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“Derech”: Teachings and Practices for Navigating the Inner Journey
A Four-Part Course with Ami Silver
Session time: 8pm Israel / 1pm EST / 10am Pacific
Monday May 4, May 11, May 18 and May 26
All sessions are 90 minutes and will be recorded for course participants.
Course Overview
Many people seek guidance for navigating psychedelic experiences and other non-ordinary states of consciousness, but few know that the Jewish spiritual tradition offers a rich and largely untapped treasury of exactly this kind of wisdom. As part of an ancient lineage based in prophetic encounter, Jewish mystics, masters, and communities have honed sophisticated tools for journeying through inner terrains, including anchoring practices, orienting frameworks, and living traditions for receiving and integrating what emerges in non-ordinary states.
This four-part course draws on those traditions — making them accessible, embodied, and directly applicable to the experiences many of us are already having. Each session offers both teaching and practice, giving participants concrete tools to carry with them.
Part One: You Are Not Alone — Drawing Support from Ancestors, Masters, and the Natural World
There is a vast web of support available to us as we move through expanded states — if we know how to call on it. This session explores Jewish traditions of connecting to ancestors, tzaddikim (spiritual guides), and the human and more-than-human support present in the natural world and beyond. We will explore how these relationships can be cultivated before, during, and after an experience to offer anchoring and guidance for our journeys.
Part Two: “From My Flesh, I Behold Divinity” — The Wisdom of Embodied and Emotional Experience
Non-ordinary states of consciousness offer precious opportunities to go beyond the thinking mind and to receive guidance and healing directly through our somatic and emotional experiences. Our spiritual tradition contains varied and deep teachings on the body and emotions as legitimate — even primary — sites of spiritual revelation. This session explores teachings and practices that orient us toward these channels of feeling and sensation, helping us receive what arises within us as teaching, and to stay present with our unfolding experience.
Part Three: “I Will Raise Them Up for They Know My Name” — Anchoring and Orienting through Divine Names
One of the Jewish tradition’s primary pathways for connecting with Divine Presence is through Divine Names or Shemot. Each of the myriad names of God offers a unique access point to a fundamental aspect of reality and its primary energies. This session explores the tradition of Shemot as a practice that can accompany us throughout various stages of journeying, be it anchoring us in moments of overwhelm, carrying us through experiences of dissolution and rebirth, returning us to presence, and more.
Part Four: Neshimah — With Each and Every Breath
The breath is one of our primary resources in the journey space. In the Jewish tradition, breath-neshimah is a direct link to the soul-neshamah and the Divine source of life. This session explores teachings and breathwork practices from the Jewish tradition to deepen our relationship with the breath as a source of support and connection.
About Ami Silver
Ami Silver is a rabbi and psychotherapist based in Jerusalem. A longtime student of contemplative, embodied Jewish practice, he teaches Jewish wisdom and practice as a path of direct experience and spiritual connection, independently and in collaboration with various organizations. Alongside his rabbinic work, Ami maintains a private therapy practice where he supports people through mindfulness-based, somatic and experiential therapy approaches. He has been at the forefront of psychedelic-assisted therapeutic work in Israel, working as part of the clinical team at treatment centers and on clinical research trials. A beloved contributor to Shefa, Ami authored “Return to One: A Shefa High Holiday Companion,” as well as our psychedelically-inspired Passover and Chanukah readers.
A Four-Part Course with Ami Silver
Session time: 8pm Israel / 1pm EST / 10am Pacific
Monday May 4, May 11, May 18 and May 26
All sessions are 90 minutes and will be recorded for course participants.
Course Overview
Many people seek guidance for navigating psychedelic experiences and other non-ordinary states of consciousness, but few know that the Jewish spiritual tradition offers a rich and largely untapped treasury of exactly this kind of wisdom. As part of an ancient lineage based in prophetic encounter, Jewish mystics, masters, and communities have honed sophisticated tools for journeying through inner terrains, including anchoring practices, orienting frameworks, and living traditions for receiving and integrating what emerges in non-ordinary states.
This four-part course draws on those traditions — making them accessible, embodied, and directly applicable to the experiences many of us are already having. Each session offers both teaching and practice, giving participants concrete tools to carry with them.
Part One: You Are Not Alone — Drawing Support from Ancestors, Masters, and the Natural World
There is a vast web of support available to us as we move through expanded states — if we know how to call on it. This session explores Jewish traditions of connecting to ancestors, tzaddikim (spiritual guides), and the human and more-than-human support present in the natural world and beyond. We will explore how these relationships can be cultivated before, during, and after an experience to offer anchoring and guidance for our journeys.
Part Two: “From My Flesh, I Behold Divinity” — The Wisdom of Embodied and Emotional Experience
Non-ordinary states of consciousness offer precious opportunities to go beyond the thinking mind and to receive guidance and healing directly through our somatic and emotional experiences. Our spiritual tradition contains varied and deep teachings on the body and emotions as legitimate — even primary — sites of spiritual revelation. This session explores teachings and practices that orient us toward these channels of feeling and sensation, helping us receive what arises within us as teaching, and to stay present with our unfolding experience.
Part Three: “I Will Raise Them Up for They Know My Name” — Anchoring and Orienting through Divine Names
One of the Jewish tradition’s primary pathways for connecting with Divine Presence is through Divine Names or Shemot. Each of the myriad names of God offers a unique access point to a fundamental aspect of reality and its primary energies. This session explores the tradition of Shemot as a practice that can accompany us throughout various stages of journeying, be it anchoring us in moments of overwhelm, carrying us through experiences of dissolution and rebirth, returning us to presence, and more.
Part Four: Neshimah — With Each and Every Breath
The breath is one of our primary resources in the journey space. In the Jewish tradition, breath-neshimah is a direct link to the soul-neshamah and the Divine source of life. This session explores teachings and breathwork practices from the Jewish tradition to deepen our relationship with the breath as a source of support and connection.
About Ami Silver
Ami Silver is a rabbi and psychotherapist based in Jerusalem. A longtime student of contemplative, embodied Jewish practice, he teaches Jewish wisdom and practice as a path of direct experience and spiritual connection, independently and in collaboration with various organizations. Alongside his rabbinic work, Ami maintains a private therapy practice where he supports people through mindfulness-based, somatic and experiential therapy approaches. He has been at the forefront of psychedelic-assisted therapeutic work in Israel, working as part of the clinical team at treatment centers and on clinical research trials. A beloved contributor to Shefa, Ami authored “Return to One: A Shefa High Holiday Companion,” as well as our psychedelically-inspired Passover and Chanukah readers.