— You are not in your body, but rather everything you experience, including your body, arises within the vast and borderless field of the awareness that you are. This field of awareness is not itself a thing, but rather it is the space within which all things appear – thoughts, feelings, sensations, people, situations- everything.
And so, as we meditate in this way, becoming aware of all things arising within the field of awareness, so we become aware of the awareness itself– we awaken to the NO-thing that we are. There is One Experience, happening right now, within the awareness that you are. The awareness that you are isn’t really yours. Rather, it is Reality becoming aware through you, as you. Just as your awareness includes everything you are aware of in this moment, so too the Divine – meaning all of Reality – includes you and perceives Itself through you. There is One Experience of One Reality right now, and you’re not separate from the One at all. If everything you perceive is part of your own awareness, and you are your awareness, and your awareness is really God’s awareness, stop! Relax resistance! After all, why would you resist yourself? Why would you be in conflict with yourself? – writes Reb Brian
Valeria interviews Brian Yosef Schachter-Brooks — the author of “Kabbalah for Beginners: Understanding and Applying Kabbalistic History, Concepts, and Practices and Integral Jewish Meditation: Three Portals of Presence for Spiritual Awakening.”
Reb Brian Yosef Schachter-Brooks is a Jewish spiritual teacher and musician. He has been teaching the practice of Presence (meditation, mindfulness) and Judaism since 2006, and founded the online Jewish Meditation community, Torah of Awakening, in 2016. He is the author of Kabbalah for Beginners, published by Rockridge Press, and Integral Jewish Meditation – Three Portals of Presence for Spiritual Awakening.
Reb Brian Yosef received s’miha (ordination) as Minister of Sacred Music (Reb Yosef Briah Zohar, Menatzeiakh, Ba’al Tefilah) from Reb Zalman z”l (2012), Spiritual Teacher and Awakener of Souls (Morei Rukhani uM’oreir N’shamot) from Shaykh Ibrahim Baba Farajaje (may his secret be sanctified) and Rabbi SaraLeya Schley (2012), certification as Teacher of Jewish Meditation (Moreh L’hitbodedut) from Dr. Rabbi Avram Davis (2004), and holds a Bachelor in Music from the Eastman School of Music (1991).
To learn more about Brian Yosef Schachter-Brooks and his work, please visit: torahofawakening.com
— This podcast is a quest for well-being, a quest for a meaningful life through the exploration of fundamental truths, enlightening ideas, insights on physical, mental, and spiritual health. The inspiration is Love. The aspiration is to awaken new ways of thinking that can lead us to a new way of being, being well.
