A Prayer For Chile

“Be still and know that I AM God” (Psalm 46:10).

I promised to comment on the Buddhist mindfulness in the previous posting. Before I go on, I want to ask you to find a place to get quiet after you finished reading this posting. As you quiet your mind, then offer your prayers for the people of Chile. The huge earthquake is kind of Earth changes predicted by the Maya which I describe in A Matter of Love (see posting: A Critical Juncture).

Tiger Woods's accomplishments on the golf course are partially due to his incredible ability to concentrate and focus. I believe this was enhanced by his being raised as a Buddhist. The Buddhist meditation practice of mindfulness can help us imprve our focus and quiet the chatter in our minds. I was introduced to this practice by Dr. Larry Rosenberg, author of Breath by Breath, in the Spring of 1980, and i have been integrating the practice in my daily life ever since. Whatever your personal beliefs, mindfulness is a great tool for relieving stress and improving concentration and focus.. For example, it has helped me focus in my Christian prayer life as well as when I was playing basketbaall in the 1980s and 1990s.

In my doctoral dissertation on stress (1980), I employed a variation of Buddhist mindfulness for one of the control groups. I called it the self-relaxation group. Simply noticing you are feeling tense and stressed and focusing on your breathing was effective in helping members of the mindfulness group be more effective in coping with stress by enabling them to relax the large skeletal muscles. The treatment group used self-talk and imagery as well as focusing on breathing enabled them to be even more effective in coping with stress. Those in the treatment group were able to relax the smaller smooth muscles around the blood vessels which led to deeper relaxation associated with increased blood flow. The steps used by the treatment group steps eventually became the 8 Steps to Love: the core of what I call Stress Effectiveness Training.

• Today, before offering your prayers for Chile, reflect on God’s words, “Be still and know that I AM God” (Psalm 46:10). Consider how the original Hebrew word raphah translated as “still” literally means cease. The word added by translators is “striving.” Hence its literal meaning is more the command, “Cease striving!” Now, take a slow deep breath and silently say, “Breathing in, I stop and still my mind.” Then, pause, and as you exhale slowly, silently say, “Breathing out, I stop and still my body.” Focus on the sensations of the air moving over your nasal membranes with each in-breath and out-breath. Bring your attention to the stillness in the barely noticeable pause after exhaling and before inhaling. Notice how the air passing over your nasal membranes is usually cooler than your body temperature. So think cool as you exhale. Consider how the air warms up in your body, and matches your body temperature, It is barely noticeable as you exhale. So, as you exhale, think, calm. With each inhale, you focus on the sensation of cool and think cool. And, as you exhale, focus on the barely noticeable sensations of the air, and think calm. Just keep doings cools and calms for a few minutes, and then offer your prayers from a still mind. With pure mindfulness, you move beyond thinking and quiet the chatter in your mind. I'll present more on mindfulness in future postings.