Dear IBF Family,
I was asked if I would like to share a few words with the IBF community about the current tragedy going on in Palestine/Israel.
Realize that I could have just called it Palestine, or I could have just called it Israel and you perhaps would have received my words differently just based on that one indicator and how it relates to your point of view of the situation.
I point this out before sharing anything personal to make the point that we have been separated yet again. That if we listen to each other from separation, we might remain in separation. But if we listen from unity, then that which is in us that has never been separated, nor threatened and remains one whole will listen and be heard and this will empower us. That part of us may inform the rest of us, how to best proceed at this time in human evolution.
Some of us might even be living with the thought that there has been fighting in that region for hundreds or thousands of years, so it’s a lost cause that is unsolvable, but we have been sold that lie too many times. There were many people from Christian, Jewish and Muslim backgrounds that co-existed peacefully there until the politicization of land and the Zionist occupation began. October 7th was as horrible as, but not worse than every one of the attacks made on Gaza and the Palestinian people over 75 years of occupation.
The IBF doesn’t take political stances, but this only began in politics and extends far into the topic of human co-existence and the possibilities of peace into the future. The IBF has supported in trauma informed work among war as in Ukraine/Russia and understanding will always be a part of this work.
The massacre of humans won’t ever be easy to talk about, so thank you for listening with an open heart. Atrocities happening to women and children will never land softly on loving ears nor should they. We are watching a genocide happen and people haven’t been able to get in the way of it yet. I am writing to you to ask you to remember that Palestinians are as human as you are.
In these last months I have read headlines that seek to demean and dehumanize Palestinians and examples of extreme hate among my fellow humans. I ask you to take the time to look beyond the headlines and have compassion for your human brothers and sisters suffering greatly.
Many of you know me. I am a peacemaker among peacemakers and one of the lovers of life that we call breathworkers. We as breathworkers live a life with an understanding that connects to the Source…the one powerful life force. We have seen rooms of people in unity and felt the force of love that exists when we evolve together. We wish this for the whole world, but to get there we must stand for each other.
We have felt the unifying force of the breath as we have breathed together many times and each time, it is a return home to the One heart. Even from across the world on World Breathing Day, we have united together in the One substance across distances. The One
power that is inside each of us and rides the breath into each of us without judging if a person is Palestinian or Israeli or Jewish or Muslim or Christian.
You can’t breathe a Jewish breath and you can’t breathe in a black way or a brown way. As I shared on the UN floor many years ago: The breath itself can be the greatest equalizer we have.
Beyond what we think about religion or people of different cultures there is a place in the breath that is undivided, and it is indivisible. It travels to each of our centers on each breath and yet it is One field of connectedness never apart from itself.
I ask you to continue sharing compassion from this place of unity towards Palestinians and Jews alike. I invite you to stand up for what is right and just and to allow human rights to matter.
So many lies have been attempted to be told to justify these atrocities, I ask you to allow your heart to lead the way. I know that getting to be a reminder of our Oneness in the IBF community has made my Palestinian heart matter today.
The One Love that Bob Marley sang about, the bliss that Rumi and Hafiz wrote about and the Kingdom of Heaven that is within that Jesus Christ spoke of are all the same place.
We have been invited to think that separation is natural. I am here to remind us that Unity is natural, and it is what will evolve us. Unity will evolve us further than separation ever could, but to get there we must unite in the great equalizer. Breathing together beyond separation from and to the One Love we are made up of.
As a young boy in the late 70’s, I was taken by my uncle Braheem to visit a Jewish man named Guvda. Guvda and his family raised the mango trees and my uncle hived the honey and they shared in the creation as they flourished with their families peacefully. There had already been much volatility in the country at the time, but what I was seeing was the remnants of the peaceful existence that was possible and had existed in those lands for hundreds of years.
The IBF asked if they should be prepared to assist the region with trauma informed practices and my answer was, Yes, absolutely, but not yet.
If someone is beating your thumb with a hammer, the beating must stop before you can begin healing and dealing with the trauma wisely and compassionately. I ask you to strongly ignite prayers that the atrocities will come to an end, powerfully and quickly. Then we can become a supportive force for people in those lands. The love they share in the villages of Galilee is indeed something special. Today you allowed my love to be received and I thank you for that gift to this Palestinian heart, to this human heart. I love you all and leave you with these words from Jimi Hendrix: “When the power of love overcomes the love for power, the world will know peace.”
Warm regards,
Rabie Hayek | Do As One & Omnibreath Breathing School
