Do you begin by teaching that example from the Torah first, then go into the postures?

Yes, I always start with a few minutes of stretch and movement. I’m really emphasising that the wisdom of the Torah is contained in the body. As Jewish people, we spend a lot of time looking outside of ourselves and looking at text and very little time looking at our bodies. So I always start the class with 10 minutes of some kind of stretching so that people will remember that we are also going to include our body. Then I’ll do a Torah teaching for 10 or 15 minutes. I’ve been doing this for 14 years so I have hundreds of teachings. The rest of the class, which would be about an hour after that we will do yoga postures and I will remind the class of the concept that we are focusing on.

What do you non-Jews get out of yoga classes?

I have one very loyal student right now, a woman who’s Lutheran. I think it’s very comforting for her because the roots are her roots. She can relate to the Jewish roots, or the Old Testament, more than the Far East or more than Hinduism. I really choose the aspects of the Torah that are universal for any spiritual seeker. There are certain parts of the Torah that

are specific for the Jewish people, but much of it is universal. So on one hand,

I think non-Jewish people enjoy it because it’s comforting to stay closer to their tradition, or their roots, but any spiritual seeker can enjoy the powerful Jewish wisdom. — Beliefnet.com (Concluded)