Ways to Pray

The word prayer can bring up mixed feelings. For some, it calls to mind hard pews, stern preachers, or a sense of obligation. For others, prayer feels distant — something they’ve never practiced at all.

Over the years, I’ve discovered that prayer is as varied as the people who practice it. A friend once told me, “I have to move when I pray!” For her, stillness wasn’t connection — it was sleepiness. Movement, breath, and freedom became her doorway to the Divine.

There are as many ways to pray as there are names for God. Heart-centered prayer in the Sufi tradition, contemplative silence, even play — each can be prayer if it opens you to peace, gratitude, or connection.

So how do you pray? Do you pray when you run, when you stretch, or when you laugh with friends? Do you pray in stillness, or in motion?

Prayer is less about form and more about intention. It’s about opening your heart, widening your senses, and remembering that being alive can itself be a prayer. If prayer has felt rigid for you, perhaps it’s time to explore a new way to pray.

Spiritual direction can provide a supportive space to explore these practices more deeply. Prayer often overlaps with self-understanding and compassionate reflection.