PraXis tries to combine evidence-based wellness practices with ancient Christian tradition. PraXis wants to bring the healthy body and mind back into daily prayer life as a way to glorify God.
“Your Faith has made you well.” [Luke 17:19]
What is Christian Wellness?
Wellness represents a $4 billion industry centered on addressing two specific conditions: heart disease and mental health (anxiety and depression).
Wellness tends to refer to mind, body, spirit practices that help to address these long-term health issues. But in order for it to work, you need to change daily habits, and that takes time and support from a real-life community.
Christians have a very unique religious view of the body, mind, and spirit. We believe you are just as much a bodily being as you are a spiritual being.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” [1 Corinthians 6:19-20]
That’s why you have to take care of your body and exalt God through the body [Phil. 1:20].
We also have a unique view of wellness. Our English word, Salvation, comes from the Greek Soteria, which, among other things means, healing and well-being.
What do you have to do?
First, PraXis is not a substitute for going to church—it is a wellness practice designed to integrate into your existing church life. We simply discuss way of integrating mindful prayer, fitness and fasting into our daily lives. We do this through our MeetUp group, our blog, social media, and through partnership with local churches. The theology comes directly from scripture and from the traditions of the Great Church.
“Be sober-minded; be watchful.” [1 Peter 5:8]
Christian Mindfulness: You can call this mindful prayer, silent prayer, wordless prayer, pure prayer, noetic prayer or neptic [watchful] prayer. There are so many terms. There are many forms of prayer that are considered contemplative. That is, one sits in silence with God. This silence or stillness becomes a space in which God can emerge. Contemplative prayer, also produces a byproduct that science now refers to as Mindfulness, in which one learns to observe thoughts and emotions in a neutral way. This helps with anxiety and depression, through something science calls Neuroplasticity, or mental resilience. Christian might call it sober-mindedness.
“Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.” Acts 13:3
Christian Diet: Controlling what you eat is central to good health. In the Christian tradition this is called fasting. This involves the fruit of self-control, [Gal. 5:22-23] as turn away from certain foods, mostly meat and cheese, from time to time, and turn towards God.
“I discipline my body and keep it under control”
[1 Corinthians 9:27]
Fitness: For most of human history people really haven’t needed to deliberately exercise to stay healthy. The Apostle Paul was a manual laborer. In his time, the vast majority of people not only worked with their hand, but everything was done by hand. It’s only in our modern times that we need to go out of our way to physically exercise. Only 5% of American adults are physically active for at least 30 minutes a day, and only 20% of kids. The body needs constant stretching, strength training and cardio fitness. So while there really isn’t anything known as ancient Christian exercise, calisthenics has been around since the founding of the Church. We will show you some simple exercises and explain how they relate to all the other practices we do.
Your Body and the Body of Christ
Ultimately, this is about you, your body, and God. This program is meant to be done in cooperation with your local church. We can tell you the exercises, the theology, and the science, but ultimately you need the Church to pull this off.
So please explore these links below and come to PraXis with us.
In XP
Cornelius and Jamie
Reach out at
info4praxiswellness@gmail
Let’s hang out
