If you’ve ever been in a toxic or unhealthy relationship, perhaps you understand what it means to “guard your heart.” You limit your time and energy with that person. If you’re feeling the toxicity of the election and polarization of our country, then perhaps you are guarding your heart against social media during this time. Our minds naturally create space to protect us from those things that hurt us. Yesterday was World Mental Health Day, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.

Prayer breathing is a spiritual discipline thought to be born out of Psalm 150, as best I can tell. The monks in the 5th century took the final verse of the final Psalm to heart and created a method of praying with each breath in and each breath out. Have you heard the saying, “there are no new original ideas any more?” Quilt patterns certainly fall into this category at times. I imagine prayer breathing falls into that same reality. So, for purposes of teaching the practice here, let’s set a foundation.