Shalom: or how I learned to quit worrying and love the Sabbath

I love Shabbat. Not that I practice anything, but with the regular pace of my mind/body/lifestyle, its so rare to give yourself a day to just relax, to just be a little slower, more aware. Just connect with yourself at a deeper level .

It is also a mitvah to have sex on the Sabbath day. Word up to keeping that shit holy.

I went to the gym to wake up, and then afterwards I went to this biblioyoga class. It was a really great class. The instructor, Marcus Freed, has developed a wonderful design with the intermixing of jewish mysticism with yogic principals.

Yoga predates all organized religion; there were drawings of yoga positions in the caves of Mesopotamia.

Yoga is oneness and uniting, and at its mystic essence, so is judaism. This all came before any organized religion, and it's much more in line with how I vibe. With my practice I really focus on developing and deepening my connection...with others, the universe, myself...So for me, having always identified as an athiest, I think that came from some horrid hebrew school projections of some man in the sky. Of course that never fit with me. It wasn't until I really started to see so much mistranslation and projections of ideas, that I was able to connect this concept of god with breath, like a soul-breath, or energy, or spirit or whatever other name I want to give it.

If you sit down and rub your palms together really fiercely, then pull them apart facing one another, you can literally feel the Energy. It is tangible. You can hold it, and then play with it, moving your hands closer and further away. On a small scale, this is how we can immediately connect to that energy surrounding all of us, intertwining and connecting us all.

We started out doing breathe work, moved into opening body sequences, and then into vinyasanas, all while Marcus really tied in the breathe, energy of the class, and body work, with the idea/application of ruach, and breathe into oneness. After the closing sequences and shavasana, we ended together with a "Shal-Ommm" which I had a good chuckle over.

the soul breathe of every living being shall bless your name

Lili and I had a great time last night, and went to this awesome lecture called Banned in Brooklyn, which I will write about later when I have some more time. I have to drive back to LA later on for the derby bout and then come back afterwards. We have met a lot of really awesome people; those who I generally would never have met in my life in LA.

So, Shabbat Shalom!

PS: What do orthodox jews and myself have in common?

Highland Park aged 18 years.

L'chaim!