What is Embodied Prayer and Jewish Yoga?
By admin | December 3, 2009
Interview with 614 magazine (a new Jewish women’s magazine) from September, ‘09….
What is Jewish Yoga?
Class Description: We start with thank you. We say Modeh/Modah Ani upon waking, which is one big “thank you” for keeping me alive and waking me up, and go on to the morning prayers, which say thank you for opening eyes, mine and others, for straightening the bent, my body and others, for guiding my steps, etc. The prayers can be seen as an analogy for all humanity, but also for getting me out of bed and just, well, thanks. Then, after the grateful blessings, we say “wow.” All the Songs of Praise follow, the “wow” of the wonder of it all, and of God. We say “thanks” before we say “wow”! Isn’t that amazing? It’s an ancient “attitude of gratitude.” I use this map, which includes listening (shma) and studying/asking, this framework already handed down to Jews for thousands of years, to thematically and literally order the yoga movements of the class.
Why did you want to start your classes in Jewish yoga?
As a former professional dancer, and a yoga person and then teacher, I have always learned kinesthetically. I always felt like even my own spirituality was through my body, that somehow I felt a kind of God presence while focused on expanding, stretching, and playing with my own body’s boundaries. Taking care of and being aware of the body is a very Jewish attribute. (Even the Rambam said, and I paraphrase, “To know Torah you must care for the soul and the body; the soul is ranked first but the body comes first…”) It seemed natural to want to merge that way of learning with understanding Jewish concepts, beliefs, and prayers. It has been fascinating to uncover the rich history of movement within the tradition. From the present-day shuckling (swaying) in shul, to Torah processionals, to the time when David danced half naked in front of the Ark, and Miriam led the women into song and dance, movement and body consciousness have been a part of Judaism. Doing Jewish yoga is a way of reclaiming the body in connecting to God or your own personal version of Divinity. I also got tired of the headier textual study: Judaism is a lived religion, however orthodox a person wishes to embody it. The rituals include physically doing something to create spiritual connection. Doing Jewish yoga means physically understanding what it is to be thankful for girding Israel (us) with strength, or straightening our bent bodies—two prayers from the morning blessings. It means truly listening to our bodies’ responses to our own relationship to God and prayer (or as a friend says, “shma’ing the body”).
What do you think women get out of the classes?
I hesitate to label what women, as opposed to men, get out of the classes. It would be easy to say that women are more open to new ways of learning in Judaism, especially if you’re talking about more traditional Jewish learners and learning methods, since they were traditionally left out, but many men in my class are the first to groan and moan and express their eagerness to work with their bodies as metaphors for their own truth. Often, women are the teachers, so they get role models. And, when I teach in Orthodox circles, such as at Orot College in Israel, it is only women who take the course.
What was one of your best teaching moments?
I’ve been lucky to have had quite a few high points recently. One was when I was leading an Embodied Shabbat ceremony, working with my rabbi and a musician. We were following what I consider to be the main parts of a morning service, especially Shabbat morning: gratitude, praise, listening, and study/asking. These parts correspond to the prayer and song sequences of the morning service. The group got so involved in the gratitude part—which includes yoga poses, chanting, getting warmed up, and saying what they’re grateful for—that, quite naturally, the songs of praise, specifically the Nishmat prayer, thanking and praising God for the Breath of Life, came out of the crowd and into their bodies. I barely had to lead—just had to facilitate the natural expansion of the group’s energy.
But I must say the most humbling and exciting moments are when I get those students who approach me saying that somehow, in some way, what they did in my class brought them closer to their Judaism, or their souls. Surprisingly enough, some of the more religious women I taught in Israel had this reaction. I was pretty blown away. Those women are so in love with Judaism that they make the gender differentiation look almost inviting. So, for them to say this to me, a Conservative-born feminist Jew who looked into Hindu yoga for my spirituality before returning to Judaism, is a pretty big honor.
What is the most challenging aspect about teaching your class?
