Make Every Pose an Offering

Written by John Friend for the Southwest Yoga Conference 2000

In early 1998, during the last day of the inaugural Southwest Yoga Conference, I experienced the full spiritual transformative power of making a sacred offering with my yoga teaching and practice.

The night before the last day of the Conference, my wife Lynette called me at the residence in which I was staying in Albuquerque, and in a sobbing voice informed me regrettably that my father had just died. Although I knew that my father’s health was very poor—he was in his second year of dialysis for kidney failure and had been hospitalized for the previous month with a variety of other organ deterioration—the news was still shocking and devastating to me. Immediately I called my mother and told her that I would fly home that night. With marvelous clarity and wisdom my mother insisted that I stay in Albuquerque until the next day and teach my two scheduled classes the next morning at the Conference. My mother reminded me that my father had dedicated much of his life to helping me become a yoga teacher committed to integrity, dharma and helping others. As a tribute and an honor to my father, she asked me to offer the classes the next morning to him with all my heart.

Honoring The Mother

Written by Tim Noworyta

Want to make your yoga practice something more than seeing how stretched and sweaty you can get? Then make each asana a glorification of Shakti, the Creative Divine Mother who expresses herself in you and all of being. Make each breath a devotion to her, and you will find your yoga transformed into a joyful celebration of the spirit.

This was the central message of John Friend's Anusara yoga workshop held over Mother's Day weekend (May 9-11) at the First Congregational Church in Evanston and sponsored by Suddha Weixler and the N.U. Yoga Center of Chicago. More than 250 enthusiastic yogis and yoginis from Chicago, the Midwest and around the country gathered to learn, practice and enjoy being together in another of John's inspirational happenings. Since this was John's third workshop in Chicago (the first was in 1999), many of the participants had been to a previous one or went because a friend talked it up so much they just had to go and see for themselves.

Yoga: A Path to the Heart

Written by Hermineh Miller

HM: Please give me a definition of Yoga for the beginner or non-practitioner.

JF: Yoga, in general, is a spiritual practice or discipline that helps the individual unify his/her body, mind, and heart. There are many types of Yoga. That which comes to mind first is Hatha Yoga, yoga that deals mainly with physical postures and breathing. Karma Yoga emphasizes spiritual practice to help the individual unify body, mind, and heart through certain practices in one’s daily life and work. Bhakti Yoga, a devotional form, generally encompasses chanting, reading of scriptures and worship practices. In general, Yoga is any practice that can turn the practitioner inward to find and experience an individual’s spiritual essence, to realize or awaken to his/her spiritual nature.

Home Practice - An Interview with John Friend

Written by Kathy Carroll

For 15 years, I was a once-a-week yoga practitioner. Week after week my teacher would extol the value of home practice, but week after week I was too busy -- too preoccupied -- to heed her advice. About four years ago something inside me began to shift and I started to make the time to do yoga at home. At first I felt resistance; it took a lot of effort to get myself to the mat. Over time though, my home practice has become what is often the sweetest time of my day. Doing yoga at home is paying off on many levels. I am enjoying a greater sense of peace, more connection with that silent observer within. My yoga postures are becoming stronger and deeper. Just the other day my sister complimented me. “It’s not just the blue dress,” she said. “You are carrying yourself differently.” The world looks different when you carry yourself differently.