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

Tag: ts eliot

Disclosure I

[This is a first attempt to articulate experiences in Ceremony and how they have opened me to more of God.] Thursday 17 March 2022 Gorecki: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, I Qobuz | Spotify | YouTube I am sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion. My eyes are closed as I listen to the music. I am … Continue reading Disclosure I →

Julian Maddock Ceremony, Psychedelics Leave a comment 28 August 202410 September 2024

Retreat days for Advent

Thursday 2nd or Saturday 4th December 2021 If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy, and say, “I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, my time is so close.” St John of the Cross Advent is a time of waiting. A birth is due … Continue reading Retreat days for Advent →

Julian Maddock Archive, God, Prayer, Zoom 2 Comments 5 November 20214 December 2021

Retreat Day: last call

There a just a few tickets left on the Retreat Day: Lent in lockdown. I am offering it on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th February. Please contact me if you would like to come. Here are a few more details. The shape of the day 0930 Arrival, housekeeping, and introduction1000 Prayer 1: Home1200 Prayer 2: … Continue reading Retreat Day: last call →

Julian Maddock Archive, Discernment, God, Prayer, Present, Zoom Leave a comment 15 February 20217 May 2021

Retreat Day: Lent in lockdown

If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent If the unheard, unspoken Word is unspoken, unheard; Still is the unspoken word, the Word unheard, The Word without a word, the Word within The world and for the world; And the light shone in darkness and Against the Word the unstilled world … Continue reading Retreat Day: Lent in lockdown →

Julian Maddock Archive, Discernment, God, Prayer, Present, Zoom Leave a comment 28 January 20217 May 2021

To care and not to care

I was given a lesson the other night. I woke up after a few hours of sleep. I went to the toilet, and then lay in bed worried that I would not be able to go back to sleep, fearful of being awake in the empty dark. I don’t usually notice this feeling. I listen … Continue reading To care and not to care →

Julian Maddock Prayer, Spiritual Direction 7 Comments 20 January 201914 December 2019

Waiting

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you … Continue reading Waiting →

