Recently I have been exercising my morning mourning prayer skills after the loss of a very close relation. Sometimes I wait until I am completely brushed and washed and clothed to do so. At other times I will do it first thing upon waking. My head is always covered and I make sure to face east. After the praying is done, I take a moment of silence and reflect upon the material and holistic (body, mind, spirit) gifts that I possess. I consider the praying to be prescribed and the meditation to be free-form/extemporaneous. Do you make a distinction between the two? Do you discard one and only practice the other?
All the world's major religions utilize both prayer and meditation. If you read the Catholic mystics like St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, the way they talk about "prayer," they might as well call it meditation. And things like The Rosary and Centering Prayer are quite direct forms of meditation. If you are engaged in daily meditation practice, at some point, you are definitely going to have a bad meditation. Some days it just does not work. But prayer is basically free access, all the time. So, to take advantage of it is just common sense wise. ++++++++ Very sorry for your loss. Some of the Yogis whose writings I admire and respect: Swami Vivekananda Paramahansa Yogananda (the above two were among only a handful of souls recognized by Mahatma Gandhi as living saints) of course the writings of Gandhi Sri Aurobindo Sri Ramana Maharishi Sri Ananda Moi Ma Sri Chinmoy
