4. Return

This is a guided meditation on Teshuva or Return to the infinite Source. Using visualizations, this meditation shows how we are all partners with the Divine in perfecting this world, and how Teshuva is an integral process towards this goal.

Transcript

Hello,

Welcome to Guided Jewish Meditations.

My name is Eliezer.

Thank you for joining me for this meditation.

Today,

During the next 30 minutes or so,

We will go on a spiritual journey together towards higher levels of consciousness.

We will leave behind all pain,

Disappointments,

Anxieties,

Expectations and fears.

We will embrace the very essence we all share,

Our soul.

We will try and let go of our limitations,

Our shortcomings and our mistakes.

We will attempt to completely leave our earthly bodies behind and ascend into the spiritual realm.

And we will strive for a renewed and revitalized connection between us and the source of all.

If this is your first meditation,

Welcome.

It takes courage to try and look inwards,

To try and identify the spirit within each and every one of us,

To build a relationship with it and to use its immense potential to reach higher and deeper levels of understanding of what it means to be alive.

It is my hope that this meditation helps you along your journey.

If you have meditated in the past,

Thank you for spending this time with me.

Today's meditation is about return or teshuva in ancient Hebrew.

The divine spark inside each of us sometimes fades into the background.

It becomes something we no longer feel is of prime importance to us.

We let our baser instincts take over.

To meditate on the return of the soul to its creator is to recognize a deep longing inside of us to reconnect to the source.

It is to acknowledge shortcomings where necessary,

Commit to repairing them and to replace the voids these shortcomings have created with love,

Spiritual energy and closeness with the infinite source.

Let us begin.

Try to find a quiet,

Comfortable place.

You won't be disturbed over the next 30 minutes or so.

It doesn't matter whether you'd like to sit or lie down.

The most important thing is that you feel safe and relaxed.

Settle down and slowly close your eyes.

Move your mind across your body from your head down to your toes and allow your mind to relax itself along with the part of your body you're currently contemplating.

Take a deep breath in through your nose.

Fill your lungs with the air and hold it for a second.

Then exhale through your mouth slowly and completely.

Again take a deep breath in through your nose.

Focus on your breathing and on the air you're filling your lungs with.

Allow the air to fill your mind with vitality and your soul with life.

And as you exhale,

Remove from your body and mind any feelings of pain,

Fear or anxiety.

With each progressive breath in,

Invigorate your entire spiritual existence with life.

And with each exhale,

Shed another layer of stress,

Disappointments or expectations leaving you free of the burdens of this world.

Over the next minute or so,

Continue with this breathing exercise and allow your mind and soul to completely take over while leaving your body relaxed and safe.

Now let's take a deep breath in through your nose.

You open your mind's eye and find yourself standing on a field of soft velvety moss.

All around you,

The air is completely still and the sky is bathed in streaks of dark blue and purple.

The only sound you hear is the slow and steady beat of your own heart.

You feel the softness of the moss surround your feet,

Allowing you to sink into it.

You breathe in deeply,

Feeling the sweet,

Warm,

Calm air fill your lungs.

As you look around,

You see the green earth extend to your sides and behind you as far as the eye can see,

Meeting the horizon at a point in the distance.

A short distance ahead of you,

The moss ends at the edge of a cliff.

You continue breathing deeply and begin meditating on the spiritual energy permeating the air.

With each breath you take,

You feel the divine spirit within you come more and more alive.

A deep,

Aching void begins to form inside your soul,

A longing for connection,

For meaning,

And for the return to the Source of All.

A deep,

Aching void begins to form inside your soul.

You will your legs to move towards the edge of the cliff.

As you approach it,

The longing in your soul becomes stronger,

The ache deeper,

And the need for connection more pronounced.

Reaching the cliff,

You allow yourself to stand there still,

Looking out beyond the cliff,

Seeing nothing but emptiness.

This emptiness mirrors the void in your soul and you meditate on this void,

All around you,

As a gaping sense of loneliness envelops you.

Where are you,

You feel your soul cry out.

Why do I feel so alone?

Why have you abandoned me?

Just as the pain becomes too much to bear,

You feel the air in the distance in front of you begin to change.

Waves of radiating spiritual energy begin to form from an area ahead of you,

Moving out in all directions,

Coming closer and surrounding you.

Encouraged by the divine potential forming in front of you,

You continue to allow your soul to cry out to its creator.

There is no better way toship than to receive your you you you suddenly strands of radiating light Shoot out from your soul Towards the air in front of you at the same instance Brilliant and intense rays Extend from the area in front of you towards you You feel your soul reach out to the divine light Coming towards it But it is unable to reach it you try again and again but the strands of light seems severed in the middle and are unable to connect as your soul continues to reach out You notice that each strand of light is imprinted with a memory of your life as you look closer at each strand You recognize each memory as a short movie playing itself out before you in one you watch yourself being unkind to a person in your life in another you see yourself speaking ill of a friend and in another You observe yourself choosing activities that wasted the precious time the source has given you as you continue remembering memory after memory a deep sense of regret washes over you You realize that it was not the source that abandoned you it was your actions that has severed these strands of divine connection to the source an overwhelming sense of urgency overcomes you an urgency to repair to reconnect and to return you you you you as you meditate on the void in your soul and on the urgency of return to the infinite source You come to a deep fundamental understanding This is your path This is your life's journey The source created all men in imperfect form So that they can on their own and of their own choosing perfect their ways and become better human beings the creator of all existence gave you free will so that you can choose to do good and in the process perfect what was purposely left imperfect You were meant to be a partner with the source of all in creating a better world for all as Your mind reaches this understanding you begin to feel an all-consuming divine love slowly begin to spread inside your soul Filling the void you felt earlier You are a partner with the source of all By using your free will to choose to do good You are using the life force given to you to perfect your life your community and your world Meditate on your divine power of free will and on the gift of life Given to you by the source to perfect the imperfect aspects of your life Commit yourself to this journey you you you you you As your meditation intensifies You feel the divine love filling your soul flow outwards into the strands of light and extend itself into the severed strands as They reach the end of the strands they gently touch the rays of brilliant light ahead of you as the two ends meet and the connection repaired You feel radiating waves of bright light flow in both directions Consuming you with spiritual energy and divine love In an instance all the memories that were imprinted on the strands of light are replaced with your renewed focus to choose to perfect your world All that remains is love Purpose and a deep sense of gratitude to the source of all for the ability to return Allow this love to enter you to embrace you and to make you one with the source of all yet again you you you you you you We are nearing the conclusion of this meditation Allow your mind and soul to slowly return to your body You can make this transition easier by focusing on your breathing Take a deep breath in through your nose and as your lungs fill with air Allow your mind to focus on the air entering your body Taking you back to the present and as you exhale Allow your entire body to relax Continue breathing in this fashion until you feel your mind and soul have fully returned you you you you you This concludes this meditation of return The return of the soul to its creator is a very personal journey The recognition that we can partner with the source of all by using our power of free will is both deeply humbling as well as empowering I hope this meditation has assisted you in some way along this path My name is Eliezer May peace be with you you

Reviews

another very profound and healing meditation thank you