Prayer Training

Getting into the Practice of Praying.

The Breslover Chasidim believe that the best way to train yourself to pray is to pray over every little thing.

Therefore, if someone is having difficulty praying when they are really in trouble, they would advise that person to pray for every little thing that happens to him. If his button falls off, they would advise him to cry out: “Please, God, help me find my button!” And if he has a runny nose, they would advise him to cry out, “Please, God, help my nose get better!” And so on, with everything that troubles him. In that way, he would get into the practice of praying.

Similarly, the Aish Kodesh, in Bnai Machshavah Tovah, offers a strategy to capture and make use of momentary flashes of awakening that happen throughout the day, but not necessarily during the time of formal prayer. He says that if one experiences any sort of anguish, even for physical concerns, one should immediately recite a chapter from the Book of Psalms that reflects one’s internal turmoil and then add one’s own spontaneous words to God. The same goes for times when we experience joy- one should utilize the moment and sing a chapter from Tehilim that echoes our happiness.

This allows us to not only to make use of moments of strong emotion by directing them in a form of communication with God, but it will also enhance the way we pray in general.