The goal must be to come to a state of "sleep" even while awake, that is to bring stillness to the mind of its incessant flow of thoughts and desires.
--The Aish Kodesh (Peasetzna Rebbe)
--The Aish Kodesh (Peasetzna Rebbe)
Basic Instructions for Meditation Practice
The Aish Kodesh recognized that our connection to God depends on the purity of our minds. An anonymous student of the Peasetzna Rebbe recounts in the introduction to the Rebbe's spiritual journal, known in English as To Heal the Soul, that the Rebbe taught a very specific form of meditation. The purpose of the meditation was to cultivate "inner silence." The Rebbe explained that the reason that a dream is called a sixtieth of prophecy by Chazal (Brachot 57b) is because in sleep we go beyond our ego and the flow of our thoughts and desires.
The Rebbe explains that if we would examine the flow of our thoughts during the day they would appear no different than those of a madman -- the difference being that a healthy person does not act them out. The key therefore to cultivating a deeper connection to God therefore requires that we are able to bring greater quietude to our minds. The Rebbe taught his student to meditate on the small hand of a clock as a specific way of increasing inner silence.
The Peasetzna Rebbe was the leading Chassidic Rabbi of Warsaw before and during WW II. In this short account of his student we learn that indeed the simple practice of meditation was a fundamental part of the spiritual training in Chassidut. The goals of inner silence and equanimity are fundamental to the spiritual practice that the Kabbalistic and Chassidic masters taught. However, here we see that quiet meditation with single-pointed focus was one of the methods utilized by the masters. The meditation exercise presented below is therefore intended to provide students today with a more detailed explanation of this approach.
During meditation we cultivate an energy of concentration and awareness as we simultaneously release tension and increase relaxation. In other words we are seeking to be physically relaxed and mentally alert.
I am asleep, but my heart is awake… (Shir Hashirim 5:2)
Usually our time of physical relaxation is sleep. Meditation takes the relaxed physical energy of sleep and combines it with mental alertness. The following are detailed instructions to assist us in cultivating this state of mind.
Sit forward on a chair that provides support for your body, a hard chair or one with a very small cushion.
Sit straight with your body supported from below on your sit bones. (See instructions for posture below)
Place your hands on your lap palm down (not too far forward because that will cause you to lean forward).
Take a deep and relaxed breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Repeat for a few minutes letting all stress exit on the exhale. This is the "warm up" for the meditation.
Imagine a string pulling the crown of your head upwards and holding your body up so your shoulders release tension, relax and drop.
Bring your chin in slightly. Align your ears with your shoulders and hips. Imagine a string pulling your chest out slightly, while keeping your chin in.
Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth to connect energy channels there.
Look at a spot on the floor at about a 45-degree angle. Keep your eyes opened half-way. The point is a place to rest your eyes. Look gently and don't strain your eyes. Meditation is an exercise in maintaining awareness, and therefore it is important and helpful to keep the eyes opened. Meditation is not simply relaxation, it is a training. If you are used to meditating with your eyes closed it may take time to adjust to this approach.
Imagine gentle, relaxing energy pouring down on you from above, washing away all the tension throughout your body. Release tension from the top down, one area at a time, and let that tension energy go into the floor. Feel grounded in your center.
After doing the warm up for a few minutes begin to breathe through the nose quietly, both on the inhale and exhale. Let the breath become long, slow, and gentle.
Keep your mouth closed and bring your teeth together gently.
Count each breath on the exhale, counting 10 breaths and then repeating again from 1.
In other words, inhale-exhale 1, inhale-exhale 2, inhale-exhale 3, etc. The inhale is silent and on the exhale count the numbers in your imagination voicing each number in your imagination for approximately five seconds.
The mind is calmed by the rhythm of the breath, and the body is further relaxed by the calming of the mind.
Focus your mind on the spot you are looking at and on the breath.
