Bible Disciplines:11 Ways to Practice Spiritual Solitude
Learn about the benefits of spiritual solitude. This blog post includes 11 ways to practice solitude, and six examples of solitude in the Bible.
If you think solitude is the sister to loneliness then it’s time to think again. Solitude is not the same as loneliness. In my busy life I’ve come to learn to value solitude and to hear its call. As individual believers living a Christian life, we should want to become more like him and follow Jesus’ example. One of the ways we can do this is to practice the spiritual disciplines.
Solitude is a discipline that’s important to practice because of the noisy and constant busy lives we live. Jesus practiced specific times of solitude for good reason (more on that later) and so should we.
Jesus didn’t have a mobile phone, email, social media, Youtube, TV or radio. Imagine your world without these for a second. And yet, even though Jesus didn’t have any of these he still sought out moments of solitude. He consciously sought it out. Why?
Because Jesus understood the value of solitude. It’s in the quiet moments on our own, that God finds us, and we can hear god’s voice.
Solitude in the Bible: Six examples of God practiced Solitude
1. Jesus sought solitude to pray
Solitude in the Bible Luke 5:15–16
“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
Solitude in the Bible: Mark 1:35
“Very early in the morning… Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
2. After times of preaching and teaching
Solitude in the Bible: Matthew 14:22–23
After feeding the 5,000:
“He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone.”
3. To renew his energy
Solitude in the Bible: Mark 6:30–32
After the disciples returned from ministry:
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
They withdrew to a solitary place.
4. To spend time with God
Solitude in the Bible: Luke 6:12
Before choosing the apostles:
“Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.”
5. In times of Intense pressure
Solitude in the Bible: Matthew 26:36–39
In the garden of Gethsemane before the cross:
“He… fell with his face to the ground and prayed…”
Jesus separated Himself even from His closest disciples for focused prayer.
6. To Rest
Solitude in the Bible: Matthew 8:23–24
Although not explicitly “solitude,” Jesus intentionally withdrew from crowds and rested:
“Then he got into the boat… But Jesus was sleeping.”
Learn to turn off the noise in a modern world
If the modern world has taught us anything, it’s that the noise in our lives can be relentless. Solitude however is the place where you can turn off the noise and seek God. Every believer, no matter how busy, can learn to cultivate a rhythm of drawing away with God and find the peace and joy of solitude. Solitude invites an intimate relationship with God, and is your personal space to cultivate the discipline of solitude.
Solitude: An open doorway into the stillness where God meets you
Spiritual solitude is not loneliness. It is not isolation. Solitude is an open doorway into the stillness where God meets you, renews you and restores the parts you didn’t even realise were weary.
Here are 11 ways to practice spiritual solitude.
Solitude is a way to create room in your heart for God’s presence to breathe life into your soul again. With practice and discipline these activities can become part of your daily life activities. Chooses the practices that fit in with your lifestyle and that resonate with you.
1. Begin the morning with silence
Before the sun comes out and the demands of the day start, give God your quiet.
Wake up with an early morning (you decide what time early means!)
No music. No cell phone. No scrolling. Just you, waking up slowly to the empty space of your mind.
Sit at the edge of your bed. Inhale deeply. Let your mind settle like dust drifting to the floor. Whisper, “Lord, here I am.”
This simple moment, two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, sets the spiritual tone of your whole day.
When you begin with silence, you are training your soul to listen before it speaks, to receive before it performs, and to rest before it runs.
Morning silence is not time wasted. It is time invested.
2. Create a personal sanctuary corner
You don’t need a mountaintop. You don’t even need an entire room. You just need one quiet corner you can treat as holy ground. I like to change mine from time to time and from season to season. In the summer it’s a special chair in my garden (with a nice potted plant next to me). In the winter it’s a corner in my bedroom.
It could be:
- A corner chair with a soft blanket
- A small prayer tray with a candle
- A space on your balcony where the breeze feels like prayer
- A bench or chair in your garden under an old tree
This is your sanctuary the place you return to when life becomes tangled.
When you step into this sacred space, your heart begins to understand: This is where I meet with God. And even on the busiest days, a few minutes in your sanctuary can re-align your spirit with God.
Top Tip: The Solitude Tray: If you’re short on space, create a personal space on a large tray. On your tray place a candle, your bible, battery run fairy lights, and anything else that takes you to your solitude space. Take your tray to a corner, chair or your bed and spend time with God.
3. Practice breath prayer throughout the day
Remember, solitude doesn’t always require a quiet room. Sometimes solitary prayer begins with a quiet breath.
Breath prayer is an ancient Christian practice that pairs intentional breathing with a short prayer. It is gentle, rhythmic, and can be done anywhere, at your desk, in your car, in the shop, while waiting for your child’s practice to end.
Inhale: “Lord Jesus…”
Exhale: “…make me still.”
Inhale: “Holy Spirit…”
Exhale: “…fill me again.”
Inhale: “Father…”
Exhale: “…I am Yours.”
Every breath becomes a returning, back to center, back to peace, back to God.
4. Disconnect digitally to reconnect
It is impossible to achieve solitude when your mind is constantly stimulated. To hear God’s gentle whisper, you must intentionally quiet the world’s shout.
Choose intentional pockets of digital silence:
- Put the cell phones in another room for an hour
- Turn off notifications during prayer times
- Practice a weekly “Sabbath screen break”
- Replace nighttime scrolling with nighttime reflection
You are not rejecting the world, you are simply choosing not to let it drown out what actually matters. Technology is a tool, not a master. You should control it, not the other way around. When you step back from the endless stream of input, the internal noise begins to soften, and the soul can breathe freely again.
5. Take slow walks in nature
A walk can be more than exercise. It can be alone time with Jesus Christ.
