The following is an excerpt from The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation; editor Keith Beasley-Topliffe:

Ron DelBene, author of The Breath of Life: A Simple Way to Pray and other books on breath prayer offers a simple method for creating a personal breath prayer. 

Sit in a moment of silence and remember that God holds you in a loving presence. You may want to close your eyes and recall the words, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10) or "Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matt. 6:6). 

 Listen as God calls you by name and asks: "(Your Name), what do you want?"

Answer the Lord simply, directly. 

Write down your answer. You may write several responses if you have several answers. 

Select a name of your choosing for the Divine. 

Combine your desire and name into a six-to-eight-syllable prayer such as "Jesus, teach me how to love" or "More of you, Lord, less of me."