Ruach/Aleph Movement Practice

Preparing to Begin

Begin by standing with your feet at a shoulder’s width apart. Your feet should be facing forwards and your weight should be shifted so that it rests over the balls of the feet. Suspend the head and open the spine, ensure that you have no unnecessary tension in your body while at the same time ensuring that you do not slump down as this will prevent efficient aleph flow within the body. Place the tongue on the roof of your mouth as this connects the front and back of the central column.

Building a Ball of Ruach/Aleph

1. Rub your palms together briskly until they feel warm or hot.
2. Pause and hold your hands a few inches apart. Notice the heat radiating between them.
3. Clap your hands together firmly 10 times.
4. Hold your hands apart again about a foot and a half and place your awareness in the space between them. Begin to breathe in and out smoothly while keeping your awareness between your hands.
5. As you breathe out, gently allow your hands closer. As you breathe in, allow your hands to move farther apart. Soon you will have a sensation between your hands that feels like two magnets of the same pole. Play with this a few times, noticing how far out you can still feel it.
6. Settle into a comfortable distance where the sensation is clear. Slowly rotate your hands as if shaping the surface of a ball, while continuing to breathe into it.
7. Inhale, drawing energy in from all around you. Exhale, sending energy out through your hands into the ball — building and strengthening it with each breath.
8. Keep breathing naturally throughout — don’t hold your breath while focusing.
9. When ready to finish, bring your palms to your lower abdomen, the location of Mem, letting the built-up energy flow back into your body.

You may notice warmth, tingling, vibration, swirling, magnetic pressure, or even a faint visual haze between your hands — all of these are normal and simply reflect different facets of the same energy.

Breathe deeply into the lower abdomen and gently place your mind into the mem area, the lower belly.

Empty your mind and forget all outside distractions; you should remain in this state for some time. Only when your mind is suitably still should you begin to move into the Sacred Letters Aleph Movement exercises.

Exercise 1: Mem Exercise (Waters of Mem)

Slowly bring your hands down to the area in front of the mem area. Let any tension stored in the shoulders drain down through the arms and out through the finger tips. The palms of the hands should be facing each other as if you were holding a basketball. Make sure that the hands are not tensely forced open but at the same time they should not be limp or closed. The feeling is much like lightly stretching the tendons across the palm so that the bones can open up, a little like stretching elastic until it is only just held taut rather than stretched out to its limit.

Take your awareness from the Mem area and place it into the space between your palms. Let your focus hover here as if you are “listening” to something very interesting taking place in the space between your hands.

Now begin to inhale and move the hands up the front of the body until they reach the height of your head. As you exhale, move the hands away and back down towards the Mem area. This movement should be carried out smoothly and slowly so that you are carrying out a circular movement of the hands.

Throughout this movement you should keep the hands in the original position of palms facing each other as if holding a basketball. Open your joints so the energy flows; if you are beginning, just invite in your joint to open in your mind and let what happens naturally be the right thing. Your awareness should also remain within the space between the hands as you carry out this movement.

Ensure that you do not raise the shoulders as your arms move upwards, as this will close down the side branches of the thrusting meridian, which are very important energetic pathways for the letter-energies you are working with.

Repeat this exercise at least eight times, very slowly, although the exact amount is not vitally important. If you are worrying too much about counting then you are not maintaining an empty mind.

This exercise matches the movement of Mem within the energetic cage. The movement of the awareness along with the circling motion of the hands stimulates the same directional movement on the inside of the body, causing the Mem current to strengthen.

Generally this exercise is practiced first in the sequence, as the current stirred through Mem helps to awaken the other letter-energies. A warmup with the Aleph/Ruach ball is recommended but not required.

When you have finished this exercise, return your hands to their original position in front of the lower Mem area with your awareness once again returning to between the palms. Remain here for a few minutes as the Mem current will continue cycling for some time afterwards. After some weeks of practice you will become very aware of this movement, which will likely cause the body to rock lightly forwards and backwards in time with your breath. At later stages the spine will begin to gently undulate as the Mem current moves through the branch of the central column which passes through the spinal column.

