YOGA JOURNAL DAILY ARTICLE ON JOHN FRIEND

YOGA JOURNAL DAILY ARTICLE
May 26, 2006
By Todd Jones

Yoga Break: Friendly Anusara^®

Like Anusara itself, this variation of Half Moon Pose is sweet, bendy—and lots of fun.

Walk into any workshop led by John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga^®, and you're immediately struck by how happy everyone is. Students from the close-knit community exchange hellos, warm smiles, and hugs. The room radiates joy.

That's no surprise, given the message at the core of Friend's teaching. "Joy is part of our true nature," he says, "and the highest reason for doing hatha yoga is to express that nature. Asana practice is a wonderful way to open our hearts to grace—and to our innate goodness, power, and beauty."

The inspiration for Anusara's joyful philosophy comes from the Siddha Yoga lineage of Gurumayai Chidvilasananda. This Tantric tradition sees the universe as a manifestation of the luminous divine consciousness; all objects and beings are the forms divinity uses in a playful dance of mirroring and rediscovering itself. For the details of asana practice, Friend draws from his many years of teaching and practicing Iyengar Yoga, which emphasizes precise alignment. In Friend's view, all the physical instructions that help you do a pose can be boiled down to a few basic biomechanical rules that he calls the Universal Principles of Alignment^TM. These principles help you align your body with the laws of nature and the free flow of divine energy.

Friend believes you can embody the Universal Principles in any asana by following five steps. First, you open to grace: You form an intention to align yourself with the divine consciousness and soften your boundaries so your heart and inner body can fill with energy. Next you engage muscular energy, gently hugging all the muscles of your body toward your core. Maintaining that, you create an expanding spiral of energy that moves out from your core; then you add an opposing contracting spiral. Finally, you apply organic energy, expanding from your core to create freedom.

1. Eka Pada Bhekasana

After your warm-up, lie face-down to prepare for One-Legged Frog Pose. (It's also sometimes called Ardha Bhekasana, or Half Frog.) With your forehead on the floor and your arms along your sides, palms up, open to grace: Take a full breath and let your external body soften as your inner body expands. (Anusara shorthand for this is "inner body bright.") Don't force your breath, but let it fill you so that your ribs become buoyant and your torso gets long from your waistline to your armpits. Let your shoulders also get buoyant, so that they square at the top rather than sloping away from your neck. As energy moves up through your neck and head, let it also move down through your legs and feet.

Maintaining a sense of expansion, on your next inhalation engage muscular energy: Firm your muscles toward the core of each limb, and draw your limbs back into their sockets and slightly toward your centerline. Imagine that the energy of your legs pulls up into a focal point at the core of your pelvis as the heads of your upper arm bones draw back into your shoulder sockets. Then simultaneously arch your torso off the floor and take your arms forward, bringing your palms and forearms to the floor so your elbows are directly under your shoulders.

Keeping your upper back soft and expansive, draw your shoulder blades down toward your waist. Then, imagining that you're initiating the movement from your upper palate, slide your head back, tip your ears back so your head curls back a little, draw the back of your neck down as though you could pull it down through your shoulder blades, and curl their bottom tips toward your heart. These actions establish the energy circuit that Friend calls "the shoulder loop."

Now create the expanding spiral. In your lower body, this requires an inner spiral of your legs. Imagining that you initiate the action from the back of your body, rotate the front of your legs in and widen across your sitting bones and buttocks. Maintaining those actions, add the contracting spiral. In the lower body, that means creating an external spiral: Scoop your buttocks and tailbone in and down, draw your pubis toward the floor, and draw your lower abdomen up, from your pubis to your navel. Together, the actions of both spirals should make your kneecaps point straight down; they'll also keep your lower back feeling long and spacious.

Next, keep your left forearm on the floor, but place it at a 45-degree angle instead of straight in front of you. Bend your right knee and reach back with your right hand to catch the top of your foot so your fingers point back toward your ankle. Then stretch your right thigh and groin by pressing your right foot toward the floor at the outside of your hip and intensifying the smooth arch along the whole length of your back. To overcome the tendency of the legs to externally rotate, strengthen the inner spiral on both legs.

Finally, extend organic energy out from the core of your pelvis in both directions: Lengthen through your legs, drawing your thighs away from your pelvis and pressing your right foot toward the floor as you curl your belly, chest, shoulders, neck, and head away from the floor.

This may be as far as you go. If you're quite flexible, though, you can pivot the heel of your right hand so your fingers point toward your right toes, push your foot farther toward the floor, and arch back more deeply to create more opening in your shoulders and chest. Move your left palm so that it's again more directly in front of your left shoulder, and straighten the arm. To keep your shoulders (especially the right one) from hunching toward your ears, draw your upper arm bones back in their sockets and your shoulder blades down toward your waist. Also, square your torso to the front, resisting the tendency to torque to the right.

