Golel Or Mipnay Choshech Sitting Meditation

Golel Or Mipnay Choshech, or "Rolling Light Away From Darkness," is a 25 minute guided meditation from Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg's Preparing the Heart series for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Rabbi Sheila begins our practice by guiding us through breath work and connecting the in and out breaths with the beginnings and endings (or, rolling ins and rolling outs) of our own thoughts. This allows us to, as Sheila puts it, "rest in the stillness that holds all movement." After our intro, we sit in silence for 20 minutes, and then conclude our meditation with a bell and a prayer.

Transcript

The third meditation theme is Golel Or Mipnei Choshech V'Choshech Mipnei Or.

Rolling light away from darkness and darkness away from light.

25 minutes.

We take our seat.

A seat of stability and calm.

We open to the stillness amidst the change.

We open to the truth of our lives with compassion and kindness.

We bring our attention to the breath as it rises and falls in the belly or the chest.

Or we notice the sensation of the breath,

The coolness as it enters the nostrils and the sensation of the breath,

The warmth as it leaves the nostrils.

We bring our attention to wherever it is most comfortable to feel the sensation of breathing.

In and out.

If we wish,

We can include in our awareness a sense of our whole body breathing.

We experience the pulse,

The rhythm,

And the movement.

And we know stillness within fluidity.

Bring attention to beginnings and endings.

See if you can connect to the very beginning of an in-breath.

Where does the breath come from?

See if you can connect to the very ending of an out-breath.

Where does the breath go?

The in-breath rolls in,

And the out-breath rolls out.

Who owns them?

What notices them?

Who is rolling them?

Don't try to figure this out.

Open to revelation.

Open to revelation.

See if you can follow a complete cycle of breath to its full conclusion and the arising of the next breath.

When thoughts or feelings arise,

Try to attend to their beginnings and endings as well.

They're rolling in,

And they're rolling out.

One in-breath.

One out-breath.

A universe.

There was evening.

There was morning.

Waves of sound.

Light.

Ocean.

Blood.

Absorb your breath.

Let your mind sink into your heart on the waves of your breath.

Rest in the stillness beneath the waves.

Rest in the stillness that holds all movement.

Rest in the stillness who brings on the evening and renews the day.

Gol el or mipnay choshech,

V'choshech mipnay or.

Rolling light away from darkness and darkness away from light.

May you rest in the spacious stillness between the waves of change.

May your heart remain as open and courageous in the evening as in the morning.

Reviews

Amen. Thank you 🙏