Anusara (a-nu-sar-a), means “flowing with Grace,” “flowing with Nature,” “following your heart.”

Founded by John Friend in 1997, Anusara yoga is a school of hatha yoga, which unifies a life-affirming Shiva-Shakti Tantric philosophy of intrinsic goodness with Universal Principles of Alignment. Anusara yoga has become one of the most highly respected schools of hatha yoga with over 1,000 licensed yoga teachers, thousands of teachers in training, and hundreds of thousands of students worldwide. Anusara yoga has a presence on every continent throughout the world, excluding Antarctica, and is in 70 countries, thus attracting media attention worldwide.

Anusara yoga’s remarkable growth is due in large part to its uplifting philosophy, epitomized by a “celebration of the heart” that looks for the good in all people and all things. Consequently, students of all levels of ability and yoga experience are honored for their unique differences, limitations, and talents. This celebratory vision sets the basis for a yoga school in which the harmony and joy of a tightly knit community of highly trained teachers and fun-loving students is exalted. This community feels like it has the tightness of a family, yet the looseness of a merry band of bohemian artists.

The Anusara yoga community is well-networked and organized, yet there is a strong emphasis on creative freedom and individuality. Anusara yoga is held together by everyone’s implicit alliance to the spiritual principles of Anusara yoga philosophy, such as celebrating beauty in all its diversity, truthfulness, and honoring the creative freedom of the Divine in all beings. Everyone is aligned with the truth that Grace plays the key role in the successful flow of their practice, classes, and the community itself. Without a rigid dogma, the school is open to continual change and restructuring. Self-examination, discovery, and receptivity to new ideas are foundational to this dynamic system. Individual creativity and investigation are always encouraged within the bounds of basic alignment principles and philosophic precepts of Anusara yoga. Anusara yoga grows with harmony and integrity through the combined vision of our Anusara yoga teachers to unveil the innate goodness, worthiness, and Supreme nature of each student and every being. 


Anusara yoga's remarkable growth is due in large part to its uplifting philosophy, epitomized by a "celebration of the heart," that looks for the good in all people and all things.
Anusara takes its name from a verse in the great text, the Kularnava Tantra. It reads in Sanskrit, "Shakti-nipata-anusarena sishyo'anugraham-arhati". This means, by stepping into the current of Divine Grace's descent into the heart, the true seeker becomes worthy, enveloped in the Grace that sustains and nurtures his or her every action.

"Flowing with Grace, anusarena, we experience our inner worth, we align our bodies, our minds and hearts in the current of the Divine flowing through us, we celebrate life itself as we touch the Divinity who pulsates within us as our every thought, feeling, and experience." ~~Dr. Douglas Brooks

"We all experience pain and suffering, but it is not the quintessential nature of life. Just because the earth turns away from the sun and night occurs doesn't mean that the sun isn't always shining. It might be hard to see sometimes, but goodness and divine beauty can always be found if you adjust your vision just right."-John Friend

About Anusara Yoga Philosophy... One of John Friend's main intentions for the 2009 Certified Teachers Gathering was to present a more clear definition of the Tantric vision of Anusara. So in turn, Paul Muller-Ortega and John Friend spent a good portion of their combined presentation offering a broad history on Tantra, and the key elements that compose Anusara's Tantric approach. They acknowledged that we (Anusara) are a modern strand of Tantra that is defining itself anew within the framework of essential philosophical components originating primarily from Kashmir over 1000 years ago. Instead of limiting the definition of our Tantra to Shaivite or Shakta branches, or “right-handed or left-handed” designations, John is calling Anusara's broad Tantric philosophy a “Shiva-Shakti Tantra”, which views everything as the embodiment of Shiva-Shakti, or God and Goddess; Supreme Consciousness and It's inseparable Power.

Some key elements that are included in the broad composite definition of our Shiva-Shakti Tantra are:

1. The non-dual view that the material world is the embodiment of Shiva-Shakti or the Supreme. The microcosm contains the Macrocosm. Therefore, the essence of the body, emotions, and the mind is Divine.
2. The attributes of the Supreme (Shiva-Shakti) at its absolute, unbounded essence are: • Chit (Self-awareness/Supreme Consciousness) - Shiva • Ananda (Bliss/creative power) - Shakti • Goodness or Auspiciousness (Shri/Shiva) • Purnatva (fullness, which includes peace) • Svatantrya (ultimate freedom) • Spanda (pulsation/polarity of energies)
3. The highest intention of life is for the ever-unfolding awakening of one's essence including experiencing the delight of creative living while embodied. The spiritual practice of awakening is a progressive, systematic, sequential refinement and expansion of consciousness within the mind/body, embodiment. The dharma of embodied life includes becoming progressively more cultivated and evolved in the mind/body, so the delight and power of awakening expands while being embodied. So in other words, delight and freedom within embodiment can be increasingly refined and expanded.
4. Every experience can be used as a gateway to awakening, including practices which might be regarded as transgressive. Nothing is seen to be impure or evil at its essence. At the same time, in Anusara we always choose to be dharmic, life-affirming, and life-enhancing.
5. The proper synthesis of technical knowledge and practice can lead to experiences of awakening and mystical insight. At the same time, the focus is on direct, personal experience over speculation. After direct knowing, reason is best. Then thirdly, scriptural authority can be used as a means of knowledge.
6. Awakening entails utilizing the polarization of Shiva-Shakti; God and Goddess energy within the body and in Nature. This is the energy at the essence of all desire, sexuality, creativity, and transformation.