Beyond Words: 15 Ways of Doing Prayer

Sometimes you can say your prayers without saying any words at all. It's a truth the author discovered when she was photographing Native American dancers. A pow-wow official tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to stop. "This is a prayer the dancer is doing," he explained.

Ingram realized that all the things we do - from cooking a meal to taking a walk to listening to music - can become prayer. With the intention of lifting up all our activitites to a loving and always-present God, we can transform our ordinary lives into holy, prayerful conversations.

Ingram shows us how to "do" prayer: to dance, sing, walk, skip, listen, see into the very heart of reality. Part shaman, part poet, part priest, her original, lyric approach lights our way into a new realm. We find ourselves praying as if for the first time, praying by doing instead of thinking, by actions instead of words.