Breath Prayer

Renée Antrosio – May 7, 2024 1 Comment

I wasn’t looking for a new way to pray. I was searching for a new way to be. The old ways- routines and ruts- were no longer working. My body, my spirit, my emotions were all telling me (loudly) that I needed to listen and attend. 

In my own way, like the ancient men and women who “fled out into the desert,” I sought “a place to enter into silence… a threshold place where… you emerged different from when you entered.” (breath prayer, p. 4) 

Like many of us, I am comfortable with a few familiar forms of prayer. Most are filled with words. Prayers before meals, blessings, requests. Occasionally, in corporate worship, a prayer written by someone else. Prayers of petition and thanksgiving. Variations on Help, Thanks, Wow (which I just re-read) by Anne Lamott. 

Without knowing it, I was ready for fewer words. More stillness. Poetry. For most of my life, I have been too rushed for poetry. Only when forced to slow down, to translate Russian poems my senior year in high school by looking up each word, could I appreciate the depth of meaning conveyed in a few lines. 

Breath prayer is like poetry. A few words for the in-breath. A couple words for the exhale. Gentle repetition as the air flows in, then again on the out-breath. The focus on breath is both ancient and newly remembered as a way of attending to what gives us life.

the Lord God formed the human from the topsoil of the fertile land and blew life’s breath into his nostrils. The human came to life. Genesis 2:7 (CEB)

This life breath is sacred, deserving of attention. Slowing down. Gratitude. Prayer. I traded the many words of my own for a few words written for me. A gift. Surprises that came not from my own experience, but offerings of wise teachers. I appreciated the input- that which was very different from my life and the resonance with other seekers. 

The most surprising prayer was one of the simplest, a prayer on awakening. Mornings had become difficult for me, tinged with dread. (A clear sign that I was not well.) I did not see the possibilities. I was not experiencing gratitude for the gift of another day. The idea of breathing in possibility each morning came as a shock to me. Breathing out gratitude a practice that became truth.

Each morning, and many evenings, I open a little book of breath prayers and see which one seems to fit that day’s need. A prayer with morning coffee. A prayer for gardening. For a rainy day. A sunny day. For starting the workday. For learning something new. Some I have memorized and have become my daily companions. Some I have not yet read and are still waiting for me, when the time seems ripe.

I am neither an expert nor evangelist for breath prayer. Perhaps it beckons you, perhaps not. Maybe it will come round to you at another point in life, maybe never. 

For me, it has been a helpful addition to my familiar ways of prayer, a balm and a guide that found me when I needed it most. And that is my prayer for you. That the expression of prayer you need for this season finds you and draws you nearer to the One who gives you breath of life itself. -Renée