What Everyone Should Know About Breath Prayer
Happy New Year!
"The Jewish name for God – YHWH – was not spoken, but breathed. Its correct pronunciation is an attempt to imitate the sound of inhalation and exhalation. We enter into this world with the name of YHWH on our lips and we leave this world with the name of YHWH on our lips. The one thing we do every moment of our lives is therefore to speak the name of God. This makes it our first and our last word as we enter and leave the world." (Richard Rohr: The Naked Now)
Yahweh Is Both Feminine and Masculine
It is also to note that YH is Feminine in Hebrew, signifying receiving the spirit or life energy into us on our In-Breath, and WH is Masculine, signifying our life-giving spirit or life energy as we Exhale into life. This is more than mere symbolism; this is our awakening to the divine dance...in the life-receiving and life-giving exchange of spirit.
This energetic understanding of Breath is consistent with many languages and spiritual traditions. Breath in Hebrew is Rauch; in Greek, Pneuma means breath, wind, or spirit. In Chinese, Chi means the energy of life or life force that gets closer to the heart of the matter. In Yoga, Prana means the life force or life energy flowing through us. So, conscious breathing is the oldest spiritual practice.
Walking With Wisdom
Breathing…It’s the first thing we do when we’re born into this world, and it’s the last thing we do when we leave it.
Jesus' last words on the cross were, “Father, into your hands I give my spirit.” and he breathed his last.
After the resurrection, Jesus breathed on his disciples, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Our spirit is the essence of who we really are. Our spirit and our breath intermingle as one. Being conscious, our Breath is electric, living, and pulsating with life.
As God is spirit and as God breathed into us the breath of life, what is lacking is awareness. Breath prayer brings us the possibility of making the unconscious conscious.
Through Spiritual Practice, We make the unconscious, conscious.
Our intentional Breath Prayer is a simple way to drop our linear mind so that we might consciously enter into our spirit through our breath.
It helps us park our minds while engaging our spirit. We drop our body, which holds us to our past, and we drop our ego mind, which engages us with our future, so that in that liminal space between, we may enter the eternal present.
Reflection: The word is with you, even in your mouth and in your heart…
A Breath Prayer begins in our heart, not our mind. As the Desert Fathers and Mothers might say, “We put our mind into our heart.” Science reveals what this heart/mind coherence does as the energy of our vibratory field expands.
Our heart is that part of our soul that interfaces with our body and with our spirit, hence with the Eternal and with the Sacred being called the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
As Hebrew is a picture language, Proverbs's image is a Spring and keeping our spring cleaned out.
‘Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.’
Using our breath as a prayer is probably the simplest as spiritual practices go. It can also be a full-body awakening.
We are all made of stardust imbued with the breath of God, and every breath we take is Grace.
The YHWH Breath Prayer
*Here’s a Simple Practice not based on belief, but on our experience.
Set aside a quiet place with enough time like you would for any exercise program. We're going to set up this practice with a Three Stacked, or Three Breaths on top of each other, three times. *Three Stacked Breaths So stand up, let your arms hang with your hands opened and relaxed. and with your mouth closed, Breathe into your Stomach, then Into your Chest, then Into your Head, Holding for a moment, then, letting the air fall our of you nose with a sigh. Again, Inhale, Inhale, Inhale, and let it fall out. Again, Inhale, Inhale, Inhale, and let it fall out with a sigh. Congratulations, You've just taken control of your heartrate, the way the blood is coursing through your brain, and you've changed the way your brain is functioning just by taking these three breaths. You can do this anywhere and whenever you need to, even for weeks at a time. Taking Time With Eternity ~ Settling Presence As we begin, take two or three deep cleansing breaths. Take this moment to still your heart. Lighten your face with a soft smile. With your mouth closed, Consciously follow your breath. Breathe in Joy and breathe out Gratitude. See if you can intuitively picture the energy breathing in and breathing out. Seeing and feeling the Presence coming in and going out. Your Presence shifts this moment, creating a transcendent sacred space. Then gently, turn your focus to your breath, and follow your breath with your awareness. With your in-breath, breathe in YH And on your out-breath, breathe out WH Don't try to form the words but allow yourself to rest into your breaths, Consciously breathing in and releasing your awakening life. You can even picture yourself breathing in the Breath of God and Breathing Out joy into the world. Photo Credit: Adam Brock * Three Stacked Breaths from James Nestor YHWH Tetragrammaton Eplilogue Since I first wrote this article six years ago, Everything in my life has changed, infact, I should not still be here. Some of you know my story and some of you have walked with me through Kidney Cancer, Stage 4 Lung Cancer, the loss of my wife to Cancer and the death of my youngest son, and I am grateful beyond words for your companionship. This post is my opening to the oldest spiritual practice which is Conscious Breathwork. Infact, I wound put Conscious Breathwork in first place of the Spiritual Practices That Transform Us because, as we change our state, we change our lives. As I literally lay dying with C-Dif and Stage 4 Lung Cancer Isolated in the Cancer Ward basement, during the start of COVID lock down, I deciced to give the Wim Hof Method a try as I was dying and I had nothing left to loose. I breathed the Wim Hof Method, and Cold Plunges and yes breathing YH in and WH out, and I've gone from Stage 4 Lung Cancer to Zero. Now I can't claim breathing did it, there are just too many varables, but I can say, I would not be here if I hadn't started. So my mantra is "Change your State, Change Your Life." I've also used The Ah Ou Um breathing method I learned from Sadhguru you might know as OM to vibrate the cillia in my lungs to bring up and to clean the flim out my lungs for several years now. What's cool is, In the third part humming Um with your tounge on the roof of your closed mouth can change your brainstate. Yes, humming can be a spiritual practice.
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That is a beautiful reflection. Thank you, Bob.