Prayer and Meditation - Weekly Energy Boost

Meditation and prayer are powerful tools for creating blessings and miracles in our lives. And at different times throughout the day, we can access different energies to amplify our communication with the divine. This week, we will share ancient scripts and tips for amplifying these spiritual practices together with meditation teacher alikatz_. Episode 2 of 4. Original airdate: 5/16/21

Transcript

Good morning,

Everyone.

Good evening,

Good afternoon,

Wherever you are,

And welcome to this week's Weekly Energy Boost.

My name is Ellie Sheva,

And I am here this morning with a special guest who we'll get to very briefly and allow her to introduce herself.

Unfortunately,

David breathed the picture that previewed this episode,

And he has an allergy attack that prevents him from being with us this morning,

Being with us this morning,

But he is,

Of course,

With us in spirit,

And I will do my best to channel his wisdom.

The Weekly Energy Boost is a seven-day spiritual energy forecast.

These last few months,

We've been focusing on a monthly energy as well,

Which for this month is the energy of spiritual practice.

What we do is we try to glean the most powerful and practical wisdom to share with our listeners so that not only you navigate the next week in the most elevated and mindful way possible,

But so that you can use these concepts,

These approaches all year long,

All lifelong.

I know I say this from time to time,

But it never ceases to amaze me how aligned these our weekly topics are with what's going on.

Now you could say,

Okay,

Ellie Sheva,

You base the topic on the prediction of the energy according to the Kabbalistic calendar.

Yes,

That's true,

But at the same time,

Looking at the state of the world and current events and everything that's happening,

What's on the minds of people,

It's just always amazing how timely these topics are.

This morning,

We are focusing on the spiritual practices of prayer and meditation.

On one hand,

They're two distinct tools,

And on the other hand,

When used in conjunction,

Amplify and magnify the power of either.

That's why we have with us this morning,

I want to say professor,

But I don't think she's a professor.

We have invited meditation expert and animal communicator,

Ali Katz,

Who is a Kabbalah student and amazing channel in her own right.

She is going to represent the meditation aspect of the conversation.

Of course,

I will as well,

But we're standing on different sides of the same podium,

I guess.

Ali,

Thank you first of all for being with us this morning.

I know everybody's schedules are crazy these days and it's not easy to pin anyone down,

Exhibit A being the empty chair next to me.

But welcome,

First of all,

And thank you for being here.

Can you share with our listeners a little bit about you and your journey to meditation and Kabbalah,

Two separate journeys maybe?

Absolutely.

Thank you so much for having me.

I started meditating about 10 years ago and I noticed significant changes in my life.

I'm a share,

Whether I like a book or a travel destination or a lip gloss,

I want to tell everybody about it.

When I realized the effect that meditation,

Just bringing this simple practice was having in my life,

I decided I have to help other people bring this into their own lives.

I did a year long program and became a certified meditation teacher.

From there,

It just took off.

I started teaching and loved every minute of it.

My goal is really to take this overwhelming,

Sometimes concept for people or something that feels really big and make it feel really relatable and accessible and doable.

Really breaking it down.

After people work with me or I talk to people about meditation,

They think,

Oh,

That's what it is.

I can do that.

I really want to make people feel more comfortable about meditation and how to bring it into their own lives really simply.

That's the meditation piece.

Then the Kabbalah piece really started for me.

I've always been intrigued about Kabbalah.

Through the years,

I've heard things about it.

When the pandemic started,

The week of the pandemic,

I said to myself,

You know what?

I really have more time on my hands.

What's something that I've wanted to delve into?

Now I can.

Kabbalah was the very first thing that came to my mind.

I've just hit it hard the past,

I guess,

Year and few months.

It's done the most wonderful,

Amazing things for my life as well.

I'm really enjoying being a student.

I'm a lifelong student.

I love learning.

I'm always learning and growing.

It's just a beautiful process.

Well,

Like I said,

I couldn't pick a more perfect discussion partner for this morning's topics.

I think the starting point for both is really to go back to the beginning and share with our listeners.

I'm sure we've shared this in different bits and pieces,

But I think that the origin story of prayer and meditation is really the best place to start.

That really is the origin story of humanity.

What's funny is,

And I didn't think about it until this morning,

But we are the only creatures thinking about all the different species on planet earth.

We're the only creatures who meditate and pray.

What kind of gift and also responsibility that is.

The Kabbalists teach that when the creation story,

While you can look at evolution,

What's interesting to me about Kabbalah and how it views our origins is that all of the theories fit in to that story.

