Business I Entrepreneurships

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Enriching Body And Soul

Former aerobics
instructor finds
way back to health
through yoga.

Judy Berne
Special to the Jewish News

F

or Suzy Ran, a certified yoga
instructor and newly certified
yoga therapist, yoga and Judaism
reinforce one another.
In the Torah yoga classes she teaches
one Saturday morning a month at the syn-
agogue she grew up in, Congregation Beth
Shalom in Oak Park, she uses "the morals
of the Torah to express the principles of
Judaism and vice versa." Both perpetuate
the idea that "we are here to serve God by
serving others."
"The synagogue wanted to make the

teachings of the Torah more accessible
through a kinetic learning process:' she
says. "You learn better when you can use
more than one intelligence!'
Her synagogue classes, which mesh
concepts of breath and meditation with a
Torah slant, take place while the service is
in progress. Beth Shalom Rabbi Emeritus
David Nelson and his wife, Alicia, are often
among the 15 or so participants. Ran tai-
lors each class to the week's Torah reading.
"She is so gifted at bringing the insights
of the Torah reading as she goes through
the postures;' Rabbi Nelson says. "I can
hear the prayers being chanted in the
background. It's a perfect way for me of
getting healthy and enriching my soul."

Anchored Within

Ran's insights also underlie the 20 weekly
yoga classes she teaches at the Sports
Clubs of Novi and of West Bloomfield and
Powerhouse Gym in West Bloomfield.
"Suzy is a true student of the game;'
says Andy Tucker, who regularly takes

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Ran's classes and practices yoga on a near-
daily basis.
"She takes an intellectual viewpoint
as opposed to just a physical one says
Tucker, a Farmington Hills resident who
directs business operations for the com-
mercial sector for Microsoft in Southfield.
"I can go into any yoga class in the coun-
try and feel comfortable."
For Ran, 52, her passion for yoga devel-
oped out of a passion for both exercise
and helping people.

The Inspiration

When she graduated Southfield High
School and was working toward her bach-
elor of science degree in exercise physiol-
ogy at the University of Michigan, she
thought she'd be a gym teacher.
"I found out doing student teaching in
England that I didn't like running up and
down the field with a whistle in my mouth
and that I didn't want to work in a school
classroom:' the West Bloomfield resident
says.

Then, during a U-M anatomy class, "I
had an epiphany."
While examining the cadaver of a 55-
year-old woman who died from cardiopul-
monary insufficiency, it came to her: "You
will work with people and make them
healthy."
It was the mid-'70s, and her first job
was at the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit Women's Health Club,
teaching classes and training instructors

pu1se220 is ecstatic to applaud and celebrate
our community's successful entrepreneurs.

Thank you, Suzy Ran, for MAKING GREAT THINGS HAPPEN in the Detroit area.

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ESPN, Pepsi, Masco, American Greetings, Lear, the OIA St. John Hospital, Credit Acceptance, National City, etc...

p

A38

November 8 2007

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