Skip to content

this body

the sensation of life

  • Home
  • A blessing: To you
  • About
    • About me
    • Why “this body”?
    • Spiritual Direction
    • Training
    • Supervision
    • What is spirituality?
    • Personal Experiences
  • Guided Prayer
  • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Archive
      • Archive
      • Posts by date
      • Posts by name
      • Categories
      • Tags
    • Documents
    • Inspiration
    • The Cloud of Unknowing
    • The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius
    • On Cleaving to God
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Subscriber Area

Category: pain

Prayer in a time of grief

My father died on Easter Sunday 2010. Six months later my long-term relationship hit the buffers. I found myself in a car-crash of intense sadness and anxiety with few airbags to cushion to blows. The doctor wrote me a few sick notes. I took time off work. I went back to work. I found I … Continue reading Prayer in a time of grief →

Julian Maddock pain, Prayer 6 Comments 5 January 201514 December 2019

This and that

The universe was not designed with the comfort of human beings in mind. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Flow p.8 I notice two themes in my writing: God and this body – which is not other than God's body – are to be trusted. I enjoin you to relax, to trust, to attend to them, and to live … Continue reading This and that →

Julian Maddock Body, Kindness, pain Leave a comment 10 February 201414 December 2019

Praying Together

Since the first lockdown, I have been leading online prayer every week. I invite you to these prayer times on Zoom at 8.30 am every Monday and Wednesday. For more information, read “Praying together”.
Julian

Julian Maddock

Julian in hoodie with blue DM's

I offer spiritual direction, training, and supervision. I am also a writer. I am based in Upper Teesdale, Co. Durham and (occasionally) West London.

Through kindly attention to the sensations of this body you can connect into a process of ever-deepening immersion into the reality of God at the heart of life.

I write here primarily about:
  • God, and how to foster your relationship with God;
  • prayer, and how to pray; and
  • how attending to this body is prayer and a way to be present in the Presence.

