Wells - Bhakti flow yoga: a training guide for practice and life

Rusty Wells teachings have an unpredictable force to awaken new devotion and a deeper connection to Self.

Baron Baptiste, author of Being of Power and Journey into Power

Rusty Wells has become one of the significant modern voices of yoga because his profound personal practice has led him into a contemporary, passionate translation of many of the sacred threads of wisdom.

Rodney Yee, author of Moving Toward Balance

A friendly, comprehensive manual on all things yoga, from history and purpose to philosophy and practice. Presented through the lens of Bhakti Yoga, it reveals a spiritual practice that reaches deep into the heart to cultivate love, compassion, and service. A welcome addition to any yoga library.

Beryl Bender Birch, author of Power Yoga, Beyond Power Yoga, and Boomer Yoga

You can tell an enlightened teacher by how much joy flows through their being. Without a doubt, Rusty Wells is a joy-filled, compassionate being whose devotion for life, yoga, and his students is awe-inspiring and contagious. Bhakti Flow Yoga is his generous heartfelt gift to all of us who crave more joy and kindness in our own lives and in the world that we all share.

Sharon Gannon, author of Jivamukti Yoga

ABOUT THE BOOK

Rusty Wells, the wildly popular San Francisco-based yoga teacher, brings all his warmth and enthusiasm to this guide to Bhakti Flow Yoga, a synthesis of Bhakti Yoga (the yoga of devotion) and Vinyasa Flow. It is a style of yoga that emphasizes a seamless connection between the breath and the movements of the body.

Wells provides a wealth of information about yoga in general, and Bhakti Flow specifically, including a historical overview of yoga; a detailed discussion of the energetic practices in yoga; diet and lifestyle choices that will best support your practice; guidelines for students and teachers; and much more. Wells includes photos and detailed descriptions of each yoga pose, along with the physical and spiritual considerations for the poses, and two sample sequences. The Beginners Sequence is gentle, complete, and accessible for all body types, and the Surya Flow 1 Sequence is a strong one-hour vinyasa practice that can easily be a launching pad for more creativity.

RUSTY WELLS has been a yoga teacher since 1998. He is the founder and primary teacher at Urban Flow in San Francisco, a donation-based studio he founded in January 2010. Prior to that, he was a teacher, program director, and teacher mentor at Yoga Tree San Francisco. Rusty leads teacher trainings, retreats, and workshops all over the US and abroad, including in the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Mexico, Costa Rica, China, Indonesia, and Thailand. His teachers were A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who taught him Bhakti Yoga, selfless service, Karma Yoga, and chanting (Japa and Kirtana). He started learning Hatha yoga in 1996 through the teachings of Masters Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnu Devananda, who emphasized the synthesis of asanas (postures), pranayama, relaxation, and proper diet to develop the physical body and awaken the energies. They also taught him mantra chanting, the scriptures, and meditation. From there, he studied under many contemporary teachers, including Baron Baptiste and Sri Dharma Mittra. His current teacher is Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, the successor to Swami Rama and the head of the Himalayan Institute.

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Bhakti Flow YOGA

A Training Guide for Practice and Life

RUSTY WELLS

SHAMBHALA

Boston & London

2015

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

2015 by Rusty Wells

Cover photo by Thayer Allyson Gowdy

Cover design by Mary Belibasakis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wells, Rusty, author.

Bhakti flow yoga: a training guide for practice and life / Rusty Wells.

First edition.

pages cm

eISBN 978-0-8348-3046-2

ISBN 978-1-61180-239-9 (paperback: alk. paper)

1. Yoga. 2. Yoga, Bhakti. I. Title.

RA781.67W45 2015

613.7046dc23

2014045304

INVOCATION

May we know Gods love,

the God of each our own unique understanding,

in every heartbeat and breath.

In every thought and the spaces between our thoughts.

In every whisper, utterance, and song.

In every waking moment and deep within our sleep.

In our movement and in our stillness.

As we eat and drink.

As we make peace and as we make love.

May we take refuge here, in the heart of the Beloved.

And may we always bow humbly forward with gratitude for having this love.

I pray that this book, in some small or some magnificent way,

leads you a little closer toward the God of your own sweet understanding.

I offer this work to my teachers. I am always at your feet.

RUSTY (GOPA)

Contents

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

T. S. ELIOT, Four Quartets

T HIS BOOK is designed to share what I have learned so far through my personal yoga path and spiritual quest. I am excited to introduce this practice to anyone who is interested in learning more about yoga. My experience with the practice has brought me great awareness, purpose, connectedness, and delight. Still, I do not pretend to know everything there is to know about the art and science of yoga. In fact, I consider myself quite the beginner. But, to date, I have certainly enjoyed a unique adventure, one that seems to have resonated with many other like-hearted beings in classes I lead in San Francisco and in programs and training sessions I conduct around the world.

After nearly two decades of being a yoga practitioner, my own practice still invariably begins with starting over each and every day. This may seem counterintuitive. After all, yoga is an age-old system of well-being that consists of practicing and repeating many of the same techniques again and again. As our practice develops through days and months and years, we see our physical asana improving; our lungs expanding; our minds evolving; and our ability to feel compassion, patience, and virtue increasing. Yet in my practice, and from what I have witnessed while leading students all these years, the true key to an advanced state of practice seems to be the constant willingness to begin again.

The practice of yoga is the ultimate art of paying attention to the now. How precious it is when we can truly be present in every moment with the most loving and compassionate attitude toward ourselves and others. This very attitude is how beginners often enter the practice. They have no choice; they dont know what else to expect. A beginners inherent present-mind awareness, the raw tendency to be absolutely in the body and in the moment without expectation, is at the very heart of the Bhakti Flow experience. When we are so in awe of the wonder of this moment that we cant help but savor its freshness, its newness, even its bittersweet brevity, thats when we are most alive. When we retain the beginners willingness for adventure and the ability to feel our experience viscerally in every moment, the practice stays fresh and becomes so incredibly vast.