Let's say before the big bang is really where the story begins,

There was a beautiful harmonious relationship between the light force of the creator and all the souls of humanity.

At a certain point,

We realized that in order for us,

All the souls of humanity to be truly fulfilled,

We need to also be the creator.

We cannot simply be the beneficiaries of the light force of the creator.

We also have to be the cause of revealing that light.

Essentially,

We said to God,

It's not you,

It's me.

I'm never going to be.

.

.

I love all of this fulfillment,

All of this union and connection and oneness,

But unless I'm going to be the cause of this connection,

I won't be truly fulfilled.

That according to Kabbalah is what facilitated the big bang.

That's what the pushback that original,

What we call vessel,

That original soul pushed back on the light force of the creator,

That was really the moment before the big bang.

The reason I think that that's the beginning of this conversation is in that moment that we said we want to initiate our connection,

Our fulfillment,

We put up what's called in Kabbalah a curtain,

A veil between us and that direct connection and experience of the light force of the creator.

What that means is that prayer and meditation are two of the most powerful ways to part that curtain.

We told the creator back then,

Don't give it to us for free,

No more free lunch.

We have to take action.

We have to make the effort.

On a daily basis,

We are given,

I want to say we are bombarded by opportunities to part that curtain in different ways.

That's what we teach in Kabbalah.

The study of Kabbalah is actually the study of creation so that we can understand how to navigate the moment to moment creation opportunities in our daily lives.

And that's- Can I have a question there?

Please,

Please.

Okay.

When I was thinking about this episode,

The idea of cause and effect was one of the first things that popped into my head because we have such an opportunity with meditation,

With prayer,

Obviously,

To better our lives.

The thing that some people don't understand about meditation,

Especially I'm going to talk about is that meditation is about having a better life,

Living a better life.

It's not just about what happens in those five,

10,

15 minutes,

Or people like to say what happens on your cushion if you want to meditate on the cushion,

Which you don't have to.

But it's about living a better life.

So everything we do in meditation,

Learning how to focus on one thing at a time,

Learning how to train our attention,

Learning how to have present moment awareness,

Learning how to focus inward.

That's a time to practice what we want to do outside of meditation.

So it's not an isolated experience.

There's a lot of cause and effect.

I'm going to be the cause.

I'm going to meditate and have this time of meditation and prayer every day so that I can live my best life and have that effect.

So I really like people to understand everything you do in meditation is about living a better life and pretty much advocating for yourself with the universe.

Totally,

Totally.

And I think that that's a perfect setup for the practical application of that whole creation story is that we are in the same way that let's say right now I have these huge lights all over the room focused on me.

If I would hold up an umbrella,

Right,

I would be in the dark or in a shadow right now.

According to Kabbalah,

That curtain creates a shadow,

A sense of darkness,

A sense of confusion or maybe even chaos in our daily lives,

Although the light is always on.

There's only an umbrella or a curtain between us and that light.

And our real ability or what ability we exercise through prayer and meditation is how much light is going to be shined on a particular situation.

So to your point,

Ali,

If you're meditating and you're drawing,

Making that connection and drawing that light,

Parting the curtain,

So to speak,

Let's say drawing strength for a particular relationship or a particular situation,

What ends up happening is at least in the scheme of things,

We all have challenges and limitations.

I can't keep my mouth shut or I can't speak up for myself.

And all the levels in between,

There's a degree of limitation in everything and that's part of what the curtain brings us.

What's in my control is how much light is shined on a particular situation.

And to me,

That's why prayer and meditation are such essential daily practices is because I don't want to knowingly walk into my day holding an umbrella.

There may be a patch of clouds that are going to come through my way during the day.

I want to make sure that I stay focused on the light and if you will,

Setting up those solar panels so that I am drawing and using that energy throughout the day so that even if a cloud passes by,

I still have those stores.

So maybe you can talk a little bit about how meditation can figure into a daily practice.

I mean,

I know there's not one way it needs to look for each person,

But what would you say are the essential elements of beginning a daily practice?

Okay.

Well,

Before I get into that,

One thing I just want to touch on briefly is that meditation,

I just lost my train of thought.

Okay.

I'm going to come back to that.

So when it comes to having a daily practice,

We have to simplify it in our minds.

A lot of times people over-complicate what meditation is.

Okay.

So the very basics.

When you're starting a new practice or reviving a practice,

It helps to be as consistent as you can with meditation.

