7 Anusara Yoga Poses and Their Benefits

Invented by an American native yoga instructor named John Friend in the year 1997, Anusara yoga mainly emphasizes on inner beauty and goodness. As similar to other forms of yoga, Anusara involves a blend of many different asana, also known as poses or postures. The various poses in Anusara Yoga focus on the heart and are in perfect sync with breathing.
This modern yoga form embraces more than 260 poses to practice. All the asana can be primarily categorized into three types: Attitude, Alignment and Action. Attitude focuses on connecting a heart to all movements. Alignment is to make awareness of how different parts of your body are internally connected. Action is to realize the flow of energy within your body.

Regardless of who you choose as your Anusara yoga teacher, every Anusara yoga practice session ends with either savasana or corpse pose. Though originated in America, today Anusara yoga is a popular yoga form all across the world.

The practitioners of Anusara yoga learn to achieve graceful and perfect backbends. With an active heart and fingers wide-open, the poses in Anusara portray great freedom and happiness. As said by John, it’s not the perfection of the pose that can deliver the therapeutic benefits but the intent and energy behind it.

And thus, a good Anusara yoga teacher won’t just teach for alignment, but will also help his students learn about organic energy and muscular energy. Now without further ado, let’s check out the 7 most commonly practices poses of Anusara Yoga.

1. The Half Moon Pose (Ardha Chandrasana)

First of all, stand straight. Make some space between your legs and take a right foot inside such that it makes a 90 degree angle with another leg. Now bend your body in a manner that your palm touch the ground in the same line of your feet. Next, stretch your left leg up in the air. Likewise, move your right hand up in the air, keeping it straight. Stay in the pose for about 30 seconds before you release.

2. The Twist Poses (Vakrasana)

Sit down with both legs lied straight on the floor. Bend your right leg from knee n bring its foot in line of the knee of the left leg. Next, twist your upper body area in a manner that you look over the right shoulder with left hand fingers touching the right leg fingers. Keep right hand palm touched to the floor. Keep the posture for about 15 seconds before releasing it. Now, do same movements with directions of hands and legs changed.

3. The Warrior Pose (Virbhadrasana)

Stand up straight and keep your feet at some distance from each other. Take your hands up in the air and keep them straight. Now, shift your right leg to 90 degree angle in the right side and stretch your left leg in its own direction. Hold your back straight and look straight.

4. The Eagle Pose (Garudasana)

Start with a standing position and the bend slightly from both knees. Now wrap your left leg around the right leg with right feet still touched to the ground. Similarly, keep your right hand straight in upward direction bending it from elbow, and then wrap the left hand around the right one. Remain in the pose for about 15 seconds and then slowly release to the beginning position.

5. The extended hand to toe pose (Uttitha Hasta Padangustana)

First get into a default standing pose. Now, slowly move your left leg in upward direction such that your left hand fingers can touch the ankle of your left feet. Maintain the same pose for about 15 seconds and then get back to the original pose. Next, repeat the same pose with right hand and right toe.

6. The cobra pose (Bhujangasana)

Lay down on the floor such that your forehead comes in contact to the floor. Keep both palms down the shoulders in a manner they remain close to body. Now, stretch both feet (while attached to the ground) and up your top body area looking up in the sky. Hold the pose for 15–30 seconds and release it slowly.

7. The Dog Pose (Ardha Mukha Shavasana)

Begin with moving apart your legs and hands a bit from each other. Bend your body from hip area joints and touch your palms to the floor. Be as flexible as your body permits. When performed rightly, the pose should look alike a reverse ‘V’ symbol.

Learning the key benefits

As many other yoga forms, Anusara yoga helps build mental and physical wellness. Practising Anusara makes you more aware of your physical freedom and emotions. You feel energetic upon practicing these poses regularly. Eventually, these poses help live a healthier and stress-free lifestyle, probably everyone out there is dreaming for in this modern world today. Practising Anusara poses makes your body more flexible, strengthens your muscles, improves your body alignments, and makes you look more graceful than ever.

So, what are you thinking now? Start looking for the best Anusara yoga class in your city today!