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By Avital Sampson-Mofax and Randi Brokman
Since 2009, volunteer yoga instructors from Greater MetroWest have traveled to Ofakim as part of the Partnership2Gether Yoga Connections program. And the latest group has just returned. They spent a busy week teaching yoga throughout the community, including in Greater MetroWest facilities such as the Lauchlict Center, the Isha Center, and the Igloo. In just five days, they taught and touched the lives of 800 people including schoolchildren, at-risk teens, seniors, ultra-Orthodox, Ethiopian women, and soldiers.
Leslie Gurland, the driving force and founder of this project, said, “In Ofakim in 2009, no one knew what yoga was. It is amazing to see that, due to Yoga Connections, four elementary schools in Ofakim now have certified children’s yoga teachers as does Kibbutz Erez, another partner community in the Negev. We even have one emergency medical technician trained in LifeForce Yoga who helps individuals deal with stress and build resilience.”
This year Leslie completed her seventh visit along with five volunteer yoga instructors. “Every moment in Ofakim and Erez is memorable. We have woven ourselves into the fabric of the community,” she said.
Debbie Lubetkin, who participated in her fourth yoga trip, said, “Yoga Connections creates a tapestry of connection and friendship between Americans and Israelis.” The program does this in three ways. First, American yoga teachers travel to teach throughout the community. Second, the program helps make yoga sustainable in the community by raising funds to train local school teachers and mental health workers as yoga instructors. Third, the American teachers and residents of Ofakim have ongoing contact through a new mentorship program, creating a new level mutual respect, understanding, and caring. Debbie added a new component to the program this year by teaching teachers and health professionals LifeForce Yoga tools to use in their interactions with their clients.
While residents of our partner communities have been impacted by these annual visits, the experience has also transformed the lives of the visiting yoga teachers. Jacki Routhenstein, who completed her third Yoga Connections visit, said, “Coming back to Israel this time felt like coming to my home away from home. Each year I come to give of myself and each year I receive a precious gift in return. It is the gift of friendship, love, and blessings from the women and men that I meet and teach. That is enough to make me want to come back and do it again!”
Yoga Connections is supported by our Federation with the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Partnership2Gether program which encourages diaspora/Israel relationships by creating joint projects, encounters, and living bridges in order to strengthen the Jewish People.