Enrich Your Yoga Practice: Key Principles of Anusara Yoga with Martin Kirk

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have found that Anusara yoga helps them deepen their yoga practice and take their personal practice to new heights. In little more than ten years, Anusara yoga has become one of the most highly respected schools of hatha yoga with over 1,000 licensed yoga teachers, thousands of teachers in training, and hundreds of thousands of students worldwide. Anusara yoga’s remarkable growth is due in large part to its uplifting philosophy, epitomized by a “celebration of the heart” that looks for the good in all people and all things.  

Session 1 - Martin goes deeply into how to set a foundation and open to Grace in every step of our practice. As we open to deeper levels of wholeness in our practice, we begin to embrace the full potential of yoga - making the body a living celebration of spirit. 

Session 2 - In this session, Martin explores the Anusara yoga concepts of muscular energy and organic energy in more depth than can be done in a “regular” Anusara yoga class. He explains how working with these two principles in every pose maximizes the benefits of yoga poses and offers new ways to explore the interface between mind and body.

"The practice of Anusara is one that helps us to gain a recognition, a deep understanding and a remembrance. . ., so we as practitioners can have moments of awakening to this reality: that everything is truly vibrating and shimmering energy and consciousness. "  -- Anusara yoga-founder John Friend

In this 30-minute recorded talk, Martin Kirk tells the story of the ancient Indian epic, the Ramayana, focusing on the deeper symbolic meaning of this timeless story. Martin shows that this epic has deep meaning even for modern day man, and shows how it is relevant to the Shiva-Shakti Tantric philosophy that life is ultimate goodness, and we are what we create.

Bonus #2. Francois Raoult—The Link between Breath and Prana

 Awareness of breath is essential in yoga practice; the flow of the breath is closely linked to the flow of prana in the body and our ability to open to grace and experience the deeper aspects of asana. In this talk, acclaimed Iyengar teacher and founder of Open Sky studio, Francois Raoult discusses numerous aspects of breathing during yoga practice, including when and how to use breath awareness and specific pranayama practices. Topics discussed include:

• how the breath is used in different yoga traditions,
• the significance of Uyayi breathing and when and how to use it
• the essentials of diaphragmatic breathing
• how the anatomy of breath interfaces with the subtle energy anatomy of the body

Bonus #3. The Ramayana, Yoga, and You—The Art of Yoga and Sacred Story

Yoga is about Union, the return to Self, the highest part of our existence. Many people think of yoga as asana, but there is a much larger foundation of yoga, which is the science of union with the Self, as expounded in the ancient Vedic literature, notes Michael Sternfeld, whose audio production of the Ramayana was honored as the 2002 Best Project of the Year by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In this talk, he talks about the relevance of the Ramayana for modern day living.