Anusara Immersion

April 25th, 2011

I have just come back from a 5 day intense Anusara Immersion training. It was the first one of a 1 year Immersion and after that another year of teacher training. I was not sure what to expect and not even certain if I would follow the whole 2 years, but I am hooked, Anusara is a lovely, amazing practice based on a Tantric philosophy of Intrinsic goodness and working with the Universal Principles of Alignment. The Universal principal of alignment are (to quote the founder John Friend):
 "An elegant, concise set of alignment principles called the "Universal Principles of Alignment™" is applied to each asana. A central idea within the Universal Principles of Alignment is the 3 A's: Attitude, Alignment, and Action. This refers to a foundational concept within Anusara yoga in which every pose is infused with a meaningful intention connected to the grand purposes of yoga, awareness of specific postural alignment, and balanced action between stability and freedom. The specific principles include Muscular Energy and Organic Energy, which are the two complementary forces that provide each pose with a balanced action. Other alignment principles include Spirals and Loops, which help to bring refinement and precision to each pose." www.anusara.com
What I found is that combining a beautiful spiritual philosophy and a practice that is very precise in alignment (John Friend's bases is that of Iyengar) creates an amazing Yoga practice with a very strong foundation that can be practiced by everyone! I can not wait to learn more about Anusara and sharing it with all you lovely Yogi's.
Lastely I would like to share this article that I read in the Yoga Journal, I found it a very good explanation about Tantric philosophy:
"Tantra is not a philosophy that requires a modern-day householder to renounce the world by giving up family, job, possessions, and pleasures. Instead, it emphasizes personal experimentation and experience as a way to move forward on the path to self-realization.
One common philosophical thread runs through the intricately woven tapestry of Tantra lineages, schools, and streams: The belief that everything is divine. Tantra believes that there is literally no particle of reality that isn't capable of revealing ecstasy and that everything that exists is full of light and awareness. This idea is radically different from those of the other two schools of Indian philosophy that you might hear about in yoga class: Patanjali's classical yoga (also known as ashtanga yoga, or the eight limbs of yoga), and Advaita Vedanta. Most scholars agree that Patanjali was dualist and therefore believed that the divine, spiritual realm was separate from the everyday world. Vedantists, like Tantrikas, are nondualist, but they perceive the world as an illusion.
Another difference between Tantra and classical yoga is Tantra's body-positive view. Since the body exists in the material world, the classical yoga viewpoint is that it is inferior to the transcendental Self or spirit. Tantra views the body as a manifestation of spirit. By making the body pure and strong through asana and by uniting the universe of opposites within your body, it can become a vehicle for ending suffering and attaining liberation."
Namaste
Love n Light,
Shaini