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"This is a consciousness-oriented yoga that also promotes healing and transformation."
Yoga Journal
Winter 2000
About Svaroopa® Yoga at Serene Yoga and Healing
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Svaroopa® yoga is a compassionate and gentle approach to the body, and is one of the 19 recognized styles of Hatha yoga practiced in the United States. Hatha yoga focuses on the use of asana (poses) to promote bodily health and emotional well-being. For thousands of years, those who have practiced Hatha yoga have experienced the benefits of stress reduction, inner peace and serenity while strengthening their body and gaining increased flexibility.
All, regardless of age, body type, physical and/or emotional health, can practice this form of yoga.
Sva-Roopa
Sva means Self, Roopa means Form."Svaroopa" means "true nature" or "true form", described in the yogic tradition as pure bliss or unceasing joy. Svaroopa® yoga is named for the true goal and purpose of yoga, to discover and know the deepest levels of Self - the bliss of your own being.
Core Opening
Svaroopa® yoga specializes in a unique and intricate system of poses (asanas) designed to reach into the deepest layers of tension in the body, the musculature along the spine. Through the use of precise body alignment and sophisticated propping the Svaroopa® yoga asanas promote a release of tension in the spinal muscles beginning at the tailbone area and sequencing along the spine from the tailbone, through the sacrum, waist area, and into the ribcage and neck. Also called Core Opening, the release of tension in the tailbone muscles has a domino effect throughout the entire body, mind, and being. Within moments of spinal release the practitioner may experiences reduced muscular tension, deep calm, inner peace, and very often an overall sense of well-being and joy.
Svaroopa® yoga’s Core Opening facilitates profound changes in the body. With regular practice, Svaroopa® yoga can help end the pain cycle, promote healing, and bring about transformation on all levels. With enough spinal release the whole spine will decompressm realigning the body from the inside out. This easeful realignment of the musculoskeletal structure brings about a whole new experience within the body, mind, and beyond.
The experience of spinal release allows you to live in your body in a relaxed and easy way while bringing about increased strength and stamina, flexibility, greater mobility, and improved posture. As core opening dissolves deep seated tensions the result is a profound new inner spaciousness. The spinal decompression takes pressure off the internal organs and may clear digestive issues and help to balance the immune system. In addition, as the body begins to open, breathing is improved as the breath is able to move more fully and with less constriction. Over time as the deep-seated tensions in the body and mind release energy is restored, bringing about a new sense of vitality and youthfulness.
Benefits of a regular Svaroopa® yoga practice may include (but are not limited to)
- Healing on all levels
- Increased Strength and Energy
- Relief from stress & anxiety
- Reduction of Chronic Pain
- Improved Respiration and Circulation
- Strengthened immune system
- Peace of mind
Pure Bliss
The yoga practice itself is named for the very experience and is designed to give the practitioner this inner shift each time it is practiced. Svaroopa® yoga embodies the very essence of yoga itself. The yoga asanas within this system propel the practitioner into an experience of Svaroopa - their true nature - pure bliss.
"This style of yoga teaches different ways of doing familiar poses, emphasizing the opening of the spine by beginning at the tailbone and progressing through each spinal area. Every pose integrates the foundational principles of asana, anatomy, and yoga philosophy, and emphasizes the development of transcendent inner experience, which is called Svaroopa® by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra. This is a consciousness-oriented yoga that also promotes healing and transformation."
Svaroopa® Yoga was developed by Rama Birch, who founded and directs the Master Yoga Academy and created the yoga program for Dr. Deepak Chopra's Center for Well Being, both located in La Jolla, California. Birch says teaching asanas became increasingly frustrating, because the students seemed to be trying to "impose the pose upon their body rather than unfolding it from within." She began looking for ways to guide her students to the deeper effects of each asana, speaking of them as "angles that provide opening, rather than poses to be learned." New students find this a very approachable style, often beginning in chair poses that are comfortable and have a deep healing effect in the spine.
Yoga Journal (Winter, 2000)
Note from Serene: The correct spelling is Rama "Berch"