Four Worlds Meditation

A guided meditation directing awareness to the Kabbalistic "four worlds" of consciousness rooted in mindful awareness and reaching towards Infinite Presence.

Transcript

Welcome to the Four Worlds Meditation,

An opportunity for us to engage Jewish wisdom in a way that deepens awareness and connects us with God's presence in a way that is authentic to our moment-to-moment experience.

Begin by finding a comfortable place to sit,

Preferably with a straight spine,

A place where you can have your body be fairly still,

And once you settle in,

Become aware of the movement of breath.

Notice the place where the inhale enters your nostrils or your mouth,

The way the body gently expands to make room for the inhale.

Notice that place where the inhale reaches its maximum length and switches over to an exhale,

Noticing the way the body gently contracts as the air leaves,

And then paying attention again to the movement of inhale as it switches over from that exhale.

Make a decision,

A strong decision,

To be present with this breath with each cycle of movement as it enlivens and expands your body,

And then as it leaves.

And become aware of your belly.

Let the breath move in to fill your belly,

Letting your belly be soft,

Receptive to the breath,

Feeling it expand and inhale.

As you move in,

Imagine that with every inhale in,

You are breathing in security,

Safety,

Rootedness,

And groundedness.

And with every exhale,

You let go of fear,

Anxiety,

Restlessness.

Every inhale breathes in acceptance.

You can use the phrase,

It is perfect,

With the breath,

To help ground you in this awareness of acceptance,

Safety,

Security.

Go ahead and breathe in,

It is perfect to your belly,

And let out any desire to be anywhere else,

Any sense of restlessness,

Anxiety about anything.

Letting the phrase,

It is perfect,

Guide your awareness to the ability to be in this moment,

To accept and embody this moment.

As you allow yourself to continue to have that soft belly acceptance of the moment,

Bring your attention to your heart area.

And as you inhale in,

Imagine that you are breathing into the heart,

That the heart itself is an organ of breath,

Almost like an open window in your chest.

And that with every breath into that open window in your chest,

You can say the phrase,

You are loved.

And allow yourself to take in with the inhale,

The experience that you know of being loved.

And with every exhale,

You can say the phrase again,

You are loved.

And this time,

Say it out to the world,

To those who surround you in your life,

And to those that are beyond,

You are loved.

Letting the breath on the exhale move out through that open window.

And with every breath in and out of the heart area,

You feel an openness.

The you are loved statement points your awareness in the direction of embracing the moment,

Of being open,

Like the open window,

With the breeze freely going through it.

The heart area doesn't just accept the moment,

But embraces it,

Wants to bring it closer,

Wants to be present to it in a heartful way.

As you stay present with your breath,

Soft belly,

Have your attention on openness of heart,

On embracing the moment.

Saying you are loved on the inhale and the exhale can help facilitate that awareness.

But as soon as you feel that sense of openness,

You can also drop the phrase.

That sense of security and stability in the belly.

Bring your awareness to the third eye,

Or the point on your forehead,

Just above the middle of your eyebrows.

And let each breath,

Imagine that the breath is coming in through that third eye on the inhale,

And out on the exhale.

And each breath through the third eye area is breathing in focus,

Concentration,

Awareness,

Clarity.

With every breath in,

As you summon the intention to be extra focused and concentrated in this moment,

You're aware of your body in space,

The contact of your bottom and the cushion,

Or the chair,

The floor,

The distance between the bottom of your spine and the top of your head,

The resting place of your hands and your arms,

The place where the air touches your skin on your face,

Maybe your hands or arms or legs,

The movement of breath with all the fine sensations that go along with it.

And you're aware of your open heart,

Your gentle and soft belly.

And with every inhale into the third eye area,

You can use the phrase,

All is clear.

All is clear as you breathe in clarity,

Focus,

Concentration.

And you breathe out of that area,

Clarity,

Focus,

Concentration.

Allow yourself to be present to all the sensations in your experience,

Whether those are the sensation of your body in space,

Whether it is the sounds in the room that surround,

The air on your face.

See if you can hear it all and be present to all of it at once,

In the same way that you walk into a room and you hear all the voices in the room.

