What is Anusara Yoga?
Anusara yoga is one of the newest schools of yoga, being founded in 1997. "Anusara" abstractly translates as "go with the flow" or "follow your heart". Anusara yoga evolved from the much older hatha yoga. Although there are some changes from hatha yoga, both schools of yoga hope to help each person find health of mind, body and spirit. How Anusara Yoga come about? Anusara yoga was created in 1997 by John Friend, one of the most popular American yoga instructor of that time. After years of studying and teaching hatha yoga, John was inspired by a text in Sanskrit which included the word and concept of "anusara". John Friend claims he felt "divinely inspired" to help people discover and appreciate their uniqueness in the universe and to become healthy and happy. John Friend was born in Youngstown, Ohio - a place you would least expect a creator of a new school of yoga to come from. As a child, he would eagerly make up yoga poses to "illustrate" the stories of Yogis his mother would read to him from Fate magazine. His mother never practiced yoga, but encouraged her son to study it. He actually announced to his mother that yoga was better than comic books. John went on to study physics and accounting in college, while discovering the works of real yoga masters and spiritual writers such as Madame Blavastsky. He began to be enlightened that everything was connected - mind, body, muscles, spirit, events in your life - and studied Eastern meditation. One day, the meditation teacher got sick and had John teaching the class. Through his students, John came to the conclusion that most people who seriously practice yoga, are looking for more than just being able to do challenging poses or stances. John studied with American and Indian yogi instructors in America and India, trying to learn the true soul of hatha yoga. In 1997, he knew the form of yoga he wanted to teach was not hatha yoga, instead is Anusara Yoga. Personal review on Anusara Yoga A friend by the name of Douglas Brooks sent John some verses from the Kularnava Tantra which contained the word "anusara". Yoga was never the same for him since. He knew that everything was connected - the missing puzzle was what is the connecting force? In Anusara yoga, the connecting spirit is believed to be the Divine. There are now over 900 Anusara yoga teachers all around the world. To find one near you, you could check out "Anusara yoga" on the web.
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