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Discover this unique form of Yoga, developed by Dr. Jasprit Singh*

RussaYog-Balance, Strength, Flexibillity
RussaYog incorporates the strength and power of weight training, and the balance and flexibility of traditional yoga. Using a rope, you will experience a complete body workout, taking your mind and body to a hightened state of awareness and fitness...

Brief history of Yoga
Over 5,000 years ago yoga was created in India by sages. It was created at many levels—ranging from essentially physical to highly contemplative. Many Indian stories talk of yogis who (using yogic asans, or poses) went into dhyana (heightened awareness) for hours or even days. In most popular yoga forms, one assumes an asan only for 10-30 seconds. Even such a short time appear to be enough to allow one to reach physical and mental balance.

RussaYog: Harnessing Gravity
RussaYog, developed over the last several decades, uses the basic yogic approach, but adds a rope (russa) and an anchor to manipulate gravity. The free flowing rope, held in each hand, coupled with yogic asans allows us to use gravity to create stresses that are not possible by traditional asans.

RussaYog: Modern Yoga
RussaYog asans are specifically developed to address the challenges of the modern lifestyle, which can be summarized as:
a) on a physical level: A desk or a factory job where the body's posture is in a very unnatural or even contorted state. This creates the well known slouch of the shoulders and sag in the breasts and belly. The core muscles of the abdomen, back, and groin also pay a heavy price;
b) On a mental level: The high-speed pace of artificial deadlines, email, demanding bosses, etc., do not give the mind an opportunity to stand back and observe where life is heading;
c) On a contemplative level: The enormous information overload one suffers, along with a lack of good role models, place us in a state where we just do not examine our higher state. The result is that on each level many of us are embroiled in the do-undo state. We gobble our food, exercise hard for an hour, placing lots of stress on our ligaments and joints, take prescription drugs to alleviate our pains, etc. While this do-undo approach is necessary when one is young, the goal should be to move beyond it in order to enter the coherent state, where each successive activity or karma reinforces the previous one.
The solution is not more busy-ness or faster, harder work, but more thoughtful actions. As the RussaYogi will immediately sense, the asans will demand strength and balance that will challenge the mind and body. It can offer challenges to a person who has just enough strength to stand up from a lying position by holding onto ropes. Yet it can offer challenges to the strongest Olympic athlete as well. In fact, the asans are designed to allow one to exercise muscles at a level that even exercise machines costing thousands of dollars cannot!
Like traditional yoga, RussaYog takes the yogi and gently places him/her in an asan where gravity is manipulated (through the rope) to create forces in multiple directions. With various forces pulling/pushing in dozens of directions the yogi achieves balance and holds the asan for 10 seconds or more. As the body copes with the discomfort to the muscles, the mind learns to accept the situation, thus maintaining a coherent balance. Gradually the yogi learns to dissociate from the discomfort and to eventually enjoy the asan and remain in harmony.
The yogi will see that RussaYog is especially useful for the upper body posture. It builds strength in the core muscles as well as shoulders, chest, and gripping muscles. At the end of a session the yogi should not only feel a sense of heightened balance and symmetry, but also a "pump" that is usually associated with weight training.

Bal-Lila (Warm-Up/Strengthening)
(about 10 minutes)
Bal-Lila, or Child's play, incorporates warm-up exercises designed to increase flexibility and strengthen core muscles groups while having fun with ropes! The warm-up/strengthening peroid involves using "all-body" excercises to develop strength, flexibility, power, balance, and stamina in a fast paced 10-minute period. Every muscle in the body is strengthened during this period.