Meditation
 

Hi! Does anyone have any advice/thoughts for me concerning meditation? I have been sober for a week and I want to learn mediation. I am a practicing Catholic so I am ok with prayer. Are there any apps or devotionals?
Thanks!

I'm not very good at meditation but I'll bump this for you - I know others have favourite guided exercises :)

D

Look into Carmelite contemplative prayer (Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross). Just vedge and sit still for awhile with the Lord. Don't get distraught if your mind starts to wander--when you notice, just gently praise God and come back to quieting your mind. God likes when we set aside silent time for him, rather than barraging him with talk.

Here's a good intro:

Hi Topoford,

I am a big fan of meditation :) Not easy for me to recommend anything simple when it comes to this topic, but here is some stuff that I know well and like:

Audios from BrainSync - some of these are only tunes, others contain guided meditations:
Brain Sync | The Leader in Brainwave Technology

Not familiar with anything Christian in this area, but if you are open to other types of spiritual systems, I have been following Alan Wallace's methods for years.
Under "Podcasts" on this site, there is a selection of audios from his various retreats. He's a Buddhist scholar but philosophy is pretty compatible with many spiritual interests, I think, and quite timeless. His main method is a Samatha-Vipassana type approach.
http://www.sbinstitute.com/

I hope others will also post as this is a topic that is being discussed quite often and there have been simpler links going around. Try to do a search here on SR for older threads with the keyword "meditation".

This is what I read first and got started with: Mindfulness In Plain English

Vipassana meditation is about awareness, insight, and seeing things as they really are. I figured since this is what I was aiming for in sobriety, it would fit perfectly into recovery :)

Topoford, been reading extensively about mindful meditation, meditatied once so far, could help. Jennie thanks for the book, rootin for everyone. :egypt:

According to a wise priest, this is the goal of contemplative prayer: allowing Jesus to sleep in your boat! Develop the kind of heart and soul to which he can come to rest!

Topoford, have you heard of Lectio Divina?

"Traditionally Lectio Divina has 4 separate steps: read, meditate, pray and contemplate. First a passage of Scripture is read, then its meaning is reflected upon. This is followed by prayer and contemplation on the Word of God." (Wikipedia definition)

Here is a very useful nuts and bolts link:
How to Practice Lectio Divina by Father Luke Dysinger, O.S.B. --Praying the BIble and Scripture - Beliefnet.com

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola are what the Jesuits use. They are designed to be done over the course of about a month.

Here's an introductory description:
What Are the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius? - Loyola Press

Here are the exercises themselves:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/seil/

I recall in early recovery any kind of meditation was very challenging and difficult. It would be interesting to give it a try though. There's a meditation system called Seishin teki kyojo, used by martial artists. A simple way of emptying the mind. There's some stuff over the internet about it.

Here's the second half of Fr. Thomas Dubay's Introduction to Contemplative Prayer: