(Upper School Meeting for Worship)

Many Friends consider the early phase of Meeting for Worship as “centering.”  I usually close my eyes and begin to be more aware of my breathing.  I usually tend to slouch and I try to sit more upright without allowing my muscles to tense up.  Sometimes when I exhale, I repeat a short phrase in my mind.  My mother taught me to use the phrase from Ram Dass “…be here now…”  I use this when I find that my thoughts begin to wander.  After a few minutes of this, I open my eyes and let them rest on a point across the meetinghouse, just above the seats that face me.  Then I begin to wait, to listen to what comes emerges.

In the Upper School at Friends Seminary, we only have about twenty minutes at best for Meeting.  Sometimes I don’t get past the centering phase at all.  Sometimes I realize that I just can’t get centered today and I take a deep breath and try to accept this.

What do other people experience at the beginning of Meeting?