Awareness in Action for Parents - Institute for Jewish Spirituality.

The Institute for Jewish Spirituality presents Awareness in Action

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Learn Jewish Practices that Teach You How To Parent as Your “Best Self”— And Support Your Children to Cultivate Character, Resilience, and Well-being

The ancient Jewish practice of developing desirable character traits (tikkun middot) is a powerful, practical tool for aligning our actions with our most deeply held values. Tikkun middot practice is for anyone who wants to more often be their “best selves” in the small and large actions of daily life… in traffic, in meetings, in interactions with family… especially when life is particularly challenging.

That’s why the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, the global leader in teaching Jewish mindfulness and spiritual practice, created Awareness in Action: Parenting with Character Through Mindfulness and Middot, a professionally-produced, self-paced online course that helps you more consistently align your inner values with how you are with your children… from the comfort and convenience of your home.

This is the same course that your child’s teacher is using to develop their own character traits that they can then model in your child’s classroom. Teachers also have access to age-appropriate activities they can use to teach the middot directly to their students.

In Awareness in Action, you’ll learn how to access and practice eight core character traits (middot), each of which builds upon and integrates those which precede it:

Loving connection (chesed)
Setting wise boundaries for yourself and others (gevurah)
A balanced self-taking up appropriate space and time (avanah)
Energetic response–so you can get started and keep going (zerizut)
Gratitude (hodayah)
Righteousness-developing your capacity to do what is appropriate and just (tzedek)
Mindful speech (sh’mirat hadibbur)
Trustworthiness (emunah)

Master teachers Rabbi Marc Margolius and Rabbi Lisa Goldstein will expertly guide you each step of the way through establishing a tikkun middot practice that can support you in:

Growing in self-awareness and gain better insight into your deeper motivations and habitual patterns
Becoming less reactive and more responsive—better able to access the innate wisdom in your body, mind and soul
Developing the freedom to choose how you want to act
Experiencing Jewish spiritual practice as a path to personal transformation.

Sharing mindfulness practice as a family

As part of the course, you are invited to participate in a live, monthly faculty-led practice group on Zoom. During those sessions, you will also receive practical resources for shared family practice at home, including:

Tips for modeling mindfulness and character for your children
Guidelines for engaging children in conversations and reflective practices around mindful character-building practices
Access to a series of Mindful Middot Focus Cards to ground family-based practice

Here’s What Participants Have Told Us About How This Course Transformed Their Lives

“I’ve heard the phrase, “living an examined life”, many times. But not until I began to participate in tikkun middot practice with IJS did I truly recognize the wisdom of this worldview, and gain the tools to put it into action. Now I am constantly surprised by how often I notice situations arising in which I apply middot to my experiences and responses. And this knowledge has a cumulative effect: the more middot I internalize, the more it enriches my life — personally, professionally, and communally.”

Dan Kaplan, Evanston, IL

“Tikkun middot practice weaves Jewish wisdom through my day to day life, helping me meet situations that I used to find baffling and confusing. It may sound like hyperbole, but now that I’ve been practicing regularly, I experience miracles everywhere. Consistently, no matter what presents as a challenge in my life — from the simplest irritants to the most triggering situations — this practice helps me regulate my internal chaos and remember that my awareness is within me, a light that never goes out.”

Cantor Meredith Greenberg, Montclair NJ

Awareness in Action
A Session-by-Session Course Overview

Here’s a closer look at everything you’ll cover:

Every module is between 30 and 45 minutes in length, and includes:

Video teachings and guided “real life” scenarios with Rabbi Marc Margolius
A teaching from a related Jewish text with Rabbi Lisa Goldstein
A professionally recorded chant and sample “focus phrases” (a reminder to practice during the day)
A supplemental handout with a roadmap for personal practice
Reflection questions, along with a discussion forum and personal journal in which to record your reflections
The option of selecting a practice partner

Also included:

A free, live, one-hour monthly online parent session with an IJS faculty member

Module One

Loving Connection: Chesed
Open up to loving connection, especially in challenging situations.

Module Two

Setting wise boundaries: Gevurah
Being loving and generous—but not to the extent you are doing a disservice to family, friends, colleagues, or yourself.

Module Three

Centering in a balanced self: Avanah
Taking up the right amount of space in the world—neither too much nor too little.

Module Four

Channeling an energetic response: Zerizut
Accessing the energy you need to either get going—or keep going.

Module Five

Experiencing gratitude: Hodayah
Accepting life on its own terms and rejoicing about what is true at this moment, just as it is.

Module Six

Letting Righteousness Flow: Tzedek
Developing your capacity to do what is right and just—with compassion opening new channels through which righteousness can flow.

