A New Meditation Technique, Part II

     I realized just as I was writing the title that it's rather silly for me to say it's "new;" after all, this technique has been around for centuries!  New title:

A New-to-Me Meditation Technique, Part II

     There.  I feel better.

     There is a second part to this meditation technique.  As you may recall, the first part is one in which we take the Hebrew tetragrammaton which signifies the Creator, YHWH.  We inhale as we whisper "Yah," which represents the transcendent part of the Divine, and then exhale as we whisper "Weh," which refers to the immanent part of the Divine.  We breathe in the transcendent and then breathe it out into our world.  I've found it not only centers me, but helps me remember that I am just an instrument of the Divine will.

     Well, the second part of the meditation technique involves doing the opposite.  First, we breathe in as we whisper "Weh," taking in all the part of our world that needs Divine transformation, and exhale as we whisper "Yah," allowing the Divine to work in the situations and people we encounter.  Rabbi Cooper, in his Ecstatic Kabbalah, suggested not starting this part of the meditation exercise until we've practiced the first one for at least six months.

     As an empath, I was at first shocked that I should be asked to take in other people's stuff.  I already fight every minute of every day to keep from doing just that!  But then I encountered some spiritual practices from other traditions that corresponded to this meditation technique, and it made more sense to me.  More on that next time (don't you loathe cliffhangers?).