Take a Deep Breath
This morning I was just rereading Todd Stryd’s excellent Journal of Biblical Counseling article from 2018:
“Take a Deep Breath”— How Counseling Ministry Addresses the Body.
It’s behind a paywall, but well worth the price. I’ll share some quotes—not too many because I want to respect the intellectual property rights of Todd and CCEF—but just enough to encourage you to read further.
The Focus of the Article
“Thus, the aim here is to give due attention to our bodies because they are relevant to thoughtful Christian living, and to locate breathing interventions within a biblical-theological framework. This task requires us to navigate extra-biblical information while remaining faithful to the core tenets of our Christian commitments” (63, emphasis added).
What Role Does the Body Play in Counseling Issues?
“Where do we begin when thinking about the place of the body in general, and breathing in particular, as a part of counseling ministry? For one, God made our bodies, and our physicality must always factor into a biblical understanding of the person. Counseling ministry should not operate as a super-spiritual, hyper-cognitive way of meeting with and helping strugglers. Good sleep, healthy eating, physical activity, a reprieve from stimuli, a quiet walk in a beautiful place, and thoughtful breathing all have a part to play. Therefore, it’s important for us to understand how the body connects to counseling issues” (63, emphasis added).
“Just as rapid and shallow breathing can increase our body’s response to danger and risk, so, too, slowing it down and increasing its depth tempers the body’s fight or flight response. This is often how breathing exercises are used in counseling situations—to arrest the body’s disorderly response and reestablish some level of emotional/physiological equilibrium. All this should not be surprising to us as Christians. Our biblical anthropology professes that we are embodied souls. Our humanity is composed of both body and soul—a distinguishable but interwoven unity of the material and immaterial. Together, they constitute the image of God and operate in unison to make earthly life possible. We depend upon the basic information our physical body provides for navigating the world around us— alerting us and keeping us safe, healthy, and engaged. Likewise, our rational and spiritual faculties temper the body’s simplistic assessment of threat and self-preservation, keeping its reactions in check and guiding wise responses” (65, emphasis added).
“As a common grace good, it’s not surprising that conscious breathing, or any one of its various iterations, is now a common recommendation within the helping professions and the medical community. It is used both as a preventative and corrective tool for a variety of problems such as anxiety and panic disorders, hypertension, chronic pain, immune disorders, and syndromes related to emotional hyper-arousal” (65, emphasis added).
Balanced Wisdom for Embodied Souls
“Our Christian anthropology appreciates the reality that breathing exercises can reduce the production of stress hormones, stabilize the heart rate, and balance the levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the blood stream. These play a significant role in bringing the body and soul back into balance. The bodily mechanism of breathing can be purposefully leveraged to reestablish equilibrium. Regaining balance physically can help us draw upon our faith and God’s principles, promises, and counsel” (66, emphasis added).
“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).
A Framework for Breathing Exercises
“I have sought to locate breathing exercises within a Christian understanding that we are embodied souls. That leaves us with the practical question: As a tool, a breathing exercise is a component of a more complex pursuit with an ultimate goal: faith working itself out in love. What does it look like to help the emotionally overwhelmed or out-of-control person by using a breathing exercise? (67-68).
“To help someone who is emotionally overwhelmed like Kate, our care must encompass a robust understanding of how to minister to her as a whole person…. Ministry to Kate will press us to consider the interconnected relationship between her body and soul” (68).
“A breathing exercise is, in its most basic form, an opportunity for Kate to pause and change course. But, as you can see, it is not a stand-alone item for Kate or for any one of us. Rather, as a technique, a breathing exercise can be a component of a larger counseling plan, with a more ultimate goal—conformity to God’s calling on our lives. This means Kate’s attentive breathing is not an end in itself. It’s more than achieving a level of poise and equilibrium or avoiding conflict with other people. Rather, Kate’s use of attentive breathing is a tool to assist her in her goal of honoring God and loving her roommate in a challenging and pressured context” (73).
Concluding Thoughts: Wisdom from Above
“Guided by Scripture, we can be certain of who God is, what he has done for us in Christ, and what his purposes are for us. But in the particulars of pairing strategies and tools to certain problems and people, countless questions remain. What bodily mechanisms are fair game for Christians in counseling ministry? What we’ve explored with breathing bears on similar questions regarding rest, diet, exercise, and the like. When and how do you address such matters in counseling? What situations or problems warrant a bodily intervention? Though these questions should not drive us away from this aspect of care, they do require us to proceed with caution” (73-74).
“Yet, addressing the body is not in conflict with our Christian commitments because of the fundamental unity between body and soul. Equipped with wisdom from above as our foundation and starting point, we don’t have to sidestep the body in our care for Kate, or anyone else. 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).
