Spiritual Sleep

We’ve heard about the physical benefits of sleep, but most are unaware of the role it plays in our spiritual development. In this episode we talk with Kabbalistic Sleep Consultant Mordechay Balas, who shares tools and practices to elevate our consciousness and amplify the messages we receive during each night’s sleep.

Transcript:

Elisheva: Good morning, everyone. Good evening. Good afternoon wherever you are and welcome to this week's Weekly Energy Boost. My name is Elisheva, and I am so excited because I finally convinced my husband to come back to the show. I'm here this morning with Mordechay and with David and we are here to share with you the most powerful and practical tools to navigate the upcoming week … the opportunities and the potential challenges, but also to give you deep spiritual wisdom that will serve you for your entire lives. And that's actually what brings us to today's topic. This week we are talking about … well this whole month we've been talking about ways to bring more spirituality to our lives. It's the month of Aquarius, I think today is the 18th day of the lunar month of Aquarius. So, we are focusing at least for the next 10 days on enhancing our spiritual connections – the spirituality in the mundane. And that's the reason that we are talking today about spiritual sleep. It happens to be a hugely untapped resource. All of us do it. You know, it's one of those things that you can't say, “Well, though, this has nothing to do with me”. As long as you sleep on a regular basis, this show is for you. So, before we even get into it … If you know anybody who has insomnia, has nightmares, doesn't dream, doesn't sleep enough, sleeps too much, sleeps at the wrong time of day, and anybody you know who has any … the truth is even those of us who don't have any issues in our sleeping need to hear what we're going to talk about today. Because as I said before, we regard “Okay, I understand meditation and prayer, and kindness and generosity, and all those things are spiritual. But sleep is very … it's unconscious.” And the Kabbalists teach that it is one of the most conscious times of the day. We spend approximately one third of our lives sleeping, and yet we do nothing with it. So, we want to share with you today, as we do in every episode of the Weekly Energy Boost, the best practices, the best prescriptions and the most profound wisdom to enhance this one third of your life. So, darling, would you like to ... well, maybe David has some input that he wants to get in before we let our guests do that?

David: Well, I think I always would wonder why … Why do we bring certain guests on the show? Do you want to share why we bring Mordechay on when we discuss really two topics – dreams and sleep. You have a lot of skills in your in your toolbox, Mordechay, but when it comes to these two themes in particular, we always bring Mordechay on the show. So, I don't know if you want to share your history, your passion for it. I think each of the teachers of the Kabbalah center try to work on different areas, different niches that they specialize in. We have probably what twenty, thirty, forty teachers around the world, right?

Elisheva: I think we have more than that. About 100. I would say 100. 

David: Wow. Well, I need to get out of my little bubble, I guess all over the world. Okay, okay. Maybe yes. Maybe this is an accurate statement. So, and we all have different specialties that we like to focus on to nurture our audience. And this is Mordechay’s specialty. In fact, it's interesting, because one of the teachers had a dream about me on Saturday. And he started telling me about the dream. My first question I asked him, “Like, did you tell Mordechay?” And he's like, “Yeah. I already I already told him.” “What did he say?” And then he gave me some, some helpful tips about how to decipher what someone else dreamed about me, which is interesting. So, I don't know if you want to share a little bit about your background and why you're passionate about it.

Mordechay: So, I … you know, I always felt connected to the energy of dreams.

Elisheva: Full disclosure, he's a Taurus, so he's always loved sleep.

David: Like, he’s saying “I might as well make this into a profession”.

Mordechay: So, that's … Yeah, that's for sure.

Eilsheva: Like he's always been interested in sleep.

David: Do you judge him when he sleeps in now? Or do you just automatically assume that he's doing something spiritual?

Elisheva: I am a big fan of sleeping myself. And I support the cause.

Mordechay: So, I've always been intrigued by the energy of dreams. And since I started my journey with the Centre, and it started actually by teaching a course – back then it was in Jerusalem – about dreams. And suddenly I started to realize that I have this great connection. The real breakthrough with sleep actually happened less than a year ago; that I realized that the whole project, the whole work with dreams was just to facilitate the energy of sleep. Because as my dear wife said, everyone is sleeping. Everyone. 

Elisheva: That’s not a metaphor either. 

Mordechay: It's not a cliché. It's not a metaphor. Everyone is sleeping. 

Elisheva: It’s literal.

Mordechay: Yes, some people might argue with you, you know, “I don't, I don't dream. Like, “I don't remember my dreams.” And I remember actually doing this session. And it was part of my spiritual journey. I did Kabbalistic Hypnotherapy, and it was … and that was the moment. So, it's like hypnotherapy – you're not really asleep, but you're not fully awake. It's like higher vibration. And then it hit me that this is …

David: You did this on yourself? 