Read more…

Popular Posts

  • Audio Prayer for sleep 6.7k views | posted on 05/04/2020
  • To you 3.5k views | posted on 11/04/2016
  • Praying together 3k views | posted on 01/01/2021
  • What is the sensation of prayer? 10 steps to knowing God 2.4k views | posted on 08/09/2014
  • Audio Prayer: Presence, Gratitude, and Kindness 2.2k views | posted on 12/04/2020
  • Audio Prayer: Simple opening to God’s presence 2.2k views | posted on 29/03/2020
  • The Age of Feuillton 1.9k views | posted on 17/10/2014
  • Audio prayer: What do you desire? 1.4k views | posted on 17/05/2020
  • Ignatian Scaffolding 1.4k views | posted on 07/08/2021
  • Thomas and Friends 1.2k views | posted on 30/05/2008
  • It’s only your imagination 1.2k views | posted on 01/03/2021
  • The only 3 prayers you need 1.2k views | posted on 26/05/2019
  • 8 ways to be with thoughts in prayer 1k views | posted on 22/10/2021
  • Eugene Peterson: quotes from The Contemplative Pastor 1k views | posted on 29/01/2010
  • There is no one but us 1k views | posted on 26/12/2021
  • Audio Prayer: Review of the day 1k views | posted on 24/04/2020
  • A letter to three faith leaders 0.9k views | posted on 25/10/2021
  • How to experience God 0.9k views | posted on 12/06/2016
  • Thoughts in a time of plague 898 views | posted on 07/05/2020
  • Thomas Merton’s life without care 867 views | posted on 23/05/2019
  • Coming Out 857 views | posted on 20/08/2024
  • Lost and found 843 views | posted on 15/08/2021
  • Spiritual direction at the end of the world (1) 833 views | posted on 10/01/2021
  • Only basic goodness gives life to technique 794 views | posted on 29/10/2021
  • Lass auch Dir die Brust bewegen, Liebchen, höre mich! 765 views | posted on 07/03/2021
  • Retreat Day: Lent in lockdown 762 views | posted on 28/01/2021
  • For 748 views | posted on 30/03/2018
  • Coterminous 738 views | posted on 05/05/2021
  • Starting at the bottom 722 views | posted on 11/09/2013
  • Spiritual direction at the end of the world (4) 695 views | posted on 13/01/2021
  • Retreat Day: “What do You want me to do?” 690 views | posted on 03/08/2021
  • Retreat days for Advent 685 views | posted on 05/11/2021
  • The Miracle of Being Nothing 664 views | posted on 01/07/2013
  • The Discontents of Empire (III) 654 views | posted on 26/02/2017
  • One needful Lenten discipline 654 views | posted on 10/03/2023
  • I am Trump 647 views | posted on 03/02/2017
  • Holy the Firm 635 views | posted on 11/05/2020
  • What shall we do? 607 views | posted on 20/10/2019
  • But when he came to himself 606 views | posted on 30/09/2020
  • Embattled, not embittered 596 views | posted on 14/02/2016
  • Are we there yet? 564 views | posted on 10/02/2019
  • Where to start? 559 views | posted on 21/02/2012
  • Journalling Bible 540 views | posted on 19/02/2017
  • Michael Maddock, RIP 536 views | posted on 05/04/2010
  • Retreat Day: Coming Home 522 views | posted on 06/05/2021
  • Prayer of St Manchan 515 views | posted on 16/08/2014
  • Middle-class spiritual direction 498 views | posted on 02/12/2016
  • Sit! 489 views | posted on 23/09/2013
  • Feeling into this body 471 views | posted on 22/10/2010
  • Audio Prayer: Revisiting a God moment 463 views | posted on 19/04/2020
  • God’s fragile ego 463 views | posted on 09/12/2019
  • An affirming source (6): Empowered 459 views | posted on 05/05/2019
  • Relax! 458 views | posted on 09/12/2013
  • Audio prayer featured on Insight Timer 453 views | posted on 14/05/2020
  • Disclosure II 450 views | posted on 11/09/2024
  • Appledore 449 views | posted on 07/05/2018
  • Starting at the bottom (part 2) 440 views | posted on 15/09/2013
  • Oasis Day: Journey into Lent 434 views | posted on 01/02/2022
  • The Kingdom of Heaven 430 views | posted on 28/05/2018
  • Finding depth 425 views | posted on 16/06/2019
  • Repetition 416 views | posted on 17/01/2016
  • Negative Capability 413 views | posted on 15/02/2025
  • The shift 407 views | posted on 01/07/2018
  • Spiritual direction at the end of the world (2) 405 views | posted on 11/01/2021
  • Annunciation 404 views | posted on 15/12/2019
  • The gifts and the giver 404 views | posted on 30/11/2024
  • Spiritual direction at the end of the world (3) 391 views | posted on 12/01/2021
  • A training day for Guildford spiritual directors 389 views | posted on 24/11/2020
  • Retreat day: Coming home (last call) 387 views | posted on 07/06/2021
  • Vastness, presence and meaning 384 views | posted on 09/03/2015
  • To care and not to care 382 views | posted on 20/01/2019
  • 11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety:
    1. Breathe
    380 views | posted on 13/05/2013
  • An affirming source (5): Relationship 375 views | posted on 28/04/2019
  • Salvation 375 views | posted on 17/06/2018
  • An affirming source (3): Yielding 369 views | posted on 14/03/2019
  • When prayer stops working 369 views | posted on 01/12/2019
  • Desert 365 views | posted on 03/02/2019
  • An affirming source (1): an alien will 364 views | posted on 07/03/2019
  • Audio Prayer: Review of the day++ 363 views | posted on 29/04/2020
  • How sophisticated are you? 358 views | posted on 09/10/2016
  • You 354 views | posted on 13/10/2014
  • Training day for spiritual directors 348 views | posted on 10/05/2019
  • Preemptive strikes upon the Divine 348 views | posted on 03/11/2019
  • What’s eating away at you? 341 views | posted on 30/12/2016
  • 11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety:
    9. Identifying fallacious reasoning
    333 views | posted on 10/09/2013
  • Mercy 325 views | posted on 08/06/2017
  • An affirming source (2): Emancipation 315 views | posted on 08/03/2019
  • Distraction 314 views | posted on 10/11/2019
  • Camas Lilies 304 views | posted on 19/05/2018
  • Disclosure I 303 views | posted on 28/08/2024
  • A training day in Gloucester for spiritual directors 298 views | posted on 17/10/2019
  • … and joy 298 views | posted on 22/04/2020
  • The naked night 290 views | posted on 18/09/2016
  • The Discontents of Empire (I) 287 views | posted on 05/02/2017
  • Clinging to the Invisible God 287 views | posted on 13/04/2017
  • An affirming source: Inter-mission 278 views | posted on 14/04/2019
  • The Discontents of Empire (IV) 277 views | posted on 19/03/2017
  • A few thoughts on how to release regret and learn to live (IV) 275 views | posted on 26/09/2014
  • Retreat Day: last call 272 views | posted on 15/02/2021
  • Choosing Joy 270 views | posted on 15/06/2026

Subscribe

  • Advance notice of events
  • Access to longer pieces of writing
  • Notifications of new posts
  • Occasional newsletters

Now on Insight Timer!

Insight Timer

Insight Timer is the #1 free app for meditation, sleep, anxiety and stress.

Find me on Insight Timer

A beginner’s guide

These links will give you a flavour of, and a way in to, what this body is all about:

  • Where to start?
  • Sitting
  • Starting at the bottom
  • Feeling into this body
  • Starting at the bottom (part 2)
  • Relax!
  • What is the senation of prayer? 10 steps to knowing God
  • The miracle of being nothing

Copyright

Feel free to share any of this material with others, but please say where you got it from and point people at this website. Thank you.

© 2005–2026 · Julian Maddock

Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Independent Publisher 2 by Raam Dev.