Abraham agitated them with Breath

Three Mothers, Alef Mem Shin:

Shhh… Hmmm… Aaah..

In the soul, male and female,

are the head, belly, and chest.

The head is created from fire, the belly is created from water 

and the chest, from breath, decides between them.

You are invited to begin this inquiry with me by tuning into this Elemental Sound/Movement Meditation. In it you will find connection with me through my piano that I’m unable to convey in words.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ofPwxhG4Ms 

🎶

Sefer Yetzirah’s teachings attributed to Abraham associate the Tree of Life with human merit, the body, its genders and  sounds, the elements Fire/Water/Air, heat/cold, the seasons and the weather. Attuning somatically to these mystical dimensions reveals much about life’s inner and outer mysteries… (Quotes are from Sefer Yetzirah.)

"Mem hums, Shin hisses, and Alef is the Breath of air deciding between them." 

In David Friedman's Yeshiva Class, he spoke of embodying the Aleph, whose diagonal mediates between Shin and Men as of our diaphragm “breathes/decides” between our head and belly.

"The head is created from fire,

the belly is created from water 

and the chest, from breath, decides between them." 

SEFER YETZIRAH SOMATICS: Living an Embodied Tree

Aquarian Minyan Yeshiva at NOON on August 18, August 25 and Sept 1

SESSION ONE: August 18, The Embodied Languages are Three

We introduce the languages of the head, the heart and belly by first putting attention there, and then giving voice to what’s present.  How does what your heart say relate with what’s on your mind? What wisdom lies beneath your thoughts and passions, and how do you access it? How do you align these different voices; we’ll practice with compassion and curiosity.

SESSION TWO:  August 25,  Acting from Center

After deepening our embodied language skills, we’ll practice gestures and stances that transform predisposed attitudes that complicate settling down under pressure.

​“The lowest part of the soul interfaces with the physical body. It is on the level of Nefesh that a person gains awareness of the body as a receptacle for the spiritual. This is only possible, however, when one is able to isolate himself from the constant stream of internal and external stimuli that occupy his thoughts. Awareness of the spiritual thus necessarily begins by quieting down the awareness of the physical.” Aryeh Kaplan

The transition from Binah to Chochmah involves staging down the awareness of our thoughts. The sounds of Shin & Mem, by themselves allow our minds to step back from the complexity of words and meanings to the sounds and the feelings they evoke. 

SESSION THREE: Sept 1  Integration and Applications

How Sefer Yetzirah Somatics can enable you to speak and listen with compassion under pressure and to discover the power of 'getting to center' in the face of life’s challenges. Transform frustration and overreactions into responses that leave you feeling satisfied, calm and respected.

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The First Session recording is at: https://www.facebook.com/theaquarianminyan/videos/561697148237357/?__so__=channel_tab&__rv__=all_videos_card

The Second Session is at: https://www.facebook.com/theaquarianminyan/videos/594892711518155/?__so__=channel_tab&__rv__=all_videos_card

In the final session,  Returning to Center Under Pressure; Embodied Gestures and Stances (https://www.facebook.com/theaquarianminyan/videos/895651668001313/?__so__=channel_tab&__rv__=all_videos_card) we apply what we are learning to when we are thrown off by pressures, or our own mental chatter or our emotional charges/passions. Our tools can be found in the following Sefer Yetzirah verses.

Sefer Yetzirah 1:5

Ten inscriptions of the Void:

Understand with Wisdom

Be Wise with Understanding

Stand each thing on its clarity/absence 

Return the Creator to the Place

1:5 

Stop your mouth from speaking

Stop your heart from murmuring,

And if your heart runs

Return to the Place

For scripture says,

“Running and returning.”

Regarding this matter,

A covenant was made.

The following document introduces the gestures and stances of grounding centering and extending energy under pressure in men’s work, where I have been practicing the same teachings as Applied Aikido. When you see the term “hara,” you can read it as “belly” as Sefer Yetzirah uses the term; however, hara (dan tien) is more specific that “kishkes,” in that it means “center of gravity” from where our “ki/chi” or “life force” emanates. I am interpreting Center/Place (mechon/ mekavven/ HaMakom) in the text we are studying to mean hara. I believe the collected verses we are studying supports this interpretation of “beten,” which is simply translated as “belly," but its creative power warrants a deeper meaning.

/files/3521750/uploaded/Applied Aikido in Men’s Work.pdf

This document 

/files/3521750/uploaded/Embodied Warrior

 discusses the languages of head-heart-hara that we have been learning together.

Finally, this video focuses attention on the shape of extension in the hands and fingers. Here’s a very special demonstration in response to an attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzdnPuIiOyQ

Tree of Life
Olympic National Park: With its amazingly viewable roots seemingly supplying the tree with life despite having no soil, it seems to be immortal. So it became known to some as the Tree of Life.

