Praxis and Embodied Experience: Learning by Living in Spiritual Tending

Living What We Learn in Spiritual Tending

Spiritual direction is not just something we think about—it’s something we live with our bodies, breath, and being. Both Ignatian spirituality and many Pagan traditions share this: a conviction that experience is sacred text.

Praxis refers to the integration of theory and experience. The Collins Dictionary defines it as “practice, as distinguished from theory; application or use, as of knowledge or skills.” In religious and educational settings, it means that we learn not just by thinking or reading, but by doing—by living—and then reflecting on that lived experience.

Praxis is a feedback loop: we live, reflect, adapt, and then live again with deeper wisdom. Spiritual companions don’t just talk about sacred presence—they practice it, noticing how it moves through their lives and those they accompany. Praxis is how spiritual companions grow.

In spiritual direction, this looks like noticing what arises in a session, praying or journaling about it, shifting how we hold space, and returning again—more aware, more grounded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way:

“The true preacher can be known by this, that he deals out to the people his life,—life passed through the fire of thought.”

I’d substitute “minister” for “preacher” here.

Note on language: I use the word minister here to mean someone called to sacred service or care. Spiritual Companioning is a ministry—whether or not one is ordained. If another word fits better in your tradition, use that!

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Embodied Prayer: Moving from Performance to Presence

Our bodies are not incidental to our spiritual lives. They are the ground of spiritual life. Body prayer—whether through breath, movement, stillness, or dance—is one way to engage the Sacred through lived experience, rather than performance.

This might be as simple as bowing with gratitude each morning, walking slowly in silence, or using breath to center before a session.

Betsy Beckman, in Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction, writes:

“Whether we like it or not, we all have bodies. Our bodies carry emotions, memories, wounds, joys, and celebrations…

Nevertheless, as spiritual directors, we might ask the question, ‘Why do we dance?’

…To dance is to open ourselves to a deep wisdom that is beyond us, holding us, binding us together in intricate, energetic beauty.”

In this, Betsy echoes ancient traditions and modern somatic theology. The dance of life is not a metaphor—it’s a practice. A praxis.

Performance isn’t necessarily “bad”; in fact, sometimes we do need to “fake it 'til we make it” in many parts of our lives, and there are contexts where it is absolutely called for. However, the intention in SD work is presence.

The Korean dance troupe from Keimyung University perform the Drum Dance

Mysticism and Embodied Experience

So often, when thinking of mystical experience, people think of the solitary practitioner experiencing solitary one-ness with the divine. Mystical experience can be deeply individual, but it’s just as often communal, embodied, and even ecstatic. In Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy, Barbara Ehrenreich invites us to remember the power of communitas:

“The self-loss that participants sought in ecstatic ritual was not through physical merger with another person but through a kind of spiritual merger with the group.”

“To dance is to say yes to the sensual nature of life, infused with the movement of the ever-creative Spirit.”

This form of mysticism is rooted in movement, music, ritual, and shared presence—not in escaping the body or intellect, but inhabiting both more deeply.

Mysticism, in this sense, isn’t only a mountaintop moment—it’s dancing with others at ritual, singing in circle, weeping with a seeker. It’s sacred communitas. For spiritual companions, this collective joy is not a distraction from the sacred—it is one of its forms.

 For spiritual companions, mysticism isn’t just an experience to admire in others—it’s a praxis we’re invited into ourselves.

Try It:

• Reflect on a time when you “learned by doing” in your spiritual life. What did that teach you about God/Sacred/Spirit/self?
• Try a simple body prayer: Stand or sit. Breathe deeply. Let your hands rise as you inhale and lower as you exhale. What arises as you move? What shifts in your awareness?
• Recall a time when you were part of a ritual, service, or gathering that felt mystical or alive with spirit. What was happening in your body? What connected you to the others?
• Consider a body prayer that includes some Robin Wall-Kimmerer readings/quotes (she write rhapsodically about sacred strawberries) and then eating a strawberry. 
• Or attend a Tea Ceremony.

Consider: Where might your own practice of spiritual direction need more embodiment, more experience, or more reflection?

As always, this work begins with the body, with presence, and with the courage to let experience teach us. Praxis isn’t something we arrive at—it’s something we live, moment by moment, in sacred relationship.

Beloved, you are whole, holy, and worthy.

Rev. Amy

For Further Exploration

• Beckman, Betsy & Paintner, Christine Valters. Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction – A rich resource on integrating creativity, dance, storytelling, and embodiment into spiritual practice.
https://abbeyofthearts.com/books/awakening-the-creative-spirit
• Ehrenreich, Barbara. Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy – A deep dive into the history and power of communal ecstasy and ritual from a sociological lens.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/44525/dancing-in-the-streets-by-barbara-ehrenreich
• Palmer, Parker. Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation – Offers a grounded perspective on living out vocation and embodied truth, blending Quaker insight with personal reflection.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/124644/let-your-life-speak-by-parker-j-palmer
• Lorde, Audre. Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power – A brief but profound essay connecting sensual experience, embodiment, and the sacred, especially relevant for feminist and womanist spiritual companions. https://uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/CWLUArchive/erotic.pdf
• The Embodiment Institute – Offers workshops, articles, and frameworks for integrating somatics, healing justice, and spiritual practice. https://www.theembodimentinstitute.org

See also these posts

• The Heart of Spiritual Direction – Foundations of presence, hospitality, and sacred companionship. https://abeltaine.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-heart-of-spiritual-direction.html

• Sexuality and Spiritual Direction: Holy Bodies, Sacred Desires – For more on embodiment and sacred sensuality. https://abeltaine.blogspot.com/2024/02/sexuality-and-spiritual-direction-holy.html

• The Roots of Spiritual Direction: Desert Wisdom – Introduces early Christian desert traditions as foundational to modern spiritual companioning. https://abeltaine.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-roots-of-spiritual-direction-desert.html

• Mysticism and Spiritual Direction – Considers how mystical experiences shape seekers and call for sensitive, grounded accompaniment. https://abeltaine.blogspot.com/2025/03/mysticism-and-spiritual-direction.html

• St. Theresa of Ávila, Duende, and Spiritual Fire – Reflects on passion, transformation, and embodiment in mystical traditions. https://abeltaine.blogspot.com/2025/03/sttheresa-of-avila-duende-and-spiritual.html

This Heart of Spiritual Direction series is ©2025 Amy Beltaine, all rights reserved. You may freely reprint any blog post, website, or print resource. Simply include the following attribution, and if you print online, make the link at the end live:

Article ©2025 Amy Beltaine, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. This article and hundreds of others, along with other free resources are available at http://www.AmyBeltaine.info