The Heart of the Storm:
Finding Connection in Challenging Times
With Rabbi Ami Silver
Sundays, February 9, 16, & 23, 2025
At 10:00am - 11:15am PST / 1:00pm - 2:15pm EST / 6:00pm - 7:15pm UK / 8:00pm - 9:15pm Israel
On Zoom
*Sessions will be recorded for those who cannot make the live sessions
It’s hard not to feel the turbulence these days. Whether from the impact of social unrest, geo-political upheaval, or seemingly endless cycles of violence – grief, fear and sorrow are all too close all too often. Some of us are touched directly, others are close enough to feel the shockwaves. These experiences may trigger traumas from our past or create new ones, increasing our sense of activation and lack of safety. Events of this last year may also bring up cellular memories of generational trauma and grief that cause a deep shock to our system, bringing into question things that we have taken for granted about our lives and our world. At times, it may feel like too much to bear.
One of the ways our body-minds instinctively know how to deal with this kind of overwhelm is to disconnect – from our hearts, our emotions, our felt sense of being alive, and even from other people and our surroundings.
This three session series offers us an opportunity to explore how we may forge pathways of connection in the face of these challenges.
Informed by both Jewish spiritual wisdom and contemporary therapeutic modalities, we will explore the impact of overwhelm and trauma on our nervous systems and bodies, as well as practices to bring us back into connection, so that we can find our hearts amidst the storm.
This course is an invitation to:
~ Have a safe space to tend to your heart during these challenging times
~ Gain a deeper understanding of the ways that your system responds to pain, fear and overwhelm
~ Learn practices that can contribute to an increased sense of groundedness, connection and possibility
~ Connect and build resource with like-hearted community
Sessions will be 75 minutes each. Recordings will also be sent out weekly to allow for self-paced learning and participation. In addition to the weekly sessions, participants will also have the option to join a WhatsApp group to receive ongoing support in our practice together in between sessions.
No prior knowledge required, just an open and sincere heart.
Session 1 - There’s a Crack in Everything: Connecting With What Is
Pain and suffering are inevitable. How might we find ways to live with these difficult pockets of life rather than be overwhelmed by them? This session will look to Jewish wisdom and embodied practices that make space for what is and offer a sense of resource to hold us as we navigate life’s currents.
Session 2 - Mapping Our Dis/Connection
In this session, we will get to know some of the fundamental pathways of the nervous system’s movement through states of safe connection, fight or flight, freezing or collapsing, and back again. These are natural functions of our bodies that are here to help us make it through life. We will learn to identify what state we find ourselves in and gain tools to support us in finding our way back to inner safety.
Session 3 - Collective Wounding and Healing
We live our lives as part of the collective, be it our family lineage, our national, ethnic or spiritual legacies, or our belonging to the vast eco-system of the planet. And as such, we may experience pain or trauma that is rooted in our collective belonging, and have the possibility of receiving support from the collective. In this session, we will explore the relationship between ourselves and the collective as a pathway for resource and healing.
Meet Your Teacher
Rabbi Ami Silver, MSW
Ami has been a devoted student of contemplative, embodied Jewish practice for the last 20 years. For more than a decade, he has taught Jewish wisdom and practice as a path of direct experience and spiritual connection. In addition to his rabbinic work, Ami is a practicing psychotherapist who supports people through mindfulness-based, somatic and experiential therapy approaches.
Choose your rate
At Or HaLev, we believe in the spirit of generosity as an essential part of practice. We also acknowledge that financial abilities differ for everyone and we strive to make this class accessible to those who wish to participate, regardless of ability to pay.
Please consider paying at the highest rate that you are able to. Your generosity will help in supporting Or HaLev's activities and in growing our community.
Supporter
Enables a scholarship for those who cannot afford the course.
Standard
Covers the actual cost
of the course.
Scholarship
A subsidized rate
of the course.
We want to make this series accessible to anyone who wishes to join it. If the scholarship rate is financially unfeasible for you, please write to naomi@orhalev.org, with a brief explanation of why you’d like to join us and your financial needs, and we will do our best to make the series accessible to you
We Are Here
Any questions? Please email Or HaLev English Language Coordinator, Naomi Shifrin, at naomi@orhalev.org
