Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Cup of Anuks. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey. And at the time of this recording, I know it's the heart of winter for y'all listening, but uh, the clocks just went back the other night. I broke out a fall flannel. This is the first time it's ever been on video.So if you're uh, listening, not watching, you might want to tune in to see my very fall colored flannel. I definitely look a lot more country than usual. And uh, since i'm talking about what's going on, my background is is a white and gray gradient rippling background to represent, if we could represent, uh, silence, being in the void of silence.When you close your eyes and open your mind to just absolutely nothing. And we're going to be talking about the power of silence today, which is why I bring that up because as we'll get into our guests, we'll share with us in great detail. We live in probably the noisiest. time period ever where everyone has a noise making device on them, AKA your cell phone, where there is social media, someone giving them their opinion, telling a story, whatever it may be.We live in one of the busiest and loudest time periods that have ever existed. And so it can be very difficult. and counterintuitive to society to embrace silence to Seek silence and to grow from it, but we have a guest who's going to tell us how beneficial It is especially in the world of faith where we think we need to worship god loudly and yell out to him so he can hear us but As they say in church these silent intentions of a heart we offer them up and so i'm excited for today's episode And to break the silence on his end, mr rich So glad to have you here.Could you please introduce yourself for us? Sure. No, thanks for having me on. Um, I'm Rich Lewis and I guess I have a website called silence teaches. Um, it sounds teaches. com and it started about almost 10 years ago at this point, I think about nine years old and, and. Really the purpose of the site, then I've let it evolve, but really is to, is to share a practice called centering prayer that I've been doing for about 10 years at this point.Um, and it's, it's, I guess it's got some biblical context cause Jesus went off alone to be by himself in silence. We surmise he wasn't always, he wasn't always talking. He was just sitting with God silently sitting with God. So I have a website really devoted to centering prayer, which is a form of silent meditation That really has kind of healed me, transformed me, and I'd just like to share the practice with others in case it can do the same for them as it has done for me.So that's really what, uh, that website's all about and a lot of the work that I do. For sure. So let's dive right into, you use the term silent prayer, and I'm sure everyone has some kind of version in their head of what that means. But tell us. for you, how that is implemented into your life, what that looks like and how that is practiced.Sure. So silent prayer, and there's many different ways to do it. So my way is called centering prayer. But if you think of silent prayer, you think of it as you're not talking, you're sitting with God, and you're opening to the presence and actions of God within you through your practice. So my practice is is called centering prayer.And, and, um, I guess I'll, quick history of it and how you do it, that might help just to share with people. Well, how do you, how do you do this thing called silent prayer where I'm, where I'm not talking? So centering prayer actually has been around, well, the idea of sitting silently with God has been around for thousands of years and it most likely goes back to Jesus and even further, further than Jesus in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament, the idea of just sitting and being with God.So the practice is not, you know, 50 years old, such as centering prayer has been around since the early 1970s. It was created by three, three Trappist monks of three Catholic priests saw the secular world have the transcendental meditation and other forms of meditation. And they wanted something for the, I guess, the Christian world.So they, they created centering prayer. And in particular, one of them, William Meninger, Father William Meninger, was reading a, I think it's a 12th century classic book called The Cloud of Unknowing. And as he read it, kind of a form of silent, wordless prayer seemed to jump off the pages as he read it, and then he kind of created this practice, and then the other two priests together, they kind of refined the practice and began practicing amongst themselves, amongst other clergy, and really amongst the public, because it's not meant just for clergy, priests, pastors to practice, it's meant for, for anybody.So the center, so the practice I do, and I'll share how you do it, is about 50 years old. But as I said, the idea of sitting in silence is not 50 years old. It's thousands of years old. This is just one way to sit in silence. So, and how you do centering prayers, you, you sit comfortably with your eyes closed and then to begin your practice interiorly, you.You think of a sacred word and usually it's two or three syllables