Breath Prayer and the Jesus Prayer: How to Begin

A breath prayer is a short prayer, usually a phrase from scripture, prayed slowly in time with your breathing: part of it as you breathe in, and the rest as you breathe out. It needs no book and no special place. It can be prayed on a bus, in a waiting room or in the minutes before sleep.

Where breath prayer comes from

The practice of praying a short phrase again and again goes back to the early desert monks of Egypt and Syria, who sought to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Brief, repeated prayers let them keep turning toward God through long days of work.

The best-known of these prayers is the Jesus Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.

Its words echo the Gospels: the blind man Bartimaeus calling “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” (Mark 10:47), and the tax collector praying “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13).

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition the Jesus Prayer became central to Hesychasm, a way of quiet, attentive prayer associated with the monks of Mount Athos. The Philokalia, an eighteenth-century collection of Orthodox spiritual writings, gathered much of that teaching, and the nineteenth-century Russian book The Way of a Pilgrim carried the Jesus Prayer to readers far beyond the monastery. Today Christians of many traditions pray it.

Other breath prayers

Almost any short phrase from scripture can be prayed with the breath. A few that people return to:

• Psalm 46:10: “Be still, / and know that I am God.”
• Psalm 23:1: “The Lord is my shepherd; / I shall not want.”
• 1 Samuel 3:9: “Speak, Lord, / for your servant is listening.”
• Luke 1:38: “Here am I, / let it be with me according to your word.”

The slash marks the turn of the breath: the first part on the in-breath, the second on the out-breath.

How to pray a breath prayer

1. Choose your words. Pick one short prayer and keep it for a while. Familiar words let the mind settle.
2. Sit comfortably. Feet on the floor, hands at rest. Let your breathing slow on its own.
3. Breathe in for about four counts, praying the first half silently: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God”.
4. Rest for a moment at the top of the breath.
5. Breathe out for about six counts, praying the second half: “have mercy on me”.
6. Repeat for a few minutes. When your attention drifts, simply return to the words.

The longer out-breath is a gentle way to slow down. There is nothing magic in the counts; what matters is an unhurried rhythm, and the words.

Breath prayer through the day

Breath prayer is not only for a set time. Many people pray a few breaths before opening email, between meetings or while waiting for a kettle. Over time the prayer begins to accompany ordinary life. Some keep it as part of their rule of life: a morning practice, and a habit of returning to it through the day.

How Ordo helps

Ordo includes a breath prayer called Breathe with me. Your companion, one of eight hand-drawn creatures that keep watch with you in the app, closes its eyes and breathes at the pace of a breath prayer: four counts in, a short rest, six counts out. The words of the Jesus Prayer or Psalm 46 appear in time with each breath, and a few gold motes rise like incense (Psalm 141:2).

It sits alongside Ordo’s daily rhythm of reflection and scripture with a small group, and follows the church year. Ordo is in beta on iPhone; join the waitlist to try it.