Mordechay: No, I did it with it with a student, actually, that is doing this. And it hits me in that moment … and he actually told me later on that that's what I was saying. That my passion is to better humanity's sleep. And since then, of course, with the support of my teacher, Karen, that was the final inspiration to make this happen. I realized that this is a big focus for me right now.

David: I mean from a marketing point of view, or from an economic point of view, that’s the thing that people are like … I walked into like a Whole Foods, you know, one of those cliche places you go to here in LA. And I said, “What’s in the supplement aisle. What are people buying right now?” She said, “It's sleep. It's sleep supplements.” That's peoples’ biggest pain point. 

Elisheva: I opened up a magazine this weekend and it said we tested you know, 1000 products that can enhance your sleep – from pajamas to noise cancelling earbuds to pillowcases. And that was that was the big spread in the magazine. So, we want to give you the top 50 tools on how to enhance your sleep that is not a product, that is not a pillowcase, that is not a pajama. And I think that part of what people are wondering is, what are they missing? 

Mordechay + David: Yeah, right.

Elisheva: Everybody's sleeping. So, you can't say “Well, you have no idea what it's like to sleep.” You probably do know what it's like, but let's share with our listeners. Why is sleep so important? Metaphysically we understand we need our body to recuperate. There's lots of research on how you need to get, you know, deeper REM sleep in order for the cells to turn over and for to heal. Sleep is essential. We understand it on a physical level. What is important about sleep on a metaphysical level?

Mordechay: So, on top of all the physical things – all the physical benefits that my dear wife mentioned – there's 99% of the ingredients are actually spiritual beneficial. The idea is that our soul – we can say that we have … Kabbalah teaches us that we have two levels, two aspects of consciousness. One is the body consciousness, that is like more into the “me, me, me” being observed. Take care of me. I go first. Wash me. Feed me. Massage, coffee, whatever – that whatever works for you. And then there's the second aspect. So, the body consciousness is more about the taking. How can I grab more?

And the soul consciousness is more of how can I share? How can I create a big impact in the world? And how can I really live up to my potential? How can I connect to my purpose? So, these two consciousness entities, they clash every single day. The reason spiritually that we get tired is because throughout the day, we are here for soul; we're not here for our body. So, throughout the day, the more we listen to our body consciousness … and it doesn't mean we shouldn't take care of our body. But there's a line that we cross, that we become self-absorbed. It can even be worries, or fears, or doubts that nourish this energy of tiredness. Every time we listen to the body consciousness, once we cross that line of the minimal things that need to be taken care of, that's the moment we start to be drained energetically. So, the Kabbalists of the past and also the Kabbalists of the present, they didn't need to sleep that much. Because throughout the day, the soul was victorious over the body consciousness. I remember my teacher Rav Berg, certain months, even sleeping like (don't try this at home) … in a certain month like sleeping maybe for an hour a day. Maybe 30 minutes. 

David: So, so I know what some people are thinking right now because I'm seeing the messages come through. Are you saying that people who can't sleep, can't fall asleep, wake up a lot – maybe they only need three hours of sleep? We can't say that everyone who has insomnia has a correlation to be more spiritual. That's not what we're saying here, is it?

Mordechay: No. What we are saying is that if you take a look at it, if you dissect it, there are four aspects of the day – waking up, how you conduct yourself during the day, preparation for sleep, and the actual sleep. So, for those that have any sleep interruptions … and part of the work that I do is, is actually to find in which one of these four segments can you improve. So, we are giving you physical and also spiritual things that you can use. So, it can be a physical condition that the individual has, which that is out of my jurisdiction. But it can also be something that you do throughout the day – the way you wake up that affects your night sleep; the way you prepare for your sleep that affects your sleep; and the actual sleep that you are missing. One detail, one thing that can really make a big improvement. So, the fact that someone has insomnia, or they keep on waking up, or they have difficulty in falling asleep … doesn't mean that it's a physical condition, it might be something spiritual that can be fixed. 

David: I know a lot of times people associate with the tools that we use right before sleep. So, I know I have a routine; I have a bedtime routine. We all have different bedtime routines. And I'm sure we're pulling from the same toolbox, spiritual toolbox; but we're probably just using it differently. And a lot of people are assuming that that spiritual routine is going to lead to what they call a better sleep.

And I've seen actually, you know, if you eat food at the right time, or you take CBD or something, you know, that's gonna be a better sleep. But the truth is … what I realized that spiritual routine does for me, is the next day, my consciousness is different, right? So, it's kind of like you're feeding the soul before bed and then the soul has a new type of energy, a new type of power the rest of the day. That's what I've noticed. If I wake up in the middle of the night and I study some of our wisdom, I've seen that throughout the next day these concepts are permeating inside of me and I'm less reactive and passing more tests. And as a result, that's why the spiritual routine before bed is important. 