and, and that kind of signify, and it could be a God, it could be Jesus, it could be a color, it could be beach. And actually in my case, I actually picture an image. So instead of a word, I use a kind of an interior image of a Jesus icon that I stumbled across a couple of years ago.So I picture this this image in my head, and that signifies I'm taking the time to sit with God. And then as I'm sitting there with my eyes closed, when I begin engaging my thoughts, what I mean by that is when I begin thinking about what I'm going to do after my sit and all the errands and all the things I have to do, or if I'm thinking about, Something that happened before my sit, I realized I'm no longer sitting with God and the purpose of my sit of opening to the presence and actions of God within, I'm really sitting with my thoughts and plans and plotting, I reintroduce the sacred image to let go of all my engaged thoughts and come back to the present moment and come back to God, and then I let go of the image.So you just use it when needed to keep returning. It's like you're constantly returning to God when you find that you're, you're. Doing all your thinking and planning and reminiscing, right? I mean, it's as simple as that, but not as simple as that, because our minds are always active and thinking things.But that's essentially how you do center and prayer. You sit, kind of introduce that sacred word or sacred image to start. And then as you're sitting there, when you realize you're not sitting with God, you realize you're sitting with yourself. You use your image just to let go of your thoughts and engage thoughts.And then you let go of the. The sacred image as well. So it's just a constant return I guess you could say clear a general clearing of the mind and return to god Over and over again if you have to do it, I totally agree with you that are you know, especially nowadays our minds are so distracted Wandering.I think a lot of people have concentration issues when it comes to even just prayer aloud, you know let alone in silence where your mind can really wander and uh, You know, I've dabbled, I've had some guests who've had me meditate on the show and it's like my mind starts wandering. And that's why I don't mind meditation.A lot of people get this, uh, view, a lot of faith based people get this view that meditation is evil and it's a doorway for demonic entities. But, I believe that meditation can be a helpful practice for engaging in silent prayer. I think a lot of meditation practices can help you focus and center in on that.And I think it's good to have, like you said, that. grounding image or, you know, one thing kind of anchoring you and keeping you so when you start to wander you say, Hey, I'm supposed to be talking to God right now. And I think, like you said, we end up thinking too much. We kind of get in the way of his thinking and his plans.I think a lot of times we, I think a lot of times, unintentionally, we get in God's way, unfortunately. Right. And if you think about it, like, so Centering Prayer, you're, is, you're, you're letting go of your engaged thoughts, and you, it's, so you're, you're constantly letting go of things and opening to God and returning to God.And so if you, if you do this type of practice, and you do it daily, and then weeks have passed, and months have passed, and years have passed, there's a lot happening. Um, I mean, one, I think of, this is as a reverse prayer. God is praying in me during this time instead of me doing, doing the praying. I think of it as a reverse prayer and God is giving me what he knows that I need, whether it's inner peace or calm or, or wisdom for a task that kind of eludes me, but it's my time to let God pray in me what I need, even just for that.that very day. So, but as I said, if you end up with a long term practice, a ton ends up happening and you don't realize it. You're, you know, every time you return to your sit, you're releasing tension, like you're naturally releasing tension in your body. And whether you hold it in your forehead or your shoulders or your stomach, you're constantly releasing tension that you maybe didn't even know you held.You're releasing thoughts because that's part of the process. And also you're releasing repressed thoughts that you didn't even know you had until you began sitting there in silence. So you're like releasing Physical and emotional baggage that you carry around with you and don't even realize it So it's really freeing to be honest with you and you don't realize it until you practice this Over the long haul that you're kind of freeing yourself from tension and emotional baggage that you didn't really need to carry around with you.And I'm like, God wants you to carry it around with you. And then what's left after all of that is gone is, is just you and God and the, and the person God wants you to be, because, you know, you're letting go in centering prayer and the, you take the letting go. Gesture if you will with you outside of your practice and you let go of who you are not and become who you are So what I mean by that is that you let go of fear wary anxiety lack of confidence I'm too young to try that i'm too old to try