Chanting and Silence, Some Suggestions

Chant
“Singing is one of the most important forms of prayer.  A few words sung over and over again reinforce the meditative quality of the prayer.  They express a basic reality of faith that can quickly be grasped by the intellect, and that gradually penetrates the heart and the whole being.” –the Taizé song book

“Listening is the secret of making music with others.  There is a tendency when singing in a group to hear mostly our own voice.  In its extreme, we get so lost in our self-expression that we lose contact with the group field, our voice blaring forth like a jazz trumpet in the middle of a Mozart string quartet.  Next time, really listen to the voices of your fellow chanters, their sound emanating from all four directions.  Listen for the sound that is the meeting place of all the individual sounds, the moment of blending when they become one.” – Chanting: Discovering Spirit in Sound, by Robert Gass with Kathleen Brehony

Give yourself over to the chant so that the chant chants you.  Let yourself be molded as the clay resigns itself to the strong sure hands of the sculptor.  As if you were surrendering to the words and caress of your beloved.  Just let go.”– Chanting: Discovering Spirit in Sound, by Robert Gass with Kathleen Brehony

Silence
Be still, and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth!   Psalm 46:10

“There is a narrow  human need to concentrate on the notes in the music, the events of life, the foreground in the picture, until the larger canvas disappears and robs the foreground event of its significance, its rest and its breadth.. We are each surrounded by an enormous silence that can be a blessing and a help to us, a silence in which the skein of reality is knitted and unraveled to be knit again, in which the perspectives of [life] can be enlarged and enriched.  Silence is like a cradle holding our endeavors and our will; a silent spaciousness sustains us in our [life] and at the same time connects us to larger worlds that, in the busyness of our daily struggle to achieve, we have not yet investigated.  Silence is the soul's break for freedom.”-- Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity by David Whyte

Watch your breath
Our breath is our most basic gift of life.  “Watch” your breath by focusing your awareness on your breathing.  As you breathe in, feel the cool air, say to yourself “I am breathing in…thank you for life.”  As you breathe out, feel how the air has warmed within you, say to yourself, “I am breathing out…receive my living.”

Focus on a sacred word
Allow a word to rise into your consciousness.  Receive that word as a gift.  When other thoughts arise, come back to your sacred word.

Slowly repeat a passage of scripture
“Create in me a clean heart, O God.”  “Perfect love casts out fear.”

Remember who you are and “whose” you are
Repeat the phrase “I am a child of God” or “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Listen to your body.  You do not have to lock yourself into stillness.  Find your body’s gentle small movements.