As we look ahead to the special, introspective month of Elul, I can’t imagine anyone more inspiring to learn from and listen to than Erin Rachel Doppelt. Erin’s a spiritual business coach, international wellness consultant, meditation teacher, retreat leader (her next retreat in Israel is slated for Fall 2021!), and the host of Wise Woman Podcast (highly recommend this episode; it’s awesome). She’s lived everywhere from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, she has an MA in Clinical Psychology and Education from Columbia University, and she’s a Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach to boot.
These days, Erin facilitates innovative mindfulness workshops and trainings all over the world in the areas of meditation, emotional intelligence, positive psychology, conflict competency, nutrition, yoga, and more. She’s the creator of the Certificate in Mindfulness and Wellbeing Strategy and UpLevel Meditation course, both of which were developed based on her experiences living in Israel and India. Her goal: to help women launch and grow what she calls their “soul-aligned businesses” and attract their “soulmate clients” via an integration of Eastern ritual and Western psychology.
At the heart of all of Erin’s work, though, is her Judaism and her womanhood. I hope her passion for both of those things serves to inspire and propel you forward during this transitional period.
Q
How can beginners incorporate meditation into their at-home routine during the approaching month of Elul?
A
There are 8 billion people in this world. 8 billion ways to eat for optimum health. 8 billion ways to connect with a loved one. 8 billion different ways to meditate. It’s important for people to understand that.
But whatever meditation ends up looking like for you, Elul is the perfect time to take on a new practice like that and really devote yourself to it. The entire month involves some deeply important, deeply spiritual work. It’s a time that allows you to dive into what’s beneath the surface, to literally “account for the soul” before the new year begins, to go into your neshama and uncover what’s working and what’s not. Meditation is a life-altering tool to help you do exactly that—to really see what’s in flow, and what it’s time to let go of. It’s the same reason why journaling can be so helpful. You’re taking stock.
The “active meditation” program I teach is geared toward millennials, toward Gen Z, toward those with shorter attention spans and compulsive and sometimes negative thought patterns. I’ve realized that it’s difficult for so many people to just sit down, close their eyes, and recite a series of mantras. Instead, it can be so helpful to move our bodies, to open up our hips and shoulders as a way of easing into our devotion.
I often compare this active practice, this active meditation to davening. It’s so similar. That prayerful swaying is its own form of active meditation. It’s a contemplative practice just like this one.
Elul is 29 days long, so I’ll mention that I actually have a 28-day digital meditation course that fits pretty perfectly into that time, and any readers out there can use the code UPLEVEL to get 67% off the entire program. It’s an introduction and immersion into my active meditation program, and you’ll be given tools to practice each sequence for four straight days so that you can really master it. There are introductions at the beginning of each segment that focus on union, presence, engagement, and value, then we dive deep into those essential active meditation practices that allow you to drop in deeply and show up for yourself. We conclude each session by talking about love—the word that matters more than any other in Elul.
I’ve also created a “Which meditation is best for you?” quiz they can take on my website, which is a nice way to figure out exactly where to begin with all of this.
You can sign up for Erin’s course here.
Q
What role did your time in Israel play in your spiritual journey?
A
Israel’s played such a huge part in my development as a spiritual coach, and it started pretty early in my life. When I was 17 years old, I went on a Shorashim high school trip that involved one week’s stay in Poland followed by a month in Israel. One night, we were out in the Negev, just looking up at the stars…and I had this incredibly profound epiphany. I suddenly thought to myself, “My purpose is to help people become their best selves, and to share their best selves for the rest of their lives.” Thinking back to that still gives me goosebumps. In fact, I was so moved by that experience that I later began leading that very same trip, which was such a cool way to complete that circle. I also lead all of Birthright’s spiritual, niche trips; they’re one of my biggest clients alongside Nike, Google, and others.
When I was 23, after leading one of those Birthright trips, I decided to stay and live in Israel for six months. I studied, I explored, I learned, and I spent a ton of time in the Shitim Desert Ashram. I attended one of the festivals there, and there was this shaman who just came up to me and seemed to know everything about me. He started talking to me about my family, the boyfriend I’d left back home, and how I was there in Israel on an important journey. It’s hard to explain but in that moment, it felt pretty clear that G-d is real, that mysticism is real, that it all means something.
