A Word from Bob

For a shortened version of this post, with a focus on a biblical theology of embodied-soul practices in biblical counseling, see:

Of Spirituality and Ice Cubes: A Psalm and a Palm.

Today’s very personal article is one post in two parts. In the first part of this article, you’ll read about Shirley’s story and Bob’s story. In the second part, you’ll see biblical, theological, and historical (church history) support for my very personal statement that,

“I’m never more Christ-dependent than when I’m doing deep breathing exercises.”

Part 1: A Very Personal Story

“My Name Is Bob…” 

In my P&R booklet, Anxiety, crafted over a decade ago, I began with these honest words,

“My name is Bob, and I struggle with and against worry, fear, and anxiety.”

Eleven years later, in March 2023, I endured a body-soul “crash.” Physically, I was overcome with weariness and weakness. Emotionally, anxiety and fear, sadness and grief, seemed to envelop me.

Shirley’s Story: June 4, 2021 

On June 4, 2021, my dear wife, Shirley, had a massive hemorrhagic stroke. In the ER, where Shirley was alert, but paralyzed, the neurologist asked me to step outside Shirley’s room. In a somber tone, she carefully explained the seriousness of Shirley’s critical condition.

“If the bleeding on your wife’s brain does not stop, we’ll have to transfer her to another hospital for a craniotomy.”

Pausing to look down at some medical statistics on her phone, she looked back up at me to share,

“Your wife has less than a 50% chance to survive the next 72 hours. If she does survive the weekend, then she has less than a 25% chance to live three months.”

I was in shock.

Less than four hours earlier, Shirley and I had been walking hand-in-hand in a park near our home in Auburn, Washington. Less than twenty-four hours earlier, we had been riding our mountain bikes through the hills of Auburn. Less than a week earlier, we had enjoyed our 40^th anniversary swimming together at our favorite spot on earth—Siesta Key Beach in Florida.

When Shirley survived the weekend, and the next three months, five neurologists told us not to get our hopes up that Shirley would ever walk again. Today, three years later, Shirley and I walk a mile a day near our new home in Florida. Praise the Lord!

Shirley’s Story: December 4, 2021

Those early days were difficult times. Exactly six months after Shirley’s stroke, she suffered a tonic-clonic seizure (this used to be called a grand mal seizure). At 3 AM on December 4, 2021, Shirley’s body stiffened, it convulsed, and she lost consciousness for twenty-five minutes. When I called 911 in the first minute of Shirley’s seizure, the 911 operator told me to have our adult daughter and I to carefully move Shirley off the bed, onto the hard floor, so I could begin CPR until the EMTs arrived.

I thought my wife would die in my arms.

By God’s grace, Shirley survived. To this day, Shirley remains on daily seizure medication.

Bob’s Story: June 2021 to March 2023—An “Intervention”

Initially, our neurologist cautioned me that at least for the next year, Shirley would be prone to seizures. I was not to leave Shirley alone unmonitored. I was by Shirley’s side almost constantly. If I was not with Shirley, then a family member or friend stayed with her. As Shirley continued to improved, she could be alone, but I always had a baby monitor near me if I were in another room.

This was not unreasonable caution or sinful fear. This was medical prudence. “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty” (Proverbs 22:3).

While we were fortunate and grateful to receive much help from extended family and church friends, I joyfully provided the bulk of Shirley’s care, even retiring early from my ministry as a professor of biblical counseling. During the first eighteen months after Shirley’s stroke, Shirley often shared the empathetic words,

“Bob, my stroke happened to both of us.”

Shirley was right. Eventually, my 24/7 care for Shirley began to take a toll on my body and soul. My mind and brain had been on constant high alert—and my embodied-soul cried, “Uncle!”

On March 1, 2023, I had my “crash.” I woke up barely able to get up out of bed. Emotionally and physically I was exhausted. I forced myself to get up, make breakfast for Shirley and me, and then laid down again. Later that morning, I forced myself to get up again, help Shirley shower and get dressed, and then laid down again. The routine continued throughout the day. Forcing myself to get up to make us lunch, crash; get up to make dinner, crash; get up and help us get ready for bed, and then barely be able to sleep at night.

After a few days, I called an intervention on myself! I shared with our adult son, adult daughter, and some friends what I was experiencing. Together with Shirley, we all mapped out an updated care plan—for both Shirley and me.

