There is a kind of prayer that isn’t lofty. It doesn’t need stained glass or pews. It doesn’t ask for heaven to come down. It lives here, in this moment, in the body, in the breath.
I call them meta prayers.
They aren’t something I made up out of thin air. They came to me slowly, over years, like waves carving out the shore. First in my own healing, then with my clients, then in quiet mornings when I couldn’t find words for what I needed, but something inside still reached for them.
Meta prayers are built from affirmations, but they are not the same thing. An affirmation is you telling yourself what’s true, or what you want to be true. “I am strong.” “I am safe.” “I am loved.” It’s a declaration. A reminder. A way of shifting your inner landscape.
A meta prayer takes the heartbeat of an affirmation and turns it into a meditation. A prayer not just for you, but for all of us. “May I be strong. May we all be strong. May this world remember its strength.” It’s both intimate and universal. It bridges the “I” and the “we.”
That shift — from me to we — changes everything.
I remember the first time I used them with a client. She had walked into my coaching session hollowed out by heartbreak. Her chest was tight. Her voice barely above a whisper. I could see she didn’t believe the affirmations I was asking her to speak aloud. She said them, but the words slid off her like rain on glass.
So, I asked her to close her eyes. To take the words and make them a prayer instead. “May I find peace.” She said it once. Then again. Then again. Her breathing slowed. I watched her shoulders drop. Then I asked her to expand it: “May others who are hurting find peace. May all beings find peace.”
Something cracked open. Tears came, not from despair, but from relief. The words didn’t feel forced anymore. They felt like offerings. They belonged to her, but they also belonged to something larger.
That’s the power of a meta prayer. It bypasses resistance. It doesn’t force belief. It invites you into belonging.
I have used them in the middle of hospital waiting rooms, when my son was unconscious and machines were keeping him alive. I couldn’t say, “Everything is fine.” It wasn’t. But I could whisper to myself, “May I be strong. May he be strong. May strength carry us all.” And it did.
I have used them at night, when anxiety kept me awake, my mind spinning stories I didn’t want to live. Instead of fighting the thoughts, I prayed: “May I rest. May rest find me. May all of us lay down our burdens and be held.” And something in me softened. Sleep came.
I have watched them shift the energy in rooms filled with strangers. In group sessions, I will often lead people through meta prayers. We begin with one person’s words, one person’s longing. Soon the whole room is breathing it together. The edges between us blur. People leave lighter, more open. Some say they feel seen for the first time in years.
What’s wild is how simple they are. Ten words can change the air. Three lines can rewire how you meet the world.
That simplicity is what I love most. You don’t need training. You don’t need to get it “right.” You just need to speak from the heart and let the words ripple outward.
The book I’ve written — Meta Prayers for Today’s Challenging Times, is a collection of these offerings. They are prayers I’ve spoken in moments of deep fear and deep joy. Prayers I’ve written after coaching sessions where transformation felt almost visible in the air. Prayers for love, grief, courage, stillness, forgiveness, and faith. Prayers for the times we live in, where uncertainty and noise can so easily swallow our spirit.
I didn’t want to write a book that preaches. I wanted to write something you could pick up on a hard morning and find one page, one prayer, that steadies you. A book you could leave by your bedside, in your kitchen, in your car, to remind you of what you already carry inside.
It’s not about rules. It’s not about dogma. It’s about coming back to the truth that you are not alone. That none of us are.
This is why I wrote it.
I’ve always believed healing doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in community. Even when we’re alone in a room, our energy touches others. Meta prayers are a way of remembering that thread of connection, especially when the world feels disconnected and divided.
They are, in a sense, an act of rebellion. A refusal to let cynicism be louder than hope. A refusal to let fear have the last word.
I think about the mornings when I sit on my kitchen counter, coffee in hand. There’s nothing fancy about it. Just me, a cup of warmth, the soft hum of the day beginning. And yet, those moments are prayers too. Not spoken, but lived.
That’s the feeling I want this book to carry. Peace that isn’t performative. Presence that isn’t staged. The kind of wholeness that comes from being real with yourself.
I don’t believe we need more noise. I believe we need more pauses. More ways of remembering. More invitations back to center.
Meta prayers are one of the ways I have found my way back. And I’ve seen them do the same for others.
The book will be coming in September, if all unfolds as planned. It’s not flashy. It’s not complicated. But it is honest. It is born of blood, sweat, and tears. It is written from hospital floors and quiet dawns and late-night coaching calls where someone’s voice finally broke open into truth.
It is my prayer that it meets you where you are, exactly as you are.
May it bring you comfort. May it bring you strength. May it remind you of the light you carry.
And may it ripple outward, touching lives you’ll never see, in ways you’ll never know.
That’s the magic of a meta prayer.
If this spoke to you, I invite you to take the next step. Don’t just read about Meta Prayers. Start living them.
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Your words shape your reality. Let’s choose them with intention, together.
As always loving you from here,
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Rene’ Schooler, Author
