Empowered!

Before I get to my discussion on empowerment, I have to address a question one of my students asked me. He asked about the origins of the word Anusara. I half answered with what I remembered from training but I had to admit that I had forgotten the entire story. So here it is...

(from the Anusara website) JF: My friend Dr. Douglas Brooks was reading a Tantric scripture called the Kulanarva Tantra and, within this scripture there were some verses that alluded to stepping into the flow of spirit and grace in ways that the student would be able to fully experience the blessings of the guru principle. The flowing-of-grace concept came from the word anusarena, or anusara...

There's more and I highly recommend looking it up and reading it for yourself. It's always empowering to learn more information. This is what I'm talking about in class this week. I thought it was fitting especially since I am subbing so much at Empower Yoga this week=)

Empowering someone means giving someone the ability to do something. We empower ourselves by learning to do something by listening to both our internal and external teachers. In the first line of our invocation we honor these teachers. Om Namah Shivaya Gurave - I honor the essence of Being, the Auspicious One, the luminous Teacher within and without.

I honor my teachers who have taught me not only some incredible asana that I never thought I could achieve on my own, but also and maybe more importantly, how to continue in my studies of asana and spirituality. I feel so empowered after studying with them. I look forward to more knowledge as I enter into another teacher training weekend.