The Counselor Sees a Physician: Whole-Person Care 

One of the first things I did was schedule an appointment with our family physician. An internal medicine physician, with a focus on neuroscience and wholistic medicine, he had seen Shirley since her stroke, so he also knew me well.

He listened attentively as I described my symptoms—exhausted, on constant alert, tired but unable to sleep, sad, listless, anxious… Calmly, he said,

“Let’s start with some comprehensive blood work. You’ve been in good health, so I suspect that we’re not going to see anything out of the ordinary physically.”

He knew about my background as a counselor, so he asked me, “How would you diagnose yourself, Doc?” We both chuckled. Maybe my first chuckle in a while…

I briefly told him about the booklet I had written on anxiety, and I shared with him my phrase about “stuck vigilance”—that my brain and body felt stuck on high alert. He nodded, leaned forward, looked me in the eyes, and shared:

“Bob, that makes perfect sense. I’ve watched how you care for Shirley. You have to be exhausted. You both have had a lot of traumatic things happen to you in the past two years. You’ve both experienced a lot of significant losses. Honestly, I’d be surprised if you weren’t experiencing all of this. I agree. Your body, your brain—they are stuck on constant red alert.”

He continued,

“When your blood work comes back, assuming things are in the normal range, we could put you on an SSRI that could potentially help calm your brain, and address your very normal feelings of anxiety and sadness. But here’s what I might suggest first. You’re already on a good diet. (He had put Shirley on a Dash low-sodium diet along with a Mediterranean diet—lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, etc.—and I was on that diet also.) Let’s make sure you’re getting at least thirty minutes of cardio daily. Try to get outside every day and get some sun. (We both laughed because Seattle in March is not known for sunny days.) Also, I’d like to ask you to try some daily deep breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation exercises. I have some paperwork on those if you’d like to see what I recommend.”

Thus began my physician-recommended “whole-person” care for my embodied-soul.

The Counselor Sees a Counselor: Scripture-Dependent Embodied-Soul Care 

As part of the updated care plan that Shirley and I developed together, in April 2023, I began meeting with a biblical counselor. His “whole-person” approach to caring for my embodied-soul helped me tremendously. His background included extensive training as a biblical counselor—and he had practiced for two decades as a psychiatrist. 

Being a biblical counselor and meeting with a biblical counselor, I engaged in all the “overtly spiritual means of grace.” I practiced numerous individual and corporate spiritual disciplines: time in the Word, prayer, Scripture meditation, Scripture application, Sabbath rest, solitude with God, lament to God, resting in Christ, fellowship with God’s people, participating in the Lord’s Supper, hearing God’s Word preached, etc., etc., etc.

I even re-read and re-applied my own booklet on Anxiety!

The booklet walks people through a comprehensive gospel-centered approach from Philippians, including:

• Guard Your Relationship to God, Your Guard: Faith in Your Father

• Commit to Mature Relationships with God’s People: It Takes a Congregation

• Cling to Your Identity in Christ: Wholeness in Christ

• Put on the Mind of Christ: The Weapons of Your Warfare

• Practice What You Preach: Living and Loving with Courage

• Soothe Your Soul in Your Savior: Emotional Maturity 101

• Live Wisely in a Fallen World: Jars of Clay (For more on this final point, see, Anxiety and Our Physical Bodies: God’s Care for Embodied-Souls.)

I also re-studied Scripture and biblical counseling books on anxiety, fear, and phobias. I then developed a ten-page, single-spaced FAITH plan (maybe another book…where I’ll show you what the F and A and I and T and H stand for in that FAITH plan?).

Scripture-Dependent Embodied Spiritual Disciplines

Yes. I did all the “overtly spiritual disciplines” as I faced my fears face-to-face with my Father.

Yes. I also engaged in the equally spiritual disciplines of care for my body—my embodied-soul. I shared with my biblical counselor about the deep breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation routine that my physician had recommended. My biblical counselor heartily concurred with that approach.

So, early each morning and late each evening I would set aside focused time to get alone with the Lord (as our Lord did with His Father in Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46-47; Luke 6:12; John 6:15). I’d cry out to Christ in prayer. I would meditate on Scripture. And I would engage in progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing exercises. I rested—soul and body—in my Savior.

If I were writing an anxiety/fear booklet today, I might begin with these words,

“Hi. My name is Bob. As I wrestle with anxiety and fear, sadness and grief, exhaustion and weariness, I’m never more Christ-dependent than when I’m doing deep breathing exercises.”

