Hi Cyndi,

I bought it from the Anusara website, easily enough. Here's the link to the book. I could've also gotten it from the Anusara studio where I take classes, but she didn't have her copies in yet and I wanted to get a jump on reading it. It's required reading for the immersion I'm taking in September.

I still haven't taken any Bikram classes (so far I've been resistant to the hype ), so I really can't tell what a meld of the two styles might be like. What's the other training your teacher did?

The manual is very readable and very clear, but I'm taking my time with it. That's how I find Anusara classes to be, actually. I need time to digest what I learn in class, and so if I take more than two a week, I tend to feel overwhelmed. The immersion is going to be one Sunday a month for six months, which I'm very happy about. Definitely enough absorption and integration time for me!

tourist - 2007-07-18 5:05 PM Kidney loop sounds like a bizarre piercing...

Indeed! It does travel toward the back body through the navel, so maybe there is some relation there...

Oh geeze, now I'm visualizing it for real, got a really bad case of the giggles now...

David, I guess it's technically new for me as well, considering I only took my first Anusara class back in January, and would only go to that studio maybe once a month. I was still in my teacher training at my regular studio and had to log in my classes there. But since the immersion was announced in May, I've been working steadily toward my 30 class requirement, averaging about twice a week (I'm up to 23 classes as of yesterday). My Anusara teacher says I need to work more on engaging muscular energy, since my organic energy is so abundant. For me, an instruction and direction of focus like this is essential -- I finally know how to proceed to address all the various injuries I've accumulated over the years, as well as why I had been getting them.

You were the one who recommended Yoga Tree to me for my trip to California, yes? Well, it turns out I never had that day to go take a class after all, but I wanted to thank you again, nonetheless. That's Judith Lasater's home-base studio, isn't it? Now I know why that name sounded so familiar. I did a training with her back in May in NYC and she had mentioned it. Funny how things always come around like that!

In my manual there's a chapter on breath which I have not yet read. That's Part 5 and I'm still reading Part 4, the Universal Principles of Alignment. Though as headings, there is mention of something called The Natural Breath. There is mention of ujjayi breathing as well.

In class, we haven't really been instructed to breath a particular way during asana practice, just long and deep (which I'm supposing is part of the Natural Breath). I suppose my natural tendency is a version of ujjayi, though having never practiced ashtanga, I wonder sometimes if it is the same as how I was taught.

But as for a strict pranayama practice during class (such as in Kundalini, for example), there really hasn't been any that I've experienced. As in all hatha yoga, we are encouraged to be aware of the breath and have all movements stem from and follow the breath. I'll let you know as I read and study further, though!

davidv2.2 - 2007-07-19 8:05 AM The path to certification seems like a long and challenging but interesting and exciting one. I read that one will often (perhaps always?) receive personal attention from J. Friend at tail end of it all. The whole process sounds great! Also, you're very welcome and I hope you had a nice stay in the area

I really don't have concrete plans to continue on to become a certified Anusara teacher. The level previous to that, being an Anusara-inspired teacher seems daunting enough! I'm taking the immersion basically because I want to learn more. There's no commitment on my part for further study at this time. But we shall see!

We had a very nice time in CA; spent a week in Sonoma county. I ended up practicing on my own a bit in the mornings, it was quite nice.

Interesting that you see it that way. Like in order to become happy, you must've started out sad? Isn't there the possibility of just more and more happiness?

Eric, I'm remembering something you just posted recently that stuck with me, even though I didn't comment on it. "Ashtanga is more about the energy of the practice than it is about alignment." (full thread is here). Conversely, then, you could say that Iyengar style is more about the alignment of the practice than about the energy. Anusara brings those two elements together, with equal importance at all times. "Opening your heart" is just one way of expressing the element of energy in one's practice. That's not all that Anusara is about though.

That's a very good question. I don't believe I've attended a class yet where we've learned any of the loops, aside from thigh loop (top of the thigh bones back, top of the shins forward, now straighten the legs!), and I attend mostly level 2 classes. I have attended a couple beginner classes (below level 1) and like most classes, there tends to be an atmosphere of open discussion there. So if a student doesn't understand an alignment concept, it's totally acceptable to ask a question in class. In fact, from what I'm reading in the manual, the teacher is actually encouraged to stop in the middle of class and teach a concept by example, all the students watching, then go back to try to apply it. Lots of partner work to teach concepts as well. Needless to say, there's quite a bit less asana in the beginner classes and much more discussion, and from the way the room gets packed, the students all enjoy it.

But I'll let you know more as I learn more, come this September.

So unless I misunderstood, both the alignment language and new-agey language would not be to your liking, yes? Tourist, I agree with you on the new-agey stuff, I don't particularly care for it either. My teacher doesn't teach that way (she's actually quite stoic!), so I haven't really experienced it, but I do know what you mean. I think people tend to think that just because language is used to talk about the energetics of the body in an asana, it must be done with over-the-top love-everyone spaciness. Not so. But hey, as you said, there are a myriad of styles of yoga, as well as everything else, to suit most every personality in the world!

libragirl, sorry to hear about your confusion, and even more so, about your injuries! I think my tendency to understand the Anusara principles rather readily is definitely not a common thing, but honestly, I really have no idea why I "get" it. Maybe it has to do with having a deeper sort of body awareness, kind of like feeling the individual chakras come alive in different asanas, that sort of thing. Personally, I do believe it can be learned; just like people who say they're not good with balance, no, that's not a hardwired deficiency. It's just another skill to be developed, a technique to be learned.

Oh, and I injured myself recently in class as well. Overengaged my psoas and threw it into spasm while trying to muscularly engage my back leg for parsvakonasana. Not good. So I changed my engagement focus next time (after taking a week off, of course) and it was much better.

As for kidney loop, I find it's just a more refined instruction for tucking the tailbone. In essence it accomplishes the same thing posturally, in the lower body, that is, and then adds the element of allowing the chest area to soften and broaden (is that better language than "heart opening"? ).

Oh, and another thing about muscular energy: it's not always the answer to aligning a pose. Some people need to apply more organic energy instead, where others would need more muscular. Everyone's different, so it's different instructions for each individual. But like I said to tourist, I'll know a lot more once I read more of the manual and start my immersion in the fall.

tourist - 2007-07-20 3:28 PM If I were to insist that they also connect their heart centre with the Divine while doing it, they would all fall over, I'm sure  

Ah, so you're a dualist, ok... my heart center IS the Divine, so there's no falling over for me!