The first five minutes. Always. Getting people to let go of their expectations… of whatever… a yoga class, a Jewish experience, what dance is, what it means to be Jewish, or what it is supposed to look like. Usually by minute six, but certainly by twenty, we’re all ok with where we are.
How does your class help women connect to Judaism?
I think, again, because of the traditional ways in which women were expected to behave or pray, this presents an egalitarian concrete connection to Judaism that bypasses those more male-dominated approaches.
What one lesson/message would you like to share with our readers?
Judaism rocks. And rolls. I mean it. I am in my mid-40s and I envy what is around now for younger women and men who are seeking a spiritual Judaism, not a rote, watered-down Judaism. There is a lot out there to get connected to—eco-Kosher, environmental awareness; the Torah is a pretty amazing guide if you’ve found smart, spiritually aware, and holistically oriented teachers to help lead you. And there’s more and more of those teachers, and some of them are in their 30s and early 40s. Find them; Judaism needs you to continue its mission of bringing Heaven and Earth together—making the material, spiritual and leading the earth into better times. If not now, when? (Ok, got a bit soap-boxy there… but Hillel had it right).
When do you personally feel most Jewish?
On Friday nights. The small stuff—lighting candles, saying the blessings, watching my partner’s (and soon my step-) children tear at the challah like they’re Siberian refugees. And then, kibbitzing in shul on Saturday, mixing small talk with prayer. It is the ease of the material and spiritual that makes Judaism interesting. In what other religion is it written that a man is supposed to please his woman, and yes I mean sexually, especially on Shabbos, as much as possible? Got to admit, girls, we got pretty lucky on that one.
What question do you wish I would ask, and what is your answer.
Question: where can I go for cool Judaism?
Keep looking for good, plugged-in resources, like Elat Chayyim—the Jewish renewal spiritual center based at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut—with courses almost year-round. Romemu in New York—a place where there is yoga and meditation before the amazing chanting Shabbat service. Check out the Aleph Kallah—an every other year event, but an ongoing resource for teachers and ideas. If you’re an artist yourself, your local Jewish Federation probably wants to hear from you and how you can connect what you do with local day schools and Hebrew schools. Judaism needs young vital minds, bodies, and souls to keep falling in love with it, to find out about its desires for peace (yes, peace!), healing, and love; not just law, rules, and restrictions.
Jodi P Falk, MFA, CLMA
Jodi P Falk is an international educational consultant, choreographer, dancer, yogi, and teacher. Her work centers on the vehicle of movement and the arts to promote educational wellness, conflict resolution, proficiency, and personal and spiritual power. Visit www.dancingsoul.org to learn more about her program.
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Cool article about Jewish embodied prayer / dancingsoul online live!
By admin | October 6, 2009
www.brandeis.edu/hbi/614
Michelle Cove of Hadassah/Brandeis Institute, editor of 614, an online magazine for Jewish women, and men, found my articles and asked me for this interview.
Please visit their site. I talk about what a Jewish yoga/movement class looks like, from my perspective, and how it varies in Orthodox and in Renewal communities. Also, I tell you why women, from a traditional perspective, are lucky in Judaism!
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Moving Metaphors: Lesson in Poetry and Dance
By admin | March 30, 2009
Authors: Jenn Blackburn, English Teacher, and Jodi Falk, Dance Director, PVPACHS
Overview & Purpose: This series of activities was designed to allow students to explore poetry through movement. Many of these lessons can be done in one class period or spread out among several class periods. It is our intention to explore how dance can inform one’s understanding of poetry and conversely how poetry can inform one’s understanding of dance. In the spring of 2008, we applied these activities to a poetry unit with four ninth grade language arts classes. This fall we are applying these activities to four ninth grade language arts classes in their unit based upon John Howard Griffin’s Black Like Me. We created this unit with these objectives in mind:
- To illustrate how both poetry and dance are forms of language.
