Listening to our Body's Wisdom
10-Dec-2011
On 10th December, Sister Margaret, Sister Felicity and Susan Barber (a married Anglican woman) gave a workshop to sixteen spiritual directors at Brentwood Cathedral conference centre. The workshop was called “Listening for God in the deep well of our bodily being.” We teach a process called “biospiritual focusing” which is about noticing how all of our experiences have a bodily resonance; when we pay attention to this we are present to our inner reality which is where God dwells, even in painful and difficult places. In the process we wait with our feelings, as they are held in the body, in a gentle and kindly way. This “body listening” is a form of prayer, because we wait with openness for grace to come and transform our experience. God is deeply IN the process. Over time, we are changed, and become more gentle in our attitude to ourselves and others, and more discerning in how we live our lives. The participants were often surprised by what came for them in the focusing process, and are interested in it as a helpful tool in accompanying others. It also helps us to develop a friendly and listening attitude to our body’s wisdom, through which we listen more deeply to God.