Ein Hod
To teach yoga in Ein Hod is a gift indebted to family history. My studio has its artistic roots in one of the most uniquely exquisite houses in Israel. Perched on a hill of Mt. Carmel overlooking the sea, it is surrounded by ancient olive trees that go back 150 years.
To grow up in Ein Hod is a special and empowering experience. As kids, we were exposed to various arts, on a daily basis. But more than that, we grew up in an environment that champions the radical self-expression of every human. For me, what distinguishes Ein Hod, since its foundation, is a community that contains a variety of lifestyles and people. When strolling through its alleys one comes across stage performers, classical artists, musicians, designers, hi-tech people, physicians and lawyers alongside alternative therapists of all sorts. Over the years, this community has created its own unique traditions, such as the Golden Calf ceremony at Passover, which draws huge crowds from across the land. The village fosters community initiatives and supports novel ideas.
Where I was born and raised has become my home as an adult and the place where we raise our son. My studio is here, in Arik Brauer's atelier, where, as a child, I would often sit and watch him painting, completely absorbed in applying oil paints with delicate brushwork to the canvas before him, and backgrounded by the classical music or some political program from an old radio. I observed him as he drew on his imagination to create fantastic life scenes, unfolding the ideas in his mind and making them concrete on his canvas. As a teacher engaged with body and movement, one of the tools I bring to my lessons is the use of fantasy and images that enable in-depth contact with bodily organs, breathing and space. "Imagine that the head is a heavy anchor, sinking into the bottom of the sea, that the vertebra is the chain linked to the anchor, that the back similarly follows the head into a forward dive. Let us enable the head's weight to be an anchor, make use of the gravity pressing over us, enable the back to drop downwards, deepen the stretch by relaxation rather than by applying pressure and tension".
Ein Hod is where I feel at home. It is a place inviting fulfillment of dreams and realization of fantasies. One of them is to produce a grand and extraordinary art event, where people from across the land come to experience a day devoted to art and movement workshops. Indeed, about three years ago, I along with a team of gifted women produced the first event, which eventually became a tradition. (more about Contour)