Contemplative Practice: Breath Prayer

Gregg’s Reflection

Rob Bell first introduced me to the idea that the Old Testament name for God, Yahweh, was really the sound we make when we breathe. So, when Moses at the burning bush asks God’s name, YHWH is the response. God seems to say, “I am the very breath you breathe.”

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We come to life with our first breath, and when we breathe our last breath, we return to God. As God said to Mechtilde of Magdeburg, “I will draw in my breath and you will come to me as a needle to a magnet.”

I often use Yahweh breath prayer when pressing matters keep me from my still sit. I do it while driving, while hiking through the woods. I’ve even used this practice while in an MRI machine, or in a dentist’s chair. It is a great practice for bringing me to the present moment, and letting go of thoughts. Breathe in the wisdom of the mystics.

Scripture

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Job 33:4

This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.

Ezekiel 37:5

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.

John 20:21-23

Rejoice always, praying without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:1

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Luke 23:46

Ancient Writings

God spoke to Saint Mechtilde, “Do not fear your own death, for when that moment comes, I will draw in my breath and you will come to me as a needle to a magnet.”

Mechthilde of Magdeburg 1212-1282

Modern Writings

Close your eyes and practice the awareness of body sensations for a while . . .Then come to the awareness of your breathing . . and stay with this awareness for a few minutes… I want you to reflect now that this air that you are breathing in is charged with the power and the presence of God . . .  Think of the air as an immense ocean that surrounds you . . . an ocean heavily colored with God’s presence and God’s being . . . While you draw the air into your lungs you are drawing God in . . .Be aware that you are drawing in the power and presence of God each time you breathe in . . . Stay in this awareness as long as you can . . .Notice what you feel when you become conscious that you are drawing God in with each breath you take . .

There is a variation to this exercise. Another reflection, this one borrowed from the mentality of the Hebrews as we find them in the Bible. For them a human’s breath was life. When people died God took their breath away; that is what made them die. If someone lived it was because God kept putting [God’s] breath, God’s “spirit” into this person. It was the presence of this Spirit of God that kept the person alive.

While you breathe in, be conscious of God’s Spirit coming into you . . . Fill your lungs with the divine energy God brings . . .While you breathe out, imagine you are breathing out all your impurities . . . your fears . . . your negative feelings . . Imagine you see your whole body becoming radiant and alive through this process of breathing in God’s life-giving Spirit and breathing out all your impurities . . Stay with this awareness as long as you can without distractions . . .

Anthony De Mello, Walking on Water, vii, CAC Morning Devotion, 9/26/20

Praise is the 'breath' which gives us life, because it is intimacy with God, an intimacy that grows through daily praise.... Breathing is made up of two stages: inhaling, the intake of air, and exhaling, the letting out of air. The spiritual life is fed, nourished, by prayer and is expressed outwardly through mission: inhaling and exhaling. When we inhale, by prayer, we receive the fresh air of the Holy Spirit. When exhaling this air, we announced Jesus Christ risen by the same Spirit. No one can live without breathing. It is the same for the Christian: without praise and mission there is not Christian life. And with praise, worship. We rarely speak about worship. What do we do when we pray? We ask things of God, we give thanks.... But worshipping and adoring God is part of breathing — praise and worship.

Pope Francis, Address to Catholic Fraternity of the Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowship, Oct. 31, 2014

You shall not take the name of God in vain. Ex 20:7 Many Jewish people concluded that the name of God should not be spoken at all. The Sacred Tetragrammaton, YHWH, was not even to be pronounced with the lips! In fact, vocalizing the four consonants does not involve closing the mouth. A rabbi taught me that God’s name was not pronounceable but only breathable: YH on the captured in-breath, and WH on the offered out-breath!

God’s eternal mystery cannot be captured or controlled, but only received and shared as freely as the breath itself—the thing we have done since the moment we were born and will one day cease to do in this body. God is as available and accessible as our breath itself. Jesus breathes the Spirit into us as the very air of life (see John 20:22)! Our job is simply to both receive and give this life-breath. We cannot only inhale, and we cannot only exhale. We must breathe in and out, accept and let go. Take several minutes to pause and breathe mindfully, surrendering to the mystery of wordless air, the sustainer of life. Part your lips; relax your jaw and tongue. Hear the air flow in and out of your body: Inhale: YH. Exhale: WH

Let your breathing in and out, for the rest of your life, be your prayer to—and from—such a living and utterly shared God. You will not need to prove it to anybody else, nor can you. Just keep breathing with full consciousness and without resistance, and you will know what you need to know.

