Missiles and Mountains Aren’t So Different
How to stay steady when fear rises—under fire or on the trail.
Dear Healthy Jew,
For us Healthy Jews, hiking is always relevant: if not on the trail, then by listening to its lessons.
As we’ve discussed many times, (like here and here and here and here) and I explain in Chapter 16 of my book, Land of Health: Israel’s War for Wellness, living well is a journey “from here to there,” and actually walking - with our legs - has much to teach us about life’s pathways and purposes.
In recent days, I’ve been thinking about two moments - one embarrassingly recent - when I felt terror while out hiking, a terror not that different from huddling in a safe room with missiles and intercepters flashing and booming all around.
Both involved steep trails, the type that are way too steep to walk down but from the bottom look manageable going up. (Hey, that’s also a life lesson: it’s sometimes easier to go up than down!) One was a cone-shaped hill next to a jeep trail ascending the Golan Heights, the other right to the north of Bet Shemesh.
The beginning of these journeys was manageable, but near the top, way after it was too late to turn around, the trail turned almost into a cliff. Basically standing straight up, with a 30+ pound pack on my back, I claw my way forward and upward, trying not to panic and tumble all the way down.
Both times I made it up safely, and it wasn’t even that hard.
Here’s how I did it:
Whenever terror crept in, I stopped—gripping a rock or a clump of dirt—and just breathed. Deep, simple breaths, full with awareness of breathing. After a few moments of holding on and breathing, I kept going.
Throughout it all, I never looked up (when’s this going to end?) or down (what will happen if…). All my focus was on the very next foothold.
So if we’re scared of missiles, drones, sleepless nights, and kids home from school forever, hiking has much to teach us.
Stop for a moment to just breathe, on purpose, with awareness. Never underestimate the power of breathing to regulate our emotional state. It’s simple - almost too simple - but really works.
Breathing is all about healthy balance. The ancient wise men, not distracted by the details of modern biochemistry, taught that the function of the lungs is to embrace the heart from each side, keeping the center of life in balance with each breath.
Today we also know the exact ratio of nitrogen to oxygen during inhaling and exhaling. That’s wonderful. But the ancients were still right: breathing is an act of balance, and balance is the essence of health.
We don’t know how and when this war will end.
We don’t know what will happen if…
But we can take a close look at the next foothold, and try to do the next right thing.
Thank you for reading Healthy Jew.
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I look forward to hearing from you!
Be well,
Rabbi Shmuel Chaim Naiman
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Praying for you and your family and all of Israel