What kind of yoga is Yoga with Naomi?

A student asked me recently what kind of yoga we are doing. The short answer is hatha.

The longer answer is that hatha is an umbrella term that encompasses a lot of specific and modern styles of yoga. You might think of hatha yoga as an ancient family tree with other kinds of yoga styles branching off it over time. I am certified in hatha--the ancient trunk of our family tree--and also in Kundalini, a very different variation of yoga that descends from the Vedic tradition. Hatha flows more directly from a Tantric tradition (arising from Patanjali's Sutras circa 100 BCE).

I have been practicing yoga off and on for more than 20 years and teaching since 2010.

For a few years, my daily personal practice was Iyengar, which partially explains my fondness for props.  (BKS Iyengar, a student of guru Krishnamacharya, suffered from illness as a child and couldn’t do the aggressive, rapid form of yoga that Krishnamacharya’s other students, most especially Patabhi Jois, could do—see Ashtanga—so Iyengar developed methods of using blocks, straps and other props to help the body achieve the fullness of poses.)  I believe firmly in the importance of props and assists. So there is an Iyengar influence in my classes.

I also dabbled for a time in Bikram yoga, a hot, sweaty form of hatha yoga, which is practiced in a studio where the temperature is kept at a minimum of 105 degrees and 40 percent humidity. (My students and I often joke that we are doing the *opposite* of this yoga in our chilly studio in Maine.)

Ultimately, I found that the heat and humidity of Bikram were too much for me—I frequently passed out in class—and eventually gave it up and went searching for another form of yoga. In 2004, I came to my first Anusara class. It was taught at my alma mater (Smith College) by a young alumna, Amy Reed. At first, I felt very angry in my practice. But I felt drawn to come back. I came back and back and back and I found that for the first time in my life, there was room for my anger. I simply practiced angry yoga. I welcomed whatever emotion came to me in practice, and eventually my anger washed away and was replaced by the most radiant joy. In that first year of weekly (or sometimes twice or thrice weekly) Anusara classes, I became deeply and irrevocably connected to the joyful heart of my practice.

I am not a Certified Anusara teacher—there is only one in Maine, I think—and I can’t even call myself an Anusara-Inspired teacher, as this term is trademarked and can only be used by those teachers who have completed a specific type of training program. (Ansuara is very rigorous this way. If you find an Anusara-Inspired or Certified teacher, you *know* he or she will have been very well trained and that he or she maintains a regular personal practice.)

Since I can’t use the word “inspired” to describe my practice as it relates to Anusara, I often say my practice is “infused” with Anusara. For eight years, I have been a serious practitioner of Anusara yoga, five of them in Massachusetts with my teacher and three here, on my own.

Anusara is a relatively new form of hatha yoga founded by John Friend in 1997. It extends out of the Iyengar branch of our yoga family tree.

So, what kind of yoga is Yoga with Naomi?  It is hatha yoga, influenced by BKS Iyengar, infused by my personal heart-centered Anusara (“flowing with grace”) practice, and with little tastes of Kundalini thrown in here and there. We often start with a Kundalini meditation, for instance, or we listen to Kundalini music while we practice.

More than anything, though, Yoga with Naomi is yoga with me. I use my voice and my body and my energy to open up a channel through which the infinite Grace of the universe can flow. Yoga with Naomi is, above all, a welcoming practice, in which students of any age, size or ability level can come and connect with their breath. And through that connection, experience their own ability to relax and to heal. Yoga with Naomi is about connecting to your own inherent goodness, your own inner teacher, your own inner Light and your own power to Be in the here and now. If you have tried other forms of yoga or other teachers and you have come away feeling confused, insecure, or sore (in a bad way), then I invite you to come and try a Yoga with Naomi class and see what happens.

My students are using yoga to heal everything from grief to sciatica and insomnia. It took me 12 years to find the practice that was my yoga home. If you feel called to yoga, but haven’t found the right practice yet, do not give up. Find your way to a teacher. Take a class. Take another class. If I am not your teacher, then keep trying. There are studios in Belfast, Bar Harbor, Bangor and Ellsworth who are offering an amazing variety of yogas, from Kundalini to Yin to Yamuna Ball Rolling to Ashtanga. I am certain there is a yoga out there for you. (I personally like Laura Neal’s Mindfulness yoga classes at C@ttitude in Bar Harbor.) The word “yoga” means “to yoke” or “to connect.” Finding the right yoga practice is a bit like finding your third hamstring—when you connect, you will know it.