Elisheva: That's one of the reasons I think that this topic is so important for especially modern times. Because people have the tendency to say I'll sleep when I'm dead. Or, or like you know … they do what they can to shut down and shut off and it isn't as mindful and as conscious as it can be. Part of the … I think what we need to share with people is, and maybe this is another question for you, even though David and I I'm sure know the answer. Everybody listens to us all day long. All day long. Of course. It's all they do … all they do.

What happens to the soul when we sleep? We understand that the body right, the processes in the body. Again, you can Google this or ask your doctor about it. The heart rate slows down the digestion. All these different systems go into sleep mode effectively, right? What does the soul do when the body is asleep?

Mordechay: So, the soul goes through different stages. It's like a plane taking off. And those of us that have nightmares, we already spoke about it in the app. 

Elisheva: I should say if you're interested in hearing specifically about dreams, we did an episode on December 16, 2019, completely dedicated to dreams. So, you can go back after listening to today's episode. Go back to the December 16, 2019 – when we were so young and naïve – and hear that episode. And we'll give you more resources at the end of the show, of course. But just … I know that we're getting a lot of questions about dreams specifically. Right. We want to focus on the sleep, which of course enhances the dreams. And then you can learn more specifically about dreams in our previous episode.

Mordechay: So, when we lay in bed, the bed is like the … I would say the … 

David: Business class.

Elisheva: The tarmac. The runway.

Mordechay: The runway. So, we're about to take off, and according to the previous three segments that we've had in that past day – we woke up, how we conducted ourselves throughout the day, listening mode, or soul sharing. And also, our preparation, like David said … the preparation we have for sleep, which is really important to take the time you know yourself. You know how long it takes you to take off. So, you need to prepare. Let's say if I want to go to sleep at 11:00 or 10:30. And I know it takes me an hour to prepare. For us, it's a whole ceremony. I need to do it like, at 9:30 I need to start. So, the soul is taking off. Those that have nightmares is just that the soul couldn't elevate enough from the body, above the physical.

Elisheva: It didn't get to the cruising altitude.

Mordechay: Yes. The REM stage, the rapid eye movement stage – that's when we actually enter in a deep sleep. And it's always in cycles of 90 minutes. The REM stage is where our soul gets the recharge. Our soul is like a battery. 

Elisheva: You are saying that like everybody knows that.

David: The soul is getting its recharge only during the REM sleep. That's what you're saying?

Mordechay: The deepest charge … like the fastest charge, okay. You can even have a nap during the day, will give you some like … it's like, you know.

David: So … and I also heard you. You say this once in a lecture. Correct me if I'm wrong or updated this wisdom, because it takes about 30 minutes to take off. 

Mordechay: Yes. But if you know what you're doing, you can do it in seven minutes. If you practice … I mean, we do this every night. But I think part of the … I think one of the biggest problems that we have for humanity is that we have a belief system about sleep. That it's either a waste of time or, you know … I could have done something better. Right? This expression I overslept, right. No one has this expression like, I was over awake! I overslept – like we associate sleep with a waste of time. Or you know what, it's not that important. And it's actually … you can do so much.

Elisheva: By the way, some people use sleep as an escape as well, right? That, that they can't handle what's going on. So, they literally disconnect.

David: And we're jumping way ahead. Mordechay was giving us so much juiciness. This topic is so loaded, so much to unpack. And I feel like we keep wanting to go to 800 different places. So, keep going. We're on the tarmac …

Mordechay: So, the thing is it starts … If you really want to improve your sleep physically, it starts with the understanding that you want to improve your sleep spiritually. Internally. It's an art to perfect your spiritual sleep. So, if we want to improve our spiritual sleep, we have to take a look at the four different segments and to see how can I improve spiritually? Internally? How can I tune up to the proper energy?

Elisheva: So, the four segments are – how we woke up, how we conducted ourselves during the day, preparing for sleep, and sleep?

Mordechay: Okay. And then once you start to realize that the change has to be spiritually; energetically. We are also … it's important that we work on our belief system about sleep. Because some people are more like night people. Some people are more like day people. I think I'm something … 

Elisheva: I saw a meme yesterday that said, “Some people are a night owl. Some people are early birds. And I'm just some sort of exhausted pigeon.”

Mordechay: I like that. And you know, Jerry Seinfeld, which I share the birthday with him …  

Elisheva: In case anyone wants to look up his birthday.

