WEBVTT 00:00:09.259 --> 00:00:13.259 In today’s world, our lives are full to bursting. 00:00:13.259 --> 00:00:17.868 We have ever increasing opportunities for fun, friendship and growth. 00:00:18.222 --> 00:00:24.868 So why do we sometimes feel empty inside or caught up in worries over the little things? 00:00:25.940 --> 00:00:30.060 Why does the reality of life seem so far from our childhood imaginings? 00:00:30.059 --> 00:00:37.060 Why does the divine peace and love we hear so much of, sometimes feel so far away? 00:00:40.558 --> 00:00:46.658 Everyone needs a place of anchor in their lives. A place of stillness, a peaceful refuge 00:00:46.658 --> 00:00:51.088 beyond the busyness and worries of day to day life. 00:00:51.088 --> 00:00:55.399 For many people, Christian Meditation offers just that. 00:00:55.399 --> 00:01:00.890 An ancient form of silent prayer, it’s incredibly relevant 00:01:00.890 --> 00:01:04.348 to the busy and preoccupied citizens of the 21st century. 00:01:05.180 --> 00:01:09.180 Silence in the City Young Christian Meditators´ Stories 00:01:15.230 --> 00:01:18.000 Giovanni Felicioni: Meditation is a time of prayer which happens 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:25.000 without words, without movement, in solitude, where you are at rest, comfortable, 00:01:25.930 --> 00:01:32.930 easy, relaxed and then, when you have this opportunity to give your attention to something. 00:01:33.230 --> 00:01:39.280 And the something is in the silence; around you and within you; it’s not a thinking, 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:46.280 it’s not a praising or a thanking, it’s a neutral, simple place of anchor that gently teaches 00:01:46.569 --> 00:01:52.129 you how to be in the present moment... and it’s there that we discover the Moment of Christ. 00:01:53.975 --> 00:01:59.560 Be still and know that I am God. - Psalm, 46, 10. 00:02:01.170 --> 00:02:05.030 Celia: My name’s Celia, I’m part of a Christian 00:02:05.030 --> 00:02:06.750 meditation group in Sydney, Australia. 00:02:07.335 --> 00:02:13.030 Our group meets each week at a church in Paddington, a busy shopping district. 00:02:13.030 --> 00:02:17.680 In the center of all that busyness, we make time for silence. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:22.370 We are quite a mixed group, our lives are all pretty different: some of us work, some 00:02:22.370 --> 00:02:28.709 study and we have all sorts of interests. But when we sit down to meditate, our differences 00:02:28.778 --> 00:02:35.017 fade away as we share in the silence which connects us to each other and to God. 00:02:56.821 --> 00:03:01.967 After we’ve listened to some readings, we meditate in silence for 25 minutes. 00:03:10.318 --> 00:03:17.318 Our practice is based on the internal repetition of a prayer word or mantra. Many people use 00:03:17.408 --> 00:03:23.248 the Aramaic word MARANATHA, meaning "The Lord or the teacher comes". 00:03:23.248 --> 00:03:28.709 When repeating the mantra, we don’t think of its meaning, it just helps us focus our 00:03:28.709 --> 00:03:33.079 attention and be in the present moment. 00:03:33.079 --> 00:03:38.909 Of course thoughts, of plans for tomorrow or dinner tonight, distract us. The key is 00:03:38.908 --> 00:03:44.929 to return to the mantra as soon as we realize we are thinking. This is a way to move beyond 00:03:44.930 --> 00:03:51.829 thoughts, words and imaginings. Through the simplifying silence, we let go of our own 00:03:51.829 --> 00:03:58.829 plans and priorities and let ourselves to be open to the Divine. 00:04:00.180 --> 00:04:07.109 Christian meditation was revived some 30 years ago by John Main, a Benedictine monk. He believed 00:04:07.109 --> 00:04:13.139 that the ancient Christian tradition of meditative prayer should be available to all as a valuable 00:04:13.139 --> 00:04:17.569 and relevant practice in today’s fast paced world. 00:04:17.569 --> 00:04:22.230 John Main and fellow Benedictine Laurence Freeman began to teach others this way of 00:04:22.230 --> 00:04:29.170 prayer by establishing small meditation groups. First in London and then in Montreal, Canada. 00:04:29.170 --> 00:04:33.830 As groups began to appear around the globe, the World Community for Christian Meditation 00:04:33.829 --> 00:04:39.509 was formed: an ecumenical monastery without walls. 00:04:39.509 --> 00:04:44.899 Today our group is one of almost 400 groups in Australia and countless more worldwide. 00:04:46.714 --> 00:04:51.899 In contemplative prayer we seek to become the person we are called to be. - John Main 00:04:55.009 --> 00:04:59.560 John Shields: The main reasons why I meditate, really, initially 00:04:59.560 --> 00:05:06.339 it was to stop the busyness of my life, to really just center myself and to try and be 00:05:06.339 --> 00:05:12.310 living in the present. I found I was living too much in the future, even in the past at 00:05:12.310 --> 00:05:18.069 times. I actually meditate on the train before I go to work and also in the afternoon on 00:05:18.069 --> 00:05:23.730 the train, so I really try and blend the meditation into my lifestyle. It’s my own time which 00:05:23.730 --> 00:05:29.280 I can spend with God and become closer to Him. