I've had a long day today and am feeling quite tired from the long days I've had recently, travelling around the British Isles to see friends and family, so opted for a quiet half hour in the bath with candlelight and incense.
I love candle time as it allows for a quietness of the soul, and opportunity to let God sit with you (another Ignatian practice) - a relaxing of the need to 'do' prayer and enabling of the opportunity to 'be still and know that he is God'. I tend to get bored quite easily, so I find the combination of flickering candlelight and the sweet smell of incense more helpful, if not for anything else, as it occupies two of my senses.
Using senses in prayer can be provocative and can stir in the deeper places, particularly when you don't use words, but savour the non-linguistic elements of your spirit. In some ways, art and music have a similar effect (more on both of those later). There's also something about fire and water (the essential elements) that I find really captivates my spirit, uplifts my soul and can be extremely contagious in a non-demanding, non-threatening way.
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