Speaker Spotlight: Phil McLemore

Meditation nearly saved my life a few years ago. I had been toying aournd with it for quite a while, remembering that the General Authorities has encouraged us to practice it, but there is no LDS manual on meditation, so I just waded my way through it until I was hit with a crisis in my life and needed it in order to keep my head above water. There were days I'd meditate for 45 minutes or more just in order to face my day.

Meditation was a big topic for me to include with the conference, and the conference board agreed. But where, o where, does one find an LDS meditation guru? A person like that isn't exactly in every ward, or even stake. Well, we were lucky to stumble upon Phil McLemore.

Philip McLemore received his Master’s Degree from the University of Florida and is the former LDS Institute of Religion Director at Auburn University and the University of Georgia.

He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2004, after 20 years of service as a military chaplain. As a chaplain, Philip specialized in marriage & grief counseling, values education, and stress management. After an injury to his back, neck, and shoulder, Philip began a meditation practice to manage chronic pain and stress. He soon discovered that meditation was designed for the primary purpose of spiritual awakening and embarked on a decade of in-depth study and practice with world-renowned meditation masters. Philip is an expert in ancient and modern forms of meditation and contemplative prayer and currently works as a hospice chaplain and meditation instructor.

Phil is teaching 3 classes:

• Awakening into the Spirit: The Art and Practice of Meditation / Part One: The Philosophical and Spiritual Foundation.
• Awakening into the Spirit: The Art and Practice of Meditation / Part Two: Principles and Techniques for a Lifelong Meditation Practice
• Becoming The Beloved of The Lord: Maturing through the Stages of Spiritual Growth