I continued traveling all over, spending some time in the Ma’agan Michael kibbutz in the north and lots of time in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, too—but for the most part, I stayed completely nomadic. And it all amounted to what I now think of as the single most important time of my life. It was there in Israel that I finally made time to sit with myself, to reflect and realign. It was there that I decided what it would mean for me, personally, to live a very Jewish life and a very spiritual life.
This is actually the first year in 10 years that I haven’t been back there. It’s crazy to think about. But I will be leading my signature retreat there in Fall 2021, and my husband and I talk about making aliyah all the time. It’s that special to us.
Q
What do your mornings look like?
A
Mornings are super sacred to me, but I actually think that a great morning routine is nothing without a great evening routine. For me, that means looking ahead each night and making sure I’m prepared for the next day, whether it’s by putting out clothes so that I’ll be prepared to work out in the morning or just setting a few intentions. I often ask myself and my clients, “What are the three things you need to accomplish tomorrow?” Getting super clear on priorities like that—especially when you’re in the entrepreneurial world—is so, so important. It can also be a great idea to establish a short gratitude practice before bed.
But onto the mornings! Each day after my husband and I wake up, I immediately roll out my yoga mat and do a couple Sun Salutations, a couple Down Dogs. I really believe it’s so important to stretch first thing in the morning. After that, I do a series of ayurvedic practices in the washroom: tongue scraping, brushing my teeth, and sometimes oil pulling as well, though I haven’t been doing that too much lately. You want to start the day feeling clean and refreshed, and those are easy ways to accomplish that.
Next, I boil water and will continue stretching with a couple Kundalini kriya, a sacred yoa lineage that I just love. I pour my tea—I drink herbal Pau d’Arco tea—and then I take on a silent seated practice. For me, that sometimes involves listening to a guided meditation, but other times, it’s just me sitting and connecting to my breath. Just feeling the quiet.
Once I do that, I’m ready to show up to the rest of my day embodying the energy I’ve created for myself.
Q
You reference “feminine energy” frequently in your work. What’s that all about—in Judaism and in all of the spiritual work you do?
A
We as women have this incredible ability to use our natural rhythms and bodies to show up for the world. I really mean that in a very literal sense: Our cycles have power. Our bodies have power. And we’re finally privileged enough in this modern era to get back to all of that, to reimagine what it will mean for us to be feminine and empowered in this new time. There are certain times during our cycle when we’re more or less confident, when we’re feeling more or less bold, and it’s important to start really taking that stuff seriously and paying attention to it. This pandemic, this disruption in our society is the ideal time to radically shift our thinking around this, to reclaim our femininity, to use the natural ebbs and flows of our cycle to show up for ourselves as people and as leaders. And it’s real. The Sarahs, Leahs, and Rebekahs before us knew about this feminine power. The Red Tent was a symbol of this. Rosh Chodesh is a symbol of this. Women’s circles are a symbol of this.
There’s obviously so much more to say here, and it’d be a 20-hour conversation if we really got into it, but I can sum it up with this: Women, we need to stop hiding the most beautiful things about ourselves—our status as women and these sacred bodily changes. Elul can be one of many invitations to own that part of ourselves, but it’s actually a daily invitation. It’s something we can acknowledge at any time. Tomorrow. Today. Now. We’re here on Earth, the pressure is on, and we’re being asked to show up in radical ways.
Being a woman, after all, is a calling. Women are the moon, and Jews in particular have been guided by the moon forever. It’s why women were given Rosh Chodesh; it was our reward for not worshipping an idol, the golden calf. It’s because of us that Rosh Chodesh even exists. It’s because of us that we have those full moons throughout the year.
Women are tidal waves. We don’t feel the same way every day. We shift with the universe. And that’s such a gift. But in order to enjoy those aspects of ourselves fully, we have to embrace them and reclaim them loudly. Claiming quietness and smallness does not serve the world. Claiming to be fragile does not serve the world. There is nothing cute or helpful about that. Claim your strength, women. The calling is here. Now is the time to rise.