Hello friends.
This is Mark Ludman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in dogs.
Welcome to this series on breath prayer and praying breath prayers.
As we begin the series,
It's worth taking a few moments to understand what breath prayer is and why it matters.
So,
Breath prayer is one of the simplest forms of prayer that we have.
It doesn't require long periods of silence.
It doesn't depend on having the right words.
It can be done absolutely anywhere,
Even while doing other activity.
All it does is bring together two things that are always with you.
That is your breath and your awareness of God.
Now,
The roots of breath prayer go way back in the Christian tradition.
We see it in short,
Repeated prayers,
Like the Jesus prayer,
Lord Jesus Christ,
Have mercy on me,
Which traditionally is prayed with a Chotki prayer rope,
Where on each knot that prayer is prayed slowly and in rhythm with the breath,
Breathing in,
Lord Jesus Christ and out,
Have mercy on me.
And across the centuries,
Especially in the desert monastic tradition,
People discovered something very,
Very simple,
That when prayer becomes as natural as breathing,
It begins to move from something we do to something that we live within.
Now,
I don't think most of us struggle with a lack of desire for God.
Rather,
We struggle with distraction and we struggle to stay present.
Our minds move quickly and our lives are often very,
Very full.
And so prayer can feel very distant and difficult to sustain,
Even for one day at a time.
But breath prayer,
It meets us right here in the midst of all this.
It doesn't ask us to become different people,
But rather it meets us in the rhythm that we're already carrying as the people that we are.
Each breath becomes a returning,
Each inhale,
Each exhale is a quiet reminder that God is here.
And in fact,
Many people have suggested that where Paul exhorts us in Philippians to pray without ceasing,
Where most of the time we read that passage and think that is impossible.
Perhaps praying breath prayer is one of the closest things that we might experience to something that is similar to praying ceaselessly.
In fact,
It's said that many of the monastics who practice breath prayer often slept with their lips still moving silently as they breathed in and out in their sleep,
Continuing even to pray through the night.
So how do we pray this way?
Well,
Actually,
It's very,
Very simple.
You take a short phrase,
Usually something from Scripture,
And then you gently place it on your breath,
One part as you breathe in and one part as you breathe out.
You don't have to change your breathing and you don't have to try and control your thoughts.
You just simply breathe in,
Praying one part of the prayer.
Maybe you're whispering it or just saying it in your mind.
And then again,
As you breathe out,
The other half of the prayer.
And when your mind wanders,
And it will,
You just simply return again and again.
That's the practice.
And over time,
You may find that you're less reactive,
That you're more aware,
That you're more able to pause because the prayer has begun to shape you.
And so in this series,
We're going to walk through a number of simple breath prayers,
Each one drawn from Scripture,
Each one offering a slightly different doorway.
Doorways to things like stillness and trust,
Surrender,
Listening,
Abiding.
Prayers that you'll find very practical as you go through your day.
And you don't need to get anything perfect when you do this.
All you have to do is begin.
So before we finish,
Let's try this together.
A simple breath prayer to start the series off.
As you breathe in,
The words will be,
You are here.
And as you breathe out,
The words will be,
I am with you.
So let's try that together.
So breathing in,
You are here.
Breathing out,
I am with you.
And again,
Breathing in,
You are here.
Breathing out,
I am with you.
And again,
Breathing in,
You are here.
And breathing out,
I am with you.
As we bring this audio to a close,
Let's pray together.
God who is closer than breath,
Meet us in the quiet rhythms of our lives.
In each inhale,
Remind us that you're near.
In each exhale,
Teach us to rest in you.
As we begin this journey of prayer,
Form in us a deeper awareness of your presence.
Not just in moments of stillness,
But in the ordinary flow of each and every day.
Amen.
So as you go today,
Go with grace,
Peace and love.
Each step today and always carrying the awareness with you that God is here and you are with God.
Until next time,
Peace be with you.
