My Thoughts On Why Jesus Never Told Us To Focus On Our Breathing

Prayer is the practise

I wrote a quick Substack ‘note’ the other day on my way to church. (for those who aren’t aware, there’s a newsfeed on Substack, that operates a bit like fb so other people can see your posts even if they are not subscribed to you)

The Note went like this;

Jesus never told us to focus on our breathing.

One of the things that has surprised me most about becoming a Christian after a lifetime in the new age is that the new age has actually snuck into the church.

Many Christians are involved in new age practises without even knowing it.

The note was inspired by learning about ‘breath prayers’ - where prayers to God are combined with focused, intentional breathing. I was shocked, while also not surprised, as there are so many ways in which other forms of spirituality merge with Christianity, without people realising their roots.

The post generated a lot of comments. Many people agreed, and many others commented to defend their breathing practices.

Please note: I am referring to breath practises that come from the new age/paganism, and then are given a ‘Christian’ slant, to make it seem as if they are Christian, when they are not ways or praying or worshipping that are described in the Bible. There may be cases when physical breathing exercises are necessary for health reasons, in an entirely physical, non spiritual context. It is the focused breathing in the form of a spiritual practise that I am referring to.

When I write posts here, my intended audience is usually non-believers. Having been deceived by other forms of spirituality, I want to issue a warning to others, and maybe even inspire them to explore Christianity.

But finding that intended audience can be tricky! I just write hoping God will send those people my way.

I think most of my subscribers are already Christian. And this post is the first one I’m specifically aiming at Christians. Because there were so many Christians were defending breathing practises.

This topic is based around using breathing as part of spiritual practise, combining it with prayer, or as a way to get closer to God. There may be cases in

This post has 2 parts;

Part 1 - I want to address some of the arguments Christians used on that note to justify using some form of conscious breathing practice. I have heard similar versions of these arguments on previous occasions, and want to answer in more detail and more nuance than is possible in a few paragraphs.

Part 2 - Then after that I’ll share my own experiences, why I think we do not need formal breathing practises, and why they have dangerous side effects (even the ones that seem secular or Christian).

Point No.1 Life is stressful these days so we need some kind of formalised breathing practise to destress.

It’s true that in our modern life there are some unique stressors caused by our digital internet age, but let’s put this in perspective. Think about Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. He knew that he was approaching arrest and crucifixion. We know this was incredibly hard for him as he asked, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done. Luke 22.42

Did Jesus use a particular pattern of conscious breathing to speak to his father? No, there is no record of that in the Bible. He just poured his heart out to his father.

Peter died by being hung upside down on a cross. Paul was imprisoned and nearly died.

Can we honestly say that we have more stress than them, and need new modern techniques to deal with this stress?

Point N.O2 We are so disconnected from our bodies in modern life, that we need breathing practices, and other embodiment practises to bring us back to ourselves. Otherwise it’s just heady, wordy Christianity.

It’s definitely true that we are disconnected from our bodies in our lives. As someone who has previously taught somatic practises to consciously focus our bodies, it is something I have pondered.

But, in my own personal experience with Christianity I don’t find it ‘heady,’ or disembodied. My body is fully engaged when I pray my heart out, or sing a worship song. Through a relationship with God he can guide me in what I need to do to take care of my body. I can notice my bodily sensations when my body tells me I’m thirsty and need to drink, or am in pain and need to change physical position. Having given up all my previous somatic practises I don’t miss them or feel disconnected from myself at all.

Point N.O3 Jesus didn’t tell us to clean our teeth, wash our feet etc.

No, but those are not spiritual acts.

Some of the people who commented didn’t think that ‘breathing practises’ should be classified as ‘new age,’ and I agree, the term new age is a bit of a misnomer and can cause some confusion. But most conscious breathing practices have their roots in other religious systems, like Hinduism and Buddhism, which have spread to the west in such a secularised form that people do not see them as being spiritual at all.

Point N.04 - Early Christians use forms of mystical, spiritual contemplation.

