I
t is in Him I breathe; I move and have my being.
I’m sitting at my desk, all day it seems. My morning began insanely early. I do a body check: upper body is slightly slouched, and I realize I’m holding in my breath; the air is stuck in my chest. I practice my deep breathing. Yes, that feels better.
Several years ago in grad school, during an acting class, I learned how to control my energies, whether in the form of a bundle of nerves or excitement, and relax my body by practicing deep breathing. But I was more intrigued to learn that by manipulating my breathing, I could affect how I portrayed my character’s emotions. To show I was afraid, excited, or nervous I needed only to change my breathing! Breathing affects our behavior.
There is nothing more natural and essential to human life than breathing. Yet we have to learn to breathe correctly, especially when we are stressed. Even a baby when born has to be stimulated to breathe on its own, and for this to take place, the newborn has to be resuscitated.
So it is when we are reborn in Christ Jesus. It is God’s spirit that resuscitates us, giving us what we need to live the new life. And in this new life we, too, have to learn to breathe correctly, to operate in His spirit and not in our own. The Hebrew word for “spirit” also means “breath.” Rabbi Gavriel Moreno-Bryars explores this Hebrew word Ruach-breath, and what it means for us, a people born of God to live filled with LIFE in this human sanctuary! But even the exterior of a sanctuary must be taken care of, so every article in this issue on Breath is written to give valuable information on how to perform breathing exercises and how to create an environment that promotes fresh, clean air. We had the honor of interviewing Brenda Stockdale, a health and wellness expert, director of Mind-Body Medicine and Radiotherapy Clinics and Advanced Medicine in Georgia and author of You can Beat the Odds, for this issue and she reminds us that at first learning to breathe correctly does not feel natural, but we can bring healing to our bodies by simply learning to breathe correctly.
This breath in our bodies is sacred. We are alive and sustained by One far greater than ourselves. It is with this awareness we can say that it is in Him we move and have our being.
, Editor
