Lisa Grunberger - Yiddish Yoga: Ruthies Adventures in Love, Loss, and the Lotus Position

Meet Ruthie: a recently widowed New York City Jewish grandmother who doesnt necessarily come to yoga with the most open of minds. But when her granddaughter Stephanie gives her a year of yoga classes as a gift (I think it will help you grieve, Bubby), she doesnt want to risk offending her.

At first, Ruthie is skeptical of yoga and its promise of renewal, healing, and transformation (You know whats wrong with yoga? They havent mastered the art of kvetching!). She cant resist poking fun at some of the new words and rituals she encounters, translating the exotic language of Yoga into the more familiar idiom of her native Yiddish culture.

As Ruthies journey progresses from week to week, she forges new paths, new postures, and unexpected friendships, slowly overcoming her grief. Yiddish Yoga is a poignant, witty, and human story of love in its many expressionsbetween grandmother and granddaughter, between an older woman and her younger yoga teacher, between a widow and her beloved husband of fifty years. As Ruthie learns to let go of the past without forgetting, she shows us how to embrace the present with new vigor, strength, and courageand, above all, makes us laugh.