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Experience-based advice for focusing and slowing down prayers?
I tend to daven (pray) without sufficient focus and very quickly. In particular, I find that most of the time that I'm praying, my mind is on things other than the words that I'm saying. And, not that comparison with others is ideal in this realm, but for what it's worth, I frequently find that I am the fastest davener in a given minyan.
I would like to drastically increase my level of focus during davening. Secondarily, and more as a symptom of the primary goal than as a goal in itself, I'd like to daven more slowly. I have made resolutions along these lines in the past, but I find that my mind invariably wanders as my lips speed along, anyway.
Additional data: I was introduced to reading Hebrew and davening as early as preschool. Consequently, I can read prayerbook Hebrew fairly rapidly, have memorized most of the text of davening, and have a good idea of the meanings of most of the Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew words that the davening is made of.
I am looking for techniques for focusing more and speeding less from people who have successfully improved from a similar situation to mine. I am aware that there is plenty of literature, old and new, about focusing on davening, but for this purpose, I am less interested in what has been proposed in theory or proclaimed as successful by saintly sages of old than I am in learning what has worked empirically for regular people of our times.
Consequently, I would most appreciate responses that follow the rough format "My davening was ... So I tried doing ... Now, my davening is ..."
I think the problem is that we spend so much time focusing on learning. We overly focus on intellectual stimulation. On …
5y ago
I experienced a significant improvement in my focus on davening when I discovered that it is halachically preferable to …
8y ago
Sing the tefillos. That seems to work to help slow you down.
8y ago
Some things that have been helpful to me personally: 1) Get enough sleep, which puts you in a better mood. 2) If you a …
9y ago
Rabbi Dov Fischer (of Young Israel of Orange County) wrote a very nice article in which he discusses how adding personal …
9y ago
This is a great question that touches on an area that is so fundamental. Before mentioning any specific technique tha …
9y ago
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in Jewish Meditation discusses visualizing the words as black fire on white fire. Focusing on visuali …
9y ago
I was a major sufferer of the problem you describe, and to be honest, I have not completely cured myself of this; howeve …
9y ago
My rabbi told me a very nice suggestion which seems to help me every time I practice it and it's very simple: Follow alo …
14y ago
In addition to the other answer that I have already written on this question, something else that helps me is standing i …
8y ago
You should consider getting a Siddur with Kavanot. Before I used one I was around 1.5x faster than I am now. Now I take …
9y ago
Try to be the sheliach tzibbur as often as possible. I find that when I lead the prayers I'm much more focused on them. …
9y ago
One piece of advice that has helped me and more than one person that I know is to think about the meaning of the words b …
9y ago
I have a similiar experience with my davening Recently I started learing Reb Shimshon Pincus's sefer on tefilla as sug …
9y ago
i heard from Rabbi Aharon Feldman to put your finger every time you see a shem Hashem ahead he said at least it will s …
9y ago
I've tried many of the above answers. Each has worked.. for at least the first day. What works best for me is the simple …
9y ago
Learn about the greatness of G-d. study in depth shaar yichud of chovos halevavos, shaar yichud v'emuna in tanya and mor …
9y ago
I read the following piece of advice in a pamphlet somewhere, and I tried it and it worked for me. Concentrate on the m …
9y ago
I recently tried enunciating the letter ×¢ more while davening. This makes you go slower, at least until you get so used …
9y ago
Sometimes, (when I'm feeling particularly not into it,) I pause before I begin every beracha of amida and ask myself: …
12y ago
I too had this problem. I bought the Artscroll Interlinear siddur. It slowed me down a lot and imbued much more meaning …
14y ago
Copied from my answer here: Take a minute to clear your mind and try to fee the presence of Hashem all around you. Dav …
14y ago
Without checking sources: Psukei DeZimra (the psalms and passages from Baruch SheAmar to Yishtabach, before Shema) shoul …
14y ago
Two things have proven effective for me over the years in this regard: Davening near/behind people who are more into i …
14y ago
The Koren-Sacks siddur can be worth a try. Also worth a try is a siddur with a different version of the text than the o …
14y ago
25 answers
I too had this problem. I bought the Artscroll Interlinear siddur. It slowed me down a lot and imbued much more meaning into my davening.
This post was sourced from https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/1986. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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I've tried many of the above answers. Each has worked.. for at least the first day. What works best for me is the simplest. Simply change your routine! The best is to use a new siddur that you're unfamiliar with. Change place -preferably next to someone that says the birchos hashachar alous so that others answer amen, and sings through pesukei dezimra. Find something that changes the monotony and that works for you!
This post was sourced from https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/47703. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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One piece of advice that has helped me and more than one person that I know is to think about the meaning of the words before saying them. Generally, people intuitively gravitate towards thinking about the words afterwards and then find that they can't hold concentration. Instead thinking about the word or phrase one is about to say and then saying it can really increase focus and concentration.
This post was sourced from https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/48012. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Two things have proven effective for me over the years in this regard:
Davening near/behind people who are more into it than me. This is inspirational not for competitive reasons but because it provides constant reminders that if I fall behind in my concentration I am missing out - for, as the other individual demonstrates, there is something to be missed.
Pursuing a deeper understanding of the prayers independently and in context "off-line" (i.e. not during davening).
This post was sourced from https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/196. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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I read the following piece of advice in a pamphlet somewhere, and I tried it and it worked for me.
Concentrate on the meaning of Hashem's name whenever it comes up. You can pick whichever meaning you want for it to work, although Halacha has an opinion about which one is the main one.
There are two reasons why I think it works. One is that Hashem's name comes up often enough that if you just refocus every time it comes up, you'll be on track for most of Shemoneh Esrei. The other is that I think the phrase ברוך ×תה ×” sends many people, even if they are putting effort into focusing, into "auto-pilot," after which they stay that way. If you consciously invest in focusing on the "auto-pilot" triggers, then you'll avoid the problem.
I also used to have something I would do before Shemoneh Esrei (which maybe writing it here and preaching it to others will inspire me to resume), which I instituted based on some reading of meditation techniques. One of the most basic techniques of focusing your mind in meditation is to execute subconscious processes consciously. So I used to take a few seconds (or longer at Mincha, when there is more time immediately before Shemoneh Esrei if you start Ashrei early enough) to focus on my breathing, counting 5 seconds to inhale, 2 second pause, 5 seconds to exhale, and I found that this helped to settle my mind and help me focus.
This post was sourced from https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/46076. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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