Living A Spiritual Day Session-by-Session Preview

The goal of this 10-session workshop is to heighten our awareness of the spirituality present in our daily lives.

Some moments we experience mindlessly sleep-walking. Other moments we live attentively appreciating the beauty and depth of our everyday actions.

Virtually every day in our lives includes: waking up, here and now, our bodies, getting dressed, eating, going outside, going to work, and going to sleep. How is it possible to live our lives more profoundly, with a greater sense of God and our spiritual natures?

Unique to Ayeka:

Each session includes three elements: Jewish texts, a guided writing exercise, and spiritual chevruta questions to help personalize the ideas.

Below is a description of the subject of each session, and a taste of both the Writing Exercise and the Spiritual Chevruta questions.

First session: Ayeka (Where Are You?)

Subject: Hiding from God. The story of Adam's hiding behind the tree in the Garden of Eden is an eternal human paradigm that each person replicates in his or her life.

Jewish Text: We will explore the Torah's story of Adam's hiding as well as Rav Kook's contemporary psychological understanding of hiding.

Writing Exercise: We will explore the following questions: What kind of "trees" do people hide behind today? What "trees" are we hiding behind? What small step can we take to emerge from our hiding?

Example of a Spiritual Chevruta question:

What about my life would be different if I were more spiritually connected?

Second session: Here and Now

Subject: God's hiding from us. Sometimes God is hidden far away; sometimes God is hidden very close by.

Jewish Text: We will consider Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's approach of revealing the mystery in our physical surroundings.

Writing Exercise: We will recall moments of wonder and radical amazement from our personal lives.

Example of a Spiritual Chevruta question:

What is holding me back from living with a sense of wonder?

Third session: Waking Up

Subject: Now that we have presented the fundamentals of hiding, we will begin to walk through a typical day with greater spiritual awareness.

Jewish Text: We will explore two approaches to waking up - the Shulchan Aruch (Jewish law) and the Ba'al Shem Tov, founder of the Hassidic movement.

Writing Exercise: We will reflect on how our waking up can influence our state of awareness for the whole day.

Example of a Spiritual Chevruta question:

What is one thing I could do to improve my morning routine?

Fourth session: My Body

Subject: The human body. In our first waking moments we become aware of our body. Often we kvetch about and are disappointed with our bodies.

Jewish Text: We will examine the Midrash's daring approach to look at the human body as a piece of holy art

Writing Exercise: We will reflect upon and discuss ways to appreciate the miraculous and spiritual nature of our bodies.

Example of a Spiritual Chevruta question(s):

How would my life be different if I were more aware of the spiritual nature of my body?

Fifth session: Getting Dressed

Subject: Every day I get dressed. How aware am I of this moment? How aware am I of the spiritual effect of my clothes on myself and others?

Jewish Text: We will explore a provocative section from the Zohar regarding two different perceptions of the nature of clothes.

Writing Exercise: We will discuss in what way our clothing reflects certain qualities of our soul.

Example of a Spiritual Chevruta question:

Are there any clothes in my wardrobe that no longer reflect who I am?

Sixth session: Eating

Subject: How can I raise the spiritual awareness of my eating?

Jewish Text: We will discuss Rav Kook's approach on the potential of language to awaken our inner lives.

Long ago Judaism instituted the concept of saying blessings before eating, yet often the mere reciting of words does not transform the experience.

Writing Exercise: We will focus on the moments just before eating, and consider how this kind of intention can affect the spiritual consciousness of our eating.

Example of a Spiritual Chevruta question:

How would I describe the spiritual awareness of my eating? What is preventing me from being more aware of my eating?

Seventh session: Going Outside

Subject: Every day I walk outside. Usually on my way to do something and go somewhere, oblivious to the infinite beauty of the world. What can help us to take note of the spectacular moments outside?

Jewish Text: We will read two stirring accounts of Rebbe Nachman's personal experience in nature, in elation and in tears.

Writing Exercise: We will reflect upon the Divine presence in nature that is not noticed in a hurried glance.

Example of a Spiritual Chevruta question:

Where in your daily routine could you stop to sense the holiness in nature?

Eighth session: At Work

Subject: Most of our adult time and creative energies are devoted to our workplace. It provides one of the prime opportunities to bring God into my life and the lives of those around me. Is this part of my consciousness? How do I make this a part of my daily living?

Jewish Text: We will explore a powerful commentary by the Vilna Gaon regarding work as part of our covenant with God.

Writing Exercise: How can we reframe our working as a calling with a higher purpose?

Example of a Spiritual Chevruta question:

The word ‘melacha' (work) is from the same root in Hebrew as ‘mal'ach' (Divine messenger). Do I sense a Divine calling in my work? When?

Ninth session: Going to Sleep

Subject: How do we close our day? Do we just collapse into bed? The way I way I go to sleep both brings today to a close and begins to affect tomorrow. Am I fully aware of that closure? Where is God in this moment?

Jewish Text: We will study a kabbalistic custom based on a thought-provoking section from the Talmud instructing us to forgive ourselves and others before going to sleep. The Talmud proposes that one's longevity is linked to this practice of forgiveness.

Writing Exercise: We will imagine in writing what it would be like to forgive people before going to sleep.

Example of a Spiritual Chevruta question:

What could I do to bring more spiritual awareness to my night time routine?

Tenth Session: Closure of the Workshop

Subject: Conclusion of the Workshop.

Participants are invited to prepare a few minute presentation describing something they learned from other members of the group, and how participating in this workshop has affected their daily living.