Dark and Beautiful: Sh’chorah

08/14/2020 Alia Meira

Sh’chorah ani v’navah b’not Yerushalayim

I am dark and beautiful, oh daughters of Jerusalem! (Song of Songs 1:5)

This practice explores our shame and leads us to glory. We live in a world that turns dark skin into a humiliation. Through love and dignity, we overcome that mistreatment, heal the wounds that have been inflicted by oppression, and step into our unique beauty and power. We proclaim that glory to the world through the “Daughters of Jerusalem,” who witness us with love, and reflect back to us our truth.

The music of the chant moves back and forth from a minor to a major key expressing the complexity of this journey to self-realization, which is, ultimately, God-realization.

To view context from Shir HaShirim through the Love at the Center project, click Shir HaShirm (Lekh-Lekha).

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Dark and Beautiful PDF. For the musical notation, Dark and Beautiful Notation PDF.

Chants, Shir HaShirim

Let Us Run Together: Moshkayni

08/12/2020 Alia Meira

Moshkayni acharecha narutzah

Take me with you, let us run together! (Song of Songs 1:4)

Sometimes I think of myself as someone who has an idea… and then I want to “run with it.” My enthusiasm for life and for the creative process just kicks in. With this practice, I am saying to God, “Let’s run together!” Be with me as my joy, as my spacious awareness. Let me know You as the mystery that draws me into this next adventure, and accompanies me through every danger.

To view context from Shir HaShirim through the Love at the Center project, click Shir HaShirm (Noah).

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Let Us Run Together.

Chants, Shir HaShirim

True Face: Harini

06/30/2020 Alia Meira

Harini et marayich; Hashmi-ini et kolaych
Ki kolaych arayv u-maraych naveh
True Face in Hebrew
Let me see who you really are; let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet and your face is radiant. (Song of Songs 2:14)

The normal way of being is to live inside our thoughts about the world. We see what we expect to see. We’re busy trying to figure out how to use the world or protect ourselves from it. We are identifying threats or allies. We are comparing and categorizing. We are planning our next step. When those thoughts quiet down or cease being the focus of our attention, suddenly the world appears.

Surprisingly, it is more bright and beautiful and radiant than anything we could have imagined. Colors delight. Our curiosity is kindled. We can engage with what is before us and receive its gift, enjoying both the blessing and the challenge of this world. When we are paying attention and can become receptive, God’s true face appears as this world. In a moment of inner stillness, we can relax, enjoy and open as the sounds of this world become music.

To view context from Shir HaShirim through the Love at the Center project, click Shir HaShirm (Va’eyra).

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click True Face PDF. For the musical notation, see True Face Notation PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Taking Refuge in You: Chanayni

05/10/2020 Alia Meira

Chanayni Elohim, Chanayni
Ki v’cha chasayah nafshi
Hebrew for Taking Refuge in You
You pour out your grace to me, Oh God,
When my soul takes refuge in You. (Psalm 57:2)
[Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 57 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

There are many names for God. When I invoke the name Elohim, I am sometimes startled to remember that this name is grammatically in the plural; I must explore that great Multiplicity if I am to find my way to Unity. On some days I call God “My Beloved”; on some days I call God “My Friend”; on some days I call to God as “The Great Mystery”; on some days I know God as the “Infinite Invisible”. Today as I face a world that is reeling in flux, I take refuge in God, and I call Her, “Spacious, Loving Awareness.”

Taking refuge in Spacious, Loving Awareness allows me to re-contextualize my own troubles, lean into a larger perspective, and surrender into this expanded moment. This act of taking refuge beneath the wide wings of Shechina, is what opens the apertures of my heart, allowing Grace (the Divine flow) to pour in. God is always flowing. It is only I who sometime closes in response to trauma, fear, doubt or wounding. Our spiritual practice is to open to that flow by taking refuge, giving ourselves over to God’s loving embrace.

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click a note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Taking Refuge in You PDF. To download the chant’s notation, click Taking Refuge in You notation PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Trust in You: Yom Ira

04/30/2020 Alia Meira

Yom Ira Ani aylecha evtach

In the (very) day that I fear,
I will put my trust in You. (Psalm 56:4)
[Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 56 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

My practice is to notice, really notice when fear arises, so that in that very moment I can turn and surrender to the Great Mystery. It’s tricky because fear often wears a disguise. The disguise might look like anger or cynicism or irritability or numbness or anxiety or tension in my body. When I can catch myself, I can interrupt the pattern of fear hiding behind one of these masks. Then, I notice the fear, take care of myself with tender self-compassion, and open in trust to the Great Mystery, relaxing into the Divine embrace, which, in truth. has been holding me all along.

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click a note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.