Five years ago, a handful of socially conscious Jews got together and created the Jewish community of IKAR (meaning essence). In 2004 the founders fit into the living room of a home. Today, IKAR is a thriving Jewish community with hundreds of members. In its very first year, somebody came up with the idea of holding a yoga class during the two-hour break on Yom Kippur. Five years later the practice is an integral (yet voluntary) part of IKAR’s Yom Kippur services and scores of worshipers bring their yoga mats along for an hour of restorative yoga. Yoga classes are now also held as an adjunct to Shabbat morning services at IKAR.
Stephanie Edwards Avedon has been practicing yoga for almost 17 years, is a yoga teacher, and was one of the founders of IKAR. She leads the Shabbat morning yoga classes. “People can come to the classes from 9:30-10:45 a.m. and still have time to attend Torah reading and Musaf services,” she says. “A lot of people who come to the classes have little connection to Judaism or are overwhelmed by the services,” she says. “The yoga classes give them a reason to stay and then they can gradually ease their way into the synagogue services afterwards.”
Those classes, of course, stemmed from the success of the annual Yom Kippur services, which Avedon says came about partly because “we do live in LA and yoga is very popular here and IKAR was created by a community of people who were very receptive to the idea. The truth is,” she adds, “by making it part of our very first High Holy Days experience we set the stage and those who said, ‘Hey this makes sense to me,’ stayed in the class, and those who didn’t said, ‘I can’t believe they’re doing yoga on Yom Kippur!’ and left. For Avedon, the class was a no-brainer. “Yoga really can help your fast,” she says. “It’s a way to get out of your body and not feel the pain [of the fast].”
But what is the connection (if any) between Judaism and yoga? Why do Jews seem to be embracing this trend? Avedon says she believes part of it is about trying to find a spiritual connection. “Being spiritual is something many people seek and is part of all religions. While yoga is not a religion per se, it is a spiritual practice.” Avedon speaks of the need to be “present” in yoga dovetailing with that same need in Judaism and Jewish prayer. “Which is a really, really hard thing to do,” she notes. “So practicing yoga is a way for people to try and follow their own spiritual or religious journey.”
While in theory this sounds just fine, there are many people who balk at the idea of embracing what is seen as the religious aspect connected to yoga. Says Avedon, “There really is no conflict because although people associate yoga with Hinduism, you don’t have to be a Hindu to practice yoga. Yoga is a spiritual practice and it’s not connected to any religion.”
Marcus Freed, an actor who lives in London but often travels to Los Angeles to teach his ‘Bibliyoga’ classes, believes disillusionment with Jewish synagogue life – coupled with the fact that he believes Los Angeles is the yoga capital of the world right now – is what is drawing Jews to yoga. His classes (which also include exercises called “Kosher Sutras”) have been embraced en masse by the local LA Jewish community whenever he is in town, which is fairly often. Freed has taught classes at LimmudLA, the Jewlicious Festival and through JConnectLA, where there’s usually standing-on-your-head room only at his sessions.
“One of the biggest issues is the separation of the body and soul in Judaism,” says Freed in a telephone interview with Blueprint from his London home. “Rav Kook – the first Chief Rabbi of Israel - talked about this specifically and the fact that Judaism became very intellectual. It became about the mind, especially in the Orthodox world. Not that I’m criticizing that at all,” he adds. “I think it’s there for a very good reason, but my approach is a way to simplify all these aspects to feel that sense of invigoration, enlightenment or uplift through very intense physical yoga –physical meditation – and at the same time having the mind, the soul, the breath, directed to something higher.”
Freed’s initial interest in yoga came about eight years ago when he was taught the discipline in Drama School. “It came about [for me] because of the whole notion of oneness,” he says. “Yoga means yoke or to combine – bringing together body and soul and body and spirit.” His interest in the discipline “led to a series of Shabbat mornings when I noticed the [qualitative] results from doing a basic half hour yoga practice in comparison with going to shul. One left me calm and focused and strong and the other left me feeling distracted and a bit weak. Which possibly says more about the shul I was going to at the time,” he quips.
Nonetheless, it led to Freed exploring yoga alongside Tanach, Gemara and Talmud and figuring out the connections between them.
So what exactly were those connections? Very similar to Avedon’s it turns out. “Yoga is a generic term for a body of meditation techniques,” Freed says. “It’s about oneness, just as Judaism is about proclaiming God as one, but what Judaism doesn’t have is an easy way to tap into feeling one in the body, mind and soul, so yoga really allows you the fulfillment of the Jewish vision,” he says.
Michelle Azar, who has been teaching yoga at Beverly Hills’ Temple Emmanuel synagogue for almost four years now, agrees. “I’ve been able to incorporate some of the chanting I do in Sanskrit and find the Jewish values in it,” she says. “For example, before any yoga practice we chant an “ohm” but we also have another chant that says, “May we study together, may we practice together and may we bring peace and truth” and it reminds me of Hinei Matov. I think there is this fundamental sense of community that we enjoy through yoga practice and that’s why it’s so great to host that at a synagogue.”
For Freed, the key to his classes “is rather than being aligned to Eastern spiritual wisdom, you’re realigning it with Western spiritual wisdom. This hasn’t been done before in a way that’s comprehensive and easy to access.” However, he is quick to point out that yoga isn’t intrinsically Jewish either, and neither are his classes. “I don’t accept the term ‘Jewish yoga,’” he says. “It’s like saying touching your toes is Jewish. The [yoga] postures are neutral in terms of religion but they provide easy and accessible ways of connecting to God.”
Much like Avedon and Freed, Azar also believes that the sense of sacred space created in a yoga class is very similar to that which people seek out in a synagogue prayer service. “I think that in order to worship and create any sense of gratitude for that which we are given you need to have space,” Azar says. “And that’s what we’re doing in synagogue when we’re trying to pray. It reminds me of [the 16th century Kabbalist] Isaac Luria who said in order to have creation you have to move away. We have to pull away from our day to day to lives in order to find quiet, appreciate people and appreciate God,” and that’s what you get through practicing yoga – a sense of a higher power through stillness and movement and breath.”
Neither Avedon, Freed nor Azar see interest declining any time soon. “Part of it is timing,” says Freed. “People are ready for [yoga] in the shuls in America. People are going on more quests and retreats than ever before, but the key thing is people are looking for a balance between authenticity and creativity.”
“It’s also so much a part of my own spiritual journey,” says Avedon. “We all want to be more present, more connected, whether it’s to our families, our children or our Jewish and spiritual life. Being able to engage in these things is what yoga can offer us all.”
Says Azar, “I see the inclusiveness that is inherent in yoga [and that connects to Judaism]. “I don’t mean to sound groovy or Southern Californian about it but all we’re saying is that there is a divine spark in every person and that divine spark can be accessed through quiet, through sounds, through our breath and then ultimately through people.”
For more information on classes with Stephanie Avedon email: veniceyogi@gmail.com
For more information on Marcus Freed’s Bibliyoga classes visit: www.bibliyoga.com or marcus@bibliyoga.com
For more information on classes with Michelle Azar contact her through her Facebook page under the name Michelle Azar Aaron.