The Hebrew word for "soul" will blow your mind

so let's just take the word Soul itself the word soul in Hebrew is n it comes right in the beginning of the Bible in Genesis where it says that after six days of the six day of creation God took a clump of clay of Earth from the ground shaped it into what would become a body and then he imbued it with his breath with Divine breath so therefore in Hebrew the word for soul and the word for for breath are actually the same word they're just pronounced differently Nish is soul nishima means breath so we

breathe physically breathe we inhale and exhale it's exactly the same thing as I mentioned breath flows comes through our through our mouths into our throats into our lungs fills up the lungs which in turn gets oxygenated and then distributed through the blood into the body and then we exhale the carbon monox carbon diox side and other elements that should be exhaled and this process continues back and forth as a matter of fact it's called in the cabalistic literature a process from The Book of Ezekiel of tension and resolution con like the contraction expansion of the

heart the exhale and inhale of the breath and that's the constant flow of energy that you have the two poles and that's what how you create energy there's a certain tension but then there's a resolution and if you have the perfect balance like a cardiogram it looks like a wave in the breath the same idea we inhale and then we exhale we inhale and exhale on a spiritual level exactly the same thing we all need to have a measure of angst not anxiety angst know animal Bliss and too much Serenity creates complacency and therefore no

motivation but we also need to have resolution so we reach for something greater than ourselves and then we integrate it essentially if you think of breathing that's what we do when we breathe so the soul is like a flame another analogy for it is a flame a flame is constantly flickering it's restless so you need to feed that restlessness to try to fight it by saying I don't want to be restless I just want to be a couch potato and do nothing you're actually undermining your own very Soul so it's about respecting the mobility and

the fluidity and the puls pulsating action of the Soul's constant movement and there is a way in a battle because when you in a material world there is a certain tendency to be lazy to get sedentary and not have that movement and what you're happening happening to to do is like taking something that is by nature thrives on movement and trying to force it into a box imagine taking a human being and locking them in a box what would we feel like not just the clust toop phobia it's just completely natural in unnatural to us

to be to be trapped it's movement look at young children again the purest version of us our eles the young children and what do you see you see constant movement take a child and try to hold them for too long yes you need to cuddle them you need to nurture them hug them embrace them but a child by nature is constantly moving and you don't want to stop that yes you want to make sure they don't get into trouble but you never want to stop that movement because that's natural to them because their soul is

active active what happens is as we continue to be get involved in the material world materialism actually numbs us it it starts to freeze up it starts to harden not just Our arteries but also our movements the flexibility the free abandon the imagination the dreaming it begins to stunt it it begins to um be to begin to to to limit it so as we get older the spirit which is so free and like a flame is not becoming confined I'm I'm not in the mood I've been disappoint I've I've I've had experienced disappointments I don't

want to try anything new what you're really doing is undermining the very fiery nature of the pulsating energy of your soul of your breath so it's really good to keep in mind that your soul is your breath and your breath is actually constantly moving would anyone consider any normal person consider it to stop breathing for a moment no it's necessary it's the breath of life and that is the soul so understanding who you are that you're not about body that happens to have an energy force called a soul you're a soul that's traveling through a

vehicle called the body is the most important foundation of it all so the truth is anyone who's in touch with that doesn't really need meditation because that is the meditation they're constantly in a meditative state in a state of mindfulness a state of presence the problem becomes especially in the Western World over industrialized and over commercialized things so human beings became frustrated and that's why many people went off to the fields to The Meadows to the mountains to the east the journey to the east to try to find something a little peaceful people talk about

it was so calming for me just to walk through a forest just to look at nature whereas the rush hour yes it creates a type of um High a high high octaine energy but it's not completely natural to us so we have this conflict so meditation I would probably suggest with all its benefits it also indicates in a way for a person who's in that type of contemplative State all the time they are living on the soul level they would say the meditation okay so now the West is looking for some soall some healing some

