Breath Prayer
/“The soul is covered with a thousand veils.”
Breath Prayer, also known as the “prayer of the heart” or “The Jesus Prayer” is a contemplative way of praying as we use our breath to bring focus, devotion, and worship.
To this day, this remains a more popular form of prayer in the Eastern Orthodox tradition and can be traced back to the Desert Mothers and Fathers of the fifth century. This form of prayer was an interpretation of Jesus’ call to “go into your inner room to pray” (Matthew 6:6) and the Apostle Paul’s instruction of ceaseless prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
The prayer is a simple sentence: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”
(INHALE: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, EXHALE: Have mercy on me a sinner.)
The aim is not to obtain peace, a passive calmness, or any particular kind of experience. The goal is communion with God, and to train our attention on GodTo grow in deepening union with God we must evolve in our mental habits & programming.
This breath prayer helps us to train our mind and thoughts to single-minded devotion as any good meditation practice can. Using your breath over and over again may lead to a “ceaseless” praying within ourselves. Christ is present to us (we can know this in our mind) and we use our breath to bring physical embodiment of this knowledge in prayer.
Some adaptations to use, or create your own variation that has personal meaning to you:
Light of the World | Illuminate my heart.
Mystery of God | Give me the conviction of things not seen
Man of Sorrows | Ease my suffering
Bread of Life | Feed me.
Living Water | Deliver me from my thirst.
Author and Perfecter of Faith | Help my unbelief
True Vine | Make me fruitful.
Wonderful Counsellor | Give me your wisdom.
Prince of Peace | Grant me your peace
Holy One | Receive my praise.
Or, you can use your inhale to use the name of God you prefer, and on your exhale, make your specific request. Another variation that people find quite beautiful is on the inhale to consider what God is naming you today, and on the exhale the particular message of love God has for you.
To begin, make sure you have no distractions, take a couple of deep centering breaths, bring your attention to the Holy. At first, try this form of prayer for 10-15 minutes. When you get distracted, bring your attention back to your breath and prayer sentence. See if you can bring to mind this same inhale/exhale pattern of prayer as you walk, drive, do household chores, etc.
