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Contact: Vicky Thompson
publicity@journeywithspirit.com

FINDING SPIRITUAL FAITH DURING TRYING TIMES

America is going through a crisis of faith. Many Americans have lost their faith in national security, corporate ethics and the church as acts of terror, scandal and abuse rock the foundation of society. Spirituality, an antidote to religion, is becoming more accepted by the mainstream as more people explore a direct spiritual connection with God to find their faith during these trying times.

Eastern, Western or New Age—all spiritual methods are welcome in this search for faith.

During the 1980s, New Age thought entered the American consciousness, forever changing the way we view spirituality. Shirley MacLaine went out on a limb, telling us that God exists within us all. Many people responded by calling her the queen of woo-woo, branding this quest for inner spirituality as another fad from California. New Age concepts may seem good when you’ve been out in the sun too long, but for the rest of the Christian world, the idea of connecting directly with God is far-fetched and outside the limits of the Ten Commandments.

But over the past two decades, the stigma of New Age spirituality has faded. What once seemed outrageous is now standard fare on Oprah and common practice among many Americans. And our world view on personal spirituality has changed since Sept. 11. The attacks on Americans’ personal security set off a national wake-up call to find comfort in the arms of God. But surprisingly, many people didn’t seek a long-term relationship with God inside of a church. Church attendance increased by 25 percent immediately after Sept. 11, but dropped again to normal seasonal attendance figures by November 2001, according to Barna Research Group, a California-based Christian marketing research company.

Where are people going to find God? Inside of their hearts, searching for a direct experience of knowing and feeling the presence of God.

Many Americans no longer identify with religion, but are interested in this direct spirituality. One out of three adults has turned away from church teachings because of a negative experience with religion, Barna Research Group found. Behind this shift is the search for an experiential faith, a religion of the heart, not of the head, according to American Demographics. It’s a religious expression that downplays doctrine and revels in the direct experience of the divine.

Many people are going directly to God to renew their faith. Nearly 85 percent of Americans pray weekly, with 47 percent remaining silent during prayer time to listen for God’s response, according to Barna Research Group. Prayer, one of the oldest traditions in Western Christianity, is familiar and comforting to most people in times of trouble. Other Americans have looked to the Eastern tradition of meditation to feel the presence of God and a sense of peace in a chaotic world. And some have embraced New Age practices for spiritual healing.

But methods for finding a spiritual connection with God don’t have to be separated based on their origins. Active prayer combined with meditation techniques can promote healing and create a greater self-awareness of the connection between our body, mind and spirit and God, according to Vicky Thompson , producer of the meditation CD Journey to Spiritual Awakening: Meditations to Awaken the Divine Heart Within.

“Many of us grew up in Christian traditions and prayer comes naturally to us,” says Thompson, who is also the author of the forthcoming book The Jesus Path (Red Wheel/Weiser, March 2003). “But when we use the power of prayer combined with meditation, we can tap into infinite possibilities and allow God to work through us. We focus our intentions and will with God, creating powerful outcomes through a force that is greater than our own. This type of intentional meditation allows us to experience God on a very personal, spiritual level.”

Knowing God and experiencing the miracle of faith are strong desires among many Americans. According to a 2000 Harris Poll, 94 percent of people believe in God and 85 percent believe in miracles. Thompson discovered her own personal intentional meditation techniques when she prayed to God to help her find her faith at the turn of the millennium.

“I lost my faith when I was a little girl. I was sexually abused by my grandfather when I was a child and this loss of faith continued into my thirties,” says Thompson. “My Catholic upbringing taught me how to use rote prayer, but it didn’t help in letting go of the pain. So I bypassed the religious teachings of my youth and went directly to God for healing. I finally found my faith when I began using intentional prayer meditation. And that’s when miracles started happening in my life.”

Turning inward to heal issues of abuse, Thompson prayed through meditation for God to help release this pain. Through silent moments of communion with God, she began receiving intentional meditations for letting go of old patterns and behaviors in her life. She adapted these personal meditations into the intentional meditations on Journey to Spiritual Awakening.

The practice of intentional meditation incorporates the Western method of prayer to know and communicate with God on a conscious level, and Eastern traditions of silent meditation to feel the presence of God on an unconscious level. Intentional meditation uses the mind as a bridge between the body and spirit, aligning your will and intention with God. When the mind creates prayers during meditation, spiritual qualities flow into the body, manifesting this divine power in human form.

“Through intentional meditation, you focus on inner spiritual qualities and strengths, and then actualize them into physical form. If you focus on love and faith within, you will create those states of being in your physical world. Intentional meditation refocuses our awareness on our inherent, ever-present spiritual qualities and allows them to become a natural, flowing part of our conscious reality. If you unconsciously experience a higher state of being through meditation, you can integrate that state into your conscious life,” says Thompson. “We can find our faith again by directly seeking and experiencing our inner spirituality.”

Thompson strengthens her faith during trying times by connecting with God through the following simple intentional meditation. Close your eyes, and with each inward breath, see white light pour into the crown of your head, filling your entire body. The light intensifies and pushes all pain and fear out of your feet. Now say, “God, I willingly accept your power and grace to renew my faith and love for myself and all people.” Now see a pink light enter your crown, filling your body with its loving embrace. Open your eyes, knowing that you hold God’s grace, love and faith within you.

The three guided intentional meditations on Journey to Spiritual Awakening also provide a powerful spiritual path for finding faith again. “Divine Awakening” gently clears the chakras and releases daily stress, opening up listeners to discover their divine purpose through communion with God in the meditation “Divine Purpose.” Listeners can tap into their inner faith by connecting with angelic guides in “Divine Guidance.”

Journey to Spiritual Awakening can be purchased on the Internet for $15 plus shipping and handling at Journey with Spirit (www.journeywithspirit.com). The website offers a free download of The Light of the World, a state-of-the-art web movie about the most significant event in the life of Jesus: the transition from the cross to the divine realm. Visitors also can listen to a special online meditation, read affirmations and excerpts from the forthcoming book The Jesus Path, and subscribe to a free monthly e-newsletter.

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