Fixing Your Focus - 003 The Need For Movement

Wind\Movement and Earth\Stability

With siyata d’shmaya, we are continuing here to discuss the power of focus. We are now up to discussing “wind”-of-earth.

As mentioned, the element of earth is the element of stability, establishing something in place. Wind is the very opposite of this - it is a moving element, and it causes things to move. When the wind moves something, it moves it out of its place. This is the antithesis to earth, which keeps something in place.

Man Is Comprised of Body\Earth and Soul\Wind

The Vilna Gaon writes that although all of Creation is composed of the four elements, the elements of fire and water belong to the spiritual realm, whereas the elements of wind and earth are of the physical realm.

The element of water (pleasure) represents Gan Eden[1], whereas the element of fire represents Gehinnom[2]. Heaven is a combination of fire and water[3], and so are Gan Eden and Gehinnom both in Heaven.

The elements of wind and earth, though, are elements of the physical world. Man, the root creation, was created from the air and the earth. Hashem fashioned man’s body from the earth, and formed the soul from “wind”, from “ruach”, for man is called a “ruach memalelah”, a “talking spirit”, who received a “nishmas chaim” (breath of life) from Hashem.

Thus, man is comprised of the elements of air\wind and earth, whereas Heaven is a combination of the elements of fire and water.

Wind-of-Earth – Restrained Movement

“Wind-of-earth” is when there is restraint within movement. When the wind is moving too much, when it is moving more than is necessary, stability is lost and the element of wind dominates the element of earth. But when the wind is moving as it should, it is stable, and here, the element of earth (stability) is dominating the wind. When earth overpowers the wind, the wind is weakened. However, when this happens, this may also cause opposition from the wind.

When wind is not moving as it should be and it is not being kept within its proper boundaries, when it is not finding its place, the potential of the wind is not being utilized, and there is a buildup of tension in the wind. Eventually, the result will be that the wind will come back in full force, in a way that totally knocks over the earth.

That is the outline of how “wind-of-earth” works. Now we shall examine this further.

Wind In The Soul – The Need For Movement and Noise

The three active elements are wind, water and fire. These three elements are discussed throughout Sefer Yetzirah, which is entirely based on the understanding of these three elements. The element of earth is not explained explicitly in Sefer Yetzirah, but some of the commentaries explain that it is also hinted to in the text of Sefer Yetzirah, albeit not openly.

The Sefer Yetzirah ends with a statement that “The element of water pulls, the element of fire illuminates, and the element of wind creates noise.” Wind therefore contains two aspects. There is the wind itself, and there is also the “noise” of the wind - which results from the movements of the wind. In terms of our soul, this will mean that our element of wind is the root of inner movement, and it is also the root of inner noise.

Applying this practically, it means that it is impossible for a person to stay too long in a place without moving. A person is always moving, and he always has a need for some movement. Sometimes a person actually moves from one place to another, sometimes he will travel long distances, and sometimes only short distances. Even when he is staying in place, he is always moving, because there are parts of his body which are moving slightly. We cannot restrain ourselves from moving, because we cannot exist without movement.

In addition to this, since wind also contains noise, we also cannot live in a state of total silence. We need some level of noise, some disturbance or challenge, taking place. Since wind is always in a state of movement, and the movements also cause noise, this will mean that just as a person always needs to be in movement, he will also need some noise.

If a person would have no noise at all and everything would be still, this is death. With death, the “wind” of a person, his soul, is returned to G-d; he loses his “wind”, and he also loses all noise. When people go to a place where everyone is completely quiet, they will often express: “The atmosphere here is dead. No one is talking here – it’s dead over here.” The dead do not move, and they also do not have any noise. In contrast, when a person is alive, he always needs some movement, and he always needs some noise. One cannot exist with no movement or no noise – he must always have a degree of both.

Here is an example of this. Even by the giving of the Torah, of which the Sages state that “A donkey did not bray, a bird did not chirp” – there was still some noise in Creation. What noise was taking place then? The Ten Commandments which Hashem spoke then. There is always some noise in Creation. If there is no noise in Creation, the Creation cannot survive!