So where am I going to meditate?

In my home,

Do I want to meditate?

In bed,

Do I want to meditate?

On my favorite chair,

On my couch,

On the cushion,

Where do I want to do it?

When do I want to do it?

People ask me all the time,

What's the best time of day to meditate?

Well,

I say it's the time that you're going to do it.

So for some people,

It can be very first thing in the morning.

That's my favorite time.

I like to get up before my family,

Before my kids,

Have a couple quiet moments for myself.

And not that it's something we want to check off our to-do list,

But I know that I've done it for the day and I can take that energy forward into my day.

Some people like to meditate when they get home from work.

It's called the happy hour meditation before you have dinner.

Maybe you want to release some stress and tension that you brought home from work or from anything that happened in your day.

And some people like evening.

There's no right or wrong.

I do encourage people though,

If you are reviving a practice or starting a new practice,

That you are consistent because you're building a routine.

So if you sometimes meditate in the morning and sometimes before bed,

Before you have a strong practice,

It's going to be harder to be consistent.

So where are you going to meditate is really important.

What time of day?

Be as consistent as you can.

And then a question that I get often is,

Should I meditate the same way every time?

Now there's a lot of different answers to this.

Some people like to be very consistent in their practice.

There's something called TM,

Transcendental meditation that a lot of people might have heard of where you meditate with the same mantra every single day and it never changes.

And that is perfectly wonderful to do that.

I like more flexibility in my practice.

I ask myself,

I kind of touch base with my soul and I say,

What do I need today?

What does my soul need?

Do I want to simply pay attention to my breath today and focus on the rise and fall of my belly?

Do I want to count my breath?

Do I want to use a mantra?

Since I started studying Kabbalah,

I have been really drawn to the 72 names of thought.

So very often if I feel like that's what I need,

I will pick one that I want to connect with that day and use that as my mantra.

So there's really no right or wrong in being flexible or sticking with one practice.

You can try a few things and see what works for you,

See what calls to you.

But one important thing I want people to understand is that the attitude you bring to meditation is really important.

So being consistent is really important.

Being willing and open-minded is really important.

But the attitude you bring,

So if you think of meditation or prayer or any of these beautiful practices like a to-do,

Something else,

Oh,

I got to meditate,

I got to do my prayers.

And it's like another long thing on your to-do list,

It's going to feel like a chore.

But if you think of it as a gift you're giving to yourself every day,

A few quiet moments,

A few moments just for you to connect to your soul,

To connect with God,

It feels like a gift every day.

And that's the attitude that I want people to have about their practice.

I think it's really a game changer that it's not a to-do,

It's a gift.

And so I think that is a really important way to think about it,

Even if you're just starting out.

I couldn't agree more.

Even thinking about the approach of I want as much light to be in this situation in my day,

In my week,

Et cetera,

We've talked multiple times on multiple episodes about the difference between scripted prayer and unscripted prayer.

And to me,

Meditation,

The way that you're sharing it is a lot like unscripted prayer,

Going with the flow,

Being in tune,

Like you said,

And checking in with yourself,

Knowing what you need,

Where you're at,

And what's going to support you the most or the best way that particular day.

Scripted prayer,

According to Kabbalah,

To me is like a concerto,

Like a sonata,

That there are certain notes,

Certain chords,

And I guess you can tell from what I'm saying,

I've studied music.

For those of you who haven't studied music,

Go with me on this,

That in order for the composition to sound the way it's supposed to sound,

Which to me means to awaken whatever energy it can awaken,

There's a certain way it has to be expressed.

If you're freestyling,

That's still music,

But it's not Beethoven's fifth.

You're freestyling,

It's a jazz club and you're having a good time,

And there's a time and a place for both.

Going with the music metaphor,

There's music that you may find uplifting and empowering and exciting and it revs your engine,

And there's music that probably makes you heavy and sad and awakens tears,

Which is also okay if that's what you're going for.

When we talk about prayer as a practice,

And so that's why I want to put aside the unscripted prayer for a second,

When we look at prayer as a practice,

There are certain prayers that connect us to certain energy,

And I'm going to hand it back to you,

Ali,

Because you said something to me a couple weeks ago that I found really,

Really powerful and really profound.

What did I say?

I'll tell you in a second.

The idea that there are certain songs or prayers that I can say,

Almost like a mantra,

That will attach me to a source of energy that I can nourish from the entire day.