Module Seven

Mindful speech: Sh’mirat Hadibbur
Applying mindfulness to all of your communications so that they reflect your best self.

Module Eight

Generating Trustworthiness: Emunah
Consistently showing-up for yourself and others.

Once you have finished the eight modules you may notice . . .

Some of the eight traits (middot) have been easier for you to incorporate into your life than others, especially as a parent. There is plenty of time to go back and focus on the ones you found more challenging. In fact, we encourage going back through all eight.
You are learning which support tools are most helpful for you… is it humming a chant throughout your day; posting a “focus phrase” on your refrigerator or laptop screen; and/or checking-in with a practice partner three times per week.
You’re becoming more skilled at noticing when you are about to go down a habitual path that is out of alignment with how you want to parent —and sometimes doing something different. (It takes practice!)
Your family interactions are infused with a deeper quality of love, compassion and acceptance.

Course Materials and Resources

This course is appropriate for beginners as well as more experienced meditators and mindfulness practitioners, as well as newcomers and seasoned practitioners of tikkun middot practice. While the concepts and practices are framed in Jewish terms, no prior Judaic knowledge is assumed or necessary.

When you register, you’ll get access to everything you need to take full advantage of the self-paced course, including:

8 sets of self-paced video teaching sessions – that you can access anywhere, anytime from your computer or mobile device.
8 guided “Mindful Life” practice scenarios – designed to help you integrate the course teachings into your everyday life.
8 teachings from Jewish texts – that will provide a Jewish frame and additional insights into the character trait (middah).
8 downloadable chants – one for each module, professionally recorded by Cantor Julia Cadrain with Elana Adrian or Rabbi Sam Feinsmith, to help you integrate the character trait (middah) into your life through music.
Downloadable handouts for each module – so you can reference these teachings anytime.
Additional resources for each middah, including poems and playlists.
A personal online journal – your own personal space to record your reflections.

You will also receive an invitation to attend the free, live, monthly online parent sessions with an IJS faculty member. These will provide practical tips for shared family practice– so you can learn together as a family and support what your child is learning in the classroom.

Awareness in Action

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We’re so confident of the value Awareness in Action delivers, we offer a full, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee if you decide you want to cancel your registration within 14 days of purchase.

Rabbi Marc Margolius

Marc is a Senior Program Director at IJS, where he directs The Well program for lay people, the Hevraya program for clergy, and the Tikkun Middot Project. For two years, he authored “Mindful Torah,” a teaching on the weekly Torah portion through the lens of mindfulness and middot. As a long-time congregational rabbi in Philadelphia and New York, he led initiatives in systemic congregational change through tikkun middot practice and through Shabbat-centered intergenerational learning. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Yale College, and Yale Law School, he lives in New York with his wife, Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, and has five children.

Rabbi Lisa Goldstein

Lisa is a master teacher of Jewish-based mindfulness practices. She first came to IJS as a participant in the rabbinic leadership program and meditation teacher training. She served as the Executive Director of IJS, where, in addition to management responsibilities, she also taught at retreats and meditation programs. Educated at Brown University and Hebrew Union College, she previously served as the director of Hillel of San Diego, where she was recognized as an “Exemplar of Excellence.” Lisa She lives in New York City with her husband and foster son.

Rabbi Sam Feinsmith

At IJS, Sam directs the Educating for a Jewish Spiritual Life and Prayer Project Programs and co-directs the Clergy Leadership Program. He has been immersed in the world of Jewish contemplative living, learning, and teaching for over fifteen years, conducting Jewish meditation workshops and retreats for young children, teens, and Jewish educators and community leaders. Sam lives outside of Chicago with his wife and daughter, where he delights in the daily miracles of early childhood.

Meet the musicians and vocalists:

Elana Arian

Musician and Vocalist

Elana Arian is one of the leading voices in contemporary Jewish music. A composer, multi-instrumentalist, prayer leader, and recording artist, Elana’s work has been published by Transcontinental Music. Elana works as an Adjunct Professor at the HUC-JIR’s Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music in New York. She has released three albums of original music. When not performing, recording, or writing, Elana spends her time chasing her two daughters, Maya and Acadia, around Brooklyn with her wife, Julia.

Cantor Julia Cadrain

Vocalist

Cantor Julia Cadrain was ordained by HUC-JIR’s Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music and has been a member of the Central Synagogue clergy team since 2012–where she co-produced a record of music from Central’s Friday night service called “Sounds of Shabbat.” Cantor Cadrain is also a certified vinyasa yoga instructor, and member of the second Clergy Leadership Program cohort at IJS. Cantor Cadrain studied classical vocal performance at the New England Conservatory in Boston. She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with her wife Elana and their two children.

About the Institute for Jewish Spirituality