bomb some uh some some form of dealing with a hectic tense and anxious life that the a finance money rush hours the drive for Success the competition demands of us and in that sense therefore for meditation became a very powerful force but if you really go back to the original sources you'll discover that it was really always the natural process yes a newborn child is meditating in a certain way not that they sit down and they're in any position or they're thinking and concentrating but their natural state is one where their natural being is expressing

itself so it's important to remember that meditation healthy meditation true meditation is really taking you back to your natural being and once you're there it takes on a whole different meaning because then you're becoming more Soulful that's what it comes down to to become more Soulful to the point where you realize that's your natural self like a like a fish in water once you feel like it's a fish in water it's not an act okay you know that over this weekend I'm going to meditate I'm not suggesting and trying to criticize listen people are busy

in the evenings take a break middle of the day or or weekends at least that's a good beginning but the real goal is to be essentially a a a meditative and a contemplative and A Soulful human being it should be a state of being where you're in touch with that inner self and your body and all your material activities are just Vehicles channels containers to allow that soulfulness to express itself that's the ultimate goal so if you really get to the Caba of meditation what you're coming to discover is the natural essential self and it's

very refreshing because we essentially are living the opposite way we think that our businesses our work the things we do the things we produce are the the real you because that's where you're making your money from that's how you're surviving that's where you get your honor your pride your ego respect the truth is the real you is really a very simple innocent child a soul a breath in the famous classic story biblical story when Elijah was looking for the essence of things so first he saw he heard a thunder and he thought that was the

essence of reality that was the Divine then came a um a strong wind and he thought that was it then came a fire lightning and he thought that was it until he realized The Next Step came what's called a very subtle gentle voice barely audible but but it gets drowned out by the rush hours by the loud noises the turbulence and all the distractions of life you have that voice right inside you it's your natural self it's how you were shaped and formed in nine months of pregnancy and then upon birth is right there with

you in our early formative years until something changes that in a healthy environment that would be cultivated but the fact of the matter is we live in a very material world and the body instead of being seen as a vehicle suddenly becomes an end in itself and now this still gentle voice the subtlety the Innocence that Purity that natural restlessness of the flame within you the breath gets concealed goes under cover and we do everything possible possible to find it one of the ways we seek it's through love love intimacy these experiences are all really

looking and seeking for that lost Rose Bud for that Lost Innocence for that lost breath so yes we continue to breathe but then we become defined by what the circumstances around us instead of your real essence of who you truly are so the Caba of meditation would dictate and expect of us and I say dictate I mean that in a positive word way would say that the key thing is to get back to your natural self we're not looking to superimpose something think of a garden you plant seeds and you nurture it and you water

it you cultivate it the flowers will grow you'll need to weeded but if you allow the weeds to grow and you allow other forces to take over and you don't protect it what will happen so the natural flowers will be overrun by the weeds by rodents by predators that that will not allow it to grow properly the same is in this world the material world is a challenging world I'm not even getting out to predators and abuse and hurt and Criminal Intent the very fact that we live in a material world and that Soul Is

concealed creates the illusion that the soul is in the back somewhere it's a secondary thing the truth is we should never forget about our soul it's something that should be constantly we should be constantly aware of and it should be the driving force of your life so that a nutshell is the concept but now how do we get there now we're talking to adults how do we get there when we're already so much consumed by and as I mentioned inundated and and overwhelmed by the world around us we have responsibilities and expectations and demands many

of them may be healthy many of them may not be someone asks you who are you very often people will say respond by giving you their business card but that's what you do that's not who you are well we've been doing it so long we think what we do is become who we are when it should be the other way around your inner identity again your soul should Define who you are so the truth is what I'm going to be sharing now is obviously for adults for people who can listen to what I'm saying to

help us get back to reclaim to regain our Birthright the Natural Soul the beating heart within you that should be your driving force but my hope is that those of you that have children or will have children will help those children continue to maintain that connection so they don't lose it and then have to reclaim it and that is by in a sense going through these meditations and these exercises that continuously re reinforce the natur Natural Soul within every child so for adults it may be more difficult because we have to now go back and