Let any thoughts that arise come up, but do not follow them. Let them flow by. Do not try to stop thoughts. The exercise is to practice trying to keep your concentration on counting the breaths. When thoughts come up, use your energy to return back to the counting of the breaths. If you lose count, start again where you left off or back at 1.
Very often our energy is located in our heads with its constant flow of thoughts. In meditation, we practice not following thoughts and we let our consciousness settle in to our physical center, which is two inches below the belly button and two inches from the surface of the skin. You can cough to feel this area physically. You can also use light muscle pressure there to help focus concentration. Feel this center as the origin of all breath and physical motion in your body.
This practice is best integrated into your life if you commit to a certain time each day. Before prayer in the morning and/or before going to bed at night are good times to meditate. Even a 5 minute meditation period is very good. You may wish to work up to a period of 26 minutes.
When you encounter negative states or distracting thoughts, continue meditation. This is a test of your will and this exercise will bring you strength. As in any kind of exercise, there will be resistance. This meditation practice is not aimed at attaining certain states of mind, but at practicing being in a state of awareness and centeredness in all kinds of states of mind.
There are no good or bad meditations. Every time you put time aside to practice is beneficial to you both physically and spiritually. There are times when there are a lot of thoughts and there are times when there are less thoughts. There are times that it feels good, and there are times when it doesn't. What is most important is to commit to the practice.
The ideal approach to meditation is described very beautifully by the Holy Baal Shem Tov in his Testament Tzava'at Harivash (2) translated by Jacob Immanuel Schotchet:
Shviti – I have set God before me at all times (Psalms 16:8)
Shiviti is an expression of hishtavut (equanimity): no matter what happens, whether people praise or shame you, and so too with anything else, it is all the same to you. This applies likewise to any food: it is all the same to you whether you eat delicious delicacies or other things. For [with this perspective] the yetzer hara (evil inclination) is entirely removed from you.
Whatever may happen, say that "it comes from [God], blessed be He, and if it is proper in His eyes… Your motives are altogether for the sake of Heaven, and as for youself nothings makes any difference. This sense of [equanimity] is a very high level.
What the Baal Shem Tov teaches as he says is a "very high level." However, we can bring this high level into our lives a few minutes a day in the practice of meditation.
The Peasetzna taught that from this point of silence one can repeat the following verse:
Teach me Hashem your way and lead me on your upright pathway… (King David's Psalms 27:11)
In this spirit, at the end of your meditation period you may recite this verse or another verse that is meaningful to you.
The anonymous student of the Peasetzna concludes by saying that the Rebbe "strongly urged us to keep this practice."
Instructions for Sitting Posture
Blessed are you Lord, our God, King of the World, who straightens those who are bent over.
--Morning Blessings
As we explained above, during meditation we are seeking to be physically relaxed and mentally alert. In order to do this we sit in a special posture that allows us to maintain the body in both stillness and a state of relaxation. This posture provides many physiological benefits both to our meditation and relaxation. It is nothing complicated or foreign. It is actually returning to a healthy sitting posture that most of us are not used to. The main thing is to sit up straight and to feel supported from below. And from time to time during the meditation times gently bring your chin in to keep your head in better alignment with spine.
However, there are many subtleties to sitting properly and it is of great benefit to meditation and to general health to learn and practice them. It will take some time to build the strength to maintain an ideal posture in a relaxed state. So be patient with yourself and do not feel you have to perfect the posture in order to meditate. Proceed at the rate that is appropriate to your physical condition and goals. Do not cause your body excessive strain.
Sit in a chair with firm support. (This is important because a soft chair or couch does not provide the support to sit up straight.). Make sure the chair is high enough that your legs touch the ground and you can sit with your legs at approximately 90 degree angle (like most regular chairs).
Sit forward on the chair and adjust yourself so that you feel your weight pressing down on your sit bones beneath you.
Make your legs parallel and pointed forward. Your legs should not be far apart or spread open.
