Follow-Up to WATERmeditation for March 2025

“Meditation 101: A Collective Introduction to Forms of Meditation”
with Mary E. Hunt, Cynthia Tootle, Brad Lutz, Adrienne Corti

Monday, March 10, 2025, 7:30 PM ET

WATER is looking for volunteers to guide our meditations on May 5, 2025 and July 7, 2025. If interested, please contact mhunt@hers.com. We have lots of new ideas following this session.

Thanks to all who participated in this experimental session to learn about meditation. Special thanks to Cynthia Tootle, Brad Lutz, and Adrienne Corti who brought knowledge, wisdom, and experience for the group to share.

The video link can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUevwytt234

The following notes are from the speakers. They are meant to augment their remarks. It was a rich hour which we share here in the hope that these reflections will help others in their practice as well.

Last month, Cynthia Tootle brought us into close connection with Kwan Yin, Bodhisattva of Compassion. This great goddess, ‘She who hears the cries of the Earth,’ surely hears us this week. You can review the session and use it as you will on our website under WATER Programs and then Meditation. https://www.waterwomensalliance.org/february2025-watermeditation-cynthia-tootle/

On Meditation:

Instead of our usual format of a short input, silence, and conversation, we opted for longer input, conversation in small groups, and then silence and a blessing. This is not meant to be the new format for WATER meditations. Rather, it is meant to be a pause in business as usual to take “a long loving look at the real” as so many who try to contemplate have named the process.

1. Mary E. Hunt, Co-director of WATER

I have long referred to myself as an amateur at prayer (later in this hour I was enlightened by Brad Lutz, quoting St. Benedict, that “we’re always beginners.”).  Many of my colleagues, especially those in religious communities, have far more experience than I at finding their way in silence. In 2000, I spent two weeks in a yurt at Rancho Vallecitos in the mountains of New Mexico at a meditation retreat led by Buddhists. It was a wonderful experience with several periods of quiet every day—walking meditation, mindful eating of meals, morning and evening sitting in a group.

Two years later, I spent three weekends in a group with Nancy Sylvester who has developed the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue. The series, Engaging Impasse, was training that over 100 people engaged in to learn to meditate TOGETHER not just alone, and then to bring some of the fruits of meditation to conversation. This has been the mode of most of WATER’s meditations since we started more than a decade ago. See Nancy’s book JOURNEY-FAITH IN AN ENTANGLED WORLD (Institute of Communal Contemplation and Dialogue, 2024, www.iccdinstitute.com).
Nancy also suggests:

I think of Meditation as having three ingredients:

  1. Stop—We stop our usual way of being and thinking. Most people find it useful to sit quietly and comfortably, to settle into a space that is away from noise and distractions. There is also walking meditation and my favorite, swimming meditation, lap after lap. Be creative. There is no one right way.
  2. Attention—The common action of meditation is paying attention. It is not the conscious mind as usual paying attention when driving, reading, or speaking. Rather, it is leaving all that aside, creating space for the spirit to be watered in silence
  3. Time—Meditation takes time. It cannot be done generally in short bursts, though it can be if that is the only time available. Usually it needs a space of 10-30 minutes so one can move into meditation mode, stay there, and then slowly return to everyday life.

How to do it is the stuff of books and videos. But to begin, give yourself space and set aside time. This is the hardest part to do in our busy lives. Once you get here to WATERmeditation on a Monday night, you have done the hardest work.

As you begin the actual meditation, start with focus on your breathing; maybe find a word or phrase that help you focus, to which you can return when your attention wanders. Then simply practice by meditating. It is not called a ‘practice’ for nothing. There is no one right way, but you will find yours with practice. Do not expect miracles. Just take the grace as it comes.

2. Cynthia Tootle is an expert on Goddesses, has experience with many spiritual practices, and generously offers open sessions for all.

Meditation is changing one’s state of consciousness using one of a variety of techniques. One’s state of consciousness is a person’s experience of her mind, body, and spirit as a Self.

  1. Ideas for quieting the busy mind:

–Music by Artist R. Carlos Nakai, world’s premier performer of the Native American flute; or Artist Rusty Crutcher, music recorded at sacred sites throughout the world

–“Breathe like silk”- start breathing loudly and slowly, allow the breath to become silent.

