A gentler mercy followed in which pulse and
breath joined in the kind
of visceral, somatic prayer that felt upheld by the
grace St Paul renders, «The Spirit intercedes for us in sighs too
deep for words...» And, in awe, it occurred to me that my very
breath proclaims the presence
of the God who breathes me.
Now
of course, this is not always possible (just imagine what the people at the neighboring table out at a restaurant would think), so a
deep relaxing
breath or saying «
grace» can also help you switch from sympathetic to parasympathetic mode.