Even when everything around you is quiet and your ears do not hear anything, there is always some noise which you are not aware of, because since the world is always moving, there is always noise that results from this. Thus, movement and noise always go together.

Knowing Our Personal Needs For Movement and Quiet

We have described the concept – now let us see how this applies to us practically.

The general element of earth is the force of unmoving stability, whereas the element of wind is the force of movement. What, then, is “wind-of-earth”? It is when movement is stable. When one’s element of wind is balanced, he will have the right amount of movement he needs, and the right amount of noise he needs. If one has too much wind, he will have a strong amount of movement and noise. If his wind is weak, he will not have enough movement, and he won’t have the little amount of noise he needs.

Every person needs a certain amount of quiet. When a person is experiencing too much quiet, he feels empty from this, and he will feel a need to move and act. He may indeed be missing the element of wind, and he will need to learn how to get it. Or, he may possess wind in his soul, but he is in a place which doesn’t motivate him - so he will want to leave that place. If he would go to a different place which he finds more suitable, he wouldn’t feel a need to move away from it.

This is a subtle matter to know. We can also say that wind-of-earth is the most subtle and delicate from all of the elements. From all of the four elements, the wind is the lightest element. It is so light that it cannot be grasped. Since wind is the most delicate of the elements, it contains much subtlety. Every person needs some movement, which is the element of wind. The only issue is how much movement a person really needs. It is very difficult to know this, because it is a subtle matter to determine, just like the subtle and delicate nature of the wind.

Most people will not identify with this concept at all, because they are involved throughout the day with many different activities, much more than their actual energies can handle, so they do not consider how much movement\action they really need, and where to stop. People today are working a crazy amount of hours every day from morning until evening, in order to earn livelihood, and they do not take into account of how much action and movement their personality can really handle.

Instead of catering to the soul, people today are catering to the demands and needs of the body, of whatever the world demands of a person, and that is how most people determine how much they need to do. Even worse, not only is there a penalty placed on man to make effort in order to earn livelihood (as the Chovos HaLevovos says), but to exasperate things even more, people are pursuing all kinds of desires for this world, which are spiritually harmful.

In our inner world of the soul, the amount of movement that each person needs is not based upon how much you need to take care of when it comes to external, worldly affairs. Certainly a person needs to take care of what is absolutely necessary, and this will not be detrimental to the soul. But the basis of our living needs to be in accordance with the particular amount of movement that our soul needs. No two people are the same and no two people think exactly alike, and so too, every person has a different amount of movement which he needs. One needs to move based upon how much movement his soul really needs.

There are is a general amount of movement which we all need, and there is also an individual need for movement, which depends on each person’s particular soul. For example, there are some people who, by nature, are not able to sit and learn Torah all day. Their personality is that they need to move around more.

In children as well, we can see that they have different needs for movement. A person can have two daughters, and one of them is fine with cooking, baking, cleaning, and doing the laundry, without feeling a need to step out of the house for anything, while the other daughter is the one who needs to do all the shopping for the home, because she is more outgoing by nature, and it is difficult for her to stay for too long in one place.

Knowing Your Nature of Movement

One needs to determine: Is my need for movement usually within one place, or do I have a need to move more from one place to another? This is a fundamental part of our nature which we need to become clear about. If one has a need to move from place to place and he forces himself to stay in one place for too long, his life will feel unbearable.

Every person contains the four elements in his personality, with one element being the strongest, an element which is second-to-strongest, an element which is third-to-strongest, and the element which is fourth-to-strongest (his weakest element). But in certain instances, a person may have two elements which are each very strong. If a person has a strong element of earth and his next-to- strongest element is wind, or vice versa, he suffers greatly, because he is living all the time with a strong inner contradiction.

The truth is that a person will inwardly suffer whenever he has two strong elements which are of a contradictory nature to each other, and he will also have a more complex kind of personality.

If a person’s strongest element of earth and his second-to-strongest element is water, he will manage fine; of course, there are always difficulties which every person needs to deal with, but generally speaking, he will find it easy to manage his own personality. But if a person has a strong element of wind and an element of earth which is almost as strong as his wind, or vice versa, or if he has a strong element of fire with an element of water that is almost as strong as his fire, or vice versa– he will have strong inner contradictory forces, and he suffers inwardly from this. If such a person attains a balance in his soul, he will reach a high level of self-perfection, because he will be able to contain opposite forces within his primary personality.

