Not all beginners new to yoga understand the unique history of Anusara yoga. Anusara yoga is a distinctly modern style of this meditative art, but one that is built upon a much older historical yoga discipline, and one that is getting a lot of attention as part of a diverse set of yoga practices.
What Is Anusara Yoga?
Anusara yoga was created by a man named John Friend in 1997. As a new type of yoga practice, it centers on a "celebration of life" philosophy. Although this form of yoga is only several years old, proponents of Anusara yoga point out that it's based on the traditional Hatha yoga discipline that dates back to the 14th century. Hatha yoga is a form of "yoking" yoga in which a sun/moon archetype provides a kind of dual balance. Building from this style of yoga, Anusara yoga seeks to introduce its own particular mind/body focus to the yoga community.
Methodology of Anusara Yoga
As a yoga discipline that is based on Hatha yoga, Anusara yoga shares some basic elements of other ancient yoga types. One of these is the traditional asana element that deals with posture and developing self-purification through centering the body and the mind.
As part of the positive focus of Anusara yoga, teachers and instructors of this yoga discipline are discouraged from a didactic method. This means they will generally not "fix" student poses, but instead, allow each individual to develop on their own.
What teachers of Anusara yoga may do is provide guidelines in the form of Principle of Alignment and other useful tools for students to progress and develop their own Anusara yoga methodology.
Structure of a Anusara Yoga Session
Anusara yoga sessions will typically have a beginning, a middle and an end. Beginning with an invocation, a common Anusara group yoga routine will proceed through several stages before ending in a centering meditation or similar traditional closing. Internal resources from the Anusara yoga community show more details about how this newer yoga discipline draws from the wells of traditional yoga teaching.
Philosophy of Anusara Yoga
Anusara yoga is, according to its proponents, based on the "Tantric Philosophy of Intrinsic Goodness" and deals with goals of self-esteem, self empowerment and general positivity. Many medical experts and others would agree that a positive mind-body connection can accomplish a range of physical improvements in many individuals. Many are turning to Anusara yoga as a way to deal with the stress and uncertainty that they find in the modern world, or simply to explore elements of a spirituality that dates back to historic times.
Finding out about Anusara Yoga
Newcomers to the idea of Anusara yoga can find online resources presented by communities close to the contemporary practice of this yoga style. Elements of Anusara yoga may be found in their group classes or training sessions held in gyms, health clubs, civic centers and schools everywhere. Using freely distributed materials on the practices of Anusara yoga, an individual can build his or her own personal routine, drawing from a wealth of detail about traditional practice.
