From: Gentle Jewish Yoga [Info@GentleJewishYoga.com]

Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 6:11 PM

Subject: Gentle Jewish Yoga Newsletter, May/June 2008

Gentle Jewish Yoga Newsletter

Iyar-Sivan 5768

May/June 2008

Contents:

GJY In the Media
The Shape of the Divine

Class Schedule

GJY In the Media

Gentle Jewish Yoga’s Avivah Winocur Erlick will be the subject of a Teacher Profile in the May issue of LA Yoga Magazine.

LA Yoga spoke with Avivah about how her yoga classes combine movement and Kabbalistic  teachings, and how her calling to the rabbinate began on the yoga mat. A photographer then captured Avivah’s  “Prayer and Movement” chair yoga class at the Jewish Home for the Aging – folks in wheelchairs, forming Hebrew letters. It should make for an interesting visual change for the magazine.

The issue is due to come out later this week. It will be available free at yoga studios and health food stores all over town, and online at this address: www.LAYogaMagazine.com.

The Shape of the Divine

We are all created in the image of the Divine, according to the Torah. What exactly does this mean?

Rabbi Joseph Gikatilla, a Kabbalist writing in the 1370s, says it means we are shaped like G-d. “The limbs of man reflect the essence of the Divine Constellation,” he wrote in his introduction to Kabbalistic thinking, Gates of Light.

Gikatilla did not mean that, like us, G-d has physically solid arms and legs. He was speaking of our spiritual anatomy, the Tree of Life. Not visible to the eye and yet sensed by the heart, the Tree of Life is made up of 10 emanations or attributes, known as Sefirot, arranged around our bodies. Individually and in relationship with each other, they offer us many lessons. Together, they form the presence of the Divine within our lives.

And “as above, so below,” the Kabbalists like to say. The Sefirot are the Divine Constellation, providing “form” to the Holy and shaping us as well. When we work to balance ourselves through contemplation, prayer and mitzvot, we link up with the flow of  blessing that pours into the world every second through these vessels, thus opening channels for healing, health and happiness.

Join Gentle Jewish Yoga for a series of seven classes working with the Tree of Life.

Yoga of the Sefirot

American Jewish University

15600 Mulholland Drive, Bel Air

Room 115, the Dance Studio

Friday mornings, 9:30 to 11 a.m., May 9-June 20

Learn Kabbalah by doing, to empower, relax and learn from your own Holy Temple, your body. Each week, a different Sefirah will be the focus of teachings, movement, meditation and song. The class is designed to be gentle and relaxing, with movements modified to accommodate the fitness level and comfort needs of all participants.

May 9: Malkhut (Opening to the Divine) – Feet & Hands

May 16: Yesod (Groundedness) – Stomach, Hips & Sexuality

May 23: Netzach & Hod (Social Action) – Legs

May 30:  Tiferet (Balance) – Heart

June 6: Gevurah (Self Discipline) – Left Side

June 13: Chesed (Loving Kindness) – Right Side

June 20: Chochma, Bina & Keter (Creativity and Presence) – Mind & Breath

Sign Up Deadline: May 5.

Cost is $175 for the series; first-time students pay a $15 registration fee.

Fill out the DCE REGISTRATION FORM  (control-click this link to open it online).

Course Number: #08SD5DAE

By Mail: Send form with your check, money order or credit card information to American Jewish University, Department of Continuing Education, 15600 Mulholland Drive, Bel Air, CA 90077

By Fax: Send form to (310) 471-6527 with credit card information. Available 24 hours a day

Call or Visit the DCE office, 9am to 4:30pm, Monday-Thursday, and 9am to 2pm on Friday,
(310) 440-1246.

For more information on Gentle Jewish Yoga, visit our Web site at www.GentleJewishYoga.com.

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