Meditation Workshop Practice

Audio – Guided meditation

This guided meditation based on St Francis Prayer and the practice described in AA’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions book.

Personal practice

The workshop is based on the St Francis Prayer and the practice described in AA’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions book pages 99 to 101.

You can download a printable copy of the prayer and these instructions here.

You can view the prayer here.

Read the prayer three times very slowly.

Savour the words. Drop all resistance. Rest quietly in the thoughts.

Relax. Breathe Deeply.

Close your eyes. Relax as if on a sunlit beach.
Take some deep breaths exhaling slowly.
Feel the power, beauty and love of the prayer.
Become willing.

If other thoughts break in… recall our objective and relax again.

It’s natural for other thoughts to intrude.
Remember our intention is to meditate.
Smile to yourself. Go back to that sunlit beach. Relax and breath.

Read the prayer once more – this time take in the meaning.

Open your eyes and read the prayer again.
Look for the inner essence of the prayer.
Think about what the author intended to be and do.

Contemplate.

Choose one of the eight qualities listed.
Love, Forgiveness, Harmony, Truth, Faith, Hope, Light, Joy
Close your eyes.
Ask for the grace to bring that quality to others.
Use constructive imagination.
Ask what it means to be “self-forgetting” and how to accomplish that.
Think about giving the chosen quality rather than receiving it.

Spend two or more minutes doing this.

End with a prayer for the day.

After a two or more minutes, end by asking for guidance through your day.
Amen.

Open your eyes slowly and re-engage with the world.

Guided Meditation Video