Freedom from Pain.  Skill in Action.  Evenness of Mind.  This is Yoga... Svaroopa® Yoga...

Part of the comprehensive approach of Svaroopa® Yoga is that we teach according to practical Themes based on the key principles of posture, balance and movement.  Any student can begin practicing in any of the Themes, even those that seem more advanced.  All of the poses are done in a gentle and supportive manner.  This is Yoga for Every Body.

Daily Practice Theme
Key Principle: Yes you can do yoga.  Yes you can be happy.  Every Day.

Freedom from Pain
In the Daily Practice Theme we learn the primary poses for releasing the spine and relieving core the tensions that are at the root of our pain.  We free ourselves from pain.  We learn easy, short daily routines that we can do at home or at the office to maintain open spines and bodies.  This is Freedom from Pain.

Skill in Action
With the Daily Practice Theme we begin to explore a whole new understanding of our bodies.  We live in our bodies differently, more comfortably, with more internal space to breathe and move.  We unleash relaxed, vibrant energies we didn’t know we had.  This is Skill in Action.

Evenness of Mind
The Daily Practice Theme introduces us to the most important poses of yoga- the sitting poses.  The entire purpose of hatha yoga is to prepare us to sit “comfortably enough that we forget our own bodies, yet not so comfortably that we fall asleep.”  Our ability to SIT is the doorway to deep meditation, which is the fundamental yoga practice.  This is Evenness of Mind.

 
Lower Spine Release (also known as Hip Openers)
Key Principle: Open the spine and the whole body opens.  It all begins with the tailbone.

Freedom from Pain
Lower Spine Release teaches us the magic of releasing tension in the lower spine, starting with the tailbone.  The tailbone is the center point of the body and tension around the tailbone causes tension throughout the whole body.  This causes pain.  Releasing the tailbone releases the whole body.  This is Freedom from Pain.

Skill in Action
Many of the poses introduced in this Theme are called “Hip Openers” elsewhere.  When done with a focus on the superficial muscle groups they over-stretch the hip joint ligaments and de-stabilize the pelvic girdle (see *Release vs. Stretching).  The spinal muscles then contract in order to maintain our posture.  The Svaroopa® approach uses these same poses to actually by-pass the superficial muscles and release spinal tension.  Our bodies become more stable and balanced and we become ready to learn a whole new way of moving.  This is Skill in Action.

Evenness of Mind
Open the spine and your mind opens.  Our spine houses our central nerve canal and when the spine is tight the spinal column is restricted and our bodies’ communication systems are frustrated.  Open the spine, open the central nerve canal, open the connection between your head and the rest of your Self and your mind will INSTANTLY calm down and quiet.  This is Evenness of Mind- (it all begins with the tailbone).

Upper Spine Release
Key Principle: Open your whole spine and your arms and legs become stronger.

Freedom from Pain
Upper Spine Release teaches us how to use the Svaroopa® yoga principles of release to open the second tightest point in our spines- directly behind the heart.  When the base of the spine and ribcage are tight it causes us to over-use the waist and neck areas, making them hyper-flexible and weak- susceptible to all sorts of injury and pain.  By releasing the whole spine we begin to support the weaker areas of our spine and bring balance back into our movement.  This is Freedom from Pain.

Skill in Action
Normally we use our back muscles for everything, sort of dragging our heavy limbs along with us.  When we open the spine our arms and legs naturally become stronger and more effective.  Be can begin to rely on the natural dynamics of our bodies’ physical strength, allowing our core to stay open and flexible.  This is Skill in Action.

Evenness of Mind
As we practice our Upper Spine Release poses we become increasingly aware of our whole spine and each individual vertebra of the spine.  Awareness is the magic ingredient that leads us to greater health and deeper understanding of our Selves.  Opening the spine behind the heart immediately calms the mind.  We can sink into the patient curiosity that we call awareness.  This is Evenness of Mind.

Backbends
Key Principle: Opening the body in a different direction changes everything.

Freedom from Pain
Backbends are the most important direction of movement for unfolding us from our perpetual forward bend (sitting in the car, at the office, in front of the TV).  As we age our bodies become stuck in this habitual forward bend, causing discomfort and injuries in the process.  Svaroopa® Yoga uses a very gentle approach to backbends providing a safe and effective opening of the spine in the opposite direction.  This is Freedom from Pain.

