Being Prayer

Transforming Consciousness

About Being Prayer
Foreword
Endorsements
Reviews New:Inquiring Mind
About the Author
About Nutshell Publishing
Table of Contents
Excerpt
Download Chapters
Media Kit

Blog

Work with Mary Rees:
maryrees.com
Group and individual work
Courses and retreats
Private and public
Spiritual Direction

Related Materials
Nutshell Publications

Practice Books to accompany deeper reading of Being Prayer. Transforming Consciousness series

Meditation courses to use on your computer:
Going Beyond-First Steps

Individual meditations (MP3 format) available for immediate download
Sample -loving kindness meditation, 3 minutes, 3MB

A primary theme in Being Prayer-Transforming Consciousness is that nothing is as substantial as it seems. We fuel a dynamic spiritual unfolding when we reach a realization of the insubstantiality of what we believe to be true, when we see that both our doubts and certainties need to be challenged.

Understanding insubstantialtiy does not mean that things do not exist at all. Instead it invites us to a looser perception, an awareness that we are each conditioned by our life experiences. This conditioning contributes to our uniqueness but also limits our view and colors all of our perceptions. We can learn to widen our perceptions and open to what is most real, to vitality, energy, enthusiasm, and joy.

Being Prayer is intended as a companion to be revisited again and again, to be read and practiced slowly digesting it in small bites at a time. With each reading different teachings will stand out based on life circumstances and developing understanding. Purchase this book online!

Award-Winning Finalist!
National Indie Excellence 2007 Book Awards - Spirituality

Being Prayer - Transforming Consciousness:
Good News of Buddhist Practice

"I have repeatedly been asked how it is that I can be a Christian Spiritual Director, a Buddhist practitioner and a meditation teacher. I understand the question and appreciate the confusion as well as the concern behind it. I struggled with the question a long time in my own spiritual work and have had many wonderful guides along the way. Now I can happily say there is no conflict—and I can explain why and, more importantly, describe how to begin. In this book, I invite the readers to explore Buddhist practice and see for themselves that it actually offers a very powerful way of being Christian and also a path for anyone to be simply free and at ease in life, no matter what the circumstances or belief." --Mary Rees, author

Foreword:

Both the Buddha and Jesus Christ offered the teachings that they did in order to help people change themselves for the better. In this small book Mary Rees brings together, in particular, a number of essential Buddhist-based practices which can help to effect such positive changes, yet which are cast in a language and form that also renders them highly useable by those of a Christian faith — indeed, of any religious faith at all.

—AJAHN AMARO pp xvi

Endorsements :

"How we see determines what we see, and Mary Rees will help you to see much better. This book can clear away many doubts that Christians might have about the richness of Buddhist practice and discipline."

Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M.
Author of Everything Belongs
Center for Action and Contemplation
Albuquerque, New Mexico

"Mary Rees' Being Prayer begins the important work of inching two religious traditions closer together. If Buddhism is to root within this culture, it must come to terms with the Christian language of God, heart and prayer. Mary shows that not only is this possible but compatible with the depth and wonder of Buddhism. She takes hard concepts like consciousness, and mind and makes them accessible. Mary allows us to relax and invite this compatibility."

Rodney Smith
Insight Meditation Teacher
Author of Lessons From the Dying
Seattle, Washington

"This work is a wealth of information for those on the journey toward higher consciousness. The content is solid and written from the heart. There is something pertinent for all levels of study regardless of spiritual leanings or methods of meditation. The readers will connect with it based on their own experience and practice, reflecting the principle that all things of a higher nature come when one is ready to receive them. The author has provided stepping–stones in Consciousness practice, undoubtedly placing many of us, in the words one spiritual teacher, “where we need to be, to learn what we need to know." "

Mary Hendricks, MS, RYT.
Yoga Alliance of Registered Yoga Teachers
Houston, Texas

""This is a book about prayer – about being prayer. It offers some methods from Buddhist practice toward this manner of living. The author also makes connections with Christian tradition. It is a book to be done, using the practice, not just to be read, grasping the concepts. As we do so we let “ direct contact with life be our primary teacher” as the author suggests and as Karl Rahner with his emphasis on human experience might corroborate. The subtitle “The Good News of Buddhist Practice” gives a clue to what is here for those who are interested. The style is easy to read, but one must do the practice to benefit most from the book. A good read is not enough!."

Sr. Mary Dennison, rc, EdD
Director, Spiritual Direction Institute

Houston, Texas

Reviews
online:
Presence Review Winter 2006
Sacred Journey Review February 2007

below:
Donna Coomer Between the Lines Reviewer (October 2006)
Bob Howdy, PhD in The Exchange (November 2006)
Mary Jo Meadows in Inquiring Mind (May 2007)

"We wake up each day to a world filled with complexity. We are surrounded with a whirling array of choices and circumstances that we must deal with. Mary Rees offers us an invitation to move our consciousness into a place where "we learn to stay with our experience neither running nor fighting."

