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Svaroopa: It Will Change you!

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Tuesdays     9:30a & 7:00

Thursdays     9:30a & 5:30

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SVAROOPA

To register, please call Inspirit Common at 413.585.1169

Svaroopa is a sanskit word that means "bliss in your own being." This offers a glimpse into what Svaroopa yoga® can offer. Unlike other styles of yoga that focus on physical changes like strength and flexibility, Svaroopa yoga can also help you heal, transform and find inner peace. Svaroopa is a meditative form of yoga that begins and ends with shavasana, a period of relaxation and meditation. During shavasana, all muscles can relax completely because of the support of blankets and blocks. Support is used in almost all of Svaroopa yoga, because the focus of these poses is on alignment and release, to attain an opening. Openings start in the tailbone and progress up the spine, and these openings have an affect on the entire body, as well as the mind. With an opening, you become more relaxed and feel more in control of your whole life. This is what can bring you peace and bliss.

In Svaroopa yoga, the opening of the spine begins at the tailbone. The first pose of the magic four is slow motion dive, which relaxes the muscles around the tailbone and releases it. Another pose that release the tailbone are alternate leg. The release of the tailbone may seem like just a part of a whole sequence, but it is the most important opening in Svaroopa yoga. The tailbone sets the stage for the alignment of the entire spine. By releasing the tailbone, the rest of the spine can align and release at the sacrum, waist and ribcage. You can get some release these places without the tailbone, but it is more effective to do the tailbone first. Acelebrated chiropractor, writes of the problems that a misaligned tailbone can cause: these include knee problems, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, panic attacks and migraines. What happens in a misaligned tailbone is that the muscles around it become tight and weak, which pulls the tailbone in either direction, misaligning the pelvis and spine. This causes problems all over the body, like clenching in the hips and back and neck. Another problem of this is that clenched muscles keep weight from being supported by the bones, and instead are supported by the muscles. This idea that bones, not muscles, should be used for support is another main principle of Svaroopa yoga.

Svaroopa yoga can help to keep your muscles loose, open and relaxed by showing you how to use your bones, not muscles, for support. Personally, I notice that when I am stressed or I do not get enough sleep, my gluts are sore. Other people complain about shoulder or back pain, but I have never really suffered from that. I realized that this is because of how much tension I carry in my butt when I am stressed or tired. When we end classes standing in anjali mudra and say namaste, we are reminded to relax our gluts and engage our abs and lean into our feet. This simple change, just standing a different way, makes a huge difference. Now, what I notice that I am clenching muscles that can be soft, and I try to stand back on my heels so that my weight can sink into my bones, and not on muscles.

Tight muscles are weak muscles is another major principle of Svaroopa yoga. When a muscle remains clenched for a long time, when it is tight, it does not get the amount of blood that it needs, making it undernourished and weak. Many people believe that muscles should be stretched, worked out and that tightening them makes it stronger. However, people who suffer from back pain know that this isn't true: by relaxing painful muscles, tension is eased and the pain subsides.

Propping in Svaroopa yoga poses is very important. Rama Birch created Svaroopa yoga when she became frustrated at students who tried to force their bodies into certain poses using muscles, instead of letting the natural alignments of the body happen. Propping allows these alignments, caused by certain angles, to occur when the muscles can relax into their propping. In seated side stretch, for example, if there were no propping under the leg, leg muscles would have to work to hold that leg up. This tight muscle would keep the entire body from sinking into the sit bones and into the pose itself. This setting up of angles and allowing the body to relax into certain angles is very different from forcing a muscle to stretch. Stretching forces you to engage certain muscles, which is not what Svaroopa yoga aims to achieve. Although stretching has many benefits, releasing muscles has a more long-term effect on your physical as well as mental health.

This mental health aspect is what began yoga, and is a major part of what attracts people to Svaroopa yoga. Inner peace and bliss can be attained, or if you are just an average person, at least a better kinesthetic sense and less tension and stress. After practicing Svaroopa yoga for a few weeks, you begin to notice your body more. You notice when muscles are tight, when your posture takes weight away from your bones. You learn how to relax muscles, breathe deeper and adjust your posture. This has a significant affect on your mind. You become less frazzled, and more peaceful. Rama Birch writes about the energy of the spine flowing upward from the tailbone, an energy called kundalini. This energy causes bliss, and doing yoga allows this energy to flow without the obstructions of tightness in the spine. By relaxing our bodies and quieting our minds, yoga allows us to experience bliss (or, if that is a tall order, at least something happier than life without yoga).