undo damage done or distortions or misconceptions or prejudices and biases but that is true in everything in life you know when you're innocent and and and a clean slate it's easier to impress healthy habits once you've developed bad habits it's harder to do so so how do we do so so let's break it into two parts and I'll talk briefly about the third part and that is our faculties divide into mind cognitive faculties we use our minds and our emotional faculties and they're very clearly distinct the mind is contemplative it's reflective a healthy mind it's

objective it allows us to look at something without yet thinking in terms of what is it in for me the emotions exact opposite they're impulsive reflexive And the emotions are are all about my feelings for it am I attracted am I repelled am I loving it is it something not for me when they work well together the mind is like think of it like a captain of a ship and the emotions are the ship itself they experience things if you have a mind without a heart it's like a computer there's no experience if you have

a heart without a mind it can be we we can be misled misguided because the emotions you can get seducted seduced and the things can seduce our emotions and manipulated and so on you really want a perfect combination and blend of two of these two the third dimension which is the superconscious and I've discussed this in previous programs is not something I want to focus on but I it's important to mention because when we align our minds and our hearts and our emotions toward that deeply focused Soul within ourselves it allows the superconscious to naturally

flow as well but the superconscious always remains behind the scenes that's why it's called superconscious we're not conscious of it so basically healthy conscious living healthy cognitive conditioning and emotional conditioning and we'll also talk about behavioral conditioning which means bringing it into action that allows the superconscious to flow properly again for young children before there's been any before they've been jaded in any distortions that's all happening naturally without any effort we want to go back to that mode but we're going now as adults so it's more deliberate it's an effort it's not just something we

just like you talk to someone that who's older and their breathing is difficult or they're not using their entire lungs they need to figure out ways to exercise to clear out the toxins to open up the channels for a newborn child or for a young child that may not be necessary but we're trying to regain that Purity and that innocence think of it like freshly fallen snow after it's trampled on it's no longer white and pure but we want to reclaim and regain that so meditation in the Caba of meditation there's actually two types of

meditations two categories I should say one is cognitive that's focusing with your mind on something and the second is emotional meditation which is more complicated because Emotions Don't Use the mind but the mind can lead the emotions to also be focused what I'm saying is basically that if you leave things to emotions as much as you're concentrating on something if the phone rings or someone comes by or something attracts you you can suddenly leave it all behind and just be drawn to whatever your emotions are drawn you're hungry you're thirsty but in a healthy process

what you want to do is you have the Mind create an oasis a focused State a mindfulness state where you're present and not being distracted and then open the door up for your emotions to have similar Focus so your feelings are aligned with your mind toward this inner soul of Who We Are sometimes is described of focusing on the unity the integral Unity that connects everything which is essentially saying the same idea that the soul is a connector so in the process of the kab of meditation you find these two different categories and the truth

is they work together hand in hand may be interesting for you to note that the concept of prayer actually is very much about emotional meditation driven by cont plate of meditation so even though we think of prayer sometimes of saying thanks and gratitude or Opening Our Hearts to to uh to God and ask for what we need or prayer in time of Crisis but it's much deeper than that prayer is equated the C the cabala teaches the cabalist teach with song and music and as such it's more than just reaching out it's actually an emotional

conditioning it says what is the service of the heart prayer so the word prayer can be misnomer can be misunderstood that's why prayer really the word for it in Hebrew is aod to serve service dedication commitment you're taking all of yourself and focusing emotionally toward your calling toward your Soul's Calling so that's why you'll find there's the concept of which is a contemplative meditation pondering contemplating thinking focusing with your mind and once you create that environment then you start you begin to pray that's how the tal puts it because then you can bring your emotions

