About the Work:
Iconography and Meditations
ReM(i) shares what we believe to be the cross-cultural and relevant tools of Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism. The intergenerational and current traumas both BIG (T) and small (t) are sewn into our DNA. By integrating the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) from The Bucket and The Stone, and mystical traditions through iconography, ReM(i)’s somatic fusion work evidences that the mix of methodologies of from CBT to kundalini and hatha yoga, Bioenergetics, Human Sexuality, Empowerment and Re-Empowerment, Quantum Physics, EMDR, and meditation works.
Kabbalah, translates to “that which is received,” and was historically orally transmitted. The approaches are theoretical i.e. philosophy, meditative, magical and personal. Most Kabbalah emanates from HaZohar (ha translates to the, i.e. The Zohar) written by the 2nd Century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
In the late 1600s there were four Kabbalists who became prominent in their own rights: one from Italy, one from Yemen, a third from Jerusalem, and another from Vilna in Europe (Pinson, 2019).
For the purposes of our shared conversation, we will focus on the Baal Shem Tov, or master of the good name, and his successor The Alter Rebbe, or Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812).
The Alter Rebbe is the author of The Tanya, a book which is both a manual for enhancement of the souls connection to the infinite, and an instructional guide for self-refinement. Tanya is a little like a self-help book of the late 1700s which is still tenable today.
Kabbalah’s intention is to master or refine the self, and in turn refine the world around us. ReM(i)'s iconography was born from The Tayna’s description of the two sides of the heart, the vascular vessels, and multiple Jewish texts references to the kayleem or vessels.
Influences
Rabbi Nachmun, also a student of the Baal Shem Tov, relates tsimtsum (or contraction) of the Infinite to the vacated space, or vessel of the heart, and writes about the vacillation between the opposing thoughts and how we process reality. Words like recognition and choice pepper the pages of his book Anatomy of the Soul (Nachmun, 1998).
The two sides of the heart, the body and the mind also relate to the evidence based work of EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) and bilateral stimulation which is referenced on the Therapies page of this website.
The Kabbalists wrote about a bilateral experience and stimulation and PHDs conducted studies a little over two hundred years later.
Two hundred years seems a short amount of time to make material use of such esoteric thought. It also seems like too long for those in the late 17th century who were dealing with mental health struggles and not at the level of a Tzadik.
Thankfully we are living in a time where these Kabbalistic healing tools are accessible to us all, and a central part of the healing community conversation and practice.
ReM(i) uses (i) as the small spark from the [I]nfinite that is inside of the body. The body is a vessel for the soul, and vessel is translated to kaylee in Hebrew. ReM(i) uses the imagery of (i) to represent the soul i.e. the spark that motivates the material of the kaylee to life.
Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah name the different layers and manifestations of the soul as nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah, and yechidah. For the purposes of Realistic M(i)nimalistic communication, we will use (i). The (i) is intentional in order to make the education universal. ReM(i)'s goal with universality is to create more peace and understanding between humans.
Talissa V.
“What you are saying is very easy and manageable and in the moment. It turns around those tough moments, when you know you're starting off on a bad/sad day. ”
[I] is the [I]nfinite large and expansive. One might name [I] the Universe, or an un-ending expansive energy.
One might name [I] G-d. Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah have 72 names for the [I]nfinite or G-d and its manifestations in the world. ReM(i) also uses the Hebrew HaShem, again Ha translating to “the” and Shem translating to name, literally meaning The Name.
Kabbalah talks about parallel worlds, worlds translates to olamot in Hebrew. Sefirotic diagrams detailing the dimensions and distinct wavelengths, mirror the quantum physics diagrams of Dr. Joe Dispenza (Wolf, 1999).
The Beis Samech Daled on the upper right hand side of the page is translated to with G-d’s help. Again, if this is too religious sounding for anyone, all we are saying is that the work created, is a manifestation or a drawing down from the [I]nfinite energy.
Quantum Physics, the scientific study of matter and energy, relates the interactions of our physical world with our physical bodies in an energetic way. Physics is another way to study Kabbalah or meditation. It all depends on a person's likes, biases and lens on the world.
In ReM(i)'s work [I] represents the proposition that everything in this world is yesh me yesh, yesh translates to something, so the translation is something from something.
The below drawn Hebrew letters represent “with G-d’s help” or yesh m’ayin, ayin translates to nothingness, so yesh m’ayin translates to something from nothing. Only with G-d’s help can the world itself change in miraculous ways ie something from nothing.
