Perhaps you've been missing out. God has given us five senses and a brain with two sides. Yet we often approach God in one way only: through words that are analyzed and processed logically in our left brain. The right brain, however, is the creative, intuitive center--the place that connects most to our seeing, smelling, touching, tasting and hearing, and that roots experiences in our hearts in transforming ways.In Awaken Your Senses,longtime ministers Beth Booram and Brent Bill invite you to engage your right brain in your faith through sensory spiritual practices that position your heart for divine encounter. Readings and a variety of exercises that utilize your whole body lead you to experience God in new ways by tasting chocolate, words, matzoh, Scripture, forgiveness seeing the moon, wisdom, art, glory, your best self touching others, stones, prayers, rubble, Jesus hearing silence, music, pain, footsteps, the Spirit, the news smelling gardenias, life, salty air, home, healing oil, coffee Teaching you to pay attention in love to your surroundings, Booram and Bill will help you open your eyes and ears and nose to a sensuous faith--one in which God can be experienced each day as we live and move and have our being.So whether you're weary, stuck, struggling, growing or on information-overload, the exercises and reflections offered here can bring refreshment--a cold drink of water, a gentle breeze--to your soul. Come experience God with all of who you are, and discover more of who he is.
Awaken Your Senses
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"Awaken Your Senses by J. Brent Bill and Beth A. Booram is a beautiful invitation to explore and embody the sacred sensual world. This delightful work invites us into a greater integration of head and heart, mind and spirit, through the use of mindful and creative exercises. It is a wonderful companion and guide for becoming more centered, present and aware in the midst of a busy life. What a joy to drink deep of Awaken Your Senses!" (Carrie Newcomer, Rounder recording artist, The Geography of Light)
"Awaken Your Senses invites us to notice God's movement in and around us. These pages grant us a permission to remember, and yet be more present through the conduit of our senses. This is the sort of resource that can help us keep a more rhymed company with God." (Randy D. Reese, author of Spiritual Mentoring)
"Amazingly, we become dull to something as extraordinary as life, and bored by someone as awesome as God. This book woke me up without beating me up, and gave me tangible, practical ways to savor the sacrament of life, to have genuine gratitude for my body and its senses, and to sink into the glory of God until I felt nothing but joy. Read this and be blessed." (James Bryan Smith, author of The Good and Beautiful God)
"With Awaken Your Senses, Brent Bill and Beth Booram have given us a superb resource for seeking the God of life through sensuous experience, a way of knowing that has been sadly neglected--and too often held suspect--by the church. How did a faith based on the claim that 'the Word became flesh' become so divorced from bodily, incarnate knowledge? Here is a beautiful book that will help us reclaim our bodies, our senses and our relationship with God." (Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak)
"This book is a feast for the senses. It is an invitation to see, hear, smell, taste and touch deeper spiritual realities through physical senses that are awake and alert to God in all of life. It gently but powerfully leads us into a life that is truly sacramental and enriched through the use of Scripture, personal stories and beautiful images." (Juliet Benner, spiritual director and author of Contemplative Vision)
"Awaken Your Senses invites us to notice God's movement in and around us. These pages grant us a permission to remember, and yet be more present through the conduit of our senses. This is the sort of resource that can help us keep a more rhymed company with God." (Randy D. Reese, author of Spiritual Mentoring)
"Amazingly, we become dull to something as extraordinary as life, and bored by someone as awesome as God. This book woke me up without beating me up, and gave me tangible, practical ways to savor the sacrament of life, to have genuine gratitude for my body and its senses, and to sink into the glory of God until I felt nothing but joy. Read this and be blessed." (James Bryan Smith, author of The Good and Beautiful God)
"With Awaken Your Senses, Brent Bill and Beth Booram have given us a superb resource for seeking the God of life through sensuous experience, a way of knowing that has been sadly neglected--and too often held suspect--by the church. How did a faith based on the claim that 'the Word became flesh' become so divorced from bodily, incarnate knowledge? Here is a beautiful book that will help us reclaim our bodies, our senses and our relationship with God." (Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak)
"This book is a feast for the senses. It is an invitation to see, hear, smell, taste and touch deeper spiritual realities through physical senses that are awake and alert to God in all of life. It gently but powerfully leads us into a life that is truly sacramental and enriched through the use of Scripture, personal stories and beautiful images." (Juliet Benner, spiritual director and author of Contemplative Vision)
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spiritual Buffet of Ideas for Waking up Prayer, Retreats and Worship
January 26, 2012
Format:Paperback
Buddhists famously call it mindfulness. Christians have many names for it. In Awaken Your Senses, two nationally known retreat leaders and congregational consultants are opening up their own toolboxes and sharing techniques to enliven the five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. In these days when worship often is becoming a high-tech spectator sport, the first two senses are humming along--but the others are left out. And, in fact, even the full spectrum of spiritual sight and sound are narrowed in many churches.
