The Tree of Contemplative Practices

On the Tree of Contemplative Practices, the roots symbolize the two intentions that are the foundation of all contemplative practices: cultivating awareness and developing a stronger connection to God, the divine, or inner wisdom. The roots of the tree encompass and transcend differences in the religious traditions from which many of the practices originated, and allow room for the inclusion of new practices that are being created in secular contexts.

The branches represent the different groupings of practices. For example, Stillness Practices focus on quieting the mind and body in order to develop calmness and focus. Generative Practices come in many different forms (i.e. prayers, visualizations, chanting) but share the common intent of generating thoughts and feelings of devotion and compassion, rather than calming and quieting the mind. Please note that these classifications are not definitive. For example, mantra repetition may be considered a Stillness Practice rather than a Generative one.

Any activities not included on this Tree (including those which may seem more mundane, such as gardening, eating, or taking a bath) are a contemplative practice when done with the intent of cultivating awareness, or developing a stronger connection with God or one's inner wisdom.

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Hi Jayne,

I myself follow Benedictine monastic practice in reading all 150 Psalms every week, 11 in the morning and 11 at night, (almost) every day.  I practice Tai Chi 3 days a week (following a video, “Tai Chi for Health, Yang Long Form” with Terence Dunn,)  and on my “off” days I do some isometric upper body exercises as well, nothing too dramatic. 

I also try and maintain a disciplined prayer regime, focussing on different aspects each day of the week.  Mondays I focus on Gratitude, Tuesdays on Intercession (praying for others.)  Wednesdays I focus on listening, i.e. purely meditative, and I have a few techniques I use for that.  Thursday I focus on confession, and Friday, acceptance of forgiveness and Grace which flows from confession.  Saturdays I concentrate on Creation and Ecology, and Sundays I focus on pure worship, especially in terms of Christ's example. 

I guess I do focus on one other thing, and that's diet.  I'm one of those South Beachers, avoiding starches, carbs, and raw sugars as much as possible.  It helped me lose about 40 pounds a couple years ago, and I'm recovinger a little lost ground at the moment as well, in the middle of dropping 10 unwanted pounds that have krept up on me over the past couple years. 

It looks like some of my practice lines up nicely with several aspects of the tree illustration you provide.  I wonder how others practice practical application of contemplative principles? 

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

you are so disciplined, dave! i really admire that. i'm all over the place - no scheduled scripture reading, prayer or meditation. the only regular thing right now is weekly church service. but somehow i am not drawn to get back to discipline yet. i have been at times in my life but right now i prefer to go with the flow.

light and blessings,

nicole

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Thank you for opening this pod and for this introduction, it is a very useful synthesis for me. I've been a “many paths, one destination” guy for a while, but I really like this “one root, many branches” approach. I've seen it before, but it is especially poignant to return to it at this point in my life and journey. Thank you.

N/J

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

You know, Jay, it's very much like the integral model in a way, just much more organic, relaxed, and accessible, no?

I wonder, would you and/or Dave like to join Jayne, Chad and me on our weekly Sunday afternoon Skype calls? They tend to be an hour-ish, and are a real delight. I'm sad to be missing this Sunday when I'm on business in New Jersey.

Light and peace,

Nicole

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Nicole, thank so much for the invitation. I wish I were in a place to be able to make that commitment but I am not. My schedule is random and insane. The pain of not being able to completely pursue certain fellowships has been a fact of life for me for some time.

But what I see here is very near to me. I practiced qi-gong daily for well over a year and have dabbled in yoga, tai chi, and meditation. I very much want to find away to integrate these things into my life. What I see here is a wonderful map to begin that process. Thanks for point me and others this way.

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

perfect, then, Jay!

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Hi Negoba,

I'm curious as to your qi gong experience, how it works and what it does for you.  I'm also curious about where / how you receive qi gong instruction.  I've been told that qigong is a natural next step from tai chi. 

thanx,

Dave ME

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Dave - Wow. I, like Nicole, am not as disciplined at this time with my spiritual/contemplative (and other ITP/integral transformative) practices. I spent 17 years in a fairly high level of spiritual disciplines and when I left the path of nun 1.5 years ago, I decided to rest for a while and allow my path and practices to really emerge organically. Asking myself each day what my soul was calling me to do/be. As a result, my own authentic spirituality has been presenting itself to me. This is not to say that I'm there by any means in my clarity - but that what is arising is what best nourishes my soul, connects me to Source and supports me in serving God and others effectively.