In a large amount of cases where a person has two strong elements that are contradictory of each other, though, there is a lack of balance between the elements. This is applicable to one who has a dominant nature of wind-of-earth, which contains contradictory elements. Such people usually have a strong amount of wind with an almost equally strong element of earth, or vice versa, and they will have an inner contradiction in their very personality.

People like this feel as if they can never settle down in any place. When they sit down, they feel a need to move around, and when they move around, they want to take a break. It is like the suffering of “Kaf HaKela” (a spiritual form of suffering). Wherever they turn, they cannot find a place for their soul to settle in.

If Your Primary Element Is Earth, You Still Need Movement

Firstly, a person needs to figure out if his primary element is earth or wind. Here in this lesson, we will not discuss a person whose primary element of wind; we hope to address this in a later chapter, with the help of Hashem. Here we will discuss a person whose primary element is earth.

Even when a person’s primary element is earth, he will still need movement. This is wind-of-earth – the need for movement even within one’s primary element of earth\stability\non-movement. He has some need for movement, and he cannot stifle this need. We aren’t even speaking about a need for physical movement, but of an internal need for movement.

Recognizing Your Different Kinds and Amounts of Movement

A person’s inner work here is to learn how to recognize: (1) The different kinds of movement that he may need, as well as (2) The different amounts of movement he may need.

Giving Outlet To The Need For Movement

If a person is moving too much, this will deter his ability to focus. If he is moving too little, he will not be calm, because he is stifling his need for movement, and the element of wind within his soul will want to assert its need to move. His power of movement will remain in its potential state and it won’t be utilized, and this will make him tense inside, and he may not even be aware of the reason that he isn’t calm. In certain cases, this will cause a person’s need for movement to explode outward, and he will feel an overwhelming need to move around a lot. It is because he has stifled his need for movement.

If he has a strong element of earth, he will think that he must always stay in place and that he doesn’t need to ever move. He will become stiff and stoic, not looking out of his four cubits, never budging from his own space from day until night. It might seem that his behavior is aligned with his personality of earth, which stays in place. While he is right in the general sense about this, he is ignoring a certain detail which he must ultimately deal with – his element of wind, his need for movement, which he must learn how to give outlet to.

Practically speaking, if a person’s main element is earth, he must learn how to identify his “wind” – his need for movement. He will need to know what specific movements and actions he can do which will give outlet to his need for movement.

For example, some people need to fulfill their need for movement by pacing back and forth, within the four cubits of their space, when they are learning in the Beis Midrash (as if they are saying Tefillas HaDerech in the Beis HaMidrash). They need to move back and forth, from place to place. Others feel like they are moving just from moving their hands. Others get this feeling of movement just from turning their face to look at something.

Forced Body Language or Learned Habits

This is a subtle point to understand, because one needs to get to know the movements which he is used to doing – which may not be aligned with his true personality - as well as the movements which are truly aligned with his personality.

Not every movement that a person does is aligned with his true personality – a movement may be forced or mechanical, and not natural. For example, when a person is playing with his tzitzis or moving it back and forth, either he is doing so calmly and naturally, or, he is doing it in a forced, unnatural manner. This is a subtle thing to identify.

Much of the movements that people do are not natural, a result of nerves, even if they have long ago gotten used to these movements and body language. For example, a person may have the habit of stroking his eyebrows or his hair, and this is not necessarily his own natural body language, but a habit he picked up from others, which he has gotten used to.

Others may be doing so because it makes them feel like they are moving, and in such a case, it is giving outlet to their need for subtle movement. In others, it is an expression of stifled movement. The person may have a need for movement which is not being met, and it is being expressed outward through certain unnatural movements or body language, which the person eventually becomes used to doing habitually, after moving in this way so many times.

