Guidelines for Leading Whole-Body-Mystical Awakening

You may be new to leading guided mediations or experienced in whatever forms you have learned from the past. ICN’s Whole-Body Mystical meditative prayer is a very specific form of guided meditation based on ICN principles and values.

The purpose of WBMA meditations is to help guide others into their own embodied awareness (four centers) and experience of God (each of the Three Faces).

We focus on the four centers because they are the primary centers of spiritual knowing within us—integrating these ways of knowing/experiencing beyond the dominant head-center is nearly always the primary challenge and therefore guiding principle. Other centers/areas of the body are present and have spiritual energy, but are not the main focus of WBMA meditations because of this dynamic. 

Here are five guidelines in support of this purpose:

1.    Our meditations are a blend of guiding words and silence. We should allow about a minute of silence while in each center, in addition to briefer periods of silence.

2.    Leading WBMA is not primarily about offering a guided meditation full of concepts. Ideas and concepts, no matter how brillant, guide us to connect with our thinking rather than our embodied interiors. We can easily get caught up in concepts, especially those phrased in lofty, eloquent terms. Conceptual statements cannot be avoided in guiding others, but they should not predominate. It is necessary to point out the four centers and the Three Faces of God using conceptual statements. However, even these can be surrounded by invitations to “notice” how each is experiencing these in the moment.

3.    Directions and invitations about how to resonately connect should be the major focus. Guiding WBMA is about offering multiple invitations to connect with and resonate with through our four embodied centers of spiritual knowing. From there the path is to lead the group to connect and resonate with one another, our spiritual guides, and all forms of divine spirit in our midst.

 4.    A brief description of each center should be surrounded with invitations to rest in that center, to soak in it. Above all, give instructions to notice what is happening in your body in that center and then let them experience. Do not use words that most people would not easily understand. This invites moving from feeling/experiencing to thinking.

5.    15 – 20 minutes in length seems to be the optimal time for moving deeply into all of our centers, our whole being, and the WeSpace. More experienced groups may need less time, but given more time can also deepen the process and engagement. Focused meditations may want to engage extended time in one center, allowing for greater deepening.