What Are Breath Prayers?
Breath prayers.
I may have written a whole book about them, but it wasn’t all that long ago that I had never even heard of breath prayers, and just happened to stumble across them in my hunt for strategies to help with anxiety. Maybe you’re like I was, and you have no idea what they really are, or if they are something that would be helpful to you or not?
And depending on your background, the idea of breath prayers may initially give you pause. I get it. Although Christian breath prayers have been around for centuries, they aren’t super common in a lot of faith communities. And contemplative prayer practices like breath prayers have taken some heat for seeming to be too much like new age or Eastern spiritual practices.
Let me try to help demystify these simple but meaningful prayers for you.
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 deep breathing can help calm the physical symptoms of anxiety, while prayer helps to center our thoughts on Christ and His presence with us & His love for us.
Breath prayers are an ancient form of prayer
Breath prayers have been around for literally centuries. They are a way to connect with Christ as we renew our mind and heart on His Word.
Breath prayers are typically made of words taken directly from Scripture and are very short, usually just one sentence, and broken into two halves. The first half is prayed as you inhale a breath, and the second half is prayed while exhaling.
Because these prayers are based on God’s Word, they are a wonderful way to meditate on Scripture throughout the day and they offer a simple way to practice Paul’s teaching to “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess. 5:17).
Any time you breathe, you can breathe a prayer.
Breath prayers are not a new-age or humanistic, self-healing practice. New age/Eastern contemplative practices typically focus on the techniques themselves & attempt to send the mind into an altered state of consciousness or empty the mind to obtain some sense of nirvana. Humanistic practices teach that humans have divinity within which can be reached through contemplative prayer—basically praying to yourself as if you were god. Those types of spiritual experiences are not in line with Scripture or reflective of Christian meditation or prayer at all, & this is not what breath prayer seeks to do.
In breath prayers we practice the spiritual discipline of “being still” in order to draw close to God. We slow down our breathing because this literally calms our physical body, & we focus on God’s Word because this reorients our mind to Christ. We are not looking within for strength or healing, but we instead find our strength in the only true source of healing: Christ Himself. Breath prayers point us to God, not into ourselves for peace.
Christian prayer is not about some feel-good spiritual high, but about drawing close to the one true God.
Breath prayers are rooted in scripture
One of the earliest known breath prayers, known as the Jesus Prayer, was “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” which is based on Luke 18:13.
Every breath prayer that I wrote in Breath as Prayer is directly based on a verse in Scripture. Many are from Psalms, because the book of Psalms offers us such a beautiful range of emotions & experiences to pray through, & Psalms also give us a treasure trove of short prayers that the psalmist prayed to God as he spoke to Him through his every circumstance.
So with breath prayer, we are basically praying Scripture. We are letting the Word of God be our words back to Him, which really helps us take them to heart. And this is why they are wonderful prayers to pray when you’re having trouble finding words to pray – God has filled His Word with words we can pray that will strengthen our souls & turn our minds toward Him.
Breath prayers are repetitive prayers
I like to choose just one breath prayer to focus on each day. Throughout the day, I repeat that breath prayer several times as I slow my breathing & meditate on the words as I inhale & exhale.
We repeat the words of the breath prayer for the purpose of meditating on God’s Word & as we do we are actively processing the words & reflecting on them. This is how we commonly memorize Scripture, by repeating the words over & over, meditating on them as we hide them in our heart.
Breath prayers are not “mantra meditation.” Mantra meditation uses repetition of words or phrases for the purpose of completely blotting out thoughts & repeats them over & over until even the word or phrase loses all meaning. Christian breath prayer should do the opposite: it should not empty our thoughts, but rather refocus our thoughts & fill them with God’s Word. Breath prayers should encourage active thinking on the words of the prayer, with the purpose of fully embracing the meaning of the words.
Breath prayers are mind-full
Breath prayers are intended to FILL the mind with God’s Word.
Other forms of meditation & breathwork focus on emptying the mind to obtain inner peace.