There are instances where a person becomes very used to certain kinds of habitual movements and it is hard for him to accept that this has become his own behavior. If the habits are disrespectful or annoying to others, he may cease these habits, out of derech eretz for others, because it doesn’t look nice. But in many instances, the person has gotten used to the habits so much that they have become his forced, mechanical movements which he does unconsciously. In this case, his true personality is trapped in a state of inner imprisonment, because his movements are forced and they aren’t his own, and his soul is trapped within these habitual, unnatural movements.

As an example, some people have holes in their skin, because they have the habit of picking at their skin and removing it. They may be more consciously aware of their habits, or they may be less consciously aware of it. This is also problematic behavior with regards to the laws of Shabbos, and this is a separate discussion for itself.

This is an example of mechanical, unnatural movement that is strong, which gains a particular hold on a person. The movements are not his own – they are forced, and they have been learned and acquired through habit – a result of his nerves, and not his true movements. Each person has his calmer kind of movements, each on his own level, as well as some movements that are simply being performed out of nerves.

In Review: Three Kinds of Unnatural Movement

To review, there are several kinds of movements a person performs:

1)    There are movements done out of habits which were acquired in childhood, where a person is unconsciously imitating certain movements and body language he has observed in others, which he has deeply absorbed. Or, certain events in his life caused him to acquire a different and unnatural kind of body language. In either case, these are not the person’s true movements.

2)    There is also a kind of movement which a person performs simply because he has habitually gotten used to these movements when he needed to move, and he continues to perform these habitual movements, but only out of nerves. These are also not his true movements.

3)    In others, all of their movements are being performed out of nerves. Their movements stem from inner tension. In this case, even when a person’s movements are true to who he is, the subconscious motivations behind his movements are not. This kind of person will have major difficulty with focusing\concentration. He is full of inner tension. Deep down, he is not in an emotionally healthy state. His unnatural movements are a recurring pattern stemming purely from his from nerves.

Identifying Your Movements

When a person does not have a quiet space in his soul to go to, he will have a hard time dealing with the issue we are describing here. Why? It will be very difficult for him to identify if his movements are his own, or if they are simply stemming from his nerves. In most scenarios, he won’t be able to identify if his movements are authentic or not. He has become so habitually used to these movements amidst all of the stresses of life that he is found in, which has caused him to develop a certain unnatural body language, to the point that he does not know if his current body language is his own or not, and where these movements are stemming from.

Practically speaking, then, a person will need to find some quiet time (each person has some quiet time of the day on some level), and during this quiet time, one needs to analyze where his various bodily movements are stemming from.

The elementary stage of this, when studying any of your bodily movements, is to wonder: Do I need to move in this certain way, or is it an unnecessary movement? From amidst this quiet reflecting, one can begin to identify where his various movements are stemming from.

Inner calmness is necessary for this. From the inner calm, you can slowly begin to recognize the source of your movements. When you discover your unnatural body movements, practically speaking, the first step is now to simply become aware that these movements exist, and then, the next step is to become aware where your movements are stemming from.

In the first step, you are becoming aware of these movements in the first place. Often you can tell a person that he just did a certain thing or that he moved himself, and he denies it: “I did  this? I really moved in that way?” He is totally unaware of certain movements. A person may have a reflex to something and he is not aware that his body physically reacted to something. When someone points it out to him, that is when he may finally discover his own habits. Thus, the first step is for one to simply become aware of his movements.

After that, a person needs to find quiet time and have some inner calm, to see if he is currently acting out these movements. In more extreme cases, a person may discover that there may be certain movements he performs which have become a part of his nature, and that he has almost no control of these movements, because he is doing them unconsciously.

In summation, when you have quiet time to have calm reflection, the first step is to become aware of your various bodily movements, and after that, to become aware of the reason and motivation behind these movements.

Countering Your Unnatural Body Movements

An idea that might help for this is to take half a minute, or a minute or two, in which you don’t do those movements. Then you can slowly become aware of the reason that is causing them. This is but a small, external kind of advice.

The more inner advice, however, is to recognize how the movements are stemming from issues in the soul. The unnatural movements are an external expression of the lack of order in the soul – meaning that your inner movements of the soul are not moving correctly. The unnatural external movements are but a product of issues in the inner movements of the soul.

