Power of Words
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein
Join Sondra & Jeni as they talk with Rabbi Rachel Rothstein, from Temple Congregation Jehudah in Overland Park, as she shares how the liturgy called Yihiyu L’ratzon, which comes from Psalm 19:15 in JPS translation of the Hebrew Tanakh, impacted her life. They discuss the body and mind connection and reimagining what it means to meditate.
Show Notes »
Transcript »
Presented by the Kansas City Public Library & Jewish Family Services of Greater Kansas City.
Join Sondra & Jeni as they talk with Rabbi Rachel Rothstein, from Temple Congregation Jehudah in Overland Park, as she shares how the liturgy called Yihiyu L’ratzon, which comes from Psalm 19:15 in JPS translation of the Hebrew Tanakh, impacted her life. They discuss the body and mind connection and reimagining what it means to meditate.
Show Notes »
Transcript »
Presented by the Kansas City Public Library & Jewish Family Services of Greater Kansas City.
Hi everyone, and welcome to our podcast, Power of Words. Thanks for stopping by.
Jeni Starr:Hi, I'm Jeni Starr, my pronouns are she her, and I'm the Health and Wellness Specialist for the Kansas City Public Library.
Sondra Wallace:And I'm Sondra Wallace, my pronouns are she her, and I'm the Director of Mental Health Programs at Jewish Family Services at Greater Kansas City. I'm glad to be back doing a program again with Jeni.
Jeni Starr:All thanks, Sondra. Sondra and I have worked together on mental health programming for several years, and we're pleased to bring you our latest project where we talk with community members and connect stories through words that matter.
Sondra Wallace:We're excited to have our guests share a little bit about their mental health journeys and their love for Kansas City. We've asked each of our guests to share an example of how specific words have empowered, changed, encouraged, or strengthened their mental health and wellness.
Jeni Starr:We hope one or two of the words from our conversation today allow you to connect to words that matter to you.
Sondra Wallace:How are you doing these days, Jeni?
Jeni Starr:I am doing well.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Jeni Starr:We've had a holiday week this week.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:And I really thought I would come back refreshed from my long weekend.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Jeni Starr:That is not the case, but I am here with much as much energy as I can muster.
Sondra Wallace:Yes.
Jeni Starr:How about you, Sondra?
Sondra Wallace:Yeah, it's been good. It's nice to kind of have a short week we only have a couple days before we get to rejuvenate our energy again over the weekend. So,
Jeni Starr:yes.
Sondra Wallace:Kind of nice.
Jeni Starr:Sure. So, did you do anything fun for the holiday?
Sondra Wallace:Fun. We had our son proposed to his girlfriend this weekend. So it was really, really amazing and sweet and just, you know, and I went into, you know, at first I was like, oh, I've got this, you know, whatever. And then at. You see your child like across the field on his knee with his, you know, hands reaching out and I just totally lost it. Like, oh my God.
Jeni Starr:I bet you did. Oh, well, so was, were all the family members around?
Sondra Wallace:Yeah, so we, we were at a little winery vineyard out near Manhattan, Kansas. And so, he and his fiance now were out kind of in the vines and in the field and we were all up towards the building, so we were able to see kind of from the hill, but we couldn't hear. But that's okay. You know, I, that those words are, are personal and for them. And then as soon as we saw him stand up, then we all went charging down the hill. And
Jeni Starr:That's so great.
Sondra Wallace:He may have thought that the buffalo had come back to Kansas, but it was just us, so
Jeni Starr:That's so great.
Sondra Wallace:It was really fun.
Jeni Starr:Well, congratulations.
Sondra Wallace:Thanks, thanks. Yeah. For good stories, good family time, and so it's good stuff.
Jeni Starr:Yes. Yeah. Well, Sondra, I'm so excited for your family. Thank you for sharing that story with us. I believe our guest is ready to join us today. We have Rabbi Rachel Rothstein, who is here in Kansas City, and let's say hello to her and find out a little bit more about her.
Sondra Wallace:Hello. Good afternoon, Rabbi Rothstein. It's great to see you. Thanks for joining us today.