As stated in some of the videos on ReM(i)’s YouTube Channel, no one practice, culture, political stance or medical view is arguably sure about when life begins. ReM(i) will not attempt to assert any conclusion.
We will only state a viewpoint, and come from the lens, that everything is energy and that there is an enormous [I]nfinite out there, and that in order to make use of this energy on this material plane, the energy must be drawn down, and the sparks in the material lifted or elevated up.
Elizabeth S.
“Thank you so much! I truly felt the anxiety leaving me. The stress has moved out of my heart into my hands and feet. Externalizing the anxiety is exactly what I needed! I really feel its because of your videos. This is the ray of hope we need!”
The Tanya speaks to two levels of divine unity, with everything’s source in the [I]nfinite. The name of the object, or the gematria, a gematria being the mathematical calculation of the Hebrew letters - each Hebrew letter individually has a numerical value - being the source of the vessel for the object. The [I]nfinite invests its energy into the vessel, and remains invested continuously. If the letters i.e. the gematria, or [I]nfinite energy departs, there is no object.
This is where we have miraculous happenings, in the space or the vacuum between investment and departure. Kabbalists comprehend words as vessels and language as creation. This literally means, that what our modern world is saying: that we speak our lives into being, that thoughts matter, that language matters, and how we talk matters. When we think, speak and take action we are literally creating our lives. Kabbalah also states, with said investment of energy, what we have said on our therapeutic page, that life is constant, and that the only constant is change.
About Elanit Kayne Linder
Elanit Kayne Linder, LCSW is currently the Vice Chair of the Advisory Council at the Agency on Aging at the Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut and the Director of Aging Adult Services at the Jewish Family Service of Greater New Haven.
Elanit earned a Master of Social Work - MSW, Advanced Generalist Practice and Programming from Columbia University and specializes in group therapies, geriatric care, programming and services, case management, social work, and 1-to-1 therapies encompassing motivational interviewing, EMDR, somatic, cognitive behavioral and exposure therapies, and community outreach and organizational growth.
Elanit Kayne Linder has achieved wide acclaim for her books on topics such as personal healing, EDMR and aging with grace. Her books have been top-sellers in the self-help genre and she has been referred to as a bestseller by numerous publications.
Her writing has inspired countless readers to take control of their lives and find joy in their everyday existence. Elanit’s passion for helping others is evident in each page of her work and it is easy to see why she has become so widely respected in the industry.
To determine if you are a suitable client for these therapies, you will be asked to complete a New Patient Onboarding Questionnaire.
Patients who have been hospitalized or require medication management may not be accepted. Practitioners may request to speak with previous clinicians, healthcare providers, or primary care physicians.
ReM(i) provides self-care tools for upkeep. Visit our YouTube Channel for more.
If we relate this same Kabbalah back to our therapeutic language, and reference constant change, then our ability to manifest ourselves, to change and become our best selves, is not only possible but a constant possibility.
We constantly have the opportunity for change and newness. It is our physical and mental patterns, our personalities and neuropathways that impede us. The opportunity to become our best selves lies in the present, the opportunity for self-refinement and the refinement of the world, is around us consistently.
The worlds, or our lowest level of the [I]nfinite is represented by the ground or a plane in ReM(i)’s iconography. Tsimtsum, translated to contraction of [I]nfinite energy, allows the [I]nfinite to reach this lowest level of the worlds. The action of tsimtsum is represented by golden cross hatchings.
Vessels or buckets are drawn from a vascular vessel and can represent an (i)ndividual in communication with another or (i)n communication with oneself. The stone represents humility and the ability to be moved. Plants both as flowers and as small red dotted plants represent growth.
The red dot can also represent a yud which is a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Yud represents a dot or point in the [I]nfinite relating to the residue of light before the tsimtsum.
This residue of light is concentrated, a dense or undiluted spark of the [I]nfinite, or the closest that we can be, the most pure … you get the picture. Red in Kabbalah also protects from negativity or the evil eye. ReM(i) utilizes both a sparkly yellow for the tsimtsum and a red dot, to represent the most intimate and protected that we can be with HaShem.
The red dot is the starting point. The red dot is also the comfort and security of a period on a sentence. The dot is the beginning, middle and the end. The dot is the now in the present tense, and it is the growth as a plant. The dot is the actual [I]nfinite.
