Breath Prayer and Intentions: Cultivating Tranquility in a Turbulent World

Strolling through the cobblestone streets of Antwerp, I was struck by the profound influence of perception in shaping our world. This revelation is the heartbeat of our season finale, where I share the insights gathered from our journey together and extend a heartfelt invitation to newcomers to find solace and connection at Heartlift Central. We're turning the page to a new chapter, replete with reflections from Proverbs 4:23 and lessons learned from personal anecdotes, all while nurturing a space free from the cacophony of digital distractions.

In the quietude of our sanctuary, the grounding practice of breath prayer emerges as a beacon of tranquility amidst life's tumultuous seas. Join me in exploring this serene technique that's carried me through sudden losses and moments of despair. With wisdom from Nancy Wiens and a nod to the intertwining of science and spirituality, we uncover the multi-dimensional healing powers of breath prayer. Earth Month reminds us we're all interconnected, and through the language of love, I aim to share practices that resonate with every soul tuning in across the globe.

As dawn breaks, we often seek a ritual to anchor our intentions for the day ahead. Setting positive intentions before stepping out into the world imbues each interaction with love and light. Listen as I recount my morning ritual, inspiring you to use your breath to channel inspiration and breathe out life's pressures. And, as our reach should always exceed our grasp, I invite you to join the chorus of voices in our community by connecting on Instagram, subscribing to our channels, and enriching our dialogue with your reviews. Together, let's continue our pursuit of that which lies just beyond—love and light.

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Transcript

Janell: 0:00

Hello and welcome to today's Heart ift with Janell. I'm Janell, your host for today's conversation. I'm so thankful that you have found your way here. Today's episode is sponsored in full by Heart ift International, a 501c3 dedicated to making home and family the safest, most secure place to be. To learn how to make your tax-deductible donation, visit my website, janellrardon. com. Slash heartlift dash international. You can read more about it and learn how you can become a Circle of Trust member. No donation is too small. Thank you in advance for supporting the podcast and allowing this message to be ad-free and allowing it to extend of the earth.

Janell: 1:06

Today we close out season 15 and we're transitioning into a new format. It's a long process, so I appreciate your patience as I transition our seasons to episodes. So I have to go back to the over 200 episodes and just renumber them Tedious. Yes, I'm making my way, but I just like that format better, as we are making other transitions within the podcast this year, in 2024 as well. So stay tuned. It's going to be good. They are really good transitions. Oh, season 15 was filled with so much information and encouragement and inspiration, which, of course, is what we're all about here. I want to welcome you if you are new to the podcast, hello, and I'm so glad, like I said, that you have found your way here in the busy world of podcasting and you have made your way. So thank you, I welcome you. I would encourage you today to stop what you're doing right now and make sure you subscribe to the podcast over on my website, janelle J-A-N-E-L-L, r-a-r-d-o-n. com, or you can just go to heartliftcentral. com they both take you to the same place and also subscribe to our newish online community platform on Substack Heart ift Central.

Janell: 2:46

I love Substack. I receive nothing from them for promoting that platform, but I have found it to be far easier and more private than Facebook was. Now, I know some of you think Substack I don't know what it is. I don't trust it. You can trust it, I think, even a little bit more than some of the other social platforms. That's why I'm there. There are two options. When you come to my Substack Heart ift Central, there is a free subscription, so don't worry, you don't have to put any money into this at all and then there is a paid subscription, which is where I am going to be hanging out quite a bit more as I move forward in some of those new transitions that I have been sharing.

Janell: 3:33

As you know, I like to go deep into subjects, deep and wide, as I say, and the paid subscription affords that space for me to do that. The clarity, the deeper focus that that takes. As you know, we have talked about it here distraction, digital distraction is a massive issue and I fall prey to it way too much, and so one of my ambitions good ambitions for 2024, one of my intentions is to become more deeply focused and less digitally distracted. Those are hard words to say together. I urge you I really do, with all earnestness and all sincerity to come and go deep with me, earnestness and all sincerity, to come and go deep with me. Let's really experience communal and individual transformation. So go over to heartliftcentralcom. You'll see, at the very top, the very top, there's a little banner and it just says join the community over on Substack, says join the community over on Substack. Like I said, two options a free option and a paid option, a minimal paid option. That is another way that you can support not only the podcast but the mission of Heart Lift International.