Jeni Starr:Welcome.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Thank you. Thank you for inviting me to be part of this very cool podcast.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah. We're excited to have you join as a guest and it was just as I think you said a few minutes ago, it's nice to, to have a familiar voice and on our Zoom call, hear a familiar face from the other work that you're doing in the community. I know you've only been here in Kansas City for
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:One year. One year as this past Saturday.
Sondra Wallace:Okay. And you're already making, I mean, I feel like in all of theses and all of these. Spaces I see you and, and just really doing some powerful work for our community. And so I'm grateful for that and excited to hear more about some words that you have to share with us. Listeners, before we get started with Rabbi Rothstein, I just wanna introduce her a little bit. She was born and raised in Cincinnati, and as she said, has been here in Kansas City for about a year. She has kind of always wanted to be a Rabbi and graduated from Miami University. She enjoyed working with the Cincinnati community. Really amongst, loosely affiliated young Jewish professionals, young Jewish families and interfaith families, which I know is of very very specific interest with with our audience and our groups here. You've got a passion for outreach and engagement and really building that community and engaging people from lots of spectrums and spiritual journeys and paths for their religious practices. So it's great to have you join us and we look forward to learning more about the words that you bring to us today. And so we'll kind of get started, I think with that. I shared a little bit from your bio, if you will Rabbi Rothstein, but are there other things that we didn't capture that you want us to know about you?
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Just that I went to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio before anybody thinks that I'm cool enough to go to the University of Miami in Miami, Florida. No, no, no. I was in
Jeni Starr:Ohio.
Sondra Wallace:That's good.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Confusing names Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Let see, I've been, thank you, Kansas City for a year now. I'm one of the assistant rabbis at B'nai Jehudah a reform temple in Overland Park. Let's see, what else? A big piece of my portfolio in addition to doing pastoral care and being on the BMA and leading services and being with our teaching in our religious school and teaching tourist study and other adult education programs, I do a lot of outreach in the community. Outreach and inReach, so like engaging our congregation and our congregants in informal ways, and also doing some programs out in the community for people who might not be part of a congregation. So I have like an independent Jewish moms group that doesn't have a specific age range. And we do Shabbat dinners, we volunteer, we do social justice projects. I'm actually looking at volunteering at an animal shelter, finding a time in August that works for everybody.
Jeni Starr:Nice.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Two weeks ago we had a Singles Mingle which brought together people from all over the community.
Jeni Starr:Yeah.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:I also have an initiative that I've launched with a congregation that's for people who were born in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. I'm a firm believer that Judaism doesn't have to only exist at a synagogue. It can be about bringing together Jewish people in spaces that might not have to do with the chapel or a place to engage with prayer. It's about the connections that we form with the other members of our community.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:That's something that I've been busy doing.
Sondra Wallace:Yes.
Jeni Starr:Well, it sounds like you've been very busy in your one year in Kansas City. We know that you're new to Kansas City, but are there some things in the city that have helped you to feel connected to it or just things that have stood out to you about the city since you've been here?
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:I love the local food scene that I've encountered.
Jeni Starr:Great.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:So I live in Overland Park and the Overland Park Farmer's Market is within walking distance of where I live. And it has been wonderful to see how many local vendors and organizations support local makers and artisans. Also like through the programs that I've been doing over the past year, I've encountered a lot of local restaurants and entrepreneurs who are so generous and willing to work with you to make a program, a success. Even like just there's a flexibility. There's like a, a, a. Whether it's genuine or not. I, I, I, I find that people are really warm and open down to make something work, whereas like the alternative could be like, well, that's not, that's not our company policy, so we can't work with you on that. There might be a...
Jeni Starr:right, right
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:...in order to use that space and blah, blah, blah. No, people are like, Hey, sure, let's try it out. And I think that mindset of let's try it out. If it doesn't work out, then we pivot. Or like learning how to fail forward. That's been a phrase that comes up
Jeni Starr:yeah,
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:...over it has come up over the past year of like turn everything into a learning opportunity. If it doesn't work out, figure out what didn't work and what to do better for the next time.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. I love that.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Good tacos in Kansas City. Very pleasantly surprised by. The plethora of walking paths and bike trails.
Jeni Starr:Yes.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Love the plethora of farmer's markets and food levels.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Love that. It only takes me like 18 minutes to get to Crossroads or the heart of suburban Overland Park. Like Kansas City really felt like home in no time at all.