At the height of your pose, take at least 5 to 10 breaths, softening your outer body and brightening your inner body with every inhalation. Then, on an exhalation, lower to the floor slowly and with control. To avoid injury, keep imagining that you're hugging your muscles firmly toward your midline as you make the transition, fully releasing only once you reach the floor. Then repeat the pose on the other side.

2. Eka Pada Dhanurasana

The beginning of One-Legged Bow Pose (a.k.a. Ardha Dhanurasana, or Half Bow Pose) is almost identical to the beginning of Eka Pada Bhekasana. As you lift your torso, come onto your left forearm and reach your right hand back around the outside of your right foot and hold your right instep. Then, just as in Frog Pose, soften your outer body, let your inner body brighten, hug your muscles to your core, and create the internal and external spirals of the legs and pelvis.

Next, as you extend energy out through your legs and up through your torso from the core of your pelvis, lift your right thigh off the ground, raise the sole of your right foot toward the ceiling, and press your right foot away from you. Your right arm will straighten, opening your right shoulder much as it will be stretched in Ardha Chandra Chapasana. Draw your Bow into a deeper curve by using your right hand and arm to resist the backward push of your right foot. As in Frog Pose, focus on creating the shoulder loop.

Depending on your flexibility, you may be able to go deeper into the pose by straightening your left elbow, but your weight should still rest more toward your upper abdomen than toward the very bottom of it. It's possible to lift your torso completely off the floor if you straighten your left arm and push back strongly with the right leg, but that shifts the focus of the pose to opening your shoulder rather than opening the front of your thigh. To concentrate on the thigh stretch essential for Ardha Chandra Chapasana, emphasize lifting your right thigh instead of pushing your right shin back.

The pleasurable expansiveness of this pose may lure you toward overdoing the lift and the opening, but resist the temptation. Here, as in every pose, true freedom comes only with proper alignment. So, even more than in Frog, you'll need to draw toward your midline-in Anusara terms, you "engage muscular energy"-and emphasize the inner spiral of your legs and pelvis to avoid splaying your right knee out to the side, externally rotating your left leg, and compressing your lower back.

When you've lifted as high as possible with good alignment, take at least 5 to 10 smooth, full breaths. Then, as in Frog Pose, use an exhalation to lower to the floor slowly and with control. Repeat the pose on the other side.

3. Trikonasana

After Eka Pada Dhanurasana, come to standing and step or jump your feet 4 to 4½feet apart. Turn your left foot and leg slightly in and your right foot and leg out 90 degrees; also, reach your arms out to the sides at shoulder height, palms down and fingers spread wide. Breathe in, softening your edges and opening to grace.

On your next inhalation, ground evenly through all four corners of each foot: Start with the mound of the big toe, then the inner heel, the mound of the little toe, and finally the outer heel. (Try to maintain this evenness throughout the pose.) From this foundation, firm the muscles of your legs and pelvis toward the bones, engage the quadriceps to lift your kneecaps, and draw energy up into the core of your pelvis.

Next, firm the muscles of your arms and trunk toward the bones, again drawing energy into your pelvic focal point. On both sides of your body, draw the outer edge of your shoulder blade, your inner deltoid muscle (the one capping the front of your shoulder), and your outer elbow equally toward the wall behind you.

With your legs firm and strong, shift your pelvis to the left, creating a deep fold between your right thigh and pelvis and bringing the sides of your torso parallel with the floor. Touch your right hand to the floor (or to a block) behind your right shin and draw your left hand straight up toward the sky.

Now explore the spirals of the legs. Beginning with the inner edges of your feet, turn your legs in. You should still be hugging your leg muscles toward the bones and your legs slightly toward each other, so the inward spiral won't be a visibly dramatic action. The position of your feet and shins shouldn't change, but your thighs should move back and also widen apart in back.

Maintaining all these actions, add an outer spiral: Scoop your buttocks and tailbone forward and externally rotate your legs all the way down to the outer edges of your feet. Make the outward spiral of your right leg stronger than its inward spiral. Again, the position of your feet won't change, but you may feel a sense of solid integration in your pelvis. Added to firm muscular energy, the inner and outer spirals combine to create the energy seal called Mula Bandha (Root Lock).

Finally, extend energy out from your pelvic focal point, expanding in all directions: down through your legs and up through your trunk, neck, head, and arms. Just as you did in Frog and Bow, engage the shoulder loop. Then, beginning with the back of your right ribs, use an exhalation to rotate your torso counterclockwise, and let the twist travel up through your neck and head, finally turning your eyes up to gaze at your left thumb. Breathe smoothly and evenly for 10 to 15 breaths. On an exhalation, reemphasize the grounding of your feet, especially your back foot; on the next inhalation, lift your torso so you're standing upright. Turn your feet the other way, and do the pose to the left.

