8/14/2023 0 Comments Heartmath heart focused breathingThe HeartMath Institute says, “Those who’ve practiced Heart-Focused Breathing through the years say they have experienced: a sense of being uplifted and alive more peaceful and less rushed in their busy lives a deeper heart connection within and with others. Allow your face and body to soften as you continue to breathe in this way for a few minutes or as long as you like. Heart-focused breathing techniques & strategies are easy to learn and with practise can help you to manage the challenges of modern-day living.Imagine that the breath is coming in and out from your heart.Feel your chest rise and fall as you breathe in and out, allowing the breath to be free and natural.Close your eyes, or softly lower your gaze.Choose a comfortable position to sit in.You can use heart-focused breathing to help you calm down when you feel stressed, or at the start or end of your day to increase feelings of peace. Heart-Focused breathing helps take the intensity out of a reaction or background feeling such as anxiety or fear. Either way, praying with the breath is not strictly necessary for salvation or intimacy with Christ, but it can help many people as a means towards helping them to enter into the silence of prayer.Although we breathe through our lungs, it’s possible to direct our attention to the heart-area as we breathe. If it works for you, great if not, store the idea away and maybe you can come back to it in the future. In this way, we can take 5-10 minutes at the beginning of a prayer period to let go of our fears and anxieties, using the breath as a symbol of our surrender to the Lord. Also, it can be a great way to enter into an extended period of prayer such as a holy hour. Although these techniques are not a magic formula, when combined with regular confession and virtuous living, praying with the breath can help deepen our walk with the Lord. In time, you will find that adjusting your breathing throughout your day can be a powerful way to discard disordered thoughts, feelings, and desires, and return to a place of receptive attention to the Holy Spirit. This is something you can do yourself in the grocery store line. However, you should use phrases that have meaning for you, mindful that you can simply rest in your breathing if you desire. HeartMath is heart-focused breathing, or breathing through the heart space, Rachel Egherman said of the gentle form of self-care that helps you check in with your body, your heart space, and feel supported. For example, you could relate to the Lord by saying, “Jesus, I love you.” As a general guide, I recommend trying phrases tied to the three theological virtues (faith, hope, and love). In addition, you can use a variety of words or phrases that help you relate to the Lord with directness and familiarity. Over the last several years, I have found that a variety of ways of breathing can be employed at different times to move our interior life from a place of dissonance back to a place of gentle attention and strength. Sometimes, a more rigorous breath can energize while at other times a more gentle breath can soothe and relax. Different lengths of breath and different kinds of breath can help the mind and body come to a relaxed state. I would recommend playing with the way you breath as you try this out. Imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your heart or chest area, breathing a little slower and. In terms of helping you to put this wisdom into practice, I would make the following counsels. Focus your attention in the area of the heart. They call this state “coherence” and it is connected with more regular heart rhythms. In their research, they have found that such a focus can help open up feelings of well-being and empathy, leading the person to a more relaxed state of awareness. Although Heartmath does not promote prayer as such, their technique involves breathing and focusing on the heart. In their research, the Heartmath Institute ( ) has developed techniques which bear a remarkable resemblance to Eastern Christianity. In addition, such rhythmic forms of praying and breathing can be incredibly helpful in dealing with stress. In this way, we are able to let go of the turning and burden of our discursive reasoning and open our hearts to a more intuitive form of relating to the Lord. The idea is to draw one’s awareness to the heart, listening with a gentle attention to its rhythms. In addition, the Eastern Fathers counseled that the believer should tie this rhythmic praying with the beating of the heart. On the inhale, you pray part of the Jesus prayer, and on the exhale you pray the rest. First, it was tied to the Jesus prayer (My Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner). The method they employ is fairly easy to learn and summarize. In Eastern Christian spirituality, there is a rich tradition of praying with the breath.
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