Sondra Wallace:Oh, nice.
Jeni Starr:That's wonderful. Yeah, Kansas City felt like home in no time. It's pretty similar to Cincinnati. And I think that's what contributed to me feeling really settled and at home.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Very quickly.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm. We have another staff member here at JFS that came from Cincinnati as well. And I honestly, I had not made the connection yet until just now, so, and she said the same thing. Yeah. That just really, like, they wanted to find that place that felt connected and supportive and yet, you know, were able to. Build and grow and expand. So that's very cool that you both landed in the same spot.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Right on. Another conversation. You should connect me with that other
Sondra Wallace:yes, yes.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:It's good to have a know who the other Bengals people are, but don't put that in the podcast.
Jeni Starr:Okay. So that was my question for the la We actually had that guest on our podcast, Sondra and I asked that guest how they feel about the Kansas City football scene.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:You can't ask us that.
Jeni Starr:Well, yeah, we we won't put you on the spot. We won't. And it, and that guest was on here like right before or right after that game. Like it was, it was a big, it was a big time. So, yes. So we won't, we won't put you in that awkward place.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:It is a hot button issue here.
Jeni Starr:Well, yeah. It's like all of a sudden we have this big rivalry that we haven't always had, and so it's a, it's a big, it's a big thing.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:All I'll say is I am not a competitive person for better, for worse. Yeah. You don't wanna play a board game with me.'cause I'm very laissez faire like, I'm like, oh, whenever, you know, like, it, it, it, it's on par with me being like, let's, you know, we fail forward.
Jeni Starr:Right? Right.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Yeah. So when it comes to football, I'm just not competitive.
Jeni Starr:There you go. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I always tell people like I was not into football before I came to Kansas City and I'm from Texas, which it's strange that Kansas City is where I got into football, but this town, it's very sports. There are a lot of sports here. Not just football, but it's a big sports town, so it's kind of fun.
Sondra Wallace:I think we might kind of segue or transition a little bit into the words that you shared with us that you kind wanted to highlight and tell us a little bit more about. I was just reading thinking about your heart and Kansas City does have a heart for sports. So there's my little segue.
Jeni Starr:Yeah, there's your segue. Good job, Sondra.
Sondra Wallace:I dunno, I dunno if that's a good one or not. That might not be appropriate. We can, we can bleep it out too. Would mind Rabbi Rothstein kind sharing with us the words you sent us before we started recording today and how those words resonate with you, how they bring so much meaning and life to you and kind of go from there.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:So my words come from Psalm 19, it's verse 15. And they are,"may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be kind, be true. May they be acceptable to you, God." And way that those really rang for me when I was brainstorming what words to share in this podcast. There part of a song that well, the part of, one of the concluding prayers in the Amidahh, which is. The climax of our daily service. So traditional Jews pray three times a day in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening. Each of those services includes the Amidahh, which comes from the same route that means standing. So it's sometimes called the standing prayer. You stand, you rise, you either face the Arc, which is the entity that contains the Torah. Or you face east, usually both of those are happening at one. The arc is in the eastern part of a synagogue'cause you're always orienting yourself for Jerusalem or where the Holy Temple was. And so at the conclusion of the Amidah are several, the Amidah is made up of several prayers, but one of the songs that's often sung to conclude the Amidah is a song called Yih’yu l’ratzon. Which comes from Psalm 19, verse 15. And even when I meditate, I often think of Yih’yu l’ratzon, which a Jewish musician who I am very fond of I don't know if they even know I exist, but I have followed their music for a while. Her name's Michelle Citrin. And she did an arrangement of it where she reinterpreted the verse and she includes her interpretation of the verse in her composition. And what she says is,"go inside your heart. Just be, go inside your heart and see what it wants, what it means when it yearns to be free. Go inside your heart and see." And if it's possible to include the music in
Jeni Starr:Yes. Yeah.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:The podcast, I can send you a video.
Jeni Starr:What we'll do is we'll put the link to the video in the show notes for anyone to go back and listen to it. That way we don't, you know, break any copyright laws or anything.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:So I love coming back to that, even when I'm meditating because. Jeni, you said that at one point you were teaching biology and
Jeni Starr:Yes.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:That was one of my favorite subjects when I was younger, and I often think about that intersection between biology, anatomy, science, and spirituality.