that and and you Take action on on the true self the person god wants you to be so so that's what I a lot happens with the long term practices.You're continuously connecting to God, connecting to your true self, and then getting up from your silent sits and hopefully taking action on, on your true self instead of letting this person be buried and never come out. Right. And I think, you know, Firstly, ladies and gentlemen, they make noise canceling headphones nowadays, so if you need to use those, by all means, don't think to yourself, How will I hear God's voice if I'm wearing noise canceling headphones?It's not, uh, He defies that kind of stuff, for sure. But what I was gonna say is, you know, Mr. Lewis, where do you practice this? I know some of us prefer maybe hiking to the top of a mountain and really getting into nature, or, you know, going to a beach on a quiet morning or evening and kind of just sitting there with, uh, Toes in the sand, so to speak, but um, this is really something that can be done anywhere, and as you mentioned, the more you do it, the easier it will get to tune everything out, to kind of focus in our minds, because some of us don't have the opportunity to get into a quiet space, some of us Moms with noisy kids and angry husbands and you know, we can't get a quiet space So for those of us, like I said, we live in such a busy day and age now I mean, what are some, where can we do this?How can we do this? I mean, we want to master the art of silence Um, yeah, one, I think, yes, I would want to be flexible with wherever you do it. So, um, like I have a, there's a separate room in our house and I kind of go there in the morning and I actually turn on like a white noise machine and then I light a candle.And I light a candle. So I guess I found my own little escape and my kids are a little bit older. So they're not, I don't have babies, but, but I, and we can talk about that too, when you have younger kids. But so in my case, my kids are older and they're, they're not even up when I'm, when I'm getting up to do this.So I'm in a separate room and then, and I turn on a white noise machine to kind of block out outside noise anyhow. And I, um, Put on a candle. And so I do it in a separate room, but you can do it. As you said, anywhere I used to, I haven't, I haven't been to a chiropractor in a while cause we moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.But when I lived in Pennsylvania, for example, once a month, I went to a chiropractor and I actually did it at the chiropractor because right before you saw the doctor, there was a room you lied in and there was like a rolling machine that kind of rolled underneath your back. Okay. for about 10 minutes to loosen you up before the doctor would see you.So I did center and prayer at the chiropractors as well. It was an easy place for me to do center and prayer, but like you can do it at the beach, as you said, you could do it outside at a pool. Nobody knows that you're doing it. You can do it on an airplane. Um, so I, I guess I urge people to be flexible with where you do it.Um, because it really can be done time. Anywhere. Now, if you have kids, obviously you might need to do some negotiating with your spouse or partner or partner to say, look, I, I need this special time. Can you watch, can you, can you, you know, watch them for 10 minutes or 30 minutes, however long your routine is and kind of negotiate something like that with your, with your spouse or friend so that you have this quiet time.Yeah, as you, if you have babies, you have to kind of do it around their schedule when they're sleeping or negotiate with, uh, you know, your wife or husband or, or partner. Yeah. You actually reminded me of at Planet Fitness, not a sponsor. I pay them. They don't pay me. Actually. I pay them 25 a month, 24. 99 to be exact.You know, they have this, uh, I'm, I'm, You know, the highest level member you can be. And they have this special like hydro bed that you lie down on. It's got like the rolling water massage. And, um, every time I go, they put me in the corner in this dark room on the hydro massage bed with, with no one else there.I think that's going to be my new, uh, silent prayer spot because I've got the white noise of the water rolling. I've got my body's nice and relaxed. Eyes are closed. It's a dark room and I'm just lying there. So. That might be my spot. When you said the chiropractor with the, uh, the back roller, that's, I was like, yeah, I've got one of those too, only it's not for, uh, hopefully, hopefully not for my, uh, messed up spine yet.Uh, maybe as I get older here, perhaps I'll go from Planet Fitness to the chiropractor and switch, uh, silent meditations and prayers. But yeah, so, I mean, you've talked about, you've talked about what this can, uh, Open you up to where they can free you from, and I'd like to get just a little personal here with what exactly in your life has been, you know, benefited and helped from this, and how has your relationship with God changed over the years because of, you know, your Centering Prayers.Sure. So yeah, I've been practicing for about 10 years. So I'll start with a relationship with God, and then I'll