Mordechay: We also show the sense of humor, but we use it for different causes. And Jerry once said that, you know, everyone has this night guy and morning guy. And the night guy always messes up with the morning guy. Like the night guy can go partying, can have fun; but it's the day guy that needs to pay the price. But the day guy can't do anything to the night guy. And this is where we disagree. This is where Kabbalah and spirituality come to the picture. Because during the day, you can really affect your night guy. And it has to start – this is really the key. It has to start with changing our belief system about sleep. We can do so much more while we're asleep. Even the brain works seven times faster when we are asleep than when we are awake. You can send messages to people. You can receive messages. You can get clarity. I mean this expression of “You know what … let me sleep on it”. What is this? You know, like, where is it coming from? It's coming from the subconscious mind saying, “I need the sleep to come up with the clarity.” And I remember my teacher told me that when someone comes to my teacher with a big problem – something is happening, they don't know what to do and there's no simple solution – my teacher would say, “I need to sleep on it.” Literally sleep on it. “And I'll come up with the answer in the morning.”  

David: Because he's using the night energy – the sleep energy, the soul discharging energy – to draw the answer. 

Mordechay: Exactly.

David: I think that's really important for our audience to distinguish here. A lot of people say I'll sleep on it, meaning they'll just kind of like blinders on. I need some time. 

Elisheva: They're buying time when they say it

David: Okay, let me just get some more messages maybe, or figure something out. Or I’ll  think more about it. What we're saying is you have a problem. Maybe there's a little spiritual routine, some steps you'll give of how to address that problem before sleep. And then say – through your prayer and your meditation – that through the power of this sleep, this will remove the darkness that is confusing me and give me clarity.

Mordechay: In other words, this is like an app that you decide. It’s a  navigation app, you decide …

Elisheva: A navigation app ... a nap, and you heard that here first.

Mordechay: The navigation app that we're using, this is the greatest navigation app of all. You just need to set your coordinates. What do you want? What are your goals for your sleep? Are you just gonna hit the pillow and wake up six, seven, eight hours later? Or are you gonna ask, you know … I have this challenge. I have this lack of clarity. I have this situation at work. Even I have, like this situation in my relationship … not in our relationship. But I have this situation, what do I need to do? How do I get to the next level? It's also refining the questions. 2

David: Ok. So, to be clear, because our whole audience is bought in, I feel like they're just on the edge of their seat and we're going to tell them tools now. If a person has a question or a problem in their life, what's the routine you suggest for them to do before sleep?

Mordechay: So, this is in a nutshell … because this is like …

Elisheva: This could seriously be an hour-long answer, right?

David: I don't know what to tell these people. The people are like, what do we do? We bought in that sleep is important. I want to use it. Give me a tool for the question. Because I don't, I don't … actually that's not my normal routine. I'm not usually using the sleep for the questions. Probably will start doing that now. I use it for something different, which we'll talk about. But how do people do that? People have a question, how do they “get it answered” in their …

Mordechay: So, you can divide each one of the segments of the day to physical and spiritual. So, what you want to do, including the preparation for the sleep, is to use the segment … you do this, the physical stuff that it's important to do for a smoother takeoff. Keep in mind, the more you prepare yourself, the faster and smoother the takeoff. So, the soul doesn't need to spend too much energy on the takeoff. We want to give the soul the greatest push, the greatest boost in the Weekly Energy Boost. So, you do your physical things. Then you do some spiritual things … which can be, let's say, breathing techniques, different kabbalistic meditations that we also offer. But you can … everyone is breathing, right? So, you can use that. And then when you're about to fall asleep – because you want to hit the address, right? Like, where do I need to go? What do I need to do? You want to write down, even if it's on your phone, but it's better on a piece of paper. You want to write down the list of questions – as many as possible, not in a limiting way. So, not saying like …

Elisheva: No “yes” or “no” questions. Not “Is he the one?” 

Mordechay: Yes. You want to say like … How can I get this resolved? What is the right direction for me? What is my next level? The more questions you ask the more doors you're knocking. Now, another thing related to this, when you're asleep it's important that you show your internal commitment for the answers. Because some people … My teacher Rav Berg said once, you know, people want … they asked many questions (at the best case), but they don't necessarily want to hear the answer. So, you want to show to the metaphysical reality that you are invested in your sleep. So, the physical preparation, the spiritual preparation – these are the ways to show you're invested. And it's also recommended – just one tip out of many – to put something like a notebook or some way that you can document it. If even if you wake up in the middle of the night, you want to show to the spiritual realm that when you give me this message, I'm ready to receive it. Because you might not remember it when you wake up. But the fact that you show … it's like someone goes to for a checkup – not because something is wrong, because they want to show to the to the metaphysical reality, “I am taking care of my well-being”. So, if you show that you take your sleep seriously, they will be giving you the messages and the insights that you need. Because they see that you are taking seriously a third of your life.

David: I'm going to recap that. So, basically Mordechay said you have a physical routine to … you know, I'm going to take what you said and I'm going to … because people are asking me what I do. I'm going to combine the two. So, what am I saying is everyone needs to have a physical routine that is respectful to their sleep. So, for example … for me, that would be the basic things that we're told to do, which is a blackout room. I think that's really important. Even the little light in the room can affect the depth of your sleep. We know that science says that temperature control … there's just, um, there's an optimal temperature for me that temperature is around 71. I don't know what it is. 

