To me yoga and spirituality are so much more than moving the body into poses or attended Sunday service.  In fact, it can be the small intentional practices that we incorporate into our days that help us the most in grounding us in who we are, keeping our heart open and remembering who we are in God.  I have been earthing or grounding (barefoot contact with the earth) for several years but lately I have made it even more intentional, more prayerful.  Each morning before work, I take 5 minutes to walk or stand on the earth (barefoot, most days of the year!) and talk to God.  Sometimes my body and mind need more releasing and I might shake or do a tapping practice or a few rounds of the breath of joy.  Often it is a time to send some meta or loving protective energy out to myself and my family.  Prayer for me is more conversational and it tends to organically adapt over time.  So, this body prayer infused with meta and the holy trinity arose, and I come back to it often. 

For this simple practice, adapted to suit your needs of course, only a minute or so is required.  You do not need to stand on the earth but this is how it evolved for me.   I stand on the earth and inhale raising arms to sky asking for the protection and provision of Father God. I then lower the arms hands meeting in prayer at the heart on the exhale, confidently receiving what has already been given, my practice is just a reminder of what is.    On the next round I raise my arms as I remember or invoke the profound love of Jesus, exhaling back to the heart.    On the last round I raise my arms invoking the movement, the power of the Holy Spirit to take the protection of God and the love of Jesus and animate their characteristics to move into my life, to literally move me to action infused by the Spirit. 

This action like the action of the wind ( which I often associate with the power of the Holy Spirit) does not need to be fast moving or even visible to the outer world but it animates me to walk a bit more like Jesus and to live in the world with all his beautiful characteristics such as love, compassion, humility and forgiveness. 

After I do a round or two of the practice intended to help me plug into the Holy Spirit, I usually send this out to at least one loved one, particularly one that needs prayer.  Sometimes my ordinary prayer time can feel like I am dumping on God and giving him a list of problems that I think need fixing.  It can help me to reframe the ‘problems’ as growth opportunities and to then use my prayer time to offer my loved one the protection and provision of God, the unconditional love of Jesus and lastly for the Holy Spirit to help move them toward right action.  Perhaps right action looks more like acceptance, humility, increased self-awareness or the awareness of something greater than their or my perceived sense of problems to be solved or to be endured. 

If there is time and a tug at the heart this offering can be sent out to all beings.  In classic Buddhist meta meditation blessings are sent to the self, a loved one, a neutral person, a difficult person and all beings.  I so enjoy fusing practices from different traditions, a nod towards oneness, wholeness and holiness that can be cultivated by all through many paths.  

Father Richard Rhor is a great inspiration to me in part because he also includes ideas for wholeness outside of his originally ordained faith.  He discusses the power of the Holy Spirit and even says that when we are plugged into the power of the Spirit, we are more grounded.   I love this akin to modern day electricity and the power it gives us to illuminate our days but it also must be grounded so this power can be utilized appropriately .  Once we contact our Inner Source (the Holy Spirit), we become living icons for the Divine Image itself.  That is what true, humble, and confident power represents. It is the ultimate meaning of a well-grounded person.  – Richard Rhor. 

 This is literally what my morning practice aims to do.  My intention is to align with the Spirit and get out of my own way, move from my busy worried mind down into my heart where the truth of God lies, where I can humbly and confidently move into the world knowing I do not walk alone.  I am reminded that my power comes from Him and not from this world or from my own mind or body alone.

I truly appreciate and offer much gratitude that my musings often align with some of the masters and often with Richard Rohr’s own muse!  Thank you, God, for introducing his writings to me.  I leave you with some closing thoughts from him as he reminds us, like Jesus often did how to pray; 

We pray not to change God but to change ourselves. We pray to form a living relationship, not to get things done. Prayer is a symbiotic relationship with life and with God, a synergy which creates a result larger than the exchange itself.   Prayer is not a way to try to control God, or even to get what we want. As Jesus says in Luke’s Gospel (11:13), the answer to every prayer is one, the same, and the best: the Holy Spirit! God gives us power more than answers.