We are in the middle of my favorite Hebrew month and this year we have 2 of them- Adar Alef and Adar Bet. That fact that my Birthday is in Adar (Adar 22 which this year falls on March 16, so if you missed my March 6th Birthday you now have another opportunity to celebrate with me) of course of one reason I like it so much but the other has to do with the energy of the month of Adar. Adar is a time for celebrating JOY! We are told to Be Happy, It is Adar! Mi Shnichnas Adar, Marbim b'Simcha - When Adar comes in our joy is increased!
In the past when I have planned yoga classes for the Hebrew month of Adar I have put together play lists with music that made me happy. Jonathan Edwards- Sunshine (Go Away Today), a song that makes me think of my year in Israel, and Sweet Home Alabama which always make me smile. Usually my mixes are a bit more Jewish but these work with the them of joy in Adar.
This year I'd like to do something different. In class we will look for ways to access our bliss bodies. Each of us is created as a holy being, pure and full of joy. Life happens and sometimes this pure essence becomes obscured, or covered with schmutz as my teacher Alan Morinis says. Our job is to wipe away the schmutz so that our holiness can shine through. We will do a series of yoga poses that focus on opening the stagnant areas in our bodies and help us access the joy of being alive and able to move our bodies.
In the daily prayer liturgy we thank God for giving us bodies that work. But not just for the sake of having a body. The full prayer thanks God of giving us a body that functions in order that we can praise God. When all of this comes together, our kedoshim-holiness, our gratitude, our openness and our connection to God, then we can feel bliss.
Be Happy, It's Adar.
Showing posts with label yoga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yoga. Show all posts
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Practicing
I love knitting because all the sudden you look down and there is something there that didn't exist until I created it. It is the most satisfying feeling. I imagine painters feel the same way. One minute there is a blank canvas and then there is an image, a painting. Wow! This act of creation does take persistance. You have knit a lot of stitches, which can be very monotonous, to get your creation. And sometimes you have to rip out all the progress you made and start again to get the results you want to acheive.
Yoga and religion also require regular practice (a word that is used to describe both - one practices yoga and one practices Judaism)*. The product can be more difficult to see, but if you keep at it, the results just appear, all of the sudden.
One day, a year or two after I began practicing yoga, a realized I had muscles you could actually feel (well I don't let too many people do that) on my sides. They had not been there before. When I'm too tired to practice, knowing that I created newly defined muscle structure, gets me back on the mat. I wish I had taken pictures of myself when I started practicing because it is hard to see all the progress and changes I've made. But photographs would only show the physical progress, I have to look at my increased energy level, my ability to handle stress and access my inner strength, and remember that yoga helped in these areas too. Through my yoga practice I was able to create a new me.
Likewise, it can be hard to see the benefits of practicing Judaism. You could get discouraged coming to services every week and not feeling a connection to God or feeling more spiritual. But let's say one week you feel that connection, that contentment. If you hadn't gone all those previous weeks and laid the groundwork for connecting to God, it might not have happened that week either.
Judaism reminds us to practice being the best person we can be - to keep learning, to help others, to give Tzedakah, to take time to pray. Some times we do a great job and other times we get need to get back on track. But each step of the way, Judaism can serve as a guide as we work to create the best world we can.
*By the way- I love that both yoga and Judaism are practices, that means I'm not expected to get it right, everytime.
Yoga and religion also require regular practice (a word that is used to describe both - one practices yoga and one practices Judaism)*. The product can be more difficult to see, but if you keep at it, the results just appear, all of the sudden.
One day, a year or two after I began practicing yoga, a realized I had muscles you could actually feel (well I don't let too many people do that) on my sides. They had not been there before. When I'm too tired to practice, knowing that I created newly defined muscle structure, gets me back on the mat. I wish I had taken pictures of myself when I started practicing because it is hard to see all the progress and changes I've made. But photographs would only show the physical progress, I have to look at my increased energy level, my ability to handle stress and access my inner strength, and remember that yoga helped in these areas too. Through my yoga practice I was able to create a new me.
Likewise, it can be hard to see the benefits of practicing Judaism. You could get discouraged coming to services every week and not feeling a connection to God or feeling more spiritual. But let's say one week you feel that connection, that contentment. If you hadn't gone all those previous weeks and laid the groundwork for connecting to God, it might not have happened that week either.
Judaism reminds us to practice being the best person we can be - to keep learning, to help others, to give Tzedakah, to take time to pray. Some times we do a great job and other times we get need to get back on track. But each step of the way, Judaism can serve as a guide as we work to create the best world we can.
*By the way- I love that both yoga and Judaism are practices, that means I'm not expected to get it right, everytime.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Picking a name
I'm still trying to come up with the right name for my blog. Something that captures my rabbi/spiritual side, my yoga (also spiritual) side, my love of arts and crafts, of spiritual direction, etc.
If I had a personalized license plate it would say Rabbi Eema, but that is not the right name for my blog, since I'm not going to spend too much time writing about being a Rabbi Eema. Although I will share with you now where that name came from.
When Shira and Ari were in Nursery School at the wonderful David Joshua Berg NS at Temple Beth Torah, whose 20th anniversary we will be celebrating at a festive affair on May 13th, their friends would call me Rabbi Susie or Rabbi Moskowitz, but Shira and Ari called me Eema. (Hebrew for Mommy.) And then it was a combination of Danielle and Nike, with Dominic's help, who coined my favorite name yet, Rabbi Eema. If Ari and Shira were calling me Eema, why couldn't they?
Anyway if you have any good ideas for a name, let me know. So far the top choice (created by Shira) is RavYogArt. Let me know what you think.
If I had a personalized license plate it would say Rabbi Eema, but that is not the right name for my blog, since I'm not going to spend too much time writing about being a Rabbi Eema. Although I will share with you now where that name came from.
When Shira and Ari were in Nursery School at the wonderful David Joshua Berg NS at Temple Beth Torah, whose 20th anniversary we will be celebrating at a festive affair on May 13th, their friends would call me Rabbi Susie or Rabbi Moskowitz, but Shira and Ari called me Eema. (Hebrew for Mommy.) And then it was a combination of Danielle and Nike, with Dominic's help, who coined my favorite name yet, Rabbi Eema. If Ari and Shira were calling me Eema, why couldn't they?
Anyway if you have any good ideas for a name, let me know. So far the top choice (created by Shira) is RavYogArt. Let me know what you think.
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