Finding Your Breath Prayer (from June 18th by Mandy Kampen)
By Mandy Kampen
(This exercise is heavily borrowed from Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms: Arranging our Lives for Spiritual Transformation, InterVarsity Press, 2006).
When you pray, do not try to express yourself in fancy words, for often it is the simple, repetitious phrases of a little child that our Father in heaven finds most irresistible. Do not strive for verbosity lest your mind be distracted by a search for words…single words (or phrases) of their very nature tend to concentrate the mind. When you find satisfaction in a certain word of your prayer, stop at that point.
(John Climacus, 7th-century monk)
Sit quietly, breathe deeply, and remind yourself that you are in the presence of God. If there is a particular prayer, phrase, or Scripture verse that helps you enter into a still, listening stance, allow yourself to sit with that phrase for a few moments.
For a Thinking-leaning person, this may be a theological truth or statement of Truth about God. The New Testament letters could be a good source.
For a Feeling-leaning person, it could be a name of God or an emotion ascribed to God. Try the Psalms.
Next imagine God calling you by name and asking, “_____________, what do you want?” Permit yourself to answer out of your truest self. You may find journaling your answer helpful. Here’s a phrase to help you get started:
God, what I most want from you right now is…
This could be clarity on a justice issue or an area of cognitive dissonance, a relationship that needs repair, or a wound in your own soul that needs healing.
Then, choose your favorite name or image for God as you are relating to him right now (Divine, Source of Being, First Cause, Jesus, Father, Holy Spirit, Papa, Mother God(dess), Gaia, etc.) — whichever name best captures your sense of who God is for you at this point in your relationship or who you need or want Them to be.
A name for God that is most meaningful for me right now is…
Now, combine your name for God with the expression of your heart’s desire. (There is no right or wrong way to put these together, but you may find one that is more poetic or rhythmic.)
Imagine you are writing a love poem, a philosophical request, or something similar.
If various possibilities come to you, write them down and eliminate or combine until you have a prayer of about 6-8 syllables that flows smoothly when spoken aloud, that is rhythmic enough to be prayed with the inhalation and exhalation of your breathing, and that captures your deep yearning for intimacy, wholeness, understanding, or Shalom in Christ.
Once you have found your breath prayer, take it for a spin. In the spaces of your day - when you’re driving, waiting, worried, anxious - and need a sense of God’s presence, pray your breath prayer. In time, you will learn to pray it “underneath” all the other thoughts and words swirling around in your head through daily interactions. In other words, you will learn to “pray without ceasing.”
During times of solitude and silence, your breath prayer will also help you draw your mind back to God when it wanders.
~ Adapted from a previous piece written by Vicky Brown.