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A Woman’s Journey into Yoga
by Raheena Charania

The Roots of Yoga

Classical yoga was originally introduced as a philosophical and a spiritual practice by the physician and sage, Patanjali, through the Yoga Sutras, guidelines on how to live one’s life. One of these sutras (or eight limbs) is Hatha yoga, the physical practice of yoga. Over the years, many different styles have emerged. However, the ultimate goal of yoga, no matter what form it takes, is to bring us to the eighth limb, Samadhi, a place of deep, lasting peace and boundless joy.

Ananda Yoga for Higher Awareness

Ananda yoga teaches classical Hatha yoga with the unique contribution of affirmations.

Willow Kushler, director of Ananda Yoga, Seattle, says, “By comparison to many other styles, Ananda yoga would be considered gentle, but let this not fool you. It’s quite dynamic. Through asana (postures), pranayam (breath awareness and control), affirmations, inner awareness, and brief moments of meditation, Ananda yoga offers the practitioner direct experiences of our higher nature – peaceful, joyful and energetic. It’s not about looking like the perfect pose in the magazine, but finding that appropriate place in the asana to benefit each individual. As Americans, we’re constantly putting our energy outward to achieve, to succeed. At Ananda Yoga, we practice on working consciously to withdraw that outward moving energy inward to experience a deep, inner stillness.”

Kushler’s Journey: “I began in my 20s, but wasn’t inspired by yoga. I didn’t understand what I was supposed to be getting out of it. When I came to Ananda eight years ago, I became aware of yoga not just being a physical form of exercise but an internal transformation. I was completely inspired.”

Anusara Yoga

Founded in 1997 by John Friend, Anusara means “flowing with grace” and “following your heart.” This philosophy is deeply integrated into the physical practice; yoga poses, based on a set of Universal Principles of Alignment, are expressed from the “inside out.”

“Once you learn these Universal Principles of alignment: opening to grace, muscular energy, inner spiral, outer spiral and organic energy, you can apply it to any Hatha yoga posture or practice,” says yoga instructor Kayla Black. “We have an optimal blueprint of our body when we’re born, and it’s about returning to this optimal blueprint, both structurally and artistically aligning into our fullest human potential. Applying spirals and loops through a dance of muscular (inward-flowing) and organic (outward-flowing) energy. But first and foremost, it’s about opening to grace and finding our own individual divinity in the practice.”

Denise Benitez, founder of Seattle Yoga Arts, says, “Everyone has different abilities and limitations regardless of age, and we emphasize beginning compassionately where you are, and cultivating the willingness and courage to create change, which is possible at any age.”

Black’s Journey: “I grew up around yoga. All the moms on the block would gather in the living room and do yoga. Rebelling and rejecting, I became a competitive and often reckless athlete. I got back into yoga as an actress in New York City, when I wanted to stay in shape but had injured my body playing soccer and skiing. I’ve chosen to study with many different and wonderful teachers and have kept my yoga practice eclectic, but Anusara is something that I’ve latched onto because it’s helped me physically overcome a lot of limitations, as well as emotionally and mentally. After I injured my feet and was forced to stop running, Anusara helped me therapeutically. Also after I injured my voice, I found by working with my breath through pranayama, doing plough pose, and working with the shoulder loop, I was able to drop into my diaphragm, go into a recording studio and knock something out, being centered in the midst of what is often a highly technical, high pressure situation. Needless to say, yoga keeps me sane while raising sons and staying married.”

Benitez’s Journey: “I’ve been practicing yoga for over 30 years, and practicing and teaching the Anusara style for the past five. I find myself drawn more and more to the metaphysical aspects of yoga, that is, philosophy, subtle attention, and awareness of energy. At the same time, as I get older (I’m 52), I still truly enjoy physical challenge and the inspiring fact that our bodies can and do get more flexible and stronger as we age. Just the decision to practice yoga creates the momentum for an expanded quality of energy to come into your world.”

Ashtanga Yoga

Ashtanga Yoga, sometimes called Power Yoga or Vinyasa Yoga, is a strong, athletic practice. It involves a flowing series of postures, linking breath to movement.

“What people like about Ashtanga is that it’s physically challenging, and also pushes the limits of their mental comfort zone,” says Molly Kenny, founder of the Samarya Center in Seattle. “For instance, if we take the same pose, the first day you might be struggling with the basics, getting your body into the position. A year later, you’re wondering how to ground down into this place, rebound up out of it, and bring more subtle energy down your spine. You come to these completely different places. I think Ashtanga yoga involves great awareness, constant self-reflection, and inner courage, not so much the courage to do the practice but the courage to know your limits.”

Kenny’s Journey: “I got into Ashtanga taking classes at a gym six years ago. As a speech-language pathologist, I realized that my clients would benefit from something that was holistic and experiential. Rather than looking at people in terms of what’s wrong with them, yoga always demands that we look at what’s right in people. It’s first and foremost a spiritual and philosophical discipline, and everything has to be put into that context.”

