Part 2 in a series on Breath Prayers
It’s unfortunate that so little teaching about breath prayer is offered in today’s church. These prayers fit beautifully into the lives we lead in this time and culture. They’re brief and portable, a manageable doorway into a richer spiritual life. And they help to meet our great need for spiritual respite.
A breath prayer is connected with the body, offering a tangible experience of prayer. The life force that draws breath in and out of us through every moment of our lives, with or without our awareness, tells us something about the presence of God. Similarly, a breath prayer is a reminder of God’s presence.
There are many ways to center our prayers in our breathing, including simply becoming quiet and aware of the flow of the breath. Awareness of the breath is a good place to start in prayer; it helps us to relax. But adding words can help to keep a prayerful focus.
Words for a breath prayer can come from poetry, scripture, or prayers we write ourselves. It claims an attitude toward God, a longing, a request, a need, a hope, a confession—an opening of the heart to the divine. When we adopt a prayer to say in rhythm with our breathing throughout the day, we acknowledge something about ourselves, something about God, and something about that relationship. We allow the prayer to become part of us, to shape our thoughts and our heart.
The words to a breath prayer are brief and simple, like a mantra. It does not voice everything we think, and isn’t made to sum up all that we trust in, or hope for, or seek. It uses pared-down language that suggests more than it states. It points beyond us, toward the divine object of our longing.
For example, part of Psalm 13 reads, “Give light to my eyes.” I love the line and the wealth of meaning it implies. A breath prayer using that line might be, “God of all wisdom, give light to my eyes.”
The words to the prayer are said in rhythm with the breath, a phrase on inhalation and a phrase on exhalation. A single breath, in and out, might complete the prayer; a longer prayer might require two full breaths.
You might find words for a breath prayer written in scripture or penned by spiritual teachers or poets. The possibilities are everywhere. In the next post, I’ll offer more from the Psalms.
What words inspire you?
You might also be interested in Part 1 of this series, Breathing a Prayer, on wordless breath prayers. Or in Part 3, Praying the Psalms.
Lovely! ‘Give light to my eyes’ I love that. Breath meditation is a big part of my own practice. Nothing calms or centers me more. I haven’t done much with word breath prayers, but I guess it is really just a kind of mantra…
Thanks, Lisa. I’m glad you like that line, too. There is amazing, beautiful poetry to be found in the bible.
I agree, following the breath is a powerful practice by itself, but particularly when I’m walking I like having the words to focus on.
I am certain that God brought me to your site/page. My 9 year old daughter is mature beyond her years, and with that has come some very spiritual battles that don’t usually happen till teen or adulthood. She has a faith as high as a mountain, and is positive of God’s presence and the reality of Jesus. What is heart breaking, is that she feels like she is on one side of a concrete wall, on her knees, crying out to God, and God is on the other side, sitting on his throne wearing headphones so he can’t hear her. (Her analogy) She knows this is not true, yet feels this distance/disconnect in her heart. She prays numerous times a day, reads her bible almost daily if not every day, attends a Christian school where biblical teaching are taught DAILY, and was baptized May 5, 2012. She said that when she got baptized, she felt God’s presence for about 3 days, then the feeling went away. She also saw, what she thought was a sign from God, telling her to be a missionary. I know the devil is working on her full force, because she is such a warrior for Christ. She will speak up to strangers about Jesus and truly has a godly heart. She knows that God has never left her side, and understands that it is she who needs to come closer to Him.
We are going to sit down and read these three lessons together tonight. You wrote a prayer perfect for her and her situation. “Give light to my eyes”. That is exactly what she has been “literally” crying out to Him in prayer. With this breathing process/prayer and these wonderful words, I am prayerfully certain that she will start to feel God’s presence. She does know he’s always with her, she just doesn’t feel like he’s can hear her. Thank you for your ministry. At the risk of being pushy, I ask that you PLEASE keep my sweet Jesus warrior in you prayers. I know she is going to do great works for our Lord, and it’s scaring the Devil into a frenzie. I will not let him shut her down.
Just reread my previous entry. Sorry for the numerous typos. I typed this from a “smarter than me” phone. Many Blessing to all who come across this. God Bless!
Dear Nancy,
Thanks so much for sharing your story. You and your daughter are very much on my mind, and I will be glad to say a prayer for her. It sounds like she was blessed with a powerful experience of God following her baptism. And because she is so young, she doesn’t yet understand that while we can return to those experiences as a touchstone for our lives of faith, even the saints cannot live out their days in that kind of transcendent state.
Yet we can live in the awareness of the presence of God. Throughout our everyday lives we can be open to God’s guidance and sustained by God’s love. Even the most faithful among us sometimes feel that God is distant, and they teach us that continuing our practice of prayer is a way of keeping the channel open until we can once again feel the presence of God, who is always there. It sounds like this is something you and your daughter understand. This, to me, is part of what it means to have faith.
You are wise to be exploring different kinds of prayer in these circumstances. I hope your daughter will find a way of praying that will help her find peace and encouragement as she moves through her days, and that will help her feel the presence of God, who seeks always to be in relationship with us.
God works through the circumstances of our lives to reach us, yet also asks that we use our powers of discernment to test whether our understanding of God’s action and message is correct. It’s important to listen carefully for that still, small voice and to consider carefully and humbly whether our way of seeing our lives and the world around us is in accord with God’s way.
May you and your daughter experience God’s blessing, and may your lives reflect God’s love.