Downward Dog Style: A is for AnusArA yogA

I’m not going to pretend to know anything about Anusara flow yoga; I’ve only recently experienced it for a grand total of seventy-five minutes in my entire life.

I think that three years ago I might have wanted to talk about how this style of yoga is different from the one I regularly practice. And when I say different, I mean what it didn’t provide me in comparison to what my chosen style does. I even may have wanted to do this three months ago. In fact, there is a good chance three months ago I may have matched up a teacher or two that I am unfamiliar with at my own studio to the instructors whose teaching styles I feel most drawn to. Why this need to incite a face off? To instigate a showdown? I surely know that there is a way to observe a new encounter without comparing.

So, here’s what I took away from Anusara flow: alignment is a key element of the style. Normally, alignment is an important aspect of my practice, but, in this class, we moved so, so slowly and, in so doing, attempted, together, to be in right alignment. And I’ll tell you what: it kind of hurt. It hurt because in trying to keep perfect alignment, I had to pause to arrange my body. And then re-arrange my body. And then arrange it again. For longer than I am comfortable (this is a good thing). In Hanumanasana, SPLIT, on both the left and right legs, I breathed deep but soft while attempting to move my hips onto the ground evenly, to keep my toes pointed to the back of the room rather than allowing them to fall open to the side. But I just could not lower myself down to the mat any farther with each out-breath. Just as the instructor said, “exhale to go deeper in the pose than you did last time you were here. Okay, now inhale. And, again, exhale. Ask yourself if it really matters,” and a small smile spread across my lips.

After researching this style of yoga a bit since my first experience last week, I’ve learned that the three As of Anusara, which come from the three letter As in the word Anusara, signify attitude, alignment and action.
I know there is a way to observe without attaching so much significance to the comparison itself, but taking this Anusara flow class at the Samadhi Center for Yoga & Meditation was an enlightening experience in that it’s opened my eyes a smidge more to not having to weigh things against one another in order to come away with perspective and a new angle from which to appreciate new experiences, and, possibly more important, the wisdom to not annul something I know nothing about.

Proof positive the A in Aubrey is trudging toward signifying one of those As as well…

Samadhi Center for Yoga & Meditation
639 East 19th Avenue
303.860.9642 ‎
samadhiyoga.net