Breath is a Divine Truth

Breath is a rhythm,
the life-rhythm of every living cell....
breath is an activity,
the rhythmic activity of every living cell...
breath is a force,
the active force behind every living cell..
breath is a truth,
the Divine truth in every living cell....

Deep breathing is a therapy in which the breath-of-life is accentuated. From a Theological point of view, we see that our breath is the breath-of-life as we received it from God. The origin of the word "breath" as we read in Genesis 2:7, is found in the Hebrew word "neshamah" which means "Breath-of-God", "Spirit-of-God", "Mind-of-God". Gen.2:7 - And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul".

Neshamah, the breath of life, is the principle of life that is called "the Lord's lamp" in the Bible, because this moral sense is a direct gift from God and enables man to see his real condition. We see this in texts such as Prov.20:27: "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly" and Ec.12:7: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God Who gave it".

In John 20:22, when Jesus breathed upon the disciples, (symbolizing all of mankind) saying: "……receive ye the Holy Spirit", we were authorized to carry out the commission in John 14:12 – "The works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do......". God’s Breath and Spirit live in us and give us life. And God’s Breath in us can make us healthy on many existential levels.

The Latin anima means breath or soul whereas animalis, the derived adjectival form, means having breath or soul. The noun animal is derived from animalis and is used to indicate all living beings that breathe noticeably. From a Psychological and Biological point of view, anima refers to the human mind as a non-material entity that nonetheless interacts with the body via the brain and nervous system.

When we think about the "Spirit of God" we think of the Holy Spirit and we become conscious of the truth that the first man in all his purity, newly created in the Image and after the Likeness of God, as the crown of God’s creation – was filled with the Holy Spirit at the same moment he received his breath-of-life from God.

The concepts of breath, soul, spirit and mind is furthermore the logos which we find in the opening chapter of the gospel of St John – "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God" and "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" – the Spirit of God from which man receives his breath-of-life. The Spirit of God that speaks to man when he enters the inner chamber of his mind, where he finds himself and where he finds God.

Each human being is a carrier of God's Breath and God’s Spirit and God’s Mind, and it seems so logical to believe that this is then the reason why focused breathing and deep relaxation are such powerful tools for healing and maintaining health on a physical, emotional and spiritual level.