Mama Monday #22

‘I AM” is the English translation of the Hebrew letters YWHW (or YHVH), which is called the Tetragrammaton, the sacred name of God. In Hebrew, the original language in which this passage was written, the four letters YHWH are pronounced Yod, Hay, Vav, Hay. Growing up, I’d learned that this holy word was written as such because it was unspeakable. But the writings of some rabbis, in particular, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, provided clarity. Rabbi Waskow suggests that while it is true that YHWH is unpronounceable, it is not because we are forbidden to pronounce it, but rather that in order to pronounce these letters, part vowel, part consonant, labeled by linguists as aspirate consonants- without any vowels between them, one has to do so simply by breathing. Try it for yourself: say each letter and its corresponding sound, without adding any vowels, and you find yourself making some breaths that sound a lot like exhales.

The Jewish prayer book, The Siddur, says of this embodied spirituality, “Every breath praises the breath of life.” Rabbi Waskow says it is the breathing of all life that is the name of God. He goes on to say that this invites us to see God in all breathing beings--- there is no language, no culture, no “those people” or “that person” who does not breathe. What we breathe in is air that is mixed with the breath of all others- or what Waskow calls “interbreathing.” What we put into the world with our bodies is taken up by other bodies and living beings. He suggests that our interconnectedness to all living things through breath, the way we breathe life into one another, is somehow the sound of the name of God.

-Hillary McBride The Wisdom of the Body

"These are important big-picture ideas, but there are also moment to moment practices that can take this from out there to right here. One of my favorite therapeutic practices is to remember the immediacy of the breath. We can make time to breathe together, to synchronize our breaths, teaching others how to breathe to manage stress and anxiety. Breath is the source of so much healing and connectedness, to ourselves and to others.

Remember the staircase of stress response from chapter 3? The neurophysiology of trauma has revealed that breath can be a powerful tool to shift us from going down the staircase to moving back up the staircase toward connection and rest. When we breathe in a specific way, it signals to our nervous system that we are okay. To do this, we breathe in through our nose, down into our belly until our bottom ribs in the front, back, and sides expand, instead of our breath just going into the top of our chest. When we’re in danger, we don’t breathe deeply and slowly, so deep breathing can signal, through communication between nerves running between our belly and brain, that we are safe.

Intentional breathing can also remind us that we are in the present. Our breath is never anywhere else but right here. When we feel stuck- somewhere real or imagined, past or future- we can invite ourselves into our breath. The in-and-out rhythm reminds us that we are always taking in and letting go. When we do notice that we are breathing, we could consider that as we breathe in we are either saying the name of God or sharing in the life force that moves through every living thing around us.

Another option is to place our hands on our belly or chest and breathe deeply and slowly. Through breath, we can begin making peace with our physicality. We are invited to notice and thank our breath for carrying us all the way from life to death, from one moment to the next, across an unbroken chain of holy and mundane ins and outs.”  (page 229- 230) 

-Hillary McBride The Wisdom of the Body

So with that and with this big day with Dad's last day at the office, take a deep breath….. inhale, exhale… and know that God is with you, closer than we can ever know....