The greatest spiritual achievement is not transcending the body but joining body and spirit together. To do this, you must break through assumptions that draw boundaries around the Infinite and wake up to the body as the site of holiness itself. This groundbreaking guidebook is the first comprehensive treatment of the body in Jewish spiritual practice and an essential guide to the sacred. With this indispensable resource to embodied spirituality, readers will learn how to experience God rather than just engage God as an idea. And, through physical exercises, meditation practices, and…mehr
The greatest spiritual achievement is not transcending the body but joining body and spirit together. To do this, you must break through assumptions that draw boundaries around the Infinite and wake up to the body as the site of holiness itself. This groundbreaking guidebook is the first comprehensive treatment of the body in Jewish spiritual practice and an essential guide to the sacred. With this indispensable resource to embodied spirituality, readers will learn how to experience God rather than just engage God as an idea. And, through physical exercises, meditation practices, and visualization activities, readers will unite the sacred with the secular, the mystical with the mundane, by using their bodies as vehicles for prayer. Tapping the wisdom of Kabbalah, traditional Judaism, and Western Buddhism, readers will defy the myths that religion is only practiced in the sanctuary and that spiritual bodywork is only performed on a yoga mat. By cultivating an embodied spiritual practice, everyday activities?eating, walking, breathing, washing?will be transformed into moments of spiritual realization.
Jay Michaelson has taught Kabbalah, mindfulness, and embodied spiritual practice at Yale University, City College, Elat Chayyim, the Skirball Center, and the Wexner Summer Institute, among other institutions. Chief editor of Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture, he is a regular contributor to the Forward, the Jerusalem Post, Slate and other publications. He holds a JD from Yale and an MA in religious studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he is currently a doctoral candidate.
Inhaltsangabe
Introduction ix The Union of Body and Soul ix "God"? xi The Idea of Practice xiii Cutting and Pasting xv An Invitation xvii 1. Eating1 V'achalta: Eating Meditation 2 V'savata: Experiencing Satisfaction 7 U'verachta: Count your Blessings 9 Transparent Kashrut 16 2. Praying 21 Embodied Jewish Prayer 22 Sweat Your Prayers-Hasidic Style 27 "Every Limb Will Praise You": Jewish Liturgy and the Body 30 3. Breathing 35 Basic Breathing Meditation 36 Adding God to your Breath 39 4. Walking 45 Basic Walking Meditation 46 Four Ways to Walk with God 48 5. Using the Bathroom 55 Asher Yatzar: The Bathroom Blessing 56 Toilet Zen: Meditation for the Restroom 60 6. Sex 63 Sex Is Holy 65 Practicing Sacred Sexuality 72 7. Mirroring the Divine 77 Contemplating the Miniature World 78 Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation 83 Embodying the Ten Sefirot 86 Looking in the Mirror 95 8. Exercising 97 Spiritual Exercise: Beyond the Mat 100 A Four Worlds Workout 104 9. Dancing 115 Ecstatic Dancing, Sacred and Secular 116 The Quartet and the Mosh Pit 122 10. Fasting 125 The Benefits of Denial 126 Fasting in Context: The Five Minor Fasts 128 Fasting as Catharsis: Yom Kippur 132 11. Washing 137 Is Cleanliness Next to Godliness? 138 Washing as a Spiritual Practice 141 12. The Mikva 145 Waters of Rebirth 146 Solitary Mikva Practices 149 Communal Mikva Practices 151 Beyond the Mikva 153 Your Blood Is a Blessing (by Holly Taya Shere) 154 13. Nature 159 Mindfulness in Nature 161 The Path of Blessing 164 14. The Five Senses 169 Sound 170 Smell 173 Touch 176 Taste 179 Sight 181 15. Embodied Emotions 183 Feeling Emotions in the Body 184 Kabbalah's Map of the Heart-Body 187 16. Sickness and Health 191 Spiritual Practice in Sickness and in Health 193 The Deeper Meaning of Health 195 17. Life Cycle 201 Birth and Childhood 201 Adulthood: Coming of Age, Partnering, and Aging 205 Death 207 18. Just Being 211 Appendix: Four Worlds-A Kabbalistic Map of Our Experiential Universe 215 Notes 217 Glossary 225 Bibliography 231 Credits 239 Acknowledgments 240 Topical Index 241 Index of Practices 246
Introduction ix The Union of Body and Soul ix "God"? xi The Idea of Practice xiii Cutting and Pasting xv An Invitation xvii 1. Eating1 V'achalta: Eating Meditation 2 V'savata: Experiencing Satisfaction 7 U'verachta: Count your Blessings 9 Transparent Kashrut 16 2. Praying 21 Embodied Jewish Prayer 22 Sweat Your Prayers-Hasidic Style 27 "Every Limb Will Praise You": Jewish Liturgy and the Body 30 3. Breathing 35 Basic Breathing Meditation 36 Adding God to your Breath 39 4. Walking 45 Basic Walking Meditation 46 Four Ways to Walk with God 48 5. Using the Bathroom 55 Asher Yatzar: The Bathroom Blessing 56 Toilet Zen: Meditation for the Restroom 60 6. Sex 63 Sex Is Holy 65 Practicing Sacred Sexuality 72 7. Mirroring the Divine 77 Contemplating the Miniature World 78 Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation 83 Embodying the Ten Sefirot 86 Looking in the Mirror 95 8. Exercising 97 Spiritual Exercise: Beyond the Mat 100 A Four Worlds Workout 104 9. Dancing 115 Ecstatic Dancing, Sacred and Secular 116 The Quartet and the Mosh Pit 122 10. Fasting 125 The Benefits of Denial 126 Fasting in Context: The Five Minor Fasts 128 Fasting as Catharsis: Yom Kippur 132 11. Washing 137 Is Cleanliness Next to Godliness? 138 Washing as a Spiritual Practice 141 12. The Mikva 145 Waters of Rebirth 146 Solitary Mikva Practices 149 Communal Mikva Practices 151 Beyond the Mikva 153 Your Blood Is a Blessing (by Holly Taya Shere) 154 13. Nature 159 Mindfulness in Nature 161 The Path of Blessing 164 14. The Five Senses 169 Sound 170 Smell 173 Touch 176 Taste 179 Sight 181 15. Embodied Emotions 183 Feeling Emotions in the Body 184 Kabbalah's Map of the Heart-Body 187 16. Sickness and Health 191 Spiritual Practice in Sickness and in Health 193 The Deeper Meaning of Health 195 17. Life Cycle 201 Birth and Childhood 201 Adulthood: Coming of Age, Partnering, and Aging 205 Death 207 18. Just Being 211 Appendix: Four Worlds-A Kabbalistic Map of Our Experiential Universe 215 Notes 217 Glossary 225 Bibliography 231 Credits 239 Acknowledgments 240 Topical Index 241 Index of Practices 246
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