Friday, April 13, 2012

Doxasoma® & Prayer Breathing

In my seemingly never-ending quest for better health, I have found that I really enjoy yoga. It calms me after a long day and stretches my muscles extremely well. Normally, when the instructor (usually on a video) would suggest visuals to 'see a golden bubble of light around you and in your core know that you are divine'...well, I'd just focus on the Spirit or pray.

But sometimes, don't you just get tired of filtering?!  I sure do. So I went searching for exercise programs that focused on the One True God. That's when I came across 'Doxasoma®.' Their website states that, "DoxaSoma® is a physical practice which incorporates elements of stretching and strength building with prayer, worship and reflection upon the Word of God. The word DoxaSoma® is comprised of 2 Greek words: Doxa, meaning "praise or honor" - Soma, meaning "body." DoxaSoma was developed in 2000 by Angela Doll Carlson, an ACE certified personal trainer."

YES! This was just what I was looking for...yoga type exercise with a focus on the Truth. I've also found some DVD's for walking at home with a Christian focus. It's been great to push myself in exercise and have scriptures pop up on screen. HA.

Anyway, it was during one of these work outs with a focus on God where I was first introduced to what I generally describe as prayer breathing. Basically, it's repeating silently some scripture or prayer in one full breath. For example:

Breathe in: " My help comes"
Breath out: "from the LORD"

or

Breathe in: "Jesus is the"
Breath out: "bread of my life."

or

Breathe in: "Be at rest"
Breath out: "O my soul."

I use prayer breathing a lot at work, or when I'm stressed, or even when I am sad and prayers of any sort of length escape me. A quote by an unknown author says, "When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace." I want God to own my breath and I want even my time of exercise to be a way to connect with Him. If you've found exercsie programs with a focus on God, please share...I'm always looking for more.