And you don't focus on one or the other,

But instead are present and hear it all at once.

Heart open,

Present to every aspect of our experience.

Nothing is a distraction.

Everything is worthy of our awareness,

Of our attention.

Feeling the presence of safety,

Rootedness in the belly.

It is perfect.

The openness of the heart.

You are loved.

And the clarity of the mind,

Present and focused.

All is clear.

And now begin to open to that which is beyond the surface of your experience.

Open to the possibility that in every part of your experience,

Sensations in the body,

Sounds,

Awareness of your body in space,

Breath,

That everything is filled with an infinitely deep presence.

That God is expressing God's self through everything,

Through every cell and our bodies,

Through every sensory experience,

Through every thought in the mind.

Everything has its root in an infinitely intelligent,

Loving presence.

So we have the opportunity to sense into the depth that is in this moment through our moment-to-moment experience here and now.

As you begin to open to a sense of infinite presence that is shining through every part of your experience of this moment,

You can use the phrase,

I am holy,

To bring your attention to this depth.

It's almost as if the Holy One,

The infinite divine presence,

Is saying,

I am holy through the breath,

Through the sensations in the body,

Through the sound of my voice,

Through the air as it hits our skin.

Let the phrase,

I am holy,

Turn your attention to the presence that is within and beyond every aspect of this moment.

So that we're aware that even as we are present with the fixed,

Limited expression of our bodies,

Breath,

Muscle contraction,

Sound,

That what underlies that experience is an infinite depth.

Sense into that infinite depth,

I am holy.

And as we give ourselves more fully to that presence,

We notice that we disappear,

That our identification with our limited and separate selves and experience dissolves into just an experience of the infinite presence.

There's not even us that's experiencing the presence,

There is just the presence.

So as you sense into the reality that I am holy,

Points you into,

Forget yourself.

Let it dissolve.

Let there just be the one,

The holy one.

So as you sense into the reality that I am holy,

Points you into,

Forget yourself.

Allow yourself to be aware of all four centers.

That even as you are in the place of the infinite,

The I am holy,

You're also present with the third eye.

All is clear,

Present with breath and body sensation,

With the symphony of the moment and the open heart.

I am loved on the inhale,

You are loved on the inhale,

You are loved on the exhale,

And it is perfect in the belly.

Place your attention fully in your breath.

As you take three slow deep breaths,

Feel yourself fully grounded in this moment and let the experience of the infinite,

Of the holy,

Leave a reshimu,

An imprint that you will be able to take on with your day or your evening.

Sense of connection to that depth that we can bring with us into the all,

The little details of our lives.

Shalom.

Reviews

I am loved.
It is perfect
I am clear.
I am holy.
Powerful and perfect. 🤩

excellent meditation.

Fantastic guidance. Thank you. Shalom

I loved the message and affirmations.

It is perfect. You are loved. All is clear. I am holy.

I could follow his voice forever.
רב תודות.

Absolutely phenomenal. Just what I needed and was looking for. Thank you.

A good meditation I like the way it breaks down presence into breath heart belly and third eye

Thank you. This is worth 20 stars.

A profound meditation on the present, the Presence, and the holiness of self. Kol hakavod, with great gratitude.

I like this meditation quite a lot. It brings the meditator's physical nature, heart, perceptive ability, and connection to the Divine into full alignment, in a very gentle way.

While useful to experienced meditators, I'd also include this in my recommendations to those newbies who declare "I'm just not able to meditate." This journey inward is very easy to stay with.

Some complain of audio difficulties. I only noticed one audio anomaly, and I did not find that it provides a distraction. About halfway through, the speaker's voice begins to sound slightly more muffled than previously; however, the words remain clear.

I will be listening to this meditation again!

Thank you, rabbi. I will work with this regularly to get to that infinite place. Shalom. Namaste

Thank you for your teaching.

Simple and effective for deep supported awareness to presence and appreciation of the Great Spirit. Nice length. Audio could be better but it's not too distracting. Will use again ans take with me. Thanks.

Felt very powerful, thank you.
The noise/quality problems mentioned by others seemed negligible to me.

A divine meditation. Perfect in every way. Blessings.

Excellent meditation.