What motions do Jews take when praying?

Answer 1

Depends on the prayer. For lighting the candles on the Sabbath (Friday night), after the candles are lit we pass our hands over them three times, as though pulling the heat toward us, and then cover our eyes as we say the blessing. Other prayers, like the aleinu, require standing up, but those are more synagogue tradition than required motion. Occasionally we "bend the knee and bow". During the singing of L'Cha Dodi (the song welcoming the Sabbath Bride into the synagogue), during the last verse the whole congregation turns to face the door of the sanctuary, and on the last line we bow twice.

Jews never kneel to pray, and we never bow to anyone outside of temple services and prayer.