Breathe

How important is it to breath properly? I had no idea! Of course, like most people, I knew that proper breathing is more conducive to good health. As a psychotherapist I’ve spent a lot of time observing the constricted breathing of people who are stressed out – I’ve also noticed how their energy levels, mental clarity and emotional calmness improve when they return to proper breathing.  But I had no idea there were so many amazing spiritual benefits to breathing correctly and how it can so quickly and powerfully change a person’s whole way of life. I want to share a meditation with you that I developed originally to help myself. I can’t put into words what it has done for me; how many ways it has helped me. I hope it will do the same for you…

Let’s start with a small sample of verses from the Torah that mention breathing. By the way, each one of these verses, alone, are extremely powerful meditation devices that can transport you way above your everyday worries and discouragements. Once we reach a heightened spiritual awareness, through meditation, it’s so much easier to speak to Hashem.

*The Torah defines a living being as “All who have the soul of the breath of life in their nostrils.” (Genesis 7:22)

*The first man came alive when G-d “Blew into his nostrils the breath of life.” (ibid.  2:7)

*When Moses came to tell the children of Israel that they were about to be freed, they didn’t listen to Moses. Despite the fact the Moses was bringing them great news, due to the ingrained slave-mentality that they had acquired in Egypt, they didn’t listen to Moses at first: “Because of shortness of breath and hard work.” (Exodus 6:9)

*When King David prayed for Spiritual Renewal he said to G-d: “Create within me a pure heart, and renew within me proper breathing” (Psalms 51:12)

*”The soul of man is a lamp [light] of G-d” (Proverbs 20:27). The Hebrew word for soul, neshama can be equated with Hebrew word for breathing, neshima rendering the verse: “The Light of G-d is the breathing of man.” (Likutey Moharan 1:60,3.)

Meditation: Breathing the Light of Your Faith

This meditation focuses on: Spiritual Breathing, a settled mind, the uniqueness of the soul and its relationship to the Creator, The Creator’s Love, Self-Nullification, Purification, Joy and Self-Belief

• Sit down in a comfortable position….

• Become mindful of breathing naturally…soon you’ll feel more centered and grounded in yourself…

• Place a hand on the place (abdomen or chest) where you feel your breathing  most…this will  increase  your feeling more centered and  balanced in yourself…

• Let your mind drop down into an awareness of your breathing and become more calm and relaxed with each breath…bring your brain down into your breathing…just breath calmly like this as you read on slowly…

• In the Holy language the word for soul and the word for breathing are almost the same…

• So now, when you breath, imagine you’re breathing the Light of your soul which comes from the Holy Light of G-d Himself…

• Imagine how G-d is lovingly sustaining your body and your soul from moment to moment by breathing the spirit of life into your lungs.  Imagine G-d exhaling from the deepest place in Himself and lovingly exhaling His essence into you, His beloved child…

• Imagine how much love G-d has for you, when He continually sends you your life…one breath after another…

• By simply focusing on G-d’s love for you and His desire to fill you with His essence, you stay strongly bonded with Him…

• Let yourself feel… how you can trust your breathing to the Creator.

• Notice how your breathing becomes more automatic…be mindful of this as you continue….

• No make no effort to breathe yourself…you trust your Creator to breath you…  The Creator is breathing His Light into you…the Light of your own soul….

• The uniqueness of your soul is unlike any other soul. The Creator breathes into you the special qualities that He wants you to have…He is Breathing into you the special characteristics, capacities and potential that He wants you to have….G-d never has and never will make another person like you…the Creator desires you to deeply feel your specialness and uniqueness… He wants to draw you closer to Himself…closer to Himself in a unique way…the Creator desires you’re unique way of relating with Him…

• Now take a slow deep breath while you just feel who you are and how you are so special to the Creator. Pause and think about this…

• Take another slow deep breath and think how G-d needs you to appreciate yourself and needs you to be yourself…all so that He can come closer to you and have a unique personal relationship with you….

• Let go of your conventional societal self and you’ll feel the joy, vitality and aliveness of the real eternal you…

• As you exhale you empty yourself of all the nonsense and lies that the world put into you from your youngest most innocent years till now…

• Know that with each breath out you’re  purging yourself of layers of falsehood…negativity and doubt that surrounds you and chokes the real you…the person you really are… your pure and beautiful soul that is so special and unique to G-d…

• Imagine now, each time you breath out, that you’re discharging more and more darkness and negativity and doubt…continue breathing out your anxieties…your anger…your resentments…your need to win…your need for recognition…your envy and your pride…

• As you breathe out, imagine you’re emptying a dirty bucket of water…and, as you empty your bucket, you feel cleansed and purified…you’re becoming an pure, wholesome, open, innocent vessel to receive G-d’s Light…with each breath your vessel is getting stronger and stronger…

• As you breathe with the intention to purify your vessel, G-d is coming into your heart and mind…in order to show you a glimpse of your future…

• See now, your authentic self in the future…your real self…your ultimate self…

• See how strongly you believe in yourself, in the future…

• See how positively you think about yourself, in the future…

• See how very happy you are with yourself, in the future.

• See how spiritual you are, in the future…

• See how real you are, in the future…more real in your behavior…more real in your speech… more real in your thinking…

• See how productive you are, in the future…see how strong and energetic and purposeful you are, in the future…

• See, in your future how you never forget your Creator even for a second… and you never forget His Love for you…and your goodness…and that you are the only train on your track….

• The more you repeat this meditation, the more powerfully will G-d reveal  yourself to you….

• The more you practice this, you’ll realize that you aren’t yet experiencing even a thousandth of a percent of the strength and aliveness that is in your soul…

• Promise yourself that you’ll be patient as you undergo this inner transformation and digest who you really are at your own pace…your soul is much deeper and greater than you ever imagined it was…

• Commit yourself to investing time to bring out more and more awareness of the natural goodness, and joy and greatness and perfection that is your real you; and building your real self in every quiet moment that you have…

• Copy this meditation and share it with others…devote yourself to it because you know you need it to become all that you’re meant to become!

• Come back slowly and gently to a more alert and awake state of mind.

• You are ready and determined to live as you never have before!