Hesychasm (Eastern Orthodox)

Establish a still seated posture in a quiet place. Eyes lowered or closed.

'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.' Begin with vocal repetition.

Inhale: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God' — exhale: 'have mercy on me.' Body learns prayer.

Slow study of the desert fathers' writings on inner watchfulness.

Watchfulness — noticing the first stirrings of a thought before it captures you.

Exomologesis — naming what has been carried, in the presence of a witness.

Let attention descend from the head into the chest. Pray from there.

The prayer continues underneath thought, work, conversation. A current beneath the day.

Diakrisis — sorting what arises in the mind by its source: of God, of self, of the adversary.

Standing in Divine Liturgy as embodied prayer. The whole body worshipping.

Penthos — the gift of tears that come from seeing one's own condition clearly and tenderly.

The Tabor light — direct experience of uncreated divine light. Rare, not pursued.

Ongoing relationship with a starets — guidance, correction, witness over years.

Inner silence — not absence of sound but the deep stillness underneath all of it.

Adopt a personal rule of life — hours of prayer, fasting, reading, work, sleep.