You can say a prayer,

Please God,

Or however you refer to whatever source you're tapping into,

Please God,

Let me be kinder and more patient and more compassionate today.

There is a beautiful unscripted prayer.

You could even attach,

Like Ali said,

Maybe a particular letter combination,

Visual mantra,

Even my point is there's a prayer,

A scripted prayer,

A code we use in the teachings of Kabbalah emphasize the power of the Hebrew letters and Aramaic letters as code,

The same way that we have musical notes.

They're the building blocks of those scripted prayers and meditations.

When I wake up in the morning,

I have a series of prayers that I say,

Which are not about please God,

Give me this,

Please God,

Give me that,

Which by the way,

Between you and me and the thousands of people who are listening,

I say that all day long.

That is my,

I think we spoke about a number of months ago that our thoughts are a form of prayer.

If we're saying I'm the worst,

I'm the worst,

I'm the worst,

That is a prayer that basically draws to us validation and proof that we're the worst.

One of the things that we spoke about it last week that it's really important to be aware of that soundtrack that goes through our minds during the day,

But those prayers that I'm saying in the morning in a way are like plugging me in like a switchboard,

Taking my communication,

My flow of energy and plugging it into peace,

Gratitude,

Creativity,

Flexibility,

And all of these energies that I want to be connected to throughout my day.

Now gratitude is something,

That's what spoke to me in our conversation a few weeks ago.

You mentioned to me something about gratitude that I thought was really powerful and I hope that you can share it with everyone who's listening now.

Oh,

I think I said stress and gratitude cannot coexist.

Exactly.

That's the one.

That's the one.

Okay.

This is a great segue to talk about gratitude when you talk about the combination of different things like prayer and meditation,

Because I think it's a beautiful thing to create a routine that speaks to you.

I bookend my meditation practice with more scripted prayer,

With gratitude.

I have found kind of the combination of things that really feed my soul or my daily vitamin for my soul every day.

And after my daily meditation,

I incorporate these things.

So I encourage people to try different things like journaling,

Like scripted prayer,

Saying the Anabakkah,

Anything that speaks to you.

But gratitude is a really,

Really great one.

And I bring gratitude into my morning and evening routine.

So in the morning after my daily meditation,

I make a list of everything that I want to put out there that I'm feeling grateful for.

It just really feeds me.

And stress and gratitude,

Like I said,

Cannot coexist.

So if you're feeling at all stressed and you can move into gratitude,

You can just pause,

Stop what you're doing.

Think of some things you're grateful for,

Cultivate that feeling in your belly,

In your heart.

You will not be stressed.

You can't be both.

In fact,

I even have an alarm that goes off at 3 p.

M.

On my phone every day that says gratitude is my attitude.

It just helps me pause,

Stop in the middle of a busy day and afternoon,

And take a moment to breathe and think of some things I'm grateful for,

Release any stress that I'm feeling.

But my nighttime gratitude practice is actually my favorite.

I call it Gratitude 2.

0.

So I write two columns on my paper,

And one side says gratitude,

And one side says GIA.

It stands for Gratitude in Advance.

So I make a gratitude list,

Just kind of like I did in the morning,

All the things I want to touch on that I'm grateful for.

And then on the gratitude in advance side,

I am sort of telling the universe what I want to bring into my life.

I'm grateful in advance for all of these amazing things that are going to happen.

It's like giving the universe a to-do list to co-conspire with me,

To meet me halfway on and to bring the right experiences and people and situations into my life to allow these things to happen.

And of course,

I have my free will,

And I have to do my part.

But the most fun thing is when I can move things from the gratitude in advance side to the gratitude side because they came to fruition.

So that's a really fun practice and everyone that tries it usually loves it.

So that might be something.

Wow,

I love that.

That's a great habit to get into.

And it also,

Again,

Perfectly gels with that concept.

We always tell people,

At night,

That's the time for the reflection and the introspection,

Bringing in the what I did wrong or what I want to do better in the moment is often going to bring the energy of the day down.

But I love bringing that at the nighttime reflection.

Bring that night back up.

Exactly,

Exactly.

So powerful,

So profound.

And it actually reminds me of a concept that the Kabbalists teach.

And to me,

I know that I've shared this before that I used to work,

Before working at the Kabbalah Center,

I used to work in a restaurant.

And I really saw it as my mission to bring light there.

I was already a Kabbalah student and I really woke up every morning thinking,

Okay,

How am I going to reveal the light in this place today?

