Benefits of Meditation and Prayer

During your time with the Self-Healing Journey Program, I will refer often to Meditation and also to Prayer. 

I wish to share this post from Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji (Gurudev), who is the leader of the Art of Living Foundation. He is amazing.  He is one of my inspirations to studying the art of Prayer, alongside the power of Shamanism.

I have deep faith in the power of prayer, maybe because Shamanism is mostly about prayer and connection to the source in a state of deep awareness.

Guruji explains prayer very nicely here. 

The power of prayer when it comes from a place of silence and awareness can truly create miracles. I have had the honor of witnessing a few happening.

All is needed is faith and faith is a state of physical relaxation and mental calmness.  From there you can make it all work since we are co-creators of our existence until the moment that you surrender fully to the flow of life. 

Prayer works, in all of its expressions. Regularly I practice mantra chanting, which is a form of prayer and it can be felt how the energy and the cells in the body are reconfigured.

Prayer, faith, devotion, and inner calmness cannot be grasped by the intellect, they are not at the level of the thinking mind.

Try it. Is actually quite fun.

“When you feel the obstacle is too much to handle, deep prayer can work miracles. Whatever you do, know that the higher power has the final say and you can tap that power through your prayers because prayer is the cry of a soul. It happens when you feel utterly helpless or when you feel totally grateful. Both are authentic and always get fulfilled.

Praying doesn’t mean just sitting and chanting some words. It is about being in that serene, calm, meditative state. Whereas religion puts words to prayer, and adds symbols and rituals to it, prayer itself transcends them. It happens in the subtle level of feelings and the feelings transcend words and religion. This silence is one step beyond the barriers of language. It is that which the whole universe can understand. That is why, in the Vedic tradition, before and after prayers, there is meditation.

When the mind is focused, prayer becomes far more powerful. You have to connect to yourself because all powers are hidden within the Self. Then everything will manifest. It is like using a cell phone. If you keep on pressing numbers but there is no SIM card inside, will it work? Similarly, some of our prayers are not getting connected. You haven’t put in the SIM card. Now if you have the SIM card and no range, will it work? Or, if the range and SIM card are there, but the battery is not charged, will it work? You need a SIM card, charge and range and only then you can call anyone, anywhere.

So, Sadhana (spiritual practices) is the SIM card, Satsang (music and meditation) is the charge and your faith is the range, because a true prayer can’t happen without devotion and faith. The act of praying itself has the power to bring transformation. Realize that God’s protection is there for you. And if at all you have to pray for something, pray for the happiness of all the people in the world.

Sending many blessings, 

Leo Cordero