Elisheva: It's actually lower. I mean, we're talking in the physical. Yeah, the colder it is, the deeper the sleep. So, they recommend around 67-68 may help you sleep deeper. If that's one of your challenges. That's, again, not Kabbalistic – physical. 

David: Right now, we're just doing the physical prep. So, an optimal temperature. I think a lot of people don't know that. So, they wake up in the middle of the night a lot because the temperature they're sweating, or get hot, or whatever. So that's the second thing. The third thing is … I'm going to give her credit, because she's giving me all this advice – from my wife. So, she's really big that I don't eat too big of a meal – portion control – especially before sleep. I know that's a spiritual concept too.

Mordechay: Two to three hours before sleep, you should eat. But depends on how heavy is the food, right? If you eat meat or dairy, or spicy food. Good luck. 

David: Exactly. I heard, I heard that about …

Elisheva: That’s sandbags on the hot air balloon of your soul.

David: And physically, what I heard about the having these heavier meals, is because that your body is working hard to digest the food as opposed to healing your body. Yeah, which is what you want also.

Mordechay: According to Chinese medicine, at around 8pm, that's when the digestion literally stops working. So, I don't want to gross anyone … but whatever you ate after eight remains in the body until the morning. Yes. And it's making me heavy. 

Elisheva: David, wait. David needs his digestion joke for the episode.

David: Simmer and get at a 98-degree heat for crusted in the walls of your colon. And that's okay. So, we said a blackout. We said temperature control. We said light food. Several hours before you sleep isn't the optimal way to do it. My wife told me also I don't know where she sourced it from. She's told me from 10:00 to 2:00 – those hours are the most healing sleep. Something about the hormones of the body are most regulated during that time. So, that's why she's pushing herself to go to bed by 10:00. I don't usually get to bed by 10:00, obviously. I'm more by 11:00. But I try to capture that four-hour window.

Mordechay: Every hour that you sleep before midnight …

Elisheva: Midnight … meaning the middle of the night? Not midnight?

David: Sometimes it's between 12:00 to 1:30 Kabbalistically. 

Mordechay: That equals two hours of sleep. 

David: There's a spiritual backbone of that concept, because the hormones are more regulated during that time. And you're saying actually, spiritually, it's double the sleep between 10:00 to 2:00 … I guess, yes. That's accurate.

Mordechay: So, the Kabbalist of the past … they used to go to sleep at nightfall and wake up at midnight. So, let's say it's like four hours. That's right. And then they study throughout the night.

David: But it would be like eight hours.

Mordechay: That's right. And then they study throughout the night.

David: That's right. That's very good. Okay, so that's … that's the physical things I'm trying to think of.

Elisheva: I know some people take a good shower. There's a lot of details really – being clean, having clean sheets, having clean pajamas. Making sure that … that's true that there's no physical matter that will hold you down from your …

David: Let's talk about that for a moment – taking a shower before bed. It is physically or spiritually here?

Mordechay: Physically. There are four elements, right? We are comprised of four elements – water, fire, earth and air. So, it's recommended, ideally, to have four different cleansings before you go to sleep. So, the water is the shower. Okay, the shower is the water part. The air is breathing meditation. That's number two. The earth is … like making the proper meal to ground yourself through the food. Not too heavy, but not too light so you'll be hungry. But there's also another type, which you can do like grounding yourself. And the fourth element is fire, which can be done by using sage. We have also like different Moroccan herbs that we bring from Morocco. And people can use it as a way to cleanse themselves.

David: So, you do this? Both of you personally? Is Mordechay walking into the bedroom with sage? 

Mordechay: No, because it's not something that you need to do every night. But it's something that you want to do, like … let's say three consecutive nights. I would say like once a month once. You need to feel it, you know? I don't … I personally don't feel that I need it. But in certain times …

Elisheva: I think it also depends … Energetically some personalities bring work home with them, yeah? Some personalities … if you're the type of person that loses sleep when things are stressful, that practice can be more, probably more impactful than somebody who has an easier time switching off.

Mordechay: You can also use other techniques to replace that fire because my wife would not like every night, I’m burning sage.

David: But here's the thing … If we're talking about the fire being some kind of spiritual light to burn the negativity, we could say that the Hebrew letter meditations that we use, or the reading of the Zohar ( which is the most powerful before bed) is going to unlock that same energy that maybe sage could. Am I going out on a limb here? Okay, so I would, I would say, by even knowing that I'm implementing four elements before going to bed, it's already a huge spiritual investment of consciousness. So, I love that. So, the shower component before bed … I don't do that. But you know what? We're gonna look into that. 