- To demonstrate how movement can serve as a bridge between the abstract and the concrete.
- To provide multiple types of learners the benefit of varied approaches to teaching.
- To provide opportunities for immediate visual feedback regarding students’ understanding.
5) To provide multiple opportunities for all students to actively engage during activities.
MA Standards Addressed:
ELA Standards: 1 Discussion, 8 Understanding a Text, 11 Theme, 14 Poetry, 18 Dramatic Reading and Performance
Dance Standards: 1 Movement Elements and Dance Skills, 2 Choreography, 3 Dance as Expression, 4 Performance, 5 Critical Response, 10 Interdisciplinary Connections
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- explain/ relate a connection between movement and language
- make discoveries and interpretations of the meaning of various poems using the elements of poetry (diction, sounds, rhythm, connotation, theme) and the form of dance (time, space, quality)
- show how rhythm, connotation, theme, action (verbs) and descriptive words (adverbs and adjectives) can be expressed through movement
- achieve a deeper understanding of poetry through physical exploration
Materials Needed:
- space for students to move freely
- handouts with guidelines, procedures and definitions
- index cards containing words with varied connotations
- pens or pencils
- copies of poems you will use and explore during exercises
We used: “i am accused of tending to the past” by Lucille Clifton for the connotation and denotation exercise, “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes for the action and descriptive words exercise, “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou for the theme exercise, and finally “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks and “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar for the rhythm exercise.
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Instruction:
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- Students will be introduced to the activities and objectives of the unit.
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- Elements of dance: space, time and quality, and choreographic principles
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- Connotation and Denotation Exercise- What are connotation and denotation? Why do poets make specific word choices? Can students find examples in the poem where a word with strong connotations is used? How does it affect the meaning of the line or poem? Can students demonstrate the connotations of words, phrases and lines using movement?
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- Action Words and Descriptive Words Exercise- Review the definitions of verbs, adjectives and adverbs before reading the poem(s). Identify examples of each from the poem. Select a group to explore the poem(s) with specific focus on the words in your assigned category. Can your group members perform the poem to a dramatic reading? How do group choices and performances compare or contrast when focus is shifted to different types of words?
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- Theme Exercise- What is theme? What is a theme statement? Can students identify a theme for a poem? How would they embody that theme using movement(s) or a montage?
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- Rhythm exercise- What is rhythm? Can students pick up on a rhythm and repeat it? Can they create their own rhythms? Can they identify rhythm in poetry?
Feedback: It is important for the teachers to provide feedback and assistance both to individuals and to groups throughout the course of each activity. Do not forget to allow students time to critique each other’s performances in a respectful and genuine manner. (You may need to model this.) Allow students the chance to explain their intentions for their choices and possibly consider what else they would have done following feedback or if given more time.
Reflection: At the end of each activity, as well as at the end of the unit, we provided time for discussion and summary of the activities that took place as well as the information covered. Students were asked to give feedback both through discussion and through a short survey.
Other Possible Applications: This year we created an integrated dance and language arts lesson using the characters of Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird. Students explored the ways that characteristics can manifest themselves physically. Students explored movements such as rising, sinking, spreading, narrowing, advancing and retreating and applied these techniques to characters from the novel. Students established walks, movements and mannerisms for various characters and had the opportunity to create interactions with other characters.
We have also used movement to explore the shape and sounds of words in poetry.
For a detailed description of each exercise to use in your classroom, feel free to contact Jodi at jodi@dancingsoul.org
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MODES OF MOVEMENT INTO TEFILLAH: Mixing the modes! Sibling rivalry in Genesis and the human puzzle game
By admin | February 19, 2009
Recently I completed a residency at Heritage Academy, a Jewish day school in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. I came to work at first with the Judaic staff on bringing movement into their curriculum. I ended up not only working with the staff, but also with the middle school students finding ways to embody (and thereby enhance and re-member) their tefillah, or prayer.
