BREATHING MEDITATION TECHNIQUE, FROM THE BAAL SHEM TOV
גם אם תפלתו תהיה זכה וברורה, בוודאי מן ההבל הקדוש היוצא מפיו יתדבק ויתחבר עם ההבל העליון הדבק אליו ונכנס אליו בתמידות
If one’s prayer is clear and pure, then certainly from the holy breath emerging from ones mouth will be able to become bound and attached to the supernal breath that is bound to them and consistently enters them.
כמו שאמרו רבותינו ז"ל על פסוק "כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל יָהּ הַלְלוּיָהּ" (תהלים ק"נ ו'), "על כל נשימה ונשימה שאדם נושם צריך לקלס לבורא" (בראשית רבה י"ד ט', דברים רבה ב' ל"ו).
The sages referred to this in the Midrash on the verse, “Kol ha’neshamah tehallel Yah halleluYah—let every soul praise Yah, halleluYah” (Psalms 150:6), “One should praise Hashem for each and every neshimah (breath) that he breathes” (Bereishis Rabbah 14:9, Devarim Rabbah 2:36).
ויוצא ההבל ממנו מתתא לעילא, וחוזרת אליו מעילא לתתא. ובוודאי בנקל יוכל להתחבר חלק אלהות אשר בתוך האדם אל שרשו. (ליקוטים יקרים די"ב ע"א. בעל שם טוב על התורה, עמוד התפלה אות כ"ז)
A person should thus picture their breath emerging from their mouth below and ascending above, and only then returning to them from above to below. In this way they will find it easy to unite the Elohus within them with its source above.
— Baal Shem Tov al HaTorah, Amud HaTefillah §27
Rav Tzadok Hacohen, Kitzur Kuntras Eit HaOchel, Ot yud bet: “When a person's eating is proper, that is to say with the knowledge that God is the Giver of food, about this it is written, “and He will bless your bread etc. and I will remove etc.” (Shemot 23:25) That there should be in the force of the bread and water that he eats and drinks the [ability] to remove all types of illness. Because something that God established to enliven the soul of a person indeed has in it the vital force from God and clearly has in it the strength to sustain his vitality entirely so that there will not befall him any illness. And so too there is in it the strength to sustain forever so that there will not befall him death at all.
Rab Judah said in Rab's name: Of all that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world, He did not create a single thing without purpose. [Thus] He created the snail as a remedy for a scab; the fly as an antidote to the hornet[‘s sting];12 the mosquito [crushed] for a serpent[‘s bite]; a serpent as a remedy for an eruption. and a [crushed] spider as a remedy for a scorpion[‘s bite]. ‘A serpent as a remedy for an eruption’:13 what is the treatment? One black and one white [serpent] are brought, boiled [to a pulp] and rubbed in.
גם אם תפלתו תהיה זכה וברורה, בוודאי מן ההבל הקדוש היוצא מפיו יתדבק ויתחבר עם ההבל העליון הדבק אליו ונכנס אליו בתמידות
If one’s prayer is clear and pure, then certainly from the holy breath emerging from ones mouth will be able to become bound and attached to the supernal breath that is bound to them and consistently enters them.
כמו שאמרו רבותינו ז"ל על פסוק "כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל יָהּ הַלְלוּיָהּ" (תהלים ק"נ ו'), "על כל נשימה ונשימה שאדם נושם צריך לקלס לבורא" (בראשית רבה י"ד ט', דברים רבה ב' ל"ו).
The sages referred to this in the Midrash on the verse, “Kol ha’neshamah tehallel Yah halleluYah—let every soul praise Yah, halleluYah” (Psalms 150:6), “One should praise Hashem for each and every neshimah (breath) that he breathes” (Bereishis Rabbah 14:9, Devarim Rabbah 2:36).
ויוצא ההבל ממנו מתתא לעילא, וחוזרת אליו מעילא לתתא. ובוודאי בנקל יוכל להתחבר חלק אלהות אשר בתוך האדם אל שרשו. (ליקוטים יקרים די"ב ע"א. בעל שם טוב על התורה, עמוד התפלה אות כ"ז)
A person should thus picture their breath emerging from their mouth below and ascending above, and only then returning to them from above to below. In this way they will find it easy to unite the Elohus within them with its source above.
— Baal Shem Tov al HaTorah, Amud HaTefillah §27
Rav Tzadok Hacohen, Kitzur Kuntras Eit HaOchel, Ot yud bet: “When a person's eating is proper, that is to say with the knowledge that God is the Giver of food, about this it is written, “and He will bless your bread etc. and I will remove etc.” (Shemot 23:25) That there should be in the force of the bread and water that he eats and drinks the [ability] to remove all types of illness. Because something that God established to enliven the soul of a person indeed has in it the vital force from God and clearly has in it the strength to sustain his vitality entirely so that there will not befall him any illness. And so too there is in it the strength to sustain forever so that there will not befall him death at all.
Rab Judah said in Rab's name: Of all that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world, He did not create a single thing without purpose. [Thus] He created the snail as a remedy for a scab; the fly as an antidote to the hornet[‘s sting];12 the mosquito [crushed] for a serpent[‘s bite]; a serpent as a remedy for an eruption. and a [crushed] spider as a remedy for a scorpion[‘s bite]. ‘A serpent as a remedy for an eruption’:13 what is the treatment? One black and one white [serpent] are brought, boiled [to a pulp] and rubbed in.