Chassidus, through the eyes of a psychotherapist

The role of the Benoni, what they are capable of, and how they are able to consistently choose, right action. 

What is our inner Chometz? Inner Moshe? Inner Egypt? What is the definition of the 5 categories of people that we began discussing in chapter 1 of Tanya? How does each category show up within each of us?

Taking a look at food, health, and body-related fear. 

Understanding the energetics of food and how it helped me to heal.

Where are my souls within my body? How do they express themselves?

Redefining Teshuva: What is a Baal Teshuva? A master of returning Returning what? Returning the hey to the rest of the name of G-d (first 9 sefiros) Hey represents malchus (the 10th sefira): Dignity, open, softness, flexibility and receiving deep nurture and connection, letting go of control… watching in wonder as things unfold with deep inner joy and pleasure that comes from presence… letting go...

In this episode, I share my experience of healing from an eating disorder and what I learned along the way. 

This gets confusing because on the one hand we live in a world which is clearly defined by right and wrong actions. We are told don’t steal, don’t murder if someone does those things, they are absolutely wrong. On the other hand, we are told G-d is one unified field, G-d is everything and G-d is good, so how do we live with this paradox? This equal and opposite rule applies only to physical realit...

The body has a quality that surpasses the soul itself. This quality is that it has the tools to interact with G-d Himself. 

When the raw energy of the middos in ones body is strong – giants compared to the small voice of reason in the brain, the emotions in a state of chaos (tohu)pay no attention to logic. So how does one harness the energy? How can one lead and create order? Only by introducing Chochma – the power of saying ‘what is this?’ the curious silence of being a channel, being open to receive insight from a pl...

Chesed - desire, love, kindness, expansion, water, coolness, growth, upwards movement, abundance, unlimited, boundless, giving, “yes”, supernatural. (Avraham was the person that personified this sefirah in the world.) Gevura - boundaries, strength, judgment, constraint, “no”, containing, fire, downward moving, limitations, heat, fear, strictness, assessment, nature. (Yitzchok) Tiferes - truth, con...

Chochma – Curiosity - a state of mind where one is open and empty, ready to receive without preconceived notions, just curious, wondering. The Hebrew word “ Chochma” is made up of two smaller words, “co’ach”--“ma” which literally means, “the power of what”. It’s the ability to hear something completely new. It is the capacity for one to stand back and watch something in wonder, to witness with an...

What is a soul? What does it mean to live with two souls? What is the difference between both of my souls and how do they each express themselves in the world? How do I begin to integrate them? 

Taking a look at Tzimtzum, what it's like for a soul to become embodied. Confronting fear without fear, staying curious, open, and compassionate. Exploring all thought processes that keep one in a dysregulated state. Replacing these fragmented fear-based thought processes with knowledge of the greatness of G-d and His blessed unity. 

In this class, we talk in more detail about how to regulate the nervous system. 

Chris Maskens, an expert in the field of trauma, talks about integrating the fragmented parts of our being and creating inner leadership. What the process looks like and how the more embodied one becomes the more choice one has. In his book, Healing Developmental Trauma, Laurence Heller talks about the far-reaching effects of being able to regulate the nervous system from a psychological perspecti...

footnote Keser Shem Tov #25: The workings of a person’s soul are very deep and convoluted, and most people are not aware of what motivates them and why they act in certain ways. These motivations are usually based on deep-seated emotional needs that were formed in one’s early years, in one’s stage of ‘katnus ’-- childhood/adolescence. Because one’s consciousness is constricted and limited during t...

The world is constantly being recreated every moment. Everything that exists, exists within G-d, there is no thing outside of Him, we are within Him as if we are a thought in His head. G-d is not bound by space, matter, and time. G-ds self-awareness is absolute, He knows the tiny worm in the sea and the mosquito in the center of the earth all by knowing Himself, He truly knows each and every one o...

Disclaimer: These recordings are an edited version of an interactive live class. The exercises described are done together and processed in the group. All this has been edited out for the privacy of the participants. If you are attempting to do these exercises alone please do so responsibly. Seek support if need be. The question that this class begins with: 'I don't feel like I deserve to receive...

The deep need for attachment and the pain of feeling separate/ disconnected is at the core of one’s experience of being human. In the book Body-centred psychotherapy, Ron Kurtz describes it as the cause of all psychological pain: ‘The primal and most destructive illusion is the false distinction between self and other. “self” here doesn’t even mean you’re a person or a body or anything like that....

Focused presence - intention - love - embodiment through breath  The 4 steps to the energy healing modality called Quantum touch In the book, The New Human - Quantum-Touch 2, by Richard Gorden, he says: Your very essence is love – the rock doesn’t have to try to be more rock-like, and water doesn't have to try and be wetter; we do not have to try to have more essence of love. We can, however, ende...

Disclaimer: These recordings are an edited version of an interactive live class. The exercises described are done together and processed in the group. All this has been edited out for the privacy of the participants. If you are attempting to do these exercises alone please do so responsibly. Seek support if need be.  "the kind of light which is pnimi (absorbable) is present according to the measur...

“what do you think my grandfather the Alter Rebbe expected from Chassidim and Chassidus? He wanted to do away with the state of affairs described in the Zohar: ‘Hearts are stopped up, eyes are closed, people see and know not what they see.’… he brought it about that Chassidus should accomplish the opposite: hearts that are open, and eyes that are open, and know what they see.” - Likkutei Dibburim...