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| I read a Yoga Journal Article on Anusara yoga. The illustrations had spirals going in different directions and circles going either clockwise or counter clockwise. Tried to read the article, but for once a yoga article made no sense. 
Now I'm thinking of taking an Anusara workshop.
Is this stuff going to be easy to learn?
Edited by MrD 2005-03-02 6:44 PM
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| Mr D - I have a feeling the loops and spirals coincide directly with Iyengar yoga instructions so I think you'll be ok. If you understand the work of the legs in tadasana for example, if you put all the different instrucitons together they do more or less make a spiral. It is supposed to be simpler but I think I like the absolute directness of Iyenga instructions best. |
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| Tourist is right, if you have any Iyengar knowledge you will be just fine. I take an Anusara class and suggest you take a class before investing in a workshop.... Just a note - I've never taken an Iyengar class that kicked my butt, but Anusara classes always do!
I read the article that Mr. D read and it is a bit confusing. There aren't alot of Anusara videos out there (except on Anusara.com) and the confusion is why. It's a lot easier to get the idea of spiralling if you have the teacher actually doing it for you - then you know how to move yourself |
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| tourist - 2005-03-02 6:56 PM
Mr D - I have a feeling the loops and spirals coincide directly with Iyengar yoga instructions so I think you'll be ok. If you understand the work of the legs in tadasana for example, if you put all the different instrucitons together they do more or less make a spiral. It is supposed to be simpler but I think I like the absolute directness of Iyenga instructions best.
Oh, that's just great!!! I've never taken a single Iyengar class in my life. It doesn't exist in my area. I can get Bikram, Ashtanga and power yoga up the wazoo, but Iyenger Never, and I have to drive an hour to get to an Anusara Studio.
It's that I have a chance for a workshop with Desiree Rumbaugh from Phoenix and every one who's taken classes from her adores them. |
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| You'll be fine. It's not hard...well it is hard a little. It's like learning any posture in yoga. You can see it and hear it described and you can try it. Some come easy...some don't. Then when you think you got it, someone tells you to breathe. OMG I wasn't breathing! Then they tell you to activate your bandhas. huh?
Learning yoga is a progression. Once you have some familiarity with the postures, then you dig deeper. Find new deeper things going on inside, with your breath, with your bandhas, with your muscles.
In theory the spirals sound weird. In practice they are fairly easy to experience and understand. In fact, I find anusara teachers are among the best at explaining postures. Making spirals/loops a constant part of your practice like bandhas and ujjayi breathing requires a lot of attention.
If you've already come this far in your practice, there is nothing to be afraid of.
Edited by YogaGuy 2005-03-03 1:04 PM
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| Oh, Mr. D, if you have an actual Anusara studio, it's likely that they have beginner classes (I would hope). the butt kicking classes I take are intermediate and advanced.
Be ready for the handstands - Anusarians love 'em |
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| Gruvemom - 2005-03-03 6:19 PM
Oh, Mr. D, if you have an actual Anusara studio, it's likely that they have beginner classes (I would hope). the butt kicking classes I take are intermediate and advanced.
Be ready for the handstands - Anusarians love 'em
Handstands. YIKES!!! 
Even when I was little I never did handstands.
I think it was in the yoga sutra where he said first fear then trembling, and finally strength. Well I'm definitely at the fear state with handstands. Makes me mad because I worked for 6 months to get over the fear of headstands. Soon as I get over that they start me on handstands. Better practice some more. Darn, Darn, Darn, it's only what I need and want.
Ray
Edited by MrD 2005-03-03 8:10 PM
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Well Ray, I don't know how I got the idea you were an Iyengi but you'll be fine. Handstands are actually easier in some ways than headstands. Hope they let you use the wall!  |
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| One of the wonderful things about the Universal Principles of Alignment, aka "Loops and Spirals" is that they are actually so simple to learn. If you have a good teacher, that is, and can cut to the chase. There's frequently too much flowery language associated with teaching them and it's hard to weed through it to ask what the teacher actually wants.
For example: (stupid) "blossom your buttocks" is verbiage for Inner Spiral. Once could say:
Take your inner thighs back and apart.
Stick your butt out.
For pelvic loop, there's:
Tuck your tail,
draw your abs softly in and up,
Uddiyana bandha,
each followed with, "... without clenching your bottom muscles."
I can forward bend pretty deeply. For months this one teacher kept telling me to work my loop of energy, drawing the loop up my body and down the front. Finally, I stood up and said, "Would you just tell me what you want me to do? What's the Physical action!? Another, new student/teacher, who knew I practiced Ashtanga took one look at me and said, "Engage Uddiyana bandha in your Uttanasana." BOOM! I got it, I went deeper, the line of energy demand was satisfied, and we finally, after weeks of frustration, we could let the darned thing go. But this teacher, as really good as she is, was stuck trying to language in only an Anusara fashion, vs. utilizing other tools to get what she wanted out of my body.
So there is a point in there. The loops and spirals are simple, they're in every pose, and they really facilitate any form of yoga that might be someone's actual practice. They can save your butt in Bikram, for example, with its lack of alignment teaching, etc.
Iyengar: rotation.
Anusara: sprial.
It's the other elements that take you deeper than you might have gone with just those two instructions. It's interesting to watch even an Intermediate Anusara class. The teacher can give a three word instruction, such as "more kidney loop" and the whole class will probably look down at their heart for a second, tuck their tail a bit, and fill out their mid backs beautifully. So it's also a method to facilitate less instruction in class once the students have the loops and sprials in their muscle memory. And, of course, if the teacher just SAY the words, vs. babbling on and on about finding something totally irrelevant in a asana...
But too much talk is (one of) my pet peeve(s).
Take the workshop. Ignore most of that stupid YJ article and enjoy yourself.
Christine
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| Thanks for the responses. This is going to be quite different for me since my teachers are either Baptiste Power Yoga, or Ashtanga trained. I have the type of body that can always use some type of alignment training. So I love those teachers who are more alignment oriented. Sounds like an interesting experience, so I'm going to try to sign up for at least one workshop. |
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| Classes with Anusara teachers are generally my favorite. Visualizing loops and spirals helps my alignment a great deal, though it takes some getting used to. A workshop sounds like alot of fun. |
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| MrD - 2005-03-03 8:08 PM
Handstands. YIKES!!!
Even when I was little I never did handstands.
Ray
Relax -- I never did handstands (or headstands) when I was a child but a year ago (at age 59) I finally conquered the fear enough to do it. Now I do handstands every morning -- and forearm balances too. It's true, we almost always do handstands in my anusara classes. We also do them in every one of my Iyengar classes except for pranayama.
I got over the fear (well, I still have the fear but I work with it a little better now) by practicing kicking up every day. That's how I got headstand too -- by trying every day.
ETA: Here's a good website article on inversions with some good links to instructions and photos:
http://www.yogalila.com/2005/06/inversions.html
Edited by SharonNYC 2005-06-06 12:41 PM
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| Thanks for the link, Sharon! I look forward to reading it |
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| doughnut are evil they will make you fat! |
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Loops and Spirals.