Mordechay: Because the water has the energy to cleanse. It takes out … it absorbs energy. So, you … also it's a shower meditation.

Elisheva: One of the most meditative moments of my day is in the shower. The best ideas come to me in the shower.

Mordechay: Also think about whatever ideas – however was your day and whatever you want to wash away.

David: Hot? Cold? Doesn't matter?

Mordechay: Whatever works. Whatever works for you. 

David: And I think then, you know, people take supplements and stuff. They can do that. I think that's great. So, okay that's the physical. So, then you're saying have a spiritual routine. For me personally, it would be a conversation with the Creator. I think that’s powerful. It is said that having just an unstructured conversation with the Creator – in your own language, saying whatever. And I literally say, “You know, right now I'm feeling whatever – I'm feeling, I'm feeling happy, feeling anxious. I'm actually kind of worried about this.” I'll just start talking out loud about every single thing that's happening in my life.

Elisheva: I don't do it out loud. Just so you know. David does it out loud. I don't do it out loud. 

David: I do it out loud because I'm alone in that moment. So, I try to do it when I'm alone. If I'm not disturbing anybody. Yeah, I do it out loud. Because it helps me.

Mordechay: But the Creator hears you anyway. Even if it wasn't exactly …

Elisheva: That’s the point. I want you … I want everybody to know that it's for you to find your own communication habit.

David: That's right. And everything is okay. 

Mordechay: And you can ask, what did I learn today?

David: Yeah, yeah.

Mordechay: What can I learn? How can I do this better tomorrow? 

David: Exactly. I'll ask those questions. And then all of a sudden thoughts come into my mind … ideas. And these are … the Creator is talking to you. That's how the Creator talks to you. 

Elisehva: It’s like unloading on the Creator. Handing your problems off. Handing your challenges, giving … Similar to the writing down the questions. You're basically saying, “I'm doing what I can with this. Here it is for you. What can you do with it?” 

David: And also, when you do that, you're also acknowledging unconsciously, that you have certainty in the light of the Creator. So, that also establishes a connection, or something. And I read something today, actually, which was so inspiring … which was that the negative force that fights us – which is, we call the opponent or even Satan. Right then, the negative inclination is a force that fights us every day – to be reactive, to seek out short term gratification. It's the force that's basically destroying us. Doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. This force is an angel. And it says the only thing that can control the angels is the Creator himself. So, when you want to overcome some aspect of your nature, or this negative force, you have to go directly to the Creator. And that's why the conversations with the Creator are the most powerful way to overcome your addictions, your fears, your anxiety. All of which are being precipitated by this angel, this negative force. So that will take me about 10 minutes. I also do what we have in our Kabbalistic prayer books. The bedtime … it's called the bedtime Shema. It's about four or five verses. I have actually brought it with me just in case we were gonna.

Elisheva: I don't know how it's gonna look on the camera?

David: Can you see this on the camera? It's called the Prayer of the Poor. I believe we sell it on kabbalah.com

Mordechay: You can also use Dialing God …

David: Oh, is the same thing is in Dialing God?

Mordechay: It’s and app and also …

David: Oh, it’s in the app? Forget it! Get the Dialing God book.

Mordechay: Get the app.

David: This is like the advanced … this is like the advanced like …

Mordechay: You don't need the full enchilada.

David: So, the Dialing God app has this prayer in it. I go through the whole prayer.

Mordechay: How about forgiveness? Do you forgive yourself and others? Or you don't … you skip that?

David: Let me think for a moment. Do I do that? Do I do that? I think when I'm having my conversations with the Creator, if I have any anxiety or I'm upset with anybody. 

Mordechay: That’s something else, like letting go of your worries, thoughts, like analyzing … too much analyzing. 

David: This is this is good. The forgiveness is very important. Because I've also heard about this. I don't do it, but only because I am not doing it. I should be doing it.

Elisheva: Because people should be asking David for forgiveness.

David: [Laughs] I've already forgiven all of you. So, so but no. I would implement that. That is very good. Okay, that was very good. And then I will go to sleep. I will close my eyes. When I close my eyes … I heard – I don’t know if I heard it from you or where I heard it – the very last thought you have before you actually fall asleep should be something of a spiritual nature. So, I'll meditate on certain Hebrew letter sequences as I fall asleep. That's what I do. Usually the Tetragrammaton, which is I don't know how to describe that …

Mordechay: If you open the book that you just saw. I don't know if it's in the English version. But in the Hebrew version, it says particularly to see the letters of the tetragrammaton – the Yud Hei Vav Hei – just before you first sleep.

David: That's you know what, that's where I got it from. Because that's, that's what I do. That's my practice.

Mordechay: That's a good one.

