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Yoga Alliance
Registered Continuing Education Credit Available.
The January
Immersion is currently in progress.
The spring immersion
begins on March 13 2011.
The training will meet on the following 6 Sundays, 12 to 6pm:
3/13, 3/20,
3/27, 4/03, 4/17, 5/01
at
Highland Yoga
1572 Rt. 23 N.
Butler, NJ 07405
Highland Yoga
is very proud to work with John Levis in bringing his vision of
Anusara teaching to the public. Together, we strive to make the
full breadth of yoga available to all.
What is the Anusara Immersion?
The Immersion is an opportunity to deepen
your practice and understanding of Anusara Yoga on all
levels. It will provide the forum to fully understand
elegant bio-mechanics of The Universal Principles of
Alignment™
that will teach you how to move deeper into your body's
innate potential to thrive in a fun, light-hearted
environment. The practice will be supported by the
life-affirming philosophy of Shiva-Shakti Tantra and it's
practical application in your life. You will connect with
like-minded and like-hearted individuals providing for
stimulating and mind blowing conversation that will lead
to... ~Well, only one way to find out!
The
Immersion is for anyone who is curious and willing to
enhance their lives through the practice of Anusara Yoga.
It is an opportunity to learn what simply can't be taught in
an hour and fifteen minute class. If you have left class
feeling more eager, more curious and more interested in the
practice of yoga, then the Immersion is the place to be.
The
Immersion is a total of 108 hours, divided into 3 modules.
Module 2 will be offered this spring on Sundays, from
12:00-6:00 pm.
The course is comprised of
three main sections:
1. Anusara Practice
Each 2-hour class begins with an invocation or
centering as a devotional recognition of the grace-bestowing
power of universal Spirit within and around us.
Each class has a heart-oriented theme, which has a
meaningful connection to the grand spiritual purposes of the
asana practice. The theme usually centers on cultivating a
virtue-a quality of mind or heart,
which is a microcosmic reflection of our Divine nature. Each
theme gives a direction for the attitudinal energy that infuses
every action and breath in the poses. Effectively, all the poses
in Anusara yoga are expressed from the "inside out."
Movements and actions within every pose are coordinated
with the breath. Postural alignments in each pose are checked in
reference to the Universal Principles of Alignment. The teacher
then gives adjustments verbally and physically to the students
in order to enhance their poses. Poses are modified or supported
with props if necessary to help each student achieve the general
form of pose. Postural demonstrations may be used when necessary
to clarify alignment instructions.
2. Anusara Philosophy
The vision of Anusara yoga is grounded in a
Tantric philosophy of intrinsic goodness. In this philosophy we
take the premise that everything in this world is an embodiment
of Supreme Consciousness, which at its essence pulsates with
goodness and the highest bliss. All of creation is divinely
danced into existence for the simple delight and the play of
embodying the Supreme’s own blissful nature.
The philosophical vision of Anusara yoga is specifically called
Shiva-Shakti Tantra. Everything manifests as a result of the
dance of Divine polarities, the mystical marriage between Shiva
and Shakti that is auspicious consciousness vibrating with
Freedom and is full of the highest Bliss. It is in the relation
of both Shiva and Shakti that the matrix of time, space and the
entire material world is created, out of pure Joy. One cannot
occur without the other, and so our philosophy honors and
glorifies both: consciousness and its power, male and female,
sun and moon; it is Shiva-Shakti Tantra.
3.
Anusara Methodology
An elegant,
concise set of alignment principles called the "Universal
Principles of Alignment is applied to each asana. A central idea
within the Universal Principles of Alignment is the 3 A's:
Attitude, Alignment, and Action. This refers to a foundational
concept within Anusara yoga in which every pose is infused with
a meaningful intention connected to the grand purposes of yoga,
awareness of specific postural alignment, and balanced action
between stability and freedom. The specific principles include
Muscular Energy and Organic Energy, which are the two
complementary forces that provide each pose with a balanced
action. Other alignment principles include Spirals and Loops,
which help to bring refinement and precision to each pose.