And the Kabbalists teach that our work,

That's one of the unique things about being a human being is to reveal the light in the mundane.

I think we had a whole episode about that a couple of years ago.

But the idea of expanding the boundaries of holiness.

If you go back hundreds of years,

Right,

Looking at religion,

I would say,

Maybe spirituality was a little bit more cloaked and done in the basements and attics and caves around the world,

There were religious people,

There were pious people,

There were scholars,

And then there were everybody else.

Whether you were a royal or a commoner,

A peasant,

There was many,

Many roles in between.

But prayer and meditation were really regarded as things that the pious and the righteous and the holy men did if we're honest about it.

It wasn't a women's domain and probably those women who did venture were called witches.

Excuse me.

So one of the shifts that happened through,

It's within the lineage of Kabbalah at least,

Is that the people like you and me,

And I don't mean women,

I mean the regular people,

Not the holy people,

Not the priests and the rabbis and the gurus,

The power,

The ability to connect with the light was given back to us.

And I say given back to us because it was always the intention,

That power was always there,

But it was in a way kept away from the masses.

Maybe you can say to promote that hierarchy that exists in a lot of religious spaces,

But at a certain point the Kabbalists at least gave it back to the people,

Said,

Listen,

You can experience the light force of the creator in a good meal,

In a dance with your wife,

In beautiful music,

Or husband of course.

There's light in everything and it's really our role as human beings to reveal that light,

To expose it,

To extract it.

So – That reminds me of something about meditation is people often judge their meditations as good or bad or today was a good meditation because I really quieted my mind.

I always tell people your job is not to judge your meditation.

Your job is to do it.

Like you can't pray wrong.

Every prayer,

Whether you pray scripted,

You pray unscripted,

However you talk to God,

However you do it is a good prayer.

Every meditation is a good one because you did it.

So it's kind of like taking a shower.

You know how sometimes you're in the shower and it feels so good and the water feels amazing and you're relaxed and you don't ever want to get out and then some days you just quickly shower.

Well,

You never regret showering.

It was never like a waste of time.

It was never a bad shower.

I love that.

You always feel better afterwards.

Meditation is exactly like that.

Some days you kind of feel like you're really in the zone and some days your mind is going a mile a minute and we call it monkey mind and no matter what,

It's always a good meditation.

So I can't talk about meditation without telling people that it is okay to have thoughts.

That is part of the process.

You're not doing anything wrong.

People have this expectation.

They've heard people say,

Oh,

Just close your eyes and quiet your mind.

Okay,

Well that's not going to happen because the average human being is programmed in our minds to have a thought about every two seconds.

So to think that you're going to close your eyes and just be quiet every day is not realistic.

So thoughts are part of the process.

We're training our mind to be more focused.

So when you catch the thoughts,

You just say,

Oh,

I'm thinking about my to-do list or what I need at the grocery store.

I'm coming back to my meditation.

And every time your mind wanders,

You come back,

You come back,

You come back and that's meditation.

You're training your attention so that when you're living your life,

When you're connecting with those that you love,

When you're in a beautiful destination that you're traveling,

When you're praying,

No matter what you're doing,

You can stay more focused and more present in the moment because you've practiced it in your meditation.

So that's where everything in meditation is about living a better life comes in.

We're practicing that so we can be more engaged in our day to day life.

And it's just like,

You know,

I think we're all human.

We've all been listening to a Kabbalah class or been,

You know,

Reading the Zohar and our mind kind of wanders and we have to bring it back and bring it back and say,

I'm not going to think about that right now.

I'm going to be present.

I care about what I'm doing.

I'm going to be focused.

So that's another opportunity to practice.

So we are have unlimited opportunities to practice,

But that's what we're doing.

That's why it's called a meditation practice.

That's why we practice Kabbalah.

We're not going to ever be perfect at it.

And so I think that's an important concept.

When you,

Well,

I forget what you said.

You said something a minute ago that I wanted to interrupt,

But I was too enamored by what you were saying.

The thing that I think eludes people and where the variable is,

Is what am I doing in my meditation?

What am I thinking about?

What am I,

Like you're talking about my meditation is going to make my life better.

What am I doing in my meditation that's improving my life?

Great question.

And I love giving these examples.

So there's no right or wrong way to meditate.

As I said,

There's lots of things you can do in your meditation.

You can focus on your breath.

You can focus on your body,

Doing a body scan.

You can focus on a mantra.

You have to give your mind something to do so that it stays out of story.

