Yoga is more than movement that stretches and strengthens the body. Its meditative component turns every twist and extension into an opportunity for self-discovery. If we can know our bodies, if we can feel our tight muscles lengthen and our breathing relax, we can know our souls and heal our lives. How does this work?

The Ger Rebbe once taught, “As long as people notice that God’s Presence is concealed, there is as yet no real concealment; the tragedy is not too great. An awareness of God’s concealment will spark a yearning to return to God. Such longing will breach all barriers and lead to the highest form of teshuvah (return).

“The trouble is when the concealment itself is hidden, when no one senses that God’s grace is hidden, when no one seeks God, and no one feels the need for spirituality and sanctity. Thus the meaning of “I will hide my face” (Deut. 31:18) really means, ‘I will hide my concealment.’ I will dull their senses, benumb and stupefy them, so that they don’t feel the lack of divine radiance and the resultant emptiness in their lives.” *

To experience your senses in their full vividness, to take the time to focus on being deeply present, is to be open to the holiness of God’s presence, concealed and yet revealed, in our bodies and in our lives.

* From In My Flesh I See God: A Treasury of Rabbinic Insights about the Human Anatomy, by Avraham Yaakov Finkel.