The root way to counter this issue is to begin to move in a more genuine way, in the way that is true to who you are, depending on the situation at hand. When you slowly get used to performing the movements which are more natural to you and which are the necessary kinds of movement which you need, your soul gets its proper need for movement, and then it is calmed.

Lack of Inner Calm Prevents Focus\Concentration

Most people are not calm inside themselves as they are amidst their various bodily movements, and this is because the movements which they are doing are not true to who they are. In most cases, a person is moving his body too much, or he is not moving it as much as he needs to. As a result, the movements are not aligned with the soul’s needs. There is a lack of balance between the elements of wind (movement) and earth (non-movement) and the result is a soul that is not calm.

When that is the case, a person cannot concentrate and focus on anything. Anyone can clearly identify with this – when you are very calm, you can focus very well, and when you do not feel calm inside, it is difficult to focus. A large amount of issues with concentration and focus stem from a general lack of inner calm in the person (We should emphasize, this is a reason for some of the issues with concentration - not all of them): When one is performing certain bodily movements which are not true to his personal soul.

Finding Enjoyable, Calming Movements

Therefore, a person should identify movements he enjoys, and which are also calming to him. They should not be movements which cause him to be stressed in any way, even if he enjoys doing them. After one finds what those movements are, he should make sure to practice them.

Each person can find different movements which calm them. Some people are calmed by walking from one place to another, whereas others become stressed by this. It is also a matter which is subject to change, depending on the particular time and situation a person is in. As a person gets used to this, he slowly acquires awareness of which movements are calming to him.

To give some examples, one person may be calmed by moving his arm in a certain manner, while another person finds it calming to move his arm in a totally different manner. Another is calmed by sitting in a certain position, and another person finds it calming to sit in a completely different position. There are all kinds of bodily movements, whether through the feet, hands, face, or the rest of the body’s movements, which a person can find enjoyable to do. By practicing them, one slowly acquires these enjoyable movements. 

This is the first step. We have not yet discussed how much movement one needs to – that will be the next step. The first step is to get used to movements which you find enjoyable to do. This will bring some level of change to your body language. How much change it will bring, will depend on the particular situation.

The mere act of practicing these movements which you find calming can bring an overhaul to the body’s habitual movements, which eventually influence the state of the soul. Examples may include rubbing the forehead back and forth, lowering the face forward or backward, etc. There are all kinds of movements – it is a wisdom and a work to be learned.

An Observation Into the Life of the Chazon Ish

Here is an extreme example of this concept [but which brings out the point very well]: The Chazon Ish would often lie under a blanket [on a bed], in order to attain a deep level of concentration for learning Torah.

Any normal person, if he would be told that someone practices this, would think that the person must be mentally ill. But if he would hear that the Chazon Ish practiced it, he would nullify his thinking, in deference to the greatness of the Chazon Ish. If we are not talking about the Chazon Ish, though, and instead we are talking about the average, normal person, no one would even fathom of doing such a thing. Even if someone would try it, he would probably fall asleep as soon as he is underneath the blanket.

So in practice, this is not something you should try. But what we can learn from this is that one may have to go to very far lengths in order to do certain movements which he finds calming. I am not suggesting that you should place a blanket over your head while you are in the beis midrash. (There are some people who do this…!) The idea is that you should be open to trying certain movements which you find calming.

The Chazon Ish was asked about why he practiced this. He said that it was because when his eyes open, all of the visual stimuli he is observing is scattering his thoughts; when he is underneath the blanket, he does not see anything, which silences all of the stimuli around him, and his mind can then be totally focused on what he is thinking about. This is a deep point, and any person should be able to try it on his own level and see if he is gaining from it.

Calmly Becoming Aware of Your Movement Needs

The above example was of a more extreme nature, and it was chosen intentionally [in order to bring out the idea], but one can also find more common kinds of movements which he finds calming. For example, one might find that when he places his hands on his forehead, he is able to concentrate better. There are other examples as well, of common movements which one can find relaxing and which make it conducive for focused thinking. The point is to get used to these calming movements, and to thereby identify movements which you find suitable for you to do.

