“Yiddish Yoga” is not about how or why to do yoga yet when you finish it, especially if you are a grandma, but not necessarily so, you will want to run out and start yoga lessons. The book does not proselytize and yet has a stronger effect than any reasons I have heard for why one should do yoga. “Yiddish Yoga” is deep and light at the same time. It’s personal and adorable. Being a grandmother myself, I loved it.

Ruthie is a recently widowed New York City Jewish grandmother. She is given a year’s worth of yoga lessons as a gift from her granddaughter, Stephanie. Ruthie gently pokes fun at her Yoga experience with its various expressions and rituals. And at the same time Ruthie’s year-long journey with yoga inspires us.

Ruthie takes the reader through her year of yoga sessions with her constant humorous comments in Jewish slang about what she is confronting, both in the new learning and missing her husband. While Ruthie kvetches about her struggles she also absorbs the yoga philosophy as she grows in strength physically and emotionally.

The book is about 100 small pages with approximately a chapter a page. One can read it in one sitting, or a page a day. Both methods would be good. There are charming illustrations through out.

At the end Ruthie tells us that she has signed up for Yoga Teacher training in the Catskills in a hotel where she used to vacation with her husband, telling us that she has come full circle.

Here is a sample from a short chapter.

“VIRABHADRASANA I: Warrior I

Sammy teaches that the warrior asanas are especially powerful for women.

As a Democratic activist, living with osteoporosis, having raised a family, and now taking on yoga, I think of myself as a very powerful, capable woman. Eine shtark frau, Harry always said. A strong woman.

So when Sammy says, ‘Don’t be a worrier, be a warrior!’ I breath into that with my whole neshome, my whole soul.

I’m a Senior Citizen Power Bubby!”

The books is a mix of yoga and yiddish expressions. Besides being humorous as well as inspirational, “Yiddish Yoga“  has an extra gift of two Glossaries. There is a Yiddish Glossary with 56 expressions from A to Z. Beginning with:

“AZOY: So, thus, if you eat too many bialys before you do yoga, you will get a stomach ache — azoy.”

and

“ZAFTIG: To have a little something to hold on to, as my Harry used to say; to be a little plump.”

The Sanskrit / Yoga Glossary begins with:

“ADHO MUKHA SVANASANA: Downward Dog Pose. For an older dog, I sure have learned new tricks. Make sure you’re making the letter V-shape in this inversion. (If you pick up your leg, it’s called the Fire Hydrant Pose.)

About the Author
Lisa Grunberger’s poems have been published in numerous literary journals, and she often performs original poetry and performance pieces in NYC and Philadelphia. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Religion from the University of Chicago Divinity School and has been teaching yoga classes for many years. A native New Yorker, she now lives in Philadelphia. Yiddish Yoga is her first book.

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