Insomnia, fears, depression, anxiety. The list was long for the woman in front of me. She just wanted them all to go away. She wanted to feel better already. She tells me how she lies down in her bed afraid of what the night will bring- or what it won’t bring. Afraid that she’ll be up all night and unable to fall asleep. It’s a vicious cycle.
I hold her feet tightly in my hands. I squeeze the heels and the toes. I ask her to focus on the sensation of the touch. I ask her to be with me in the present. I ask her, “So what?” I tell her to at night to lie down in her bed with her pajamas on, say the shema, and that’s it.
“And if I don’t fall asleep?”
“Who cares? So you won’t! Tell that voice, that negative inclination in you that wants you to do circles and circles in your head, that G-d is with you and that you are being in the moment. The MOMENT.
She took a deep breath and sighed. It was a good sigh. A sigh of letting go and being in the moment.
It’s a work in progress, to live in the moment, to be in the moment. Our bodies, our hormones, are so unstable. Constantly changing, the body that G-d created for us to fulfill our purpose, our mission in the this world is connected to the present. How do you feel now? What’s going on now? What will be, what was? It’s not the way to connection. Take a deep breath of four in through the nose, release it slowly through the mouth to a count of eight. Let go. Release. Connect to the moment.
I hold her feet tightly in my hands. I squeeze the heels and the toes. I ask her to focus on the sensation of the touch. I ask her to be with me in the present. I ask her, “So what?” I tell her to at night to lie down in her bed with her pajamas on, say the shema, and that’s it.
“And if I don’t fall asleep?”
“Who cares? So you won’t! Tell that voice, that negative inclination in you that wants you to do circles and circles in your head, that G-d is with you and that you are being in the moment. The MOMENT.
She took a deep breath and sighed. It was a good sigh. A sigh of letting go and being in the moment.
It’s a work in progress, to live in the moment, to be in the moment. Our bodies, our hormones, are so unstable. Constantly changing, the body that G-d created for us to fulfill our purpose, our mission in the this world is connected to the present. How do you feel now? What’s going on now? What will be, what was? It’s not the way to connection. Take a deep breath of four in through the nose, release it slowly through the mouth to a count of eight. Let go. Release. Connect to the moment.