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Which. When I'm teaching kids, they see as mutually exclusive entities like
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Can God exist? You know, how, how can the world have been created in six days if we know dinosaurs roamed the earth for millions of years? And I think kids are constantly trying to reconcile science and what they know about the world with what our Jewish tradition teaches us.
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:I actually really like sitting in that space because there's something very spiritual about the way the stars align and the universe unfolds and the way my body is able to work when it works the way it should. I feel a lot of gratitude for that.
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:So when I hear the words go inside your heart and see, go inside your heart and essentially listen to what's coming up for you and pay attention to what you need. I often like in thinking during the Amidah, that central prayer in our tradition, sometimes I read the words on the page and other times I literally just. I put my fingers to my wrist and I take my own pulse and I make sure I'm breathing because I can go through a whole day just crossing off the tasks off my list and being like a TaskRabbit and not taking any time to pause.
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:And that point of my day when I'm praying. Is my time to check in and like make sure, like, have you breathed today? Have you taken deep breaths though? And I will literally take my pulse and just let the the rhythm of my own art kind of lonely into a, a. Relax, relax even if it's for 20 seconds, because that might be the only 20 seconds in my day when I can get out of my head and just relax. And so I, I try to use Yih’yu l’ratzon as that reminder to like go inside my heart like biologically. Anatomically it. It's a curious thing to think, well, what's actually going on inside there? Like there, that's a wonderful mystery. I mean, I'm sure it's no longer a mystery and doctors doing research on that, but the fact that it all works the way it's supposed to work for me in this moment,
Sondra Wallace:mm-hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:I'm very grateful for that. And if I also go inside my heart and spiritually try and sense like, well, what's going on? Beyond the blood flowing and my arteries and veins and the pumping, like, what am I sitting with right now? Then that is a helpful pause in my day for me to take.
Sondra Wallace:I love that, that visual, you know, of literally putting your fingers on your wrist. And you, with the words that you're sharing today, I think you said the rhythm of your heart as like I can see myself. Okay. So this is something that listeners, you can totally do with the words that are powerful for you, right? That just pausing. Feeling that heartbeat. I have never thought about that before. Like, you know, we kind of all have some self-talk phrases or like, when I get stuck, I have a little mantra that I go through in my head, but adding that layer of like putting the rhythm to feeling your heartbeat is really incredible.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Well, you know, I feel like I took a first aid class when I was 14 or something to prep for being a babysitter.
Jeni Starr:Yes.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:And they taught you all these ways to take a pulse. Yeah. It took me forever to find it. I was like, but when I'm stressed
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:And I'm feeling high strung. I can't find my pulse. It takes me calming myself down enough. To even be able to listen to it. And then I know if I'm really calm, if I don't even need to put my fingers to my wrist to sense it and I guess that's my end goal is if I were to just close my eyes right now, would I be able to feel my heart beating inside of me? Or do I have to do the, the. So like, if I can calm my heart and my mind enough to do it without having to do this, then that's the, that's the goal.
Sondra Wallace:Right. And the opposite of, of also calming it enough to not feel like it's gonna jump out of your chest. Like I feel like sometimes, right? Like when sometimes I get alarmed when I can feel like I almost feel like the veins in my throat are going. Right. And that is, that's, it's scary sometimes to feel that much, I dunno, pressure that much. Wow, that's really cool.
Jeni Starr:Yeah, I feel like a lot of what you're describing is almost like a biofeedback technique that people use for mindfulness where you use your mind to change the state of something going on in your body. And it's always so interesting to me that mind body connection. I believe all things are connected. That's my, what we like to call my woowoo personality.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:You're spot on. I
Jeni Starr:but yeah, these things are connected to each other and so that piece of mindfulness really can change you physically and give you the calm feeling that you're seeking, you know?
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:You know, and I wouldn't have been able to get there without, like, I wasn't always into meditation, let me tell you.
Jeni Starr:Tell us how you came upon that.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Well, I went to rabbinical school in Los Angeles.
