40 Days Of Elul Practice, Mussar Mindfulness

1st day of the 40 Days of Elul Practice: a daily Mindfulness practice in the Jewish tradition. Mussar, a daily Jewish spiritual discipline, will be discussed and we will learn from the practice. We will also sit in silent meditation after a guided Insight meditation to effect the purification of our souls, to prepare for the Jewish High Holy Day season. All are welcome. Beginner level appropriate.

Transcript

I want you to find yourself in a comfortable position.

We're going to engage in a small amount of learning together,

And then we will actually sit in silence in meditation together.

I will guide you throughout.

Why do we sit in silence during this time?

So I bring you a little gem from our tradition.

Rabbi Svych Harch Gadanover from 1648 to 1712 recorded that many men in his time observe silence between the advent of Elul and Rosh Hashanah to affect purification of their souls.

So in that honor and in that practice,

We're going to sit together and begin the process of allowing mindfulness and silence to prepare ourselves for the coming season,

For the coming of Tishrei and the new year.

As you may well know,

It is already a Bussar practice to engage daily in what we call cheshbon hanefesh,

An accounting of the soul,

Where we journal and look at our words,

Thoughts,

And deeds as related to how we treat ourselves,

Others,

And our relationship with God.

So since we're doing this already on a daily basis,

You may wonder what else could we do during the month of Elul to prepare.

It is a special time where we will sit in silence together to allow that silence to penetrate,

To see what sensations come up,

To see what thoughts come over and over again and want to visit us.

And we'll do all this as a self-compassion and self-honor practice.

This is all preparing us and our soul.

We are souls,

And we'll move through this together.

So I finally want to share with you that because we reflect all year daily on our behavior,

On our deeds,

And on our thoughts,

And on our words,

In our Musar practice,

It is an opportunity during these 40 days before Yom Kippur,

The Day of Atonement,

To go back to that Cheshbon Hanafesh journal and look at where we've grown,

What we've done well,

Where we've taken responsibility,

Where our midot,

Our soul traits,

Have begun to balance,

Where we still have room for growth,

But more importantly,

When did we do teshuva?

When did we show up and take responsibility when we caused suffering?

And when didn't we?

And during this 40 days,

We can take that knowledge,

That insight into what suffering we might have caused or what relief from suffering that we caused,

And we can use that knowledge very mindfully with nonjudgmental awareness and with a loving,

Nurturing practice to look at what tikkun,

What repair,

What we can do during these 40 days to be in relationship with others,

To fix what needs to be fixed so that we can stand before God with an open heart,

With love.

So we're going to go ahead and sit down and practice.

If you are new to meditation practice,

Just allow me to guide you.

If you have any back injury or you're just uncomfortable sitting,

Please go ahead and stand mindfully.

Make sure you have a chair near you that can kind of hold up against you so that you're supported.

For those of you that need to lie down,

Please go ahead and do so.

Be sure that you are alert and awake.

I advise keeping your eyes open but focusing on one area.

For the rest of us sitting,

Go ahead and root your feet firmly on the ground.

Allow your sit bones to settle.

You want to sit upright,

Alert,

Not West Point stiff,

But awake with dignity.

You are created in the image of God.

So sit as if you are because you are.

So you may want to rest your hands on your lap or gently put them on your heart.

And we'll start with three deep cleansing breaths.

Allow whatever has come to you today to gently just put it to the side like a friend that you will visit later.

Allow your breath to be your anchor,

Meaning you can expect your thoughts to move to the future,

To the past,

To thinking about something else,

Even daydreaming.

And you simply note it when you do notice it and gently bring yourself back to your breath.

Our breath is a gift from God.

The nishima is connected to the nishama.

The breath is connected to the soul.

Use it wisely.

Use it as a gift that it is to bring you to the present moment.

Begin to do a slow,

Gentle body scan.

Notice any sensations in your body that are pulling you away.

Notice your head,

Any tension in the forehead,

In the scalp.

