Fit Yoga, March, 2006
John Friend stepped into the brightly painted room, ready for his photo shoot. Classical music gently flowed into the space, creating a relaxing, mellow atmosphere. “Is this OK?” asked the photographer. “Or would you like to hear something else?”
“Maybe some rock,” said Friend. And as The Killers belted out Mr. Brightside, he nodded approvingly and paused in preparation for his first pose. As he connected with his breath, he drew into his core and aligned his body. And with hardly any warm-up at all, he was in Vasisthasana. Not only was he in Vasisthasana, he exuded a radiance, a pure delight of being in the pose. This is Anusara.
Since the birth of Anusara in 1997, the aptly named John Friend has been making friends all around the world, sharing this pure delight in his yoga work¬shops, both nationally and internationally. Standing in front of a room filled with as many as 200 students, Friend good-naturedly tells funny anecdotes, sets a theme, and leads the class through a 2- or 3-hour asana practice. During class, he’ll have either one of his assistants or a student demonstrate a pose, for example, Handstand—and then he’ll have the whole room sing Happy Birthday, while the honoree holds the pose (and tries to keep a straight face).
Amid all the fun, the Universal Principles of Alignment™ give Anusara a therapeutic advantage in helping those with all kinds of injuries and ailments. Along with Alignment are two other A’s: Attitude (the expression of the heart) and Action (the energy that expresses the Attitude in each pose). Friend calls them the three A’s, and they, along with Tantric philosophy, are the foundation of Anusara Yoga.
During his recent visit to New York City, we had a chance to ask John Friend a few questions about both the foundation and the fast-growing expansion of Anusara Yoga.
Fit Yoga: How do you differentiate Anusara from other styles of yoga?
John Friend: Anusara is a hatha-yoga system that is based on a Tantric philosophy that sees the world as an embodiment of supreme consciousness, and that the essence of that is truly auspicious. There’s an absolute goodness in the essence of all things and all people.
This one energy, this one spirit, out of its own freedom and out of its own freedom and out of its own delight, chooses to manifest as this entire universe and all the beings within it. The practice of Anusara as a hatha-yoga system is one that helps us to gain a recognition, a deep understanding and a remembrance of this truth. So we as practitioners can have moments of awakening to this reality that everything is truly vibrating and shimmering energy and consciousness. It vibrates at the highest bliss ultimately.
And so the practice is one about awakening. It’s also about learning skillful means of participating and living your life fully to bring in greater happiness, greater health, and more beauty into the world.
The Tantric philosophy is very uplifting, It’s a very very positive philosophy emphasizing the interconnection between all the diversity in the world. Also, Anusara emphasizes a set of Universal Principles of Alignment™ in order for this awakening to be facilitated. These principles apply in any pose—from backbends to inversions to standing poses, forward bends, and twists—for a greater alignment with this bigger energy. When we align to this energy that pervades us and surrounds us in a more optimal way, this awakening, this opening of insight into the nature of things, is enhanced.
Thirdly, we have a big emphasis on community and connection between people, and so we really share together and play together in ways that uplift each other and can help to uplift everything and everyone around us. So, a very harmonious community is part of the Anusara method and even culture.
FY: How did you come up with the Universal Principles of Alignment™?
JF: The Universal Principles of Alignment™ evolved over the years for me through much study with a variety of really fantastic teachers, particularly B.K.S. Iyengar. Through my study with them, I was able to see that there were common denominators through each of these teachers methods that really worked for me and others. So I compiled and organized this set of Universal Principles of Alignment™. It evolved over a matter of years. And in the process of that evolution, I studied more Tantric philosophy. When I was very young, I studied more classical yoga and Vedanta philosophy, but as I got into my late 20’s, I studied more Tantra. And that became the primary philosophical vision that I ascribed to in my practice. Combining the Universal Principles with this Tantric philosophy, I began to practice and to teach a very unique style that was clearly not any other style. So in the mid-90’s, I decided that to be really clear and honorable to other teachers, like Iyengar, I would just name my own system. In ’97, I formally established Anusara Yoga as a method and a school of hatha yoga.
FY: How did you come up with the name?
JF: My friend Dr. Douglas Brooks was reading a Tantric scripture called the Kularnava Tantra and, within this scripture there were some verses that alluded to stepping into the flow of spirit and grace in ways that the student would be able to fully experience the blessings of the guru principle. The flowing-of-grace concept came from the word anusarena, or anusara, So when Douglas was telling me about this verse, I just loved the idea of Anusara. I love this word. It sounded very beautiful, and it was something that people could easily communicate. And it has three A’s in it: The method I worked on was a balance of attitude, alignment, and action, the 3 A’s. So when I got that word, it was just right. Following your heart is another way of describing Anusara.
FY: What are the benefits of doing Anusara Yoga?
JF: There are many great benefits to practicing Anusara, One is the physical benefits: Because of the alignment principles, it’s very therapeutic. If you have any physical ailments, challenges, or limitations, it helps you to deal with them in a way that you could have incredible openings. And it’s a practice that’s very uplifting and empowering. If you feel a little down about yourself or if you’re not feeling as full as you can, through the practice, you can have big openings. So it’s empowering, it’s fun, and it connects us more to life itself. Your body, mind, and senses are more refined to really delight and enjoy life more fully. The practice provides every level of benefit for someone from the physical all the way to the most spiritual benefits,
FY: What is your favorite pose?
