Say it with feeling

In King Yoga, we say that a true spiritual path does not require blind belief – all it requires is that you experience its truth for yourself.

Prayer is the transmission of spiritual energy. Spiritual energy is a real force. It is not a fantasy or wishful thinking. It is as real as electricity or any other “physical” energy.

Before long, you will begin to physically feel the energy as it flows through you. You will not only feel inspired mentally – but you will actually have a tangible sensation of this power flowing through your aura and chakras.

Anyone can do this!

One of the great secrets of dynamic prayer is to say your prayer with real feeling. Anyone who feels at all for the millions of people who are suffering in one way or another around the world, can do this.

The greater your feeling, the greater your love, the better channel you can become – and the greater experience you will have, of spiritual energy. Not blind belief – real experience.

This post is the third in a series from a book called Prayer Energy, written by international bestselling author Richard Lawrence with Mark Bennett. You can find links to the other parts at the end of this post.

In this third post you will find clear and specific guidance about how you too can become an even better channel for spiritual energy by learning to express yourself, through prayer, with more feeling than ever before.

For prayer to work properly, it should be expressed with sincerity and feeling, and the whole act should be performed with single-minded concentration.

We should not pray as though talking at a coffee afternoon or gossiping with a friend. Prayer is not a telephone call to your mother, or a request made to the boss, a priest, movie star, politician, or even a president – it is an appeal to the Divine Source.

Imagine, metaphorically speaking, that you had the opportunity to have an audience with God, if that’s how you want to refer to the Divine Source, and say what it is you want and how you feel – this is virtually what is happening when you pray.

If you mumble your prayers, or say them without feeling, you are as good as saying, “I don’t have to make any effort when expressing myself to God.” In fact, this shows a lack of appreciation for the Divine Source of all creation, and therefore for the most important part of yourself, and will considerably limit the power of the prayer.

Jane Austen said: “Grant us grace, almighty Father, so to pray as to deserve to be heard.” She made a good point. Technically, all prayers “deserve to be heard”, because they invoke and transmit a certain amount of energy, but the quantity and quality of the energy will increase dramatically when we start to pray dynamically.

Try saying “The New Lord’s Prayer”, or indeed any other white-magic prayer, in as expressive a manner as you can.

Don’t worry about seeming silly. Just give it all you’ve got. Make it as dynamic in intensity, but not volume, as a scream you might let out if someone ran over your foot, and as wholehearted as when a football fan cheers for his or her favourite team, although exerting more self-control. You don’t have to be very loud – the important thing is not to hold back at all. Imagine that your very life depends on every single word. Don’t be melodramatic or over-emotional. Put genuine feeling and love into it. This is the first step.

Controlling prayer energy

The next step – when you’ve got used to saying a prayer out loud with all the feeling you can muster, thus invoking and transmitting much more energy than you did before – is to train yourself to gain more control over the energy.

This will enable you to act as a channel for even more, and better quality energy, which will, in turn, make your prayers greater than ever.

Prayer should be a balanced symphony of opposites, a melody of yin and yang, a harmonious blend of light and shade, each bringing the other to life. To gain more control over prayer energy, you should be:

• gentle, but also definite and firm
• passionate, but controlled and not too emotional
• filled with compassion and want the result of the prayer with all your heart, and yet also be detached from it
• imploring, yet confident of the outcome of the prayer
• humble, and yet feel as powerful as the Divine Source, which is our essence

With the development of these qualities, your prayers should become quieter without losing any of the intensity displayed when praying loudly. A good way of cultivating these opposite attributes is to alternate the volume of your prayer a little, so that some words and phrases are louder than others, and some words may be barely audible at all.

Praying like this is not easy and can take a lot of practice.

Remember, you are making yourself a channel to allow the energy to flow through you. You are not trying to force it. Your body should not be tense to the point of shaking. Instead, you should be physically relaxed, while trying to maintain the posture described in the prayer technique.

Often you may not feel in the mood to pray at all. In fact, when we feel at our lowest, prayer can be a struggle, but this is the very time when praying can do the most good. So try it. Just do one short prayer.

My own experience is that this can change your mood so quickly that you may well feel like carrying on and saying more prayers as soon as you’ve finished the first one.

Prayer and personality

Prayer and personality go hand in hand. Everyone has an individual way of praying, even when adhering to the same principles, as listed above.

What is interesting, though, is that our true personality seems to be revealed by prayer – after all, prayer has to be genuine to mean anything at all. It has to come from the soul. Someone who is apparently very passive might suddenly come to life during prayer, becoming almost unrecognizable. This is that person’s real personality. The one he or she usually shows is merely the surface of the still, deep ocean of his or her true spiritual nature.

Learning to pray is not just the acquisition of an incredibly useful, practical skill. It is a tool for personal transformation and discovery. As your ability improves, you will find that you improve throughout your life in countless different ways. It will, in short, bring out the very best in you.

Don’t miss the other posts in this series on prayer:

What to pray for

How to pray

This extract has been taken from the book Prayer Energy. Exploring a wealth of traditions and outlining Master of Yoga Dr George King’s brilliant technique of dynamic prayer, this beautifully illustrated new hardback, by international bestselling author Richard Lawrence co-written with Mark Bennett, reveals a profound connection between positive thought and powerful change. Anyone purchasing this book will also receive a free copy of A Book of Sacred Prayers.

About the authors

Richard Lawrence is the Executive Secretary of The Aetherius Society for Europe and a Bishop in The Aetherius Churches. He has devoted his life to the work of his Master and personal friend, Dr. George King (1919-1997), who founded the Society. He is also an international bestselling author of more than 10 books.

Mark Bennett is the co-author of two books, both of which he wrote with international bestselling author Richard Lawrence, namely Prayer Energy and Gods, Guides and Guardian Angels, which was voted “best book on spirituality 2007” by readers of Kindred Spirit magazine. He is the youngest International Director of The Aetherius Society, whose teachings he chose as his spiritual path at an early age.