About Anusara Yoga
(from anusara.com)
Anusara
(a-nu-sar-a), means “flowing with Grace,” “flowing with
Nature,” “following your heart.”
Founded by John Friend in 1997, Anusara yoga is a school of
hatha yoga, which unifies a life-affirming Shiva-Shakti Tantric
philosophy of intrinsic goodness with Universal Principles of
Alignment. Anusara yoga has become one of the most highly
respected schools of hatha yoga with over 1,000 licensed yoga
teachers, thousands of teachers in training, and hundreds of
thousands of students worldwide. Anusara yoga has a presence on
every continent throughout the world, excluding Antarctica, and
is in 70 countries, thus attracting media attention worldwide.
Anusara yoga’s remarkable growth is due in large part to its
uplifting philosophy, epitomized by a “celebration of the heart”
that looks for the good in all people and all things.
Consequently, students of all levels of ability and yoga
experience are honored for their unique differences,
limitations, and talents. This celebratory vision sets the basis
for a yoga school in which the harmony and joy of a tightly knit
community of highly trained teachers and fun-loving students is
exalted. This community feels like it has the tightness of a
family, yet the looseness of a merry band of bohemian artists.
The Anusara yoga community is well-networked and organized, yet
there is a strong emphasis on creative freedom and
individuality. Anusara yoga is held together by everyone’s
implicit alliance to the spiritual principles of Anusara yoga
philosophy, such as celebrating beauty in all its diversity,
truthfulness, and honoring the creative freedom of the Divine in
all beings. Everyone is aligned with the truth that Grace plays
the key role in the successful flow of their practice, classes,
and the community itself. Without a rigid dogma, the school is
open to continual change and restructuring. Self-examination,
discovery, and receptivity to new ideas are foundational to this
dynamic system. Individual creativity and investigation are
always encouraged within the bounds of basic alignment
principles and philosophic precepts of Anusara yoga. Anusara
yoga grows with harmony and integrity through the combined
vision of our Anusara yoga teachers to unveil the innate
goodness, worthiness, and Supreme nature of each student and
every being.
About John Levis
 John Levis is a Certified Anusara Yoga Instructor. John completed
his initial teacher training with Todd Norian in 2003. He has also assisted
Todd's immersion and teacher training and continues to study with Anusara
founder, John Friend as well as many senior Anusara instructors having
completed over 1,000 hours of training.
John also had the privilege of assisting senior teacher Desiree
Rumbaugh at the International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh, India in 2007. He
also completed the Thai yoga certification from Shantaya Healing Arts with Jonas
Westring in 2005.
John grew up playing ice-hockey beginning at the age of six and played
throughout high school. He spent most of the nineties in the gym, heavily into
weight-training. In 1999 he was introduced to yoga and left the gym for good the
following year. He found that yoga offered a much better workout without all that
strain on the body and actually found himself one inch taller after the age of
30! Since finding Anusara® Yoga in 2002, he has remained dedicated to The
Universal Principles of Alignment and has relieved chronic back pain. Combining
an amazing, therapeutic workout with a life enhancing, heart opening practice
inspired by a tantric philosophy of intrinsic goodness, John has found his path.
This practice helps him to open up to the full spectrum of life and finds that
teaching inspires and helps others to align with their greatest potential, thus
raising the vibration for all! His classes are fun, inspiring and informative.
He teaches yoga fulltime throughout northern NJ. He offers private one-on-one
instruction, therapeutic yoga, Thai yoga bodywork, corporate and public classes.
John's
passion and contagious energy help make
meaningful correlations between deep desire and profound potential. Students
learn to thoroughly understand the postures and their benefits. Linking
intention to every breath, his classes have a harmonious rhythm. Approaching the
practice with a good sense of humor and natural playfulness, he encourages his
students to play their edge and unveil their potential. The inspiration of this practice has taken John to India, Egypt, Costa Rica and
all over the States as he loves to travel and explore different cultures and
perspectives of life.
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