STRATTON, Vermont, June 21, 2011 – Under a sparkling Vermont sky, hundreds of yoga enthusiasts have come together on the summer solstice to embrace a spirit of possibility. A three-day event called the Anusara Grand Circle, this is not just one long power yoga class, something to train just your body. No, this group is all about celebrating beauty from the inside out.
On Monday morning, Anusara Yoga founder John Friend welcomed participants to the conference at Stratton Mountain, Vermont. While some participants – this author included – were enjoying their first experience under the tutelage of the smooth-voiced teacher, the gathering has been a reunion of sorts for experienced Anusara practitioners and teachers or teachers-in-training. Their sense of joy in their community is palpable, and it makes a newbie want in on the happy juice.
Anusara Grand Circle (Image: Jessica Haney)
While the physical practice of sun salutations may appear familiar to practitioners of other yoga traditions, the purpose of practice, Friend explained, is always on multiple levels. He never comes to the poses mindlessly or just with his body, but always prayerfully, thinking intentionally about doing everything “to the highest,” to reveal the grace we always know is lurking.
In other words, this is feel-good yoga for your body, mind, and spirit.
If you come to the class with a host of self-criticisms, you are gently but consistently reminded to check them at the door – or, rather, at the opening of the huge yoga tent outside a ski resort whose lush slopes of green rise up just past the registration table.
It’s difficult not to seek out a joyful spirit in such a beautiful place with so many people who have already caught the fever.
Friend was intent on emphasizing that we are all “worthy,” that we come to yoga not to “fix” the ways we are broken or incomplete but rather to simply get out of our own way, find our alignment, and “unveil what is already the case: to allow that light to shine forth for no other reason than the joy of it, the play that comes forth.”
If we seem a little stuck, we are encouraged just to drop what is in our way, to open our heart “like curtains” and reveal the “unique divine consciousness” that we each have to offer. Friend offered these messages throughout the three-hour opening session Monday morning and elaborated on them later in the day in his philosophy talk. Other teachers echoed these sentiments in afternoon sessions and shared their own journeys of believing in their own innately good essence.
While all parents can benefit from a regular yoga practice, the Anusara approach seems particularly healing for busy multi-tasking mothers who might, for example, sometimes feel like utter failures or who might at least question their decisions when it comes to getting their own needs met and meeting the needs of their family.
If parents can take this message of intention into their daily practice – both yoga practice and simply the practice of living mindfully – perhaps they can star see their work and play as Friend does: as “magic” and “artistry.”
The Anusara Grand Circle runs through Wednesday, June 22 and is followed by Wanderlust, a festival that combines yoga, music and a whole host of other events in a Lollapalooza-like festival atmosphere of over 1000 yogis and hundreds of participants who come for the music and other activities, including wine tastings and hikes.
Wanderlust runs Thursday, June 23 through Saturday, June 26 and includes yoga sessions with Friend as well as practitioners from a variety of yoga traditions along with speakers and musical acts, including Deepak Chopra, Krishna Das, and Michael Franti. Tickets are still available for one day, two days, or the whole weekend, but specific yoga classes are filling up.
Jessica Claire Haney is a freelance writer, editor and tutor. Her writing has appeared in parenting publications and poetry journals. A former high school English teacher, Jessica is mother to a five-year-old son and a baby girl. She is passionate about holistic health and well-being and is a leader of a chapter of Holistic Moms Network.
Jessica's blog is Crunchy-Chewy Mama, crunchychewymama.com, and her writer's site is jessicaclairehaney.com.
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