David: And then I set an alarm. I have to because I wake up early. Because I like to wake up right before dawn. That's my thing. I'll wake up 10 minutes before dawn, because there's a powerful meditation for dawn that you can control the day (is also in this book). I don't know if it's in the Dialing? I think it it’s in Dialing God. It is right? I heard it's really powerful to wake up before dawn, is this accurate?

Mordechay: Yes. And at the same time, you know, every person is different. Like, you know, go now and tell a night person, “You shouldn't go to sleep at 12:00 or 1:00 am.” Right? “Go to sleep at 10:30.” Is like …

David: Right. That's, that's true. And to be clear, if I had to go to bed at 1:00 or 2:00, I would not wake up at dawn.

Mordechay: Ideally, you want to wake up before dawn – if that works for you. But if you if you're not a morning person, or something in the middle, or a night person, it’s going to be very difficult for many people to wake up before dawn.

David: I wouldn't wake up at dawn if you're going to be exhausted all day and be reactive and upset and moody. So yes, if I went to bed late, I'm not waking up at dawn. But if I get enough sleep, I will wake up at dawn and then that's my, that's my routine.

Elisheva: I want to throw something out there that I think is an underlying current to everything that we've said so far. And believe it or not, we only have 10 minutes left to this episode. So, we need to wrap it up.

David: We have to continue this next week. We haven't even gotten we haven't started talking.

Elisheva: So, one second …

David: I have like 40 questions here.

Elisheva: The unspoken message here that I think has run throughout the last, you know, since we started this morning, is it's really important to create a break between everything that happened in the day and your sleep. It's really important that you know … People are asking, “What if I'm stressed? What if I’m this?” What the Kabbalists are telling us basically – put everything in a box, put it on the shelf, it'll be waiting for you in the morning when you wake up. Now is your time with your soul and the Creator. Don't let anything else interfere with it. So, whether it's the shower, or all the other, you know, the David reviewing his day. All of it is to create that separation, that break between the burden of the mundane and the physical and the spiritual. Because I mean, I made a joke about it. It's like sandbags on a hot air balloon. The more you can cut those strings on the sandbags, the higher your soul will elevate. So, for those of you that are asking questions about – Why don't I dream? Why don't I remember my dreams? Why do I always wake up tired? What does it mean spiritually if I'm not a morning person? We're getting so many questions. I wish we could answer them all.

Mordechay: We should just do questions and answers.

David: Can we do that next week?

Elisheva: Why don't we do it later this week. We'll do an Instagram Live or something that will go … we will take more questions once everybody's listened to the episode. I think it can be awesome.

David: If you plan that …

Elisheva: I will plan that David. I will talk to your assistant. But I think it's important to recognize that one of the most important habits of all, is to create that distinguishment, that separation, that break between everything that happened today and how I can nourish and recharge my soul tonight. If you bring the burden with you, you're not going to achieve the spiritual nourishment and recharge that you want.

Mordechay: And by the way, as a side note … many people don't know that, but their sleep is one of the five things – the five core things that make people operate on a higher vibration. Operating on a higher vibration means that you are able to make better decisions. You're able to have more clarity. And higher vibration is being able to handle tremendous energy, tremendous flow of energy, pressure – let's say if it's money, it's like in the billions – without having side effects affecting your health. So, some people, they might think that, you know I can go and party or go to sleep later on. If you want to be one of those people that walk and operate from a higher vibration, you can’t do it on a regular basis. So, one of the five things that are in common with all the people that are really successful is their sleep habits.

Elisheva: They’re religious about their sleep. It's true. All the books that I’ve read …

Mordechay: They can’t make 100% successful decision if you're not sleeping like you should. 

David: Someone wrote to me that they just sleep three to four hours and feel phenomenal. And I know a lot of people like that. But CDC says, I think it's seven to nine?

Mordechay: Seven to nine.

David: And there's nothing wrong if you sleep three to four and somehow that's your sweet spot and your soul is charged, and you feel total clarity during the day. Then, then more power to you. Right?

Mordechay: Yes.

David: You're not saying … we're not saying this is a problem.

Mordechay: We're talking more about … We're talking more about the quality versus the quantity. Even though we address both of those.

David: Right. Right.

Elisheva: And that's the paradox. Because we're saying dedicate conscious time before you go to sleep, which sounds like it's eating away from your sleep time. But what we're talking about here is that even if the 45 minutes that you're … now, everybody's going to take, all our listeners are going to take those 45 minutes to consciously inject spirituality into their sleep. The subtraction of those 45 minutes is only going to serve their sleep.

David: What about night terrors? Especially kids who have night terrors. Nightmares? 

Elisheva: That's a dream question.

Mordechay: That’s a dream question.

David: You’re not gonna answer it?

Elisheva: We talked about nightmares in that episode.

