, the late Anthony De Mello.
De Mello spoke of a great thirst in the West for the God experience, a sense of the divine. His friends say that, above all, de Mello wanted to teach people to pray and to learn to be "awake" – that is, alert to the pervasiveness of God. He worried that Christians in the West had lost sight of their rich, mystical tradition. De Mello felt that much of the recent "turning to the East" in search of meditational techniques was a result of this loss.
Come to Your Senses will give us the opportunity to realize a new way of experiencing God in our lives and deepen our spiritual awareness.A bit of de Mello’s storytelling to stimulate your interest!
A man took his new Labrador Retriever to the lake to try out his retrieving skills. The man threw a ball into the lake. The dog walked over the water, picked up the ball, and brought it to his master.
The man was flabbergasted! He threw the ball out into the lake again and once again, while he rubbed his eyes in disbelief, the dog walked over the water and retrieved the ball.
Hardly daring to believe what he had seen, he called his neighbor over the following day. Once again, each time he or his neighbor threw the ball, the dog would walk over the water and bring it in. The man said nothing. Neither did his neighbor. Finally, unable to contain himself any longer, the man blurted out, “Did you notice anything strange about that dog?”
The neighbor rubbed his chin pensively. “Yes,” he finally said. “Come to think of it, I did! That son of a gun can’t swim!”
It isn’t as if life is not full of miracles. It’s more that that: It is miraculous, and anyone who stops taking it for granted will see it at once.
Our meetings are Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:30pm and will last about an hour. In order to help support our use of the Labyrinth, we suggest a $4.00 donation – or whatever amount you are moved to give. Wear loose-fitting clothing for ease of movement.
Join Us! Contact Chuck McGee (cmcgee@wiche.edu; 303.746.2172) or Deb Nastaj (dnastaj@comcast.net; 206.856.9849) for details.