Anusara School of Hatha Yoga Anusara School of Hatha Yoga Anusara School of Hatha Yoga, also known as Anusara Yoga (In Hindi:अनुसार योग) is the successor of a modern school of hatha yoga originally started by American-born yoga teacher John Friend in 1997. Friend derived his style from the Iyengar style of yoga and reintroduced elements of Hindu spirituality into a more health-oriented Western approach to Yoga. The Anusara style emphasizes a set of Universal Principles of Alignment which underlie all of the physical asanas and are connected to philosophical aspects of the practice. The school's ideology is "grounded in a Tantric philosophy of intrinsic
Bhakti of praise to the Tirthankaras" as the second Obligatory Action. It explains this "bhakti" as one of the means to destroy negative karma. According to Paul Dundas, such textual references to devotional activity suggests that "bhakti" was a necessary part of Jainism from an early period. According to Jeffery Long, along with its strong focus on ethics and ascetic practices, the religiosity in Jainism has had a strong tradition of "bhakti" or devotion just like their Hindu neighbors. The Jain community built ornate temples and prided in public devotion for its fordmakers, saints and teachers. "Abhisekha", festival prayers, community recitals