Julian Maddock Body, God, Prayer 4 Comments 7 April 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 5.8k views | posted on 05/04/2020
  • To you 3.3k views | posted on 11/04/2016
  • Praying together 2.8k views | posted on 01/01/2021
  • What is the sensation of prayer? 10 steps to knowing God 2.3k views | posted on 08/09/2014
  • Audio Prayer: Simple opening to God’s presence 1.9k views | posted on 29/03/2020
  • The Age of Feuillton 1.7k views | posted on 17/10/2014
  • Audio Prayer: Presence, Gratitude, and Kindness 1.5k views | posted on 12/04/2020
  • Audio prayer: What do you desire? 1.3k views | posted on 17/05/2020
  • Ignatian Scaffolding 1.3k views | posted on 07/08/2021
  • Thomas and Friends 1.1k views | posted on 30/05/2008
  • It’s only your imagination 1.1k views | posted on 01/03/2021
  • The only 3 prayers you need 1.1k views | posted on 26/05/2019
  • There is no one but us 0.9k views | posted on 26/12/2021
  • 8 ways to be with thoughts in prayer 0.9k views | posted on 22/10/2021
  • Eugene Peterson: quotes from The Contemplative Pastor 0.9k views | posted on 29/01/2010
  • Audio Prayer: Review of the day 895 views | posted on 24/04/2020
  • A letter to three faith leaders 865 views | posted on 25/10/2021
  • How to experience God 837 views | posted on 12/06/2016
  • Thoughts in a time of plague 818 views | posted on 07/05/2020
  • Lost and found 792 views | posted on 15/08/2021
  • Spiritual direction at the end of the world (1) 763 views | posted on 10/01/2021
  • Thomas Merton’s life without care 733 views | posted on 23/05/2019
  • Coterminous 699 views | posted on 05/05/2021
  • Only basic goodness gives life to technique 697 views | posted on 29/10/2021
  • Lass auch Dir die Brust bewegen, Liebchen, höre mich! 659 views | posted on 07/03/2021
  • Coming Out 649 views | posted on 20/08/2024
  • Retreat Day: “What do You want me to do?” 640 views | posted on 03/08/2021
  • Spiritual direction at the end of the world (4) 636 views | posted on 13/01/2021
  • Retreat days for Advent 633 views | posted on 05/11/2021
  • Starting at the bottom 629 views | posted on 11/09/2013
  • The Discontents of Empire (III) 608 views | posted on 26/02/2017
  • One needful Lenten discipline 605 views | posted on 10/03/2023
  • For 604 views | posted on 30/03/2018
  • I am Trump 598 views | posted on 03/02/2017
  • The Miracle of Being Nothing 586 views | posted on 01/07/2013
  • Holy the Firm 574 views | posted on 11/05/2020
  • What shall we do? 546 views | posted on 20/10/2019
  • But when he came to himself 531 views | posted on 30/09/2020
  • Retreat Day: Lent in lockdown 516 views | posted on 28/01/2021
  • Embattled, not embittered 511 views | posted on 14/02/2016
  • Are we there yet? 497 views | posted on 10/02/2019
  • Where to start? 489 views | posted on 21/02/2012
  • Retreat Day: Coming Home 485 views | posted on 06/05/2021
  • Michael Maddock, RIP 484 views | posted on 05/04/2010
  • Journalling Bible 481 views | posted on 19/02/2017
  • Prayer of St Manchan 447 views | posted on 16/08/2014
  • Middle-class spiritual direction 431 views | posted on 02/12/2016
  • Sit! 424 views | posted on 23/09/2013
  • Audio prayer featured on Insight Timer 408 views | posted on 14/05/2020
  • Oasis Day: Journey into Lent 402 views | posted on 01/02/2022
  • God’s fragile ego 401 views | posted on 09/12/2019
  • Starting at the bottom (part 2) 399 views | posted on 15/09/2013
  • Relax! 399 views | posted on 09/12/2013
  • Appledore 394 views | posted on 07/05/2018
  • Feeling into this body 391 views | posted on 22/10/2010
  • Audio Prayer: Revisiting a God moment 387 views | posted on 19/04/2020
  • Finding depth 380 views | posted on 16/06/2019
  • The Kingdom of Heaven 368 views | posted on 28/05/2018
  • Disclosure II 360 views | posted on 11/09/2024
  • The shift 360 views | posted on 01/07/2018
  • Spiritual direction at the end of the world (2) 359 views | posted on 11/01/2021
  • Annunciation 356 views | posted on 15/12/2019
  • Spiritual direction at the end of the world (3) 356 views | posted on 12/01/2021
  • An affirming source (6): Empowered 354 views | posted on 05/05/2019
  • Retreat day: Coming home (last call) 352 views | posted on 07/06/2021
  • 11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety: 1. Breathe 344 views | posted on 13/05/2013
  • A training day for Guildford spiritual directors 340 views | posted on 24/11/2020
  • Repetition 330 views | posted on 17/01/2016
  • An affirming source (3): Yielding 329 views | posted on 14/03/2019
  • Salvation 324 views | posted on 17/06/2018
  • An affirming source (5): Relationship 320 views | posted on 28/04/2019
  • Training day for spiritual directors 317 views | posted on 10/05/2019
  • Vastness, presence and meaning 314 views | posted on 09/03/2015
  • Audio Prayer: Review of the day++ 312 views | posted on 29/04/2020
  • When prayer stops working 312 views | posted on 01/12/2019
  • An affirming source (1): an alien will 308 views | posted on 07/03/2019
  • The gifts and the giver 306 views | posted on 30/11/2024
  • Negative Capability 305 views | posted on 15/02/2025
  • Desert 303 views | posted on 03/02/2019
  • How sophisticated are you? 302 views | posted on 09/10/2016
  • To care and not to care 302 views | posted on 20/01/2019
  • Preemptive strikes upon the Divine 296 views | posted on 03/11/2019
  • What’s eating away at you? 292 views | posted on 30/12/2016
  • The naked night 268 views | posted on 18/09/2016
  • An affirming source (2): Emancipation 266 views | posted on 08/03/2019
  • Camas Lilies 262 views | posted on 19/05/2018
  • 11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety: 9. Identifying fallacious reasoning 261 views | posted on 10/09/2013
  • … and joy 261 views | posted on 22/04/2020
  • You 260 views | posted on 13/10/2014
  • Mercy 257 views | posted on 08/06/2017
  • A training day in Gloucester for spiritual directors 256 views | posted on 17/10/2019
  • To live or to recount 248 views | posted on 17/08/2016
  • Distraction 248 views | posted on 10/11/2019
  • Clinging to the Invisible God 245 views | posted on 13/04/2017
  • Retreat Day: last call 239 views | posted on 15/02/2021
  • Disclosure I 229 views | posted on 28/08/2024
  • An affirming source: Inter-mission 225 views | posted on 14/04/2019
  • The Discontents of Empire (IV) 224 views | posted on 19/03/2017
  • A few thoughts on how to release regret and learn to live (IV) 222 views | posted on 26/09/2014
  • The Discontents of Empire (I) 215 views | posted on 05/02/2017

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.

© 2005–2025 · Julian Maddock

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