[Dan Hines]

Hi Nichelle, I use a breath prayer quite often these past years that is in breath mantra, ‘please’ and out breath mantra ‘thanks’. I wrote a poem and a reflection a few months back about this breath prayer that I am glad to post here for those interested.

Twaiku 2 Two Words

please

thanks

two words

frame my life

before i knew any word

i pleaded

first sharp breath

from a warm aquatic home

breathe in

i need you

please

as i die

exhale

the other word

gratitude

what a ride!

thanks

every other breath

breathed

in and out

between

please

thanks

Dan Hines 2022

The psychologist Marshall Rosenburg revealed that if you listen carefully to anyone, you will hear two words.

The first word is please. It is a request to for help, for understanding, or for collaboration. It is how I express what I need.

The other word is thanks. It is a response to having a need met.

Sometimes it is very hard to hear the words, beneath violent or aggressive communication. Yet, if I listen with an open heart, I can hear it.

When I received this teaching from Marshall, I was aware that my first desperate breath at birth was ‘please’. Dependent and weak, my cry was a request for the care I will need to survive.

I am also aware that I will let out a final breath. I have been present for this last breath in others. It is a release: a letting go. I pray to have the grace to be conscious at this moment and to be able to let my dying word be the only utterance possible: thanks.

(Now, I practice these first and last breaths as a breathing meditation: please on the in and thanks on the out.)

Reflection Questions:

What ‘please’ am I ready to express? What request am I prepared to make?

Where has gratitude arisen in my life in recent moments?

How might I better express my ‘thanks’? And to whom?