40 Breath Prayers for When You Are Despairing
Show me who to be, and what is mine to do.
Hi friends,
Over the years, I have cobbled together a little homemade toolkit for when I am despairing. Simple practices to keep me grounded, they help keep me faithful and hopeful. I’ve cultivated and developed these the hard way (you probably have your own practices for such things, we all do) and breath prayer has become a daily refuge and practice.
Prayer was just one thing that had to be unlearned and relearned over the years but on the other side of that deconstruction, I have found prayer to be my home with dozens of rooms where I feel quite at ease.1 Not only because I believe that prayer matters in the world - and bless my own heart, I actually do - but because a steady and diverse practice of prayer rewires and restores me as I move through these complicated days.
Sometimes/right now, I am in that well-known space of groaning and longing that defies words and pleas, chirped promises and eloquence. When that happens, I practice this ancient but adaptable method of prayer as part of my re-grounding in what is truer than reality. (For our newer subscribers, I write these breath prayers daily out of my own need, but a few times a year I like to share a batch of them with you to borrow for yourself.)
How to Practice Breath Prayers
Breath Prayer is an ancient form of prayer and it is easily adaptable. Simply choose one or two lines to meditate on and inhale and then exhale through them. It really is that simple.
You can pray a breath prayer literally anywhere without any special rituals or whatever but I’ve found that I like to find a quiet corner for a few minutes and I usually start by lighting a candle.
Then just quietly become aware of your body. Sit in a way that is comfortable for you, a position that will allow you to take a deep breath in and out. Close your eyes.
Imagine a room or a place where you feel safe, your own sanctuary: it can be a real place or one that exists in your imagination.
Breathe slowly and deeply while holding that place in your mind for a few moments, until you have all the details of it gathered around your soul.
You’ll enter into your time of prayer or meditation from within that sanctuary.
One historic form of breath prayer is known as The Jesus Prayer.
So, with that as an example, here’s how it works:
Inhale. Fill your whole self with breath. Feel the air in your lungs. And then pray aloud or to yourself:
“Jesus Christ, son of God,”
Exhale slowly and fully.
“Have mercy on me.”
And then simply repeat this practice. Start with ten good breaths in and out, with the words being spoken aloud or quietly held in your mind, it’s up to you.
40 New Breath Prayers
Each couplet of inhale/exhale stands is its own stand-alone prayer - you can choose one per day as a focus. Don’t see this as a litany of words to just gallop through as a recitation, but simply pick one(!) that speaks to you and adapt it you like. A few of these are based in scripture, others in teaching from our fathers or mothers in faith, some are just my own but I’ve noted the inspiration or origin for those.
Take what works, chuck the rest, and let yourself be grounded again, right where you are.
Inhale: Show me who to be, Exhale: and what is mine to do.