“We can heal ourselves and each other,” Ziva Plattner said casually, after using a sweet Israeli song to teach Hebrew to students and parents at YULA at a Yom Iyun on Dec. 25.
After giving a lesson in Hebrew on the topic of the importance of creating Ahavat Chinam, as the world around us reels with Sinat Chinam, I asked whether she could elaborate on her ideas on healing.
“We can use meditation to release whatever sits in our unconscious that might be blocking us.” – Ziva Plattner
“We can use meditation to release whatever sits in our unconscious that might be blocking us,” said the kind and energetic teacher, who grew up in Haifa.
As someone who’s been “meaning” to learn how to meditate for years, I was interested in learning more, but the bell signaled that Plattner’s class was over.
“Text me, and I’ll teach you how,” Plattner said, who for the last four-and-a-half years has taught clients and groups in both L.A. and Israel meditations that help her clients remove emotional blocks that can cause physical and mental distress.
A few days later, I walked over to Plattner’s home and was welcomed warmly before I was invited to settle on her comfortable couch.
After taking a few deep breaths, she told me to “pull a white light directly into my head,” which reminded me of something I had just learned in the “Tanya,” written by Rabbi Shneur Zalman.
“When we recite the Shema, we pull down God’s infinite light, accept it, and absorb ourselves in it,” the Alter Rebbe of Chabad Chassidus writes.
After teaching me two different meditations that include colorful images, Plattner told me, that instead of worrying about others, we can meditate for them and surround them in “protective bubbles.”
Meditation can help in so many ways, she explains, because body and soul are so intertwined that together she calls them, “gufnefesh,” combining the Hebrew words for “body” and “soul.”
Plattner, who volunteers once a month to lead meditations for current and former cancer patients, says that the light she often evokes is like a channel that brings down Hashem’s goodness.
“Tzinor, which is ‘pipe’ in Hebrew, is spelled: tzadik, yud, nun, I had yeah yeah vav, and resh, which are the same letters as, ‘Yehi ratzon,’ or ‘May it be Hashem’s will,’ she explained.
Whenever any man puts on Tefillin, for instance, she says, he protects his wife and kids.
While meditation can be wonderful when we are already on our way to relaxing, such as right before bed, for those times when we are hit with unexpected triggers and emotional wallops, Plattner taught me an Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) called “master tapping.”
Using two fingers to tap on places on one’s face, neck, chest and hands can stimulate our central nervous systems to release chemicals that can relieve stress.
The tapping points, which are the same “acupoints” that needles stimulate in acupuncture, are passageways through which energy flows throughout the body, she explained.
While encouraging me to say positive messages, like, “I trust Hashem,” or “I love myself, and I allow myself to make changes for the better,” Plattner showed me where and how to tap.
The tapping did feel relieving, like a light massage in just the right place, along with a gentle reminder to relax and to feel loved when feeling distressed.
“By finding where we hold on to our emotional blocks, we can trace them back to their roots and prevent them from reoccurring,” Plattner said, who right away intuited that I held a lot of energy in both of my hands and my eyes, which I often use to type, while looking at my laptop.
“You need to take more breaks,” Plattner said definitively. “Plus, meditating even once a day for a few minutes can help you to release your worries.
“We all have thoughts and assumptions that we think we cannot stop thinking. But you can clean them out. You can do it.
“Just give yourself rest and meditate consistently to keep yourself healthy.”
Readers can reach Ziva Plattner at Dzrplattner@gmail.com, and at (310) 384-7904.
