Commitment to contemplative practice, like any practice, requires the cultivation of a certain discipline, and thereby, habit. If you are uncertain of how contemplative practices like Centering Prayer might fit into your life, you are welcome and encouraged to “test the waters,” engaging in prayer periods of different lengths and experimenting with what places, sounds, and writings help you move into the “inner room” of prayer. However, be aware that such experimentation tends to be most fruitful for those who have first become familiar and have a certain degree of comfort with the standard practices and methods passed down through the ages, so that you can understand their purpose and how changes might enhance that purpose in your own practice, rather than detracting from it. Music, for instance, has been successfully incorporated into all manner of contemplative practices throughout the ages, but any music chosen must cultivate interior stillness and equanimity, or else it risks undermining the purpose of contemplative practice. Also, if you are beginning (or beginning again), know that too much tinkering with your practice can actually stunt growth. The real fruits tend to arise out of a dedicated, devoted, daily return to a set practice of contemplation day after day, prayer period after prayer period. Don’t spend so much time seeking the “best way” to pray that you neglect the prayer itself. It’s in the actual intention and practice of surrender to God, however imperfect (and our attempts will always be imperfect!) that transformation happens!