Centering Prayer

Say it with me, "Ahmmmmmm". This is week two of an 8am Saturday 'class' where we practice centering prayer at church. From what I gather it's meditation, communing with God, creating space to receive messages, letting go for a period of time.

We start out with a two minute centering time, then build to five minutes, then the finale is a twenty minute period. Have you ever tried to sit still with your eyes closed and your mind clear for twenty minutes??!! Um, it's hard. I have been trying to work through what buddhists call 'monkey brain'. 'Monkey brain' is where you are meditating and all these random thoughts keep popping up. I think of it like the old Atari game Pong... bing, bing, bing... gotta work out, gotta do the laundry, did I...? So you try to overcome the 'monkey brain' by coming back to 'center' and focusing on your breathing and counting. 1-2-3-4... 1-2-3-4...

I asked the question on Saturday, "How do you know when you've arrived?" My pastor said something like, 'as soon as you get there you are no longer there'. I asked is it like, "Catch me if you can?", and he said 'yes'. I told him I was expecting this experience to be like looking at one of those pictures where you have to focus (or not focus) to get the picture to come into view- like your mind's eye is seeing it, but your actual eyes are not. I asked if this centering is like when you actually see the picture unfold before you? He laughed and said he could never see those pictures. Hmmm.... I think he answered me without answering me.

I am looking for the 'right' way to do this, and I think that will cause frustration and a feeling of failure, so I will continue doing it the way I have been doing it, because it feels 'right'. I think that's what counts.