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Can't wait to hear how it went, what your experience of it was....hope it was good |
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| I assume you are asking about the John Friend workshop in NYC. Okay, since you asked, I'll give you the brief synopsis. It was great!
John is a great teacher and really warm person. Truly inspiring. I was really excited to finally take class with him. The workshop wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was great nonetheless. i thought we would spend more time talking about spirals and loops and whatnot, but it was so much deeper than that. We talked a lot more about energy: prana, kundalini, chakras, etc. I wasn't expecting that. The practices were deep in surprising ways.
For example we spent one class trying to separate our sacrums from our tailbones. Weird. Basically it was a class of forward bends. But wow did it feel crazy! The second forward bend class was focused on grounding the femurs. My body feels crazy today. We did a lot of chanting and breathing in the last class. That was kind of fun. Truly amazing experience. It was on a level where I would have to really practice this stuff for a LONG time before I felt confident to even talk about it intelligently. I think that separates the advanced anusara from the basic anusara stuff. The poses were all what I would have expected, but the level at which got inside you and the stuff he had us focusing on was deep. It wasn't spirals and loops it was moving bones deep inside and moving energy.
Of course with a couple of hundred people in the room you aren't getting a lot of attention, but the love was there and the people that attended were all really great. I made some new friends and saw some old friends. I definitely would do this again. And you all should do it when you get the chance!
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| WOW! I'm really really excited about the upcoming workshop in London now!!! The workshop I'm booked onto is the Intermediate workshop (on advice from Anusara.com) Was the workshop you did called Intermediate or Advanced? I would like to learn about the loops and spirals as well as the stuff you did, but as I haven't ever practiced anusara, I hope we get the fundamental stuff taught too....actually, on the brief for the workshop it says that we will.(sorry, I'm rambling, 'thinking out loud'!) I'm really happy for you though, it sounds like it has made a great impression on you. Nice to make new friends too!
Thanks for the info.
Namaste
Laura
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| loli - 2005-09-27 9:13 AM
WOW! I'm really really excited about the upcoming workshop in London now!!! The workshop I'm booked onto is the Intermediate workshop (on advice from Anusara.com ) Was the workshop you did called Intermediate or Advanced? I would like to learn about the loops and spirals as well as the stuff you did, but as I haven't ever practiced anusara, I hope we get the fundamental stuff taught too....actually, on the brief for the workshop it says that we will. (sorry, I'm rambling, 'thinking out loud'! ) I'm really happy for you though, it sounds like it has made a great impression on you. Nice to make new friends too!
Thanks for the info.
Namaste
Laura
I was in the intermediate/advanced workshop. I've heard that the levels fluctuate depending on where he is. In NYC there is a lot of anusara and the advanced levels are ADVANCED. I heard in different cities, the level 2 is more like a level 1 because they just don't have the exposure. I would order Doug Keller's book or John's Anusara 101. They are great references. They break down the key concepts of the universal principles of alignment.
The cliff's notes glossary to anusara:
Open to grace = breathe and soften
muscular energy = engage your core and hug in
organic energy = expand out
inner spiral = internal rotation
outer spiral = external rotation
shoulder loop = shoulders down and back
It's much deeper than that but if you get lost go back to the cliff's notes version. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| YG - you sound like my teachers when they get back from India  |
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| tourist - 2005-09-27 7:02 PM
YG - you sound like my teachers when they get back from India
That's a good thing, right? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Very much so! It does take some time to integrate what you learned into your practice and then a bit more time to translate that into your teaching, as a rule. Though there are usually one or two things that shine through and you can use right away. I have had my teacher say she just "got" what BKS was talking about in 1985 when she was there   |
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| Hi Yogaguy,
I am new to the forum, and was excited to read your description of your experience of the
John Friend workshop in NY.
I was there as well! It was great to be in the city practicing yoga in the middle of SoHo.
What a beautiful room.
My workshop and trip were fabulously full.
Yogaguy, I like your cliff notes-it took awhile to integrate these ideas in (my) body;they
at some point have become second nature....just progressively deeper and ever re-discovering
new depth and connection.
What style of yoga do you usually practice/study? (teach?)
loli, I met some people planning to go with John to London & Paris....everyone is so excited
about it! have a great time....isn't is---Today!? or very soon?
Namaste,
Kate
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| raku - 2005-10-07 10:22 PM
Hi Yogaguy,
I am new to the forum, and was excited to read your description of your experience of the
John Friend workshop in NY.
I was there as well! It was great to be in the city practicing yoga in the middle of SoHo.
What a beautiful room.
My workshop and trip were fabulously full.
Yogaguy, I like your cliff notes-it took awhile to integrate these ideas in (my) body;they
at some point have become second nature....just progressively deeper and ever re-discovering
new depth and connection.