Sit straight up in your chair and then lean forward from you waist. As you are leaning forward slightly, use this motion to bring your head and spine into alignment. We do this by pulling the chin in gently to move the head and neck in more proper alignment with the spine. The stomach muscles gently help us with this. Then from the waist slowly move your torso back to the center of your body. (You can move back and forth to find the center point.)
And as you reach the center notice how straight you feel. Your shoulders should naturally release, relax and fall into alignment as well.
Another exercise that is very helpful is the following. While sitting after you have found your center position bend your chin in and downwards and slowly begin bending your head one vertebrae at a time as you exhale. Continue down the vertebrae from the neck to the upper back while keeping the body straight. In order to do this you have to engage your stomach muscles to gently bend and curve the vertebrae one at a time. Bend and curve your spine to the middle of your back. Relax there, let your arms hang down and breathe. Now inhale and on the exhale begin coming up one vertebra at a time, keeping your chin in and lifting your head back up only at the end. As you finish your shoulders should fall naturally into place and you should feel your chin in and your chest out in a very natural and strong position being supported by the structure of your body from below. This exercise can also be done standing. Only bend as far as is comfortable. Don't strain your muscles. If you do this regularly and gently, you can improve your general posture, flexibility, your breathing and free a lot of stress from your body.
Your body is now in alignment so that your head, neck and spine are in a straight line and your torso is supported from below from the chair, your bones and the deep muscles within the stomach.
This is an ideal posture. Most of us are not used to this ideal posture and to maintain it we need to practice it and build these deep muscles in the stomach. Do not strain your muscles or body in any way to maintain this posture. It is something that needs to develop over time.
There are great benefits to doing this. Indeed this is why so many people are studying Pilates today because this form of exercise trains us to engage these muscles and to improve our posture. Many back problems are caused because we use shoulder and neck muscles to support the head (the heaviest part of the body). But the body was created with the wisdom of the Creator. According to the wisdom of the body's design, the head and torso are supported from below by the muscles in the stomach and waist and upper legs. In this way the neck and spine are relaxed and the head rests on top.
The essential thing for our practice is to have a sense of this proper alignment and try to approach it in a way that is appropriate for your physical condition. Once again don't strain your body to hold this posture. If you practice holding the ideal posture for a few minutes at a time regularly and become more conscious of this proper alignment as described you can gently improve your posture and general health. When we are sitting up straight and supported from below, the tension and stress is removed from the body and the energy of the body can flow properly.
The Rebbe explains that if we would examine the flow of our thoughts during the day they would appear no different than those of a madman -- the difference being that a healthy person does not act them out. The key therefore to cultivating a deeper connection to God therefore requires that we are able to bring greater quietude to our minds. The Rebbe taught his student to meditate on the small hand of a clock as a specific way of increasing inner silence.
The Peasetzna Rebbe was the leading Chassidic Rabbi of Warsaw before and during WW II. In this short account of his student we learn that indeed the simple practice of meditation was a fundamental part of the spiritual training in Chassidut. The goals of inner silence and equanimity are fundamental to the spiritual practice that the Kabbalistic and Chassidic masters taught. However, here we see that quiet meditation with single-pointed focus was one of the methods utilized by the masters. The meditation exercise presented below is therefore intended to provide students today with a more detailed explanation of this approach.
During meditation we cultivate an energy of concentration and awareness as we simultaneously release tension and increase relaxation. In other words we are seeking to be physically relaxed and mentally alert.
I am asleep, but my heart is awake… (Shir Hashirim 5:2)
Usually our time of physical relaxation is sleep. Meditation takes the relaxed physical energy of sleep and combines it with mental alertness. The following are detailed instructions to assist us in cultivating this state of mind.
Sit forward on a chair that provides support for your body, a hard chair or one with a very small cushion.
Sit straight with your body supported from below on your sit bones. (See instructions for posture below)
Place your hands on your lap palm down (not too far forward because that will cause you to lean forward).
Take a deep and relaxed breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Repeat for a few minutes letting all stress exit on the exhale. This is the "warm up" for the meditation.