Having said that, the contemplative practices that I currently do on a fairly consistent basis framed around the Tree of Contemplative Practices model are -

Generative Practices: lectio divina, tonglen (I refer to this as the Breath of Compassion and do this more spontaneously on the street or while working at the shelter to help alleviate pain/suffering).

Ritual/Cyclical Practices:  sweat lodge

Creation Process Practices: contemplative music (listening - moves me into meditation), journaling (mostly as part of lectio divina)

Stillness Practices (and Movement Practices): contemplative walks in nature, sitting meditation (also in nature)

Activist Practices: sacred service (karma yoga, seva)

Relational Practices: dialogue, deep listening

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Hi Jayne and Nicole,

The disciplines I follow indicate as much my weaknesses as they do my strengths.  I need the structure at this time in my life, and as Jayne says, it grew somewhat organically over several years for me as well.  The disciplines remind me to take time for my own Spiritual, Physical, and Mental well being when so many other demands exist on me, and many of those demands are of my own making. 

Bottom line is, its all good.

Be well,

Dave M

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Dave, thanks, yes it is all good! Glory be…

Jayne, very helpful!

love and light,

nicole

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Like others here I have suffered lately from a lack of regular practice.  There is one practice, however, that I return to in daily life that is helpful, which is part of a larger practice called Ngondro, a set of practices in Tibetan Buddhism.  This is contemplating on the four thoughts:
– the preciousness of human birth
– impermanence
– the unending nature of samsara
– the causes and conditions of existence
The other practice I focused on before my practice was disrupted a bit by life is the four immeasurable practice, which is a focus on:
– loving kindness
– compassion
– sympathetic joy
– equanimity
And that practice was a combination of calm abiding and visualization of wishing all these for as large a universe as one could

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Lois, awesome, thank you so much!

Love,

Nicole

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Hi Lois - glad you joined us! Buddhism and practices are near and dear to my heart.  I think we may have talked about this elsewhere.  It may be a topic to explore here on barriers to practice - to setting aside time consistently. I know it would be helpful for me to get a bit more conscious about barriers or perceived barriers. Just got done responding to Clare's email and even in that process I gained more clarity based on what she shared about taking the time to integrate - to process - to allow contemplative time (or prayer time or spiritual practice time) to flow and emerge from a call of the soul vs. having this be so goal driven. Personally I think there is a happy medium to be had here.

I've just finished a 14 hour work day or so and so thoughts are muddled right now. More on the topic I'm sure as we travel this path.

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

All of the above are wonderful to me.

Not being bound to any discipline, religion, tradition, or ideas concerning practice, I intuit our engagements in and expressions of practice change and evolve as we do. Practice should be natural and life-giving.

I feel that if we are inclined in spirit, even non-practice is practice. Maybe we unnecessarily beat ourselves up sometimes thinking we are not disciplined enough or practicing in the right way. To me, such self-admonishment is non-practice.

In Zen we say that when we are hungry, we eat; when we are sleepy, we sleep, etc. So, when I take my seat (meditate) I just sit. When I need to sit, I sit. My practice is like that. It is a taking care of what needs to be taken care of in a natural and aware way.

In  Zen we say form is emptiness; emptiness is form. This means both as one non-thing. If I think the form of my practice is emptiness but do not realize emptiness, I have missed. If I think the emptiness of my practice is form but do not realize form, I have missed. If “they are together,” I am on target.

Both practice and non-practice are one non-thing.   

ST 

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Welcome, ST!

Although my contemplative practice originally took a form based on traditional Christian mystic meditation, I now follow a practice that I perceive to be very similar to yours, emptying myself - insofar as possible - of all thoughts, feelings, and expectations.  If I don't empty myself, I find myself clinging to those things that clutter up my life and prevent me from being happy.

