Nefesh: He Calms My Breath
“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness (tzadeqah from two weeks ago) for his name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3)
We are not unaffected by darkness. It extracts energy and inflicts pain and seeks to erode our sense of hope and self and God.
While you and I are stunningly resilient, we are also but dust and ashes, animated by the breath of God while wholly reliant on it.
We are souls buttressed by the sustenance of Adonai, infused with the air of divine lungs in a land of smoke and shadows.
When the sum of ourselves is troubled by ever-surrounding decay, we are desperate for a good Shepherd - a provider who meets ours souls in the valley place.
Our souls - nep̄eš (or nefesh) in Hebrew - are an amalgamation of mind and passion and desire and emotion. It is our self-consciousness - in the more literal sense - filled with both image-bearing goodness as well as bondage and loyalties to worldly fragmentation.
But nefesh also means “life breath” - it is both the outworking of who we are, and the source by which we choose to live.
While the smog of counterfeit gods offers little more than a slow succumbing to angst and shame, the breath of Rabbi Yeshua can lift our hearts with vitality and exuberance. As the unmade Sovereign, it was Christ who entered into the physical to redeem our whole being with the source by which he first made it - his ruach - his spirit - his “wind-breath.”
God’s Spirit is transcendent, yet encountering His life-breath may, on some level, be as practical as, well… simply breathing.
When we are in a state of distress, anxiety, or fear, we are more sensitive to the external inputs that enter our nervous system; however, as mentioned last week, the Vagus Nerve is a profound presence in our bodies, that - when activated - can shift us back into a parasympathetic state, calming our bodies, even amidst stressors.
While we cannot control many of our body’s responses in these moments (such as a rise in blood pressure and heart rate, or increased perspiration and muscle tension), there is one physical response we can always return to: our breathing.
Deep, intentional, calming breaths have the power to re-stimulate our Vagus Nerves, drawing us back into steadiness.
Sadly, we live in a culture chronically micro-ventilating. Our inhales and exhales tend to be short, arhythmic, and absent-minded, reducing oxygen intake, detoxification, metabolic support, and blood flow to the brain (all processes that support stress regulation).
But when we mindfully take deep breaths through our nose (4 seconds), hold for a moment, then exhale through our mouth (4-8 seconds), we make a deliberate choice to invite our bodies and souls to trust in the peace of Christ and realign with hope, even before relief is felt.
Silencing our hearts and minds to breathe the life-breath of God is an act of faith and trust - that our Maker is for us, that he has made us with a particular design that can always reintegrate us into the unity of shalom.
Today, may your lungs be filled with life-breath and your soul with peace, knowing that you are held and precious and cared for.
Practice:
For 1-3 minutes, get in a comfortable and seated position. Notice what your body is feeling, then invite each part into a moment of rest. Acknowledge your physical safety in this particular moment. Then, if comfortable, close your eyes, and begin repeating the following breath prayer:
4-second inhale - “The Lord is my Shepherd”
4-second exhale - “He restores my soul”
P.S. There’s a wonderful, little book called “Breath as Prayer” by Jennifer Tucker that takes readers through short, daily breath prayers I would highly recommend.
P.P.S. Last reminder, Shavuot is next week! Guide available here.
