alifelongme

But this habit was playing against me, I guess, since I stalled at preparation for meditation part. It seemed unnecessary because I’m already used to sitting quietly and being relaxed thanks to yoga practices in the past. And I would get impatient, wanting to start thinking right away.But after comparing the quality of my meditation with and without the prep, I have to admit it is necessary. 

So, I decided to devised a little cheat way around my reluctance to do the prep work and use a prayer during the time of breathing. But since I’m not a religious person and was never able to embrace any faith (not for the lack of trying, let me assure you), I had no prayer I could meaningfully use. Therefore, I thought I’d make one myself. Here it is:

By enlightenment of Air,

By intention of Fire,

By wisdom of Water,

By Earth manifest,

By Spirit Below,

By Spirit Above,

By Spirit Within,

I pray to be blessed.

And now I use it for my four fold breathing. The whole prayer takes 30 seconds by the clock since it has 8 lines total and I use lines instead of counting one, two, three, etc. Repeating the whole verse 10 times takes exactly 5 minutes,I can use my fingers to count, not look at the clock, and not worry if the time is correct. 

I use it to count the shuffle times with the oracle too, saying the last line when I cut the deck.

I also use this prayer when I know I’m going to face a challenging situation. I just say it in my head and change the last line to “Protected and blessed” to make it an affirmation.