An Essential Element of Prayer

My knee jerk reaction to public prayer is repulsion. In part because of the tendency toward grandiose and pompous shows. “Our Most Gracious and Glorious Heavenly Father…” is the preamble that springs to mind.

Of course, I’m not talking about a priest, rabbi or Roshi leading a group. That’s a bit different.

Having said that, and once I’m able to fall like a dizzy dervish off the spinning prayer wheel and dust my robes off, I remember what my Sensei once said:

Prayer and meditation are like breathing in and out. They are the inspiration and the expiration. Prayer is the exhale, the expression. Meditation is the inhale, the pause, the waiting, the living in the stillness. In this sense, prayer can be seen as the everyday actions of our lives.

I like the setting that gives. It seems a bit more practical. It puts life into prayer. Because without some sort of breath, prayer seems like not much more than a hope or a stress reliever. It’s all exhale, with little hope of fulfillment. It becomes kind of asthmatic.

Prayer like my teacher described, lived out in everyday life, whether inwardly experienced or outwardly lived, should be seen as this basic, this simple. Breathed.