Anusara Yoga

Founding in 1997

The Anusara School of Hatha Yoga states that Anusara was founded in 1997 by John Friend, an American-born teacher described on the school's page as a senior Iyengar teacher, who wished to add a heart-centered connection to the alignment principles of Iyengar Yoga. A scholarly encyclopedia entry on the World Religions and Spirituality Project (WRSP) likewise dates the establishment of Anusara, Inc. to 1997 and describes Anusara as a brand of postural hatha yoga developed under his leadership.

The same WRSP entry links the style to Tantra and to Siddha Yoga and notes that its founder traveled in India in 1989. These are the entry's own framing of the style's background, and the sources reviewed do not trace a documented line from classical Tantric texts to the specific alignment method taught under the Anusara name.

Reorganization in 2012 and the later school

The WRSP entry reports that, after public controversy in early 2012, Anusara, Inc. restructured and a large number of instructors left over the following months; the entry gives a figure of about 700. It also reports that the founder resumed teaching independently in October 2012, and that the Anusara School of Hatha Yoga incorporated in November 2012 as a teacher-owned school managed by licensed teachers, with some former teachers forming a separate, non-affiliated network.

The school's own page states that the rights to teach Anusara were transferred to the school in 2012, that it was formed by an international group of teachers, and that it became a nonprofit organization in 2017. It describes itself as a global, teacher-led organization governed by a board of directors and operating in more than 45 countries. This page does not describe the 2012 controversy itself; the sources reviewed present it differently, and it is not needed to describe the practice.

The name and the school's vocabulary

The school's page connects the name to the Sanskrit element sara, which it glosses as both essence and flow. The school uses the word kula for its community of teachers, students and practitioners, and it gives its aim as joy and peace (ananda). Its description of the philosophy is a non-dual Tantric teaching, influenced by classical Indian yoga, in which practice is presented as a way to recognize an underlying goodness rather than to correct a flaw.

Two formulations of the style's core structure appear in the sources. The school's introductory page names three pillars: a life-affirming Tantric philosophy, the Universal Principles of Alignment, and the community of the Anusara Kula. The WRSP entry instead summarizes the foundations as attitude, alignment and action, with attitude described as opening to Grace.

Relation to other yoga pages

Anusara Yoga is a member of the family described on the Machipedia page Yoga Styles and is a modern postural form of Hatha Yoga, the broader category covered on the Yoga and Hatha Yoga pages. The school's founding account places it in relation to Iyengar Yoga, whose alignment emphasis it says the founder wished to complement, while the WRSP entry associates its philosophy with Tantra, which has its own Machipedia page. Both relationships are described by the school and by one encyclopedia entry; the sources reviewed do not compare Anusara's methods with those of other styles.

The five Universal Principles of Alignment

The school lists five Universal Principles of Alignment: Open to Grace, Muscle Energy, Inner Spiral, Outer Spiral and Organic Expansion. Its introductory page describes them as a set of five guiding principles for the physical body that are intended to apply across postures and to make the practice both spiritual and body-oriented. The sources reviewed state the names of the principles but not the detailed instructions for applying them, and this page does not give those instructions.

Class structure as described

The WRSP entry describes the practice as centered on held postures, focused attention and breath control (see Pranayama), with an emphasis on heart qualities. It reports that classes typically open with an invocation and a spoken theme and end with a final relaxation pose. The school's introductory page does not describe class structure, so this account rests on a single outside description and may not match every teacher or studio.

Purposes stated by the school

The school presents the purposes of practice in terms of philosophy, alignment and community. Its page names joy and peace as the aim of practice and builds a community of the heart, and its introductory page describes Anusara as an all-inclusive yoga in which each student's abilities and limitations are honored. The school's mission, as summarized on its page, centers on Tantric philosophy, self-inquiry and human potential.

What the sources reviewed do not claim

The school pages and the encyclopedia entry reviewed describe Anusara as a yoga style and a teaching community. They do not state that it treats, prevents or reduces any named medical condition, and this page does not make such claims on their behalf. General statements that yoga is used for stress or back pain come from reviews of yoga as a whole and are covered under research.

Studies of Anusara itself

No controlled trial, systematic review or other clinical study of Anusara Yoga was identified for this page. A PubMed search for Anusara and yoga returned no records. A search for Anusara alone returned three records, none about yoga; in each the word appears as a given name in an author list. A Europe PMC full-text search for Anusara together with yoga returned 37 records, and the first 25 titles were general yoga studies, none identified as a study of the Anusara style. The absence of studies is not evidence for or against any effect.

Yoga research as context

A 2022 Cochrane review of yoga for chronic non-specific low back pain included 21 randomized trials with 2,223 adults. Compared with no exercise at three months, yoga produced small improvements in function (low-certainty evidence) and pain (moderate-certainty evidence), both below the review's thresholds for clinical importance; compared with other back-focused exercise there was probably little or no difference in function, and the effect on pain was uncertain. The trials were unblinded, none used a sham yoga comparison, and the trials covered a range of yoga programs.

The sources reviewed do not report which trials, if any, taught Anusara, so these findings cannot be attributed to this style. The NCCIH page on yoga notes that many different styles exist, from gentle to physically demanding, and that differences between styles make research results hard to evaluate.

Injury and adverse events in yoga

A 2013 systematic review of published case reports and case series identified 76 cases of adverse events associated with yoga, most commonly affecting the musculoskeletal system (27 cases), the nervous system (14) and the eyes (9). Headstand was the posture most often involved. The authors note that case reports cannot estimate how often events occur and that few reports named the style, and no Anusara-specific reports were identified among the sources reviewed.

In the 2022 Cochrane review, adverse events were more frequent with yoga than with no exercise, mainly increased back pain, and similar to other exercise; no serious harms were linked to yoga in those trials. NCCIH states that yoga is generally considered safe for healthy people when practiced properly with a qualified instructor, that serious injuries are rare, and that beginners are advised to avoid extreme practices such as headstands, shoulder stands, the lotus position and forceful breathing.

Suitability and care boundaries

NCCIH advises pregnant women, older adults and people with health conditions to talk with their health care provider and instructor, since some poses may need to be avoided or modified; examples include knee or hip injuries, lumbar spine disease, severe high blood pressure, balance problems and glaucoma. It also advises against using yoga to postpone seeing a provider about a medical problem. Yoga should not replace or delay necessary medical care.

Teacher licensing as published by the school

The school licenses its own teachers. Its entry-level Elements license (L1-EAYT) requires completing a 200-hour Anusara teacher training that includes a 100-hour immersion with an Anusara Teacher Trainer, and acceptance of the school's ethical guidelines. The Inspired license (L2-IAYT) requires a class assessment with an Anusara mentor and agreement to the school's code of ethics; teachers advancing from L1 need at least two years of teaching and 30 hours of continuing education over three years, while teachers trained elsewhere need four years of teaching, a 200-hour certificate from a Yoga Alliance-registered school and 100 hours of Anusara education.

These are the school's own standards and were not independently verified. The sources reviewed identified no statutory regulation of yoga teachers or independent accreditation of the school's licenses beyond the Yoga Alliance reference in the Inspired pathway.