Some Things Never Change... Reflections on the Anusara Certified Teacher's Gathering

One of John Friend’s favorite teachings is at the end of every practice, event, challenge or experience, to ask ourselves ‘‘what insight have I gained?” As a recovering overachiever (that’ll be the day), I can’t help myself but to do my best to be a good student. So, naturally I do my best to apply the teachings. To myself I ask, "what insight did I gain from this year’s Anusara Certified Teacher’s Gathering?”

Every May since I’ve been eligible, I’ve attended the Certified Teacher’s Gathering with our illustrious teacher John Friend. Last week it was held in Morrisville, North Carolina and “was our largest, most harmonious, and most radiant certified teachers' gathering in our 12-year history.” (John Friend)

Every year, I leave feeling more empowered, more connected to my own Heart, more connected to my friends and peers, more connected to our vision, more connected to my teacher, and most importantly, more connected to the ever present Ocean of Grace we are always fully immersed in.

Each year has been different, with a little different emphasis, yet the central teachings remain steady. Every year feels different because we are different from year to year. Some years the focus has been on a strong physical practice to build our vessels to hold more Shakti (life force). Another year the focus was on the very foundational aspects of the principles, another the teaching skills, community building, or a strong lineage and philosophical emphasis. The common denominator never changes. John’s vision, the core teachings and the principles never change. He is steady, clear and unwavering.

This year, in good Tantric form, the first teaching of the week was the highest teaching. John always takes the highest perspective, “You are always connected….Use the discipline of the mind to see the Goodness first….Our first response is to see the Shiva-Shakti first…Anusara starts with a Yes, and ends with Yes, and all no’s in between serve the Yes.” First principle, it never changes.

At one point, John presented the question “what is your view?” How do we see the world? What’s our perspective? John guided beautiful deep practices infused with the highest teachings of Grace in ways we all directly experienced our inner Light with a fresh awareness. Just as yogis in kula (community of people whose hearts share the same vision) have always done, we engaged in lively philosophical conversations, the idiosyncrasies of business, the nuances of the Universal Principles of Alignment, questions on teaching and studentship and the joys and challenges facing the ever-expanding community of Anusara. Guest scholar Dr. Bill Mahoney came to shower us in love with his poetic offerings from the Narada Bhakti Sutras, a text on seeing the Supreme as the Nature of Love. The perspective of Love is the consistent hallmark of Anusara welcoming anyone wanting to step into the deepest longing of their heart.

John’s teachings are clearer and more powerfully articulated than ever. Maybe I‘m just clearer than ever, or maybe we both are. As I reflect over the week, over the last five years, my insight is the same, crystal clear and deeper.

Each year comes sooner, the hosts, the venues, the theme, the whole fabric of space-time change. We change, we are older, wiser, there are new faces, different conversations, but the core is clearly the same. The integrity of our vision, our intention and John’s vision and intention is Shiva steady. The same unwavering core of Light, same vision of Grace, goodness and intention to serve the Light, even as the community expands and everyone in it shifts. The rectitude of the core is unshakeable, and through my own direct experience (anubhava) my trust, my faith, (shradda) where I place my Heart is stronger and more rooted in the teachings than ever.

Anusara is alive, a living organism, pulsing, expanding, and transforming, and the hub, the vision of our Heart, is a steady pillar of Light. Anusara is an invisible yet tangible flowering web of Light, each of us a point of Light connecting our Hearts to other points of Light. We gather like stardust magnetized to the hub of Light. Pulsing, practicing and breathing together, sitting and sharing in great conversation we reflect our inner Light in ways that help awaken one another. Syncing up to each other, we bathe in each other’s radiant presence re-anchoring our deepest longings and intentions, our vision of Grace, Shri, Love, and how we will serve. Just by being together, we get brighter, more luminous to shine back out into the world, never forgetting our Hub, the lineage of Grace that brought us all together.

What insight did I gain from coming together with 170 of the greatest beings alive on the planet under the loving guidance of one the greatest, if not the greatest modern yoga Masters of all time? Coming back to the hive nourishes my heart, replenishes my soul. As the community expands, just like the stars, we have to come back together to the inner sanctum of our Hearts to twinkle brightly. The highest first, we are always immersed in Grace, as Grace. We are blessed friends walking and living a path of awakening together. Every moment is pregnant with the possibility of experiencing our own divinity, pregnant with the possibility of recognizing the same Divinity in everyone and everything. We are here to express the gifts no one else can offer in artful ways that uplift and create more sweetness, beauty and Light in our lives and the world around us. What we do is who we become, and we are free to choose how to serve, free to see and be Shri. Some things never change.