Jeni Starr:Okay.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:So that's the start of that. And actually the school, I don't even know who was behind this, but they brought in somebody maybe once a week or once a month from 12 to one, which was during our lunch break and you could choose to go, and this person led meditations and my friends were doing it, and it was either eat lunch alone or join them. And I joined them at the meditation and I let go of feeling self-conscious about it.
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:The woman who led the meditation talked about that mind body connection. I mean, you can't not believe in a mind body connection and meditate. And then I started attending every time it was offered almost, and she would lead us through these visual exercises. It was really hard for me at first to think about my inhales and my exhales and count the breaths. I got too caught up in like, oh my God, what if I take five breaths and five breaths exhaling,
Jeni Starr:but if I do this wrong? Yeah.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:But I came up with these other techniques that were ways to relax my mind because at that time with school, it was a beneficial exercise in finding ways to relax my mind. It was a stressful period, and I think at the same time I had started doing something called spiritual direction, which Hebrew Union College is where I went to school. So I keep referring that to, to that by its acronym, HUC. So my campus offered a program that was free of charge to students to work with a. Spiritual director a counselor, essentially. Who I would meet with one-on-one once a month, and we would just talk about all the things that come up for clergy members and people who lead spiritual communities, and her name's Miriam Goodman, and she has been a godsend my life. Thank God I had that relationship with her. It helped me get through Covid. And some of the techniques that she would have me do,'cause sometimes we would meditate, sometimes we would just talk and sometimes we would do different activities. Only a sliver of us working together has been in person. It's mostly on Zoom and it was about the same time that, so like the meditation that I was doing at school went hand in hand with working with her and sometimes she would give me an activity to do that I would then kind of run with and also she was working with a couple of classmates of mine and we would kind of gush about how awesome she was and
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:My friend Sophia would say,"oh, Miriam had me do this exercise." And, and so sometimes I think my memories are like borrowing from some of the feedback that, but it shared.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:But either way, I think working with her really helped me articulate some of the things that were and are going on in my heart. And I often do that. When I'm meditating now, it's not just in prayer or when I'm leading services, which if I am like doing a Bar or Bat Mitzvah for a student, it can be, sometimes it can be a little hectic. We've got family and you've got the kid who could be a bundle of nerves and you're balancing a lot of things at once, so. When we do the Amidah and I come across those words, yes. Like taking my pulse is a nice 20, 30 seconds for myself. But I mainly come back to those words when I'm meditating, just to check in with where my heart is and what's percolating in there.
Jeni Starr:That's so cool. Thank you for sharing that with us. I find it's so interesting how people come to meditation because
Sondra Wallace:mm-hmm.
Jeni Starr:For some people it's no big deal, but for other people it's kind of been a transition to look at that mind body connection piece. And I love that you talk about taking 20 or 30 seconds because I also think people think meditation has to be like all day of silent pondering and. That's not the real world that most people live in. So that 20 or 30 seconds can make such a shift in your day to just take it,
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Right? I mean, I often tell kids I work with a lot of middle schoolers.
Jeni Starr:Yes.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:When they're about to go on the Bimah for their Bar or Bat Mitzvah, or if I'm sitting there next to them and they are getting really, really nervous, I always say, take deep breaths.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Take three deep breaths. It's what I tell my little nieces when they're upset. It's amazing what a deep breath does to regulate your system. There was a phrase that you used Jeni, when you were talking about the mind body connection.
Jeni Starr:Kinda like the biofeedback.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:The biofeedback,
Jeni Starr:yeah.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:I know that when I'm upset like that, that was always what my mom told me to do.
Jeni Starr:Right.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:The reason why, that's a tool that we come back to. So what if I use that? Not only at times when I'm upset or nervous or anxious, but like just making it a healthy practice that I do at least once a day.
Jeni Starr:Yeah.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm. And I think,
Jeni Starr:yes, it's making me wanna breathe.