Over time, this philosophy, now somatic healing fusion formula and tools, has evolved into a discourse on how the (i)ndividual is part of the large expanse of [I]nfinity creating oneness among us all. The (i)conography is a choice point to allow the work to have cross-cultural relevance and a universal message of wholeness and peace.
The 30 stitches or suggestions outlined in The Bucket and The Stone are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The stitches can be practiced individually or as a workbook. The book consists of lessons in blurring the line between art and life. In art, there is magic. In life, there is a way to live inside of the magic. ReM(i)’s founder had always wanted to live in that sparkly place and to find a system or an equation that would to help to cause these magical happenings.
When we make art, we have the ability to set the piece we are working on in motion towards its conclusion. From the above mentioned language this actionable thought is Das. Chochma is the highest level of thought, closest to the [I]nfinite, where thinking is more of a meditation and not completely known. Binah is the second level and translates to wisdom. Binah is when the thought is manifested enough to turn it around in your mind and consider it. Das is when the thought is actionable.
There is always something new that happens along the way when an artist begins an action. We will refer to the artist, and want to be inclusive of all creators. Business writing can be a creative process. Fixing a broken pipe can be a creative process. ReM(i) is not a plumbing service, but we imagine that first one attempts to fix the pipe that is in front of them, as long as it is not completely rusted out. There is a moment of curiosity, learning and investigation before action is taken. The action may work and it may not. If it does not work, new action is taken.
This is the creative process, or working well as referred to in stitch #4 in The Bucket and The Stone. The investigation and research, in collaboration with the actual art making itself, take the work in new directions, determining the outcome. The action taking in combination with ‘giving up’ or ‘giving in,’ i.e. a practice of non-attachment is where the greatness of life and art live. The initiative and action begins with us.
Art As Medicine Shop
It was in the pinnacle turning points, in the small brief decisions, a breath, in the gentle giving over to the work, that ReM(i) Culture was born.
This practice is one of humility and non-attachment to outcomes. The sparkle of life was tangible through the happening. The action was recognized as a communication with something larger than the small self (i), the [I]nfinite.
It is the artistic process that began the questions for ReM(i) Culture. It is the author’s soul make-up that led the practice to Judaism and Kabbalah.
It was the multiple layers of Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism, mirroring life experiences, that allowed for the practice, actionable suggestions, and concrete answers in The Bucket and The Stone.
ReM(i) encourages its practitioners to listen closely to the [I]nfinite. Many times it is in the breaking of the vessels, in the gentle squeeze, or soul crushing that the answer lies. We miss the lessons of the [I]ninite when we fall victim to happenings. Yes, things happen to us. This is true.
The spark is in the lessons learned, and the action taken for self refinement, and refinement of the world. ReM(i) uses the word avodah in it’s practice. The word avodah can translate multiple ways to the words service and/or work. The idea or take away, is that we are all important.
We all have an (i)ndividual avodah or purpose in this world, a spark to elevate and a special way that we interact and impact the people and world around us. You matter, your avodah or service matters.
It is through ReM(i) and its intersection with Logotherapy’s meaning work, and the cognitive behavioral therapy from The Bucket and The Stone, that we tease out the essence, the yud, the red dot, to help people live their most meaningful, sparkly life corresponding with their (i)ndividual lens, inner locus of control and personal purpose.
Dispenza, Joe (2012). Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One
Frankl, Viktor E. (1946). Mans Search for Meaning
Nachman, Rebbe of Breslov (1998). Anatomy of the Soul
Pinson, Rav Dovber (2019). Thirty-Two Gates: Into the Heart of Kabbalah & Chassidus
Wolf, Rabbi Laibl (1999). Practical Kabbalah
Zalman, Rabbi Schneur of Liadi (2004). Lessons in Tanya
Contact us.
At ReM(i), we understand that your time is valuable and that privacy is of utmost importance. We respect the confidential nature of your request and assure you that any information you provide will be treated with strict confidentiality. Our goal is to use the information we collect to schedule a conversation about your current situation and explore how we can best assist you. We look forward to connecting with you and finding solutions that meet your needs.
To determine if you are a suitable client for these therapies, you will be asked to complete a New Patient Onboarding Questionnaire.
Patients who have been hospitalized or require medication management may not be accepted. Practitioners may request to speak with previous clinicians, healthcare providers, or primary care physicians.