J. Brent Bill is best known as a popular Quaker writer and I also highly recommend his earlier Sacred Compass: The Way of Spiritual Discernment. He has spent many years as a head of an Indianapolis nonprofit that helps congregations solve problems. Beth Booram may be better known in evangelical circles and for her years of work leading retreats in a wide range of Christian congregations. If you are drawn toward this basic idea, you may also want to check out Beth's earlier books, Picturing the Face of Jesus: Encountering Christ through Art and The Wide Open Spaces of God: A Journey With God Through the Landscapes of Life. Together, as a team, Brent and Beth draw from many Christian streams and shares the ideas with practical invitations to use them in daily life.
Primarily, this is a Christian book, drawing from the Bible and a long tradition of inspirational writers including both Catholic and Protestant voices. But the basic ideas and spiritual principles here can be broadly applied. The authors point out specifically that "if you say you're spiritual, but not religious," you'll still find lots of rewarding ideas between these covers. Even clergy and group leaders in other faiths may pick up ideas they will want to adapt.
The book is designed for an individual reader to enjoy the five sections on five sense and perhaps to try out some of the ideas--and there are many, not just a single track to follow. Or, it's great for small-group discussion. And, congregational leaders are sure to find a number of great ideas to use in preaching, teaching and planning worship.
J. Brent Bill is best known as a popular Quaker writer and I also highly recommend his earlier Sacred Compass: The Way of Spiritual Discernment. He has spent many years as a head of an Indianapolis nonprofit that helps congregations solve problems. Beth Booram may be better known in evangelical circles and for her years of work leading retreats in a wide range of Christian congregations. If you are drawn toward this basic idea, you may also want to check out Beth's earlier books, Picturing the Face of Jesus: Encountering Christ through Art and The Wide Open Spaces of God: A Journey With God Through the Landscapes of Life. Together, as a team, Brent and Beth draw from many Christian streams and shares the ideas with practical invitations to use them in daily life.
Primarily, this is a Christian book, drawing from the Bible and a long tradition of inspirational writers including both Catholic and Protestant voices. But the basic ideas and spiritual principles here can be broadly applied. The authors point out specifically that "if you say you're spiritual, but not religious," you'll still find lots of rewarding ideas between these covers. Even clergy and group leaders in other faiths may pick up ideas they will want to adapt.
The book is designed for an individual reader to enjoy the five sections on five sense and perhaps to try out some of the ideas--and there are many, not just a single track to follow. Or, it's great for small-group discussion. And, congregational leaders are sure to find a number of great ideas to use in preaching, teaching and planning worship.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I received a review copy of this book several months ago. One of the challenges of reviewing books is that there are some books that do not fit easily on a timetable. When you read some books, you want to slow down, absorb, and savor them. Awaken Your Senses is one such book.
In the spirit of The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, Bill and Booram describe several spiritual exercises to help their readers draw closer to God. Each of these spiritual exercises focus on one of the five senses with which we engage the world.
This technique of using one's senses to open doors to encountering God is thoroughly Biblical. The authors go to great measures to establish this as they introduce their text. After all, doesn't the Scripture say, "taste and see", "open your ears", "hear what the Lord says" and more?
