My introduction to monastic life, many years ago, brought me to the practice of daily hour-long meditation. Before beginning each meditation, my fellow novices and I would stand in front of our kneeler for a few moments to collect our thoughts and then get down on our knees and kiss the floor.

At first, this practice of prostration and floor-kissing seemed to me bizarre. To make such gestures struck me as undignified, not something a rational person should ever do. Doing it with others made it seem like a lock-step surrender of individual decision-making.

Gradually, however, over a period of  weeks I came to appreciate the spiritual value of this gesture and it became habitual, even comfortable (If I had grown up Muslim, this practice of bowing down and kissing the floor at prayer would, of course, have been familiar to me from my youth.)

This particular action served to remind me that God deserved complete submission, reverence, and worship. My fellow novices and I bowed to the divine greatness both inwardly within our hearts and outwardly with our bodily selves. Our devotion became a response to the command in the Hebrew Bible addressed to the chosen people: “Hear, O Israel, you shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

It’s vital to express spiritual yearning in bodily ways. Leaving our body out of it makes spirituality too otherworldly, even inhuman. After all, we are one, body and soul, or rather, enfleshed spirits. The various parts of our body need to be enlisted to help our prayer.

Our hands, for example, can show forth the disposition of our soul. In a recent book, the spiritual leader Elizabeth Lesser writes: “You will notice in statues from a variety of religious traditions that the deities or saints hold their hands in interesting postures.” She calls them “physical gestures that help evoke certain states of mind.”

Our eyes, too, can enter into our prayer. By raising them to heaven, casting them down in deep recollection, or keeping them closed throughout the time of meditation, we can become more fully engaged.

The way we hold our back, perhaps straight but not rigid, can aid and abet our prayer. Many people find it helpful to sit on a pillow propped up on the floor while they keep their legs folded in what is called the lotus position. In a prayer group that I joined recently everyone but me sat in this style. ( I find it too uncomfortable so continued to sit in a chair.)

Of course, we can also use our legs to walk. At times one can pray better while taking a walk. Somehow the physical action loosens the spirit within us and impels us to recognize the divine presence in all that surrounds us. Mary Frakes, author of MindWalks, advises: “Empty your mind, relax into your walk. Like a timid guest, the moment of heart opening will emerge and tap at the door of your consciousness when it’s ready.”

Bowing our head can also be a gesture that supports prayer and gives it further expression. It is a natural response to the presence of the Holy One. It can also be interpreted as our sign of recognition that prayer is not a matter of thinking but rather of an interior turning toward God.

Many people who take meditation seriously pay attention to their breathing. They focus upon the rhythm by which we draw air in and then exhale. In that rhythm they find a spiritual reality, the gift of life itself with its vital motion.

The kiss of peace exchanged with fellow worshipers can give expression to our feelings for other human beings as given to us by God. In touching them and wishing them the gift of God’s peace, we form a bond with them that supports our spiritual strivings.

Whether we pray alone or with others, giving outward expression to our inner reaching out to God is much more important than commonly realized. We are never dis-embodied spirits; the whole person, interior and exterior, is called upon to seek out the holy and the source of love.

Richard Griffin