Mussar Yoga

Edith R. Brotman

Description

An accessible introduction to an embodied spiritual practice for anyone seeking profound and lasting self-transformation.

"Mussar practice aims to help us become more whole in our lives. It is focused on helping us move from partialness or even brokenness toward wholeness. Yoga embodies a similar concept.... By marrying Mussar practice and yoga practice, this book opens a new pathway to developing greater wholeness.... The wholeness that comes of our efforts in turn affects both body and soul, and we experience the fruit of our efforts in the form of inner peace."
—from the Foreword

In this clear and easy-to-use introduction to Mussar Yoga—a blending of Jewish and Eastern spiritual practices—you will learn how to explore the physical dimension of ethical behaviors and attitudes such as humility, generosity, enthusiasm and gratitude through yoga poses and the yogic practice of breath work. Intended for the novice as well as the yoga expert, and for people of all faiths, each exercise is accompanied by step-by-step instructions, helpful photographs, mantras and journaling exercises.

With practice, Mussar Yoga can help free you from bad habits and self-destructive behavior, increase your capacity for compassion and acts of goodness, and help you develop a more fulfilling, meaningful life.

Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xi
A Note to the Reader xiii

Introduction Mussar and Yoga: A Brief History • Why Combine Mussar and Yoga?
• Is the Mussar Yoga Path for You?

How to Practice Mussar Yoga 9
Awareness: How Do You Measure Up? • Accountability: From
Awareness to Action • Getting Started • The Fundamentals of Yoga
Poses: Easy Pose • Mountain Pose • Forward Fold • Downward
Facing Dog • Warrior II

1 Truth 25
Why We Lie • To Thy Own Self Be True
• Be True to Others: Six Guidelines
Poses: Mountain • Camel
Meditation: Ten-Minute Mindfulness Meditation

2 Courage 37
Play Your Edge • The Contagion of Courage
• Courage versus Recklessness
Poses: Triangle • Handstand • Crow
Breathwork: Lion's Breath

3 Humility 49
The Challenge of Ego • Balancing Ego • Managing Ego
Poses: Warrior I • Humble Warrior • Half Moon • Headstand

4 Order 63
Creating Order Is Spiritual Work • The Beauty of Chaos
Poses: Side Plank • Flipped Dog
Breathwork: Alternate Nostril Breathing

5 Nonjudgment 73
Honoring Others, Honoring Ourself • Finding Balance
Poses: Eagle • Warrior III • Seated Forward Bend

6 Zeal 85
Your Patterns of Energy • Obstacles to Living with Zeal
• Staying Inspired
Poses: High Push-up (Plank)/Low Push-up • Warrior II
Breathwork: Breath of Joy

7 Simplicity 95
Six Ways to Simplify Your Life • Finding Balance with Simplicity
Poses: Revolved Lunge • Half (King) Pigeon • Corpse Pose
Breathwork: Skull Brightening Breath

8 Equanimity 109
Put Yourself in a Storm • Be the Inner Witness • Stay with
Equanimity • Equanimity for Ourself and Others • Ups and Downs
Poses: Chair • Bound Extended Side Angle • Reverse Warrior
Breathwork: Victorious Breath

9 Generosity 123
More Than Money • The Abundance Cycle
• Widening the Circle of Giving • Letting Others Give
Poses: Boat • Partner Backbends
Breathwork: Breath Retention

10 Silence 133
Silence Is Golden • Silence and Conflict
Poses: Upward Facing Dog • Tree • Supine Twist

11 Gratitude 143
Gratitude as Perspective • Gratitude and Impermanence
• Gratitude for Life's Challenges • Gratitude and Memory
• Gratitude as Domestic Currency • Environmentalism as
Gratitude • Blessings Practice
Poses: Downward Facing Dog • Child's • Bridge

12 Loving-Kindness and Compassion 155
Finding Oneness in the Midst of Differences
• Loving-Kindness: A Two-Step Approach
• Compassion: Responding with Understanding and Action
Poses: Pyramid • Locust
Meditation: Loving-Kindness (Metta)

13 Trust 167
Limits on Human Control • How to Surrender
• The Lightness of Letting Go
Poses: Forward Fold • Seated Twist • Frog

Conclusion 179
Begin Again • Creating a Mussar Yoga Practice Group

Notes 184
Glossary 188
Resources 190

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Bien-être émotionnel
• Bien-être émotionnel
• Sport
• Sports fitness
• Alan Morinis
• Jewish Currents (magazine)
• Judaism
• Yoga
• Health
• Fitness