JF: I like all the poses, but I like Handstand because it’s fun to be turned upside-down and to play on my hands. It’s very empowering to do a handstand because, within a few seconds, it can really shift my whole energy and my whole perspective on things.
FY: How does it do that?
JF: By having to really soften and feel my whole body and its relationship to the space around me, at the same time I’m engaging my muscles and hugging the very core of my body and being. In this way, I’m able to find balance. So when I play this dance of relaxing and feeling the energy through me and around me— and also hugging in—I have this amazing experience that’s very empowering.
YF: What is your least favorite pose?
JF: (Long pause) Yeah, I like everything. I don’t know if I have a least favorite. I like everything — forward bends and twists and backbends and hand-balancings. Just remember that you’re not doing this by yourself. The details by themselves can get you off the track and you’ll miss the point.
FY: What is the importance of balance in the various poses?
JF: Balance helps to bring an optimal flow of the shakti through the form, the art, and the expression of the pose. So that optimal flow really leads to this awakening, leads to a revelation. The balance that we put in to allow for the increased shakti flow brings the highest level of health in any moment. So you just feel more radiant, healthier, and so on.
FY: Which pose do you find especially challenging?
JF: Because my torso is long compared to my arms, there are some poses that are more challenging, like Mayurasana. In Mayurasana, you have to put your elbow in your stomach. Well, because my arm is short for my torso, I have to really round my back, and even then, it’s almost impossible to get my elbow below my navel. So that’s just my structural asymmetry and proportions that make that pose very difficult for me.
FY: How do you bring the philosophy into your practice and your teaching?
JF: By remembering the highest purpose of the practice. Each time I come to my mat, I just pause and take a simple review of the highest purpose of the practice. It then infuses my practice with the meaning of a certain philosophical vision. And then there are a lot of details to that vision that I’ve developed in my understanding from years of study. So I remind myself of some of these philosophical points. Essentially, it’s just about remembering the highest purpose…
FY: Can you talk a little about the first principle: Open to Grace?
JF: The first principle is about opening to the universal source of energy. It’s about remembering the highest purposes of the practice. Throughout the class, there should always be some instruction to remember the universal, to remember the big picture. The details should be put in context of the universal source, That’s really the overriding principle of Anusara, to remember the universal. And that universal spirit is one that’s grace-filled, so it assists us in our awakening and in making beauty through our yoga practice. it’s big for me.
FY: How does gratitude play into this?
JF: Gratitude comes from a level of sensitivity, feeling where the source of our blessings is, where the source of our knowledge is. Through that sensitivity, we gain full appreciation of what we’re receiving, and that just naturally leads to gratitude. The heart just swells with a thankfulness and a wanting to give back and share—and that’s really love. So gratitude is an expression of fullness of heart so you can do the poses in ways that honor the source of our blessings, our teachers, the teachings themselves, all of it.
The principles help to bring balance, and the balance helps to bring an optimal flow of the shakti, and the optimal flow of the shakti helps to allow for greater expansion of consciousness, that whole energy of insight and understanding, and also helps to bring more health and a feeling of freedom so it just feels good. So balance through the principles is really key.
FY: What are your personal challenges on this path?
JF: For all of us, as is for me, the challenges are to keep remembering the universal connection between people and that, again, we’re not by ourselves completely. We’re connected. So the challenge is the constant remembering. That’s why I emphasize it so much. It’s for me too. The personal challenges are when I don’t remember the source, the universal as much. Then, it’s easy to get completely off the mark and what the purpose is about and who the people I’m interacting with are, and so you start to see other people as somebody maybe truly “other,” and we’re not really connected. So the challenge is to find the connection, to remember the connection, to remember the universal. That’s the big principle.
The Universal Principles of Alignment
These five principles help yogis reach their fullest potential by first drawing into the body, refining the pose, and then outwardly and artistically expressing the “delightful play of the universe.”
Open To Grace: Firmly stepping into the currents of grace with a solid foundation and a heart open to the infinite possibilities.
Muscular Energy: Drawing from the outside in, from the periphery into the focal point* of a pose. Creates strength, stability, and a full physical integration.
Inner Spiral: An expanding energy that spirals inwardly from the feet up the legs, through the top of the pelvis, away from the core. Inner Spiral helps you widen the thighs and pelvis.
Outer Spiral: A contracting energy that spirals outwardly toward the core, from the waist down through the feet. Since this energy brings the tailbone and thighs forward, the idea is to find the balance between inner and outer spiral—in every pose.
Organic Energy: Radiating energy from the inside out, starting from the focal points of the pose to the body’s periphery. Organic Energy is an expansive expression of our own true nature, which is inherently auspicious and free.
*The Focal Point is one of the three places you draw into and expand out from and is determined by the most weight-bearing part of the pose; 1)the core of the pelvis (legs, torso); 2) the bottom of the heart (arms); or 3) the upper palate (head).
