Anusara Immersion #1 part 1

What an amazing weekend.
This weekend I took the first part of the Anusara immersion from Adam Ballenger, the owner of Kula studio. I learned so much. Its funny, I would say for the past 8 months I have been practicing Anusara yoga daily, and reading about the principles, watching the John Friend teacher training DVDs and I actually thought that I was getting a grasp on this wonderfully full and amazing system of yoga. Then I took the immersion, I smile and I realize how little I know and how much there is to learn. I feel humbled and empowered to learn more, study more, and practice more. I know this past weekend was just a tiny taste of what Anusara has to offer…and I am salivating.

Whenever I have free time I find myself drawn to my matt. Haha, instead of finishing my many finale projects and papers and studying, as school is wrapping up :)(although I am studying), I can’t help but want to practice all I have learned…my foundation of hands and feet, opening to grace, all the loops. Now I am very aware that I rely on hyper extending my knees (not doing shin loop) in most of my advanced poses, again so humbling. I love that this humbling experience doesn’t make me want to cry and hide under my bed sheets, but instead it is a motivation to keep practicing.

It’s funny how I found Anusara after practicing and teaching more Iyengar vinyasa flow for many years. When I started doing Anusara I was always thinking “how can I take these wonderful principles of alignment and flow with them”. But now the more I learn (and this might change my flowy friends, no worries) the more I enjoy holding in the asansa going over my new mantra…open to grace (foundation, inner body bright), muscular energy (hug muscles to bones, periphery to midline, periphery through core lines to focal point), inner spiral (expanding), outer spiral (narrowing), organic energy (shining out from focal point along core lines and out through periphery, expanding away from midline, and shining out through skin), loops (ankles back, tops of shins forward, top of thighs back, scoop tail bone, expand kidneys, shoulders back and behind heart, top of ears back), and shins in thighs out…ahhhhhmazing!! So if you are coming to my class we might be holding poses longer… To top it off I learned John Friends reason for studying yoga that I have absolutely fallen in love with. This new intention, which isn’t really new. I think it has always been my intention but now I can just articulate it better, makes holding these poses for minutes and going over the mantra even more enjoyable…Are you ready: to know more (chit) and to be happy (ananda)! Isnt that great! We practice and study yoga so that me may know more and to be happy! Does chit, ananda sound familiar? in the Anusara invocation “sadchitananda murtaye”.

(another blog will probably follow shortly about this intention chit, ananda…but teaching two classes today, tons of homework, and then there is that energetic draw to my matt that I can’t resist…