Breathing animates us. The act of breathing is intimate and essential for our existence. Just as breathing is the essence of our physical lives, breathing is also the essence of our spiritual lives. How does breathing help us understand spirituality, both our human spirit and our connection to something more?
The following is a text version of this posting.
Today, I want to invite you to simply pause and focus on your breath. Breathe in and be aware of your breath as it enters your nostrils with a cool sensation. Breathe deeply and feel your lungs expand. Then exhale. Feel yourself let go. We breathe countless times each day but rarely are we aware of our breath. Yet, breathing is critically important to us. Breathing is our life.
The ancients understood this connection between breath and life. Perhaps you know that in Hebrew, the word for breath is ruah. More accurately, ruah is the breath of life. But this isn’t just true in Hebrew. In Swahili, it’s pumzi ya uhai. In Sanscrit, it’s atman. In all of these ancient sources, there is an understanding that breath is life, it is what animates us, it is our spirit, our soul.
Today, when we think about spirituality, we think about something out there, something that is beyond our experience, something that comes from outside of us. But that’s not the case. Instead, our spirit is found in our breath. Our spirit is the breath of life.
Again, take a moment to breathe in and be aware of your breath. Experience it and recognize that the source of life that sustains you is part of you.
To walk a spiritual path begins by realizing that simply being alive and breathing is deeply spiritual. When we focus on our breath, we become aware of our life and our spirit.
Yes, many things outside of us inspire us. Many mornings, I watch the sunrise over the horizon and fill my neighborhood with light. My study faces East and has large windows. In my study, I experience the light streaming through the windows. Experiencing sunrise and the light of the new day is inspiring to me, giving me a renewed sense of hope and promise. For you, that kind of inspiration may come from music, art, a religious ritual, or something else. But these things evoke something powerful in us.
When we pay attention to the spirit of life found in our breath and the things that inspire us like the sunrise, we discover that spirituality is a balance between an inner life force and an outer inspiration. It’s a balance of something immanent within us and something transcendence beyond us. Both aspects are needed for our spiritual growth and development.
Paying attention to our breath helps us to be aware of the immanent dimension of spirituality, the dimension that is within us. It’s by tending to this inner dimension that we kindle the inner light that illumines us and leads us forward.
The transcendent dimension is just as important. The transcendent dimension inspires us and calls us forward toward finding new life.
Some people speak of being spiritually attuned, aligned, or balanced. That happens when the immanent dimension and the transcendent dimension interface with each other, deeply connecting and forming a kind of resonance. It’s in this experience that we find a deep spiritual connection or fulfillment.
In my mind, the place to begin is with our breath. It’s there that we explore and discover the immanent nature of spirituality, our inner life. We’ll encounter the transcendent in ways that resonate with us in the sunrise, the beauty of nature, the experience of love, music or art, or any of many other aspects of life. It’s all there – as long as we are aware and breathe.
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An important part of our spiritual life is the power of the breath. You explain it so well and I believe it helps in our inner life but also helps in the outer life of handling the anxieties of life better.