Bill and Booram describe their methodology as developing "sensuous faith". In the book there are 30 exercises, as well as 5 "art reflections". With the thirty reflections there are 6 exercises for each of the 5 senses. These exercises begin with a short reflection, followed by a further explanation of what the exercise is attempting to teach, then the technical nature of the exercise is explained so the reader can practice the spiritual exercise, and then finally there is some brief reflection based upon the experience prescribed. There are more exercises at the end of the book. These activities appear that they would take a little larger time investment, and perhaps more of a larger group to practice.
In the world of spiritual formation literature, there is very little that is original. Awaken Your Senses and these exercises are thought provoking, and the text is very original, with a little bit of a "classical" quality at the same time. This resource would be suitable for a week of intensive practice. It would also be a good resource during Lent, if you could work out the timing of the exercises, and extend them throughout the season.
I loved this book. I will use it personally, and at some point I will use it in a class with my congregation as well. Awaken Your Senses is a keeper.
In the spirit of The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, Bill and Booram describe several spiritual exercises to help their readers draw closer to God. Each of these spiritual exercises focus on one of the five senses with which we engage the world.
This technique of using one's senses to open doors to encountering God is thoroughly Biblical. The authors go to great measures to establish this as they introduce their text. After all, doesn't the Scripture say, "taste and see", "open your ears", "hear what the Lord says" and more?
Bill and Booram describe their methodology as developing "sensuous faith". In the book there are 30 exercises, as well as 5 "art reflections". With the thirty reflections there are 6 exercises for each of the 5 senses. These exercises begin with a short reflection, followed by a further explanation of what the exercise is attempting to teach, then the technical nature of the exercise is explained so the reader can practice the spiritual exercise, and then finally there is some brief reflection based upon the experience prescribed. There are more exercises at the end of the book. These activities appear that they would take a little larger time investment, and perhaps more of a larger group to practice.
In the world of spiritual formation literature, there is very little that is original. Awaken Your Senses and these exercises are thought provoking, and the text is very original, with a little bit of a "classical" quality at the same time. This resource would be suitable for a week of intensive practice. It would also be a good resource during Lent, if you could work out the timing of the exercises, and extend them throughout the season.
I loved this book. I will use it personally, and at some point I will use it in a class with my congregation as well. Awaken Your Senses is a keeper.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
To write this book, the two authors --- J. Brent Bill, a Quaker, and Beth Booram, a spiritual director seasoned in various forms of ministry --- each embarked on "a series of thirty-day experiments with each of the senses": taste, sight, touch, hearing and smell. The personal experiments are occasionally mentioned in the book, but this is not a journal by any means.
The goal of the book is to increase the reader's awareness of the wonder, beauty and mystery of God, who is present to us in and through our senses --- physically, through our bodies, which the apostle Paul calls temples of the Holy Spirit, and metaphorically.
Except in the general introduction and conclusion, Bill and Booram stay away from the tricky second-person-plural voice. In alternating chapters, one author and then the other presents short reflections on specific aspects of each of the five senses. Each chapter (of 30) ends with a suggested exercise for personalizing the theme. "The point" of the exercises "is to help more of you --- your whole brain, all five senses and your body --- experience more of God."
In the opening anecdote of a "touch" chapter by Bill, "Touching Absence," he relates his discovery, while at worship, that his car keys are not in his pocket as they should be. He has a hard time concentrating, because he is so aware of their absence. At the end of the chapter, one of several spiritually exercising questions asks, "What thing, when you do not feel it where it should be, feels like God's absence?"
After finishing the book, I looked at the table of contents to note which chapters I had circled as "likes." Had I gravitated toward one author more than the other? No. Two chapters each. Two of those likes were in the section about hearing. One (by Booram) focused on the distinctive messages one can discern by listening to footsteps. Heavy? Slow? Fast? Stealthful? "From a young age, we even learn to differentiate footsteps.... Every person has a certain gait, a weight to their steps.... I know which of my kids has come home just by the way they enter our house." Booram reminds us of the biblical story of Adam and Eve hearing God walking in Eden and finally reflects on her experience of hearing "God's footsteps" in the "garden of waiting." The chapter's "spiritual exercise" asks you to draw representations of the "gardens" in which "you had a profound sense of God's presence and involvement in your life." How did you respond? What have you learned?