Perhaps it's behind your eyes.

Notice your jaw and your neck and your shoulders.

Allow yourself to travel down your back.

Gently notice if you have any extra energy,

Tightness.

You can even just gently say it to yourself,

Tightness,

Tightness,

Excitement.

And then gently notice if you have any extra energy,

Excitement.

Bring yourself back to your breath,

Down your stomach,

Into your sit bones,

To your thighs,

Your knees,

Down to your feet.

Allow yourself to settle and be here,

Honoring your practice,

Honoring being in the present moment.

From time to time,

You will notice me go silent.

Anywhere between 30 seconds to 45.

Please trust in the practice that I will guide you.

Always bring yourself back to your anchor.

In order to do this practice of honoring the self and coming with self-compassion to really be present for this month of Elul,

We will enter self-compassion.

We will enter self-compassion.

We will take daily time to relax,

Allowing tension to slowly leave.

We will ease into the body and invite a smile.

A smile invites relaxing of the nervous system and sends a message of ease and safety to all our bodily sensations.

Invite kindness.

Invite acceptance.

Notice if you are holding any painful or unpleasant feelings or any losses in your life.

You can share a lesson with others and being open to this mindfulness that you find Guer%,

Mental health,

Mental health resources,

And timestamp.

Allow them to be present,

Honor them with kindness.

We'll set an intention,

A Kavanah for today's practice,

To honor and hold any difficult feelings or sensations in the body,

With care,

Compassion and understanding.

We'll set an intention,

A Kavanah for today's practice,

To honor and hold any difficult feelings or sensations in the body,

And we'll set an intention,

A Kavanah for today's practice.

Know that you are not alone.

I am here with you.

Whoever is joining us live right now is with you.

Jews and non-Jews are joining throughout the world,

Awakening to the good and giving thanks,

Awakening to the sound of the shofar that we now blow every morning during the month of Elul to allow us to awake,

To allow mindfulness.

There are others just like you that sometimes do not honor themselves and that are having difficulties.

Understand this is a shared human experience.

And now quietly to yourself repeat these phrases to yourself with kindness and kavod,

Honor.

May I be safe.

May I be kind to myself.

May I accept myself just as I am.

May I honor myself.

May I honor myself.

You might breathe in the intention,

The wish for yourself that you honor yourself and your practice and your commitment to these 40 days before the Day of Atonement.

That you really believe that you are enough,

That you are a soul created in the likeness of the Divine.

May I be safe.

May I be safe.

May I be kind to myself.

May I accept myself just as I am.

May I practice self-honor.

May I practice self-honor.

Open to whatever bodily feelings arise,

Meeting whatever you experience with kindness,

Acceptance and honor.

When the mind wanders and at will,

That is a sitting meditation practice,

Gently bring your attention back to your phrases.

If this practice today in this present moment evokes strong feelings or emotions,

You can always come back to awareness of the breath and simply return to your phrases when you are ready with self-compassion and honor.

Our teacher,

Joseph Goldstein,

Teaches three kind words that we use every day in our practice.

Simply,

Begin again.

And we are beginning again in the new moon of Eloh.

We feel the rising of the potential of forgiveness,

Of honor,

Of purification.

We feel the tingling,

The pull.

May I be safe.

May I be kind to myself.

May I accept myself just as I am.

May I be kind to myself.

May I accept myself just as I am.

May I honor myself.

We will move into some time of sitting quietly together in silence,

Opening to whatever arises,

Feelings or sensations that are present.

Allow yourself to take in any honor,

Willingness and openness.

If no feelings come up,

If no openness towards honor,

Meet this too with kindness and acceptance.

Appreciate the efforts and attention that you've brought to this practice,

Of cultivating honor to begin your 40 days of Eloh practice together in community.

I will let you know when we will come out of the silent meditation,

You will hear the sound of my bells.

I will let you know when we will come out of the silent meditation,

You will hear the sound of my bells.