  1. Ideas for withdrawing from physical pain:

–Chanting: Hindu Kirtan in person

–Albums: Chants for Healing by Shubhraji

—Spirit Healing Chants by Sophia

—Sacred World Chants or other albums by Deva Premal

—Chanting for Healing and Prayer by Paula Gilbert

  1. Ideas for seeking guidance or inspiration:

—Wednesday Healing and Meditation Teleconference at 7:30 pm

Every Wednesday evening, I lead an hour of prayer, spiritual healing, and messages from spirit and guided meditation. Sometimes fun and sometimes serious, it is always profound. Teleconference call 1-717-908-1636 with passcode 635833#

—March Goddess Circle with Rev Cynthia Tootle Friday March 14, 7:30 pm

On the night of a total Lunar Eclipse, the energies will be high for change, even transformation. We gather to honor the Greek Goddess Artemis. She is known for Her role as the protector of the beasts, but She has so many other aspects of the Divine Feminine. She uniquely understands and supports the women of today as we navigate this time of chaos. We gather for an hour of prayer, music and messages from the Goddess.  Teleconference call 1-717-908-1636 with passcode 635833#

—Expand App from the Monroe Institute–free, available in app stores.

Contains many guided meditations, long and short, guided and unguided, Uses Monroe Sound Science to enhance the meditation experience.

–WATER Meditation June 2, 2025, 7:30 pm. Cynthia will offer a guided meditation. Registration information at www.waterwomensalliance.org available closer to the date. All are welcome.

3. Brad Lutz is a retired United Church of Christ minister, an oblate of the Holy Wisdom Monastery, and a seasoned spiritual director.

The practice of meditation is thousands of years old and different forms come from around the world. While there are many definitions of meditation, it is, simply, a practice that involves focusing or clearing your mind using a combination of mental and physical techniques. My practice stems from the original Latin meaning of meditatio: “to think deeply about (something).”

Cleveland Clinic offers a succinct overview of meditation and its benefits on their website: Meditation: What It Is, Benefits & Types.

Two additional online resources are:

  • World Community for Christian Meditation – wccm.org – a global spiritual community united in the practice of meditation using a mantra as taught by John Main and Laurence Freeman offers a free on-line course on how to meditate: How to Meditate | WCCM
  • Contemplative Outreach – contemplativeoutreach.org – teaches the practice of Centering Prayer, as taught by Thomas Keating, which embodies a common desire for Divine transformation.

While both of these programs are in the Christian tradition, their teachers and proponents embrace strong interfaith connections and practices.

As a Benedictine oblate, I’ve learned to distinguish between meditation and contemplation, words often used interchangeably. Both are steps in Lectio Divina, or sacred reading, usually of scripture but not necessarily so, that St. Benedict encourages as a daily practice in his monastic Rule.

  • Meditation is the 2nd phase in Lectio and involves thinking deeply about what has been read; the text is held lightly and gently considered from various angles. Meditation is a playful conscious awareness of thoughts, hopes, memories, imagination, desires, fears, that speak to life’s specific condition from something read, heard, seen, or experienced. The emphasis is not on analysis but on keeping the mind open and allowing Spirit to inspire a meaning for it. Rather than disengaging the mind, Benedictine meditation focuses the mind with thoughts related to the reading – it is mindful thinking. Marjorie Thompson in Soul Feast uses a very pastoral image: The image of a cow chewing its cud is perfectly suited to the practice of meditation in the Christian tradition. We can all visualize what it looks like: processing and reprocessing food until it is fully digested. Meditation is about chewing on something, and digesting it until it brings forth new life and energy.
  • Contemplation is the final stage in Lectio and is a quiet opening to God without words or images. Many teachers of Lectio refer to contemplation as “resting” in God; it is union with the Source of Life and Love. It is the “cream” produced by the ruminations of meditation. Contemplation is to stop “doing” and simply enjoy “being” in the presence of the Divine.

Awareness of these definitions is important, especially for interfaith practice, because what Buddhists call “meditation,” Christians call “contemplation,” and what Christians call “contemplation,” Buddhists call “meditation.” cf. The Gethsemani Encounter edited by Donald W. Mitchell and James Wiseman, OSB.

