אֲנָחָה

The sigh and groan of a Jewish (lit. Israeli) man are exceedingly precious, for it is the completion of deficiencies. However, it is impossible to perfect the deficiency through sighing except through drawing close to the righteous one who is the true rabbi of the generation, for from him one receives the spirit of life to complete the deficiency through sighing (see Tzaddik, item 11) (8, 1-2).

When a person prays properly with devotion or does hisbodidus (connecting to HY in seclusion) properly, and in the middle falls from his level, this stems from a defect in faith. Then he must break his heart within him and be ashamed of himself for having fallen and been cast from heaven to earth, and have mercy on himself until he sighs. [And] Through the sigh, he will return to his level (108).

A sigh of holiness is exceedingly precious, for through sighing over being far from holiness, through this, one is severed from the rope (-succession) of impurity and connected to the rope of holiness. And the opposite, G-d forbid, when one sighs over some matter of desire that he longs for, it is the opposite, G-d forbid (109).

A sigh that a person sighs over his sins or over the paucity of his attainment (-spiritual acumen) is better than many afflictions and fasts. See further regarding the matter of sighing in Azut, items 2-3, that through a sigh of holiness, one breaks the brazenness of the body, and then the soul can draw close to the body to inform it of the attainments (-spiritual conception) it achieves, etc., see there (ibid.).