Welcome to Soul Fitness Meditations.
Whether you are about to start your day,
Or you've just come back and want to just unwind and relax,
This is a perfect opportunity to access a place of calm,
Of focus and all-round good feeling.
It's pretty simple,
All you need is yourself.
All you need is a quiet space where you won't be disturbed.
So get that phone and put it on airplane mode.
Make sure you are sitting really comfortably.
Make sure no one is going to disturb you as we start a 10 minute meditation.
So first things first,
Like I said,
Ensure that you are sitting with your back straight.
You can have your hands on your lap,
Palms facing up or down,
However you prefer,
Feet on the ground,
Shoulder width apart,
Just make sure none of your limbs are crossed.
You can have your eyes open or closed,
However you prefer.
I think closed is better.
We are going to start breathing in through the nose,
Big deep breath in through the nose.
Feel yourself there,
Hold for a few minutes,
And then breathe out.
You may have noticed I said minutes,
Of course I meant seconds.
Breathe in through the nose,
Hold for a few seconds,
And then breathe out again.
In through the nose,
Big deep breath in,
Feel yourself there,
And breathe out again through your nose.
You are already starting to feel much calmer,
Your heart rate is going down already.
We don't have to run anywhere,
We don't have to go anywhere,
Feeling warm and relaxed.
Let's breathe in again.
This time we are going to start exercising what we call diaphragmatic breathing.
Breath is so important,
In fact it is fundamental to the Jewish faith.
We understand that when the master of the world,
The creator,
Made the first human being,
He breathed into that first Adam,
The soul of life.
The word for breath in Hebrew is nishima,
Which of course is totally tied up in the word nishama,
Which means soul,
Soul and breath,
Breath and soul.
Each time we breathe properly and we can focus on our breath,
We are accessing a deep place,
We are accessing a deep point in our soul.
So now we breathe in,
I want you to imagine that someone has tied a rope to your belly button,
And as you breathe in through your nose,
I want you to imagine someone pulling on that rope,
And opening up your tummy,
So that when you breathe in through your nose,
You fill your tummy like a big,
Big balloon,
Expanding,
Expanding,
Expanding.
Try to bypass your lungs and fill your tummy with the air and expand it like a big balloon.
If you want,
Put two hands on your tummy,
And as you breathe in now,
Fill your fingers,
Expand away from each other as you breathe in.
So let's try it together.
Big deep breath in through the nose,
Expanding your tummy,
Hold for a few seconds,
And now as you breathe out,
I want you to lightly,
Lightly press with your hands against your tummy and push the air out.
Let's try again,
Breathe in through the nose,
Filling your tummy like a big balloon,
Feeling those fingers expanding away from each other,
Hold for a few seconds,
And then breathe out,
Gently pushing with your hands against your tummy.
Beautiful.
Let's try again,
Big deep breath in,
Bypass the lungs,
Fill your tummy with air like a big balloon,
Expanding,
Expanding,
Hold for a few seconds,
And now breathe out,
Pushing lightly against your tummy as the air flow comes out.
Beautiful.
Perfect.
Let's try again,
Big deep breath in through the nose,
Expanding,
Expanding,
Expanding,
Hold for a few seconds,
And breathe out.
You'll notice that the effect of nishimā,
Nishama,
The effect of breathing consciously,
Focusing on your breath,
You're already feeling a lot more relaxed than just a few minutes ago when we started,
Feeling warm and heavy and relaxed.
No matter what you're doing,
No matter what you've done today or what you're planning to do afterwards,
Right now we're in a state of relaxation and focus.
Let's try it three more times,
Big deep breaths in through the nose,
Expanding the tummy like a big balloon,
Filling ourselves with oxygen,
Filling ourselves with air,
Filling ourselves with chayim,
With a source of life,
Feeling energized.
Let's try it three times.
In through the nose.
Beautiful.
Big expanding balloon,
Hold for a few seconds,
And then breathe out,
Pushing lightly as you breathe out through your nose,
Using your tummy muscles to push the air out.
Beautiful.
Again,
Breathing in,
Expanding,
Expanding,
Expanding,
Half a few seconds,
And then breathe out just gently,
Pushing the air out gently,
Pushing the air out gently,
Gently,
Gently,
Gently.
Beautiful.
So again,
Breathing in through the nose,
Expanding the tummy like a big balloon,
As you breathe out,
Feel that wonderful feeling,
Relaxation of focus,
Of centering,
The purpose,
The reason why we say that nishama and nishima are so intrinsically linked to each other.
Feeling the space,
Feeling your feet against the floor,
Feeling your body against the chair,
Being aware of the quiet around you.
As you breathe in now,
Feel the air as cold as it comes in through your nose,
And after interacting with you,
With your own self and your soul,
It comes out again feeling warm,
Ready to embrace the world again as it breathes out.