Theological Reality: Here’s the theological reality for why I say, “I’m never more Christ-dependent than when I’m doing deep breathing exercises.”

The Hebrew word for “Spirit” is ruach and the Greek word is pneuma. Both words have the idea of breath, air. In his book, The Holy Spirit, Fred Sanders highlights the theological implications and sanctification applications of the Holy Spirit as breath/air.

“Our dependence upon the created element of air is in certain specific ways like our dependence on the Creator…. When you opened this book on the Holy Spirit and read this chapter inviting you to breathe in and breathe out, you probably immediately sensed the power of the obvious metaphor. Breathing in and out is like prayer, or like practicing the presence of God the Holy Spirit…. The Holy Spirit is like the air we breathe” (13, emphasis added).

Sanders then extensively develops this theological reality to explain that God as Spirit, breath, air identifies God as “omnisufficient” (14), whereas our need for breath denotes us as totally dependent (perhaps we could label it “omni-dependent”).

“Our breath marks us as necessarily surrounded by something besides ourselves, but God’s breath is God. In thinking about the Holy Spirit, we are trying to conceive of the divine life as a life that is always already fully resourced—oxygenated, as it were, from its own resources” (14).

Sanders’s theological application mirrors my application—breathing reveals our neediness, our dependency. He writes,

“The first application is about our relationship to God (we need God like air); the second is about God’s own inner life (God needs no air)” (15).

Sanders continues,

“Creaturely breath marks the point at which creatures draw on resources outside themselves to sustain them. Divine breath marks the opposite: God having life in himself, of himself, from himself, as himself…. In us, breath is the sign of our neediness, but in God it is the sign of him needing nothing” (15).

Sanders concludes by explaining that this metaphor of breath as a reminder of our neediness comes directly from God.

“But God is the one who picked out this word [breath] as somehow appropriate; God told us in Scripture that he has breath (Gen. 2:7; Pss. 33:6; 104:29). In making this comparison, God summons us to lift our thoughts up higher, starting from what we know in our own experience as breathing creatures and ascending mentally to thoughts worthy of God” (15).

Theological Application: Here’s the theological application behind why I say, “I’m never more Christ-dependent than when I’m doing deep breathing exercises.”

• Every time I sit in our blue recliner, lights off, sounds off, cell phone off, and began my series of deep breathing exercises, every breath is a conscious reminder of my need for the breath of God, for the Spirit of God, for God.

• My deep breathing exercises are an embodied-spiritual discipline that consciously reminds me of my absolute, nano-second-by-nano-second need for the Spirit—my need for absolute dependence upon Christ. “When you hid your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to dust” (Psalm 104:29). Physically, without breath; I die. Spiritually, without God’s presence; I die.

• In doing deep breathing exercises, I am reminding myself that I am absolutely dependent upon the One who is absolutely independent.

• In my weakness and weariness, in my neediness and dependence, I am resting body and soul in the Restful one (Matthew 11:28-30), finding His grace to help in my time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16), and experiencing His sufficient grace and strength in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) so I can love and serve Him and others (Matthew 22:35-40).

• Deep breathing exercises engage my whole person, reminding me body and soul that my entire person is totally dependent upon God. That’s why I say, “I’m never more Christ-dependent than when I’m doing deep breathing exercises.”

“A Jar of Clay” 

When I engage in deep breathing exercises, I am consciously acknowledging to myself and to God that I am a jar of clay.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).

Maybe I should begin my next booklet with the words,

“Hi. My name is Bob. I am a jar of clay.” 

When I breathe deeply, I am embracing: 

• The spiritual importance of wise care for my body (1 Corinthians 6:13-20).

• The need to master my body (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

• The validity of physical treatments and interventions for my embodied-soul (1 Kings 19:1-9; 1 Timothy 5:23).

• The value of physical training (1 Timothy 4:8).

• The frailty of my body (Psalm 78:38-39; Psalm 103:13-16; Isaiah 40:6-8; 2 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Peter 1:24-25).

• The impact of the fall on my body (Romans 8:19-25).

