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embodying prayer in daily life

Living Presence is a contemplative ministry and apothecary offering spaces of refuge, practice, and healing — where we lay down our not-enoughness, stop trying to earn what’s already given, and rest in the grace of what’s always here.

zen calligraphy

  • “When you drink your tea in mindfulness and concentration, you are performing a sacred ritual; and that is already a prayer.… And in true prayer, there is no longer any separation between the one who prays and the one to whom we pray. In Christianity, our friends say, ‘living each moment in the presence of God.’ If you live with mindfulness, concentration and insight, you never leave God; you are always in touch with God, in the presence of God. When you live every moment of your daily life in the presence of God, it means your daily life is a prayer.”

    — Thích Nhất Hạnh, Buddhist Monk

  • “Prayer is not primarily saying words or thinking thoughts, it is rather, a stance, it is a way of Living in the Presence, Living in awareness of the Presence, and even enjoying the Presence.”

    — Richard Rohr, Franciscan Friar

  • “In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church where I kneel. Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist. Is there not a region of love where the sovereignty is illumined nothingness, where ecstasy gets poured into itself and becomes lost? In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church that dissolve, that dissolve in God.”

    — Rabiʿa al-Basri, Sufi Mystic

  • “The sun hears the fields talking about effort and the sun smiles, and whispers to me, ‘Why don’t the fields just rest, for I am willing to do everything to help them grow?’ Rest, my dears, in prayer.”

    — Catherine of Sienna, Catholic Saint

Offerings

chado tea ceremony

A silent, contemplative ceremony of presence shared over living tea.

somatic movement

Movement as a practice of presence—an unhurried listening that allows movement to arise from within.

herbal medicines basket

Handcrafted herbal remedies, 1:1 clinical herbal consultations, and integrative healing sessions.

Silence, mediation, self-emptying, contemplation, Christian mysticism, zen.

1:1 sessions offering grounded support, reflection, and space to reconnect with yourself.

A group of people participating in a meditation session indoors, sitting cross-legged on the floor with mats and blankets, surrounded by tea and decorative items.
Tea set with two steam-emitting kettles, bowls, and a tray placed on woven and textile mats on a wooden floor next to a dark wall.
A person sitting cross-legged is pouring water from a teapot into ceramic bowls on a table, with additional bowls and a small circular object nearby.
Outdoor tea setup with teapots, bowls, and cushions on a blanket surrounded by green foliage and fallen branches.
Hand holding a glass jar filled with bright green fresh nettle leaf tincture macerating in a jar.
A woman with long brown hair standing in a forest, holding a clump of freshly harvested starry plume Solomon’s seal root in spring.
A wooden apothecary shelf filled with glass jars labeled with handwritten names, containing dried herbs and plants, in a room with green walls.
Pouring organic alcohol onto a fresh Albizia julibrissin pink flowers to begin macerating a tincture for the apothecary stock.
Person holding a small woven basket filled with wild rose flowers outside on a sunny day, with flowering bushes and trees in the background.
Person practicing somatic movement, primal movement, yin stretching on a dance floor space.
A man performing a yoga or tai chi or qi gong on a wooden floor, holding a long wooden staff behind his back with one arm while extending his other arm forward, in a room with wooden slat wall decor.
A man practicing natural movement, somatic movement, primal movement, yin yoga, stretching on a dance floor with a mindfulness gong in the background.
A person conducting a silent tea ceremony in a minimalist room with wooden slatted walls, pillows on the floor, and traditional tea sets. Practicing the art of cha dao.

Contemplative Nature Films

Visual meditations weaving poetry, nature, and ordinary moments in daily life — invitations into stillness.

A winter film on stillness, silence, and joining the great cosmic dance.

A meditation on the holiness that needs no name, no effort, no intermediary.

  • Points of Agreement from Contemplatives of Different Religious Traditions

    In 1980, a group of contemplatives across 8 religious traditions gathered together in the spirit of interfaith dialogue.

    Here are their 8 points of agreement:

  • Rainbow over a field of yellow flowers under a cloudy sky.

    1. The world religions bear witness to the experience of Ultimate Reality, to which they give various names.

  • A rainbow arching across a cloudy sky over a yellow flower-filled meadow.

    2. Ultimate Reality cannot be limited by any name or concept.

  • A rainbow arching over a grassy field with yellow flowers, under a cloudy sky.

    3. Ultimate Reality is the ground of infinite potentiality and actualization.

  • 4. Faith is the opening, accepting, and responding to Ultimate Reality. Faith in this sense precedes every belief system.

  • A vibrant rainbow arches over a blooming yellow flower field with a cloudy sky in the background.

    5. The potential for human wholeness — or, in other frames of reference, enlightenment, salvation, transcendence, transformation, blessedness — is present in every human being.

  • Bright yellow wildflowers bloom on a hillside under a cloudy sky with a rainbow in the background.

    6. Ultimate Reality may be experienced not only through religious practices, but also through nature, art, human relationships, and service to others.

  • A rainbow arching over a yellow flower field with a dark stormy sky in the background.

    7. As long as the human condition is experienced as separate from Ultimate Reality, it is subject to ignorance and illusion, weakness and suffering.

  • A bright yellow flower field under a cloudy sky with a rainbow in the background.

    8. Disciplined practice is essential to the spiritual life; yet spiritual attainment is not the result of one’s own efforts, but the result of the experience of oneness with Ultimate Reality.

  • Multiple mountain ridges in varying shades of blue fading into the distance.

    Additional Points of Agreement

    9. It is essential to extend our formal practice of awareness into all aspects of our life.

    10. Humility, gratitude, and a sense of humor are indispensable in the spiritual life.

    11. Prayer is communion with Ultimate Reality, whether it is regarded as personal, impersonal, or beyond them both.