Skill in Action
Backbends deepen the opening in the spine and create greater flexibility throughout the whole body.  We can begin to move and bend in new directions.  We uncurl our Selves and literally open up to the world, allowing for greater awareness and perception.  Our reflexes become quicker and more decisive.  We respond to the world more wisely.  This is Skill in Action.

Evenness of Mind
Backbends allow our bodies to move in new directions, allowing our minds to move in new directions.  Greater awareness and openness grants us new perspectives on old nagging ideas.  Solutions come easier and worries fall away as trust and confidence in our Selves grow.  This is Evenness of Mind.


Standing
Key Principle: Take your yoga with you.

Freedom from Pain
With this theme we learn that freedom from pain does not rely on rolling around on the floor.  We get up and begin not only using standing poses to release the spine but learning how to settle into the support of our own bones to maintain an open spine.  We begin to truly get a sense that we can work, play and live without strain or effort.  This is Freedom from Pain.

Skill in Action
By developing our ability to settle into our bones and maintain an open spine we learn tha we can do “hard” things, even “hard” poses, without tightening up.   In fact, in Svaroopa® we can actually use these “hard” poses to achieve some of our deepest and most powerful releases.  As we learn essential principles that allow us to carry those changes into our everyday way of doing things, those “hard” things actually become easy and rewarding.  This is Skill in Action.

Evenness of Mind
Taking your yoga with you means taking your bliss with you.  Settling into our bones allows us to come into a natural state of deep inner balance.  Our sense of Self becomes unwavering and we find that even in the ups and downs of everyday life we can make choices that arise from integrity and our own Self-knowing.  This is Evenness of Mind.

Forward Bends
Key Principle: Forward Bends cultivate an attitude of yogic surrender.

Freedom from Pain
In our previous themes we have developed our ability to open our spines and free our bodies from pain.  They have prepared us for the deeper freedom from pain that we begin to understand with Forward Bends.  Forward Bends are heart openers, gently revealing our more powerful emotions and freeing us from our misperceptions of our own feelings. We begin to know a rich and sustained joy.  This is Freedom from Pain.

Skill in Action
Building on the principles of inner support that we learned with Standing poses we begin introducing more dynmaic forward bends, such as the infamous Downward Facing Dog.  Amazingly, as students integrate the use of their arm and leg strength (see Upper Spine Release), their abdominal muscles (Abdominals) and their ability to settle into the support of their bones (see Standing) these “strenuous” poses not only become easy, they become deliciously comfortable and restful.  The whole body opens effortlessly with a sumptuous lengthening.  This is Skill in Action.

Evenness of Mind
Forward Bends are heart openers.  As the heart opens the mind quiets.  It’s that simple.  This is Evenness of Mind.

Neck and Shoulders
Key Principle: When you release the lower spine you release the neck and shoulders.

Freedom from Pain
Most of us easily recognize pain and tension in our neck and shoulders.  What we may not recognize is that this tension is rooted in the lower spine.  With this theme we learn that when you release the lower spine (the tailbone and sacrum) you release the whole spine, reminding us of what we learned in Lower Spine Release- when you open the spine the whole body opens.  By simply releasing the base of the spine we can release the rest of the spine, creating sustained relief of pain and tension in the neck and shoulders and throughout the whole body.  This is Freedom from Pain. 

Skill in Action
One of the most valuable elements of this theme is learning the difference between a superficial release in the body (see Release vs. Stretching below) and the releasing of the deep tensions that are at the root of all of our tension.  Using some carefully selected superficial maneuvers we monitor the changes achieved by opening the spine and deepen our appreciation of core release.  We begin to make more informed choices about how to treat the painful symptoms of tension in our bodies.  This is Skill in Action. 

Evenness of Mind
Our necks are the narrowest channel in our bodies and nagging neck and shoulder pain is a sign that tensions have become “bottled up.”  Communications between the head and the heart and the rest of the body have been cut, allowing our minds to race off in all sorts of crazy directions.  By releasing the tensions in the neck and shoulders we open up those lines of communication and the mind immediately quiets, settling into the comfort of the rest of the body.  This is Evenness of Mind.


Balance and Inversions
Key Principle: Open the spine to find the point of effortless balance instead of tightening to create a false sense of balance.

Freedom from Pain
Some of our most subtle and stubborn tensions arise from a deep internal tightening as we try to maintain our balance.  Interestingly, these same tensions are at the root of the misalignments that set us off balance in the first place.  These tensions layer, snowballing into conditions that cause chronic discomfort and pain in the body.  As we open our core we can settle into a natural easy state of balance.  This is Freedom from Pain.

