Postures of Prayer & Praise are “outer representations of an inner reality”
In Luke 10, when the lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, he asked him how to inherit eternal life. Like a learned rabbi, Jesus turned the question back to the lawyer, who answered:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus confirmed his answer as true, with a command and a promise: “Do this and you will live.”
When I teach on embodied prayer and worshiping with your whole self (including the often-excluded body), I am often asked where to begin. “EMBODIED” — a 7 day exploration of postures of prayer and praise — is designed as a starting (or restarting point) for those wanting to engage their bodies in prayer and worship.
- Perhaps you have never used your body to pray or worship?
- Or perhaps you’ve danced like David before the Lord and are looking for a new way to explore the movement of worship that flows freely from your sinew and bones?
- Or perhaps you’re looking for an embodied way to spend an intentional week of prayer and worship before the Lord?
Whatever your reason, I’m glad you’re here.
Below you will find 7 postures with Biblical basis and ideas for exploration as you put it into practice. If you choose, you can explore one every day for a week.
EMBODIED DAY 1 :: Hands Raised
EMBODIED DAY 2 :: Palms Down
EMBODIED DAY 3 :: Palms Up
EMBODIED DAY 4 :: Hands Together
EMBODIED DAY 5 :: Hands to Heart
EMBODIED DAY 6 :: Hands Flat (Prostrate)
EMBODIED DAY 7 :: Hands Clapping
You can also find the full Embodied feature translated to Spanish here: EMBODIED Spanish Posturas de oración y adoración
You can do this journey anytime…
…when you want to set a season aside to embody your prayers and worship
…when you feel fragmented and want to bring your whole self back together again
…when you want to come before Jesus in a new and embodied way.
Won’t you join us on this journey?
If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below. And please, feel free to share your experience. I welcome your thoughts and observations.
Welcome to the embodied life! Eternal life!
Blessings of ARTistry, CREATivity & BEaUty, Jody
*** Shared with permission from CYA Founding Master Trainer, Director of Education & Contributing writer, Jody Thomae.
P.S. As an added bonus… I found this video and wanted to add this to the post. The thoughts and reasons behind different postures of worship shared is trUly BEaUtiful.