Since it has become clear how important it is that there be both inner and outer quiet in order to listen, the question arises if there are any helps for attaining such inner calm. There are and I offer them here.

Over the years it has been demonstrated again and again by participants coming directly out of hectic situations how grateful they are for exercises to enter into silence. I must add, however, that there are always some participants for whom such exercises are seen as detours. They do not find it difficult to move into the quiet of prayer when they use the Bible. To such participants I say give thanks for this aptitude. However, for you too there may be times when you find it difficult to enter silence. The helps offered here can then also benefit you.

Many people have said that in order for them to attain an inner quiet in which the gentle sounds and impulses can be received it is important to loosen up and relax (cf. the previous observations regarding inner "barriers"). Here the inseparable unity of body and spirit becomes evident in surprising ways. Whoever is "stiff" or extremely "rigid" or whose neck and shoulder muscles are tense and tight feel this very quickly. Whoever carries their anxiety with them show this with tight and raised shoulders. It is not easy to talk with persons who go about in such a tense way. However, the person who is loose and relaxed invites conversation. Being relaxed is the posture of receptivity. Whoever practices relaxation practices receptivity at the same time. This also has a deeper dimension. To the extent that we can physically relax, become lose and freed up, to that extent we embrace in our bodies a reality that has already been given and offered to us. Indeed, we can be free, because we have been freed (redeemed)! When we relax and let go we take on the reality of our redeemed (freed) self. But it is difficult to embody this. In another connection Willi Lambert uses an image which applies here. God's redemption has taken place. It stands inviolably fixed like a signed contract. Only through our "counter signature" ( our letting go which releases all our defenses) will it become valid for us.

Sit still, or even better, lay flat on your back on the floor and begin focusing on the main tension points in your body one at a time. Direct your total awareness to that part of the body. Think calmly about a particular part and at the same time do the following:

Relax physically and mentally

- your forehead (your own willfulness that lets you keep "knocking your head against the wall") . . - your eyes (that need to "look at" everything) ...

- your brain (that wants to understand everything) ...

- your lower jaw, your teeth (everything that causes you to grit your teeth and grind them as some do in their sleep)... .

- your tongue (that tries to say everything) ...

- your neck (your unyielding stance) ...

- your shoulders (all tension and repressed fear) ...

- your left and right arm down to the hands (that want to "grasp" and "hold on to"everything)...

- your stomach (and all that is in your "guts" and gives you a stomach ache)...

In the second round you can do the same with the idea: "Loosen up". In the third round: "Let go"...

Comment: After each meditation that has drawn you into the depths remember to return very slowly, not springing up suddenly but opening the eyes and looking at one point until you see clearly. Breathe deeply, opening the hands as though washing them, take another deep breath and wriggle about as you would after a deep sleep. (If you have low blood pressure take special care not to end meditation too suddenly . The slowed down circulation may cause dizziness as in waking up too quickly

If you have a problem with the exercise suggested above choose one of the following:

Meditative song .

"You penetrate everything;
let your beautiful light,
Lord, quiet my countenance.
Like the gentle flowers
willingly unfold themselves
and remain quietly in the sun,
so let me
quiet and joyful
receive your rays
and let them work in me!"      (Gerhard Tersteegen EG 165,6) - Luke 1:26-38 ("You will conceive...") - Identify with Mary, the person who opened herself in a unique way to God and received God into herself... .
- Meditate on the blossoming of a white lily ("the Madonna Lily") as a symbol of opening the self in order to receive...