Transcript: Hello, my name is Hadar. I am going to be guiding you on a practice to feel connected to the heart space and to center in the heart. This is a very important Jewish practice for me because in Jewish tradition, we have so much text, we have so many books, we have so much beautiful learning in our tradition. And we can sometimes get lost in the mind space. But the space of prayer really allows us to sink into the body and sink into the heart. And the truth is, the heart is the most powerful organ of the body. So I’m going to guide us in a brief meditation, so wherever you are, you are welcome to close your eyes if that feels comfortable, and feel the ground underneath you, supporting you. Just taking a moment to check in with your breath and see how you’re doing.
Notice where there is energy in the body, where there are sensations or emotions or thoughts that are coming up. And just seeing where your attention goes, and allowing it to be exactly as it is. Now as you’re noticing all of this, I invite you to check in with the heart space and the heart space can be accessed in many different ways. You can put our attention to where our heart is, and to just directly feel it. So this is important because we’re not thinking about the heart but we are directly experiencing the heart. So we’re gently, wherever our attention was, maybe it was in the mind or the legs or the stomach, we’re guiding our attention to the heart. And if it helps you, you are welcome to put a hand on your heart. Sometimes when we have touch, it allows us to awaken to a sensation.
So you’re welcome to put a hand on the heart and just get to feel this space, and be really curious about it. What’s here, what is this experience of feeling the heart directly. And the truth is is that, the heart really yearns to open up in prayer to meet the divine nature that it is. And there’s a couple ways the heart can open. The heart can open kind of like two doors swinging open. In the front space, so like when we think about someone we love, when we feel this love for something in our life, we can just emanate forth and burst forth from the heart. But we can also burst forth from the back of the heartspace. And to feel the heart kind of opening backwards, to lean on the ancestors that came before us, to lean on our tradition, on God, or divinity, or spirit or the universe, whatever your language is. So just hang in there for a moment and feel this experience of what it’s like to open both forward and backward at the same time.
And if your attention shifts to somewhere else on the body, just notice that and guide it back into the heart space. And just see if you can be here for another moment, and really drink the medicine of what the heart space offers. And see if there’s a certain prayer that arises, a prayer that you have for yourself, for your life, for the world, for your community. And see if you can speak it from this heart space. It doesn’t have to be outloud, but it just has to come from this heart. Because when we speak from the heart, it reaches further. The heart holds a deep wisdom, this deep connection to divinity, and this deep truth of life. I hope you enjoyed this heart meditation, and i’m sending lots of blessings for your dive into the heart space.
Hadar Cohen is a feminist multi-media artist, healer and educator originally from Jerusalem. Her Mizrahi Jewish roots influence her approach to justice, healing, and spirituality. Hadar is the founder of Feminism All Night, a project that designs communal immersive learning experiences about feminism, and is the creator of Jerusalem In Exile, a psychosomatic film on the political and spiritual reality of Jerusalem. Hadar writes a new moon newsletter on the wisdom of Jewish time called “in loving faith”. She teaches Jewish scripture and embodied practices through various platforms, including At The Well. Her artistic mediums include performance, movement, writing, weaving, sound and ritual. Hadar is currently a fellow at Abrahamic House, a multi-faith incubator for social change based in Los Angeles. You can check out more of her work at hadarcohen.me.