Here’s how this works for me at WATER meditations. I listen to the brief presentation, often with paper and pencil to jot down anything that stands out to me. Then, in the 22 minutes of meditation, I think about what seized my attention, consider why it stood out, what connections it made to my life, notice feelings that arose, ponder any questions it elicited, and reflect on any sense of invitation that it might be asking of me. I keep all this in mind during our time of contemplative conversation, listening to the responses of others to discern additional insight. If I took notes, I may come back to these later for further rumination, especially if I replay the video of the meditation when it is posted on the WATER website.

Confused? The advice I hold close to my heart in all spiritual practice is this:

  • Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, says essentially “don’t get hung up on methods.”
  • Rule of St. Benedict: “we’re always beginners.”
  • In other words, there are no experts, no right or wrong. Just do it!4. Small groups convened for discussion about experiences of mediation, what works, what you like, what you don’t like, what you want to know from others.

    5. Adrienne Corti, a Canadian colleague, a longtime teacher of languages and religion, and a woman of the world who has travelled extensively so she has much on which to mediate, offered this reading.

A reading from William Stafford entitled “You Reading This, Be Ready” (https://pollycastor.com/2020/01/22/you-reading-this-be-ready-poem-by-william-stafford/), as it speaks to me of what meditation is about. It invites us to pay attention to all of our senses, which are inseparable from us, and which we often tend to take for granted.

You Reading This, Be Ready

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life.

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

During the next 10 minutes of silence you may want to bring your breath to each of your senses, breathing in awareness of what they experience each moment of each day and breathing out gratitude for the gift they offer to others in service. Breathing in and breathing out, breathing in and breathing out we enter into silence.

Closing blessing from John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us, “For the Senses,” Page 40 (https://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2014/04/john-odonohue-for-senses.html)

 

For the Senses

May the touch of your skin

Register the beauty

Of the otherness

That surrounds you.

May your listening be attuned

To the deeper silence

Where sound is honed

To bring distance home.

May the fragrance

Of a breathing meadow

Refresh your heart

And remind you you are

A child of the earth.

And when you partake

Of food and drink,

May your taste quicken

To the gift and sweetness

That flows from the earth.

May your inner eye

See through the surfaces

And glean the real presence

Of everything that meets you.

May your soul beautify

The desire of your eyes

That you might glimpse

The infinity that hides

In the simple nights

That seem worn

To your usual eyes.

Adrienne’s Recommended Books and other Resources:

Coming to Our Senses – Jon Kabat-Zinn

Wherever You Go, There You Are – Jon Kabat-Zinn

Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life – Thich Nhat Hanh and Lilian Cheung

For those who like a guided meditation:

Shakti Gawain, Meditations: Creative Visualization and Meditation Exercises to Enrich Your Life

Susan Moon, The Healing Oasis: Meditations for Body, Mind and Spirit

Norval United Church offers My Daily Minute. This consists of A Lent Word of the day, a Bible verse, a few words of reflection, a brief prayer, a quote of the day, and a video clip. Every Wednesday from 8:00-8:30 PM there is an invitation to join a Midweek Breath on Zoom that includes a 10-minute meditation. Subscription is free and if you are so moved you can make an offering. Email paul@norvalunited.ca and ask to have your name added to My Daily Minute.

A meditation I find particularly helpful to begin the day, I learned at a workshop with Sr. Jose Hobday, a Seneca elder of the Franciscan order. One of the prayers she taught us was 3 steps into the day. At each step you add your own words of praise to Creator. The first step is facing the East and addressing the daystar, the sun, and all that it brings to us. The second step is to ourselves and each of our senses. The third step is to the mystery of the day. We have no idea whether the day will bring us joy or sadness, fear or courage, etc. We only know that the Divine in whom we dwell is with us every step of the way.

Thank you to Cynthia, Brad, Adrienne and all who participated in this informative and inspiring evening. May it open us to new forms of creativity and increase our ability to bring our contemplative power to the needs of the world.

Next WATERMeditation will be on Monday, April 7, 2025, 7:30 pm with Virginia Day on the theme “And That Made All The Difference” from a famous Robert Frost poem. Register here: https://www.waterwomensalliance.org/watermeditation-registration/