then also talk about kind of what I'll call fruits of the practice, which really are fruits that God has graced me with, not I've, that I've received on my own. So in terms of my relationship with God, you know, it helped me realize one that prior to Centering Prayer, God was kind of up in the sky looking down at me, maybe annoyed with me, maybe critiquing me.I wasn't quite sure. Uh, but after kind of a 10 year practice, God has changed where God is no longer really just up in the sky looking at me. God is, you know, within me as the Holy Spirit working within me. God is you know, kind of behind me, gently nudging me to move forward and explore and get out of my comfort zone.God is kind of walking next to me, holding my hand as a partner. So I think of it as I sit with God, but then I get up and partner with God during the day. So it's not, I have my, it's not, I have my silent sit and then see you later, God, I'll see you tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow. God kind of comes with me as my partner.And then I envision God is kind of ahead of me, kind of saying let's go rich, you're, you're taking a little bit too long on, on, on this. So I, so God is definitely, it's definitely not just up looking at me from the sky. God is kind of all around me and within me. And God is really just a loving presence that, that really just loves me and wants to be my daily partner in life.So that's, that's a lot of how God has changed for me as a result of my centering prayer practice. And then I'll mention, um, I guess fruits of the practice. Um, you know, prior to centering prayer, not that I didn't want to live life and I was a happy person, but I think I'm much more excited. And for, for life and what's going to happen today.And what was God going to have me experienced today? I'm a much more confident person in myself. Um, and I'm doing things that weren't even on the radar screen. So prior to center and prayer, you know, I didn't have a website called silence teaches and I didn't, and I have, and I have a book. that, that, that I published, um, in, in, in middle of COVID, August of 2020 through a publisher that wasn't even on the radar.So I have a published book. I, I've been on about 100 and you're my 121st podcast, I believe, cause I, I kind of keep track. That was, that wasn't on the radar screen. I do a lot of speaking in front of small and large groups. Um, I've actually finished my second book and and i'll be probably giving it to the publisher by the end of the year So a lot of these things were not on the radar screen So just confidence to get out of my comfort zone and do things and share This practice in case it can help others how it has helped me.So just a ton of confidence and excitement for life a willingness to Bow down and listen to God and then go and then and I do some one on one coaching too with with some folks So as I said, like none of this was on the radar screen and now is now is now on the radar screen because of My center and prayer practice.I feel like additionally it may help and I'll have you testify to this With patience and forgiveness and would you suggest silent prayer if you're having a fight with your spouse or partner or a bad day at work or something? Would you say that this is a good way to kind of diffuse those emotions? At first frustrating right because you're sitting in silence and all you can think is I'm so mad and I'm so upset about XYZ But what do you say?With time and practice has taught you a little bit about patience and forgiveness and self awareness and all that Yeah, I mean it's definitely taught me to slow down and listen Listen to people and just be present with people and not be so quick to to render an opinion Just listen to what someone has to say and just be present with someone because a lot of times you're talking with someone They don't want your opinion.They just want you to listen to them, right and be sitting with them. So it's definitely taught me to slow down and just listen to my wife. My wife doesn't necessarily want my opinion. She just wants to know that I'm listening to her, that kind of stuff. And it's, it's taught me, definitely taught me patience because I think of it as there's, you know, if I have an issue in my life, I have to decide, do I need to be patient and maybe it will resolve itself.Do I need to be patient because I'm not the right person to resolve this and someone else is better suited? Um, or do I need to take action? So it's, it's taught me like to be patient and discern and my, you know, those, whether I'm the right person, whether I should take action or whether I can just wait.And sometimes the situation resolves itself on its own without any action. So yeah, the practice has definitely taught me to slow down. And, and not be so quick to act, because sometimes you don't need to act right away with a situation. But, but, but as well with a person that doesn't really want you to react.They just want you to be there. Right. So it's even improved your listening skills, which is important, especially for us men. But, uh, as well as everyone, but I would say, um, you know, you start, you talked about starting with one minute and