in it's not easy to just get the emotions focused if your mind is not focused if your mind is mind is racing or distracted or being drawn here and there your emotions are just not going to have that direction like I said the captain of the ship so with that said let us actually do and discuss an actual medit ation as well as on a cogn on a cognitive level as well as on an emotional level and then we'll connect it to song Because song has a natural ability more than the words I'm speaking right

now even if it resonates it's still something is not there because words are words if you really want to get into that meditative State the cabala insists you need to have song so what I'm going to do what I'm going to do now is go through a contemplative an emotional meditation and then conclude with a song that captures this um this experience and this is just one of many but it's a good beginning if you've never done this before or if you're very or if you're a expert in this in this uh in this uh

in this exercise that's exercise and this method like expert may not be the right word because the more you do it the more you realize you're not not an expert but whether you've whether there something you've never done before something you've done very you're very accustomed used to and accustomed to this I believe will be something that is enlightening for all of us including myself so what I'm going to focus on is a morning you can say it's a meditation it's a prayer in the context that I said it but it's not just words it's

not just an idea and it focuses exactly in what we were discussing your soul so we say in the Hebrew I'll first say it in the Hebrew I'll translate and explain and then go through the meditation and do it on two parts the contemplative part the cognitive part and the emotional part and the goal as I said is that that will allow the superc conscious to emerge and that will be experienced through pure Serenity through calm through a deeper calm that you don't usually experience in The Hectic life that we live so the prayer or

the meditation is called mod which literally means thank you gratitude so that alone we know gratitude already is a powerful force when you say thank you recently psychological studies how much Start show how gratitude is such a tremendous force that actually increases life expectancy eliminates different levels of stress so we begin mod which is thank you thank you and I'll say the Hebrew I thank you I submit you I acknowledge to you and doesn't say to whom the which can also mean to the inner you the word p in Hebrew the living and eternal King

interesting word here King meaning an authority something greater than ourselves but not Authority in a negative sense but accepting surrendering dissolving into a presence that's higher than ourselves and for returning my soul to me that you have returned my soul to me which much compassion and faith I'm going to be focusing on the words returning my soul to me so when we're asleep well obvously our soul is still working just like our heart is beating but everything slows down the conscious faculties are not really functioning in a way that we're aware of it's not the

minimal so what happens to that living soul that that Vitality that energy that we have once we wake up so the soul a sense recedes and goes back to its source think of a flame or Sparks coming out of a hot coal receding back into the coal so the soul goes back to its natural place and in the morning we're acknowledging that to basically say thank you for returning my soul to me remember the word Nish also means the word breath because breath is an expression of the Soul it's the Divine breath within you that

is now reemerging in a conscious way as you awake and you're focusing on it something we do every morning so here's the meditation close your eyes taking a few breaths focus with your mind let's start with our minds the cognitive focus on the soul within you you're not focusing on your functions you're not focusing on your arms and legs and ears and eyes and taste touch and smell and a way you're almost closing down your senses imagine if you close your ears your your eyes your ears your taste touch and smell so what are you

left with a certain inner Force being that breath is the very word for soul so breathing helps you focus on that because you go within and realize there's a whole Force within you that subtle silent voice that quiet voice quietude the more you can create that space and it doesn't have necessarily have to take time you're entering that space through your breath through your soul once your mind focuses on that then allow yourself to feel it which would mean not focusing on what am I going to eat for breakfast or what am I going to

do next but allowing your emotions to feel that I am a soul I'm unique I'm indispensable that's really what you're saying thank you for thank you for giving me life thank you for making me unique for making me indispensable Le takes us to The Next Step where you say I have a mission that's unique to me no one but I can accomplish what that mission is because it's Unique to your own soul that's the focus and that is the meditation and it has to have a cognitive side to it and an emotional side to it

the emotional side is the commitment to it that's not just an idea oh it's an interesting thing that I have to have a soul and it was returned to me no it's who you are it's what drives you it gives you purpose it gives you a sense of urgency a sense of direction and guidance this can be one minute it could be two minutes but when you do it properly what you go away with is in the morning before you're doing anything else you've established your Hub your mission statement you've declared which in turn will