4. Ardha Chandrasana (Half Mood Pose)

To move into Half Moon Pose to your right, first return to Trikonasana on that side and establish good alignment. After a few breaths, exhale and bend your right knee out toward the second toe on your right foot. Step your left foot a foot or two closer to your right, making sure you engage all its actions firmly once it's back on the floor; then move your right fingertips a foot or so in front of the little-toe side of your foot. (If your balance is shaky, look down at the floor.)

As you bend your right knee, don't stick your right hip out or let your right knee collapse in. To protect your right leg and to maintain a stable base, fire up the external spiral in your right leg: Vigorously scoop your tailbone and your right buttock under you, strongly rotate your right thigh out, and firmly press your outer right hip and thigh in toward the bone.

Maintaining that external spiral, straighten your right knee and bring your pelvis above your foot. Lift your left leg until you feel you're extending equally through its inner and outer edges; the exact position will differ from person to person and day to day, but will usually be a little above parallel to the floor. As you focus on coming into balance, don't let the muscles of your left leg go slack or let the leg drift backward. Instead, hug your left leg muscles to the bone, accentuate the leg's inner spiral, and press strongly out through the heel from the focal point in your pelvis. Imagine your whole body forming one plane.

As you radiate out through your raised leg, also radiate down through your standing leg, up through your torso, and out through both arms: Imagine you're a star, shining brightly from the core of your pelvis in every direction. On an exhalation, turn your torso as in Trikonasana, leading with the back of your right rib cage. If it's comfortable for your neck, turn your head to look up at your left thumb; if not, keep your head neutral, gazing straight ahead, or look down at the floor.

Remain in full Ardha Chandrasana for 8 to 12 breaths, exploring the always changing balance between the muscular energy that integrates the pose and the organic energy that expands it. Then inhale and carefully bend your right knee; come back into Trikonasana as you exhale. Settle back into that pose for a breath or two, then return to standing and repeat Triangle and Half Moon to the other side.

5. Ardha Chandra Chapasana

To do this pose, build on Ardha Chandrasana, just adding the actions of Eka Pada Dhanurasana: Bend your left leg, catch the foot with your left hand, and arch back. But now that you're high off the floor, balancing on one leg, creating those actions requires diving deeper into the concentration, determination, fearlessness, and playful enthusiasm of your essential nature.

Come into Trikonasana again, using everything you've learned. After a few breaths, move into Ardha Chandrasana. In this pose, press your right foot into the ground, hug your shin, thigh, and hip muscles in, and draw energy up into your pelvis. Keep your right knee pointing at your right second toe by scooping your right buttock under and externally rotating your right thigh; at the same time, accentuate the internal rotation of your left leg and press out through the heel. Draw up through your torso, spread across your chest, and open your arms as though you're preparing to embrace the universe. Drawing the bottom tips of your shoulder blades toward your heart and turning your torso, allow your chest to open to the sky.

Then move into Ardha Chandra Chapasana: Bend your left knee and, reaching your left hand from the little-toe side of your left foot, catch your instep and draw the leg back, much as you did in Eka Pada Dhanurasana. Use your left biceps to pull on your left foot; at the same time, push the foot firmly into your hand. In your left leg, emphasize internal rotation to keep your knee from splaying toward the sky. As you increase your expansiveness with the backbend, increase the grounding and external rotation of your standing leg to maintain safe alignment for your right knee and hamstring.

You'll feel a tendency to counterbalance the backward movement of your left thigh by drawing your chin toward your chest and hunching your shoulders. But the true counterbalance must come from a vigorous backbend through your upper back, shoulders, neck, and head. To help you do that, brighten and expand your inner body with every breath.

You'll quickly discover there's no such thing as a static balance point in Ardha Chandra Chapasana. Every increase in the openness of the backbend demands an equal increase in strength and stability; with every subtle movement of your breath, you have to recalibrate the complex tension between integration and expansion. Be willing to experiment and play; search for a rhythm in this internal dance that you can sustain for 5 to 10 breaths. Then, with control, release the top leg and arm back into Half Moon. After a few breaths, return to Triangle and, finally, to standing. Then repeat Ardha Chandra Chapasana to the other side.

To neutralize the heat from the standing poses and backbends, round out your practice with inversions—Sirsasana (Headstand) and Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand), if you regularly practice them, or Viparita Karani (Legs-up-the-Wall Pose), if you don't—followed by a few seated twists and a gentle forward bend.

Then close with a 10- or 15-minute Savasana (Corpse Pose). Let yourself empty completely, offering the physical benefits of your practice and the insights you've gained back to the ocean of consciousness and letting that ocean fill you with pure awareness and peace.

Yoga Journal senior editor Todd Jones has practiced yoga for 20 years. He thanks John Friend for his help with this article.