Jewish Yoga - The New Trend In USA

Yoga

oi-Suparna Chakaraborthy

By Suparna Chakaraborthy

Monday, January 31, 2011, 11:52

After the very hype trend of gym and aerobics, people are returning back to the basic and thus, yoga is gaining optimum popularity. Yoga which originated from India is now a hit trend in the United States and also in some other parts of the world. Various establishments and individuals across USA now offer what is termed as “Jewish Yoga".

In the United States have a association called the "association of Jewish yoga teachers" (to bring teachers and students together to explore their roots in Judaism and yoga), besides a “Torah Yoga Association". The Torah Yoga Association aims at provided an insight of Jewish wisdom to it's followers through Iyengar yoga and with the study of Jewish texts. The “Gentle Jewish Yoga" offers workshops, classes and retreats in Jewish yoga, meditation and mystical text study.

Apart from this there are many other forms of Yoga. One of them is the "Kabbalah Yoga" . The Kabbalah Yoga offers a “Technique of the 13 Point Prostration". Another type, the KosherYoga.net claims to be “Iyengar Yoga with a Jewish Bent".

Yet another programme for Jewish Yoga is the “Yoga and Jewish Spirituality Teacher Training Program"; besides a “200 hour Yoga Teacher''s Training Course For Torah Observant Women"; “Learn yoga with a highly experienced and knowledgeable Torah observant Trainer", “Yoga for Jewish Women", etc.

Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism in his statement in Nevada (USA) has expressed that though yoga belongs to Hinduism, it is a world heritage open to be utilized by all. According to Rajan Zed, this helps one to achieve spiritual goals and strengthens one's believe in it.

Explaining more about Yoga, Rajan Zed has referred to Yoga is a "Living Fossil", whose inception traces back to 2000 BCE in the Indus Valley Civilization. The basic aim of Yoga is mental and physical discipline.

Judaism is a monotheistic religion of world"s about 14 million Jews whose most sacred text is Torah. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.