Frum and Exercise

I started doing yoga over 20 years ago. I was self-employed and had a flexible schedule so I would drop in to a neighborhood yoga studio and take classes. I especially liked the hatha yoga classes and would sometimes take a restorative yoga class. I tried them all, even Pilates, but found that hatha yoga really suited me. I liked the positions, the movement and the breathing. It was like a ballet only you stayed in the position longer.

I really got into yoga and decided that I need cool yoga clothes. My loose Lands' End tee shirt and pants looked weird next to all the other students. Bright colors, tight fitting and cut out sections, that's what I needed for a good yoga workout. The yoga studio was a commercial venture and so open to the public.

Over the years, I found myself coming back to my Jewish family traditions. I was taking Torah classes and going to shul. I grew in my yiddishkeit each year until I felt comfortable saying that I was a baalas teshuva. I was kosher, I was Shomer Shabbos and I liked yoga.

I had a problem! Those bright colored, tight fitting, cut out yoga outfits were an embarrassment. I began to do yoga at home. I knew enough from all the classes I attended, so I was able to create a yoga workout that resembled what I did in the studio. I found internet downloads with audio yoga workouts and many were for hatha yoga practice. I created a little spot in the bedroom and made it my "yoga studio". Now I could do yoga whenever I wanted, private class for me alone, much cheaper, no men in the class, and I could go back to Lands' End loosy, comfy cottons.

For the past ten or more years, I have been a member of my own private yoga studio. I have two locations; the bedroom and the living room. I do the same yoga routine each day I exercise and have not tired of the program. It is a basic hatha yoga twenty minute flow and works on all body areas. Wonderful for flexibility, muscle strength and balance.

The private studio has grown to include some very special friends and we practice yoga and study the weekly parsha. Focusing our mind to have clarity of purpose, being mindful, fully conscious and aware of the present moment are lessons taken from yoga and apply also to Torah study. The weekly parshas' deep meaning connects to our life and the yoga poses remind us of the lesson.

http://www.parshaandyoga.com
"Parsha and Yoga" by Linda Hoffman

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