Breath prayers focus the mind on Christ, knowing that He is our source of true abiding peace.
When prayed regularly, these prayers can transform how you respond to anxiety & stress as you intentionally turn your mind to Christ & His Word. Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, so as we invite Him into our struggles through prayers like these breath prayers, we are literally inviting in Peace Himself.
Breath prayers are directed to god
Breath prayers are directed upward, to God.
Where other forms of meditation seek to look inward toward self for healing & peace & strength, prayer reminds us that those things don’t come from within, but from above, from God Himself. He is the source of true & lasting peace & healing & strength.
In breath prayer, we direct our thoughts toward God.
Anxiety & stress can cause us to focus on ourselves & how we’re feeling—emotions can be overwhelming & it can be hard to see past them when the feelings are strong & overpowering. When panic sets in or fear takes hold, we tend to automatically self-protect, we curl inward & our attention goes toward ourselves.
But with breath prayer (& any prayer really), we take that focus off ourselves & turn it toward Christ who meets us right there in the middle of all our feelings & fears.
Turning inward only sends us in turning in circles. Turning upward & focused on Christ is how we begin to break the cycle of anxious thoughts & allow God to transform us by the renewing of our minds.
Breath prayers can be a powerful tool
Of course, breath prayers are not the only kind of prayers we pray, but they can be the doorway to an even deeper more robust prayer life as you intentionally take a few minutes to be still and turn your soul toward Christ and the truths in His Word.
Breath prayers aren’t a cure for anxiety, nor are they a replacement for professional medical treatment or therapy. But they can be a powerful tool to add to your mental health toolkit.
Breath prayers have personally been so very helpful to me as a way to manage my anxiety while also strengthening my faith. And although I strongly believe they can be a powerful tool for many people, I am aware that they may not be particularly helpful to absolutely everyone. The focus on slow, deep breathing, though commonly helpful and scientifically shown to be effective for calming the body in times of anxiety, can in some people actually have the opposite effect and increase anxiety (we found this to be true for our daughter—although there are some times when slow breathing can help her, many times focusing on her breathing only makes her even more anxious and can lead to panic). So I recommend trying breath prayers at first at a time when you are not acutely anxious.
Try them first thing in the morning, or at any time you are able to slow down and quiet your soul. Practice slowing your breathing, breathing in deeply and exhaling fully. As you pray, intentionally focus your mind on Christ and the words of Scripture as you breathe.
If you feel yourself beginning to be anxious through your day, take time to stop, breathe, and pray. This may take a little practice, but over time you can train your body to respond to anxiety in a different way.
Anxiety doesn’t have to trigger you to spiral into panic,
but can instead prompt you to turn to Christ in prayer.
Want to give them a try?
You can try starting with one of my favorites:
Inhale: Lord, You are my shepherd
Exhale: I have all that I need.
Breathe in deeply through your nose as you focus your thoughts on the words: Lord, You are my shepherd.
Exhale slowly through your mouth as you focus your thoughts on: I have all that I need.
Repeat this several times, keeping your breathing slow and steady and meditating on the words of the prayer (which are from Psalm 23:1)
Reflect: what does it mean that the Lord is your shepherd? What does that tell you about how He cares for you?
Scripture ties the words “I have all that I need” directly to the fact that the Lord is our shepherd.
What do we need? How does the Lord being our shepherd fulfill all that we need?
Try praying this breath prayer throughout the day today.
Meditate on the words and listen to what God may be telling you through His Word as you pray to Him.
Anxiety doesn’t have to be a roadblock to your faith.
You can find hope amid anxiety through the spiritual practice of breath prayer. Breath as Prayer will lead you through the practice and the proven health benefits of Christian breath prayer: purposeful prayers centered around Scripture that focus your mind on Christ as you calm your body through intentional breathing.
You are created for so much more than an anxious life full of fear and worry — you are called to an abundant life of peace and joy as you are transformed by Christ and your mind is renewed day by day.
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