then getting up to three or even four minutes and, and it's not an easy journey.How long do you sit in silence now? Uh, is it depending on the situation? Are you, do you think the best practice is a set up a schedule where every morning or every night or both you do this set amount of time and make it a habit, making it consistent to really. Focus and get your skills of silence of listening better and to spend more time with God.I would say for someone brand new to the whole the idea of doing this I would say First I would say, you know, try it for challenge yourself to try it for 30 days And then I would say make it the first thing you do before you do anything And then make it anywhere from one to five minutes. That way it's something that's doable and doesn't seem painful, might seem painful to go longer.So commit to 30 days, commit to doing it first thing in the morning before you do anything else, and then just try it for one to five minutes. Then at the end of the 30 days kind of reflect how, how did it go? Is this a practice that will resonate with me? And, and then if so, and you'll like it, then I would begin kind of increasing the, the silent sits, you know, to 10 minutes and 20 minutes.Right. So some of my, yeah, my intimidating numbers for some of those, uh, new people, 20 minutes of silence and then even. And then even once you have that down, you, you add a second sit. Like I actually sit twice a day. I sit in the morning and then I begin and I begin my day. And then I have a second sit.Um, actually it'll probably be a little bit after our podcast. I take a second sit because it kind of helps me finish the day just as strongly as I, as I started the day. So a lot of people will say, I don't have. I don't have the time to do this. And actually it has a way of giving you back time. And, but you have to kind of experience it for yourself where it has definitely has a way of giving you back time rather than letting yourself, you know, finish the second half of the day rattled and shaken when you really need to just slow down and reconnect with God, reconnect with life.But initially I would just take baby steps, 30 days, See if you like the practice and try it for five minutes and if you like it, just slowly begin increasing, you know, the timeframe to 10 minutes and maybe if you can get it up to 20 minutes. I agree that, you know, this is such a great way to recenter and refocus yourself and slow down and then get time back because sometimes we're so frantic and so stressed and anxious that time just slips through our fingers.But when you, you know, Refocus and slow down. You can use your time more wisely But what I would also say ladies and gentlemen is we're not telling you to Replace your current prayer style or completely change everything. This is something you can add in Uh, you could do this before or after, you know your prayer aloud time, whatever it may be You know wherever it is, you know, and this could be something you do In the church, uh, if you get there a few minutes early You You know, you could always do it before or afterward.So by all means don't think that you have to replace. This is the ultimate prayer, right? We're just saying this is a another form of communicating with God And I know it doesn't seem like it because you're sitting in silence But this is another way of being with our lord and savior and you know Focusing on him while also benefiting ourselves.So and this could be something you do as a group as well I mean you could have your whole family Do it where every morning y'all sit together in the living room maybe in a circle who knows and you uh, Do it together So by all means don't think that this has to replace anything or be a solo journey And I just want to say that to encourage anyone who may have been feeling like we're trying to you know Push this onto them.This is something that you can easily fit into your routine And like you said, mr Lewis people want to say I don't have time for that, but they'll have time for social media. They'll have time for Whatever it is And this is something you can do for just a few minutes when you first wake up or before you go to bed, so.And who should really visit your website? You've talked a lot about your Silence Teaches website. I mean, could you go in a little more detail about what we can find there and who would benefit from that? Sure. Sure. So the website is SilasTeaches. com. And then on the, on the website, um, well, I guess if you subscribe, you'll get, I have a free Centering Prayer ebook for those that just want to learn more about what is this practice and how do you do it.It's an easy to read ebook with the kind of at the top is quite a question and then, and it answers the question. And it's, it's. very easy to read for those that want to learn more about centering prayer and silent meditation. When they subscribe, they'll get my ebook and then they'll receive, I have every Monday I have a post that mostly talks about centering prayer and, and connecting to God and connecting to your true self.Um, they'll, so they'll receive a weekly meditation. And then if they're, they're more interested in centering prayer. My book