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 12 mai 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781580238014
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime s work, but it s worth the effort.
-Fred Rogers , The World According to Mister Rogers
Contents
Dedication
Foreword
Acknowledgments
A Note to the Reader
Introduction
Mussar and Yoga: A Brief History • Why Combine Mussar and Yoga? • Is the Mussar Yoga Path for You?
How to Practice Mussar Yoga
Awareness: How Do You Measure Up? • Accountability: From Awareness to Action • Getting Started • The Fundamentals of Yoga
Poses: Easy Pose • Mountain Pose • Forward Fold • Downward Facing Dog • Warrior II
1 Truth
Why We Lie • To Thy Own Self Be True • Be True to Others: Six Guidelines
Poses: Mountain • Camel
Meditation: Ten-Minute Mindfulness Meditation
2 Courage
Play Your Edge • The Contagion of Courage • Courage versus Recklessness
Poses: Triangle • Handstand • Crow
Breathwork: Lion s Breath
3 Humility
The Challenge of Ego • Balancing Ego • Managing Ego
Poses: Warrior I • Humble Warrior • Half Moon • Headstand
4 Order
Creating Order Is Spiritual Work • The Beauty of Chaos
Poses: Side Plank • Flipped Dog
Breathwork: Alternate Nostril Breathing
5 Nonjudgment
Honoring Others, Honoring Ourself • Finding Balance
Poses: Eagle • Warrior III • Seated Forward Bend
6 Zeal
Your Patterns of Energy • Obstacles to Living with Zeal • Staying Inspired
Poses: High Push-up (Plank) / Low Push-up • Warrior II
Breathwork: Breath of Joy
7 Simplicity
Six Ways to Simplify Your Life • Finding Balance with Simplicity
Poses: Revolved Lunge • Half (King) Pigeon • Corpse Pose
Breathwork: Skull Brightening Breath
8 Equanimity
Put Yourself in a Storm • Be the Inner Witness • Stay with Equanimity • Equanimity for Ourself and Others • Ups and Downs
Poses: Chair • Bound Extended Side Angle • Reverse Warrior
Breathwork: Victorious Breath
9 Generosity
More Than Money • The Abundance Cycle • Widening the Circle of Giving • Letting Others Give
Poses: Boat • Partner Backbends
Breathwork: Breath Retention
10 Silence
Silence Is Golden • Silence and Conflict
Poses: Upward Facing Dog • Tree • Supine Twist
11 Gratitude
Gratitude as Perspective • Gratitude and Impermanence • Gratitude for Life s Challenges • Gratitude and Memory • Gratitude as Domestic Currency • Environmentalism as Gratitude • Blessings Practice
Poses: Downward Facing Dog • Child s • Bridge
12 Loving-Kindness and Compassion
Finding Oneness in the Midst of Differences • Loving-Kindness: A Two-Step Approach • Compassion: Responding with Understanding and Action
Poses: Pyramid • Locust
Meditation: Loving-Kindness ( Metta )
13 Trust
Limits on Human Control • How to Surrender • The Lightness of Letting Go
Poses: Forward Fold • Seated Twist • Frog
Conclusion
Begin Again • Creating a Mussar Yoga Practice Group
Notes
Glossary
Resources
About the Author
Copyright
Also Available
About Jewish Lights



Foreword
Alan Morinis
If not for yoga, I would not have found Mussar . Or, even if I had, I would not have recognized it as the precious spiritual path that it is. I had lived in India for three years exploring Hinduism and Buddhism, and it was in classes under the hawk-like gaze of yoga master B. K. S. Iyengar that I came to understand that each of us needs to take his or her own spiritual journey. In those yoga classes, we were all doing the same poses at the same time, but our teacher would focus each of our efforts on specific areas that he saw needed attention. I was strong and so he focused me on developing flexibility, whereas my wife was flexible and so she was made to work on building strength. No two people are alike, so spiritual practice needs to address the uniqueness of the individual.
It was many years later that twists in my life sent me on another spiritual search, this time within the Jewish world of my birth and upbringing. In my almost fifty years of encounter with the organized Jewish world, I hadn t seen much attention paid to individual distinctiveness. Everything Jewish seemed to focus on community, collective ritual, and common practices, with not much concern for the individual and his or her uniqueness. When I stumbled on writings about Mussar , it appeared to me to be the missing piece: a Jewish spiritual tradition that, like yoga, provides pathways of practice that are geared to the needs and the potential of the individual, not the collective.
It is apparent to the eye that we are distinct from one another in regard to our bodies, but we are just as dissimilar in our inner lives. Bringing together Mussar and yoga forms a single discipline that addresses both dimensions, the physical and the spiritual. Although Mussar teachers of previous centuries developed meditations, contemplations, visualizations, and chanting practices, there is no evidence of a discipline involving the body. Edith Brotman has filled in that missing piece with a practice that is true to both its parents.
The word for wholeness in Hebrew is shlemut . Mussar practice aims to help us become more whole in our lives. It is focused on helping us move from partialness or even brokenness toward wholeness. Yoga embodies a similar concept, called purna in Sanskrit . By marrying Mussar practice and yoga practice, this book opens a new pathway to developing greater wholeness.
The urge to develop our potential is seeded deep within the human soul. This book shows us that body and soul can be good partners for acting on and realizing that deep inner urge. The wholeness that comes of our efforts in turn affects both body and soul, and we experience the fruit of our efforts in the form of inner peace- shalom -a word that comes from the same linguistic root as shlemut . This book is a guide to becoming whole, body and soul, which is the only way I know to come to shalom .



