I didn’t know much about Anusara Yoga when showed up last minute for this workshop last month at Shakti  other than than Lucy came highly recommended as an expert who could help me improve the alignment of my yoga poses (hopefully reducing some of the neck and back pain I’ve had for a long time).   By the end of the workshop I finally had a good understanding my specific alignment problems and some very direct advice and custom modifications which I use in just about every yoga class I’ve attended since.

Lucy is one of many yoga instructors I’ll probably never forget.  I hesitate to try to describe her since I’ve only met her once, so I’ll just list the first couple things to come to my mind…

  • She’s intense – She has an energy level that puts most 10 year olds to shame.
  • She’s got a great sense of humor and I took a liking to her immediately.
  • She really knows her stuff – her primary teacher is John Friend (the founder of Anusara) – She’s a certified Anusara Yoga Teacher with 500 hours training and conducts teacher training herself.
What was the workshop like?    It was a month ago, and I wish I jotted down some notes right afterwards, but here are a few things that really stood out in my mind…

 

  • She walked into class with a bunch of sticks, yes sticks 🙂 (more on that later….)
  • She took one look at my form and alightment and had some very direct suggestions – like ‘this is your new child’s pose’ when she saw what one of my favorite resting variations was doing to my neck.   Funny thing was that she couldn’t be more right, and I now use my new variation in all classes I take – and no longer have neck pain from the pose.  She also gave very helpful advice that changed the way I do every pose involving lifting the neck.
  • We did lots of fun and unique stuff I hadn’t done before.    We learned how to make a simple harness out of a yoga strap to help practice proper form and provide better support.   We used yoga blocks in places I’ve never used them before (like the thighs) and practiced doing different poses and walking around the room in our harnesses with blocks between our legs.   Since it was a workshop, we took short breaks where Lucy explained some of the concepts using a medical chart of spine and human anatomy.
  • I think most importantly we paired off and each had a partner hold a stick to our back as we did different poses.  The basic idea was that if the different parts of your body were not all touching the stick at the same time, we would modify the form and get instant feedback and improve out form and alignment.


Lucy’s keeps a busy schedule and is in high demand – She has her own business giving personal Yoga sessions and retreats, she’s very active in the Columbia Center of Yoga and also teaches at Willow Street Yoga.

But once a month on Tuesdays, she does a regular two hour workshop at Shakti Studio from from 11:30 – 1:30pm.  The workshops are usually on the first tuesday of each month, although this month’s workshop is tomorrow August 16th. The workshop is open to the public for a drop-in fee of $20.

I’m pretty sure, pre-registration is not required, but you might want to shoot Lucy a quick e-mail at sbyyoga@mac.com if you have any questions.  Or visit, Shakti’s workshop page to see her complete schedule through the end of the year.  

Note:  Shakti’s workshop page recommends that this workshop is best suited for students who already have at least 30 hours of yoga experience.

I also noticed that many of the workshop participants appeared to be regulars, coming each month (as Lucy focuses on different body parts each time).

For me, all in all it was a very enjoyable, rewarding workshop and I now count myself as one of her newest regulars.

Interested in more Annapolis Yoga events and free/discounted classes offered by local Yoga studios?

Thanks and Namaste.