Last night, before bed, Eric put his phone across the room so he'd have to get up to shut off the alarm. This morning he got up, shut it off, and climbed right back into bed with the phone anyway. In this episode, Rav Yaakov Shepherd takes that small, familiar failure and turns it into a teaching about Modeh Ani, the two words said the instant you wake. Before your feet touch the floor, before your eyes are even open, there's a choice about who gets your first breath: the screen, or a simple thank You.

When your mind races and your chest tightens, everyone tells you to calm down, but nobody tells you how. Rav Yaakov Shepherd offers a different path than fighting the storm or mastering a clever trick: turning, gently, toward the One who is already holding you. A guided practice in the Jewish contemplative tradition, built around one simple anchor, "Hashem is here, and I am not alone."

Practice being held, every day — the Rav's guided meditations: https://app.jmeditate.com

A confession: this podcast — the research, the editing, the production — is made with AI. Rav Yaakov Shepherd explains why that doesn't trouble him, and what he hears Heaven asking through it: "Machines can now write, paint, compose — so go and discover what only you can be." Featuring a real exchange with Simon Sinek's "I'm not in the AI business, I'm in the humanity business," the Arizal's shevirat hakelim and kintsugi, and a guided meditation on the one thing no machine will ever have: your own breath, your own presence before Hashem.
Practice being human every day — the Rav's guided meditations: https://app.jmeditate.com