Prayer and Meditation

Prayer and meditation are a very important part of life. They are also an important part of our favorite paths, Twelve Step and Eastern philosophy. Prayer and meditation are honored as the 11th step: "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry it out."

We have included a document that was the handout and focus of a workshop at a twelve step retreat on prayer and meditation that we find helpful here. It covers some of the basics of these two extremely helpful paths in a two page document. It is based on the eleventh step of the life saving and life changing Twelve Step tradition we are very happy to be a part of. Find it here.

Eastern philosophy considers meditation as the foundation of enlightenment and wisdom, with many people meditating for many hours a day in silence for years at a time. Some also pray to their ancestors and others, display prayer flags, and use prayer wheels. Although there are many similarities between between prayer and meditation, there are significant differences as well, so we have split them up into multiple posts. Look here for prayer, here for meditation, which includes calm abiding meditation and insight meditation.