This is a meditation to read aloud at your Well Circle. You might even open Sivan’s meeting this way. When you’re done, give everyone few moments to jot down any thoughts, or debrief your experience as a Circle. 

Begin by standing up and taking a few deep, conscious breaths. Close your eyes. Feel the wave of your inhale and exhale. Watch as this life force goes in and out of your body, connecting you to the trees and to nature. In Hebrew, the name for your breath (Neshamah) and the name for your soul (Nefesh) come from the same root. We’ll rest here in our soul breath for a couple moments.

(Pause)

Drop into your body and feel the sensation of your feet on the ground. Feel into your legs and notice their sturdiness. Notice your ankles, knees, hips, chest, shoulders and head all stacked perfectly in a line. See if you can relax your shoulders and lift your heart ever so slightly to the sky. Take a few more breaths here and feel into your body’s power.

(Pause)

Keeping your eyes closed, notice the presence of other people in the room standing beside you. Listen for their breathing. Take a deep breathe together. Feel the connection you share, just by inhabiting the same room. What does it feel like to be standing next to these people?

(Pause)

Imagine you’re in the warm desert. Feel the heat on your body; feel the dry air. Imagine you’re standing at the bottom of a mountain with an open sky above you. Imagine looking to your left and seeing millions of other people calmly standing next to you. Imagine looking to your right and seeing millions of others standing there too. Imagine turning around and witnessing a sea of people all standing like you. These people are your ancestors, your future offspring, your brothers, sisters, lovers, and friends. As a whole, they are the Jewish people. Take some deep breaths, here with these people. Take some deep breaths, here at the base of Mount Sinai.

(Pause)

Imagine yourself going on a little stroll through the crowd. You might bump into Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, or Rachel. Keep going and you’ll see Miriam, Ruth, Naomi, Deborah, Judith, Esther, and Dinah. Make a sharp turn and you’ll bump into Sheryl Sandberg, Rashi’s daughters, Golda Meir, and Henrietta Szold. Natalie Portman is standing there right next to Anne Frank, who’s standing next to the Jews of Spain, and Ethiopia, and Iraq, and so on. Walk until you see your grandmother. Pause next to her. See your mother, and take a moment standing next to her. We are all right here. Right at the foot of Sinai. See your father, and your brothers, and the tribes of Israel, and the kings. See all the Jewish doctors, scientists, lawyers, policy makers, warriors, peacekeepers, and teachers in the history of the world. See the people born into Judaism and all the people who came to this tradition as a calling. All of these people throughout all of time are all here together.

(Pause)

Together we receive the blueprint to the cosmos that is the Torah. Together we receive the stories, lessons, laws, guideposts, and all encompassing depth of the world. Imagine it is like a long game of telephone that Moses started and whispered to the people standing next to him. They then turned around and told the people next to them, and the tradition and the message kept going until it found its way to you. What does it feel like to be part of this tradition? What does it feel like to be standing in your body alongside the entirety of the Jewish people?

(Pause)

Bring your mind back to your body, specifically to your heart. Take some final deep breaths. Breathe in love, breathe out connection. Take your time. And when you’re ready, allow your eyes to open and your gaze to come back to the room.

Personal Journal Questions for Sivan

What are you open to receiving?

What has presented itself to you in your life in this moment? Are you ready to accept it?

What does it mean to fully receive? How do you prepare yourself?

Two months into our expansive, post-Passover freedom, how are you feeling?

What does it feel like to study Torah? Have you ever done it? If so, do you love it? Why? If not, are you resistant? Why? 

Who is your favorite teacher and why?

How do you act and look when you’re feeling open?

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