My teenage dream was to become a yogi. ;-) When I was a high school student back in Japan, I realized that there was (and still is) something more fascinating for me than yoga - languages, until I ended up becoming a professional linguist teaching Hebrew and Jewish linguistics at an Israeli university.
When I was a junior high school student, I taught myself the so-called asanas of Hatha yoga from a book I stumbled upon at a local bookstore. The author of the book turned out to be the person who popularized Hatha yoga in Japan. I practiced it for a few years, until I switched to running (with stretching) as a way of maintaining physical fitness, and I'm still running. About five years ago I also started swimming for the same purpose, but I soon found that it could also relieve my stress enormously.
Unfortunately, however, the stress I feel because of the insensitivity of too many people in the Israeli society has built up so much that running and swimming alone have stopped relieving it enough. So I thought of practicing yoga again after about 35 years. Having looked for several months for a weekly yoga lesson convenient for me in terms of both time and place, I have found one and started participating in it regularly. I participated in it only twice so far, but I already see that it helps me ease my mental (and physical) stress so much that I have decided to get up one hour earlier in the morning than I used to for practicing yoga every weekday morning, and not only in the weekly lesson.
Here is a list of links I have collected as a preparation for starting yoga. Some of the them may also be useful for someone, especially in Jerusalem, who is interested in starting yoga. Hatha yoga is the most popular school of yoga now; Iyengar yoga is the most popular modern derivative of Hatha yoga; and my yoga teacher practices a variation of Iyengar yoga.
- Wikipedia: Yoga
- Yoga Journal [the most popular monthly yoga magazine in English]
- Yoga International
- Yoga Basics
- Wikipedia: Hatha Yoga
- Hatha Yoga Illustrated
- Wikipedia: Iyengar Yoga
- Iyengar Yoga
- Iyengar Yoga Resources
- B. K. S. Iyengar: Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health [second UK edition of probably the best introduction to yoga]
- B. K. S. Iyengar: Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health [third US edition of probably the best introduction to yoga]
- Iyengar Yoga Israel
- Iyengar Yoga Jerusalem
- Jerusalem Yoga Center [this is where I study yoga once a week]
- Be Present [US manufacturer of yoga wears]
- Hugger Mugger [US manufacturer of yoga mats]
By the way, I have also made sure that enough people, including frum Jews, consider yoga "kosher". The following is a list of links about yoga with a Jewish slant.
- Jewish Yoga Network
- Yoga and Judaism Center
- Torah Yoga
- Bibliyoga
- Beit Shemesh Yoga [probably the only yoga studio in Israel with haredi (male and female) teachers]