Jewish Meditation Techniques for Stress Relief
Discover Jewish meditation techniques for centering the mind, utilizing breath as worship, Hebrew letters as channels of consciousness, and the primary technique of Havayah Breath. Learn how Jewish meditation aims to cultivate a sense of wellness and higher consciousness by focusing on the Divine through prayer preparation.
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Jewish Meditation Techniques for Stressful Time
What is Meditation? Medi tation: (Medi (Greek) centre) to become centered, to gravitate toward a centre, to make something a central focus converse pronounce, contemplate, gaze, focus sit, return sit, wait moment, calm rest, comfort In its most general sense, meditation consists of thinking in a controlled manner Aryeh Kaplan, Jewish Meditation
What is the Purpose of Jewish Meditation? 1. Ancients: Magic, Theurgy 2. Preparation toward Prayer 3. To focus, orient, or renew one s center, medi (indirectly helps cultivate higher consciousness and a sense of wellness) : . , Mishna Brachot 5:1 One may only approach the Divine in prayer with a serious mindset. The early pious ones would sit for an hour before praying, in order to direct their minds to the Place. G-d is central in Judaism G-d = Medi, Centre Meditation = Seeking Communion with G=d
G-d is a Breath, Breath as Worship All forms of meditation utilize the breath as the primary object of focus. For Jewish meditation this is incredibly significant because of the implications toward our concept of G-d and the origin of existence. , to blow, to breathe, to live, to exist (v.) = the root cause of Being (past, present & future) Genesis 2:7 , , and G-d breathed into his nostrils the breath of life Psalm 150:6 let all souls praise G-d, let each breath praise G-d let all that has breath praise G-d each breath is a prayer to G-d Siddur the breath of all living things shall bless Your Name
Hebrew Letters: Channels of Creative Consciousness Aside from the breath, the most essential tool in the Jewish meditation is the Hebrew alphabet. According to the earliest traceable source of Jewish mysticism and meditation, Sefer Yetzirah, the Hebrew letters are not only a language, they represent the very forces of Creation which G-d used to fashion the world. This idea is mirrored in the Talmud, the Zohar, and later by the Ba al Shem Tov. Each letter transmits a vibration of light (shape, form of the letter), a vibration of sound (consonant, name) and a numeric value. Each of these three elements function on multiple levels, producing a vast array of effects and experiences. The techniques in this guide are based on this concept.
Primary Technique: Havayah Breath (ORIGIN: Abraham b. Samuel Abulafia 1240-1291, Spain, Malta) The Havayah Breath is an incredibly useful technique for meditators of all levels. It is fairly simple, tracking the four letters of the Divine Name to four stages of the breath. (Notice that the sound of the letter hei is actually a breath.) By focusing the mind on the breath plus this additional object of focus, one can very quickly enter into a space of calm abiding. In addition, if we understand the contained in this name (Havayah is G-d s Name written in reverse) the technique gradually brings us to a deepened understanding of all things, ultimately leading us to a sense of inner peace and serenity. The technique is as follows: breathe in full, upright breathe out quick pause The next 3 slides illustrate concepts which can deepen our understanding of this technique and enrich our practice with it.
Your Body as the Name: Our Sages taught that the Divine Name is hidden in the human form, the lower hei is in the legs, vav is the spine, the upper hei represents the arms, and the yud represents the head. This knowledge can enrich our practice of the Havayah Breath by connecting the feeling of our physical bodies to the breath and the Divine Name. Body-photism or illumination, in which light not only surrounds the body but also diffuses into it, giving impression that the body and its organs have become light Singer (on Abulafia s technique)
Cosmos as the Name: Jewish mystics taught of four worlds , dimensions, or simultaneous stages of Creation. These, too, are connected to the Divine Name. A full discussion of these worlds is beyond the scope of this guide. They are: Atzilut -- Emanation Undifferentiated Divine Radiance Beriyah Creation Conceptual Creation of Beings Yeztirah Formation Unsubstantiated (Holographic) Forms Individuated Beings Asiyah -- Action/Doing Substantiated Reality *Ain Sof, syn. of Ain, primordrial nothingness , alt. infinitude , gives way to Ain Sof Or, the Endless Lights which was created in Genesis (the Big Bang). This primordial nothingness Ain, is also a useful concept in meditation as one can meditate on inner emptiness. The World as You See it
All things as the Name: Following on the earlier slide, all things which exist can be seen as emerging from the Divine Name in these stages, thus explaining Divine Creation as a four-stage process intricately linked with our breath breathe in arising of form full, upright stasis, apex, existence breathe out dissolution of form quick pause primordial emptiness, ain sof, out of which every thing emerges
Second Technique: The Three Mothers Sefer Yetzirah categorizes the 22 letters of the alphabet into three groups: 3 mothers, 7 fathers (doubles) and 12 elementals. The mothers are thought of as primordial, they correlate to 3 primordial elements: air, \ water, fire. Note that (fire) and (water) are the first and last letter of the word (peace) What is the meaning of He Who makes Peace in his Heights? Rabi Shimon said: all of the heavens are made of water, the angels are made of flames, but the water does not extinguish the fire, nor does the fire vaporize the water. Midrash Tanhuma Peace is thus the harmonization of opposing elements. Meditating on these letters can help us cultivate a sense of inner peace.
Correlative Cosmology in Sefer Yetzirah Body and Universe are linked through the Letters Fire/Head Space Air/Chest Atmosphere Water/Belly Earth/Ocean
Second Technique: The Three Mothers This technique uses the three mothers ( ) combined with the breath and visualization techniques. To use this technique imagine yourself as the , bridging together a radiant world of cosmic fire and a dark world of vibrating water . Each time you inhale, visualize the aleph around your heart, lungs, and diaphragm. With each exhale, alternate between visualizing the fire of above your head while making the sound ( shhhhhh ) and visualizating the in your belly extending earthward while making the sound ( mmmmm ). Thus: 1. inhale air 2. shhhhhh fire 3. inhale air 4. mmmmm water Breathe deeply in. As you exhale, feel the vibrations of the and penetrate every cell in your body.
Third Technique: Hebrew Chakra Seeds There are remarkable overlaps between Jewish mysticism and the Vedic system of meditation (i.e. yoga), most notably the concept of sound vibration as a means Divine Creation and as a meditation technique. More research needs to be done on the connection between Sanskrit and Aramaic, the precursor to Hebrew, but this is beyond our scope here. The Vedic system gave us an anatomy of the chakras, seven major energy centers along the spinal column which correspond to major glands and organs and which are responsible for different aspects of human existence. Each chakra has a seed mantra, a sound vibration which helps heal that area of the body and various emotional/mental ailments which emerge from it.
On Ong - Om - ( ) Ham Yam -- Ram - Vam Lam If we write the Sanskrit seed mantras using Hebrew letters, we see that with the exception of the crown chakra all of them utilize letters which are part of the Divine Name, part of the word which is also considered a name of G-d, and the name whose name is connected to the Divine power of Creation. It can be very powerful and healing to use the seeds as mantras visualizing the Hebrew letters of the seeds, and all of them use the vibration, which, in both Kabbalistic and Vedic cosmology is the primordial vibration out of which the universe emerged.
Hebrew Chakra Seed Technique 1. Inhale Deeply 2. Visualizing the 1st Chakra (root) say the mantra (lam, ), holding the as a long vibration. 3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 seven times. 4. Repeat this process for every chakra.