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:34.909 Meditation has really helped me in my own work practice, because it helps me to listen 00:05:34.910 --> 00:05:41.000 and to be... to really be closer to the person who I’m actually helping. 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:48.000 I’m really passionate about my triathlons and about keeping fit, because I think keeping 00:05:48.139 --> 00:05:52.579 fit makes you feel good, gives me a lot of confidence in my life, it gives me structure 00:05:52.579 --> 00:05:59.419 and also I feel the discipline enables me to really use my time productively. Meditation 00:05:59.420 --> 00:06:02.620 has helped me in my discipline with my sport. 00:06:02.620 --> 00:06:07.230 We’re encouraged to meditate for 25 to 30 minutes in the morning and the same in the 00:06:07.230 --> 00:06:13.050 evening and that’s a big commitment and it actually helps with my sporting commitments. 00:06:13.050 --> 00:06:17.819 Life is a gift and I’m not here to waste it. 00:06:18.904 --> 00:06:24.519 Utterly at home, God lives in our soul forever. - Mother Julian of Norwich 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:30.819 Claire: My name is Claire. I’m British and currently 00:06:30.819 --> 00:06:38.957 living in Sydney. When I was growing up, Christianity was all around. My dad was an Anglican vicar, 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:44.620 and we lived in a vicarage next to the church. Christianity was there in the kitchen, as 00:06:44.620 --> 00:06:50.810 my mum prepared for parish lunches, in the garden where we hunted for Easter eggs and 00:06:50.810 --> 00:06:57.810 in the ringing phone coming from Dad’s study. As a child, I listened to people in church 00:06:57.939 --> 00:07:04.939 and wondered what prayer was. To me it didn’t make much sense to speak to God as if He was 00:07:05.819 --> 00:07:10.949 out there somewhere. Growing up, I distinctly remember feeling 00:07:10.949 --> 00:07:18.903 that God was more inside than outside. As I got older, my questions about God remained, 00:07:19.470 --> 00:07:25.150 but I put all my energy into trying to make a difference in the world, working on conservation 00:07:25.149 --> 00:07:32.149 projects and community programs overseas. Despite working in some fantastic places with 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:37.370 wonderful people, I often felt unfulfilled. 00:07:37.370 --> 00:07:42.867 I was upstairs, on a double-decker London bus when a friend first told me about Christian 00:07:42.867 --> 00:07:49.990 Meditation. I knew then, that this was a missing piece in the jigsaw for me. 00:07:50.327 --> 00:07:57.850 Learning about the Christian contemplative tradition validated my sense of a God who dwells within. 00:08:01.394 --> 00:08:07.779 It also helped to me appreciate other forms of prayer and the tradition I grew up with. 00:08:09.089 --> 00:08:16.089 Through meditating, I know that being is just as important as doing and the action to help 00:08:16.490 --> 00:08:23.170 others grows out of silence. I love the sense of community and friendship that meditation 00:08:23.170 --> 00:08:29.900 brings and the new places and people I’ve known because of it. But most of all, I meditate 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:32.929 because it’s how I feel closest to God. 00:08:34.652 --> 00:08:39.929 We are one with the One. We are one with all. - John Main 00:08:40.149 --> 00:08:42.370 Retreat: meditation & the body 00:08:42.370 --> 00:08:45.340 Giovanni: The gorgeous thing about meditation is that 00:08:45.340 --> 00:08:51.330 it gives us this opportunity to be really free, to be playful and to be ourselves. We 00:08:51.330 --> 00:08:57.340 have this chance to reset everything, instead of having to believe all the things we’ve 00:08:57.340 --> 00:09:02.590 been told to believe. In meditation it’s a chance to really check, to listen in to 00:09:02.590 --> 00:09:08.480 God, to really listen to what it sounds like in the silence and what it feels like to be 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:08.730 ourselves 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:15.259 I mean you are totally and utterly loved, no matter your sexuality, no matter your addictions, 00:09:15.259 --> 00:09:19.689 no matter what you may have done that you feel has really hurt someone else. All you 00:09:19.690 --> 00:09:26.010 need to do is to say "I accept that I’m being loved, I totally accept to the bottom 00:09:26.009 --> 00:09:31.730 of my breath, to the deepest muscle in my body that I forgive myself, that it's beautiful 00:09:31.730 --> 00:09:38.090 to be me, to be quirky, to have the timbre of my voice or the shape of my body, to be 00:09:38.090 --> 00:09:44.278 at this moment of my life. And meditation gives us that chance. We’re simply opening 00:09:44.278 --> 00:09:49.110 to space, to silence, to rest and to presentness.