These prayers are written to pray for someone else, but you can also use them to pray for yourself, or even to pray for all people in the world with these challenges.
Begin by Modifying the Prayer
Use these prayers as a starting point and modify them for your own situation. I find that the process of modifying a prayer is actually an important part of the prayer because it’s another way of focusing loving attention on your person. Sometimes I’ll take parts from different prayers to create a new prayer, since there often isn’t a one-size-fits-all prayer.
Get Your Person’s Input on the Prayer
Ideally, this is a collaboration! Ask your person if they would like you to pray for them. If so, get their input on the prayer and see if there’s anything they would like to change or add.
Suggestions for How to Say the Prayers
It can be simple! Here are some ideas:
- Read it (to yourself or out loud) whenever you feel moved to.
- Commit to saying it every night (or whenever) for 7 days, or whatever span of time feels right to you.
- Ask others to say it with you.
- If you like to draw, print it out and illuminate it with intention.
- Do a walking prayer where you think about your person, stopping to read the prayer whenever you feel moved to.
- Use it in a ceremony. For example, create a sacred space in your home or outdoors (with flowers, candles, or whatever you like). Say the prayer (once or a few times). Move some lights and incense clockwise over the prayer or hold your hands over it in a blessing disposition. If you have printed the prayer, you could end the ceremony by burning it and offering the ashes to the wind or the earth.
It can also be a meditation:
Spiritual masters often talk about prayer as a whole body activity. That it’s not that you’re praying for some poor person who needs help, rather, it’s about putting your attention on the Divine (however you experience that), and attuning your mind, body, and spirit to that feeling, so that you are very actively participating in the prayer with all of you.
In the following instructions, the Divine is envisioned as “light”—the feeling, or resonance, of light as a positive sense of goodness, grace, kindness, generosity, compassion, faith, devotion, deep acceptance, love.
- Find a comfortable, quiet place to sit or lie down.
- Read the prayer.
- Tune into your breathing, taking deep breaths down to your toes.
- Open to the feeling of light. Take whatever time you need to breathe this particular virtue of feeling into your heart and through your body.
- Feel into the prayer, think about your person, radiate this light to them.
- With each inhale, receive the light and let it brighten every part of you. With each exhale release any sense of problem or trouble.
- Do this for as long as feels right to you.
- End by saying the prayer again.