Swapping Om for Shalom: Yoga gets a Jewish twist so Hasidic community can finally join the fitness craze
By Sadie Whitelocks|
Orthodox Jews are now able to get in on the yoga fitness craze thanks to one instructor who has given the Hindu practice a Jewish twist.
Sarede Switzer, of Crown Heights Fitness in Brooklyn, teaches the traditional poses but does not require students to wear specific workout gear, sit in a studio with members of the opposite sex or recite chants in Sanskrit - the sacred language of Hinduism.
Her classes have been greeted with enthusiasm by the Hasidic community and she gets 'calls on almost a daily basis from new people to inquire about what it is that I do.'
Open to all: Sarede Switzer, the founder of
Crown Heights Fitness in Brooklyn, decided to adapt the Hindu practice
of yoga so that Orthodox Jewish men and women could join in
She said the majority of her students
are women who never felt comfortable going to regular classes but she
was also surprised by the number of men who have been turning up.
'I really thought that there would be no
demand for it . . . But the first men's class was actually bigger than
most of the [women's] yoga classes,' she told DNAinfo.com. .....................................................................................................................................................................
C H A P T E R 1
Hinduism, the Greatest Religion in the World
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A Satguru’s Penetrating Insights on the Earth’s Oldest Living Faith
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BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI, FOUNDER OF HINDUISM TODAY
eligion
is man’s association with the Divine, and the ultimate objective of
religion is realization of Truth. Forms which symbolize Truth are only
indications; they are not Truth itself, which transcends all
conceptualization. The mind in its efforts to understand Truth through
reasoning must always fail, for Truth transcends the very mind which
seeks to embrace it. Hinduism is unique among the world’s religions. I
boldly proclaim it the g reatest religion in the world. To begin with,
it is mankind’s oldest spiritual declaration, the very fountainhead of
faith on the planet. Hinduism’s venerable age has seasoned it to
maturity. It is the only religion, to my knowledge, which is not founded
in a single historic event or prophet, but which itself precedes
recorded history. Hinduism has been called the “cradle of spirituality”
and the “mother of all religions,” partially because it has influenced
virtually every major religion and partly because it can absorb all
other religions, honor and embrace their scriptures, their saints, their
philosophy. This is possible because Hinduism looks compassionately on
all genuine spiritual effort and knows unmistakably that all souls are
evolving toward union with the Divine, and all are destined, without
exception, to achieve spiritual enlightenment and liberation in this or a
future life. ¶Of course, any religion in the world is a mind stratum
within people, isn’t it? It is a group of people who think consciously,
subconsciously and subsuperconsciously alike and who are guided by their
own superconsciousness and the superconsciousness of their leaders
which make up the force field which we call a religion. It does not
exist outside the mind. People of a certain religion have all been
impressed with the same experiences. They have all accepted the same or
similar beliefs and attitudes, and their mutual concurrence creates the
bonds of fellowship and purpose, of doctrine and communion.
Rites of Communion:
for eleven days in 1997, one-hundred-twenty-one priests surrounded 11
fire altars in a huge worship hall at the Sringeri Sadhana Center in
Pennsylvania for the grandest of all fire ceremonies. The Ati Rudra Maha
Yajna, witnessed by 6,000 devotees and following liturgy set thousands
of years ago, was performed for the first time on American soil, a
demonstration of Hinduism’s strength and geographical breadth in our
modern age.
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