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The Body As an Instrument of Prayer

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The Body As an Instrument of Prayer “When I love God, I love the beauty of bodies, the rhythm of movements, the shining of eyes, the embraces, the feelings, the scents, the sounds of all this protean creation. When I love you, my God, I want to embrace it all, for I love you with all my senses in the creations of your love. In all the things that encounter me, you are waiting for me.” (Jurgen Moltmann, Te Spirit of Life, 1985, pg. 331) Can the body be an instrument of prayer? Te traditional defnition of prayer that most of us can recite from memory is, “prayer is lifing the mind and heart to God.” Te more recent Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” Tere is little THE BODY AS AN INSTRUMENT reference to the body in these OF PRAYER defnitions of prayer. Dr. Tom Petriano 36 HD Magazine Volume 37 Spring 2017 37 Perhaps this is because of the long standing BODY AT PRAYER IN VARIOUS Child Pose, and while in the poses to experience ambivalence that Christianity has had toward the TRADITIONS their oneness with the subject of the pose Te human body, and the general disparagement of instructor pointed out that as one does these embodiment since the time of the Reformation. Te recognition of the place of the body in prayer poses, the practitioner is actually recognizing their Tis tension has been famously depicted in Pieter is by no means restricted to early and medieval connection with all living things. While some might Bruegel’s “Te Fight Between Carnival and Lent.” Christian practices. One can fnd it present in many dismiss this as yet one more example of a misguided religious traditions. For example, in Hinduism, New Age pantheism, the instructor was tapping Bruegel’s painting depicts a busy town square where yoga has since its inception been seen as a spiritual into an ancient wisdom about the body as a locus on the lef side we see Mardi Gras revelers and on the practice that incorporates mindful breathing and for spiritual experience, in a way that seems very right side, penitential Christians observing the strict posture. It developed as a way of satisfying the consistent with Christian belief in the Word that fast of Lent. According to historian Peter Burke, human desire to connect with the divine. Indeed, the became fesh. (Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe, 1978) the Sanskrit word yoga means to yoke, join, or connect. joust between a portly reveler and a gaunt penitent Tough the authentic spiritual dimension of yoga is Te signifcance of breath and breathing to the which occupies the foreground of the painting not ofen realized by those who see it as false worship practice of yoga is signifcant. Breathing is essential represents the opposition between the sacred and nor those who fock to health clubs to practice it to the postures and also to meditation. In Sanskrit the secular and the bodily and the spiritual that for its physical benefts, the yogis who practiced the word is pranayama, prana being the word for characterized Reformation and Post-Reformation understood well the connection between the body breath or life force. In Patanjali’s famous Yoga Sutras, spirituality. He reminds us that early and medieval and the spirit. As Tomas Ryan points out in his it is the fourth of the eight limbs of yoga. It is hardly Christianity had a more holistic spirituality, one book, Reclaiming the Body in Christian Spirituality: a coincidence that in Hebrew the word for breath that much more unabashedly incorporated the is ruah and it is the same word for spirit, the word material and bodily into religious ritual without clear I propose that yoga is the one place in the culture used in Genesis 1 for the “spirit” that hovered over oppositions between spirit and body. Although it where the natural, human thirst for contact with the chaos. Breath is at once something physical and God is being satisfed, even if such participants is not clear who won the confict between Carnival also non-material. As such it can be a reminder of the chakras in the Hindu tradition. Diferent parts of would never use such language. And it is and Lent in Bruegel’s painting, it would seem the importance of not creating a binary opposition the body correspond to diferent spiritual qualities. happening there because it is in the body, frst and that Christian spirituality and ritual have largely between the material and the spiritual when we pray. (J. Philip Newell, Echo of the Soul: Te Sacredness foremost, that God comes. neglected or, at least, marginalized the role of the Can we imagine breathing itself as a prayer? Richard of the Human Body, 2000). Tis use of the body in material and bodily dimensions of prayer. A renewed A recent conversation with a