Related Aquarian Minyan Yeshiva presentations:

David Friedman, Kabbalah Coloring Book at Aquarian Minyan Yeshiva: July 8, 2021 https://www.dropbox.com/s/bo4pmcv0i1o4qzu/Kabbalah%20Coloring%20with%20David%20Friedman%207.8.2021.mp4?dl=0

 Applications of Kabbalah: Shema, An Encoded Meditation Instruction and  Key to The Oneness

Japanese Calligrapher Sengai made the mystery of the Circle/Square/Triagle visable to the world throughout history. They represent the grounding of consciousness in the human body and are the spiritual dimensions of embodied consciousness in Aikido (head/heart/hara.) The mysticism of these cornerstones of sacred geometry also associates the shapes with the energies of fire/water/spirit, written about as The Three Mothers,  in Kabbalah the energies that bring forth creation. 

The program below also recounts the history of my Shema journey, from the Minyan to Congregation Kol Shofar in Tiburon, to Kol HaEmek in Ukiah, and back to the Aquarian Minyan Yeshiva, and out to make for a better world. 

 Jan 12, 2021 from Rabbi Jonathan Seidel 

"Jerry / Izzy!  Kol haKavod for organsiing a wonderful and gracious discussion yesterday. It was an excellent time and you put a LOT of work into this. It shows dedication and good teaching and heartfelt sharing, in the spiritual trajectory of Kaplan and others. Perhaps a talk on imagery, Shivitis, focus, meditation and the Letters next time very nice..and particular thanks to Reb Lavey for the depth and breadth of his contribution yesterday which totally enhanced the entire hour….with appreciation and respect….b'kavod.  Reb Yonatan" 

Jan 13, 2021,from Rabbi Lavey Y. Derby  "The program you put together, Yitzak, was a delight, beginning with your thoughtful introduction and the questions you asked us to consider. Thank you for inviting me to join with you and Jonathan. I enjoyed being with both of you so much, and I learned much from both of you. I wish I could have stayed with you both for the whole hour or more, just for the pleasure of talking together and learning together.  Blessings to you both, Lavey"

 

AQUARIAN MINYAN YESHIVA www.aquarianminyan.org Sh'ma: An Encoded Meditation Key to The Oneness    Jerry Green with Panelists Rabbis Jonathan Seidel & Lavey Derby Monday January 11, 2021  I will add an anecdote from my visit to a Jerusalem yeshiva with Rabbi Shefa Gold before we shared a sloppy falafel lunch. My Torah study partner asked “So what brings you to Jerusalem?” I said I was researching this idea that Shema might mean “Listen to your Oneness with Hashem.” His breathing stopped, eyes widened, face flushed, as he stood and reached across our hevruta table and grabbed me by both ears, bringing me to my feet and into his face; he planted a kiss on my nose, forcefully enough that I felt the sharp pinch of his teeth!…. OYE!  I thought if this idea can excite a rabbi in training like that, I might be on to something…. SEE RECORDING In the 1980's and 90's the works of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan generated new practices in the Jewish world, that are still in use today. “Looking at the entire field of meditation from a historical viewpoint, we find that the closer one gets to the present, the less dangerous and more universal the methods become.” Rabbi Kaplan suggests working with the Sh'ma as a meditative focus, and elaborates this theme in greater detail discussing the Mother Letters in his translation and commentary on Sefer Yetzirah, teachings attributed to Abraham.  The commonly accepted translation of Sh'ma Yisrael is “Hear O Israel, God is One.” But the “ is” is only implied; if we translate the phrase, “Listen, Yisrael, to God’s Oneness” or “to your Oneness with God,” where might the sounds of sh'ma lead? Neshama… Hashem…Hashamayim... Shalem… Shalom….Shhh… Hmmm…. Aleph = Silence/One….Manishmah? Might this help us to know God's Oneness? In this presentation and panel discussion with Rabbi Jonathan Seidel and others, we will study verses from Sefer Yezirah and also practice a Sh'ma meditation. Three Mothers: Aleph Mem Shin  Mem hums, Shin hisses and Alef is the Breath of air  deciding between them. Sefer Yetzirah

THE SACRED GEOMETRY OF SOMATIC ATTUNEMENT

The martial art Aikido teaches that it is with the breath that we align ourselves with Ki, which creates all things. Kabbalah and Aikido both associate the spiritual dimensions of this vital energy with the three shapes, triangle with the head, square with the belly (pelvis) and the circle with the breath (chest.) They represent the elements of Fire, Water and Air.  

The mysticism of these cornerstones of sacred geometry also associates the shapes with the energies of fire/water/spirit, written about as The Three Mothers, the energies that bring forth creation. These notions are expanded in Kabbalah of the Mother Letters, in Tiferet: Journal of Spiritual Literature (#11, 2009.) Download here.

An Appendix to the published article is available here.

Three Mothers, Alef Mem Shin
            in the soul, male and female,
            are the head, belly, and chest.
the head is created from fire,
the belly is created from water
and the chest, from breath,
            decides between them.

Three Mothers: Aleph Mem Shin 
                 Mem hums, Shin hisses     
                 and Alef is the Breath of air   
                 deciding between them.        (Sefer Yetzirah)

Wshhh

Hmmm

Ahhh                                                             

Shema  Hashem  Shalom

Salam  Shalem   Shalom

Hear the sounds,                                 

the sounds of peace,                             

the sounds of healing peace.                 

Wshhh

Hmmm

Ahhh