breath

To be awake inside your breathing

O Beloved,
your way of knowing is amazing!
The way you recognize every creature
even before it appears.
The way you gaze into the face
of every human being
and see all your works gazing back at you.
O what a miracle
to be awake inside your breathing.

June 2014 (Vol. XXVII, No. 6)

Greetings, dear friends! When pollen bursts forth into the air, it is the asthma sufferers who know to count each breath a blessing. Most of us take breathing for granted; yet that rhythmic exchange means life. If we allow the gentle ebb and flow to seep back into our consciousness, it can become an awakening to the inner self, a nudge toward soul work. The Latin word spiritus, meaning "breath of life," is the root of the word spirituality. Just as breathing in and out connects us with the world around us, so too does it connect us with the source of our being and draw us toward the life within. May the giver of that sustaining light breathe new life in each of us.

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Every breath is a sacrament

David Suzuki The Sacred Balance

Every breath is a sacrament, an affirmation of our connection with all other living things, a renewal of our link with our ancestors and a contribution to generations yet to come. Our breath is a part of life's breath, the ocean of air that envelopes the earth.

On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Arundhati Roy

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.
On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.

What breathes in us likely means us well

Kimberly Snow What Breathes In Us

Regards to the day, the great long day
That can't be hoarded, good or ill.
What breathes in us likely means us well.
We rise up from an earthly root
To seek the blossom of the heart.
What breathes in us likely means us well.
We are a voice impelled to tell
Where the joining of sound and silence is.
We are the tides and their witnesses.
What breathes in us likely means us well.

Every breath we draw is a gift

Thomas Merton

Every breath we draw is a gift…every moment of existence is a grace.

All is contained in the Divine Breath

Ibn al-Arabi

All is contained in the Divine Breath
Like the day in the morning's dawn.

Sow in me your living breath

Kadya Molodowsky

Sow in me your living breath,
As you sow a seed in the earth.

God is dynamically present in every breath

Marilyn Chandler McEntyre Weavings

God is dynamically present in every breath and heartbeat. In each breath we draw, the Spirit gives life. Learning to reclaim the deep, nourishing breaths of infancy is part of basic training not only in health and movement classes, but in prayer and meditation practices around the world. The deep, full breathing required to sing may well have similar importance in praying well: nothing reminds us more literally than inbreathing and outbreathing that we continually receive life and must continually release what we have received in order to receive again.

What is meditation

Reb Shlomo Carlebach

Meditation is when it is clear to you that God is closer to you than your own breath.

Breath animates the clay of our being

Ami Ronnberg, Kathleen Martin The Book of Symbols

Breath animates the clay of our being. It is the lusty cry of the newborn, and the essence of wind, spirit, muse, sound...Everything "breathes." Think of the woods on a spring day, the sussuration of leaves, the rippling grasses, the trembling of dappled light.

To be awake inside your breathing

Hildegard of Bingen Symphonia

O Beloved,
your way of knowing is amazing!
The way you recognize every creature
even before it appears.
The way you gaze into the face
of every human being
and see all your works gazing back at you.
O what a miracle
to be awake inside your breathing.

Breath deeply!

Nan Merrill Lumen Christi . . . Holy Wisdom

Breathe deeply amidst the beauties of nature;
absorb vibrations unsullied by
pollution and cosmopolitan ways...
As you breathe in silence,
your ear attunes to Spirit.
You will understand the eagle.
Breathe deeply! Breathe life!

Conscious breathing

David La Chapelle Navigating the Tides of Change

Breath is crucial for life. Physical respiration goes on as a largely unconscious process as the body exchanges oxygen and carbon dioxide to power the activities of every cell in our bodies. Deliberate deep breathing will ensure that we take in enough oxygen and can calm feelings of breathlessness or fear. Conscious breathing used as part of a spiritual practice focuses the mind's attention and helps relieve stress on our bodies.

Inhaling the breath of life

H. H. Sai Maa Grandmothers Counsel the World

The first thing we did when we incarnated was inhale the breath of life. Enlightenment is that gap between inhale and exhale where we become so aware. Be where you have nothing to do…in the inner silence that takes us into deep inner wisdom. When we focus deep within, we allow our inner power to come forth — the great wisdom we carry at our depths and the knowledge of what is our own unique contribution to humanity. Then, being mindful of our breath takes us into the outer world with more awareness.

The breath inside

Kabir

I am the Breath inside the breath.

The breathing in and out of the earth's atmosphere by the body

The breathing in and out of the earth's atmosphere by the body is a symbol of the eternal rhythm of the Self-I and Thou, in and out, up and down, forward and back, systole and diastole in their final unity. The conscious realization and incarnation of this rhythm, balance, unity, in the unique, individual pattern of one's life would lead — so I feel — to the breathing out of one's last breath into death into that air of eternity, which is the breath of life when the body is left behind.

July/August 2009 (Vol. XXII, No. 7)

Summertime Blessings of sunshine's radiance, blossoming's beauty, laughter of children at play ... Love's eternal and infinite variety at the heart of Life. In the stillness of no-time we are free of fear, free to simply be without burdensome thoughts of past or future. Here, "I am who I am" ... here, we are One in Being with All. In the deep Silence of timelessness, may we surrender to the Eternal Now, be present to each holy instant, and know Love-with-us always.