Wen’s Journey: Yoga teacher Katerina Wen has been practicing yoga for 17 years and teaching for seven. Her style of yoga remains a Vinyasa-based practice, connecting breath to movement. One of the areas she specializes in is working with HIV-positive patients. “There’s a wide spectrum of stages people can be in when they have immune disorders, but you want to encourage them all to build inner strength and give them tools to stoke that inner fire. It’s very important because when the temperature’s low or they’re at an emotionally low point, that’s when they become most vulnerable. Restorative poses are important for dealing with stress, as is breath work. If they learn techniques to calm themselves, they can find that quietness within.”

Bikram Yoga/Hot Yoga

In Bikram yoga and Hot yoga, the room temperature is kept between 90 and 105 degrees to allow for deeper stretching of muscles and to detoxify the body. The practice involves a series of 26 postures in a classic Hatha yoga style, which are held anywhere from 20 seconds to one minute. The class begins with a breathing exercise for warming the body and ends with another for eliminating toxins.

“I’ve practiced other styles of yoga but nothing as intensively as Bikram yoga,” says Sara Griffin, who teaches at Yoga College of India, Seattle. “I like the rigor and discipline of it. It’s very effective for bringing you into the moment. I think you hear more about the heat with Bikram yoga than the actual yoga series, but the series of postures, I think, is where the true value really lies. That’s what it’s about. The heat is just an added quality.”

“With Hot yoga, there’s a little more freestyle than Bikram,” explains Corina Ostebovik, owner of Hot Yoga of Issaquah. “We have the flexibility to change something within the series and replace it with an equivalent posture. One posture prepares you for the next. In the beginning, be prepared for some adjustment to practicing in the heat, but once people get used to it, they actually miss the heat when it’s not there. It allows them to go to a deeper level.”

Bakke’s Journey: Physical therapist and yoga therapist Brenda Bakke was drawn to Bikram yoga as a triathlete. “I thought it would be a good physical workout, and it was,” says Bakke. “It worked every muscle and joint and worked flexibility, stability, and strength. Not knowing anything about yoga, I liked the intensity, although chronic, older injuries began to surface again, and I had to stop. Unless you really know your body and have a good awareness, it’s easy to push yourself over the limit. But I did find it, after a while, meditative in its own way because it really brings you inside your body, and in that way it becomes very focusing.”

Hatha Yoga

Although all physical yoga is Hatha yoga, this term is sometimes used to describe the classical form of yoga. Hatha literally means “sun” (ha) and “moon” (tha), and implies the balance of opposites within a person. Ananda, Integral, and Sivananda yoga are some forms of this style.

Guzak’s Journey: Karen Guzak, visual artist and owner of Yoga Circle Studios in Snohomish, didn’t begin yoga until age 50. Sixteen years later, she has her own yoga studio offering an eclectic blend of Hatha, Kundalini, and Vinyasa yoga, and teaches 10 classes a week. “When I began taking classes in Hatha yoga, I had this ‘AHA!’ experience. The idea of binding opposites in harmonious ways to create energy, tension, and diversity is a principle I’ve used for many years in my own artwork. I find the older I get, the more my sense of well-being and peace of mind is at the fore of what I want in my life, and yoga is so wonderful for that.”

Iyengar Yoga

Iyengar yoga uses props such as blocks, blankets, straps, and even sandbags to obtain optimal body alignment in poses, paying attention to every detail.

Jansen’s Journey: Dawn Jansen is founder of Jai Ma Yoga Studio. “All styles have something to offer. There’s this interesting bridge that takes place when you simply begin to build awareness of your own body, how that bridges into deeper and more meaningful aspects of self. In my 20s, Ashtanga was great. I could jump around, I could fly, but once I had a baby, I felt like I needed to adjust my style. I began utilizing the Iyengar style with some props and alignment techniques in my practice and teaching style. Yoga will always be in my life, and the way that I practice and teach will continue to evolve based on my own discovery and awareness of my body, its potential and limitations.”

Kundalini Yoga

Awakening kundalini refers to the unlimited potential that resides in every person, and Kundalini yoga holds the belief that yoga is more than just a practice. It’s a way of life, incorporating aspects such as a vegetarian diet, serving others, and living in spiritual communities.

Khalsa’s Journey: Author and Kundalini yoga teacher Shakta Kaur Khalsa began practicing yoga 32 years ago. She has taught for 28 years. “It’s important to know that Kundalini yoga has many of the same postures as (classical) Hatha yoga, but we make it more dynamic by adding, for example, a movement or breathing exercise. The movement works to move the energy in the body in a dynamic way. I think that’s one of the reasons why it works quickly on the body. It’s very transformational. When I do Hatha yoga, I feel really strong and healthy, straight and centered, and I do feel some transformation. But when I do Kundalini yoga, I feel I go through a change. I felt like I was in one place when I started and I’m in a very different place when I’m done, and sometimes I even have insights as to how my mind changed or how I dropped some old pattern from my past.”

Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga

“When women come to yoga class, they’re learning about themselves, their baby, and the culture they live in, and they gather information to make educated choices,” says Colette Crawford, director of the Seattle Holistic Center. “Many women say they didn’t think they could do it, but then something rose up inside of them, they stayed with their breath and the next thing they knew, they’d had their baby. And when a woman has her baby in that way, the incredible confidence and strength that it builds, nobody can take that away from her, and it will serve her and her family for her whole life.”

Crawford’s Journey: Crawford has a background in nursing and specializes in women’s health. She began practicing yoga 33 years ago, and has taught for the past 20. “My asana practice has deepened where I’m not so into the physical contortions, but I’m using it to go into the subtler bodies. What it’s done is led me into deeper meditation where I experience more stillness. It’s also allowed me to feel when my body is out of balance. As I practice, I can see where I need to be more restorative or move more vigorously. I’m aware of all the subtle changes, and it’s helped immensely with menopause. I think when you practice yoga, your hormones are in a more balanced state. We’re all bound to grow older, but we can age gracefully. If you look at somebody who’s aged gracefully and is really in touch with herself, there’s a tremendous amount of prana (vitality) that’s unmistakable. We can all have that, but we must make choices that will lead us in that direction versus choices that mask the body’s natural direction.”

Viniyoga or Therapeutic Yoga

Viniyoga is considered more a methodology than a style, emphasizing function rather than form. This yoga is adapted to each individual’s needs, and is often used for therapeutic purposes. For instance, the same posture for abdominal strengthening would vary greatly between someone who just had a baby and someone training for a triathlon, with 20 variations in between.

Robin Rothenberg, director of the Yoga Barn in Issaquah, runs a therapeutic yoga program for those with chronic illnesses. “I’m definitely not just an asana teacher,” says Rothenberg. “I bring in the Yoga Sutras, do a lot of pranayama work, meditation, personal inquiry and self-reflection. Wherever the student’s coming from, I need to meet them. Some people are in chairs for the whole class. Others stay on the floor. We do use props and address alignment in the Iyengar style because to me that’s the baseline for the physical practice. At the same time, my classes are oriented in a Viniyoga style, which is a breath-oriented practice and there’s a flow to the sequencing.”

Rothenberg’s Journey: Rothenberg began practicing yoga 19 years ago after a premature labor. “Yoga was my way of gaining my health back, physically, emotionally, and psychologically. When I first started, it was always about perfecting the pose. Somehow if I could only do these beautiful postures like my friend, Kat, who was a dancer, then I’d be happy. The body for me was the doorway to begin to look into my mind and notice the rigidity and judgment that was there, and into my heart. It’s been a process for me of softening, becoming a more compassionate and gentle person. Now it doesn’t really matter how long my hamstrings are. I get that’s what it’s not about, even if I perfected a pose. Part of tending and loving myself is to have a strong asana practice, but to also incorporate these other aspects as well so that my body, mind, and spirit get fed through the practice.”

Medically Speaking …

The beauty of yoga is that it gives you whatever your body needs. Different people doing the same pose will feel tension in different places. Yoga creates balance by stretching muscles that are tight and strengthening those that are weak. It improves range of motion around the joints, encouraging flexibility, and develops balance and posture.

Although many of the medical benefits are anecdotal, studies do show that people who practice yoga regularly have increased lung capacity and improved circulation. It has also been shown to decrease blood pressure, encourage relaxation, reducing stress and anxiety. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998 showed that yoga reduced pain and increased grip strength in people with carpal tunnel syndrome. Many hospitals offer yoga classes.

Yoga Alliance

It’s important to note that yoga currently has no licensing requirements and is an unregulated field. However, Yoga Alliance (www.yogaalliance.org) maintains a nonprofit registry of registered yoga teachers. To be registered, teachers must meet Yoga Alliance’s standards at either a 200 (basic) or 500 (advanced) hour level of education. When the name of the style is altered (i.e. Hot Yoga as opposed to Bikram Yoga, or Power Yoga or Vinyasa as opposed to Ashtanga), this often implies that the yoga offered has been modified in some way to reflect the instructor’s individual teaching style.

The Eight Limbs of Yoga

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras provide a framework for how to conduct one’s life and awaken one’s highest self.

Yama (YAH-mah) – codes of morality and the practice of self-restraint
Niyama (Nih-YAH-mah) – self-discipline and self-awareness
Asana (AH-sun-ah) – physical postures
Pranayama (PRAH-nah-YA-mah) – breathing techniques
Pratyahara (PRAH-tyah-HAH-rah) – detachment; becoming aware of one’s thoughts and controlling the mind
Dharana (dah-RAH-nah) – focusing the mind on a single point
Dhyana (dee-YAH-nah) – deep meditation
Samadhi (sah-MAH-dee) – ecstasy or bliss

©2005 Caliope Publishing Company