The practice of Presence (also known as meditation or mindfulness) awakened within Reb Brian Yosef Schachter-Brooks a freedom from negativity and a direct experience of the sacred and eternal qualities of the present moment. “The Jewish tradition is filled with teachings and practices that lead to this experience of inner freedom, but hardly anyone in the world is teaching about it,” says Schachter-Brooks. “I was inspired to begin teaching on the Jewish Path of Presence so that others could have access to the kind of teacher I would have wanted a long time ago.”

   

Schachter-Brooks began teaching Jewish meditation in 2006 to small groups in the Bay Area. “Over the next 10 years, these teachings developed into a special practice that is easy and accessible for anyone to learn, which I now call Integral Jewish Meditation. In 2016, I launched Torah of Awakening as an online meditation community, and there are currently several hundred participants from around the world,” he enthuses. “Here in Tucson, however, participants have the benefit of attending the meditation groups in person.”

   

Spiritual awakening is the realization that we are far more than our thoughts and feelings, says Schachter-Brooks. “Beneath your personality, there’s a radiant field of awareness, free from negativity and connected to the aliveness of the present moment. Torah of Awakening brings to life the Presence-deepening teachings and practices of Judaism in a direct and experiential way, offering effective practices for bringing the experience of inner freedom into every moment of daily life.”

   

The core offering of Torah of Awakening is the weekly meditation group on Sundays and Tuesdays, at 10:30 a.m. These hour-long transformational sessions include Jewish spiritual awakening teachings, Hebrew chanting, guided meditation and a period of silence. For those who wish to go deeper, there are also advanced meditation classes and a group of upper level students who meet Wednesday nights.