A slot canyon is the perfect place to practice contemplative prayer!

During my solitary retreat, I spent nearly an entire afternoon in a slot canyon. Although the leaves from the trees outside these slots had already turned brown and fallen, I found a significant number of gold-colored Red-osier Dogwood leaves still clinging to the trees growing in the slot, due to the protected micro-climate of the canyon. While sitting, meditating and photographing in this slot, I felt powerfully the intimacy of the Divine Presence embracing me on all sides. It was easy to practice Contemplative Prayer there, since the practice envisages the true self as an abyss surrounded by the embrace of God, who wells up from the innermost depths of the INTERIOR canyon!

Photo: Red-osier Dogwood leaf resting in the sand of "The Joint," Canyonlands National Park, UT, November  28, 2014