She shows us a variety of ways to achieve this. We get a chance to read about concepts such as "creating a holding", understanding "sense doors" and "dynamic receptivity." Her chapters present a concept, suggest beginning practices, and conclude with recommended reading. In this fashion each one is like a book within itself. And Rees is careful not to overload us. As she says, "Be faithful to your heart's deepest intentions. Revisit them every day and during the day. Let them expand and unfold." With her many years of teaching guiding her, she leads us gently, suggesting we move forward, pause, revisit, and grow, all at our own pace.

With appendices that include Prayers of Intention, an overview of the Satipatthana Sutta, and an additional reading list broken down into categories, BEING PRAYER becomes not only a guide to transformation but the type of book that you'll always want close at hand and close to your ever expanding heart."

Donna Coomer
Between the Lines Reviewer
Cedar City, UT USA
October 26, 2006

"The forward to this beautifully compact book tells the author's endeavor: "To elucidate some parallels that these two great spiritual traditions (Christianity and Buddhism) possess, to foster understanding between them, and, most importantly, to make their contemplative practices more accessible to the general public." Certainly this isn't just a "Don't Worry, Be Happy" spit in the ocean of Buddhism. Her endeavor is a much taller order of seriousness with a purpose. Big issues and solemn questions are covered - like how to harmonize life with deepest intentions, why develop a greater facility of attention and awareness, and what it takes to feel at ease at te roots of imagination.

The author has a Master of Science degree in Specific Learning Disabilities, and is a teacher, educational diagnostician, and consultant. She has practiced Insight Meditation (Vipassana) since 1985 and has been teaching mindfulness and insight since 1989. Her writing came out of a dedication to the maturing of culture, and to the arisig of wisdom and compassion, possible through willingness to see clearly.

Her book is finely split in half. The first half is 70 pages divided into 5 Chapters which comprise the thematic section. Chapter One says to get in touch with your body and your senses. Chapter Two sayt so know your mind. Chapter Three says to free your mind. Chapter Four says to shape your mind. And Chapter Five says to participate in righteous reality. Each chapter ends with a follow up activity o practice plus helpful recommended reading. The next half contains 3 Appendices (A - Prayers of Intention, B - Four Foundations of Mindfulness, and C- Recommended Reading by Category) plus end notes, and an extensive bibliography alphabatized by author.

Before you hesitate to tackle her book you should know that it is thoughtfully designed for a thorough, uncomplicated reading. The dedicated author makes plenty of clear material accessible to you and politely encourages you to use it to your advantage. It is well worth reading because you don't have to rack your brains against the obscurity of typically indecipherable printed resources on Buddhism, therby turning off an avenue to illusive wisdom and true virtue. And, if you like it, the references are invaluable for a continuing study of the fascinating practice of the religious and philosophical system of central and eastern Asia founded in India about twenty-five hundred years ago.

Fasten the gate,
Bob Howdy, PhD"

Bob Howdy, PhD
The Exchange
Portland, OR USA
Nov. 17, 2006

"Being Prayer"- rather than saying prayers - involves a transformation of consciousness that allows us to see all life as prayer. ....The author succeeds in demonstrating how Buddhism supports the contemplative life and deepens the heart of faith, no matter what tradition one comes from.

Mary Jo Meadows (of Resources for Ecumenical Spirituality is an author and teacher of Christian/Buddhist practices )
Inquiring Mind
Spring 2007

About the author:

Mary Rees has been teaching since 1970. Going Beyond is grounded in a life time of spiritual practice and twenty years working as a Specialist in Learning Disabilities. Mary holds a Master of Science degree in Specific Learning Disabilities from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. A commonality of Mary's combined trainings and experiences is a focus on expanding consciousness through meditation, prayer, and development of metacognitive capacities. All involve learning how to learn and tapping into available resources and intelligence which are often masked by reliance on language and concepts.

About the team that brought this book to press:

Primary team members who came together to create Being Prayer include editors Mary Sieber and Roger Leslie and graphic designer Kristin Kearns. Con Rees did some crucial early pruning of the writing.

"As this book was being printed in April 2006, Mary Sieber entered a critical health situation and passed away June 19. Though every part of the team was essential in this production, Mary is the primary reason for the excellent overall quality. Without her skill, insight, and belief in the project it may never have come to press."

About Nutshell Publications:

Large topics in brief, Small topics in depth. The goal of Nutshell Publications is offering valuable and significant content in small and beautiful packages. Nutshell does not solicit manuscripts. We intend on offering writings that get directly to the heart of significant themes - especially those that are valuable in enriching spiritual life and improving the quality of life for all living beings.

Table of Contents and Appendices:

Contents
Introduction
Coming Home Through Our Senses
Knowing the Mind
Freeing the Mind
Shaping the Mind
Birthing Embodied Being
Appendix
Prayers of Intention
Satipatthana Sutta Summary and Bibliography
Recommended Reading by Category
Alphabetical Bibliography

E-books and E-docs

Being Prayer--Transforming Consciousness is available for download chapter by chapter. Read on your computer or print on paper. Print back and front of paper and fit page. The text will be identical to book, but in large print format.

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