MODES OF MOVEMENT INTO TEFILLAH
Three distinct modes of how movement and text, in this case the text of tefillah, were used with the middle school with varying levels of success. The three are: wordplay, the essence, and personalizing question. Full descriptions of these individual modes are in earlier blogs. In this lesson we mixed essence and personalizing.
MIXING THE MODES!
Lesson 4:
Modes: Personalizing and Essence
Text/prayer: The sibling rivalry stories in Genesis
Players: middle school day students
1. Talk about the sets of siblings that are mentioned in Genesis most often.
a. Cain and Abel, Yitzhak and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers
2. What do these sets of brothers have in common? What is different?
3. Personalizing: What kinds of relationship do the students have with their siblings? Are they alike? Are they opposite? Take Jacob and Esau – how are they alike? How opposite? Do they ever reconcile? When?
4. Essence: the metaphor of opposites needing each other to grow, or to move to their rightful place in the Torah, how opposites “attract”.
5. The human puzzle game is a favorite among children of all ages. Have one student make a shape that is interesting. Here, we asked one of them to make a shape like he/she was Jacob. What would be some of the characteristics of his stance, his arm/hand gestures, etc.
6. Then, ask another student to put him/herself in the empty spaces, the negative spaces (art term) of the student being Jacob. They are to try to fill in at least two negative spaces. This will look like interlocking puzzle pieces.
7. Then ask the Jacob person to leave, and let the second person stay still.
8. See what the not-Jacob space looks like, the opposite of Jacob…. Or is it? Is our not-self a reflection of our self and therefore part of us? Are we also our opposites? Sometimes, the second person will look a lot like what Esau might have looked – bigger, rounder, more “earthy”.
9. Continue to find opposites in the human puzzle. You can keep working with the actual Torah characters, and try to learn something about them, or just keep on doing the puzzle game, and learn something about what it means to embrace your opposite, or to know that you and your opposite are related.
10. Ask the students how doing this game relates to their own siblings at home?
11. Heritage student answers: My brother completes me, We have more in common than I thought, when we are together – we are one…
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MODES OF MOVEMENT INTO TEFILLAH: part three / personalizing with Havdallah
By admin | February 19, 2009
Recently I completed a residency at Heritage Academy, a Jewish day school in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. I came to work at first with the Judaic staff on bringing movement into their curriculum. I ended up not only working with the staff, but also with the middle school students finding ways to embody (and thereby enhance and re-member) their tefillah, or prayer.
MODES OF MOVEMENT INTO TEFILLAH
Three distinct modes of how movement and text, in this case the text of tefillah, were used with the middle school with varying levels of success. The three are: wordplay, the essence, and personalizing question.
PERSONALIZING
Personalizing the prayer or text is another way for young people to understand meaning. (Especially middle school students!) Find a question about their lives that relates to the text, and they will very soon find meaning! And, then find movement that corresponds to that meaning. This may look mimetic at first, but with learning how to exaggerate movement by manipulating time, space, and quality, the movement will look more like a dance.
Lesson 3A:
Text/prayer: Havdallah
Population: Middle school day students
1. Read the full havdallah prayers in English and Hebrew.
2. Find a key question that relates to the theme of havdallah, such as, separation, or separation between something special, and something ordinary, or normal.
3. The question given to the students was: what do you feel and what do you do when you have to leave something or someone special? (Like leaving Shabbat, for instance…)
4. Answers were: hugs, waving, sadness, looking deep into someone’s eyes, and moving away quickly to not get too emotional.
5. Put the movement they created, or help them find movement for the emotions (e-motion!) they discovered and put it in an order that they like.
6. Recite the prayer while doing the movement, and then just do the movement to the humming (lalaing) of the Havdallah service. Do the movements in silence and see what that looks and feels like.
7. Talk about separation, and why it is helpful to create a ritual around separation. Why do we do havdallah? How does it make Shabbat, and how does it start the week? Talk about other separation rituals in Judaism.
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