Breathing in,
Feel the cold air,
And as it comes out again,
You feel the warmth.
Keep breathing while I talk,
We're going to do something called a body scan.
Body scan is a very simple technique to turn down the volume of our body.
It has the volume controls for our self,
And often times we think that in order to feel a state of soul fitness,
Of being in a state of calm,
Feeling our inner selves,
And being aware that we have to do something or go somewhere or work hard,
But the truth is all we really need to do is turn down the volume of the body.
So let's start.
I'll name a body part,
Just imagine it,
Touch it with your mind and set it to sleep.
Keep breathing while I talk.
I want you to just be aware of your big toe of your right foot,
Touch it with your mind and send it to sleep.
Big toe of your right foot,
The next toe,
The next toe,
The next toe,
The next toe,
The ball of your foot,
The arch of your foot,
The heel of your foot.
Moving up the ankle,
The calf,
Muscle,
The shin,
The knee,
The right thigh,
Everything feeling warm,
Heavy,
And relaxed.
Let's go with the left big toe.
Left big toe,
Touch with your mind,
Send it to sleep,
All the toes next to it.
Up to the little toe,
The ball of the foot,
The arch of the foot,
The heel,
The whole foot,
The ankle,
The calf,
The shin,
The knee,
The left thigh,
To both feet,
Both legs.
Feel very warm and heavy and relaxed,
Beautiful.
Just keep the breathing coming.
Let's move up to the hands,
The right thumb,
Fingers,
Touch them with your mind,
Send them to sleep,
The wrist,
The right forearm,
The right elbow,
The right bicep and tricep,
All the way up to the shoulder,
Warm,
Heavy,
And relaxed.
The left thumb,
The left fingers,
The left wrist,
The left forearm,
The left elbow,
The left bicep,
Tricep,
Up to the shoulder,
Warm,
Heavy,
Relaxed,
Both arms feel so at peace and relaxed.
Keep the breathing coming.
The tummy all the way up,
The tummy all the way up to the chest,
The neck,
The back,
Moving up slowly,
Slowly through the back.
It's very simple but very,
Very,
Very,
Very effective.
The right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade,
Up to the neck,
The right shoulder,
The left shoulder,
Till everything feels warm,
Heavy,
Relaxed,
Neck down.
I'm already starting to feel an echo of this beautiful sensation of a body who is going to sleep and allowing space for the nisama.
Let's go right ear,
Right cheekbone,
Right cheek,
Right side of the nose,
Right side of the forehead,
Left ear,
Left cheekbone,
Left cheek,
Left side of the face,
Left eye,
Left nostril.
Let's go down to the chin,
To the mouth,
To the teeth,
To the tongue,
Both nostrils now,
Just getting rid of all tension,
Up the nose,
Through to the top of the forehead,
Till everything feels warm,
Heavy,
Relaxed,
At peace.
Over the top of the head,
As we go through our scalp,
All the way to the back of our head,
Everything feeling relaxed and warm and heavy,
We feel everything now,
The whole body from the toe to the head is feeling warm,
Heavy,
Relaxed.
It's an incredible sensation.
Peace,
Shalemut,
Which means harmony,
Of course is rooted in the word shalem,
Which means complete,
Which is of course linked to the word shalom,
Which means peace.
As you breathe in and out through the nose,
I want you to imagine the breath going all the way down your body,
All the way down to your toes,
As you breathe in,
As you breathe out from your toes,
All the way back up again through your whole body,
Out through your nose,
Everything feels heavy and warm and relaxed,
Connected.
You don't have to run anywhere,
You don't have to do anything,
You don't have to go,
You don't have to take,
Ingest,
Drink,
Just being present.
No matter where we're going,
No matter where we have to go,
Right now we have this sense and sensation of being present,
Happy and calm.
Your thoughts might be flying,
Center them and remember that all we have is this present moment.
Ha'ava'ayin,
The past has gone,
There's nothing we can do about it.
Ha'atiladayin,
The future is still to come,
No one can be sure in any way,
Shape or form of what will happen.
Va'hoveh keherfayin,
In this present moment,
Goes like the blink of the eye.
As daga ma'ayin,
Why is there room for worry?
All we have is one moment.
Breathe in deeply and as you breathe in,
Fill yourself with awe,
With light,
With that joy and pleasure of being connected.
As you breathe out,
Engage in the world and know that you have a unique mission,
Something that only you can do and add.
Final big deep breath in,
Fill yourself with air and as you breathe out,
Welcome back to the world.
You're ready to go,
You're ready to do anything you want.
Tap yourself lightly.
Rub your hands together,
Cover your eyes,
Big deep breath in,
Take your hands away.
You go back now,
Re-engaged and re-energized.
