Melding worship and meditation opens a physical entrance to holiness

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer

A year ago, when Courtney Cummings left her cultural arts job with Cincinnati’s JCC to become Temple Israel’s music and programming director, she began thinking about how to meet congregants’ needs in unconventional ways.

A yoga enthusiast for a number of years, she learned of synagogues on the East and West Coasts that combine yoga with worship.

This was the birth of Shalommm Yoga at Temple Israel, which brings together yoga, Shabbat meditations and prayers on a Friday night every other month at the Reform congregation.

“Shabbat itself is unplugging from the week, getting away from all the busyness that you have been involved with for the week,” Cummings says. “We’re all able to unplug, tap into the Jewish knowledge of the week, to break away from the week we all may have had, and also just do right by our bodies and create this connection for people to have a different kind of spiritual experience outside of typical worship experiences.”

Cummings leads Shalommm Yoga with yoga instructor Cathy Hackett. The two paired up for the project in March.

“Cathy was willing to jump two feet first in with me, and we’ve been working together since March,” Cummings says. “We’ve been doing it on the third Friday every other month. I bring a little bit of my yoga knowledge, but more so the Judaica knowledge and content — whether it’s from the values, from the Shabbat liturgy or the Torah portion of the week — and then give her some ideas and insights as to what different poses might make sense with some of the things I’m picking out for that month’s practice.”

At the session on Nov. 21, the Torah portion of the week focuses on Jacob and Esau’s rivalry. During breath work, Cummings talks about the portion.

“We’ve come to think of the twins, Jacob and Esau, as yin and yang, good guy and bad seed,” she tells the group. “But isn’t there more to a person than what is on the surface?”

Along with the exercise, Cummings suggests, “It is up to us to see beyond superficial appearances to find out who people really are. There can be good in the bad and bad in the good, and a lot more in between.”

Cummings says six to eight congregants are regulars at each program, with new people circulating in for as many as 16 participants at the sessions.

“Some people come in and that’s their dose of temple for the week or that’s their religious connection they wanted to make and they’re happy with the class, and they head home from there,” she says.

About half of those who take in Shalommm Yoga at 6 p.m. stay for 7:30 p.m. Shabbat services.

“We tried out the first one and it was amazing. And it keeps getting better,” says Jeff Blumer, who is now a Shalommm Yoga regular, along with his wife, Molly.

“They’ve actually tweaked it each time to incorporate more and more of a service and it’s weaved in quite nicely,” Blumer says. “It’s a really nice way to start the day of rest, for sure: just being able to stretch and get the calm feeling as you go into Shabbat.”

Jeff Stoller says he and his wife, Julie, had no idea what to expect from the program.

“My wife and I both have done yoga over the years,” Stoller says. “We just thought it would be an interesting way to be with other members of the congregation in a unique environment, have a little yoga, a little spiritual awakening and then stay for services.”

He says that people with physical limitations take in the sessions too.

“We’ve even had people participate while seated. Courtney and Cathy have been very sensitive and alert to the needs of those who might not have a background in yoga.”

Shalommm Yoga is open to anyone in the community on a drop-in basis. The cost is $5 per session. Previous yoga experience isn’t required.

“I wish everyone knew about this because people are missing out,” Blumer says. “I hope it grows. Because once you go, I think you’re kind of hooked.”

Hackett leads participants through the Sun Salutation vinyasa (pose) and Cummings says, “We feel the connection to the earth and the sky and the space between. It is in this space that we can feel the lovingkindness of the God of past, present and future generations, all around us. May these hours of rest and renewal on Shabbat open our hearts to joy and our minds to truth.”

Cummings sums up Shalommm Yoga as taking time for yourself.

“I think it’s in moments where you allow yourself to have that space that you can really feel the Divine connection. And being able to get into that kind of zone or state, it’s something I think is truly powerful.”

To read the complete December 2014 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.