After getting used to practicing these movements, you will notice that these movements calm you. Then, from your state of calmness, you can then better recognize how much of these movements you need. It is a cycle: You get used to certain movements which calm you, and after you become calmed from those movements, you can now better recognize which movements are suitable for you to do, as well as how muchof these movements you need.

Eventually, you can reach a point where you know when to stop in the middle of the movement, because you know that you have given outlet to your need for movement and you don’t need any more. To an observer, it might look like you have become overtaken by a new thought and that you are no longer thinking about what you were thinking about before. But if one is truly connected to his inner state, he will know how to respond to his need for movement when he feels it, and, vice versa - he will stop his movements as soon as he realizes that he is no longer enjoying the movement or if he feels disturbed by it.

Directing The Soul’s Movements

This all takes place at a rapid pace. It can be compared to the awareness that a person has when he is driving a car down the highway. He is rapidly making all kinds of decisions, using his judgment of when he should switch lanes, what he is allowed to do and what he is not allowed to do, etc. Just like a person driving a car can make so many fast decisions like this, so can a person direct his own soul at a rapid pace.

When you are driving a car, you need to be very focused, aware of the car on the right and the car on the left, etc. There is constant movement, and you need to be aware of it, so your mind needs to be very connected to the situation at hand.

There are people who become very stressed when they are driving, and sometimes even a passenger in a car will become very anxious when the car slows down too quickly. Many times, this anxiousness stems from the general soul makeup of the particular person, or it may stem from feeling stressed from driving or from simply being in a car. Some are inwardly anxious all the time, and others simply become nervous from being in a car.

Others, though, find driving to be calming – it feels no different to them than when lying on a bed. The highway and the car doesn’t jolt them from their calmness at all. One person may become anxious from driving, even yelling sometimes, whereas another person is completely calmed from the very same situation. Just as we can imagine that a person may drive a car for several hours straight and he remains calm the whole time, with the mental composure to control all of his movements, so can a person calmly guide his own soul, directing all of its movements, with the same precision.

Just as with driving a car, where there can be mistakes and accidents, so can it happen that a person makes mistakes sometimes with his soul’s movements. However, in a car accident, the results can be fatal, G-d forbid. But when it comes to directing the movements of the soul, even if a person makes mistakes sometimes, he can simply steer his soul in the opposite direction and move on.

A person can acquire a general state of inner calm (the element of earth). He will have some need for movement, and he should give outlet to his need for movement, moving as much as needs to. He might sometimes make mistakes and move too much, but he can quickly correct himself and cease the movements, reverting back to his normal need for movement. He can acquire an awareness of which movements are productive for him, as well as which movements are too intense, or otherwise detrimental, to him.

An Observation Into The Life of Rav Shimshon Pincus zt”l

Earlier, we mentioned that the Chazon Ish would be calmed through the movement of laying underneath a blanket, where he would contract his entire body and mind into one space. There is also an opposite kind of movement than this, which may also calm a person; and the following is also an extreme example of it.

If you have ever read about the life of Rav Shimshon Pincus zt”l, you can notice that he spent a large part of his life traveling in a car. He lived in the southern part of Israel and he would often travel to the north, and back and forth. In order to do chessed, he would often give rides to people on Erev Shabbos after the last bus had left, and he would drive to the bus stop to pick up anyone who had missed the left bus. He lived in Ofakim, so he would take anyone who needed a ride to Ofakim. However, it was not limited only to people who needed rides to Ofakim. If someone needed a ride to Jerusalem or to Bnei Brak, he took them there also.

Simply speaking, we can say that this was an act of chessed. But any sensible person knows that Rav Pincus was a very levelheaded person. If Rav Pincus wanted to simply do chessed, he could have found many other ways to do chessed. Why did he specifically do chessed for people by giving rides for those who needed to travel long distances? There is a story elsewhere where Rav Pincus said about himself that he was once learning with a chavrusa, and when he came across a difficult question which was bothering him, he told his chavrusa that he needs to think about it - by taking a trip in his car. He explained that when he drives a car, he feels like he is moving, and this calms his soul, and then his mind can think even more clearly than when he is sitting in the beis midrash.

