It is not a sinful practice, a pagan tradition, nor even of another god to pay attention to one’s breath, for even St. Gregory Palamas writes of this practice in the ancient era and advises beginners thus. It is the most natural way to find God, in the breath, for therein the Holy Spirit breathes life and meets us with every breath.
However, beware of doing only this and finding the house of your heart swept clean and demons coming to dwell there, as Jesus Christ says.
Buddhism advocates kindness, therefore that I cannot practice kindness is false. Likewise, the great saints monitored their breathing to near God, just as they drank water when thirsty.
Is not Yahweh simply the sound of an in-breath and out-breath in one word? Yah, breathing in, weh, breathing out, for he is closer to us than our very breath.
Is not the definition of the Spirit in Greek and in Hebrew, spirit, wind, breath?
If the very definition of the Holy Spirit is breath, then it is not a secret of faith but a blatant truth that those in the Spirit breathe, breathing the breath of God.
Behold, our very own word for mercy, ողորմեա, tied to our breath by St. Mesrop Mashtots, yearning ceaseless for this mercy, teaching us that as breath is to our bodies so mercy is to our souls.
Ողոր as in breath and մեա as the out breath.
Knowing this, that what applies to these words, applies to the name of our master rightly spoken. And may the name of Jesus be as breath to your souls. Je breathing in and sus breathing out.
The breath belongs not to Buddhism, rather it is ours. For as old as the name of Yahweh is, so is the closeness of the breath of God to the breath of mankind.
Is it not the nature of Satan to steal, to lie, to envy, and to possess claiming what is stolen as one's own? Do not be deceived, for just as all things created by God and we ourselves belong to him, to Jesus Christ, so the breath belongs to God as well, and the breath is ours.