Janell: 4:59

One of the major transitions I'm making this year is to move from my personal business into my nonprofit. That's going to take some time. All of these things take time. Transition takes time and takes a deep focus. And I'm a one-woman show right now. I'm doing it all, yes, and you know what? I can't do it all. So I'm having to make some really serious decisions, as I have alluded to in season 15.

Janell: 5:32

Season 15, wow, the elusive power of perception. I am so curious to find out what you learned, what you gleaned, what you took away from all of our conversations about perception. We learned perception is a continual process, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, that our brain undergoes. It never stops perceiving. It's how we experience and give meaning to our surroundings, which, to me, was one of the most profound learning points that everything in my life, absolutely everything. Remember Proverbs 4.23, our grounding principle for this community. 423, our grounding principle for this community. Above all else, guard your heart, because absolutely everything in your influence is affected by what's going on inside of your heart. Now, perception happens in the brain, but it is understood by the heart. So if we can really grasp by the heart, so if we can really grasp how we are personally perceiving the world, it will make a huge difference. That takes some heart work, and we know that heart work is God's work and it's hard work.

Janell: 7:01

I shared how a simple object lesson in Antwerp, belgium, two dishrags and a Ziploc really started this whole process of digging into perception, and so you can go back to our very first episode of that season and relive and relearn from my dishrag story. He really affected me. How did it affect you? I hope it made you laugh, but I also hope it made you think about some really simple object lessons in your own life that your perception just blew up into this saga of drama and energy drain saga of drama, an energy drain and perhaps you were able to reframe your perception for the next time something like that happens.

Janell: 7:54

Perception is our ability to hear, see or become aware of something through our senses. There are four types of perception visual perception, scent perception, touch perception and taste perception. And there are eight stages of perception environmental stimulus, attended stimulus, an image on the retina, transduction, neural processing, perception, recognition and action. And I go all through that in the beginning episodes of this season, our guests in season 15, janet McHenry, dr Bruce and Tony Hebel, tracy Hester, paige Allen oh my goodness.

Janell: 8:44

Angela Correll and me myself and I went through perception and prayer, perception and forgiveness perception and brokenheartedness perception and self-worth. Paige Allen, reminding us of the most vital of our identity, which is daughters of God and, for you men who are listening, son of God, that truly is our core identity. I've re-listened to that so many times because I think that if I can grasp that and really walk through my day from that place of identity, knowing my value, worth and dignity as a daughter of God, with his presence watching over me every minute of every day, well, it's a game changer and it certainly affects my perception process. I will see the world differently if I'm moving through my day-to-day life from that perspective. Does that mean I won't have days of melancholy? Oh, I do. You know that I suffer with depression and melancholy, yet I do possess, and am working daily or receiving daily, an enlargement of capacity for joy building, because joy is not based on our emotions. Joy is a gift from God, it's a fruit of the spirit, and so Paige Allen really helped me to see that again, and all of our guests' perspectives really enlarged my capacity, which is why we come here, this is why we come to the podcast, that's why I have this podcast and I think that Paige Allen's short series. Actually it ended up being three episodes, brought out something called the mattering effect, which I will be writing more about on Substack. So please join me over there. I'm urging you today to connect in these places where I'm hanging out. My other place is Instagram, at Janelle Reardon.

Janell: 10:56

As I said, I'm making these changes to become more deeply focused in my life and to also take care of myself and take care of my body, because I've been overtaxing it. What a surprise. And then I closed out the session with a beautiful audio meditation that I'm developing. I was woken in the middle of the night, got a little download, like I call a little whisper, a tap on the shoulder, and I really would love your feedback. I want your feedback, please, and what your thoughts about that were.

