Sounds like you should be listening to your gut and your butt.

Did you talk to the teacher after the class? Since you said it was Anusara, the teacher should be able to observe and correct your alignment in your forward bends, if it's just a strain to the muscle. If you suspect it's a tear, then go see a medical practitioner. In my experience (and not just with hamstring injuries, which I've had several times myself in the past), your body tends to be smarter than your mind. Go get yourself checked out.

Heh, I should take my advice as well, considering I haven't been able to sit comfortably myself for a month now (right hamstring microtears at the origin, because you know those old injuries never really go away). While my uttanasana is feeling somewhat better lately, my foot (arch mainly) doesn't feel exactly right (going to see the podiatrist this evening to find out if my orthodics that I wear while running are the culprit). Parsvottanasana, however, is still inaccessible to me; that's a more intense stretch of the muscle (hence the name, hah), so I'm trying to have patience and not "push" that pose.

Anyway, good luck to you (and to us both!).

In my experience with Anusara style, it is the latter. The alignment principles may be universal, but the ensuing external shape of the body is totally dependent on the individual student.

Gladly.

In Anusara yoga, there is something called the Optimal Blueprint, which in the simplest terms means that for any particular person's body, there is an optimal way that body should be aligned in order to be "happy", even though external shapes of different bodies might end up being looking very different. I believe this is similar to Iyengar style, where the pose is made to fit the individual body. John Friend originally started as an Iyengar teacher, which I'm sure you already know, which accounts for his strict use of physical alignments in Anusara.

The rules governing these alignments are universal, however. For example, there is an alignment rule that says that the top of the femur bones should always move toward the back of the body, into the hamstring muscles of that leg, and that is to be done no matter what pose, nor the individual's physical ability or flexibility level. So whether your anjaneyasana is completely open in the pelvis, or limited by tight muscles and joints there, the top of the BACK leg thigh bone will always press UP into its hamstring, and the top of the FRONT leg thigh bone will always press DOWN into its respective hamstring.

More detail than you needed, or not the sort of detail you were looking for? Heh, forgot the third option, that I answered your question completely!

I can only answer you within scope of my own knowledge of the curriculum (avid beginner who is studying quite seriously) and personal injury experience (quite a bit, considering the pose you used as an example ). I would say that regardless of injury, the alignment actions should be worked in the pose, even if the physical pose shape is to be modified quite a bit.

We're talking actions vs. movements here, I think, so it's apples vs. ahem, oranges. In the style that you teach, would you say that the ACTIONS are modified to fit the student as well as the physical pose itself?

Using your example of Vira I, then, if I lift the back heel to protect the integrity of the lumbar, or shorten my stance so that the front thigh is no longer parallel to the floor, I would consider that a major pose modification. That's the essence of Structural Yoga, a therapeutic style, yes? The pose is made to fit the body. I tend in that direction as well, but Anusara takes it a bit deeper.

Rather than just altering the body positions, since the pose is built from the inside out, the alignment principles are practiced (which everyone can do -- that's my point, I think) and the body will reflect physical ability layered on top of those principles.

We emphasize taking the top of the thighs back, inner spiral of the back leg, stronger pelvic loop on the front leg than the back (outer spiral there), and of course, maintaining kidney loop throughout. When the alignment points are worked on, the tendency toward injury is reduced. Or in other words (as it's been my experience with my S/I instability), practicing the alignment principles is the proper therapy to heal.

I'm still not sure if we're talking about the same thing, so let me know.

One more thing, and hopefully this will help to explain better: I practice the Anusara alignment principles ALL THE TIME, not just when I'm on my mat. When I stand, when I sit, when I walk, even when I run. Especially when I run. It's basically very detailed instructions to having proper posture (again, a very simplified explanation, but still). The rules for proper posture don't change from one person to another, based on injury or whatever, do they? That's really all I've been trying to say here.