Acknowledgments
The seeds of this book were planted a very long time ago and thus many debts have accumulated along the way.
My editor, Emily Wichland, vice president of Editorial and Production at Jewish Lights, guided me through the writing process as the kind and knowledgeable professional that she is. Many thanks to Ally E. Machete at Ambitious Enterprises, who read many early drafts and offered very helpful comments.
Most of the credit for the book s photography belongs to Edward J. Winter Photography with models Melissa Daum, Eric Brown, and Michael Marion, who volunteered their time. Several photographs were also taken by Shawn Paterakis.
I am very grateful to Alan Morinis for his brilliant vision and dedication to taking up the mantle of Israel Salanter and the other masters of the Mussar movement by reviving and spreading Mussar to the broad audience it deserves. I am also grateful for his support and encouragement for the idea (if, perhaps, not all the content) of this book.
It s not an exaggeration to say that Mussar Yoga would never have come to fruition without the inspiration of Elka Abrahamson at the Wexner Foundation. I am also grateful for my Baltimore Wexner friends who agreed to be lab rats for my Mussar experiments, especially Jill Max, Melissa Cordish, Harel Turkel, Randi Buergenthal, Rachel Steinberg-Warschawski, Becky Brenner, and Jon Cardin. Thanks also to Yehuda Neuberger for his friendship. I am also indebted to Jennifer Meyerhoff and Michelle Rosenbloom, who first suggested that I create a written version of Mussar Yoga. The writing of this book was also supported through a Dorbrecht Grant for Judaic Yoga.
Many thanks to Daniel Matt, Steve Haddad, and Angela Jamison for their attempts to school me in the meaning of the traditional texts and concepts. In my sincere yet stubborn effort to build bridges between Mussar and yoga, I may have unintentionally corrupted the meaning of some of the teachings. I accept full responsibility for any accidental misrepresentations.
Much appreciation to Rabbi Andrew Busch for his helpful reading of early drafts and suggestions of sources of Jewish content. And sincere thanks to the other members of the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation community-Rabbi Elissa Sachs-Kohen, Andy Wayne, Brad Cohen, Cantor Robbie Solomon, Cantor Ann Sacks, and the Monday lunchtime yoga crew.
I am very grateful for my yoga family at Charm City Yoga (notably Kim Manfredi) for supporting my teaching of yoga and Mussar Yoga. Special thanks to Tami Schneider at Cleveland Yoga, whose teaching changed my life and made all the good things possible.
To my friends, students, and fellow teachers, especially Eva Allen, Lauren Flax, Kris Hare, and Jane and Michael Marion-you rock! To the military veterans with whom I have had the privilege to teach and share life s ups and downs, thank you. Steve LeVine deserves special thanks for his enthusiastic help doing whatever was needed-reading drafts, running errands, feeding my kids dinner, and reminding me to stay on task.
Love to my father, Robert Raphael (and through him to my great-grandfather, R. B. Raphael, a true Litvak scholar from whom I seem to have inherited the writer gene). Thanks also to my mother, Phyllis Rubinstein Raphael ( alev hashalom ), who handed down her own brand of intellectual seriousness.
Many thanks to my beloved husband, Daniel, for his love of the messy and unfinished project that is me and his unconditional support for this book.
To my beautiful children, Parker and Naomi. Thank you for being patient with the hours I am away attending board meetings, leading workshops and retreats, or sitting on a stool at Starbucks writing about Jewish spirituality. My love for you both is limitless and beyond words.