Janell: 11:31

Maybe something that needs to be added or changed? How could that greatly affect our wider audience? You know this podcast reaches it really does reach to the ends of the earth, so that's very exciting. Reaches it really does reach to the ends of the earth, so that's very exciting. So I always try to imagine, you know, I've been to Kenya, I've seen remote places, I've seen remote places in Thailand, mexico, places in Haiti that I've been and the arm of this podcast reaches there and I often think I have the pictures of those sweet ones I've met in those areas in my mind as I sit and record these episodes and I think what do they need to hear today? What do I need to hear today? Because, you know, god's language is a universal language. The language of love is universal. It's universal. We all have the same dire needs.

Janell: 12:24

So, as we move forward from our elusive power of perception and how perception affects our life, I wanted to just do a short teaching over a few episodes on breath prayer. April, as we know, is springtime here in the Northern Hemisphere, but it also is a time where we celebrate the Earth. It's Earth Month. Earth Day is on April 22nd. Arbor Day Tree Day, which I love Trees is April 26th. So I thought to do a focus on contemplative practices, a focus on contemplative practices that ground our faith and breath prayer is one of the primary ways that I am learning to ground my life.

Janell: 13:16

I think sometimes we can make prayer really complicated and if we already have complicated, complex issues going on in our life, this past week I attended a funeral of a friend a family, dear family friend actually who walked into a Walmart and died of a massive heart attack at age 57. That is not what she expected. When she woke up that morning, it was so grievous. The loss is grievous. Yes, yes, we know that she is with her Heavenly Father. She was his daughter, but it still leaves a huge loss in her family system and she has had five grandchildren over a very short period, like I'm having, and it just hit hard and I sat in her funeral and was just at a loss of words how do I pray? And I activated breath prayer. So I love this article.

Janell: 14:21

I will put it up for you to read, by Bio Lagos, by Nancy Wiens, written way back in 2019, but it's entitled Breath Prayer an ancient spiritual practice connected with science. She writes, the use of breathing techniques permeates the field of sports psychology today, but what's the connection to prayer and why do I need to write about it? She simply says the same science that helps athletes transform their stress also stands behind the ancient spiritual practice of breath prayer. In my work as a spiritual director, she writes, I have seen the practice transform responses to both daily distress and complex trauma, as well as deepen devotion to God. Breath Prayer provides a person of faith, a conscious way to partner with God in healing physical, emotional and spiritual wounds.

Janell: 15:28

And I will say to you that probably for decades now, I have been hearing the whispers and the invitation to be still and silent and practice more solitude. In my life I've been exhorted by very wise people who have met me for the first time say I just sense that your God would like you to spend more time in solitude. Well, that, my friends, my dear heartlifters, is probably the challenge of my life. But through some recent, really recent, difficulties in my body, my health, I finally have set up and established a new place in the upstairs of my, the corner room of my house, just one of the children's old bedrooms and now grandchildren's old bedroom. And so when my sweet Elena Rose was here this past summer, we put aluminum foil over the window so it would be super blackout. We had blackout curtains but they didn't really black it out totally and I recently just had the thought, wow, it's totally black in that room dark. So I'm going to set up a beautiful space where I can just go sit and meditate and practice, breath, prayer and do my yin yoga, which is a really beautiful practice of yoga that heals on the connective tissue level. And I put all of my beautiful electric candles that I have I have very, very many up there in lanterns and in beautiful little votives, and every day they click on a timer at 11am and that's about the time I need to get up out of my writing chair or counseling chair. And I have a beautiful mat that I bought at just Target a few years ago, my yoga mat too, and I've just set up a beautiful sacred space to go practice stillness, silence and solitude. Easy, no Empowering, yes, as I say all through the Stronger Every Day book and course Transformation, authentic transformation is not easy, but it is empowering.

