#059 - Breath Prayers for Writers

Welcome back to another episode of Hit Splits. My name is Shelly Hits, the owner and founder of ChristianBookAcademy.com and yesterday we talked about breathing as a way to get into the writing zone, to calm your nervous system, to decrease the stress hormone in your body cortisol, so that you can just think more clearly and so that the writing can flow. Today I want to talk about breath prayers. Now, this isn't something weird or out there, it's just simply using our breath and connecting it with prayer. And it's especially powerful when you pray scriptures.

So you're just going to think about it like as you inhale, you're going to be praying a certain phrase and then as you exhale, praying another phrase. So let me just give you an example when one that we're very familiar with from Psalm 23:1 is the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. So as you breathe in, you will think the phrase the Lord is my shepherd. And then as you breathe out, you will think and meditate on the phrase I shall not want. So let's try this together. So breathe in.

The Lord is my shepherd. Now breathe out.

I shall not want.

Breathe in. The Lord is my shepherd.

Breathe out, I shall not want.

Another one from 1st Samuel 3, 9, 10. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Now this can be one you can use when you're in your business meetings with God, when you're taking one to two minutes before you start writing to ask God for guidance. So let's try it together. You will.

Meditate on the phrase speak, Lord, as you breathe in. And as you breathe out, your servant and is listening. So breathe in.

Speak Lord.

And breathe out. Your servant is listening.

Let's try it again. Breathe in.

Speak, Lord.

Breathe out. Your servant is listening. It's just a way to prepare yourself. And you can also combine what I taught you yesterday with the breath prayers. So you can breathe in for four seconds and then breathe out for seven seconds. So you're breathing out longer than you're breathing in. So not only are you getting the benefit of the breathing, but you're also praying. You're connecting with God, but you're also using scripture. So it is a triple whammy. And I just really think like these are super simple breath prayers and, and it's just something you can get in the habit of doing as you enter into a business meeting with God, a journaling session, a writing session, a planning session, whatever you're doing. A couple others that you might consider is Abba, I belong to you so and when you say Abba or you think or meditate on Abba, you would breathe in. And as you meditate on I belong to you, you breathe out. Now that's from Brennan Manning. He's an author and has written a lot of things. But just that thought of Abba, I belong to you. That I belong to you, God, and you are taking care of me. Another one you might try is as you breathe in Jesus and then as you breathe out, be the center. So we want, as kingdom writers, we want Jesus to be the center of our writing, our marketing. Right. And so that's just a great one to do as well.

If you're wanting to learn more about breath prayer, I have, I've started reading a book. I have not finished it, so I can't, you know, say for everything, but so far she's really explaining this whole concept of breath and the science behind it, but also using it with prayer in one of the most, like, the easiest ways to understand that I've seen explained. So the, the book is Breath as Prayer by Jennifer Tucker. So that's just a resource for you if you want to go a little bit deeper into this topic. But I encourage you just to pick maybe one of those, find one of your favorite scriptures and turn it into a breath prayer. Just combine the breathing that I taught you yesterday with this concept of prayer, praying a scripture, and I really think it's going to help you in many, many ways. So let me just pray for you, Lord, thank you so much for the ways that you have given us to even just calm ourselves through, through breathing, but then to connect with you through prayer through your Word and that we can combine all of these things in just a really powerful way. So I just pray that everyone listening would be able to apply this to their lives, that as they're sitting down to write, as they're sitting down to journal or to have a business meeting with you that they would buy just to start with some breathing exercises, but not just breathing exercises, but incorporating it with prayer with scripture and that it would just be a powerful thing that they integrate into their lives. And we just thank you Lord, that you are with us, you are here with us right now, and we just pray this in Jesus powerful name. Amen. Amen. Friends, I hope that this was helpful for you and that you put it to use. Let me know if you do and I will talk to you in the next episode. Bye bye.