• The relationship between my bodily weakness, my emotional/spiritual weakness, and Christ’s grace and strength (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

• The interrelationship of and interconnection between the body and soul—the complex, back-and-forth influence of the body on the soul and of the soul on the body (Genesis 2:7; Psalm 3:4-6; Psalm 4:8; Psalm 6:1-7; Psalm 16:9; Psalm 22:14-15; Psalm 31:9-10; Psalm 32:3-4; Psalm 34:5; Psalm 38:1-10; Psalm 42:9-11; Psalm 51:8-9; Psalm 73:26; Psalm 77:1-4; Psalm 102:3-7; Psalm 102:9-11; Psalm 109:21-25; Psalm 116:3; Psalm 119:81-82; Psalm 143:4-8; Proverbs 3:1-2; Proverbs 3:7-8; Proverbs 3:15-18; Proverbs 3:21-22; Proverbs 4:20-22; Proverbs 9:11; Proverbs 10:27; Proverbs 14:13; Proverbs 14:30; Proverbs 15:4; Proverbs 15:13; Proverbs 15:30; Proverbs 16:14; Proverbs 17:22; Proverbs 18:14; Proverbs 18:21; Ecclesiastes 8:1; Ecclesiastes 11:10; Isaiah 21:3-4; Lamentations 1:16; Lamentations 1:18-22; Lamentations 3:1-18; Lamentations 3:49-51; Ezekiel 7:17-18; Ezekiel 12:19; Ezekiel 21:6-7; Habakkuk 3:16; Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38; 1 Corinthians 11:29-30; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 3 John 1:2).

Of Spirituality and Ice Cubes 

There’s an embodied-soul physiological intervention I have not (yet) practiced: holding an ice cube in my palm in order to slow down and ground myself in the present moment. For some, this is an embodied-soul way to be still and be reminded, present-moment-by-present-moment, of our need for God, of the nearness of God, and of Christ’s call to come and rest in Him.[i]

Some might retort, “Don’t hold an ice cube! Hold and read your Bible!”

Why not both?

Why not the Bible and ice cubes?

Why not feasting on the Word of God and breathing deeply in dependence on the Spirit of God? Both are spiritual.

A Psalm and a Palm

As I said at the start,

“I am never more Christ-dependent than when I’m doing deep breathing exercises.”

Perhaps if I start cupping an ice cube, I could say it like this:

“I am never more Scripture-trusting than when I am clutching and reading a Bible in one palm and clutching an ice cube in the other palm.”

Hmm. Makes me think… Perhaps I could summarize my embodied-soul story of entrusting myself to Christ with this phrase:

“A Psalm and a Palm.”

More of Shirley’s Ongoing Story: Embodied-Soul Practices…for the Glory of God and the Testimony of Christ 

As part of Shirley’s ongoing stroke rehab and recovery, she has medical Botox shots four times a year for her stroke-related spasticity. Shirley endures 14-to-18 shots each time, some in the hand, the palm, the fingers, the bottom of the toe and foot.

It. Is. Painful.

Shirley and I breathe together the whole time. I am Shirley’s “breathing coach,” reminding her (at her request) to “breathe slow; in through the nose, hold, out through the mouth.” Before the shots, we pray together, talk together, lament together, praise together… After the shots, we pray together, talk together, lament together, praise together… We are doing embodied-soul care.

Afterwards, Shirley is always “rewarded” with a nice lunch: an embodied-soul reward! More than once during lunch, we’ve mentioned that this “reminds us of the breathing exercises we learned together 40 years ago in our national child-birth classes we took together” (Shirley did all the hard work!).

The doctors and nurses and staff at three different neurology offices over the past four years have each commented multiple times about our love for each other. At each office, Shirley and I have been able to share our faith in Christ. Shirley calls herself “a medical missionary.” Our embodied-soul practices are glorifying to Christ. Shirley and I are never more connected as soul-mates (embodied-soul-mates) than when we are doing deep breathing exercises together.

Shirley is never more Christ-dependent than when she is doing deep breathing exercises.

Another Testimonial: Whole-Person Devotions

A Christian leader I ministered to began doing what he called “whole-person devotions.” After we talked about all the “overtly spiritual means of grace” to address his concerns, we added the equally spiritual means of bodily interventions, such as deep breathing exercises—which were recommended by his physician.

This Christian leader reported to me, with joy, that our comprehensive biblical approach was giving him victory in Christ that he had not seen in two decades of struggling with anxiety-related issues. He loved beginning every morning with his whole-person devotions that included time in the Word, prayer, Scripture meditation/application, and deep breathing exercises—reminders of his constant need for Christ.

