Breath Prayer

God breathed. God breathed life into all of creation. God breathed life into you and me. Breath is what gives us life. Each of our lives truly begins with our first breath. When our breathing stops, we fade from the earth. Without breath our flesh starts returning to dust. Breath sustains each one of our lives.

Through breath prayer, we invite God into that which sustains us, our breath. We draw our breath along with the giver of life. We invite the presence of God into our words and our actions. In breath prayer a collision occurs within each breath. An eternal divine truth breaks into our lived experiences and reality.

Breath prayer is an embodied prayer. A prayer we can experience through all of our being. As we inhale, we breathe in the air of divine truths of God’s goodness. As we exhale, we release to God the trust we are putting in Him or the divine truths about Him.

Divine Truth with Our Reality

God breathed life, and the breath of God is life-giving. Each breath of prayer sustains our flesh and more deeply embodies that truth within us. Every breath can draw us into deeper fellowship with our Creator. God meets us in breath prayer. It elevates a subconscious impulse into a moment in God’s holy presence.

The act of integrating prayer and meditation into our breath allows us to intentionally focus on the Being of God. Breath prayer is slow. It is intentional. It is rhythmic. It is a meditative, meaningful time with our Creator. The One who breathed life into us, meets us in that breath. Our breath draws our attention to God whose breath gives us life. Let the breath that sustains us become a prayerful invitation back to God.

Again and again in the scriptures, we read that every living, breathing creature praises the Lord. We are told that we should pray without ceasing. Life itself begins with the breath of God. Breath is a foundation of life, and is an expression of the life-giving nature of God.

It is said that breath prayer originated by the Desert Mothers and Fathers (around 200CE). They would take a short excerpt from scripture to meditate on. They would repeat the same text back to God as a prayer. Over and over they would pray the same text.

One of the first passages prayed as a breath prayer likely came from the gospels. Bartimaeus was a blind man in search of healing. Upon encountering Jesus, in his despair he cried out for Jesus to restore his sight. Jesus responded to his fervent display of faith by healing Bartimaeus. His sight was restored. The words he said have become a foundational expression of faith, and a beautiful breath prayer. Countless people echo the words of Bartimaeus for their first time praying breath prayer. These words have become known as the Jesus prayer. You can find these words in Luke 18:13 or Mark 10:47.

Inhale: Jesus Christ, Son of God,
Exhale: have mercy on me, a sinner.

In the span of a single breath the reality of the divinity of Jesus and the abundance of His mercy crashes into reality. We need His mercy. We need it to heal us and to restore us. Like Bartimaeus, we are sinners. There are countless breath prayers. Each one is a cry to God to meet us in the essence of our life. May the space between our lives and divine truths become entangled and inseparable. God be with us.