In my contemplative practice, I open myself to the unknown and unknowable, trusting my being to the beneficent power of the universe that unites us all, regardless of religion, spiritual orientation, or lack thereof. 

Having said that, I hasten to add that I am devoutly Christian and, as I go about my day, I try to maintain a prayerful attitude and act in a manner consistent with my belief that we are all essentially one.  And, yes, I do long for union with the divine, which is also a longing for oneness with all of creation.

Thanks for sharing your practice, and bless you in your practice and non-practice.

Peace and love, Chad

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

I am a third order Franciscan who found her way into contemplative practices apparently by accident, simply following scattered breadcrumbs, crumbs mysteriously glowing with promise.  A flyer placed among others on a bench at the foot of the church:  a call to audition.  It sung to me as I picked it up.  I thought, well, I could be a stagehand, participate in some way.  Instead they cast me in the role of Clare, in a medieval pageant celebrating the life of St. Clare of Assisi.

And what were some of the words that I memorized, and have come to carry in my heart and bone marrow, for this pageant?

Place your mind
before the mirror of eternity!
Place your soul in the brilliance of glory!
and transform your entire being
into the image of the Godhead Itself
through contemplation.

Clare had such a way of expressing the transforming power of the contemplative vision, a very feminine way, like a woman sharing the secrets of how to make oneself very beautiful for her beloved.  Like a clear spring of pure water.  And what was the mirror of eternity?  The cross of San Damiano (perhaps painted by a Benedictine, for it was the genesis of the Franciscan order not a product of it) – a cross Clare gazed upon prayed before for more than 40 years, a cross from which the eyes of the risen Christ compassionately return our own gaze.

So what is my contemplative practice, I ask myself?  Gazing.  Listening.  Lectio Divina, yes!, from all sacred texts but especially the New Testament, the text of Nature where I wander daily before dawn, the treatises of the science philosophers revealed in conversations about quantum physics and consciousness theories (Holy Father Francis would give this a nod).  Walking meditation, certainly!  And the call to pray without ceasing threads itself silently throughout the busy day. 

It is not easy to walk a spiritual path with practical feet!  And yet it is effortless….  Clare and Francis might walk hand-in-hand with Thomas Merton, in their sublime understanding of the Divine to be found everywhere, in everything.

Yes!

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Hi Jeannie!

Welcome!  And let me echo your “Yes”:

I have finally been able to at least mutter - if not loudly, clearly, and resoundingly - “Yes”.

An inspiration for my own “Yes” has been Dag Hammarskjold, former Secretary General of the United Nations.  Here is a quote from his writings about his spiritual journey, which were collected and published after his death:

”I don't know Who -or What- put the question, I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone -or Something- and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in selfsurrender, had a goal. … As I continued along the Way, I learned, step by step, word by word, that behind every saying in the Gospels stands one man and one man's experience. Also behind the prayer that the cup might pass from him and his promise to drink it. Also behind each of the words from the Cross.”

                                                                                                        Dag Hammarskjold, Markings

How felicitous for you to be cast as Clare and to internalize her words and “become” her in the pageant !  Your call to pray without ceasing brings to mind Thomas Merton's words, “Praying is the way I breathe”.

You describe a path that may not be easy to enter upon. but is effortless once one's feet have found it.  Don't you find it more and more congenial for your practical feet?

At any rate, bless you as you walk along it.  And thanks for sharing with us.

Peace and love, Chad

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

:O)

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

The last post was on my birthday last year. I was wandering the St Croix River valley looking for a legal swimming hole.
Yesterday I made myself a zen sand garden to meditate in. Sand is so supportive of my body weight, molding to my contours and the quartz crystals so healing. The best place for the garden was, “in the roots”, under the cedar tree. That has always been the most sacred tree in the yard for me in part cuz my mother said if she was any spiritual practice it was being a druid. So now I go to ground the silence of the cacophony that is life in the roots of my mother's boughs.
annikaseyo,     Korean for “I am staying here”.
iljung

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Today I again enjoyed my new sand garden in the basement for those days when it is raining. I also did yoga with more movement, like modern dance and did additional meditation as my new Quaker friends taught me. Come together right now over me.

Re: The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Hi iljung - Care to share more on the meditation taught by your Quaker friends?