Janell: 17:42

Nancy Wiens continues science and spirituality interact, she writes. When I teach breath prayer, a few of my clients think it sounds touchy-feely. You might add woo-woo. Right, but remember what I say Jesus created woo-woo and he created our breath. Others grasp the benefits but don't see the connection to faith. So I find it helpful to explore some of the science that relates to the ancient practice, in essence naming the science-spirituality intersection, which we do here. Neuroscience, interpersonal neuroscience offers both permission and inspiration for practicing breath prayer in distressing situations.

Janell: 18:29

Moreover, the science and spirituality of breath prayer can help bring compassion to experiences of doubt and shame, particularly in the context of severe distress, which is where I found myself last week over the loss of this incredible woman, this incredible 57-year-old woman. When deep trauma occurs the tragic death of a child, physical violence to a loved one the well-trod paths of faith can be erased. Now just think about it If something like that were to happen and I've been there when sudden things happen or really distressing, complex situations happen. They take your breath away and it seems like, after 44 years of myself walking with Jesus, I just become at a loss. And so these beautiful contemplative practices like breath prayer are very, very grounding, like breath prayer are very, very grounding. So she says, in those situations describing God's action as part of the most basic of human actions, breathing can reignite an intimacy with the Father, who is closer to us than our every breath.

Janell: 19:48

Even worse, often shame amplifies trauma. When the role of unconscious and therefore involuntary physiological responses are unknown, shame often berates a person for her or his response to the traumatizing pain and fear. You're going to really want to highlight that and read that several times. I already have Conveying some of the science related to trauma, which is what we do here. We do that here, so you're knowledgeable on how trauma big T, little T, middle T, how any emotions that are too big and overwhelming for our body to process can nourish self-empathy and healing.

Janell: 20:37

For Nancy, she writes providing a link between science and breath, prayer extends pastoral compassion in challenging and vulnerable circumstances. So the linguistic connection between science and spirituality here has everything to do with the breath. So in the Greek breath is pneuma, p-n-e-u-m-a, and in the Hebrew ruach, which I'm sure you say witha rolling R, r-u-a-c-h, both. Both are translated into breath, wind or spirit. So we pay attention to the fact and we listen for this presence of God in our breath. Such an experience of prayer supports Paul's admonition to pray without ceasing. That's where I find it most helpful, because I can be doing breath prayer in the grocery store, in my car, anywhere, in a gathering. The other night on Easter I was praying breath prayers in my mind and we can fit that just so beautifully into this practice.

Janell: 21:50

Within the Orthodox tradition, breath prayer appears perhaps as early as the third century, known as the Jesus Prayer or a prayer of the heart, and it comes and draws from Mark 10, 47, where the blind man, bartimaeus. He just calls Jesus to heal him and he just says and this is the common form, the third century beginning of the breath prayer. This is the common form, the third century beginning of the breath prayer. Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me. By placing a few words, and some write that maybe six to eight syllables. I often find it like a haiku, because I write a lot of prayers in the form of haiku and it can fit easily into one inhale and one exhale Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me. As a prayer of the heart, the exact words may change to reflect the longing of the one who prays, seeking a lived experience of God. So it's going to be as individual as your thumbprint, your fingerprint. Some common forms are just like I said Jesus, help me rest, give me peace. I say that a lot. Make clear my way, oh God, out of darkness into light. Fill me spirit with your love. So if you want to integrate your body, like I do, as a mover, as a dancer, you can add a single step with each inhale or exhale, or even a lifting of the arms and a lowering of the arms. Inhaling peace. Exhaling peace. Exhaling stress. Inhaling faith. Exhaling worry.

Janell: 24:11

I found a second article that I will put on the show notes in upperomorg, written by Ron Delbean. He's written extensively on this breath prayer method. He co-wrote a book called the Breath of Life, a workbook that I will link as well. He offers five simple movements through this breath prayer practice and I will offer them to you right now. Maybe find a quiet, comfortable place Whenever you get to where you're going. Maybe sit in the parking lot for a moment. Sit comfortably, close your eyes and remember that God loves you and you are in God's presence.

