Opening Prayer

I experience certain kinds of prayer to be extremely useful processes. I pray daily every morning in a nontraditional way by opening myself to my essential nature or unconscious spirit.
Others could reasonably call this area God, the collective unconscious, the Holy Spirit, the higher self, or the force. So I imagine an atheist would not have insurmountable challenges in letting go to their creative functions. Perhaps the name prayer might be problematic sounding so they might call this opening or availing themselves to their deeper creative functions.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Luke 11:9

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Jer. 33.3

Prayer can be a sense of opening ourselves to the spirit or creative unconscious or it can be viewed as communication. We may be open and paying attention to what our unconscious or God or our creativity provides. We may directly request something like intuition or healing or to be returned to wholness.
Some folk's prayers may represent a form of praise, thanksgiving, a confession. In Christian prayers Jesus acts as a mediator between us and the Almighty. Here prayers are sent forth in the name of Jesus.

I've been using the same basic prayer form for the last 20 years or so. I call it Opening Prayer. With this form of prayer I relax and let go to my unconscious or the creative spirit. Over the years what I let go to has remained the same. The outer structure has altered as I have found new ways to surrender to my essential nature and know it.

In "Opening Prayer" I breathe deeply though my left nostil only while my right nostril is gently pinched shut for several minutes. This helps facilitate unconscious processes. I take a feeling or an emotion and find it's surrounding felt sense and allow myself to let go to this felt sense. It is here that my unconscious or spirit begins to unfold whatever it has instore for me. Generally I never approach it with anything concrete in mind. I just go to that place and open myself to it. Often I will dream watch in an open way or be paying full attention to an intuition that may be auditory, visual, and bodily felt. Even my Opening Prayer structure may change on its own accord. I let the spirit of the moment do the leading. I let myself step out of the way. I let go of all control. The creative spirit intercedes.
Depending on the call of the moment I may pay more attention to my various senses, my overall felt sense or intuition, images of wide open spaces. Whatever comes up is whereever my attention goes. The back ground intention is something like: "I let myself go to wherever my essential nature takes me."
So here's basically what my Opening Prayer is:

OPENING PRAYER

(1) I find a comfortable chair in a quiet room.

(2) I might prop my head and shoulders up on sofa pillows. My body relaxes from my scalp to my toes as I breathe deeply and fully through my left nostril. My right nostril is gently pinched shut. I quit the right nostril closing after a few minutes.
My eyes are closed. The breathing may be at any speed. The breathing speed sets itself according to whereever my essential nature leads. After a time the breathing does the breathing.

(3) Now aside from step 3, the rest of the Opening Prayer may move in several directions set by my inner promptings. I may look up briefly and comfortably through the area around my hairline. If this is what I'm led to do, I only do it until it begins to feel strained or uncomfortable. Looking up this way generally stimulates slower brain waves and a deeper connection with my unconscious processes. I also may attend to some present feeling or emotion. I will fully feel it and let myself go to it. I may get an overall felt sense or a strong intuition. I allow my unconscious to direct my attention to wherever it desires. It knows. My body lets go to this process. I may even pay relaxed attention to internal images of open spaces or open vistas. No matter what path my unconscious has selected, I just leave myself open. I may soon get hypnogogic images and fleeting imagery. I let go and watch. Before long these images have turned to dreams or intuitions or callings. I just give my open and relaxed attention. The spirit within reveals quite a bit during these times. Usually I loose all track of time,but most times something valuable arrives often in a surprising and novel way. Ideas have suddenly occurred to me that may alter how I see things in some project I'm working upon. I may learn something about myself. Sometimes spontaneous healings will occur.

In Opening Prayer there is an overall sense of permission, allowing, letting go to, or surrendering to whatever comes. There is never any attempt to force issues or of trying. The unconscious spirit knows exactly what to do. Soon this surrendering will feel like second nature. Everyone is slightly different in how these openings come to them. Some may be visual, deeply felt, or even heard. A mix may exist--this is the way it is for me.

I always set a time and follow through early in the morning before I begin work.

My unconscious takes me to whatever it believes is important and I keep myself open to this.



Copyright Steve Mensing