My friend David Brazzeal talks about breathing and prayer.
THANKS
“Sometimes I’m just tired and worn out and I say, ‘God, but at least I’m breathing. Thank you’ It is perhaps the minimum I could do.”
PRAISE
“But if I can get beyond that, I like to use breaths to delineate between phrases. For example you could meditate on different verbs. It’s actually easier to do without talking. Say, “I love you.(breath) I cherish you. (breath) I adore you. (breath) I long for you. (breath)” Something like that you can do for praise.”
CONFESSION
“Another way works great for confession. When you breath you are actually bringing in good things your body needs like oxygen and letting go of things you don’t need any more like carbon dioxide.”
“I breath in grace, and I breath out my frustration.”
“I breath in your peace and I breath out my anxiety”
“I breath in you humility, and I breath out my arrogance.”
INTERCESSION
“You can also use breathing in intercession. This morning I was with my wife at a very important doctor’s appointment and I found myself breathing in the waiting room. Breathing good things into that room. Onto the doctor. Onto my wife. So it went like this:
“May he have real clarity of the situation.” (exhale)
“May he have patience.” (exhale)
“May he have understanding.” (exhale)
“May he have wisdom in decision making. (exhale)
For my wife, ‘That you, would give her calmness of spirit.'” (exhale)
MEDITATIVE
“This one is from Richard Rohr. The Hebrews said that when you breath it is actually like the sound of YAH(inhale) WEH(exhale) So in a way you have been saying the name of God ever since you were born and you will continue saying it as long as you live. That’s such a beautiful time. So sometimes you can just sit in silence and let those syllabes rest and linger on your lips. YAH-WEH”
CONTEMPLATIVE
“Where you push out the thoughts of the day. The things that you have to do, the things that you didn’t do. And you just create a space for you soul and focusing on your breathing helps with that because it keeps you from thinking about other things that are distracting. So you can just take a few moments and focus on your breathing and just let your soul bathe there in the presence of God. And focusing on your breathing keeps you mind from wondering away too much.”