In Genesis 1:27 humans are depicted as created b’tzelem elohim, “in the image of G*d.” Does this mean that G*d is in all of us; that, like Moses, we each mirror something about G*d? To experience this idea through a meditation, our mystics teach us to walk and breathe the yud hey vav hey name by correlating it with the four major sections of the human body. You can do this sitting or walking. Imagine as follows:
Your head is the comma-shaped letter called the yud. י
Your upper body – shoulders and two arms – are the first hey. ה
Your trunk or spine is the straight line of the vav. ו
Your hips and legs – the final hey. ה
- Walk along, moving each letter of your body in sequence, saying the sequence above aloud as a chant.
- If you do this outside in a park – sensing yourself as one of the infinite possible images of G*d – look around you. Every person is a yud hey vav hey. Each one of us is as precious as every other facet of being.
- After you have done this for quite some time, you might take your walking meditation a bit further, saying to yourself with each step: “I am becoming what I am becoming.”
- What do you notice about yourself? About creation? About your experience of G*d? Begin to notice that these letters also appear in the shapes of branches, building, windows – everywhere. Take your time doing this; the experience unfolds in many ways during a lifetime.