inform all the spokes and all the details of your life instead of the other way around because now that soul is going to express itself through the vehicle of your body and your activities whatever they may be and whatever involvements or commitments or Endeavors that you're involved in throughout that day are all informed by this Central Hub the breath of your soul now to take this a step further let's take it a step further into the into the something that we can all really appreciate and really get us into that mindset and heart set which

again will allow the superconscious to emerge so we all know that we before we became aware of Our Lives we spent nine months in our mother's womb and then you were born none of us remember our birth we don't remember our early formative years everyone you start having snapshots and little glimpses some from 2 years old 3 years old four years old but even then it's not like a flowing narrative it's it's fragmented pieces so the meditation let's go back to the mod an to take it to more expanded form is let's talk about this

Soul as it was when our early formative years so close your eyes and imagine the sound of a heartbeat and if you can find a heartbeat somewhere that you're allow to play even better sound of a heartbeat contraction expansion a healthy heart and that's what's surrounding you nothing else you know the feeling sometimes you go under water and you just feel everything is quieted down you just feel yourself in a different way well even more so with this heartbeat this is the heartbeat of your mother 9 months 24/7 that's all you heard that was the

The Rush that s sound the heartbeat and sometimes it sounds a little like water as well in the background the soothing sound of a heartbeat with like a Rushing Water but not loud very very gentle that subtle quiet voice within you that's what you heard you were being fed nurtured nourished not through any of your own efforts and this is what surrounds you once you get into that place which should lead you not just to a cognitive experience of it but an emotional experience of it because imagine when you feel that way there's a certain

soothing element it's like being embraced you're completely surrounded submerged in the embrionic fluids protected nurtured the thing that we all all crave so much unconditional love and now we continue and then you hear this gentle voice speaking to you this is your mother speaking to you I've waited for you so long I can't wait to meet you in person I will do everything possible to help you live up to your calling to your purpose I have made a a room ready for you a beautiful new crib with white pure clean sheets and a beautiful warm

blanket I will wrap you in it I will cuddle you I will nurture you I'll embrace you unconditionally and anything that comes your way I'm here to protect you and the heartbeat all along in the background p p what this will elicit if done properly is strong emotions and feelings firstly the reson Resonance of a truth that we all wanted have heard and wanted to hear for some of us it may bring tears of joy of connecting to something that we don't remember cons iously but we feel something that we experienced in our early childhood

for others it may be tears of pain not not having heard that message not having had a mother or father that spoke that way or even worse that actually invalidated Us in some fashion the point is whoever you are this idea of being spending nine months nine months in that environment with that background with that soothing sound of a heartbeat which as I said before mirrors the breath of the soul the contraction expansion of the heart the exhaling and inhaling of the breath the pulsating dual nature of the soul the tension and resolution all surrounding

you and hearing these beautiful beautiful words and then we're born we come out of our mother's womb we emerge so in the perfect scenario even if they may not exist perfectly your mother your parents would continue to reinforce this message in the way they protect you in the way they take care of you and that's what shaped you by the time you become conscious all that was in place and if it wasn't in place you can imagine what kind of lack that is there's no person on Earth that doesn't deserve that hopefully received it and

if not we want it by all means and we will look for it one way or another we may not call it reclaiming our Soul's natural environment within that breath within that womb within that heartbeat but that's what we're looking for that lies at the heart of everything that drives us that matters I'm not talking about the means of things ultimately what we want we want love we want to be embraced we want that unconditional acceptance we want to know we matter so after you open your eyes after thinking about and feeling that state think

and feel what have you now experienced and contrast it be a good idea take a piece of paper write down what did I feel like before what do I feel like now what is my day going to be like how does that compare to what I just experienced the goal is not to escape your life the goal is to take that calm that Harmony that nurturing element and draw from it into the vehicle of your life your body and all it and all your physical needs and physical experiences that's the ultimate goal and do this