Story is your to-do list.

Story is the fight you had with your sister yesterday.

That's all story.

I always say put that on the later list.

You can think about that later,

But that's not what you need to think about during your meditation.

So you want to give your mind something to do.

You always want to have a focus,

Whether it's your breath,

Your body,

A mantra.

You could be doing a guided meditation that's keeping your mind on track.

You always have somewhere that you know you're supposed to be so that when your mind wanders,

You have somewhere to come back to.

So it can be anything.

And people ask me all the time,

Tell me the difference between guided meditation and meditating on my own.

And I guess this would be really comparable to scripted and unscripted prayer.

So I tell people that guided meditation is wonderful.

I guide people for a living.

I mean,

That's what I do.

I certainly believe in the benefits of guided meditation.

And it gets a lot more people to feel more comfortable with meditation and to get meditating,

Which is wonderful and the goal.

But when someone works with me one-on-one,

I always tell them,

You have to learn how to do it on your own first,

Because meditation is the most portable self-care,

Self-help tool that there is.

You can do it no matter where you are.

If you can breathe,

You can meditate.

But if someone only feels comfortable doing guided meditation,

What if they're somewhere and they don't have their phone or their earphones and they think,

I can't meditate.

I don't have my phone.

Of course you can meditate because you can do it anywhere at any time.

So it's kind of like,

You know,

If someone says,

I don't know how to pray to God unscripted prayer,

And they only feel comfortable reading scripted prayers,

You would want them to try it and practice and get comfortable unscripted prayer because there's benefits to both.

So that's how I feel about meditation.

Guided is wonderful,

But I really want people to be able to meditate on their own so they can do it anywhere at any time.

That's important also because I think for a lot of people that already are rooted in a scripted prayer practice,

It's very easy with scripted prayer,

And I can tell you from experience to be mindless about it,

To just go through it because it is part of your routine.

If you were raised that way,

Or maybe you embraced a certain practice 20 years ago and it's just become habit for you,

That's a very,

I don't know,

Maybe dangerous,

David would say it's a dangerous thing to do,

To get used to,

Or to get into a routine where you're no longer thinking or injecting consciousness around it.

What's interesting to me is that the word in Hebrew for prayer,

Tfilah,

Is actually the same word for secondary or in modern language,

It's the word that's used for when you say something is meaningless,

Like does it matter?

My teacher,

Rav Berg,

Always used to talk about how the most important part of your prayer is intention.

What's interesting about the Hebrew word for intention is it's also the word for direction.

So my intention behind my prayer is actually where I'm sending it,

Where I'm directing my energy,

Where I'm directing my thoughts and my words and my actions for the day.

That's why prayer and meditation become very loving to one another,

Become really partners in the sense that,

I mean there's stories about Kabbalists that let's say their prayer practice was an hour.

They would meditate three hours before just to get their selves in the right head space to engage in the prayer.

To me,

That's an illustration of how the concerto is secondary to why am I playing this?

Why am I opening up this portal of energy between me and the universe,

Between me and the creator?

I don't want to ever have to do it,

I even use the word have to,

I don't ever want to do it out of fear,

Out of mindlessness,

Out of boredom,

Out of,

I don't know,

You mentioned to me that sometimes meditation is vitamin,

Sometimes it's also Tylenol,

Right?

We don't ever want to reach for something from a desperate place and that goes back to the curtain idea.

When I'm desperate,

I'm putting the control outside of me,

Externally.

To the point you just made about meditation is the most portable self-care product there is,

That's really,

It's the same idea that I have everything I need within me in order to change a situation,

Uplift someone even myself.

I have all the tools,

Everything I need inside me.

It's simply about being able to recognize,

Wait a second,

This is an opportunity to change the vibration.

This is an opportunity to inject light and that the power of observation is another thing that only us human beings have,

Right?

Animals don't think at the end of the day,

I can't imagine the squirrel that lives outside of my house going,

Today was a good day.

I ate much less than I did yesterday.

I feel like the belly's,

There's no reflection in the squirrel that lives outside my house.

There's that ability to reflect and observe is really a gift if you know how to use it.

Yes,

And I want to talk about intention for a second because intention behind your practice,

Whether it's meditation or prayer is everything.

So we've talked a lot about this in my sessions about progress,

Not perfection.

And it's just like that with meditation and prayer.

So there are days that you're shorter on time.

It doesn't mean you can't bring these practices into your life,

Into your day because you think,

Well,

I don't have my 20 minutes for this and I don't have time to do this.

