40 Days Elul Practice, Mussar Mindfulness, Day 9 Of Elul

40 Days Elul Practice: Mussar Mindfulness with Rabbi Chasya of Kehilat Mussar teaches and guides a sitting meditation toward silence for 30 minutes in order to open our hearts to forgiveness. This practice is a daily one to prepare for the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement. All are welcome. Appropriate for beginners and all levels.

Transcript

All right,

Everyone.

Welcome.

We are live streaming.

In addition to being on zoom,

We are on Facebook,

YouTube and LinkedIn.

I'm a rabbi Hasil,

Or else Steinbauer,

The founding director of the Institute for holiness,

Kehilat move.

Based in the galil and we offer online classes to the whole world.

And we are delighted that you are here to engage in the 40 days and low practice,

Where we engage in short learning of Musa mindfulness.

And we engage and guided sit in meditation,

And a bit of silent meditation in order to prepare as our ancestors did the sort of purification of the soul as we head towards Rosh Hashanah,

The new year,

And Yom Kippur,

The Day of Atonement.

So I want to ask you to allow yourself to settle.

And so for all of us,

That's just going to be a short one to two minutes centering exercise,

You may shut your eyes if you feel ready,

Or just lower your gaze,

Allow yourself to have three deep breaths.

Allow yourself to arrive,

Leave behind whatever has come with you from the past.

Any planning of the future can wait.

Allow yourself to come to stillness to be present here and our sacred community together.

And when you're ready,

I would love for anyone who wishes to to share where you are coming in from.

And what is your kavana?

What is your intention for today's practice?

You can put that in the chat box or in the comment box at any of the locations.

And I will share our shared intention for today.

As I shared it yesterday.

Give me one second.

I hope this can come up for us.

Does everyone see the kavana intentions?

Just give me a thumbs up if you see it.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

My partner,

My partner's in crime,

We can't do this without a community,

Right?

A village.

So we're going to just concentrate on the first one for the month of Elul and right now specifically.

So before doing acts of caring for the self,

And I'm interpreting this time that you were dedicating to your practice and being here together as caring for yourself.

We say this is something I'm doing to strengthen my own soul in order to be of benefit to others in the future.

So we hold that intention,

We bring it to our practice.

And with that,

Let's see,

One.

Okay.

And with that,

We are going to move into our meditation for today.

And the teachings that we're holding come from previously where we're focusing on honor of kovod.

And really recognizing that we are all created in the image of God that we are souls.

And that when we are having a difficult time forgiving ourselves or others,

Which is part of this whole 40 days is preparing for that forgiveness that letting go as we enter towards the new year,

Is this sense that there's a lack of really a balanced internalization that I haven't really,

I don't really deeply believe that a king level that I am created in the image of God or they are and if we could really work on that daily,

Of just recognizing that each person is a soul,

It will begin to change and soften us and open us up a little.

So today,

We're going to engage in a special meditation practice,

I want you to go ahead and bring yourself to a comfortable yet alert upright position.

If you need to stand,

Please do so just be sure to put a chair or something next to you to hold you.

You are welcome to lie down also,

Just keep your eyes open.

So you're awake and alert.

And we're going to go ahead and settle on our sit bones,

Ground your feet as you are between heaven and earth.

Really allow your hands to rest in a comfortable position in your lap.

Perhaps you want to put them on your heart.

And we're first going to begin just noting the breath.

Is the breath flavored?

Is it soft and flowing with the equal amount of in breath out breath?

Allow yourself a gentle body scan.

You may close your eyes if you feel safe,

Lower your gaze.

Stand at the top of the head.

Notice if there's any tension as you move down towards the back of the head,

The top of the neck.

Perhaps in your forehead or your eyes,

We hold a lot of tension behind our eyes.

And sometimes we're not even aware of it until we bring this mindful attention to it.

Your jaw,

Allow it to soften your neck and your shoulders.

Simply bringing a kind curiosity to what is your felt sense right now in this moment.

As you move down your upper back and your chest,

Your lower back,

To your sit bones.

We tend to hold a lot of tension in that area and under the thighs.

Allow your breath to send a loving release of ease,

Of kindness,

Of compassion.

So it lowers to the shins and the lower part of your leg,

Into your feet and even into your toes.

You might want to move them a little,

Allow the breath to fully reach the whole area.

I'm going to guide us in a forgiveness meditation.

You may recall that yesterday,

We engaged in bringing to mind someone that is beloved to us,

Someone that we actually have an easy relationship with.

I want you to recall this person.

Allow yourself to see them in their full vitality.

Simply bring your breath to the area of your heart.

Let yourself feel any barriers you have erected or any emotions you have carried because you have not forgiven,

Perhaps not forgiven yourself or this special person for any suffering they caused this past year.

Allow yourself to feel any pain of keeping your heart closed.

Then breathing softly,

Then asking and extending forgiveness.

Reciting the following words after me,

Letting the images and feelings that come up grow deeper as you repeat them.

There are many ways I have hurt and harmed others.

And in particular,

This beloved one,

Sometimes betrayed or abandoned them,

Cause them suffering.

Knowing me or unknowing me out of my pain,

Out of my fear,

Out of my confusion.

Allow yourself to remember and visualize one way that you hurt this special person,

This person with which you normally have ease.

Seeing,

Feel any pain or suffering you may have caused out of your own fear,

Confusion.

Feel any sorrow or regret.

Also recognize and allow if you are having any resistance to your practice right now.

That too,

We can carry with kindness,

With compassion,

And even a nonjudgmental curiosity.

