Recently, Reb Chaim Kramer while visiting Richmond, VA on a Breslov speaking tour*, spoke about the importance of Hitbodedut (personal meditation). One of the fellows present at the lecture while making Hitbodedut in a nearby park along a beautiful river was only too surprised to find the following plaque next to a park bench:
The plaque states:
May it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and grasses (and) all growing things… and there… be alone… and enter into prayer.
The actual source is found in Likutey Tefilot II, prayer 11:
Master of the world, help me always engage in a great deal of hitbodedut. May I accustom myself to go out every day to the fields, among the trees, grasses and all of the vegetation of the field. There, may I engage in hitbodedut and a great deal of conversation — that is, prayer — between myself and You, my Maker, expressing everything that is in my heart. May all of the vegetation of the field, all of the grasses, trees and plants, be aroused to greet me, rise up and invest their strength and vitality in my words of conversation and prayer.
Then may my prayer and conversation reach the ultimate perfection with the aid of all of the plants of the field, so that all of them, with all of their might, vitality and spirit, reaching up to their supernal root, will be incorporated into my prayer. As a result, may I open my heart and engage in a great deal of prayer, pleading and holy conversation before You Who are filled with vast compassion. May I pour forth all of my conversation before You. At last, may I pour my heart out like water before Your countenance, HaShem, and lift my hands to You on behalf of my soul and the souls of my children and infants.
Want to learn more about Rebbe Nachman’s meditation advice?
*If you would like to join the weekly Likutey Moharan study-group in Richmond, VA — contact David Gruber.
