Originally published August 6 2005
College offers meditation to bring inner peace
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A new program is being developed at Lynchburg College to provide meditation, yoga and centering prayer.
According to the Biblical story of creation, even God took a day of rest after six busy days of making the universe.
Anne Gibbons, associate chaplain at Lynchburg College, said new programs focusing on contemplative practices such as meditation, yoga and centering prayer, are in development at the school.
"I'm really convinced it's essential to be grounded in contemplative spirituality," she said.
"The idea is really to be in silence before God," she said.
"For me, what centering prayer does is grounds me in the reality that God loves me for who I am.
Spiritual rest The importance of rest from a Christian perspective is also addressed by "Rest: Experiencing God's Peace in a Restless World," by Siang-Yang Tan.
The experience of spiritual rest has nine components, according to Tan: sleep, simplicity, servanthood, stress management, solitude and silence, Sabbath, spiritual community, spirit-filled surrender (a surrender to God) and Shepherd-centeredness (alluding to the idea of God as the "Good Shepherd").
Keeping the Sabbath Unfortunately, "our culture has really moved away from any sense of the Sabbath," said Guy Brewer, chaplain at Sweet Briar College.
For those unfamiliar with the term, the "Sabbath" is a religious day of rest, usually observed Sunday in the Christian tradition.
He suggested that if people find themselves unable to devote an entire day to keeping the Sabbath, to try to at least "piece it together throughout the week" by devoting smaller time increments to practices that will help them grow spiritually, such as listening to inspirational music, reading the Bible or other devotional texts, or spending the time in service of others.
Solitude and community For some, a period of solitude or silence may be part of keeping the Sabbath.
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