Sense that you finally can release this burden and ask for forgiveness this week.

If you haven't already done so.

Picture vividly anything that burdens your heart.

And then,

And their full vitality as this person stands before you in your mind.

Repeat,

I ask for your forgiveness.

I ask for your forgiveness.

There are many ways that you have hurt and harmed yourself.

You have betrayed or abandon yourself,

Whether it be in thought,

Word,

Deed,

Knowingly or unknowingly.

Feel your own precious body and life that you are a soul.

Allow yourself to see one way that you have hurt or harmed yourself or caused suffering.

Picture this one way and remember it.

Feel the sorrow that you have carried from this.

And sense now in this amazing sacred circle that you can release these burdens.

Gently extend forgiveness and repeat to yourself.

For the ways I have hurt myself through action or inaction,

Out of fear,

Pain or confusion.

I now extend a full and heartfelt forgiveness.

I forgive myself.

I forgive myself.

There are many ways that you have been harmed or hurt by others.

I thank you for your forgiveness.

In the coming weeks,

We will move away from the safer,

Gentle place of that which is someone that is dear to us that we are at ease.

And over time,

In the third and fourth week of our lu'u practice,

We will move to those relationships that are either more distant or more troubling to allow us to recognize and allow the sorrow that we may have or the burden we carry.

Recognize that since last lu'u,

You might have carried some pain in your heart or you might have carried some stubbornness in your heart,

Closing it to the extent that you are ready.

This is the time.

This is the place to extend forgiveness to others and yourself.

Allow yourself to gently repeat any of these phrases from today's meditation until you feel a release in your heart.

Please know that for some greater suffering or pain,

You may not feel a release.

You may only feel the burden and the anguish that you have held and that too can be honored and accepted.

But that is the first stage,

Is that sensitivity and awareness.

Touch this softly.

Honor it.

Honor yourself.

Be forgiving of yourself for not being ready to let go and move on if you are not ready.

Remember,

We sit daily together,

We have time to practice.

That is part of our 40 days' Erual practice of Musar mindfulness.

Forgiveness cannot be forced.

It cannot be artificial either.

We will simply continue the practice and let the words and images work gradually in their own way.

The joy of engaging in this Erual practice,

If you are new to Musar mindfulness practice,

Is that you can make this forgiveness,

Mindfulness and meditation a regular part of your life,

Of letting go of the past and opening your heart to each new moment in your life with a wise,

Loving kindness.

We will take the next five or so minutes to sit in silence.

If you are new to meditation,

The practice is simply to allow your breath to be your anchor and your phrases if you wish to go through them.

When your thoughts wander off,

And they will,

That is the practice,

Gently bring them back.

First,

You will become aware that they have wandered off,

And you will bring them back to your breath and your phrases.

In our last minute of meditation together,

I want you to note if you're having any resistance,

If you're having any thoughts that have been re-emerging,

Are not new to you,

Have been coming up in the last few days of your practice,

Or if you've been having the same embodied felt sense,

Sensations of the body.

We want to bring our awareness of this to recognize and accept it so that we can begin to investigate it over these 40 days together.

Because in those reoccurring thoughts,

And in that body sensation is a gift,

Is something calling for your love and attention,

Is where your practice needs to be.

There's no need to fear it.

We can honor it with acceptance,

Kindness and understanding.

When I ring the bells,

You may want to write down and write next to you with a pencil or paper if you are having any patterns,

Any reoccurring thoughts or body sensations,

And just note them without judgment.

Shalom.

Thank you.

Allow your eyes to open gently.

Lead us back into our sacred love,

Our group,

Our sangha,

Our community at Kehila.

Take this moment to write down anything you want.

I will begin to share screen of our daily practice of before bed,

Or for those of you where it's not nighttime,

It's nighttime here.

We do this lovely prayer before lying down to sleep.

And you can repeat with me.

I hereby forgive anyone who has angered me,

Or provoked me,

Or sentiments me physically or financially,

Or by failing to give me due respect,

Or any other matter related to me,

Involuntarily or willingly,

Inadvertently or deliberately,

Whether in word or deed,

Let no one incur punishment because of me.

Let no one not be able to forgive themselves.

Allow me to be able to forgive them.

Allow me to be able to do this practice,

Have the courage this week to approach my beloved,

Whoever that may be.

This is our work in the 40 days of our little practice.

If anyone does not have this prayer,

I will provide it for you.

Just email us.

If you are here on Zoom,

It is in the chat box.

And it's found in any Jewish prayer book,

Any siddur.

It's called the Bedtime Shammah Prayer,

And it's right before it.

It's written in the Hebrew and the masculine singular.

So if you want to use the Hebrew,

You just change the word mohel to mohelit for feminine singular.

And for everyone who wants to use not the masculine or the feminine,

I leave it to you to change the Hebrew language.

It's happening slowly,

But it's just not there yet.

It's a very gendered language.

So I thank you for all of you who have donated to support this practice.

You're welcome to be in touch with us.

Any amount,

It's beautiful and will be welcomed.

And we welcome sponsorships.

We thank you,

Idit Stein for yesterday to honor the passing of her mother,

May her memory be for blessing.

And I want to thank all of you for taking this half hour out of your day to do this practice to be together.

It is such an honor.

And we all really are bringing God's good to this world by doing this self care so that we can be of care to others.

So with that,

Allow yourself to bow to yourself to God to others.

Thank you Shalom Shalom.

And I will see you the same time tomorrow.

This last session.

Take care of yourselves.

Thank you so much.