Windforest take our breath away

Ellen Fremedon Windforest

Windforest: take our breath away,
and return it to us refreshed
with the life you can give it.
Take it to the ends of the earth,
to nourish what you sustain,
And bring back what is offered you
there to sustain others.
Transform our breath so that new life
can be nurtured.

The world is breathing

Kabir

Something inside of me has reached to the place
where the world is breathing.

Two graces in breathing

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There are two graces in breathing:
drawing in air and discharging it.
The former constrains, the latter refreshes:
so marvelously is life mixed.

Nurture yourself with feasts of breath in silence and solitude

Anne Amerson

"From LUMEN CHRISTI, the wording 'Nurture yourself with feasts of breath in silence and solitude' blew me away, to put it mildly. Although most mornings I do some breathing exercises, it occurred to me that I had not really paid attention to my breath otherwise in months. Going into meditation, I focused on inhaling Divine Love and exhaling peace and harmony. My mind became like a prism, drawing the energy of the pure white light of Love to a focal point and then refracting it into the colors of peace and harmony and breathing them out to the world ... thirty-five minutes in the Silence without distracting thoughts intruding!"

Breathing is the connection between the mind and the body

Aaron Hoopes Breath Smart

Breathing is the connection between the mind and the body. When the mind concentrates on the breath, it focuses attention on the present moment. Breathing is the first step on the path to discover your spiritual nature. As you get the body to breathe correctly, the mind settles down, and that creates fertile ground to develop whatever spiritual nature exists within you.

Breathing in, breathing out

Thich Nhat Hanh

Breathing in I calm my body and mind.
Breathing out I smile.

People can live only by dwelling in the living breath of God

Thomas Moore, Ray Riegert The Lost Sutras of Jesus

People can live only by dwelling in the living breath of God. Only in this way can they be at peace and realize their aspirations. From sunrise to sunset, they dwell in the living breath of God; every sight and thought is part of that breath. God provides a place for them filled with clarity and bliss and stillness. In the silence, we are moved by this wind, which blows everywhere in the world.

Breathing properly and consciously

Jerome Witkam The Eye Aware

Breathing properly and consciously assumes an attitude of openness and attentiveness. Our breath has a connection with the deeper emotional layers of consciousness. This is evident when we are emotional, angry, or anxious. At the same time, however, our breath remains open to those dimensions of our consciousness where we unfold and become receptive to God.... We need to discipline ourselves to attain an inner stillness and receptive attention toward God, who is our beginning.

The art of contemplative practice can be facilitated by the breath

Martin Laird

In any activity that requires concentrated effort, the breath quite naturally plays a role. If you have ever tried to thread a needle or repair a watch, you might have observed that without even thinking about it the breath quiets and deepens. Singers, swimmers, people who struggle with panic attacks, and a host of others learn the importance of proper breathing in order to negotiate the respective tasks at hand. Thus, that the art of contemplative practice can be facilitated by the breath should come as no surprise.

Give us a heart for simple things

Walter Wink Prayer

Give us a heart for simple things:
Love and laughter
Bread and wine
Tales and dreams

Fill our lives with
Green and growing hope
Make us a people of justice
Whose song is Allelujah
And whose name
Breathes Love.
Amen.

... a Prayer by Walter Wink

Breath of life, you ride the waves of life with me

Joyce Rupp Prayer

Breath of life,
You ride the waves of life with me
in the rhythms of my communion with you.
You enter the comings and goings
of each day and in every prayer I breathe.
Whether I am in the stillness of quiet prayer
or in the fullness of the day's activity,
may your peace flow through my being.

Each breath as a newborn baby

Michelle McDonald

When we understand how precious each moment is, we can treat each breath, each moment, as a newborn baby. Awareness can become that tender.

The spiritual core of "soul-breath"

P.M.H. Atwater

We live in a time of religious fervor, with adherents too busy clashing with each other to honor the sacred space we all share, the spiritual core of "soul-breath" – the same human family from the same Source breathing the same air on the same planet.

God's breath breathing me

Susan Tiberghien Circling to the Center

In this latter part of life, my prayer of the heart is most often without words. My tongue is stilled. My mind is stilled. The prayer of the heart becomes the heart's own respiration. I breathe in and I breathe out. It is God's breath. God breathing in, God breathing out. It is God's breath breathing me.

 

Breathing

Frank Waters

Breathing is an act of prayer

Take the breath of the new dawn

Hopi saying

Take the breath of the new dawn,
make it a part of you,
it will give you strength.

People can live only by dwelling in the living breath of God

People can live only by dwelling in the living breath of God. Only in this way can they be at peace and realize their aspirations. From sunrise to sunset, they dwell in the living breath of God; every sight and thought is part of that breath. God provides a place for them filled with clarity and bliss and stillness. In the silence, we are moved by this wind, which blows everywhere in the world.

Breath of life, you ride the waves of life with me

Breath of life,
You ride the waves of life with me
in the rhythms of my communion with you.
You enter the comings and goings
of each day and in every prayer I breathe.
Whether I am in the stillness of quiet prayer
or in the fullness of the day's activity,
may your peace flow through my being.

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