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embodying prayer in daily life

tea ceremony | somatic movement | contemplative guidance | herbal medicines

  • “When you drink your tea in mindfulness and concentration, you are performing a sacred ritual; and that is already a prayer.… And in true prayer, there is no longer any separation between the one who prays and the one to whom we pray. In Christianity, our friends say, ‘living each moment in the presence of God.’ If you live with mindfulness, concentration and insight, you never leave God; you are always in touch with God, in the presence of God. When you live every moment of your daily life in the presence of God, it means your daily life is a prayer.”

    — Thích Nhất Hạnh, Buddhist Monk

  • “Prayer is not primarily saying words or thinking thoughts, it is rather, a stance, it is a way of Living in the Presence, Living in awareness of the Presence, and even enjoying the Presence.”

    — Richard Rohr, Franciscan Friar

  • “In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church where I kneel. Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist. Is there not a region of love where the sovereignty is illumined nothingness, where ecstasy gets poured into itself and becomes lost? In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church that dissolve, that dissolve in God.”

    — Rabiʿa al-Basri, Sufi Mystic

  • “The sun hears the fields talking about effort and the sun smiles, and whispers to me, ‘Why don’t the fields just rest, for I am willing to do everything to help them grow?’ Rest, my dears, in prayer.”

    — Catherine of Sienna, Catholic Saint

Offerings

chado tea ceremony

A silent, contemplative ceremony of presence shared over living tea.

somatic movement

Movement as a practice of presence—an unhurried listening that allows movement to arise from within.

herbal medicines basket

Handcrafted herbal remedies, 1:1 clinical herbal consultations, and integrative healing sessions.

1:1 sessions offering grounded support, reflection, and space to reconnect with yourself.

Living Presence is a contemplative ministry and apothecary offering spaces of refuge, practice, and healing — where we lay down our not-enoughness, stop trying to earn what’s already given, and rest in the grace of what’s always here.

zen calligraphy
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  • Points of Agreement from Contemplatives of Different Religious Traditions

    In 1980, a group of contemplatives across 8 religious traditions gathered together in the spirit of interfaith dialogue.

    Here are their 8 points of agreement:

  • 1. The world religions bear witness to the experience of Ultimate Reality, to which they give various names.

  • 2. Ultimate Reality cannot be limited by any name or concept.

  • 3. Ultimate Reality is the ground of infinite potentiality and actualization.

  • 4. Faith is the opening, accepting, and responding to Ultimate Reality. Faith in this sense precedes every belief system.

  • 5. The potential for human wholeness — or, in other frames of reference, enlightenment, salvation, transcendence, transformation, blessedness — is present in every human being.

  • 6. Ultimate Reality may be experienced not only through religious practices, but also through nature, art, human relationships, and service to others.

  • 7. As long as the human condition is experienced as separate from Ultimate Reality, it is subject to ignorance and illusion, weakness and suffering.

  • 8. Disciplined practice is essential to the spiritual life; yet spiritual attainment is not the result of one’s own efforts, but the result of the experience of oneness with Ultimate Reality.

  • Additional Points of Agreement

    9. It is essential to extend our formal practice of awareness into all aspects of our life.

    10. Humility, gratitude, and a sense of humor are indispensable in the spiritual life.

    11. Prayer is communion with Ultimate Reality, whether it is regarded as personal, impersonal, or beyond them both.