A Daily Yoga Practice For Beginners

Suzie's"A Daily Anusara Practice for Beginners" is a well rounded practice for those newer to the Anusara Universal Principles of Alignment. In this compilation, Suzie gives a clear description and explanation of the major loops and spirals in many of the basic poses. All the basic standing poses are addressed, along with a few floor poses, and the practice ends with Savasana. Its theme, woven throughout the practice, is "Opening to Grace", the first Universal Principle of Alignment. One beginning student has stated this compilation is "clear, inspirational, and exceptionally helpful for students new to the Anusara method."

Nice introduction to Anusara yoga providing precise alignment instruction

by: Beth Cholette

This 53-minute practice from certified Anusara teacher Suzie Hurley offers a detailed introduction to Anusara yoga. In her opening comments, Suzie explains that Anusara is the most heart-focused and spiritual of all types of hatha yoga. She also notes that Anusara focuses on the \"3 As,\" attitude, alignment, and adjustment, and that the theme of this particular practice is Opening to Grace. In general, Anusara tends to include a bit more flowery language than some of the other schools of yoga, and this practice is no exception; Suzie\'s instruction is peppered with phrases such as \"blossoming buttocks\" and \"smiley eyes.\"This practice is broken up into separate chapters as described at right; these chapters would easily work as stand-alone mini practices. Suzie moves slowly into the practice by warming up with cat stretches for the spine and a couple repetitions of downward facing dog, providing precise information on alignment all the while. As she has you come into Mountain Pose, Suzie explains the Anusara concepts of loops and spirals in great detail, and from this point on, she continually reminds you to engage these throughout. This well-rounded practice moves from basic standing postures (side angle, triangle, warrior 1, warrior 2, wide-angle forward bend, tree, chair) to a nice series of floor poses (cobblers, bridge, spinal twist) before ending with a nicely set up relaxation sequence.Although I\'ve had some exposure to Anusara in the past, I can\'t say that I fully grasp the loops concept. However, I found that Suzie\'s unique alignment instruction allowed me to go more deeply into many of the postures, even those I\'ve never particularly cared for such as side angle pose (a.k.a. lateral flank pose). Although I had no problem following along with Suzie\'s audio-only instruction, I would be more hesitant to recommend this practice to someone who is brand-new to yoga, as they might struggle with the lack of a video component. However, included with this download is a very helpful PDF file which provides an asana index, so anyone who is familiar with the basic yoga postures should do fine with this practice (also included in the PDF are definitions of Anusara\'s 3 As, an illustrated depiction of the loops/spirals, and the printed words to the Anusara Opening Invocation). Finally, I would even recommend this \"Beginners\" routine to more advanced practitioners, who are likely to discover new facets of the yoga asanas through Suzie\'s distinctive teaching.