Just Begin: A Sourcebook of Spiritual Practices<\/em><\/a>, Dann E. Wigner\u2019s collection of 40 different spiritual practices from both Eastern and Western traditions, is a good place to start. In this collection from Church Publishing Incorporated, Wigner explains each of the practices, gives a brief background of how they came to be, and invites us to \u201cjust begin\u201d to explore them with step by step practical instructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNow that the unexpected \u201cdowntime\u201d we were gifted with during the pandemic to reflect has become a thing of the past as we re-enter the busyness of our world, it\u2019s difficult, again, to find the time to cultivate spiritual practices. However, the few minutes a day you set aside for quiet time can be invaluable in building a closer relationship with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wigner offers many different ways to enhance that relationship. If, trying some, you find they\u2019re not really for you, try another and another until you find a few that resonate with you. The beauty of spiritual practices is that there\u2019s something for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The author includes the more familiar practices such as Prayer, Meditation, and Journaling, going on to explore Walking the Labyrinth, Fasting, and Using Prayer Beads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the practices that were new to me were Stargazing, Mindful Eating, Body Scan, and Drumbeat. I found the section on \u201cEmbodying\u201d especially interesting, which included Body Flow: Pilates with Mindfulness and Body Flow: Yoga with Centering Prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can see this handbook being useful in many ways in church life. It would be helpful in retreat planning (both in-person and virtual) and for themes for both Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s groups. It also would be an asset to youth leaders in seeking different ideas to help engage youth in a deeper prayer life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The book also includes Frequently Asked Questions and Discussion Questions with each chapter, so it could be used as an ongoing program of learning the different spiritual practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a personal level, I will be purchasing my own copy of Just Begin<\/em> so I can try all of these practices in the future to see which ones enable a closer bond between me and my Creator.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA<\/em> review copy of this book was provided by the publisher. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the nature of most believers to seek a means of communing with their Creator. However, there are so many choices, where does one begin? Just Begin: A Sourcebook of Spiritual Practices, Dann E. Wigner\u2019s collection of 40 different spiritual practices from both Eastern and Western traditions, is a good place to start. In this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":10292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452],"tags":[285,286,340],"class_list":["post-812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review-blog","tag-church-publishing","tag-church-publishing-incorporated","tag-just-begin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prcli.org\/staging\/3075\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prcli.org\/staging\/3075\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prcli.org\/staging\/3075\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prcli.org\/staging\/3075\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prcli.org\/staging\/3075\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prcli.org\/staging\/3075\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10293,"href":"https:\/\/www.prcli.org\/staging\/3075\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions\/10293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prcli.org\/staging\/3075\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prcli.org\/staging\/3075\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prcli.org\/staging\/3075\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prcli.org\/staging\/3075\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}