Walk without the rush, without the goal of distance or counting steps. Let your senses awaken to the God who fills every inch of creation.
Listen to the crunch of gravel, the rustle of leaves, the steady rhythm of your own footsteps. Notice the way sunlight spills through branches or how the wind brushes your skin like a quiet blessing.
During a sacred walk:
- Don’t force prayer
- Don’t analyse anything
- Don’t multitask
Just be present.
When your mind slows to the pace of your feet, the noise of life fades, and what remains is God’s gentle nearness.
After your walk, write down any words or thoughts that have come to mind. Some of my best ideas have come from solitude walks (and also the sacred solitude of the shower!)
6. Practice scripture meditation, not just scripture reading
Reading the word of God engages the mind. Meditating on the Bible engages the soul.
Choose one verse. Just one. Let it sit with you the way sunlight sits on water, softly, steadily, deeply.
For example:
“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
Read it slowly. Let each word resonate with you. Ask:
- What does “be still” look like in my life right now?
- What part of me resists stillness?
- What does my soul need to remember about who God is?
Meditation turns scripture from information into transformation. It creates solitude inside of you even if the world around you is noisy.
7. Sit in stillness without expecting an experience
One of the biggest obstacles to solitude is expectation.
We imagine that if we sit quietly with God, something profound must happen, an insight, an emotion, a revelation, a voice.
But solitude is not performance. It is presence.
There will be days when you feel God deeply, and days when you simply sit quietly without any particular experience. Both are holy. Both are sacred.
When you sit in stillness without demanding a result, your heart learns to enjoy God simply for who He is, not for what He gives you in the moment.
Sometimes the greatest miracles happen in the hours that feel uneventful.
If you’re not used to doing this, or this is your first time, build up your time slowly, start with 10 minutes, then extend to 15 minutes, then half an hour and build up.
Be patient with yourself and don’t be surprised if your mind wanders. When you find yourself thinking about what to make for dinner, simply re-centre yourself back to God.
8. Keep a solitude journal
Writing is a spiritual doorway. It slows the mind. It reveals the inner landscape of your thoughts, fears, and hopes.
A solitude journal isn’t a place for polished devotionals or perfect sentences. It’s a safe space for honesty, raw, unfiltered, and real.
Use your journal to record:
- What you sense God saying to you
- Questions, words and ideas that you carry in your heart and mind
- Scriptures that settle your spirit
- Emotions that need to be surrendered
- Prayers you can’t yet voice aloud
Over time, your journal becomes a testimony of God’s faithfulness, proof that even in silence, God is always working.
9. Practice solo mini retreats, even 30 minutes counts
Not every retreat requires travel or days away. A retreat can be as simple as setting aside a pocket of uninterrupted time to be alone with God.
Try a 30-minute mini retreat:
- Light a candle or dim the lights
- Read God’s word slowly
- Sit quietly
- Pray as you feel led, or don’t pray at all
- Reflect in your journal
If you have more time, a half-day, a few hours, an evening, stretch it out.
Mini retreats recalibrate your heart. They remind you that the spiritual life grows not in the rushed moments, but in the unhurried ones.
Top Tip: Plan moments of solitude (and your mini retreat) in your diary in advance. Plan it like you would plan a short trip away.
10. Create solitude transition moments in the day
Create transition moments of solitude during the day. 10 minutes in the shower can become your solitude transition moment. 5 minutes with a cup of tea alone can be a solitude transition moment. Think about your day and the small pockets of time when you can transition into solitude.
11. End the day by releasing everything back to God
The day often ends with noise still buzzing in our heads. But solitude at night is one of the most healing practices you can cultivate. This is probably one of my favourites. There’s a special place in time, before I fall asleep and after conscious prayer that I love. It’s similar to when I wake up at 4am or 5am and feel God nudging me for my attention.
Before bed:
- Sit in dim light
- Take slow breaths
- Acknowledge what weighed on you
- Name what you’re grateful for
- Release every burden into God’s hands through prayer
You might pray:
A prayer before Sleep
“Heavenly father, gather the scattered pieces of my day. Calm what is anxious. Heal what is wounded. Restore what is weary. I place everything into your hands. I release everything to you.”
When you end your day in solitude, you sleep differently, your heart is peaceful, your mind is light, and your spirit will beat rest. Give God your hopes, dreams, anxieties and fears, lay them at his feet.
The quiet places are where we are transformed
Solitude is often where God does His deepest work in us. Not in crowds. Not in noise. Not in productivity or busyness.
But in stillness.
It’s where we learn to hear His voice again. Where our fears lose their volume. Where the soul remembers that it is loved, held, and known.
Find Intention in the quiet
Trust me, you don’t need more hours in your day, you need more intention in your quiet. You don’t need to escape your responsibilities, you just need to anchor your spirit before you carry them.
Spiritual solitude is not a luxury. It is a lifeline.
And when you practice it, not perfectly, but faithfully you will begin to notice something sacred rising in you:
A deeper peace.
A clearer mind.
A stronger spirit.
A renewed energy.
A heart that finds God not only in the mountaintop moments, but in the everyday quiet between breaths.
You’ll understand the power of solitude and the benefits it can bring to your life.
Last thoughts- The practice of solitude
Solitude is always intentional, whether it’s a walk in nature or your night time routine, think about how you can make space for intentional solitude and slowly make it a way of life.
With consistent practice you will see your solitude moments as a time of strengthening and spiritual growth, and a welcome opportunity for a change of pace.
I hope these eleven practices help you rediscover the stillness where God is waiting for you with patience, with love, and with open arms.
If you are feeling tired, lack clarity or feel overwhelmed with the distractions of this world, then you know it’s time to seek solitude with God.
Start small, start today, your soul will thank you for it.
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