Janell: 25:02

Imagine God calling you by name, asking daughter, what do you want? Son? What do you want Son, what do you want? And then put your name. If you want Janelle, what do you want? Answer God honestly with whatever word or phrase comes from deep within you. It will come, I promise. Give it time and space and practice. Choose your favorite or most natural name for God. Choose your favorite or most natural name for God and then combine your name for God with your word or phrase to form a brief prayer that flows smoothly. So he offers this example what I want might be peace, love, guidance, truth, clarity.

Janell: 26:23

You add your name for God. Maybe it's Jehovah, jireh, the God who provides Jesus, god Father, eternal light. I love the way the voice translation uses the name eternal for God. I've said that here before, so I use that a lot. Eternal one, eternal one, my Father. And then a possible prayer when you integrate. That would be let me know your peace, oh God Jesus, let me feel your love. Eternal light. Guide me in your way.

Janell: 27:17

Repeat the prayer for a few minutes, allowing the words to settle into a regular rhythm. If more than one idea arises, you may need to ponder what the deeper desire of your heart is. That happens a lot to me. A helpful question to ask is what do I want that will make me feel most whole today? Most importantly, be patient. Be patient with yourself. You will have what they call a monkey mind. Right, when you begin a practice of stillness, silence and solitude, your mind will go everywhere, everywhere. But I say begin here. Let the words emerge from your deepest longings, which you will not access. This is liminal space here. This is a space where you are quieting all the millions of voices that have distracted you throughout the day.

Janell: 28:22

When you have discovered your prayer, begin to practice it at different times during the day. Some say twice a day. Daniel, we know the prophet practiced this three times a day morning, noon and night. Ron Delbean writes you might pray it before you get out of bed in the morning I do that. Or turn off the car radio and practice it in the car. I have done that. Pray while you drive, while you pay attention, while you drive. You could breathe and pray when you become angry or when you feel the churning of anger begin, frustrated, maybe you're bored, maybe you're procrastinating, maybe you're sluggish.

Janell: 29:05

The breath prayer reminds us that praying is as natural as breathing. Praying is as natural as breathing. A third resource that I simply adore is asacredjourneynet. Lacey is such a beautiful resource for anyone wanting to start a sacred journey into the more contemplative practices of stillness, silence and solitude contemplative practices of stillness, silence and solitude. So I will definitely link her introduction of how to practice breath prayer into our show notes so that you have plenty of resources. I love it so much.

Janell: 29:46

So, as we close, I will just close with a breath prayer, one that I am getting from the beautiful Sarah Bessie's field notes That'll be in our notes as well, and she offers these beautiful examples of breath prayers. Inhale, god with us, exhale still Always. Inhale, friend of my soul come rest with me. Inhale, give me an imagination for healing. Exhale you are the creator and sustainer of our restoration To participate in the healing of the world. Exhale, give me courage to say yes to your good pathway. Inhale I release my worry and what ifs. Exhale and I welcome your prevailing peace and holy holy inspiration. Inhale I release my need for control. Exhale, I trust your goodness and purpose will prevail. And when you're finished Sarah offers this and I offer it as well, because it's something that I have been practicing for a very long time.

Janell: 31:50

But, as I said, I'm just now implementing that practice in my life in a more serious, diligent, obedient, intentional way. When you finish, and for me, when I'm standing up and I'm going to put my hand on the doorknob and open the door and I'm going to go from darkness, candlelit room, beautiful space to daylight usually because it's daylight, sun, light I will just take a moment before I open the door and say, father, I exit this space filled with your presence, your light and your love. Now may I bring it into everyone that I meet along today's path. Heartlifter, staying true with our thoughts on breath and breathing, I hope you have been inspired and inspired means to breathe in. So I hope you have inhaled inspiration and exhaled some tension, stress, worry, complexities, difficulties.

Janell: 33:09

So meet me over on Instagram at Janelle Rairdon. Please, please subscribe to both the podcast and to Substack and, if you would be so kind, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or whichever podcast platform you listen to. That extends our reach. And remember, if a man's reach doesn't extend his grasp, then what's a heaven for? Until next time.