YOGA SHALOM

Yoga Shalom is wonderful! It is a strong and unique contribution to this growing body of work. As for production, it is so well done! To include both print photos, as well as the music CD and the DVD~terrific! May you (and this creation) go from strength to strength! Full Text

Lisa Levine puts the om in shalom. The Olney cantor and yoga practitioner is the creator of Yoga Shalom, introducing a new way for Jews to pray using both body and soul. Levine's recently released book Yoga Shalom, which features a companion instructional DVD and CD of accompanying liturgical music, is a friendly user's guide for yoga novices and yogis alike who want to put a Jewish twist on the ancient physical and spiritual practice that coalesced around the rise of early Buddhism in India in about the second century BCE.Although many think of Judaism as a cerebral religion, Levine finds the opposite to be true. "Judaism is a physical religion," she insisted. "Think about the choreography we do in services, like coming up three times on our toes, bowing at certain times and when you think of Chasidic Jews you think of them shuffling, which is movement. ..."Jews are a physical people. I've just taken it to another level of physicality." Full Text