Skill in Action
Finding the balance point is not easy.  This is why we have meticulously built up your body’s deeper awareness and ability to settle into your bones (see Standing).  Beginning with the balance poses such as Stork and Tree we get a glimpse of our natural balance point.  Then we turn it upside down and find it in our inversion poses such as Plow.  The ability to rest in the balance point changes these poses completely- making them, not only accessible to everyone, but absolutely wonderful to experience.  This is Skill in Action.

Evenness of Mind
Find your physical balance and you will automatically find mental balance.  Turn your Self upside down and your perspective will change, becoming clearer and more open.  This is Evenness of Mind.


Classical
Key Principle: You can do those poses you see on the cover of magazines- WITHOUT tightening your spine or hurting yourself.

Freedom from Pain
Once you understand the true dynamics of the body you can work with it more intelligently, doing seemingly difficult things without hurting yourself.  This is the core of Svaroopa® Yoga’s approach to hatha yoga.  The previous nine themes have taught you what you need to know to do a dynamic and seemingly strenuous yoga practice without injury.  This theme helps you to truly grasp the vast possibilities of this knowledge.  This is Freedom from Pain.

Skill in Action
The principles you have learned so far allow you to continue a deeper and more demanding yoga practice.  The understanding that you have developed is going to allow you to take these same principles with you into you every day activities.  You have already begun doing things differently.  Your deeper awareness and sense of balance and openness grace almost everything you do- almost.  This theme allows you to take your understanding into your more difficult daily tasks.  This is Skill in Action.

Evenness of Mind
When the body works the mind will quiet.  This is what keeps workout facilities in business.  Fortunately you don’t have to push your physical limits to dangerous extremes to achieve this quieting of the mind.  Engage your deeper faculties of awareness with your physical activity and your mind quiets easily.  This is the gift of the Classical theme.  This is Yoga.  This is Evenness of Mind.


Vinyasa
Key Principle: Bringing it all together, so you can move, live and thrive, opening more and more.

Freedom from Pain
We’ve all heard the joke- “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.”—“Well, then don’t do that!”  Often we don’t even notice our pain until we move, and it is most likely the very movement that hurts which is continuing to tighten our spines and cause further tension in the body.  We live our lives in motion, therefore learning to move while opening the spine, or at least not tightening it, is invaluable to living pain free.  With the Svaroopa® approach to Vinyasa we can learn to move in a whole new, open way.  This is Freedom from Pain.

Skill in Action
Vinyasa means putting together, connecting, or composition.  In hatha yoga it means the sequencing of poses that flow together.  This is one of the rewards of the deep yoga practice that we develop through the Svaroopa® themes- the full, dynamic grace of our own ease and freedom of movement.  This is Skill in Action.

Evenness of Mind
As we learn the ease of flow that is possible in the body, so our minds can settle into that same flow.  Our thoughts cease to be lumbering, heavy ideas that won’t leave us alone.  They take on a softer, more graceful rhythm that is actually the voice of Awareness.  This is Evenness of Mind.


Seated Poses and Twists
Key Principle: All of hatha yoga is to prepare you to sit, and twists make sitting much easier.

Freedom from Pain
Sitting is the most important practice in hatha yoga.  A seated pose should be steady and comfortable.  Yet for most of us sitting still for any amount of time is difficult and painful.  Using the props and precision alignments of Svaroopa® yoga we can sit comfortably, without straining for balance or support.  Twists are some of the most effective ways of providing a deeper opening inside, allowing us to settle into the easy motionless of the sitting poses.  This is Freedom from Pain.

Skill in Action
The foundation of yoga’s Skill in Action is the dual ability to be inwardly soft and open while the body is active and working, and to be active and working on the inside, with vibrant, diligent Awareness, while the body is at rest, such as when sitting.  We have been learning both of these skills throughout all of the themes, yet our attention is more often captured by the inner softening, while the body is in motion.  With our final theme we move into the deeper purpose of yoga- the vibrant, diligent Awareness that arises when we learn how to sit.  This is Skill in Action.

Evenness of Mind
Twists are one of the most effective ways of opening the spine and have a profoundly calming effect on the mind.  They balance the ida and pingala (left and right sides of the brain).  Twists allow for a much deeper state of meditation.  It is here that your true, blissful nature arises.  This is Evenness of Mind. 


Svaroopa®... Yoga that Opens...