Breath as Prayer: Calm Your Anxiety, Focus Your Mind, and Renew Your Soul

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But I think they are missing the point of the book, I believe it is a teaching tool to model how breathing for calming anxiety, focusing, and bringing calm and peace to your inner self, fits naturally as a form of prayer. What I mean is that the first part (during the inhale) often follows a patter, such as naming a characteristic of God. I feel like those verses have flipped for me from verses of condemnation to verses of compassion where God is saying, “I’m your heavenly Father. For you to struggle with some of these things, it’s okay to reach out for help, whether that’s medical help or professional counseling help. There are some traditional breath prayers used by some in the church such as, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” based on Mark 10:47.

In the face of all these automatic fight-or-flight and freeze responses, someone might wonder where attention to breath comes into play. I hope that together we can continue to create safe spaces for people to explore faith and theology. Slowing down our breathing has the physiological effect of slowing down all our systems, including our racing minds. Breathe in deeply through your nose as you focus your thoughts on the words: Lord, You are my shepherd. Wonderfully Made® is 501(c)3 Christian ministry dedicated to helping young women and the women who love them know their true value, while encouraging and equipping them to live spiritually, mentally and emotionally healthy lives.

Having been an avid reader of all things mental health, trauma-informed, neurodiversity, and the Bible for many years now, I found her short and informative chapters shared clearly and simply the reasons that these strategies work based on science. It’s believed that breath prayers have been around since the early centuries of the church, being used by Egyptian desert monks. And it’s simple; it’s a good strategy to integrate with, like you said, deep breathing, which is, this activity is a mind, body, spirit practice. Though not a well-known practice, Breath Prayer is shaped by the action most essential to our lives: our very breath.

That sympathetic nervous system kicks in, your amygdala takes over, and you will act and respond to that threat. Using a biblical truth or a verse from a hymn as a breath prayer is a meditation that God finds sweet and acceptable (Psalm 19: 14) and brings us into communion with him. And I would just, I think I’d, go back and tell her that God’s not mad at you or disappointed in you because you have struggles.

As you’re reading, say you’re a college girl, a high school girl, a working mom in your 30s, 20s or you’re a grandmother, we have so many girls and women of all ages who read our show, we want to encourage you to speak truth into the lives of the younger girls and women because they need you. The next day when my anxiety shot up again because of the doctor’s coming in and things happening, I breathed and prayed. Next, identify how you normally address God in prayer: Lord, Jesus, Holy One, Living Spirit, Eternal God? Breath prayers can be great for children, as well, because they combine a practice of stillness and mindfulness with simple prayers that can be easy to learn.

Breath prayers combine deep breathing with prayers of meditation on God’s Word to help calm your body while focusing your mind on truth. The linguistic connection between Spirit and Breath Prayer is unambiguous in the Bible; both the Hebrew ruach and Greek pneuma mean breath, wind, and/or spirit. I was terrified; I didn’t know how the following days would go, let alone the next few months ahead.Breath prayers aren’t a cure for anxiety, nor are they a replacement for professional medical treatment or therapy. Such an experience of prayer supports Paul’s admonition to pray without ceasing and fits with the simplicity of Breath Prayer. I think for a very long time, I wouldn’t even admit that I struggled as much as I did with anxiety and depression.