Mordechay: I want to make something clear. Because the person that asked about the four hours, it's important that each and every one of us is true to ourselves. Because we might say, you know what, I'm good with five hours. But it's because of the belief system that sleep is either not that important or a waste of time. If you are waking up naturally, after five hours and you feeling like, “Wow, I'm like so energized.” You're in a good place. Just make sure that the answer that you give to yourself doesn't stem from that belief system. You have to be … it's important that we are true to ourselves. Okay, you might need another 30 minutes.

Elisheva: The truth is we can talk about this the literally hours and hours and hours. There's so much wisdom because it is such an essential part of the spiritual growth and journey for all of us. It deserves more time and we wanted to make sure that we give you resources – for those of you that want to learn more, do more. So, one … well let's talk about, you have a podcast, right? The podcast is called the Art of Spiritual Sleep. You can find it on all podcast platforms also on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook … it's everywhere.

David: Mordechay has a podcast.

Mordechay: Yes. Educate yourself. Raise your consciousness using this podcast.

David: If I go to the podcast app, what do I type in?

Elisheva: The Art of Spiritual Sleep. Do it now. Subscribe. There's already how many episodes there?

Mordechay: Thirty-six.

Elisheva: Off the top of my head, thirty-six! The other, the other thing that you've been doing, which is very exciting to watch unfold, is a sleep coaching program. So that if any of our listeners are interested in having a deep and deeply transformational process – it is a combination of recorded sessions and one-on-one sessions. So, if you're interested in that you can email artofspiritualsleep@kabbalah.com 

David: You get four to five recordings, and you get personal sessions with you.

Mordechay: Yes. Two sessions with me. And we go over the four segments of the day. You fill out a questionnaire before. So, we know what do you want to achieve from your sleep? And we make it happen. 

David: And all proceeds will go to charity, which is great.

Elisheva: And I think it's important to acknowledge that what works for some people might not work for others. And that's why the personal aspect is so important.

David: Yeah, absolutely.

Mordechay: Right, everyone is different. And we want to tailor it directly to you using the kabbalistic tools.

David: So, we have the podcast. We have your personal sessions. And if people just want to hear the recordings without the personal sessions, they can do that. All of it goes to charity. And I am looking at your podcast now. You know. Here's some of the titles: The Not So Scary Truth About Nightmares; Levels of Our Dreams; Meet the Archangel Gabriel; Set Your Sleep Objectives; The Art of Spiritual Sleep for Kids. These will be huge for our audience. Let Me Sleep on It. The Sleep Cycle. This is phenomenal!

Elisheva: A lot of the questions you have right now can be answered by subscribing to the Art of Spiritual Sleep podcast. 

David: Fifty-Nine Parts of the Soul. I mean, what is this?

Mordechay: This is one of a kind really … I'm speaking for my heart. It is just beautiful to see people improving their sleep because of listening to the podcast; applying what they learned; having the sessions with me; or just watching the videos. It is just amazing.

Elisheva: There's new episodes every Wednesday. So, you have time to catch up before the new episode on Wednesday. And last but not least … I think it's been David and I have been kind of remiss. We spent a good part of the last couple years offering our listeners the opportunity to get deep with the foundational principles of Kabbalah through our Kabbalah One course. We haven't mentioned it in a long time. I think we brought it up last month with Marcus when Marcus was starting one. But we have one starting on Wednesday. 

David: With our lead teacher worldwide. 

Elisheva: Yes, our lead teacher Eitan Yardeni. It's 10 weeks. We will give you a QR code to scan for those of you that are watching the video. And will I have a special link that I can email you. Send me an email at energyboost@kabbalah.com and I will send you the special link for our listeners to sign up. 

David: It's this Wednesday, February 3rd at 5pm PT/ 8pm EST. Yeah, and even if you missed the first class you can get the recording. It's pay as you can. So, if you, if you're going through financial hardship … all the proceeds go to charity. You can pay nothing. You can pay a dollar. You can pay what you feel it's worth to you. A life changing course and it'll be live with Eitan.

Elisheva: Right. So, one of the exciting things about this, I think, is the opportunity to share it with others. I know over the last year, so many of our listeners did Kabbalah One. So, we want to make sure that you know there's another opportunity now to do it – to do it with friends and family, to gift it to friends and family. And again, if you if you miss, if you can't, if you're listening …

David: Just go to kabbalah.com … it's also there. You can register for it there on kabbalah.com. 

Elisheva: Okay, you heard it there first. So, it's been a fabulous episode and there is much more to come. Maybe we'll do something later in the week once everybody has watched the …

Mordechay: Thirsty for more. 

Elisheva: Definitely. So, stay tuned for that. Any parting words for our listeners?

Mordechay: I can feel the energy that people woke up the importance of sleep.

David: Can't wait to go to sleep.

Elisheva: Pun intended. Have a fabulous week. Thank you for joining us and we'll see you next time on the Weekly Energy Boost.