The Rev. Robert VerEecke is a Catholic priest and pastor of The Church of St. Francis Xavier in New York, N.Y. He has written about liturgical dance and dance as prayer and leads workshops on embodied prayer in the Boston area.

The WomanSpirit Center of Bellevue, Wash., is an interfaith community of women that offers retreats, workshops and activities, many of which include unusual forms of prayer, such as hiking, beachcombing, journaling, centering prayer and meditation.

St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Tucson, Ariz., has a “way of the cross” that worshippers are encouraged to walk as part of their religious practice. Email through the website.

Cell of Peace is an ecumenical group that meets to do Lectio Divina and contemplative prayer in the Dallas area. Sandy Guancial is coordinator. Email through website.

Central United Methodist Church in Skokie, Ill., has taken worshippers on a walk through the Stations of the Cross as part of their Good Friday observance.

The Dervish Retreat Center in Spencer, N.Y., holds classes in the whirling dance of the dervish, a form of Sufi prayer.

Oasis Ministries for Spiritual Development in Camp Hill, Pa., is a ministry for spirituality and contemplation. It has single day events, year-long training and retreats for training and education.

The Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (ChIME) trains chaplaincy candidates and others in several nontraditional prayer techniques, including body prayer. It is located in Portland, Maine. Email through the website.

Thomas Ryan is director of the North American Paulist center in Washington, D.C.  He is the author of Prayer of Heart and Body: Meditation and Yoga as Christian Spiritual Practice. He is also the editor of Reclaiming the Body in Christian Spirituality.