There is so much prayer that is designed to regulate and temper the breathing. Where should we begin? Any antiphonal (call-and-response) singing or recitation is a breathing exercise: the participants are alternately vocalizing a prayer, breathing out, and meditating upon the meaning of the words, or they are listening to the prayer, inhaling, and meditating upon the meaning of those words as well. This pattern can be observed in the Responsorial Psalm portion of the Christian liturgy. In Byzantine liturgy, the first antiphonal chant that comes to mind are the petitions, where the leader (priest/deacon) prays for peace and favors from the Life-Giving Trinity, and the faithful repeat, "Lord have mercy/Christ have mercy/Gospodi, pomiluj". But there are many more.
Some languages are better than others for this purpose. Latin and Greek have excellent word formations with good vowel sounds, and these languages easily become legato, connected syllables throughout a smooth phrase. English and German, not so much. The Eastern Churches worship using the vernacular tongues, or sometimes using sacred, ancient languages, and so YMMV there.
The Rosary itself is a meditation and a regulation of breath. Jesus admonished us not to "babble like the pagans" because their "many words" were meaningless and fruitless, calling upon created things, rather than the Creator. So praying the Rosary (auricular, in groups) is not liturgical, but it is a discipline. The leader chants half of the prayer, then the participants chant the other half, and they take turns breathing. It is an intimate, primal, profound experience in itself, but the breathing is not a mere goal or object. The object is to enter into each Mystery, meditating upon its meaning for us, in full context: the context of the prayer, the place and time, our individual lives, and the life of the Church herself.
Some languages are better than others for this purpose. Latin and Greek have excellent word formations with good vowel sounds, and these languages easily become legato, connected syllables throughout a smooth phrase. English and German, not so much. The Eastern Churches worship using the vernacular tongues, or sometimes using sacred, ancient languages, and so YMMV there.
The Rosary itself is a meditation and a regulation of breath. Jesus admonished us not to "babble like the pagans" because their "many words" were meaningless and fruitless, calling upon created things, rather than the Creator. So praying the Rosary (auricular, in groups) is not liturgical, but it is a discipline. The leader chants half of the prayer, then the participants chant the other half, and they take turns breathing. It is an intimate, primal, profound experience in itself, but the breathing is not a mere goal or object. The object is to enter into each Mystery, meditating upon its meaning for us, in full context: the context of the prayer, the place and time, our individual lives, and the life of the Church herself.