Sondra Wallace:I think it's so important too a lot of times I'll get in my car, like I leave the office, I get my car, and I, you know, don't turn on the radio and I just take a couple deep breaths, you know. So sometimes I think, again, it doesn't have to be a YouTube video or any of those things it's just pausing and transition or in a space that you feel comfortable in to, to take those breaths and. Tell me Rabbi Rothstein, like, I, I tend to, like I said, I have this little self-talk phrase that I walk by, you know, and I say as many times as I need to, to feel like I've shifted or that I'm okay, I'm ready to transition to the next one. Do you know is the word maybe that's the biofeedback Jeni that you were talking about is, is the phrasing and the breathing, what makes it so impactful or. Do we know? I don't, I dunno that I know, but for some reason I've done'em together over the years. I dunno. Maybe if we don't know, maybe a listener knows and they can
Jeni Starr:Yeah.
Sondra Wallace:Put a note somewhere for us,
Jeni Starr:I feel like both things are beneficial, on their own and then together, I'm sure there's some sort of synergy, you know?
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:And I think our meditation, our mindfulness instructor that we have at the library all the time, Nicoya, she talks about like the best meditation is the meditation you will do. So that's the best practice. So if you'll do 30 seconds in your car and that's what you will do, then that's the best for you in that moment.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:You know?
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Yeah. I mean, I think, I always thought, you know, I was self-conscious about meditation. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to, am I supposed to count my breaths and I can't do this for 30 minutes? What am I supposed to sit there like this? And, you know, I, I don't wanna sit the way that they, I had all these preconceived notions about it.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:And HUC. I worked with another rabbi last year, Rabbi Burstein, Rabbi Dave Burstein in Cincinnati, and every Friday at noon, this was during the pandemic too. He would lead a probably like 15, 30 minute meditation for congregants over Zoom. And the meditation itself was probably just 10 minutes.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:But it doesn't have to be sitting cross-legged. And like distilling out all the distract. I think that's what my vision of it.
Jeni Starr:Sure. Yeah, for sure.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:But I meditate best, like, thank God for the balance app, which I think is made by Google. It was totally free. I love using that. I often use it when I can't sleep at night.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Meditating like when I wake up in the morning or right before I go to sleep.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:You find a time that works for you. And if it's 30 seconds, if it's two minutes, if it's dedicated time to take three deep breaths, if that's enough for you, then who cares?
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:Yeah, for sure.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:It's funny, I've talked to several people who have done this, but like sometimes when you're in a work environment or just a busy place, you don't have a lot of private space for that. But you can take that moment that you're going to the bathroom and just in that, that's like a private space. Take that, take a couple of deep breaths in there, you know, and if that's all you have time for and can do, that can change your whole day.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Totally. I find that like so when I was living in Los Angeles, I didn't have a car there. I used public transportation and, i, I love public transportation, but I, I missed having a car because it was my space.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Now I wasn't meditating while I was driving. Don't worry. It's nice to have those dedicated spaces where you can just let go and process your day or just kind of talk out loud or sometimes like. I don't wanna call it meditation, but certain things happen while you're driving that'll test those skills. So it's like, oh, somebody cuts me off in traffic. Maybe I should take three deep breaths. You know, like, it's a good, it was a space that I, I didn't realize I utilized until I didn't have it anymore.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:That's so true.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah, I had that experience commuting. I used to commute for about 30, 40 minutes every day, and then I took a job that was closer to home and it was great because I was so close to where I needed to be, but I didn't realize that I didn't have that decompression time every day to reset, if you will until I didn't have it right. And now I have it again. So I'm, I I love it. I really appreciate that time.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:It sounds like what's coming up for a lot of us is like having that time built into our days, carving it out for ourself or taking that time to decompress.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:And just breathe.
Jeni Starr:Yep, for sure.
Sondra Wallace:And what's beautiful about it for so many reasons. Obviously all of the physical and the emotional reasons that it's so powerful and it's also completely free. You know what I mean? Sometimes we get caught up in all the barriers and all of the things that get in the way of us being able to access or to get what we want or what we need. And sometimes it's all from within. And when I was thinking about that, I thought circling back to what you had shared, from the song of going inside your heart and, and see to bring it back to your space and to your heart and to your skin and I think that's so important.
Jeni Starr:That's so true, Sondra. I think we try to make it so much harder, or expensive, sometimes complicated, you know?
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And sometimes it's, I mean, it, we don't wanna, you know, poo poh that either, right? Like Right. It's hard and life is hard. And
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:And not everybody has time that they can take to just be
Sondra Wallace:Right.
