The Intimacy of Breathing

I subscribe to a newsletter (I think it’s monthly) from Deepak Chopra’s website. I love Deepak Chopra’s insight into things. There are just some people on this earth whom God has gifted with a way of thinking and speaking that, whenever I read or hear them, cause me to think about God, and my relationship with Him, in new, different, and exciting ways. Donald Miller and Joel Osteen are two more of those people. I think the common denominator, for me, is that they all tend to focus more on an intimate, personal relationship with God than on “religion” for the sake of religion. We are Christians by Grace alone, not by works.

Having said that, though, what I find is that when I focus on the relationship first, it comes far more naturally to want to be obedient to God’s holy word. When I am close to God, hearing His voice on my heart, releasing my own will and allowing Him to lead me, I am so completely loved, comfortable and safe that I am eager to please Him. I want to be the best me that I can be. I want to delight Him and I want to bask in that delight.
I think this is true in any intimate, love relationship. When my relationships are in a good place, when I feel loved, comfortable and safe, I automatically want to do everything I can to make the one I’m in the relationship with happy. I want to surprise them with things I know they love, cook things they love to eat; no detail is too great or small if it means I can bring delight and joy to them.

In the most recent “Namaste” newsletter from The Chopra Center , Deepak Chopra wrote a letter. In that letter he discussed the act of breathing. Although breathing is the most vital thing we do, and we do it every moment of every day, it is probably the thing we think about the least. It just struck me how strange that is. If jogging were vital to our existence, and we did it (and had to do it) 24/7, wouldn’t it be upper-most in our minds?
One of the things Deepak said in his letter that really caused me to pause and think was that breathing is a deeply intimate act of love. He gave his own reasons, which I will go into in a minute, but first I want to follow my own train of thought on that.

It occurs to me that this is yet another example of God’s amazing love for us. God gave us life. He breathed life into us. He created us so that all of the vital, absolutely necessary functions of our bodies and minds are able to be performed without our ever having to think about them or make a conscious decisions to do them. They just happen. Giving someone a gift that they absolutely need and making it so that they never have to think about it is, in my opinion, an act of the deepest, most selfless love. When have I ever given a gift to anyone that I didn’t want something in return, even if it’s just a “thank you”? When have I ever given a gift to anyone that I didn’t want them to think about me as they used it? There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be thanked or thought of, but how amazingly selfless is it that God gave us this gift completely “free”. No strings attached whatsoever.

In yoga and meditation, we are taught to “be aware” of our breath. We are taught that increasing our awareness of our breath can bring calm during stressful situations and bring insight into confusion. The body and its actions follow the breath. If the breath is ragged and disjointed, the body’s actions and movements will be as well. Deepak, in his letter, painted a picture of breathing as a love act, in and of itself. I’m paraphrasing, but he suggested that we visualize breathing in as accepting the gift of life, and as such, love, from our creator. As we breathe in, we breathe our Creator and His love into our deepest selves. As our breath fills our every cell in our body, so does our Creator. As we breathe out, we surrender that life back unto our Creator in an act of trust and love. The tiny little moment in between breathing in and breathing out is a moment when we are joined with the one we love and who loves us in the perfect center of this holy act of love. What an incredibly beautiful thought.

During my quiet time, my meditation, I have been practicing “watching” my breathing, for the purpose of bringing calm into my mind and centering my physiological functions as well. Now, however, as I breathe in, I have begun to think the thought “Father, I gratefully accept your gift of life” and, as I breathe out, “Father I surrender my life back unto you.” I find that when I become intentional about receiving and giving back this most precious gift, I am filled with a calm, tranquility and sense of well-being I had never before experienced.

One of the simplest verses in the Bible, and yet the one I struggle with the most is, “Be still and know that I am God.” When I focus my awareness and intention on the intimacy of breathing, I connect with my heavenly father in a way helps me do just that. There is no doubt, no worry, no stress. There is only knowing with absolute certainty that I am loved.