What can you do?

So if you can't meditate for 10 minutes,

Can you meditate for three?

If you can't go through every prayer that you normally like to do in the morning,

Can you just do the Anabakkua or can you just use 172 name of God for 30 seconds to bring that into your day?

Can you talk to God for 20 seconds?

What can you do?

So it's not about doing it perfectly.

It's thinking about what can I do?

What's the intention behind it and making it work for today?

Things are loosening up COVID wise.

People are getting out more.

We're used to being home 24 seven and probably extending many of our practices,

But it's kind of going to get back to real life sooner rather than later.

And life's going to feel really busy and overwhelming again.

So it's always thinking about what can I do,

Even if it's not perfect,

What's my intention behind it and something is better than nothing.

So it's not about doing it perfectly.

It's just about doing it a hundred percent.

And that,

Um,

The,

The recognition,

Right.

That I,

Today I was better,

Right?

Like the squirrel recognizing today I ate less or I was more kind to the other squirrels.

So that ability that I want to call it a power.

It's not even an ability.

That's really where we need the fact that it's a superpower means it can also be a weakness.

In other words,

Let's say I get to the end of my day and I'm exhausted and it does happen from time to time.

I get to the end of the day and I'm exhausted more.

As you said,

Lately,

It's happening more because things are,

Are just more normal than they've been in a while.

And I feel like I can't do anything like I,

I'm,

I'm going to do that two minute shower because I just want to crawl into bed and that's it.

The Kabbalists explained that if all you can do is crawl into bed and that's it,

Take the 30 seconds before you fade out and count your blessings and reflect on the day.

But I'm,

I'm,

I'm just reinforcing what Ali said because there is no such thing as failure except you labeling it as failure when you recognize a shortcoming or a fault or a mistake or an oversight and you say,

I blew it,

Then you've blown it.

And I was just going to say,

And let's say there's a day you don't do anything.

Well,

There's a lesson in that.

It's called starting again tomorrow.

You know,

You're inevitably going to go on vacation or be really tired and drop your routines.

But growth comes with recommitment.

And so you say to yourself,

Wait a minute,

I'm not letting this go.

I had a rough couple days,

But my practices are really important to me and I'm going to pick right back up and start again.

I often tell people something very similar,

That the reason that having a spiritual practice is so powerful and important is because of those days.

That if I have that routine that I normally,

And the word routine has such a bad connotation to it.

If I have that practice and I am committed to that practice,

Whether,

And I want you to give your salad metaphor when I'm done.

If I am committed to that practice,

Whether the practice is two minutes or 10 minutes,

Depending on the day,

On the day or two that I slip up and I forget or things take over,

Which happens to everyone,

I already have that reservoir.

I've already set that intention for the last seven days or 10 days or five days since the last time I slipped up.

So my reservoir is stocked with energy and tension,

Consciousness,

Mindfulness,

And the sooner I get back on the horse,

The better.

But I also need to know that if I've fallen off the horse,

I have that,

The time I spent with the creator,

The time I spent investing in my soul is going to serve me also in the moments that I slip up.

Well,

You've filled up that thing,

So to speak.

Exactly.

But another way to look at it though too,

Kind of the flip side is people say to me,

Well,

How do I know when meditation is doing something?

And I always say,

Well,

How do you feel on the days you don't do it?

Do you feel it's present?

Do you feel it's mindful?

Are you snappier?

You start to notice that it brings that calm,

That peace,

That self-compassion,

That less reactivity.

You start to notice you feel better on the days that you pray and meditate.

So you can sort of see it that way too.

Hopefully you have that reservoir,

But you usually notice there's a slight variation or slight change on days you don't do it.

And that's how you know you're feeling so much better when you do.

I heard you talking a couple months ago about,

Or you were comparing starting a meditation practice with starting a diet.

And if you eat one salad a week,

How much is that going to make a difference?

I think that that's a really profound way to look at it.

So when you want to make any change in your life,

Whether you want to start meditating,

You want to bring prayer,

More exercise,

Healthy eating,

It all kind of works the same.

This goes back to when people say,

How am I going to know when it makes a difference in my life?

Well,

If you lose weight or you want to get healthier and you eat a salad,

You're going to feel better that day.

It's definitely better than eating a cheeseburger.

You're going to feel better,

But you're not going to get healthy by having that one salad.

You have to eat a salad every day for a while to notice a change.

So meditation and prayer are like that as well.

