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Title: Torah Yoga: Experiencing Jewish Wisdom Through Classic Postures (Arthur Kurzweil Books)
ISBN: 0787970573
Author:
Diane Bloomfield
Publicate Date: 2004-04-08
Publish: 2004-04-08
List Price: $19.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $11.13
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $9.15
Amazon Merchant Price: $13.57
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Moving Into Silliness
Torah Yoga tries to weave together overly simplified, and uselessly simplistic, ideas from Jewish mysticism with hatha yoga practice and philosophy. The result reads like those affirmations Al Franken used to do on SNL. Yes, you may be a spark of God's infinite light, and that may lead to a warm and fuzzy feeling, but it won't deepen your understanding of Kabbalah or improve your downward-facing-dog. In my admittedly limited understanding, both Kabbalah and yoga philosophy are demanding and intricate doctrines. They deserve careful study. This book, though well-intentioned, infantilizes both topics.
If you want a book to enhance your yoga practice, there are many, many titles that far surpass this. I'm sure the same is true if you want to grapple with the rigors of Hinduism or Jewish mysticism.
Superb hatha yoga books that are gentle and user-friendly include Donna Farhi's "Yoga Mind, Body and Spirit," and Erich Schiffman's "Moving Into Stillness." I'd spend the money on either one rather than this.
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2: Torah Yoga
This book blends two very different belief systems. I enjoy the commentary and also the link to Yoga poses. I am an "old" Torah studnet but new to Yoga. This is really a beneficial approach for me.
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3: Amazed
I am amazed at the beauty and sensitivity contained in this book. Everyone should read it.
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4: Life Journey
Diane offers several suggestions for how to read her book, Torah Yoga. My choice has been to read and reread the introduction. I love Diane's emphasis on first things: the word, the breath, attending to the foundation before moving into postures and finding the origins of our life journeys.
As a midwife, I work with women and families embarking on the life journey of pregnancy. Today in the U.S., alot of technology is available to evaluate the status of pregnancy. As a guide for pregnant women, I try to encourage them to trust their own intuition and the strength of their own bodies. Diane has given me the tools to promote this concept with women.
I've had the privilege to take Torah Yoga classes with Diane, I can hear her voice when I read the explanation of postures in her book. The directions are easy to follow. Perhaps I only want to read the introduction because I don't want to come to the end of the book. But the book is a guide to a journey. Diane has given me and everyone else who reads her book the encouragement we need to become our own guides.
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5: A beautifully written and interesting book...
Raised as a Presbyterian, a competitive swimmer, and a mathematician (order not important), I am not naturally drawn either to spiritual mysticism or yoga. This beautifully written and interesting book, however, has helped me to understand how one could be drawn to those things. My thanks to the author, who obviously cares very deeply about her subject.
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