Inexplicably, I liked the residual effect of the whole book more than individual pieces, some of which, especially in the first "taste" section, seemed metaphorically forced.
An appendix of sorts gives "additional activities for practicing a sensuous faith." Though untried, the one that seems most interesting is "assemble a faith meal." The instructions start: "In a way similar to how Jews use Passover to tell their communal story of faith, plan a meal that tells your faith story."
Hmm. Food for thought. The bitter and the sweet.
Reviewed by Evelyn Bence
The goal of the book is to increase the reader's awareness of the wonder, beauty and mystery of God, who is present to us in and through our senses --- physically, through our bodies, which the apostle Paul calls temples of the Holy Spirit, and metaphorically.
Except in the general introduction and conclusion, Bill and Booram stay away from the tricky second-person-plural voice. In alternating chapters, one author and then the other presents short reflections on specific aspects of each of the five senses. Each chapter (of 30) ends with a suggested exercise for personalizing the theme. "The point" of the exercises "is to help more of you --- your whole brain, all five senses and your body --- experience more of God."
In the opening anecdote of a "touch" chapter by Bill, "Touching Absence," he relates his discovery, while at worship, that his car keys are not in his pocket as they should be. He has a hard time concentrating, because he is so aware of their absence. At the end of the chapter, one of several spiritually exercising questions asks, "What thing, when you do not feel it where it should be, feels like God's absence?"
After finishing the book, I looked at the table of contents to note which chapters I had circled as "likes." Had I gravitated toward one author more than the other? No. Two chapters each. Two of those likes were in the section about hearing. One (by Booram) focused on the distinctive messages one can discern by listening to footsteps. Heavy? Slow? Fast? Stealthful? "From a young age, we even learn to differentiate footsteps.... Every person has a certain gait, a weight to their steps.... I know which of my kids has come home just by the way they enter our house." Booram reminds us of the biblical story of Adam and Eve hearing God walking in Eden and finally reflects on her experience of hearing "God's footsteps" in the "garden of waiting." The chapter's "spiritual exercise" asks you to draw representations of the "gardens" in which "you had a profound sense of God's presence and involvement in your life." How did you respond? What have you learned?
Inexplicably, I liked the residual effect of the whole book more than individual pieces, some of which, especially in the first "taste" section, seemed metaphorically forced.
An appendix of sorts gives "additional activities for practicing a sensuous faith." Though untried, the one that seems most interesting is "assemble a faith meal." The instructions start: "In a way similar to how Jews use Passover to tell their communal story of faith, plan a meal that tells your faith story."
Hmm. Food for thought. The bitter and the sweet.
Reviewed by Evelyn Bence
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A more colorful, wonderful perception of our world!
I read about this book in The Friends Journal (January 2013) and thought I would like to try it. It was a book that made me very aware of the wonderful senses that God has given... Read more
Published 3 months ago by K. M. Pierson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved this book.
I'm all about using the five senses--and recognizing when we use our five senses--more in every day life. This book is creative and stretched me in an area I love.
Published 4 months ago by B. K. Amodea
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book that helps more of you to experience more of God
Novelist James Joyce once described a character, "Mr. Duffy," as living at "a little distance from his body. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Claudia Greer
3.0 out of 5 stars
Spiritual Formation for the Five Senses
J. Brent Bill and Beth A. Boorman, in their book Awaken Your Senses: Exercises for Exploring the Wonder of God, invite us to think differently concerning our experience in the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Benjamin A. Simpson
5.0 out of 5 stars
awakening your 5 senses
Ways to reconnect, or maybe truly connect for the first time--with God, nature and self...a workshop and a book! Read more
Published 16 months ago by Leah Chang
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Winner
My copy landed in the mail the other day and I'm enjoying it immensely. Very few can articulate life in the Spirit as creatively and clearly as Brent Bill. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Philip H. Gulley
