We lead such busy lives, we’re so distracted, but to have successful relationships, you have to learn to be in the moment, to be present.
The spouse you chose, the children you were given, the job you hold – those are yours.
HaKadosh Baruch Hu told Yaakov Avinu, “Hamakom asher atah omed alav – the place upon which you stand, admas kodesh, it’s sacred.”
That’s a mantra for life. Wherever you are, whatever you’re facing, even if it’s a difficult situation, it’s holy because it’s where you are standing. it’s your place right now.
If you look at life that way, if you’re present for each moment, then you have every reason to dance in the rain…because that rain is planting the seeds for something great.
~ R’ Yoel Gold
Emuna Daily 
B”H
Before Hashem blessed me with learning Torah, the Real Deal, I was very involved in yoga, as many Jews sadly have been over the past few decades, in search of Truth.
The term “mantra,” while today is in common English usage, is actually a Sanskrit word, deriving from Hinduism.
It is a term that means a word– sometimes one with no literal meaning– whose sound is repeated over and over, as a form of meditation, both in Hinduism and Buddhism, which derived from Hinduism.
Mantra repieition is also used in conjunction with other forms of yoga meditation, such as “japa” (using a rosary-type necklace) and gazing at a “yantra,” a physical drawing designed to help focus the mind.
As we Jews know, the sounds of words, their vibrations, can have great power. Sanskrit is not lashon kodesh.
And while both religious and secular forms of yoga are very popular among the masses, and there can be some physical health benefits to some of the practices, it derives from avodah zorah, and many “yogis” practice outright avodah zorah.
So while one may, for example, repeat “shalom” over and over as a mantra, rather than “om,” in the name of “kosher yoga,” there really isn’t any such thing. Oftentimes names of foreign gods are chanted as mantras, as well as using other non-Kosher names and words.
The goal of yoga (the word “yoga,” by the way, is Sanskrit for “union”) is not the goal of Judaism.
So while in today’s “Emuna Daily,” R’ Yoel Gold may have used the term “mantra” with Kosher intentions, in my opinion one should not borrow religious terms from non-Torah practices to make a point about Torah.
Thank you for all the Living Emunah books, from which I greatly personally benefit.
Todah rabbah, Layah Ornish
Layah Ornish 7146 Currin Dr. Dallas, TX 75230 (214) 289-3259 – mobile LayahOrnish@aol.com
i like this one