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| 'Kosher' yoga for religious Jews |
| Press Trust of India / Jerusalem Mar 27, 2009, 14:33 IST |
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Yoga, which is becoming popular among Jews across the world, is being made to conform to the requirements of Jewish laws so that the postures and spiritual elements of the Hindu-based practice do not stand on the way of tenets of Judaism.
The concept of 'kosher', a Hebrew word meaning fulfilling requirements of Jewish laws, is being applied to yoga practices in Israel and other parts of the world where the Jewish community is debating on its adoption in view of certain principles that may be contrary to Jewish laws.
Aware of observant Jews who prefer staying away from a Hindu-based practice that might 'smell of idol worship', Aviva Schmidt, a California native, last week opened what she says is Israel's "first kosher power yoga studio".
"Yoga is based on Eastern tradition and focuses a lot on meditation. Different positions are of worshipping different idols, which goes against Judaism.
So I keep it very 'Parve', for example, I don't say names of the positions, there is no chanting, no ohming. I do focus on breathing, as this is very important in yoga, but any kind of eastern philosophy stays outside," Schmidt told daily Ha'aretz.
Steven Gold, founder and director of Yoga and Judaism Centre in Atlanta, told the daily he is "most familiar with a short answer provided from the Chabad perspective -- Yoga's physical exercise can be kosher as long as it remains within the context of physical fitness and stress management."
Schmidt, who grew up as a secular Jew and became observant through Chabad, said she believes Eastern philosophies are about going into oneself. "Judaism, on the other hand, is about going out of yourself and bringing godliness into the world. It is about being grounded in this world and not about going to a mountaintop to meditate all alone," she said.
She also pointed out that few people like her, both in Israel and abroad, adopted some kind of Jewish-Kabalistic approach to yoga such as focusing on Bible texts or Hebrew letters. "What we do in my studio, however, is entirely neutral," Schmidt, a trained ballet and jazz dancer, said.
"The orthodox Jews wouldn't come if the classes included Eastern spirituality. We spoke to three different Rabbis and they all gave us their blessing," she said.
Schmidt's yoga studio, "Power Flow", located in Jerusalem's posh Rehavia neighbourhood specialises in 'power yoga', which she says is quicker and more exhausting.
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