While practicing breathing for a natural delivery I discovered several ways to turn the breathing practices into prayer. Hebrew is a spiritual treasure chest because it allows for nuance based upon the common root which unites a word to its cousins. For example, neshamah is often translated as "soul" and it shares a root with neshimah, "breath." Each word echoes the other when spoken or prayed. Judaism focuses upon blood, soul and breath as necessary conditions for life. Breathing for the mother and the newborn are certainly major considerations. Two places in the liturgy popped out at me while I was training in breathing techniques for expected natural birth of our first born son:
