New Year Shofar Meditation

The Shofar, rams horn, is sounded on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. It is with the Shofar's shape that we can internalise a precious lesson about navigating through the states of constriction and expansion of life. A powerful, life-affirming meditation for anyone and everyone.

Transcript

Welcome back to another soul fitness meditation.

Rosh Hashanah,

The Jewish New Year is a time to reflect on everything that happened in the previous 12 months and a time to focus on everything we'd like to achieve in the upcoming year.

And when we look at our lives we notice the ups and the downs,

The positives and the negatives,

The light and the dark and this itself is reflected in the shape of the shofar,

The ram's horn which we will blow on Rosh Hashanah.

The ram's horn on one end is large,

Is extended,

Is expanded and on the other side where we blow is small and is constricted showing us the two sides of life.

So let's meditate today in preparation for Rosh Hashanah and let's focus on the shape of the shofar,

On the two sides of life,

Of the ups and the downs and use this meditation as a springboard to give us all hope that in the dark times we will always know that there will be light.

In the tough times we know we would always be coming up to expanded consciousness and greatness.

So join me on this breathing exercise meditation as we prepare for Rosh Hashanah.

Find yourself in a comfortable position where you know you won't be disturbed.

Whether you are lying on the floor or sitting in a chair,

Make sure that your limbs aren't crossed,

Make sure you're not holding anything that might fall.

Breathing in through your nose,

Noticing cooler air as you come in,

Hold for a few seconds and then breathing out again.

Once again breathing in through your nose,

Filling yourself with air,

Holding for a few seconds and then breathing out,

Once again noticing the warmer air as it comes out of your nostrils.

Slowly feeling relaxed,

Feeling comfortable as you breathe in once more through your nose,

Filling yourself with light,

With energy and with air and holding for a few seconds before you breathe out again,

Re-engaging with the world,

Re-engaging with humanity.

In through your nose,

Filling your stomach with air,

Filling yourself with life and energy,

Hold for a few seconds and then breathing out again.

Slowly we'll turn down the volume of the body starting with the right leg,

Notice that the right leg is feeling warm,

Heavy and relaxed.

And now the left leg,

Just feel it feeling really warm and heavy,

Relaxed,

Setting it to sleep,

Beautiful.

Now your right hand,

Your right wrist,

Your right arm,

All the way up to your elbow and the upper part of the arm to become the place where your arm and your shoulders meet.

The left hand,

The left lower arm,

Left elbow and the left upper arm,

Now everything is feeling really warm,

Heavy,

Relaxed,

The tummy,

The seat of so many anxieties is feeling warm,

Heavy and relaxed.

Your chest,

Your back,

All the way up your vertebrae,

Just let any tension dissipate,

Let any stress disappear.

You are where you're meant to be,

There's nowhere else you have to run to.

Moving up to your right shoulder,

Your left shoulder,

You should feel a buzz throughout your body,

Your neck down to the tips of your toes and up again.

Your body just feels warm,

Heavy and relaxed.

Now your right ear,

The right side of your face,

The left ear and the left side of the face,

The left ear and the left side of the face,

The chin,

The teeth,

Tongue,

The lips,

Your right eye and your left eye,

Your nose and your nostrils,

The top part of your forehead,

All the way up to the top of your head,

Now feels completely warm,

Completely heavy,

Completely relaxed.

In this state of calm,

Let's focus on the shape of the shofar,

Thin and small on one end and building up to the other end of the shofar,

It's wide,

It's expanded,

This is life.

There are days where everything is constricted,

Our minds are constricted,

Our souls feel constricted,

The answers are always no,

The friends don't seem to be there and the days are dark.

Let's never forget that if you follow that shofar all the way up to the top,

You have expanded consciousness,

You have warmth and connection,

You have clarity of purpose and then life goes back down again to that place of constriction once more,

The pendulum of life once more,

The pendulum of life is a reality from moments of dark to moments of light to dark to light again,

From constriction to expansion and expansion to constriction once more and hence we can never rest on our laurels,

We can never be arrogant about our successes because at any moment we can come down to that constriction and at the same token we can never be despondent,

We can never give up because at any moment we can come back up again to a place of expansion,

Greatness,

Joy,

Happiness,

The pendulum of life is the shofar and on Rosh Hashanah we can focus on this pendulum and tell ourselves no matter what I have the strength within to always be focused,

To always stay on course and to always follow my calling,

There'll be good days and there'll be less good days,

There'll be moments of light,

There'll be moments of darkness but it's okay,

I'll still keep on going in this expanded consciousness that you're right now let's breathe through this shape as you breathe in focus on the constriction,

Focus on the moments of your life where you may well feel that things don't make sense and as you breathe out again focus on expansion,

Focus on light and clarity as you breathe in think back to the side of the shofar which is small and then breathe out and blow out and make your shofar sound into the world whereby you will expand yourself,

You will make changes that will affect everything for the good then breathe in again constriction,

Moments of hardship and then breathe out again,

Expansion,

Wisdom,

Clarity of purpose breathe in again and then breathe out again breathe in again and now with every ounce of your being as you breathe out I want you to imagine like you're blowing that shofar,

You're making that sound,

You are stating to the world that you're ready to face any challenge,

Blow that shofar out once again breathing in with our higher state of knowledge that we can pass through any test I want you to breathe out now again and blow that shofar tell the world your message,

Tell the world that you have what it takes to overcome any challenges you blow out that shofar sound,

That strength,

That conviction,

You have everything you need,

Breathing in again hold for a few seconds and then once more breathe out broadcasting to the world that you know who you are and you know what you can achieve and nothing will hold you back once more in with a very big deep breath feeling so calm right now,

So connected right now with this shofar visualization in your mind you can go forward into a new year knowing whatever happens,

Any hardship or difficulty you will be able to overcome you will be able to take a step towards the direction that you choose no matter what life throws at you any moment you can choose how you decide to react this too will pass,

Whatever happens in the upcoming year you know that inside you have everything you need to be the success that you want to be so breathe in once more,

Pick yourself with light and breathe out and breathe out feeling that joy and that connection and step forward into a new year of peace,

Happiness and joy for you and for the entire world

Reviews

Beautiful. Shana Tova 🦋

B”H

Wow! How not to have a blessed new year after this one? Much gratitude ואמן✨💕

Excellent! Love the shofar analogy. Wonderful start to the new year. Thank you.

HaShem led me to this meditation. Perfect! Shana Tova

Never knew this meaning of the shofar. Very inspiring. Would love to have heard it’s sound at the end

Oh my good! So beautiful!
Thank you.
Shana Tova!

Amazing!! Thank you so much! A fantastic guided meditation for Rosh Hashanah and the secular new year! Great voice too! Happy, Healthy & Expansive New Year!

Very good, relaxing! Good thoughts! Happy New Year! 🎈

I was so glad to find a teacher that I could experience more of the meaning of this special time of year for my Jewish friends and brilliant meditation . Thank you . I hope there is one coming for Yom Kippur

What an incredible mediation, thank you.

Toda rabah 🙏 L'shanah tova