Part 2: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Support for Embodied-Care: The Spirituality of Physiological Interventions 

Some might distort these personal testimonies saying, “You’re equating the power of scriptural truth with the potential effectiveness of deep breathing.”

No. These testimonies are all applying scriptural truth concerning our embodied-soul. These testimonies align with the following biblical, theological, and historical (church history) truths. 

Support #1: The Scriptures and the Sacredness of the Body 

God designed us as embodied-souls, as a complex unity (as Jay Adams said, a “duplex”)[i] of body/soul (Genesis 2:7) and called our embodiment “very good” (Genesis 1:31). It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that. (As I mentioned above, for additional teaching on embodied-souls, see 560 Biblical Passages on Embodied-Souls.)

Our calling from God is to be His “under-shepherds” and “under-scientists” who rule over His physical creation (Genesis 1:26-28). It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that.

Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and so we are to honor God with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that.

Our daily physical lives are an opportunity to glorify God in even the seemingly most “mundane” of activities—like glorifying God through our eating and drinking (1 Corinthians 10:31). It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that.

Our sanctification is embodied sanctification. We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is our true and proper worship (Romans 12:1-2). It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that.

Our embodied-soul is vital in our future glorification.

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that.

Bodily interventions—interventions designed to address the fact that God created us as embodied-souls—are sacred interventions. Deep breathing exercises (and ice cubes) are only secular if we make them secular.

Support #2: Biblical Counseling and the Body, Part 1

Gregg Allison, in Embodied: Living as Whole People in a Fractured World, writes:

“The church has been infected with the disease of Gnosticism and neo-Gnosticism. The church elevates spiritual and immaterial matters and minimizes or even denigrates physical and material matters. The church is held captive to anti-body sentiments. As a result, a holistic sanctification—a full-orbed process of maturing as wholly developed Christians that includes making progress as embodied believers—is rarely envisioned and pursued” (Allison, 127).

How might we “gently” word this for our biblical counseling world?  

• Is it possible that in our biblical counseling world we at times have been infected with the disease of Gnosticism and neo-Gnosticism?

• At times in our biblical counseling, do we elevate spiritual and immaterial matters and minimize or even denigrate physical and material matters?

• In any way is the modern biblical counseling movement held captive to anti-body sentiments?

• Might it be accurate to say that a holistic sanctification—a full-orbed process of maturing as wholly developed Christians that includes making progress as embodied believers—is too rarely envisioned and pursued in our actual ministry, interventions, and methods as biblical counselors?

• Are we acting primarily as soul physicians of souls, rather than as soul physicians of embodied-souls?[ii]

Support #3: Biblical Counseling and the Body, Part 2 

Because the biblical counseling movement rightly worries that the world doesn’t account for spiritual realities, we then can be tempted to move to an unbiblical counter extreme. We overcompensate by undervaluing the physical and overemphasizing the immaterial.

If we are not careful, we can become just as “monistic” as the world, but in the opposite direction.

• The world tends to focus only on the body and material matters, dismissing, denying or minimizing the soul, the spiritual (this is physical “monism”).

• Christians and biblical counselors, if we are not careful, can tend to focus only or almost exclusively on the soul and immaterial matters, tending to dismiss or minimize the importance and sacredness of the body, of the physical (this is spiritual or spiritualized “monism”). (This way of thinking about human beings has more in common with Platonic philosophy, Gnostic theology, and Enlightenment secular thinking than with biblical theology.)

If we are not careful; if we are not biblical, we can become soul physicians of souls, instead of being biblical soul physicians of embodied-souls.[iii]

Puritan pastor Timothy Rogers (1658-1728), describes this well and wisely.

“There is danger that the bodily physician will look no further than the body, while the spiritual physician will totally disregard the body, and look only at the mind” (from Preface to A Discourse on Trouble of the Mind and the Disease of Melancholy).

Support #4: The Bible, Embodied-Souls, and Physiological Interventions 

For additional teaching on the Scriptures, our embodied-soul, and physiological interventions in biblical counseling see:

• 161 Resources for Counseling the Whole Person: Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls.
• 560 Biblical Passages on Embodied-Souls.
• 32 Resources: Should Biblical Counselors Counsel About the Body?
• Is Relief-Oriented Care and Counseling for the Body Sub-Biblical?
• Is It Biblical for a Biblical Counselor to Recommend Breathing Exercises?
• 10 Biblical Trauma Principles for Biblical Counseling: We Experience, Remember, and Respond to Traumatic Suffering as Embodied-Souls.
• Anxiety and Our Physical Bodies.
• A Little Post About a Little Sleep.
• Of Spirituality and Ice Cubes: A Psalm and a Palm. (This is a shortened version of today’s post.) 

