Sample from The Omer and The Sefirot:
THE ENERGY FOR TRAVEL
An “OMER” is a biblical measure of grain. We count from the Omer of Barley offered at Passover (or Easter) to the Omer of Wheat at the Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost).
Kabbalists assigned each week of the Omer a quality called a Sefirah (pronounced Seff-ee-raw), the plural of which is Sefirot (pronounced Seff-ee-roat). It carries a meaning related to the English “spheres.”
In modern physiology, the Sefirot have been identified as "energy centers" or "nerve ganglia" located in specific areas of the human body. Sefirot also find a parallel in the "Chakras" of the Hindu-Sanskrit spiritual lexicon.
A basic tenet in Kabbalah holds that the Sefirot make up the Etz Chayim (Aits Chay-yim), the "Tree of Life." This imaginary tree represents the structure of your spiritual self as well as the structure by which God holds the Universe together.
During the Omer count, the Tree of Life invites you to open up each of its Sefirot in the sense of "opening your heart." This expression is right on target because your heart is right at the center of the seven Sefirot of the Omer count. If you can open up your heart, you can open up your other Sefirot as well.