Tovah feldshuh - profiles of Natural Health - Brief Article

Natural Health, Jan, 2004

Work: Award-winning stage and screen actress, currently starring in the one-woman Broadway show Golda's Balcony as Golda Meir, Israel's first (and the world's third) female prime minister.

Home: New York City; married with two children, ages 20 and 15.

Spiritual fitness: I enjoy my house of worship [B'nai Jeshurun synagogue] because it has lots of spirit and I get to sing. Exercise is also part of my spiritual practice. I do yoga twice a week and body-sculpting three times a week [weightlifting, push-ups, sit-ups, pilates]. Every day I climb 11 flights of stairs and run two miles at the Central Park reservoir; I used to listen to tapes as I ran, but now I just try to empty my mind.

Health: A one-woman show is very demanding. But I have an obligation to give the audience my best, so I take care of myself. I sleep well, I don't smoke and I rarely drink. I just finished a show and I'm sitting here with homemade soup, celery and a vitamin for dinner, and I have a masseur waiting.

Balance. Years ago, it became clear to me that unless I placed my children first, I wasn't going to have shalom, which means integrity or wholeness. So it's no coincidence that the last stage show I starred in was when my oldest child was in first grade, and now he's at Harvard. In between, I did movies [A Walk on the Moon, Kissing Jessica Stein] and television [Law and Order, The Education of Max Bickford].

Stage fright: As a performer, you have to become other-conscious rather than self-conscious. Think of yourself as an audience member on stage telling a transformative story with skill. We are saying to the audience, "If I can do this, think what you can do."

Favorite indulgence: A big piece of bread with butter.

Guiding belief: If you look out for the greater good, life takes care of you.

Role model: Golda Meir. I have never seen a woman with more modesty and decency than this person. She really lived for the greater good.

Motivation: The unconditional love of family.