Exercise 2: Tree of Life Exercise

This exercise carries straight on from the Mem exercise. Inhale and raise the arms out to either side of the body with your palms facing the sky. They should rise up until they are level with the top of your head. Now fold at the elbows and bring the hands in to above your head with the palms facing downwards. Exhale as the hands move downwards until they reach the height of your hips. Continue exhaling as you move the hands around to the side of your body and then push them down towards the floor with the palms facing downwards.

As with all Aleph/Ruach exercises, your focus is as important as the movement of your body. If the mind is allowed to wander while carrying out this exercise then it will achieve minimal results. While the hands are moving upwards your awareness should expand upwards, your mind expanding all around you. When you reach the top, let your mind explore the expanse above you with no limits, connection with that which is beyond all form and before timespace. As your hands move in to above the head and then down towards the floor, bring your awareness down through the body level with the hands, descending the Tree, until it reaches the height of the hips. The final part of the exercise involves pushing down towards the floor with your hands at your sides. At this point in the exercise you should push down with your mind deep into the floor, into the roots; this helps to ground the current of the Tree.

Note that this exercise is much like the closing-down movement common to most schools of Qi Gong, called pulling down the heavens. The major difference is in the use of the awareness, which must be very exact — tracing the full axis of the Tree, crown to root and around. It can take some time to perfect the use of your mind in this exercise.

Once again repeat this exercise at least eight times. This exercise helps to strengthen the upwards-lifting current of the Tree of Life as your hands lift, while at the same time ensuring that the downward current does not become too excessive as the hands move downwards in time with your exhalation.

When you have finished this exercise you should bring the hands to rest gently at your sides with the palms facing down towards the floor. Your mind should rest in your hands. Remain in this position for several minutes so that the current of the Tree can continue to flow. With practice you will feel this energy moving upwards through the torso, tracing the central pillar. At later stages it may even cause the chest to begin to thrust open a little, as if it is being lifted from inside. This is quite normal and nothing to worry about.

Exercise 3: Shin Exercise (Fire of Shin)

From the finishing position of the previous exercise, lift your hands up towards your chest and fold at the elbows. Your fingers should come together with the fingers touching and the wrists bent.

In this exercise we break one of our usual rules of good posture, and collapse the spine as our arms come in towards the chest. We inhale as we carry out this movement.

Next we begin to exhale and open out the body once more; our hands open out along with our arms, which stretch out 45 degrees in front of us. This movement should be generated by the opening and closing of the chest and spine, which then moves the arms. You will notice this looks very much like the position of Shin in Ophanim yoga, but with both feet on the ground.

This movement is then repeated at least eight times, although once again the exact amount is not so important.

During the first part of the exercise, when we inhale, we bring our awareness into a central point in the centre of the chest, where our emotional heart resides.

This point is very important for the practice, as it is directly connected to the area of the body from where the fire of our heart begins to expand, as well as being important for the regulation of our emotional centre. Our mind rests on this point as we collapse the spine and fold in our arms.

As we exhale we expand the mind out in front of us as far as is possible. Let your mind fill the room if you are indoors, or if you are outside let it reach the horizon. This movement of the mind in and out, along with the breathing, helps to stimulate the pulsing tongue-of-flame quality of Shin, within the area of your heart. Also, if you wish to cause the Shin current to expand more, it is useful to begin to picture something that makes you smile or laugh. Take this image that brings you merriment and keep it in your mind while performing this exercise. Stimulating joy or laughter helps to stir the Shin fire, which is linked closely to this emotion.

With some practice it is possible to feel the expansion of the Shin fire within your body. At later stages in the practice it is common to erupt into spontaneous laughter which can last for some time. If this happens then just go with it; do not try to stop the laughter, as this is a sign of the Shin fire moving back into balance.