Jeni Starr:Right.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:They don't have an office, they might be rushing from meeting to meeting and it's hard to carve out time for yourself...
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:...that's a privilege.
Jeni Starr:For sure. For sure.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah. Absolutely. Well, anything else, Rabbi Rothstein or Jeni that I jump into before we wrap it up?
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:I think that the last thing I would say is that it comes back to something that I said earlier, I think religion and science are often seen as opposites. Things that can't go hand in hand. But I actually enjoy sitting in that intersection of the two
Sondra Wallace:mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:And it becomes most profound for me when I meditate. And I think about the miracles. Of our own existence of my body working the way it should of the universe unfolding as it should. And I would have no time in my day to ponder those things if it weren't for the space that meditation allows me or prayer gives me,
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm. Thank you. Yeah, that's a great summary of our conversation today. One of the things that we do at the end of each of our podcast is we ask our guest right now, in this moment, what is your favorite word?
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Oh my.
Jeni Starr:Not to put you on the spot, but we know everyone on the spot, so don't feel,
Sondra Wallace:yeah.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:I need a second to think about it.
Jeni Starr:Yeah.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:I'm starting, I'm like, is it a word that I've been saying a lot lately? Is it a word that like I just like the sound of.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:And it can be for any reason. It can be for any of those reasons.
Sondra Wallace:Right. Doesn't even have to be connected with our content today.
Jeni Starr:Not at all.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:I'm gonna say the word gregarious.
Sondra Wallace:Oh, gregarious. That sounds good.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:My mom, when she laughs and it's like a real laugh, like from her belly is like it's full. And you know that it's like coming from somewhere deep.
Jeni Starr:Uhhuh
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:and I. Even just thinking about her like she'll, when she thinks she's saying something funny, she, you can't even hear what she's trying to say because she's like, and I have like a, I have a pretty loud, like, not pretty laugh, but I think when I laugh, like I hear her in my laugh.
Jeni Starr:Uhhuh,
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:I left, my brother is a pretty gregarious person. Just like could. Take up a room with his personality.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. So,
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:and my, my mom, her laugh is gregarious and,
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:So I'm thinking about the word gregarious.
Sondra Wallace:Oh, I. Thank you for sharing that. And sorry we put you on the spot, but you pulled it out. That was good. That was really
Jeni Starr:You did, you did well. You did well. Rabbi Rothstein, are there any resources or other connections in the community that you want the listeners to know about, maybe like your go-to websites or organizations that you find to be really great resources?
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:I love the Balance meditation app, which I'm pretty sure is free on at least the Apple App Store.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. Where you get your apps.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Yeah I have my spiritual direction counselor, Miriam Goodman. I don't know if she's taking on new clients, but she's been a wonderful resource for me. I know that when I have time, and this didn't come up during our interview, but KC Improv Company has drop-in classes on Saturdays and when I first started working and I had time, I would go to those and it was a wonderful outlet for me. And I think that was like, I, it doesn't sound like it would be, but I think that was like a huge part of my spiritual journey is doing improv and kind of having a space where I can just like let it out. I am by no means an improv star. I've got a long way to go, but being in a supportive space and finding that community where I could just kind of like be goofy.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Jeni Starr:Yeah.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:Was really cathartic for my heart and my soul.
Sondra Wallace:yeah.
Jeni Starr:That's so cool.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein:And that's a local resource and I know that for the most part, they have drop-in classes every Saturday from 12:30 to two.
Sondra Wallace:Nice. What a great resource to share. Thank you.
Jeni Starr:That's so cool. Thank you for sharing that. And we just wanna remind everyone as always to check out the, the Library and JFS websites, KCLibrary.org and jfskc.org for our programs and resources. And we will have these resources listed in our show notes as well.
Sondra Wallace:Okay, and until next time, we challenge you to listen, react, and respond to the power of words. Take care.
Jeni Starr:Thank you for listening, and we hope you enjoyed this episode of Power of Words.
Sondra Wallace:This episode is produced by the Kansas City Public Library and Jewish Family Services of Greater Kansas City with support from AmeriCorps,
Jeni Starr:We encourage you to explore our health resources and services available in the show notes
Sondra Wallace:And follow or subscribe for new episodes wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.