This was also the way he lived his life in general. Once he came to deliver a shiur, and he arrived a bit early. He was asked to come inside the building so that the people there could greet him, but he didn’t want to. Then they said to him that he can at least come into the beis midrash and learn there for a few minutes, until the time of the shiur. He said, “No, I can also learn outside.”

Without taking apart all of the details of this story, we can see here that there was a certain way of life which he lived. He realized that his soul had a particular need for movement, by being in a car on the road. Perhaps he was calmed from the actual movement, or perhaps it was because he found it calming to look at scenery, and other subtle factors. Most people, understandably, would not feel that this kind of movement calms their mind.

The Chazon Ish attained a calm mind in the exact opposite manner than the above, by climbing into a bed, placing a blanket on top of him, and shutting out all light. That was how he acquired his power of focus. Rav Pincus, however, took an opposite approach. He had a different soul makeup, and it was of a more stormy nature. He attained focus in his mind in exact opposite manner, by placing himself in a state of movement and driving long distances with his car, which he found calming for his mind.

The Idea To Take From This

Of course, it is not realistic to implement such a practice, due the complications of life. Certainly, if a child is having a hard time concentrating in class, and he tells his teacher that he wants to get onto a bus and ride it for a half hour so that he can settle his mind, we cannot agree to the child’s request. We cannot give a solution for every possible situation.

But we need to understand the very concept behind these practices mentioned, and we should try to implement the concept as much as we can possibly can, within the reality we are in. We need to open our minds to see the possibilities of different kinds of movements, which may be far-fetched, but which are ultimately beneficial for us to practice.

If the average person would need to calm his mind by getting into a car and driving down a fast highway, and in this way he is able to think more clearly and learn Torah better – if he were to do this, we would be quick to say that he is acting with ignorance. Certainly, we are not recommending that most people do this. It would be destructive behavior. A person would have to have an unusual ability of mental composure and focus in order to do this, from the moment he leaves the beis midrash and afterwards, when he is the midst of driving.

Only individuals can do this; we only mentioned the example of driving in order to illustrate the concept, and we do not mean that it should be practiced. We cannot live in such a way. But we do need to acquire an inner expansiveness, an openness, to see how we can provide ourselves with movements that calm the mind.

Building a Life of High-Quality Focus

When one absorbs this concept and he is increasingly becoming aware of the movements which he needs – the specific movements which he finds calming, as well as the amount of how much of these movements he needs – he will become calmer from this, and in turn, he will recognize better what his true needs for movements are. When living in such a way, a person will live a lifestyle of deep focus\concentration. It is a long process to get there, as we have mentioned here, with siyata d’shmaya.

This will not solve major issues with concentration, however. In this chapter, we explained the power of focus which we can draw from our soul’s wind-of-earth, which is a more basic power of focus. Understandably, if a person has major issues with focusing and concentrating, he may also be helped by what we have explained in this chapter, but that is not the purpose of this lesson. Here, the purpose is how to build our life correctly from the start. From there, we can also solve issues; but the actual purpose of this lesson is how we can build a life in which we have a high-level quality of focus.

In summation, a large amount of problems with concentration\focus stem from improper movements, which are not aligned with a person’s particular soul and needs. This was always true, but in our generation, it is especially applicable.

The Reality In Our Generation

As an example, an avreich who learns in a Kolel in Jerusalem may have to take a bus from where he lives, which is far out, in order to get to the central bus stop in Jerusalem. What is the bus like? If it’s not the seventh level of Gehinnom, it’s only the sixth level! Everything is jumping, everyone is pushing into each other, people are getting off and coming on, the men are here and the women are there, and there are all kinds of noises, and the sounds coming from phones. By the time our avreich arrives at his morning Kolel, he has gone through a half hour or an hour of movements that are really unbearable to his soul, way more than what he is meant to handle.

Hashem has placed us into this world, with the reality that it entails, and we have to endure it. But as much we can, we need to try to move in a way that is aligned with our soul’s needs for movement, relatively speaking, and it is impossible to do it perfectly.

In Conclusion

The more a person’s movements are aligned with the particular needs for movement which his own soul needs – with emphasis on the needs of his particular soul, and not merely on the general need of the soul for movement – he will merit, to some degree and on his own level, a calm state which allows him to have true focus.