A lot of people take credit for coming up with Anahata Yoga. But Anahata Yoga is a blend of many styles of Yoga, from Sivananda to Ashtanga to Kundalini Yoga, combined in a style that developed naturally and took form as a result of many people’s experiences. The result is a combination of three things: physically and mentally challenging sequence of flowing Yoga poses with the cleansing Vinyasa flow practice and the ancient techniques of Kundalini Yoga. All this is done with a view to open the 7 chakras (energy centers) and balance all our energies.

Anahata Yoga Energy Centres

The Anahata chakra (energy center) is the fourth primary chakra of the 7 energy centers in a human being, and is said to be located in the region of the heart. This energy center is associated with love, compassion, humor, charity and courage. It is also associated with the capacity to take decisions outside the realm of one’s karmas in a manner known as “following your heart.”

Basically, Anahata Yoga is a deeply meditative flowing Yoga style that aims to deeply connect, develop and awaken our hearts through a variety of practices. It  is meant for people who wish to explore the practice of Yoga more deeply, paying more attention to inner awareness, making use of bandhas (locks), mudras (finger symbols) and Pranayamas (breathing techniques), that help awaken and open up the chakras. By and large, the practices are far from physically taxing; on the contrary, they are natural, relaxing and designed to encourage full breathing, inculcate calmness and awaken the chakras (energy centers).

Although there is no rigid sequence of practice, the usual order of the practice is as follows: seated meditation by setting personal motives within the silence of one’s heart and harmonizing the breathing, followed by a series of asanas (poses) in a sequence designed to exercise and stimulate the whole body. A short set of warming up poses is followed by a series of standing and balancing poses and, finally, a short standing meditation called Stambasana.

The floor asanas (poses) are specially designed to further loosen up the body’s joints and energy centers. This session of poses also concludes with a short meditation session. Reclining poses end the active practice session. A final pose, Shavasana (Corpse Pose) is then done to cool down the body and devote time for deep inner awareness and cultivate inner peace. Finally, the practitioners once more sit upright, recollect their intentions and seek the blessings of the teacher.