Imagine a string pulling the crown of your head upwards and holding your body up so your shoulders release tension, relax and drop.
Bring your chin in slightly. Align your ears with your shoulders and hips. Imagine a string pulling your chest out slightly, while keeping your chin in.
Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth to connect energy channels there.
Look at a spot on the floor at about a 45-degree angle. Keep your eyes opened half-way. The point is a place to rest your eyes. Look gently and don't strain your eyes. Meditation is an exercise in maintaining awareness, and therefore it is important and helpful to keep the eyes opened. Meditation is not simply relaxation, it is a training. If you are used to meditating with your eyes closed it may take time to adjust to this approach.
Imagine gentle, relaxing energy pouring down on you from above, washing away all the tension throughout your body. Release tension from the top down, one area at a time, and let that tension energy go into the floor. Feel grounded in your center.
After doing the warm up for a few minutes begin to breathe through the nose quietly, both on the inhale and exhale. Let the breath become long, slow, and gentle.
Keep your mouth closed and bring your teeth together gently.
Count each breath on the exhale, counting 10 breaths and then repeating again from 1.
In other words, inhale-exhale 1, inhale-exhale 2, inhale-exhale 3, etc. The inhale is silent and on the exhale count the numbers in your imagination voicing each number in your imagination for approximately five seconds.
The mind is calmed by the rhythm of the breath, and the body is further relaxed by the calming of the mind.
Focus your mind on the spot you are looking at and on the breath.
Let any thoughts that arise come up, but do not follow them. Let them flow by. Do not try to stop thoughts. The exercise is to practice trying to keep your concentration on counting the breaths. When thoughts come up, use your energy to return back to the counting of the breaths. If you lose count, start again where you left off or back at 1.
Very often our energy is located in our heads with its constant flow of thoughts. In meditation, we practice not following thoughts and we let our consciousness settle in to our physical center, which is two inches below the belly button and two inches from the surface of the skin. You can cough to feel this area physically. You can also use light muscle pressure there to help focus concentration. Feel this center as the origin of all breath and physical motion in your body.
This practice is best integrated into your life if you commit to a certain time each day. Before prayer in the morning and/or before going to bed at night are good times to meditate. Even a 5 minute meditation period is very good. You may wish to work up to a period of 26 minutes.
When you encounter negative states or distracting thoughts, continue meditation. This is a test of your will and this exercise will bring you strength. As in any kind of exercise, there will be resistance. This meditation practice is not aimed at attaining certain states of mind, but at practicing being in a state of awareness and centeredness in all kinds of states of mind.
There are no good or bad meditations. Every time you put time aside to practice is beneficial to you both physically and spiritually. There are times when there are a lot of thoughts and there are times when there are less thoughts. There are times that it feels good, and there are times when it doesn't. What is most important is to commit to the practice.
The ideal approach to meditation is described very beautifully by the Holy Baal Shem Tov in his Testament Tzava'at Harivash (2) translated by Jacob Immanuel Schotchet:
Shviti – I have set God before me at all times (Psalms 16:8)
Shiviti is an expression of hishtavut (equanimity): no matter what happens, whether people praise or shame you, and so too with anything else, it is all the same to you. This applies likewise to any food: it is all the same to you whether you eat delicious delicacies or other things. For [with this perspective] the yetzer hara (evil inclination) is entirely removed from you.
Whatever may happen, say that "it comes from [God], blessed be He, and if it is proper in His eyes… Your motives are altogether for the sake of Heaven, and as for youself nothings makes any difference. This sense of [equanimity] is a very high level.
What the Baal Shem Tov teaches as he says is a "very high level." However, we can bring this high level into our lives a few minutes a day in the practice of meditation.
The Peasetzna taught that from this point of silence one can repeat the following verse:
Teach me Hashem your way and lead me on your upright pathway… (King David's Psalms 27:11)
In this spirit, at the end of your meditation period you may recite this verse or another verse that is meaningful to you.