Support #5: The Bible and Church History: Of Elijah and Spurgeon 

Spirituality includes embracing physical weakness (2 Corinthians 1:8-9; 2 Corinthians 4:7-10; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10). When we ignore the biblical importance of the body, we misunderstand what it means to trust God.

Emotions, including anxiety, fear, and phobias, involve physiological components that often may need to be addressed with physical interventions—and always with comprehensive body-soul interventions. This should always include a healthy diet, exercise, rest, relaxation, and sleep.[iv] This can also often legitimately include other biological/physiological interventions such as deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, or clutching a melting ice cube, etc.

Elijah in his despondency and fear needed his soul strengthened by the Lord’s presence and his body strengthened by food, drink, and rest (1 Kings 19:8).

Spurgeon in his sorrows, wisely explained to his students that “a mouthful of sea air, or a stiff walk in the wind’s face would not give grace to the soul, but it would yield oxygen to the body, which is next best” (Lectures to My Students, 158). John Piper comments,

“Spurgeon recommends that we breathe country air and let the beauty of nature do its appointed work.”

Piper also notes, “Very practically Spurgeon supplements his theological survival strategy with God’s natural means of survival—his use of rest and nature.” Piper explains that Spurgeon “counsels us to rest and take a day off and open ourselves to the healing powers God has put in the world of nature.” Piper also quotes Spurgeon saying to his students,

“It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less. On, on, on for ever, without recreation may suit spirits emancipated from this ‘heavy clay’, but while we are in this tabernacle, we must every now and then cry halt, and serve the Lord by holy inaction and consecrated leisure. Let no tender conscience doubt the lawfulness of going out of harness for a while” (Lectures to My Students, 161).

Eventually this annually involved a lengthy time of sabbatical that included Spurgeon resting his embodied-soul in the hot springs of France.

Piper adds, “Spurgeon was right when he said,”

“The condition of your body must be attended to … a little more … common sense would be a great gain to some who are ultra spiritual, and attribute all their moods of feeling to some supernatural cause when the real reason lies far nearer to hand. Has it not often happened that dyspepsia [indigestion, an upset stomach, an ulcer] has been mistaken for backsliding, and bad digestion has been set down as a hard heart?” (Lectures to My Students, 312, emphasis added).

For additional resources from church history on how pastors have engaged in physiological interventions in pastoral counseling, see:

• Spurgeon’s Depression…And His Body/Brain/Embodied-Soul.
• Richard Baxter on Depression, Scrupulosity (OCD), and the Embodied-Soul.
• 6 Lessons from a Depressed Puritan Pastor: Timothy Rogers. 

Support #6: Modern Church History: The Nouthetic Biblical Counseling Movement and Physiological Interventions

For how the modern nouthetic biblical counseling movement has always engaged in physiological interventions for the embodied-soul, see:

• Jay Adams on Embodied-Souls, Trauma, Neuroscience, Sanctification, and Physical Interventions.
• INC: Informed Nouthetic Counseling.
• Deep Breathing Exercises and Biblical Counseling. (This article includes documentation of David Powlison’s affirmation of the use of deep breathing exercises in biblical counseling in his article, Slow Growth.)
• Of Course Biblical Counselors Counsel About the Body.
• Mike Emlet/CCEF: A Biblical Rationale for Embodied Spiritual Practices.
• Todd Stryd/CCEF: “Take a Deep Breath”—How Counseling Ministry Addresses the Body.
• When a Biblical Counselor Battles Depression.

Support #7: Christ-Dependent and Scripture-Trusting—The Powlison/CCEF Model 

Todd Stryd’s Journal of Biblical Counseling article, “‘Take a Deep Breath’—How Counseling Ministry Addresses the Body, summarizes well my thoughts.

“Alongside the practice of creating space for reflection, the act of pacing our breathing can itself be an act of faith and trust. To slow down and steady our response, despite challenging circumstances, is an act of faith and trust in the promises that ‘God is near,’ and ‘He will never leave nor forsake,’ and ‘He dwells with you and will be in you.’ It helps us to ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ Stillness involves both body and soul—and can pay attention to both” (67, emphasis added).

