Time to Align. Adar II, Week 4
Coming into the last week of the two months of Adar, we acknowledge some of the challenges and difficulties we might have faced during this time.
Adar can demand a lot of one’s body, mind and spirit. These months can shake us to the core by challenging our habits and beliefs, by questioning the roles and limits that define us and by demanding that we face our vulnerabilities and fears.
Adar, being a time of realignment of mind, body and spirit, can be relentless in presenting opportunities that require us to move out of our comfort zones and navigate situations, encounters and thoughts that deeply disturb our sense of equilibrium.
Doing this all in the service of transformation, Adar pushes us to emerge into our fuller selves, able to see and live our strengths, truths and passions.
Adar’s methods are usually not gentle and we might feel a bit worn out by the ruach—by the spirit and demands of Adar.
So as we enter this last week, we are urged to be gentle with ourselves, to treat ourselves with kindness and care. We are also encouraged to examine and acknowledge some of what we have discovered and to give thanks for the guidance and help we have received.
Exercise: Reviewing and Going Forward
We take time to notice and review what we have encountered and learned over these past two months. If we have kept a journal or taken notes during this time, we read over what we have written. Then, acknowledging the gifts and challenges of these months, we set intentions for how we want to go forward from here, writing or saying aloud:
I will go forward with… (presence, awareness of time, patience, flexibility, strength…).
We close the exercise with the prayer:
May the ways be open, may the paths be gentle.
Meditation: This I Know
We close the months of Adar with this call from the psalmist (Psalm 56:10):
Zeh yadati ki elohim li. This I know, the Infinite Presence is with me.
When I am struggling and afraid, when I am celebrating and joyous, when I am lost and confused, when I am right here right now: the Infinite Presence is with me.
With the attention on the breath, we repeat the verse again and again:
Zeh yadati ki elohim li. This I know, the Infinite Presence is with me.
Each time the mind wanders or challenges this assertion, we make the choice not to follow these thoughts. We return to the breath and the psalmist’s call:
Zeh yadati ki elohim li. This I know, the Infinite Presence is with me.
We close the sit by giving thanks and setting the intention, that as we go about the days and weeks ahead, we will remind ourselves:
Zeh yadati ki elohim li. This I know, the Infinite Presence is with me.
—Rabbi Yael Levy
19 Adar II 5779
To guide you mindfully through the two months of Adar, A Way In has been presenting a series of original teachings from Rabbi Yael Levy. These have taken you week by week through both months, offering intentions, exercises, practices and meditations to help your ride the waves of these times.
They have come to your inbox at the beginning of each week of Adar I and Adar II. There is also an eBook guide 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. All Adar teachings published to this date are available in our Teachings Archive
Please donate to A Way In and/or purchase an eBook to keep Rabbi Yael's teachings free and available for all.