I will let you know when we will come out of the silent meditation,

You will hear the sound of my bells.

I will let you know when we will come out of the silent meditation,

You will hear the sound of my bells.

I will let you know when we will come out of the silent meditation,

You will hear the sound of my bells.

I will let you know when we will come out of the silent meditation,

You will hear the sound of my bells.

I will let you know when we will come out of the silent meditation,

You will hear the sound of my bells.

I will let you know when we will come out of the silent meditation,

You will hear the sound of my bells.

I will let you know when we will come out of the silent meditation,

You will hear the sound of my bells.

I will let you know when we will come out of the silent meditation,

You will hear the sound of my bells.

Thank you.

Allow yourself to come into this shared sacred space wherever you're joining us live or watching later on.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm going to close with a practice suggestion that I would love all of us to engage in during these 40 days together.

If you have a mezuzah in your home,

It is the beautiful structure that many Jews hang on their doorpost that has the Shema,

Our central prayer listed in it.

And traditionally it's on every door except for the bathroom.

And if you have one,

I want you to put your hand wherever your safe sacred space is,

Probably your bedroom or an office or anywhere that you can be alone before you go to bed.

And you put your hand there and you leave whatever has been unpleasant and caused you suffering during the day or that you have caused suffering to others.

Leave it with the mezuzah.

God can handle it.

God can carry us.

God will.

When you've entered and before you go to bed,

Inside a Jewish prayer book known as a Sidor is something known as the Bedtime Shema.

Before the Bedtime Shema is a beautiful,

Beautiful prayer that basically asks us to forgive anyone who's hurt us before we lie down to sleep.

I would love all of us to read that before bed.

If you don't have a Jewish prayer book or Sidor,

Go ahead and email us at kihilatmusar at gmail.

Com.

If there's a chat box,

I would put it in it,

But I'm not sure there is.

Let's see.

It's connected on live stream wherever,

Whoever may be joining us.

So you should be able to see the page and find us and I will go ahead and send you the scan of the page.

But it goes like this.

I hereby forgive anyone who has angered me,

Provoked me,

Sinned against me,

Or by failing to give me due respect,

Whether in word or deed,

Inadvertently or deliberately,

Willingly or unwillingly,

Financially or physically.

Let no one incur punishment because of me.

Now,

This is a very old prayer.

You can say it in the Hebrew or the English.

If we were going to apply it to our Musa,

Our mindfulness practice today,

We might put this prayer in our own words.

I hereby forgive anyone who has hurt me,

Angered me,

Provoked me,

Sinned against me,

Whether in word or deed,

Physically or financially,

Inadvertently or deliberately,

With intention or not.

Please open my heart to forgive them and let go.

And please let them know in their heart that I forgive them,

That I will take responsibility and let them know that I forgive them and allow them to forgive themselves.

May I,

In these 40 days of Elul,

Ask for forgiveness when I need to and take responsibility.

That is our practice,

Every night before bed.

Thank you.

Shalom.

I'm delighted to be here with you.

I look forward to sitting together tomorrow.

Please send any comments or questions you have to us.

You can also write in the comment box.

We are accepting what is known as Dana in the Pali language.

It is where you give freely what you would like to donate for today's sitting or any of the days.

You can send that through PayPal,

Through Bitt,

Through Paybox,

Through Nelly or Bank Transfer.

You can be in touch of where that's located or just simply look for Chassio Oriel or Rabbi Chassio Oriel Steinbauer or Kehilat Muxar.

We are also accepting sponsors for each day.

If you want to sponsor one of the sittings in honor of someone who has passed away or in honor of someone who is with us today that you want to respect and thank,

Please be in touch with us at kehilatmusar.

Com.

We'd be delighted to accept your sponsorship.

The sponsorships run $50 or the equivalent in whatever your currency is.

Thank you again.

May you have a blessed day.

Reviews

Thank you for this series. I am so excited to be able to have a series of directed meditations for Elul. Thank you 🙏