“The act of breathing in a strategic, attentive manner can be practically embedded into the way we help people live out their goals of love, virtue, and righteousness. We can use every resource at our disposal to achieve the goal of our faith. The Christian pursuit of body/soul balance does not belittle the utility of attentive breathing, but at the same time pursues much more. God’s people are encouraged to use both body and soul to pursue the kingdom goals of loving God and loving our neighbors” (74, emphasis added).

David Powlison affirms Stryd’s work. At the time of Stryd’s article, Powlison served as the Executive Director of CCEF and as the Editor of The Journal of Biblical Counseling. In his Editorial, Slow Growth, Powlison outlines eight “significant growth points” that had emerged over the first fifty years of the modern biblical counseling movement under the dual leadership of Jay Adams and John Bettler. Powlison then segued into his introduction of current issue of The Journal of Biblical Counseling, having this to say about Todd Stryd and the other authors of articles in that issue.

“As we finish out our 50^th year of ministry, we are happy to offer some of the fruit of that slow, maturing growth. I am delighted that all of the Featured Articles in this issue are written by the up-and-coming generation of biblical counselors at CCEF” (9-10).

Notice what Powlison does here. He identifies Stryd’s article on the legitimacy of deep breathing exercises in biblical counseling as among “the fruit of the slow, maturing growth” of the foundational work done by Jay Adams and John Bettler. Rather than being contrary to nouthetic biblical counseling, Powlison sees deep breathing exercises as a sign of continued positive growth in the biblical counseling movement.

Powlison, who had final editorial control over what was written in The Journal of Biblical Counseling, then summarizes and affirms Stryd’s article on deep breathing exercises as a legitimate physiological intervention in biblical counseling.

“Speaking of stress and anxiety, what about adults? How do we help them? Is it OK to teach breathing techniques as part of helping people calm their bodies when they experience extreme stress? In his article, ‘Take a Deep Breath’—How Counseling Ministry Addresses the Body, Todd Stryd explores the place that breathing techniques can have in a Christian’s care and ministry. He shows how and why a counselor might make a breathing exercise part of biblical counseling with a distressed person” (11, emphasis added).

Powlison confirms that biblical counselors are soul physicians of embodied-souls. He affirms the legitimate, valuable, biblical role of deep breathing exercises as one part of comprehensive scriptural care.

Mike Emlet, in his CCEF article, A Biblical Rationale for Embodied Spiritual Practices, traces the role of bodily practices from creation to consummation and offers implications for our lives and for counseling. In introducing his thoughts, Emlet writes:

“Why should biblical counselors—as followers of Christ and as helpers— be concerned with the body? We should be concerned with the body because the way God designed our normal human existence is that our spiritual lives are not a disembodied affair. Body and soul are intertwined as we relate to God. Growing in Christ is a whole-person experience” (6).

“To be ‘spiritual’ is not some otherworldly, disembodied experience of God, but a real flesh-and-blood existence lived in concrete ways of obedience before him. We see this throughout Scripture. In this article, I will show the biblical basis for such attentiveness to our bodies as we live as image-bearing worshippers of God. I will explore the central role that bodily existence and bodily practices have from creation to consummation. Then, more briefly, I will consider some implications for our lives as both followers of Christ and as counselors” (6-7).

Support #8: The Spirituality of Our Physicality 

I appreciated the recent Biblical Counseling Coalition post by Dr. Charles Hodges entitled, They Shall Run and Not Be Weary. I’ve always appreciated Dr. Hodges’s biblical balance regarding being soul physicians of embodied-souls.

In his post, Dr. Hodges interacted with a recent neuroscience study comparing the effectiveness of medication and of running for addressing mood. As part of his conclusions, Dr. Hodges asked:

• “As biblical counselors, should we be encouraging those struggling with sadness to go out for a good run?”

• “Do you encourage your counselees to include physical activity in their daily regimen when they face persistent sadness?”

I might add,

• As biblical counselors—as soul physicians of embodied-souls—do we encourage our counselees to address issues comprehensively—with all their heart, affections, mind, soul, spirit, will, emotions, body—including with “going for a run,” “practicing deep breathing,” and perhaps, “holding an ice cube”?

Support #9: Trying to Be More Biblical Than the Bible Is Actually Pharisaical, Unbiblical, and Idolatrous  

Some falsely claim that using physical means of relief is idolatrous and surrenders the ministry of the Lord away to created things. However, the Creator has given us all created things richly to enjoy and freely to use in thankfulness and dependence upon Him (1 Timothy 4:3-5; 1 Timothy 6:17).

