This is interesting — there are probably equivalents in all religious traditions. In Islam, there’s tasbih (تسبيح), which refers to the glorification of God through the repetition of short phrases or prayers. It’s often done using prayer beads to keep count, but you can also do it without them. The most commonly repeated phrases are:
• SubhanAllah (Glory be to God)
• Alhamdulillah (All praise is due to God)
• Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest)
I used to do this growing up. Recite these under my breath when I am nervous or scared or during phases when I was feeling spiritual and wanting to feel close to god. But I haven’t in a long time because I couldn’t connect with it anymore. But I like how you describe these practices here though. As a ladder into stillness. And how you can align them with breath and they become part of our being. This is a new perspective. Thank you for sharing .
Yes, tasbih is absolutely a sibling to the Jesus Prayer. Both are strands of the same golden rope braided through human longing, each bead or breath a step toward the divine silence underneath all the noise.
You don’t have to force your way back to it. Just sit quietly. Breathe. Maybe let those old phrases visit you like old friends dropping by without warning. If they still carry resonance, they’ll speak. If not, maybe the silence itself will.
Either way, God isn’t waiting for you to get it right. God is the space between your breaths, saying “I never left.”
You wrote this on my birthday (still playing ketchup with your posts as my eyes allow) so how can I not read it? And try it? Couldn’t have picked a better nite/time to try it 😓💥🌟🫶
Thank you. I had a phase of intense interest in Eastern Orthodoxy and the prayer became wrote to me. This explanation helped me to see how it can lead past the words and into silent contemplation. The words can be a reminder or anchor leading to that still quiet center within all of us.
Any further ideas of how to continue down this path? Reading? Habits?
This is interesting — there are probably equivalents in all religious traditions. In Islam, there’s tasbih (تسبيح), which refers to the glorification of God through the repetition of short phrases or prayers. It’s often done using prayer beads to keep count, but you can also do it without them. The most commonly repeated phrases are:
• SubhanAllah (Glory be to God)
• Alhamdulillah (All praise is due to God)
• Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest)
I used to do this growing up. Recite these under my breath when I am nervous or scared or during phases when I was feeling spiritual and wanting to feel close to god. But I haven’t in a long time because I couldn’t connect with it anymore. But I like how you describe these practices here though. As a ladder into stillness. And how you can align them with breath and they become part of our being. This is a new perspective. Thank you for sharing .
Zeina,
What a beautiful reflection—thank you.
Yes, tasbih is absolutely a sibling to the Jesus Prayer. Both are strands of the same golden rope braided through human longing, each bead or breath a step toward the divine silence underneath all the noise.
You don’t have to force your way back to it. Just sit quietly. Breathe. Maybe let those old phrases visit you like old friends dropping by without warning. If they still carry resonance, they’ll speak. If not, maybe the silence itself will.
Either way, God isn’t waiting for you to get it right. God is the space between your breaths, saying “I never left.”
🕊️✨
Alek
You wrote this on my birthday (still playing ketchup with your posts as my eyes allow) so how can I not read it? And try it? Couldn’t have picked a better nite/time to try it 😓💥🌟🫶
Thank you. I had a phase of intense interest in Eastern Orthodoxy and the prayer became wrote to me. This explanation helped me to see how it can lead past the words and into silent contemplation. The words can be a reminder or anchor leading to that still quiet center within all of us.
Any further ideas of how to continue down this path? Reading? Habits?