‘God has breathed into us the breath of life’ – Jewish and Christian approaches to breathing meditation in an Australian context
Practical Theology March 19, 2019 P. Mudge
Breathing meditation in Jewish and Christian traditions treats the breath as the vivifying Spirit, Holy Spirit, or life force. A theology of the body requires an embodied spirituality grounded in a biblical and spiritual theology of the whole person. The article demonstrates the practicality of breathing meditation by outlining possible approaches during a typical week in an Australian context. It explores a shorter series of dawn-to-morning meditations through the lens of Judaism and a complementary longer suite for afternoon-to-night based on Christian tradition, including one meditation from Australian Aboriginal spirituality. Each exercise can be adapted for adults, senior students, or primary students. All exercises except the Dadirri and name of G-d examples are original compositions trialled by the author.