Day 20 - 21: Meditation Challenge ~ A Jewish Meditation Practice, Guest, and Giveaway!

Welcome, to my 28-Meditation Challenge.

Yesterday, I announced the details of our 28-Day Meditation teleconference (free!) is scheduled for next week, Tuesday, January 26 at 2:00 p.m. (EST). Everyone is welcome! However, you must register to be in on the conference call. There are 96 slots available. To do so, go to the Contact Box at my website: http://www.awakenedliving.com/ Send me an e-mail with the word "Register" in the subject line. By Sunday, I will confirm your reservation with an e-mail about how to call in. An MP3 will be posted for those who cannot attend "live." Read Tuesday's post for ALL the details. 

Even if you just found the Challenge, or if you committed and aren't meditating regularly, no worries. Join us, no matter what!

Please welcome today's very special guest, a soulful and creative woman, Laura Hegfield, from Shine the Divine. She is a creativity coach who delights in companioning others into a greater daily experience of the Sacred, especially through creativity and "Soul Collage."

She is also a devout Jew, and because I am an interspiritual gal, I was curious if Laura had a meditation practiced rooted in Judaism. She does, and today, she shares it with us—a prayer/meditation practice called "Modah." It's stunning, beautiful, and when you listen to the MP3 she has provided for us here—of her singing it— you will swoon! She has the voice of an angel, which is quite the feat, because Laura has MS, and one of the ways she has been affected is a change in her speaking voice. But as she told me, MS has not impacted her singing voice! Listen for yourself. .

Laura has also graciously agreed to Giveaway 2 free one-hour creativity coaching sessions! 
To learn more about her coaching, click here. So leave a comment here today and you will be eligible to win. :-) Enjoy!


Q.  Is there a particular form of meditation or a practice rooted in Judaism that you could share with our readers?

Laura: The first thing that jumps into my mind reading your question, the most basic practice that I do daily without fail, is also the very first conscious thing that pops into my mind every morning. I recite a traditional Jewish prayer of gratitude, Modah Ani. Now this isn’t specifically a meditation, it is a morning prayer, the first prayer of the day. When the prayer first comes into my mind it begins as words and melody, but I’m too sleepy to recognize meaning or intention yet. Gradually that changes and it becomes a true mindfulness practice. Let me paint a picture of how this simple morning ritual unfolds for me.

My eyes are still closed. I am in that liminal space; not awake, not asleep. Consciousness begins to dawn with the sun and it occurs to me that I am waking up. It is automatic at first, like an alarm clock that isn’t alarming at all. I chant this prayer in my mind in Hebrew. The kids and my husband are still sleeping when I wake up in my house at 5am so I don’t chant aloud at this time of day. My mind is still sluggish along with my body, but I begin to really understand that I am indeed waking up. I am present. I am grateful that I am awake, grateful that I am alive.

This is a transliteration of the Hebrew and a translation of the prayer into English that I like:
Modah ani l’fanecha, melech chai v’kayam shehechezarta bi nishmati v’chemla raba emunatecha.

I thank you God, eternal One for lovingly restoring my soul to me, filled with your eternal trust.

I sit up on the edge of my pillow, still in bed and continue the chant in my mind. I notice how I’m sitting; adjust the pillow so that my knees fall down a bit lower than my hips. If I am slumped from sleepiness, I strengthen my core, drop my shoulders back and down, bring awareness to the position of my head, my chin, my jaw and subtly shift into alignment. I draw attention to my breath flowing in and out of me. The chant is still repeating over and over in the background of my mind as I attend to these physical adjustments. I allow the meaning of the words to open my heart, waking up a little more to the reality that I am present. I am grateful that I am awake, grateful that I am alive. I am ready to live a day with soulful awareness, to carry that awareness with me through the mundane tasks of living that are ahead. The chant drops away and I am left with pure mindfulness…noticing my breath, thoughts arising, emotions, physical sensations…whatever is present.

Sometimes the chant starts again involuntarily, reminding me that my mind has wandered, I’m not with my breath, with sensation. I’m back in liminality, or temporarily caught in thinking about the rest of the day, the mundane tasks of living I just mentioned. But the tasks are still in my mind. In reality I’m not physically doing them yet. I’m still here in bed. It’s ok though, because here is the gentle wake up call sounding in my mind again to let me know that I can think later, do later, but now is a time for gratitude, for presence to Presence, to my self, my well-rested soul and body. I lovingly turn my attention back to the moment, to breath, in…out…rising…falling…returning again and again like my pure soul each morning.

I sit this way for 5, 10, 20 minutes each morning depending on the time I began and whether or not it’s a school day for my girls…because the world of doing is creeping in and I’m a Mom with two teenage daughters. I know from direct experience that even 5 minutes of this kind of awareness will make a difference in how I move through the day and interact with others. Now there are certainly days in which 5 minutes isn't even possible first thing in the morning—I wake up late, one of the girls needs me immediately! Still, before I open my eyes to answer the plea of a frustrated teenager who can't find her favorite pair of jeans, I at least say the prayer once in my mind. Then I open my eyes and try to remember where she left her jeans-as if I magically know the answer to this!!! Well, this is life, it happens this way sometimes, but not usually; the gift of being an early riser means I am a much calmer Mom when the seemingly inevitable morning rush/panic begins.

Waking up to gratitude grounds my soul in the here and now. I feel so blessed that this prayer is part of my religious heritage, a prayer I witnessed my Grandmother offering every morning when I was a child. I feel honored that you asked me about this Jan and that I can offer it up to readers here on your blog as a practice they can integrate into their mornings if it resonates for them.

I’m including an mp3 of me chanting this prayer aloud so readers can hear what I hear inside my head and learn the chant for themselves if they want to.
  
I'm also including the transliteration of the Hebrew once again with the repetition of the 3 last words to make it easier to follow along with the mp3:

http://www.awakenedliving.com/podcasts/Hegfieldmodah.mp3

Modah ani l’fanecha,

melech chai v’kayam

shehechezarta bi nishmati

v’chemla, v’chemla

raba emunatecha. raba emunatecha

Thank you, Laura, for sharing this beautiful practice with us. And I sure hope everyone listened to the MP3 because it is amazing. I am so grateful you created this just for us!
As always, we welcome your thoughts ...

Learn more about Laura Hegfield, her blogs and creativity coaching at shinethedivinecreativitycoaching.blogspot.com
 
(Photo of trees courtesy of Laura Hegfield)

Blessings,

Jan
Read on ...

From Where I Sit — Day 20-21,  My Meditation Experience
Still traveling. I'm having wonderful insights about my practice, and will update you when I return! Believe, breathe, and be well.

Recommended Resources:

From Laura:

My meditation teacher, Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg is a founding member of both of the following two resources below:

http://www.awakenedheartproject.org./ "The mission of Awakened Heart Project is to promote the use of Jewish contemplative techniques that foster the development of a heart of wisdom and compassion."

There are actually quite a few books available on the topic of Jewish meditation...this one is a classic:

Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide by Aryeh Kaplan

 Inspiration:

... spirit and body are not separate at all. Nor is spirituality a special feeling, or a trance, or a vision, although such phenomena may accompany some spiritual practices. Rather, because Being is omnipresent, the experience of spirituality is nothing more or less than a deep, rich experience of ordinary reality. Realization is simply waking up. And the body, because it is always present here and now, is both the best vehicle for doing so, on the one hand, and, on the other, how holiness expresses itself in the world. 

~Jay Michaelson, God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness and Embodied Spiritual Practice