You can meditate one day and feel good.

Definitely going to maybe feel less stressed that day,

But you are going to notice the changes with consistency.

Consistency is so important when it comes to meditation.

It's not like one meditation is going to change your life,

But it's better than not doing it.

But another thing that this reminds me to say is that meditating every day is more important than how long you meditate for.

So consistency is more important than the time.

So if you don't have 20,

You feel overwhelmed already,

You don't have 20 minutes every day to sit and meditate,

Then can you do five minutes or eight minutes consistently every day because consistency is how the benefits of meditation come,

Body,

Mind,

And spirit,

The long-term benefits.

Not that I just feel good today because I did it,

But the long-term benefits like lowering your blood pressure and your cholesterol,

Boosting your immune system,

Helping with sleep,

Helping you feel more compassion towards yourself and others,

Less reactive,

All those things.

So,

Okay,

If we have someone who's listening and we finally convinced them to start a practice today,

After listening to the show,

They're saying,

Yes,

That's it.

I'm sold.

What would you say is the first step or how would you invite them to begin today?

I would tell someone to simply set aside three to five minutes,

Set a timer.

You always want to use a timer.

My favorite one's insight timer.

I think it's just very easy to use.

And simply close your eyes,

Relax your body.

Notice if you're holding any tension in your face,

Your shoulders,

Your belly,

Let it go.

And the most simple thing you can do is put your hands on your belly,

Below your belly button,

And just feel your hands move up and down.

And just feel your breath.

And that's it.

Do that for three minutes,

Five minutes.

And anytime your mind wanders,

Come back to the feeling of your hand moving up and down,

Your belly rising and falling,

And stay there.

And do that for a couple days.

And then you can try something else.

Maybe you want to match your inhale and your exhale or count your breaths or use a 72,

One of the 72 names of God.

You can try something different,

But it can be as simple as that.

You don't have to overcomplicate it.

You just have to do it.

Right.

And I know that for me,

I have that monkey mind,

At least until I'm in bed at night ready to go to sleep.

So and sometimes even then.

But so for me,

I'm a confessed,

Professed,

Guided meditator.

It really helps me to have someone telling me what to visualize.

I know that in Kabbalistic meditation also,

There are certain words and verses and things that awaken energy during that prayer.

If that's something that you're interested in,

You're more than welcome to email me.

And I can email me email energyboost at kabbalah.

Com and I can send you those resources as well.

Ali is a resource and maybe you can talk a little bit about how people can connect with you and your books and all the work that you've done.

Absolutely.

But you give me homework all the time.

I'm going to challenge you to just try at least three,

Three to five minute meditations where you're not guided as amazing as guided is and everyone should use all the Kabbalistic guided meditations.

And I'm not suggesting to stop,

But maybe you could incorporate a little more meditation on your own just to see what it's like.

Let's do a challenge.

Let's challenge everyone,

Including me.

And I'm sure David's going to be so happy he's not here to be committed to that.

Let's do a seven day meditation challenge that we will all do that.

Everybody,

Hope you're excited for it.

Three to five minutes,

Three minutes,

Three minutes every day for the next seven days.

And I want to hear from you all next week.

What do you feel or how did it go?

What happened?

And I'm going to do it with you.

How's that?

Perfect.

I love it.

I learned so much.

I say everybody who writes to me and tells me,

Wow,

That guest was fabulous.

I say,

Listen,

It's all for me.

I get so much out of having guests on the show,

First of all,

Because I don't have to talk for 15 minutes.

But I also,

Like you said,

I'm a lifelong learner.

I want to know as much as I can reading,

Listening.

I'm a wisdom junkie,

I guess you can say.

And so I'm so inspired by people like you who have taken their own quest for knowledge,

Connection,

Spirituality,

And actually become a teacher of that.

So I think that that is fabulous.

Thank you for joining us.

Next week,

We are going to talk about another spiritual practice.

I'm going to cliffhanger it there.

I'm not even going to tell you what it is.

You'll just have to tune in to find out about it.

Thank you,

Ali,

For joining us.

Thank you,

Listeners and viewers,

For listening and watching with us.

Please feel free to send us your questions at energyboost at kabbalah.

Com.

Continue to like,

Rate,

Review,

And share.

I want to say a special welcome to everybody who follows Ali on social media and knows her work but is listening to us for the first time.

Thank you for joining us.

Have a fabulous week and hopefully we'll see you next time on the Weekly Energy Boost.