Hand prayers
By Jenny Williams (Chaplain 1997-present)
Praying through the week using the body not words.
One way of praying without words is by movement or gesture. We all know some prayer movements yet rarely think of the movement itself as prayer. Simply to put your palms together is already a prayer without words. The movement expresses intention, direction of life, hope and trust in God. You can create your own prayers by using your hands.
Sunday: Maker of Heaven And Earth - Creation
Sit and do nothing except be aware of all that is going on in your body. You breathe without thinking about it, your heart beats without you controlling it. Use your hands to help you be aware of your breath and your heartbeat. Feel the movement of your breathing by placing a hand or hands on the area of your diaphragm or abdomen. Feel the rhythm of your heart in many places - such as over or near your heart, the wrist pulse, the neck pulse. These natural rhythms can be very comforting. This is an experience that can lead to praise, wonder and worship, and can be a comfort when life around you is difficult, distressing or agitated.
Monday: Birth - Incarnation
Start with the traditional prayer position of palms together at roughly the level of your heart. Begin with an awareness that your heart is where love is understood to reside, the place from which love is born. Open your palms to God with or without words. Realise that God is loving and accepting you just as you are and is awakening new birth, new possibilities within you. Experiment with this gesture, repeating it in your own time.
Tuesday: Suffering
Gestures can be used to get in touch with problems in our lives and then we can release them to God. The gesture of clenching and releasing your hands can be used in the following way. Think of a situation which causes you suffering, such as one that makes you anxious and tense, one that causes you pain and distress, or something that makes you angry. Hold this situation prayerfully and clench your fists. Gradually open your hands to release the tension, the pain, the emotions into God's hands, God's love, God's care.
Wednesday: Resurrection
God takes us from where we are now into newness of life. Make this a prayer by moving your hands forwards as if they were feet going one step after another. Hold your hands at whatever level in the body is comfortable or meaningful, from your heart, from the area of your diaphragm or from your abdomen. Experience the sense of being moved forward - pulled, encouraged, called into new things. Allow a prayer to come from within and/or hold in your mind a situation where you want God's help to enter into the unknown. If you have difficulty moving on in any situation, ask yourself "How can Christ help me to keep going?" and imagine Him there; for you.
Thursday: Forgiveness
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow". Psalm 51 v 7. Use a gentle face-washing gesture as a way to help the reality of forgiveness suffuse your being. Even when we have said words of forgiveness in our heads sometimes it is difficult to let the experience of forgiveness seep into our bodies and hearts. Find for yourself further movements that speak to your body and let you begin to digest the reality that God does forgive you, loves you and offers you the gift of being cleansed and of beginning again.
Friday: Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit brings release, freedom, and energy for life. The following movements can help you discover the reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit offering you freedom and lightness of spirit.
Hold your hands together, closed but not clenched, and then open them as if you were letting a little bird go free.
Allow your hands (and your arms too, if you want) to make a gesture as if you were flying.
Open your hands and arms in a gesture of receiving.
Saturday: The Church
The Church is a place where we both receive from Christ and are drawn together with the family of God locally and internationally. Here we receive in communion. Try holding your hands in the form of a cup, and let yourself receive God's love. If it is meaningful for you bring your hands to your mouth to imagine receiving the wine. Then let your hands move as they want to, giving praise and reaching out to others. Your hands may move to cover your heart, they may want to move upwards and outwards, they may want to open. Experiment with different possibilities and consider how much we use our hands to convey love and to build community and caring.
Some further comments
With these movements some people find it helpful to sing at the same time or play music which creates an atmosphere of prayfulness.
Try using the movements for several minutes at a time, say five to ten minutes. Notice and reflect on any effects on your body, emotions, or thinking. Speak to God, most especially if you encounter resistance in yourself or difficulty in continuing with any of the movements. God accepts you with your inner resistances and any difficulties you find in receiving all the love that is being offered to you. Do not condemn yourself but rather explore with God what you are learning about yourself. Ask and trust that the next step is being prepared for you to help you open up more deeply to the wonder of unconditional love - God's gift to each one of us. Remember, the movement itself IS a prayer. There is no need for words although they may arise spontaneously. What is important is that you get used to the experience that the feelings in the body can be themselves a prayer without words.
These gestures can be as meaningful through your imagination as actually doing them. So they can go with you wherever you are, even if you are in a context where it is not appropriate to express them physically.
It is often helpful to have someone you know to discuss and reflect with you the experience of this way of prayer. This provides an opportunity to say what you are learning and so deepen awareness of your own growth.