It was not idolatry, but dependence that Elijah experienced when God used created things like food, drink, and rest to calm his fears and address his depression. It was not idolatry, but dependence that Timothy experienced when he used God-created wine for his stomach’s sake.

The same Jesus who invites the weary to come to Him for rest for their souls (Matthew 11:28-30), also invites His weary disciples to “come away with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31-32; see also Luke 9:10).

Soul rest and body rest are equally spiritual. Soul rest and body rest equally demonstrate dependence upon God. In fact, it is because God designed us as embodied-souls that we are never more God-dependent than when we humbly choose whole-person, embodied-soul rest in Jesus.

Surrendering our embodied-soul to the Lord is not surrendering to created things; it is surrendering to the Creator. It is whole-person dependence upon Christ. That’s why we could all say,

“We’re never more Christ-dependent than when we depend upon Him body and soul—embodied-soul.”

Notes

[i] I have not (yet) used ice cubes as a grounding exercise—either in my own life, or as a biblical counselor of others. I have used deep breathing exercises. I mention ice cubes because two leading biblical counselors, Heath Lambert and Nate Brooks, address ice cubes during recent conversations about the Bible and the use of extra-biblical common grace physiological interventions as part of a comprehensive, whole-person, embodied-soul approach to caring for hurting people. Lambert, in his book, Biblical Counseling and Common Grace, notes that Brooks discusses “the apparent effect they [ice cubes] have to ground troubled men and women and to keep them from disassociating. What should we make of the potential help trauma therapy suggests we can find in ice cubes? Well, we can start by agreeing that no such principles exist in Scripture. I also see no reason to quibble with the claim that ice cubes could have a ‘grounding’ effect in keeping traumatized individuals from disassociating” (65). In turn, Lambert quotes Brooks, introducing his quote of Brooks with these words, “Nate Brooks finds in the doctrine of common grace a rationale for the use of secular trauma care in helping people like Julia. He says, ‘There are helpful trauma-informed practices that don’t appear in Scripture, yet we know to be true and effective from practice and research. The Bible doesn’t explain how rhythmic breathing calms us during spikes of anxiety. It doesn’t address grounding exercises, like holding an ice cube, to engage our senses rather than disassociate from our emotion. And there’s no chapter and verse telling us how exercise can curb depression’” (quoted by Lambert on page 62 of Common Grace). Neither Lambert nor Brooks, in these quoted writings, dispute the potential physiological efficacy of holding ice cubes to ground a person. They do disagree about whether they would include such physiological interventions in their biblical counseling. They also disagree about the implications of such physiological interventions for our understanding of the Bible and extra-biblical information.

[ii] Numerous times in his writings, Jay Adams discussed the importance of physical issues for biblical counselors, including sleep and sleep studies. For instance, in What About Nouthetic Counseling? Adams states, “I have profited greatly, for instance, from the results of the work done at the Harvard sleep labs (and elsewhere). This sleep study I consider to be a valid and worthwhile enterprise for such psychology” (31).

[iii] In A Theology of Christian Counseling, forty years ago, Adams championed the need for a series of biblical counseling books addressing and applying the embodied-soul nature of humanity. “There is an earthly side to man, but there is a heavenly or spiritual side as well. Man belongs to both worlds” (109). “The emphasis in the Scriptures, however, is upon the unity of these entities. That is why I prefer the term duplex (meaning ‘twofold’). This word stresses the unity of the elements (they are ‘folded’ together), rather than their separability” (110). “The implications for counseling that grow out of the fact of human nature’s duplex form are too vast even to list. Here is one of those places where an entire book (or series of books) is needed to explore these fully” (110). “My work is but suggestive, of course; much more work is needed to supplement and sharpen it” (118).

[iv] Interestingly, in his first book, Competent to Counsel, Jay Adams supported nouthetic counseling by stating and developing the concept that “The Nervous System Corresponds to the Nouthetic Approach” (p. 96/Header). For more on this, see, Jay Adams, Nouthetic Counseling, and Neuroscience.

[v] As noted earlier, for much more on biblical counseling and the embodied-soul, see, 161 Resources for Counseling the Whole Person: God Designed Us as Embodied-Souls. For an introduction to a possible book on this topic, see, 10 Questions About Biblical Counseling and Neuroscience: Becoming Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls.