QUESTION:
The sefarim of Rav Yurevitch speak about the power of deep breathing and how a person can heal his negative emotions and become closer to Hashem, through working with the breath. Can this approach [of breathing] be fused together with the Rav’s approach?
ANSWER:
[There are three general areas of our avodas Hashem, beginning from most spiritual to least spiritual: 1. Working with our Nefesh Elokis (G-dly soul), 2. Working with our nefesh habehaimis (animal soul), and 3. Working on our guf (body).]
There is an avodah that we have to do with our G-dly soul (nefesh Elokus), which includes the 5 parts of our soul: the Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah, and Yechidah. This includes improving our actions (Nefesh), our character and emotions (Ruach), our analysis in Torah learning (Neshamah), the higher source of our Torah learning that is above regular thought (Chayah), and d’vekyus with Hashem (Yechidah). There is also an avodah we have with our animal soul (nefesh habehaimis): Repairing the 4 elements in our lower soul (repairing our earth, water, wind and fire). We also have an avodah with our body (guf), such as through working with our breathing, and this also improves part of our animal soul (nefesh habehaimis).
I do not deal that much with teaching about breathing, and the reason for this is because many times, if someone is not spiritually pure enough, instead of using breathing as a way to leave behind his physical pull and reveal his soul more, the person will actually become even more involved with his body and more attached to it. Also, when people focus a lot of their inner work on breathing, they are often following their imagination, and imagination naturally gravitates towards the body’s physicality, because imagination is medameh, from the word adamah (earth), hinting to the connection between imagination and the earthy materialism of the body.
Also, working with breathing is an approach that is very popular with the gentile nations, and therefore I am very concerned that if people involve themselves a lot with their breathing, they will be led from there into non-Jewish approaches of breathing exercises.
There is an avodah that we have to do with our G-dly soul (nefesh Elokus), which includes the 5 parts of our soul: the Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah, and Yechidah. This includes improving our actions (Nefesh), our character and emotions (Ruach), our analysis in Torah learning (Neshamah), the higher source of our Torah learning that is above regular thought (Chayah), and d’vekyus with Hashem (Yechidah). There is also an avodah we have with our animal soul (nefesh habehaimis): Repairing the 4 elements in our lower soul (repairing our earth, water, wind and fire). We also have an avodah with our body (guf), such as through working with our breathing, and this also improves part of our animal soul (nefesh habehaimis).
I do not deal that much with teaching about breathing, and the reason for this is because many times, if someone is not spiritually pure enough, instead of using breathing as a way to leave behind his physical pull and reveal his soul more, the person will actually become even more involved with his body and more attached to it. Also, when people focus a lot of their inner work on breathing, they are often following their imagination, and imagination naturally gravitates towards the body’s physicality, because imagination is medameh, from the word adamah (earth), hinting to the connection between imagination and the earthy materialism of the body.
Also, working with breathing is an approach that is very popular with the gentile nations, and therefore I am very concerned that if people involve themselves a lot with their breathing, they will be led from there into non-Jewish approaches of breathing exercises.
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