colleague about the Rohr reminds us that the name “Yahweh” was not prayer is deeply rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures appreciation of these dimensions and ways of impact of a yoga class in which she had participated spoken but rather breathed, a beautiful example where we fnd passages, like “Taste and see the incorporating them into prayer could certainly help reminded me of exactly this connection. She related of how in our very act of breathing, we are indeed goodness of the Lord” (Ps. 34:8); “O clap your hands, retrieve a lost dimension of Christian spirituality how the yoga instructor invited the class to be praying. all peoples; shout to God with the voice of joy” and also expand the myriad of ways that one can (ps. 47:1); “Let them praise his name with dancing, mindful of the various poses they were practicing, It is not only Hinduism that ofers us an example encounter, worship and praise the living God. making melody to him with tambourine and lyre” e.g., Crow Pose, Downward Facing Dog, Eagle Pose, of the integral connection between body and spirit. (Ps. 149:3). In 2 Samuel 6:6, we fnd David “leaping Posture and bodily movement are central to Jewish and dancing before the Lord.” In these examples, prayer, especially the Eighteen Blessings known and others, we see clearly the important role that as Amidah, which is the word for “standing.” Te the body plays in the experience of authentic prayer. prayers involve a series of movements that include Undoubtedly based on the same recognition of the stepping forward and backward, bowing and relationship between the body and prayer, we fnd a Breath is at once something physical and also non-material. As sometimes rocking back and forth. Te rocking similar approach in Islamic prayer. such it can be a reminder of the importance of not creating a binary movement is known as schuckling, from the Yiddish opposition between the material and the spiritual when we pray. verb, shokel, meaning to sway. Tere are several For Muslims, the practice of praying fve times daily interpretations of the precise meaning of this is an obligation of their faith. Salat (salah)is the practice, but perhaps most interesting is the one that Arabic word for prayer. It is derived from the word comes from the tradition of the Kabbalah, where the selah, which is the word for relationship, and it is human body has certain energy centers much like the word for the prayer times that correspond to 38 HD Magazine Volume 37 Spring 2017 THE BODY AS AN INSTRUMENT 39 include circumambulating the Kabah seven times, out of body experience” (ignatianspirituality.com) traditions, can help expand our notion of prayer, a ritual gathering of pebbles and stoning of three In section 124, the retreatant is invited to “smell the making it more integrated with our whole self. Te pillars representing the devil, and the cutting of one’s infnite fragrance and taste the infnite sweetness of body can become a privileged place for experiencing hair. Tus in many ways, Islamic prayer and ritual the divinity.” In this section of the Spiritual Exercises the loving and healing presence of God. Tere is incorporates bodily movement and gives recognition we are reminded that the fve senses are a powerful a line in the movie Chariots of Fire (1981) that to the important role of the body in prayer. way to encounter the living God. In her wonderful illustrates quite efectively how the body can be an book about praying with the senses, Ginny Kubitz instrument of prayer. At one point Eric Liddel, an Something similar can be observed in the Orthodox Moyer suggests very specifc ways in which all of Olympic runner and a devout Christian, is being practice of bowing, where there exist a number of our senses can become involved in the experience chastised by his sister for putting his devotion to diferent kinds of prescribed bows. Poyasny is a waist of prayer. In one section she talks about how roses running before his devotion to God. In a classic line bow and zemnoy poklo is a full prostration and there appeal to multiple senses and present themselves to from the movie, he replies to her, “I believe God are strict rules about which bows are to be used on us as “autographs from the hand of God.” Incense, made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. specifc occasions. Another common Orthodox candle smoke, the “odor of the sheep,” the smell of And when I run I feel His pleasure.” Liddel realizes practice that accompanies prayer is metania which lavender, and the background noises that make up that his running is in fact an act of devotion and involves bowing toward the foor and extending our day all present sacramental occasions through prayer because he is doing what God created him to one’s right hand open and touching the ground.
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