When Prayer Doesn’t Work: Interfaith Contemplative Practices

When we experience loss or a traumatic transition, we may, according to our individual traditions, turn to prayer for comfort, support, and alleviation of our pain. What happens when we feel as if our prayers are unanswered? Perhaps the key is that our understanding of prayer might be limited. In this session, the leader of Alignment: Interfaith Contemplative Practices extends the invitation to examine prayer as a practice of well-being that might extend beyond our traditional understanding of prayer. By incorporating the spiritual practices of different traditions, new opportunities for prayer expand our awareness of the connections made through shared and individual prayer. We consider the ways in which prayer might arrive in actions that we perform every day, or in forms and words that we have never experienced before. Music, movement, breathing, writing, walking, and a multitude of contemplative practices are shared that might enrich our life of prayer.