Ohio Illuman Monthly Update - September 2019

Greetings Brothers!

We hope you had a great Labor Day and are looking forward to this Fall!

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Meditation
Try Adding Some Movement

By J.D. Whitlock

I am not very good at the meditation thing. Either the making time to sit down part, or the keeping a quiet mind while sitting down part.

I am good about jogging with my dog every morning. Because, you know, dogs need to be walked, and I love my dog.

After hearing Father Richard Rohr talk about walking meditation working better for a lot of men, I decided to be more purposeful (and maybe even a little liturgical) about my prayer time while jogging. If you are not a runner this would work just as well with a brisk walk.

I start with prayers for those in my life that need healing or blessing, but I do it in a repeating rhythmic way that works well for breathing when exercising:

Loving God (inhale)
Alpha Omega (exhale)
Infuse the Holy Spirit (inhale)
Bless <first name last name> (exhale)

If a particular person is weighing heavy on my heart for any reason, I repeat the verse several times using that person's name before I move on to the next name. I have a standard list of names in my head that I go through every day so it is easy to remember. Then I'll add a name to the list temporarily if someone is having a health issue. So it is kind of like singing an easy to remember song -- a lot of verses with a lot of repetition and slight variation. In other words, it is very meditative. There is something about invoking the Trinity followed by a person's name that is powerful.

Now I am warmed up and breathing faster. I do a repetition of the following, with some words I paraphrased from one of Father Richard's writings about how an important part of our job as a child of God is to reflect the light and beauty of creation back to our creator:

Beauty (inhale) Back (exhale)
Beauty Back
Beauty Back
Beauty Back
Thy Grace
My Grace
Thy Grace
My Grace

Beauty Back
Beauty Back
Beauty Back
Beauty Back

Thy Will
My Will
Thy Will
My Will

Beauty Back
Beauty Back
Beauty Back
Beauty Back

Thy Love
My Love
Thy Love
My Love

While I am inhaling "Beauty" I am mentally soaking in the physical beauty around me. When I am exhaling "Back" I am giving it back to God.

Similarly with the Thy Grace / My Grace (etc.) I am soaking up God's Grace / Will / Love (that comes first) and then saying a little prayer that I might reflect a small piece of it back to those around me.

Just like meditation, sometimes my mind wanders away to my day ahead even though my breath is saying these words. Just like meditation, as I realize this I try to bring my mind back to the meaning of the words. Rinse, repeat.

This has become an important daily routine (and blessing) for me.

Try it out, see if it does anything for you!

Peace!

🧘‍♂️🏃‍♂️

J.D.

J.D. Whitlock is active in Ohio Illuman and lives in the Dayton Area with his wife and daughters. When he's not practicing his meditation while jogging with his dog, J.D. keeps busy as the chief information officer of a local hospital.