Richard Rohr, CAC Morning Devotion, 2/6/21

Breathing: The Way to Pray Without Ceasing. Our breath is a gift from God. It is what gives us life. It is how we commune with the created world. With each breath we breathe in a little bit of the world around us and it becomes part of our physical body. With every breath we breathe out a little piece of our physical body returns to the great circle of life. When our breath ceases so does our life on this earth.

In the biblical tradition, the breath of God is what gives life to the universe. Breath, Spirit, and Wind are all synonymous. To breathe is to be filled with the Spirit and to be given the gift of life. It renews us and sustains us. God breathes in us. It means so very much. What more tangible presence of God is there to be found than that which animates us and surges up the vital life force within us? To follow our breath is to follow the Holy Spirit. You may do it while walking in the forest – breathing in what the trees breathe out and breathing out what the trees breathe in.

Another form of this prayer comes from John Cassian. Cassian recorded the wisdom of Abba Isaac who explains how we can follow the words of the Apostle Paul who taught us to pray without ceasing. The answer Abba Isaac gives is that we are to unite our prayer to our breath, since as long as we live we breathe without ceasing. If we can make our breath a prayer then we will always pray without ceasing and our life itself will become a divine liturgy and a continuous act of praise. We are acknowledging our place within creation and allowing our being to mingle freely with the rest of God’s creatures. We are intertwined with all of creation and our breath is one and the same breath that every other person in the past, present and future has breathed, is breathing, or will breathe. It is also the same breath that the trees and animals breathe. There is no greater form of communion than that which God has created us to partake in without ceasing and without choice. We need only recognize it, bless it, and use it to praise our God. 

Justin Coutts, In Search of a New Eden: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Seekers, 4/11/21

When you sit in meditation, your breathing naturally slows. Quietly focusing your attention on your breathing is a way of slowing down and settling into a deep meditative awareness of oneness with God. Breathing out, be quietly aware of breathing out. Breathing in, be quietly aware of breathing in. 

Each time you realize you have drifted off into thoughts, memories, sensations, and other ego-based modes of being, simply return to your breathing as your anchoring place in present-moment attentiveness. 

Your efforts in following the path of breath awareness might be enhanced by repeating a word or phrase with each breath. A practice I have found particularly helpful is to pair breath awareness with the phrase “I love you.” As you inhale, listen to God’s silent I love you in which God’s sustaining love is pouring itself out and giving itself to you as the gift and miracle of your very life. 

As you exhale, exhale yourself, that is, give yourself in a whispered I love you that incarnates the gift of yourself to God, who with your next inhalation is being poured out and given to you as the gift and miracle of your very life. If feelings of sadness come welling up within you as you sit in meditation, let your next inhalation be your way of receiving into yourself the presence of God, loving you through and through in the midst of your sadness. As you exhale, let your exhalation be your way of giving yourself in love, sadness and all, to the infinite love that with your next inhalation is giving itself to you whole and complete in the midst of your sadness.  

So too with bodily pain, with feelings of fear and confusion, of loneliness or quiet joy and amazement that may rise and fall within you as you sit in meditation. Whatever it is that may be occurring within you, let each inhalation be your way of receiving into your self the infinite love that is sustaining you and loving you through and through in the midst of all that arises and falls away within you as you sit in this meditative stance of devotional sincerity. 

Let each exhalation be your way of giving yourself in love to the love that loves you through and through in all that is arising and falling away within you whatever that might be. Sit this way with all your heart, knowing and trusting that in this reciprocity of love your destiny in love is being fulfilled. 

You can practice this “I love you” prayer in little passing moments as you go through your day. You can practice it as you awaken in the middle of the night, letting love be your way of falling back to sleep. It is by way of this prayer that you can learn from God that love alone has the authority to name who you really are and are called to be in the midst of all that life might send your way, right up to the moment of your death and beyond.

James Finley, Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God p. 30, 242-244

When we are born, God exhales us into the earthly plane, When death comes, God inhales us back into himself. 

James Finley, Living School Teaching

Breath Prayer in Daily Life. While various sciences measure the health markers related to breathing, ancient Christian Breath Prayer involves belief in God, in whose name Jesus healed. This Creator is also Redeemer, breathing new life into us through the Holy Spirit. The spiritual practice of Breath Prayer provides a person of faith with a conscious avenue to partner with God in healing physical, emotional, and spiritual wounds. In an act of faith, we can breathe with the Spirit toward new life.

The simple practice of Breath Prayer can bring calm and spiritual awareness of God’s healing power into the emotionally fraught world of prior distress and trauma. In the end, since we are practicing something all the time, either revving our nervous system or calming it down, why not practice what brings more resilience and perhaps communion with God?

Breath Prayer: An Ancient Spiritual Practice Connected with Science, By Nancy S. Wiens , BioLogos 7/1/2019