Time is on Your Side. Adar I, Week 4

Every moment is unique. And every moment is connected to all that came before and all that will come after. The choices of our great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents, whose names and circumstances we will never know, helped fashion this moment right now. If they had made different choices, if they had encountered alternative situations, we would not be present in this particular moment in this particular way. And the choices, decisions and circumstances of our lives create the world for those who will call us ancestor. From this perspective, eternity exists in the present moment.

During this final week of the first month of Adar we explore this perspective.

Exercise: Eternity in the Present Moment

Taking our seats and bringing ourselves to an awake and upright posture, we let the attention rest gently on the breath. After a few moments, we imagine ourselves in an intricate web of connection that reaches throughout time and space. With each breath comes the sensation that we are connected to all who have been and to all who will ever be. We are connected to all that is now and to all that will unfold. Each time we notice the mind has wandered, we bring the attention back to the breath and back to the awareness and sensations of our intricate and infinite connection to all.

Practice: Relationship

We take time during this week to give thanks to our ancestors and send blessings to the children. Standing, with our shoulders back and our hands facing outward by our sides, we bring the attention to the soles of our feet and feel ourselves rooted in the Earth.

After a few moments we bow deeply and give thanks to our ancestors whose lives created this very moment. Rising back to an upright posture, we spread our arms wide and send blessings to the children who will inhabit this world long after we are gone.

Then, taking three slow, calm and even deep breaths, we give thanks for our lives right now and ask for the wisdom and courage to live in ways that leave goodness and blessing in our wake.

—Rabbi Yael Levy 

21 Adar I 5779

To guide you mindfully through the two months of Adar, A Way In presents a series of original teachings from Rabbi Yael Levy. These will take you week by week through both months, offering intentions, exercises, practices and meditations to help your ride the waves of these times.

These will appear on the website at beginning of each week of Adar I and Adar II, and will come to the inbox of our newsletter subscribers (sign up below) but if you would like to read ahead or engage with them at your own rhythm, we are also very excited to offer an eBook The Two Months of Adar: Time to Align for purchase containing the full two month's worth of Rabbi Yael's Adar teachings. Learn more and purchase the eBook.

We have also prepared a schedule, available on our website, to help you line up the weekly 5779 Adar teachings with 2019 dates.