Just Begin : A Sourcebook for Spiritual Practices

Spiritual practices for beginners and practitioners all in one volume.

Just Begin is an indispensable reference tool for the interested spiritual practitioner who wants to add new methods and exercises to their mystical “toolbox.” In simple terms, basic steps, and encouraging language, Dr. Wigner introduces readers to more than 40 different practices from Eastern and Western traditions, encompassing everything from mindfulness to music, yoga to the Lord’s Prayer. In each short description, the focus is to “just begin” to practice and experiment, grow, and develop spiritually on the way. No one can take a journey without taking the first step, and Dr. Wigner provides the first steps for multiple practices in various religious traditions.

These spiritual exercises will help spur people of faith to deeper self-awareness, holistic living, and prayer. The book’s sections are organized around types of practices: Meditating, Listening, Being, Sensing, and Embodying, with a final section: Doing. Each chapter forms a short three to five page introduction to a mystical practice, consisting of segments on definition, background, how to practice, resources for further study, journal prompts and discussion questions, and common problems that sometimes “get in the way” of one’s practice.

Dann E. Wigner, is a mystical theologian and religious sociologist with a doctoral degree in theology and sociology from University of Durham, United Kingdom. A member of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, the American Theological Library Association, and Spiritual Directors International, he is a spiritual advisor and adjunct religious studies professor at Middle Tennessee State University and teaching librarian at the University of the South. He lives with his wife and son in Sewanee, Tennessee.