The Spiritual Exercises is a set of Christian meditations and prayers written by Ignatius of Loyola while living in a cave. It involves a four week retreat with daily activities led by a spiritual director to help the exercitent reflect on their prayers and understand how they apply to their own life. The purpose of the Exercises is to help the person conquer themselves through mortifying everything within that is not what God wants, in order to praise, reverence, and serve God above all else.