What style of yoga do you usually practice/study? (teach?)
loli, I met some people planning to go with John to London & Paris....everyone is so excited
about it! have a great time....isn't is---Today!? or very soon?
Namaste,
Kate
Kate
I teach and practice vinyasa and anusara.
I love the puck building. I had the pleasure of taking Pattabhi Jois there as well. Also awesome. New York is great for yoga. Everybody comes here. Going to see BKS Iyengar next Friday. 
Glad you had a good time here. I wish we could have met in person. Let me know the next time you're here.
Keith
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| Yogaguy,
lucky you. Please write and share the highlights of your experience.
I have been following the yoga journal blog from the YJ Conference
(now over), and am reading "Light on Yoga". Love it!
What an opportunity to be in the prescence of such a legend.
BTW---while at the NY workshop, I really enjoyed the little Chutney Shop around the
corner w/the Guramayi pics-so 70s- so yoga. I didn't expect that.
yes, thanks....if/when I return - I will let you know!
Kate |
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| Oh yeah, the Hampton Chutney shop was a pleasant surprise for me too. I don't venture down in that area for food too often so I psyched to find that. http://www.hamptonchutney.com/
Yum
I'll let you know how Iyengar goes. Of course, I forgot to sub my class for that night...grrr... I hope someone is available to do it. |
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| Hello!
I'm back from London....What an AWESOME experience! The workshop was incredible....lots and lots to 'digest' and think about. I still can't stop smiling about it all. Anusara is great. I met some fantastic people and made new friends too. John Friend is brilliant in every sense of the word. His 'team' were really lovely and helpful too. Who was it that you met who were coming to London Kate? I got to meet quite a few of the team over the 3 days.
I know this may sound OTT, but it was a life changing experience for me.
Namaste
Laura
PS I bought the BKS Iyengar book 'Light on Life" this weekend too.....fantastic.
You are indeed lucky in New York for yoga!!!!
I hope you manage to get some cover for your class Keith....wish I was coming to the Iyengar workshop too. |
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| hi loli
wow-great. how long was your workshop?
what did you like?
I've also experienced the OTT feeling you decribed when I have studied with John.
Each time-something in my practice -or- even more importantly,my attitude-
is radically transformed.
This time interestingly, I came home and had a workshop/study this weekend
with an Ayurvedic Dr.(on Ayurveda Lifestyle & Healing)
The energetic pattern of healing -and languaging-reminded me of the
forward bend class where we were moving energy (and like YogaGuy said-bones)
---with the breath and aligning the nadis. He was talking about the Shushumna
Channel etc. The parellels were pretty interesting the way we were using the breath
to add weight/heaviness (tomasic) or lighten (rajasic) (I am saying this off my head
without my notes so if i am off a bit sorry)
the people I met - Laura, and another lady in the bathroom line who I do not know her
name...we had a lovely chat tho! who did you meet? Did Peter go?
can you study Anusara there in London? (I am assuming that is where you live!)
my best,
kate
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| Hi Kate,
The workshop was supposed to be 10 hours but John was really generous with his time and it turned into at least 11 hours over the three days. What did I like? Everything! I really loved Ardha Chandrasana with a partner holding your leg so you could totally open the heart and take the head back "go wild" as John put it! Also Vasisthasana, taking the top leg behind and reaching back, again, 'going wild'....And I even managed to touch my foot in Eka Pada Rajpotonasana! It was my first introduction to Anusara and the principals of flowing with grace, and the universal principals of alighnment etc and it all just 'clicked' with me. John's lightness and humour is infectious. He talked about Shri and "inner body bright' I love it.
It sounds to me like your workshop with John went a bit deeper at looking a moving energy etc...we touched on that but I guess because there were alot of 'Anusara virgins' like myself, we got a broader intro to it all.
I was next to Laura for one of the classes! I met Tanya and Katherine and Shelley(I partnered with Shelley and Katherine and had a chat with Tanya at breaktime) Is Peter a slightly older, lean guy with glasses and a beard? Coz, he was there, but I can't rememeber if his name was Peter.
Unfortunately, I don't live in London, I live in Kent, not too far but not so easy to just go to London to attend classes all the time. I love Anusara though and hope to study it more...I would love to do the TT and bring it to Kent! Maybe one day! Doug Keller is going to be doing a workshop in December in London, I hope to attend.
Namaste
Laura
PS John is coming back to London in 2 years.....I will be there hopefully!
Edited by loli 2005-10-12 4:32 AM
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| Hi loli
thanks for the details of your class. sounds like a good weekend!
have heard so many good things about Doug Keller-I hope you have
an opportunity to study with him too.
my best-
kate |
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Hi Yogaguy how was it for you?