The anonymous student of the Peasetzna concludes by saying that the Rebbe "strongly urged us to keep this practice."
Instructions for Sitting Posture
Blessed are you Lord, our God, King of the World, who straightens those who are bent over.
--Morning Blessings
As we explained above, during meditation we are seeking to be physically relaxed and mentally alert. In order to do this we sit in a special posture that allows us to maintain the body in both stillness and a state of relaxation. This posture provides many physiological benefits both to our meditation and relaxation. It is nothing complicated or foreign. It is actually returning to a healthy sitting posture that most of us are not used to. The main thing is to sit up straight and to feel supported from below. And from time to time during the meditation times gently bring your chin in to keep your head in better alignment with spine.
However, there are many subtleties to sitting properly and it is of great benefit to meditation and to general health to learn and practice them. It will take some time to build the strength to maintain an ideal posture in a relaxed state. So be patient with yourself and do not feel you have to perfect the posture in order to meditate. Proceed at the rate that is appropriate to your physical condition and goals. Do not cause your body excessive strain.
Sit in a chair with firm support. (This is important because a soft chair or couch does not provide the support to sit up straight.). Make sure the chair is high enough that your legs touch the ground and you can sit with your legs at approximately 90 degree angle (like most regular chairs).
Sit forward on the chair and adjust yourself so that you feel your weight pressing down on your sit bones beneath you.
Make your legs parallel and pointed forward. Your legs should not be far apart or spread open.
Sit straight up in your chair and then lean forward from you waist. As you are leaning forward slightly, use this motion to bring your head and spine into alignment. We do this by pulling the chin in gently to move the head and neck in more proper alignment with the spine. The stomach muscles gently help us with this. Then from the waist slowly move your torso back to the center of your body. (You can move back and forth to find the center point.)
And as you reach the center notice how straight you feel. Your shoulders should naturally release, relax and fall into alignment as well.
Another exercise that is very helpful is the following. While sitting after you have found your center position bend your chin in and downwards and slowly begin bending your head one vertebrae at a time as you exhale. Continue down the vertebrae from the neck to the upper back while keeping the body straight. In order to do this you have to engage your stomach muscles to gently bend and curve the vertebrae one at a time. Bend and curve your spine to the middle of your back. Relax there, let your arms hang down and breathe. Now inhale and on the exhale begin coming up one vertebra at a time, keeping your chin in and lifting your head back up only at the end. As you finish your shoulders should fall naturally into place and you should feel your chin in and your chest out in a very natural and strong position being supported by the structure of your body from below. This exercise can also be done standing. Only bend as far as is comfortable. Don't strain your muscles. If you do this regularly and gently, you can improve your general posture, flexibility, your breathing and free a lot of stress from your body.
Your body is now in alignment so that your head, neck and spine are in a straight line and your torso is supported from below from the chair, your bones and the deep muscles within the stomach.
This is an ideal posture. Most of us are not used to this ideal posture and to maintain it we need to practice it and build these deep muscles in the stomach. Do not strain your muscles or body in any way to maintain this posture. It is something that needs to develop over time.
There are great benefits to doing this. Indeed this is why so many people are studying Pilates today because this form of exercise trains us to engage these muscles and to improve our posture. Many back problems are caused because we use shoulder and neck muscles to support the head (the heaviest part of the body). But the body was created with the wisdom of the Creator. According to the wisdom of the body's design, the head and torso are supported from below by the muscles in the stomach and waist and upper legs. In this way the neck and spine are relaxed and the head rests on top.
The essential thing for our practice is to have a sense of this proper alignment and try to approach it in a way that is appropriate for your physical condition. Once again don't strain your body to hold this posture. If you practice holding the ideal posture for a few minutes at a time regularly and become more conscious of this proper alignment as described you can gently improve your posture and general health. When we are sitting up straight and supported from below, the tension and stress is removed from the body and the energy of the body can flow properly.