From Dovid Sears, “The Path of the Baal Shem Tov” (Jason Aronson).
The Baal Shem Tov on Secluded Meditation:
How can one merit to cleave to God? By secluding oneself (hisbodedus) from one’s fellow men, by writing the mysteries of the Torah, and by meditating on the kabbalistic unifications (yichudim) of the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria), as is known. When one engages in such unifications, he should remain aware of God’s greatness [and not be distracted by the techniques themselves] to the best of his ability (Tzava’as HaRivash 82).
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Please note that this site includes excerpts of teachings from many sources, with no attempt made to unify matters of style or transliteration. Therefore, the Hebrew word for seclusion and/or meditation is spelled hisbodedus (Ashkenazic pronunciation), hitbodedut (Sefardic pronunciation), or hithbodedut (another variation). Sometimes Hebrew names are written the original way, while at others they are Anglicized, depending on the preference of the author.