is, is on the website as well, sitting with God, a journey to your True Self through centering prayer. They could check out my book if they want, and then I, I guess depending upon what they, what they're looking for, like if they're, if they are at church and they have an a, an.group that meets and wants me to speak. I've attended a lot of zoom phone calls, uh, zoom, zoom meetings with different church groups if they want to explore this idea of centering prayer with at maybe one of their faith classes that they have so they could invite me to speak. Um, and, um, or teach the Centering Prayer via Zoom.And then for those that, uh, I do coaching. So for those that, I guess I've coached three different types of people as I look back and reflect upon the three different groups of people that I have coached. One is people that are brand new to this idea and want someone to hold them accountable and help them begin a long term sustainable practice that they don't think they would do on their own.I've coached people. I've coached kind of a second group of people where they're, they already are practicing, but they feel like they're just skimming the surface and they need to go deeper in their practice, deeper into God, deeper into understanding who is their true self and what, what should I be doing?What kind of actions does God want me to take? I don't feel like I'm doing that. So I've coached people on that front. And then the third group I've coached some clergy and either Catholic priest or Episcopal priest, or even just pastors that say, I'm burning out. I'm, I'm, I'm working really hard on my congregation, my flock, and, and I'm burning out, and I need, this is a practice that I know can help me, help me so that I don't burn out, because if I do this practice, it's going to kind of rejuvenate me, and I'm going to be better or I'm going to better serve my flock, so to speak.So I, when I look back at all the different coaching clients, they've kind of fallen into one of those three categories. So that's a little bit about, you know, if they come to my site, I have the ebook, they can receive a weekly meditation. Um, if they're interested in coaching, coaching, I'd be happy to explore that idea with them to see if we're a fit and it makes sense.Or if they're just a group, um, that wants me to come speak, I've, I've done that via zoom on various instances. Awesome. So ladies and gentlemen, if that is you or someone, you know, be sure to check out silence teaches and why that website link in description below and who doesn't like a free ebook. So be sure to subscribe to Mr.Lewis's website there, but Mr. Lewis, what I'd love for you to leave us with is a Bible quote. Uh, for just for everyone, uh, whether related to silence or not. You know whether related to prayer or not I'd love for you to leave us with one that you think will have a profound impact on us Sure for me. It's I guess it's philippians 4 13.Um, I can do all things through christ who strengthens me It's it's just kind of my go to when I feel like i'm having a tough day or a tough Something i'm either in the midst of something that's really a struggle for me or I know i'm gonna have possibly have an upcoming struggle, I will say that to myself.So I'm often saying that to myself in the car. So if people are looking at me, maybe they'll see me talking and I am talking out loud, but I'm just kind of saying I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And I'll, and I'll say it loudly with power because I know that it's true that it's, if I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.So that's kind of a big go to verse for me that I've say very frequently. Hey man, you know, it's funny. I'm keeping track of all the Bible quotes shared on the show And that is one that has been shared in a previous episode. So that's definitely a popular pull and One of the things that's so great and so dangerous about the Bible is that everyone takes it a little bit differently So it was great to hear you Your input on that and I think that's an important thing Especially for those of you who are struggling to sit in silence You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you including getting through that another minute of silence.But yeah, Mr. Lewis I really appreciate you coming on the show and sharing this. I think it's something that is so Obvious yet so overlooked I think so many people get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life in the I need to talk to God I need to tell him this and that and I think just like a lot of relationships here on earth, a lot of people end up always talking to God, but never listening.And I think we need to give him a little room to work in our lives, and a little silence to focus as well. So, ladies and gentlemen, I highly encourage y'all to, um, even right after you listen to this episode if you can, not if you're driving, but if you're, uh, home or somewhere where you can just Take a few minutes and spend in silence.I highly encourage y'all to try it out. But Mr. Lewis, again, thank you for coming on the show. Appreciate having you. Great. No, thanks for having me on. It was a whole lot of fun. So thank you.
