I was delighted to be joined by Simon de Voil and Jamie Marich to celebrate the launch of my latest book, Breath Prayer: An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred. We gathered with many of you to share song and movement and breath as a way to deepen into this practice. I invite you to join us for the Advent Breath Prayer Retreat: A Companion to the Book which begins November 29th.

Share your Word for 2014 In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to God and to their own inner struggles at work within them. The desert became a place to enter into the refiner’s fire and be stripped down to one’s holy essence. The desert was a threshold place where you emerged different than when you entered. Many people followed these ammas and abbas, seeking their wisdom and guidance for a meaningful life. One tradition was to ask for a word –  this word or

Lynda Chalmers is offering 40 days of contemplative practices at her blog and invited me to reflect on lectio divina: When I first was introduced to the practice of lectio divina many years ago I felt an opening inside of me, as if I was being met right where I was. I discovered in this ancient way of praying a mirror of my own inner movements and longing for contemplative depth. I felt supported in a way of savoring life and listening deeply for the voice of Spirit moving through sacred texts and the world. Lectio divina has four movements