Deception has been around since the garden of Eden. So just because someone did it in the far distant past, doesn’t make it any more valid or Biblical. When Paul wrote in the Bible. As the apostle John said, ‘for many false prophets have already gone out into the world.’ John 14.10

Part 2 - Why We Don’t Need Breathing Practises And Why They Can Be Dangerous

Before becoming a Christian I had gone to numerous workshops on meditation and breathwork. I had also trained as a somatic sex coach (a big part of that training was focused on the nervous system and how when we are relaxed we take slow, deep, belly breaths, and when we are stressed we take shorter, chest breaths).

So when I became a Christian I wondered, what about my breath health? Was it really wrong to practises that are beneficial, that can relax us and that can slow down our breathing?

What I quickly found is that when I prayed my breath naturally slowed down. I naturally felt tension in my body relaxing. I would have little moments of noticing these things - perhaps noticing myself take a slower, deeper breath. I also noticed the same from reading my Bible.

The difference was I wasn’t doing a practice of having my conscious awareness. My conscious awareness was on God. It was on the things I was praying for. It was on the conversation. In my present day prayer life, there are moments of stillness and silence between the words, but the silence and stillness isn’t what I’m aiming for or trying to cultivate. My focus is on God.

In Romans 1:25, Paul writes of those who exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.

If the aim of a practice is to focus on our breath, our bodies, then it is a subtle way in which we are being drawn away from God, to focus on ourselves.

It’s so subtle that many Christians don’t believe anything is wrong with it. It’s clever how the enemy works.

Breathing practises may feel good, they may feel spiritual, and they may be relaxing. But does that mean it’s the Holy Spirit?

The testimony of Johanna Michaelson is a great one for illustrating this. (see link). Johanna was a committed Christian that started training with a psychic healer. She genuinely thought that she was doing psychic surgery with Jesus. Yet after a while doubts formed and she prayed about it, and the ‘Jesus’ she had been communing with shapeshifted into a demon.

When we repeatedly return to a point of focus (such as our breath) we are bringing ourselves into a trance state. In the Bible there are many warnings, to be alert, and awake. For example 1 Peter 5:8-9. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

The trance-like state of focused breathing, is exactly what opens us up to demonic oppression.

I wrote in my full story about some of the experiences I had while meditating such as having ‘deceased relatives’ talk to me and sensing a being in the corner of the room. All I was doing were very simple meditation practises at home, not related to any particular religion. At a breathwork workshop raid breathing sent me into a trance where I saw my ‘deceased grandmother’ come out of a tunnel. This vision felt so real, so beautiful, and had me in floods of tears.

But the Bible warns us not to talk to the dead, (Deuteronomy 18:10-12), and that ‘the heart is deceitful above all things. Jeremiah 17.9.

What feels good and spiritual, may not actually be good and spiritual.

When I first prayed the Lord’s Prayer and felt the presence of God, what struck me was how different God felt. It felt like a 180 degree turn. All the ‘spiritual feelings,’ I had from years of tai chi, yoga, meditation, breathwork, etc. were not God. I knew in an instant, that we don’t seek God doing these things. If you feel spiritual doing any of these things, then it is not the Holy Spirit but some other spirit.

Jesus said, ‘Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.’ - Luke 11.35. What feels like light can be darkness, as we are warned ‘Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11.14.

How can something that feels so good be so bad?

I listened to a story of someone who was recounting the first time heroin came to his town. At first people didn’t, about withdrawal, and so when people experienced it, they didn’t realise it was caused by the heroin. What is particularly pernicious about breathing practises is we might not notice the side effects. It might be quite subtle like more sleepless nights, or a gnawing sense of anxiety (meditation sickness is a thing as I wrote about previously). It might be the kind of thing that makes you think you need more practice. That’s how drugs work. But if you are a Christian, thinking you need these things, then I believe that there is more freedom in Christ without them.

Will concentrating on your breathing for five minutes make you lose your salvation? Of course not. But does it open you up to potential spiritual warfare that you might not even link to the practises? Absolutely. And for some people it could be the first opening of the doorway that does lead people away from Christ.

God has something far greater for us. We are told in Philippians 4:6-7 that if we pray about everything then the ‘peace that surpasses all understanding’ will be ours.

This peace doesn’t come from our works, but from drawing nearer to God, and he will draw near to you. (James 4.8)

If you think you need to do a conscious breathing practise to relax, then I hope you’ll consider these words, pray about them, and try to do without for a while and see what happens.