Recently featured in Yoga International is Svaroopa® yoga, which offers a new way to experience yoga practice: releasing tensions in the deepest layers of muscle along the spine to experience core openings.

 

The poses begin with muscles that connect to the tailbone—the pivot point of the body—and sequence up the spine through the lower back, waist, rib cage, shoulders, neck and head. Simultaneous to these upward changes, the hips, legs and feet begin to realign as well, and the whole body changes, from the inside, out.

 

The core release along the spine happens with precise alignments in carefully selected poses. Instead of straining to hold a pose with inherent tension, your body is supported by blankets, allowing it to release into the pose, getting immediate, reliable results. You begin to experience one of the basic principles of Svaroopa® yoga, “support equals release.” Leaning into the angles of the poses will enable you to let go of deep tensions and unconscious holding patterns in your spine and in your body.

 

With the poses, significant physical changes begin to occur: as the deep core muscles release, the nerves, tissue, organs and bones that have been compressed within those muscles also become less and less constricted. The body’s systems—respiration, circulation, digestion and elimination—begin to find their natural balance and improve. This core opening relieves aches and pains as the body moves toward restored health and vitality.

 

The inner spaciousness that you feel in your body also affects your mind and heart. In the practice of leaning into yourself and finding support, you begin to experience shifts in relationship to yourself, to others and to your life. Learning to let go and finding deep release within yourself translates to a different—and more effective—means of living, one of less straining, efforting and pushing.

 

With the continued practice of Svaroopa® yoga, you can learn to find this easeful state within yourself and to access it on your own. This is yoga’s promise: the moment your mind becomes still, you are able to live fully in the present moment.

 

The 90-minute classes are designed to meet you where you are in your body, personalized to your needs. For this reason, class sizes are small—up to 8 people. In home practice, you can release core muscles along the spine in as little as 20 minutes, using sequences of reliable poses.