Article on Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Annette Ananda

Annette's note: Article “Annette’s School of Yoga - what’s it all about” was as written by one of my students, Trudie Edwards, in 2003 and published in the Winter edition of Sailing with Spirit magazine (which sadly seems to have disappeared). The following year Trudie took the plunge and re-located to Australia with her family. Each week she sends me a newsletter by e-mail and it has been a joy to follow their new lives unfolding.

Annette's School of Yoga

I admit it, I was attracted to yoga because it was the trendy thing to do Madonna does it but from the very first of Annette's classes I attended I was hooked.

It is a bit of a cliché but yoga really did change my life. At the end of that first session Annette began the relaxation with a visualisation of a sunflower field I thought "Oh no, I'm not going to be very good at this!"

I contained the giggle and started to listen really listen and before I knew it I was a sunflower and I was in that field and for the first time in my life I was relaxed really relaxed I could almost hear my body talking to me. From that moment I was hooked and from that moment Annette really connected with my soul.

It is a real treat to be a student in Annette's class as she has this unique ability to connect with each of her students. Annette will often urge students to listen to there inner teacher what I really do not think she realises is that it is Annette that allows that teacher to come out she welcomes your teacher into her class as well.

Annette has a passion, an energy and a spirit that you can not help but connect with when you are near her and because of that she really is a fantastic teacher, try one of her classes and I promise you will be hooked. I have been lucky enough to have experienced a few of the different classes that Annette's school of yoga has to offer and experienced lots of different emotions in them.

Annette's class

Annette has this amazing ability to really make you understand the history of yoga and I don't really know how she does this as she isn't lecturing you whilst you are doing the various poses. The asanas are very important to Annette and because of the respect that she has for them, she will build up to a pose and sometimes take it quite slowly but when you are in the final pose you can see how you have managed to get there and understand how Annette has managed to coax you into the position you are in.

In one class we were working with the warrior pose and I think that I can safely say that the Warrior pose saved my marriage! Quite a statement I know but it really is a powerful pose.

My husband is Australian and he always wanted to go and live back in Australia and as much as I love the country I did not want to. It had become a bit of an issue between us and it was something we both avoided talking about. The night before this particular class we had briefly touched upon the subject and I had quickly avoided talking about it and put it out of my head. In the class we had spent a little while working up to the Warrior pose and then there I was in my strong warrior pose and something inside me started to tell me I could move to Australia, I could do it, I was strong enough to leave my life here and help create a new one for my family, I could get through it. The feeling was so over powering, I felt so brave and so strong nothing was going to stop me.

Even when I think of the moment now I can feel the power. When we were in the relaxation pose at the end of the session I felt a peace that I had never felt before my yoga had entered a different level.

Annette's meditation class

This is one part of my yoga I did not think I was very good at. I did not really think that I had the ability to switch off completely and enter a meditative state of mind. I had tried it a couple of times and then during a session in Annette's class I got it. I was there meditating and loving it.

During one session I was about eight weeks pregnant with my second child and I began to meditate and I suddenly started to experience a very warm, loving feeling. A very familiar smell enveloped me and I felt a very strong familiar hand reach out and comfort me. I believe that it was my Granddad to whom I was very close to and who had past away three years before. He was with me and comforting me. I felt this peace and comfort that was so overwhelming.

A couple of weeks later I discovered that I had lost my baby, she had died at eight weeks. Looking back at my experience in Annette's class I believe that my grand-dad came to tell me that he was going to look after my baby for me. This is not something that Annette would have everyone believe will happen to them but I have shared this with you as I think it shows just how in tune you can be with your body and soul if you are shown how.

Annette has this remarkable ability to help you realise this.

Yoga in pregnancy class

I am very happy to say that I became pregnant again and was able to experience the yoga in pregnancy classes with Carole. These really helped and I can very safely say that I had a pain free pregnancy I loved it and I am sure that it all down to the yoga classes I attended throughout. I did not discover yoga until my first child was six months old and the difference between pregnancies is amazing.

I now can not bear the thought that I might never be pregnant again my husband cringes at that statement and begins to mutter about car sizes and holidays!! I did unfortunately have to have a caesarean section so I can't really comment on how it helped the birth sorry! However my second child is very calm and peaceful and really is a gem.

Someone said, "It is almost as if he has been here before" I think that is because he is a yoga baby!

Baby yoga

This is something that I have done a few times with my second child and he loves it. He giggles and smiles his way through the session and is so relaxed afterwards.

Children's yoga

My three year old regularly attends the children's yoga classes at Annette's School of Yoga and he really does enjoy it. It is something that he can do on his own for him self and I am sure he really does get a lot out of it. When I practise my yoga at home now he no longer wants to roll on my mat and sit on my back he respects my time and lets me get on with it or sometimes just joins in!

My son recently had his three year check and the health visitor came to our house as I had just had my second child. After various tasks had been completed she asked if he could stand on one leg. She was just turning to me to say not to worry if he couldn't she was just seeing what he could actually do when she looked at him there he was standing on one leg he then put his hands into prayer over his chest and then took them into the air and simply said "tree".

I was so proud!! It was a perfect tree position. The health visitor looked at me with her mouth open and just said "He does yoga!!" Although I don't see what he does in the children's yoga class they must learn something!

Annette's School of Yoga - what's it all about?

It's about an energy, a passion, a spirit and a light. It is about belonging, a feeling of warmth and friendliness. It is about getting to know yourself and even learning how to love yourself.