When you have finished this exercise, bring the hands down again into the same finishing position as the Tree of Life exercise. Have your hands at your sides with the palms facing the floor. Remain like this for several minutes with your awareness in your palms, and the fire of Shin will continue to pulse outwards in expanding waves.

Exercise 4: Final Mem Exercise (Mem Sofit)

From the finishing position of the last exercise bring your hands above your head and touch the thumbs and index fingers together to form a circle.

Look upwards through the hole at the centre of this hand position. As you breathe in, fold into your legs a little and bend the arms. As you exhale, straighten the arms and legs; stretch open the body and spine as you extend your focus high into the space between your hands. This movement is quite stretched out and you will most likely feel some tension in your arms when at full extension.

Repeat this movement for a minimum of eight times.

There are two parts to this exercise. To perform the second part, remain in the extended position from before, as if you have just finished exhaling. Now breathe in without moving, then exhale and twist around to your left. Inhale and return to the centre before repeating the movement on the other side of your body. Throughout this movement you should keep extending your mind upwards.

Once again repeat this exercise eight times.

This exercise directs the settling, containing current of the Final Mem — the closed, sealed form of the letter — which then divides to bring about change. The twisting movements also serve to stretch and release the fascia and open your body’s energetic and physical gates. Ensuring a smooth flow of information through the body will help to ensure that the Final Mem current is flowing smoothly.

To conclude the exercise, once again bring your hands to your sides with the palms facing the floor. Rest your mind in the palms. Remain like this for a few minutes while the Final Mem current keeps flowing. With time you can feel the energy flowing upwards through the body before dividing.

Exercise 5: Aleph Exercise (Air of Aleph)

To begin this exercise, bring your hands up to your chest level with the central heart point. Have the hands facing each other with your awareness resting in the space between them. As with the Mem exercise, and building on the Ruach/Aleph ball exercise, have your mind “listen” to the area between the hands as if something fascinating is taking place there. This will enable your mind to connect with the Aleph current of energy within the body — the breath that balances — in this area of the body. Remain in this position for a few minutes to establish this connection.

From here, exhale and spread the arms out to your sides. You should aim to stretch out the chest so that the lungs can fully open up. Your exhalation should be through the mouth and quite fast. This will help to expel pathogens from the lungs. Have your mouth quite round and open during this part of the exercise.

Next, breathe in and bring your awareness back into the space between your hands as you return to the original position.

As with the Final Mem exercise, the Aleph exercise is in two parts. Repeat part one eight times before moving onto the following movements.

In the second part of the exercise we inhale and stretch out the arms to the sides as before. Open the lungs out as you stretch open the chest. Let your mind fill the area in front of you, riding the breath of Aleph outward.

As you exhale, bring the hands back in towards the centre of the chest with the palms facing each other as before. Let your awareness move in with the hands until it is once again between the hands in front of the central heart point. This movement assists the gently condensing nature of the Aleph current, which is drawn back into the chest by the exercise above.

Once again, repeat this exercise eight times before concluding your practice.

Concluding the Practice

Once you have finished your practice, stand with your feet at a shoulder’s width apart and the hands hanging loosely at your sides. Bring your mind into the area of Mem and breathe deeply into the lower abdomen. Remain in this way for a few minutes. After this, shake out the arms and legs and walk around briskly for a minute or so.

If you have an obvious imbalance in one of the letter-currents, then focus on the exercise which will help to bring your energetic system back into balance. Carry out each movement eight times, apart from the exercise you have chosen to focus upon; carry out that exercise sixteen or more times before proceeding.

This is a simple set which can be learned by anybody in a short time. As with any inner practice, if you already work with a deeper contemplative or energetic system, feel free to gradually integrate its stages into these exercises — combining the two will make them much stronger and bring better results.

If you start this set, do not stop for 30 days. Do it once in the morning and once in the evening, even if you are not doing the related exercises. You will see results in that amount of time.