every morning and I assure you this will create tremendous change in your life you don't have to disrupt your whole life you don't have to travel anywhere you don't have to change big schedules it's just a matter of complete Focus you'll begin to Crave that morning exercise because it's the place that you will begin and that will be the beginning of your daily journey in the evening before you go to sleep just if I may another meditation that fits with that is a similar statement that I entrust in your hands my spirit my soul so

if you think of the two bookends of your life when you wake up you go to sleep you go to sleep with that Cal not with a newspaper not with the television on not with any other the distractions push all that aside just go back to the soul that where you began and end the day where you began the day so those book ends those will that will punctuate your life your sleep will be more calm and that in turn will Infuse every aspect of your life with that deeper Inner Harmony and serenity to drive

the point home if I may I will conclude with a song It's a song I heard from my mentor my teacher my soul teacher I being a scholar and a sage and a man of empathy and a man of God also tremendous this cabalist came from a family of cabalists we call him the rebba a loving word means the teacher the mentor the soul Master many different ways to uh translate it so it's a song he taught on a holiday night in the year 1958 and the song is called Shamil Shamil was the name of

a band leader not a music band leader a band leader he was a a Bohemian a free spirit lived in the Caucasian Mountains but he like they were uh him and his group were disruptive shall we say and the town people always felt that they were like nuisance to put it mildly they found different ways to try to but they couldn't they couldn't subdue them because they lived in the mountains they had The High Ground so they couldn't attack them they were always even though they were a smaller group but they had that superiority living

up in the mountains so one day they fell up they came up with a Roose to get Shamil come to come down and let's negotiate let's find some peace well once he came down from the mountain and sat with him they had him arrested they put him into a labor camp exact antithesis to that Free Spirit Mountain Man that he was at this camp one of the oneid heard him sing this hum this song and brought it back and this became the song called sham it's a song of three sections I would say it's more

of a chant that is very much aligned to everything we've been talking about three three sections three stanzas song without words and the first one is the Nostalgia as Shamil is remembering the time when he was like soaring like a bird spreading his wings without any confines without any limitations and constraints the second part of the song is melancholy of now being chained in a labor camp and not being able to Fly Like an Eagle and the third part of the song is the Hope and the optimism that one day he will fly again and

when the rebit told this taught the song He said these three sections of the song or the chant represent each one of our Lives the soul begins unfettered Unbound by the limitations of the body and its physical needs eating drinking sleeping Tire fatigue health issues and so on but then the Soul comes into a body which can be compared to a labor camp we have to work for a living we have to deal contend with with all kinds of AD aders adversity and sometimes worse to protect ourselves so it has a certain element of Mel

mly but then there's the final stanza that says no ultimately The Hope and optimism that we will soar again and this time Body and Soul so it's a perfect part song or chant that goes together with the meditations we've been reviewing so here's sh [Music] oh oh and [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Laughter] know know that's the Nostalgia [Music] The Melancholy the hope sham may you be blessed with the strength and courage to focus access that Soul your greatest resource within you both contemplatively cognitively emotionally and bring it into Behavior into acts of kindness of Love

of generosity of virtue the spa the spiritual Spa study prayer action cognitive emotional and behavioral conditioning and that will draw forth from the more superconscious more Transcendent dimensions of the Soul which in turn will lift and carry you in all your details to a completely different Realm with broader and wider Horizons a higher state of consciousness a higher state of awareness this has been Simmon Jacobson I want to thank you so much Caba of meditation I'd love to hear your thoughts your feedback your comments and above all please share if this was something meaningful to

you please share subscribe to our YouTube channel go to meaningful life.com where you can find this and many more resources that help nurture help actualize as I said the greatest resource that you have and that is your inner soul your inner breath that subtle and gentle but most powerful voice louder than all Thunder winds and fire and lightning be well and be blessed thank you so much