Further Information on Dru Yoga

The Principles of Dru Yoga

• Dru Yoga teaches you to activate the subtle body, and work with your own energy or prana.
• Dru Yoga is easy to practise, it's fun and the benefits are felt immediately. This is primarily because Dru Yoga helps you to open and focus on the heart centre.
• There are 7 composite stages of a Dru Yoga session that are designed to take you deeper into yourself and to experience a state of heightened awareness quickly and without strain.
• Dru Yoga contains specific EBR's or Energy Block Release sequences that free every part of the body and many graceful movement sequences that connect you with your heart power.
• You learn the art of therapeutic posture work and how to change emotional states or negative thought patterns through Dru Yoga.

Dru Yoga was taught to Mansukh Patel by his parents. On coming to the West from Kenya, Mansukh Patel, together with colleagues Chris Barrington, Annie Jones, Rita Goswami and John Jones started teaching Dru with a group of University friends in the late 1970s. Since then, Dru Yoga has spread across the world. Mansukh takes greatest inspiration from his parents, themselves followers of Mahatma Gandhi, and one of the mottos of the Dru team is: ‘Transform the world by giving people the tools to transform themselves’.

There are 7 composite stages of Dru Yoga
Each stage is progressive and designed to take you deeper into yourself and to experience a state of heightened awareness quickly and without strain.

1. Activation
The first stage of Dru Yoga is to loosen up the body, enhance circulation and to draw your potential energy out of your core being which enables you to resonate more fully and actively with life around you. This is practiced in a systematic format to free the body of tension and fatigue.

2. Energy Block Release Sequences
These are specifically designed sequences that work to dissolve areas of tight or blocked energy in your physical, mental, emotional and subtle bodies, or koshas. They are very potent and can be practised quickly and stand on their own in your Dru Yoga practice.

3. Asanas and Movement Sequences
Each has a specific health focus but all the Dru Yoga sequences help to relate to the constant flow of life. Nothing in nature exists in a state of rigidity, everything is in a state of flux, and yet habitually most of us resist change rather than embrace it as a source of new opportunity. Dru Yoga sequences allow us to tune into this aspect of our mind and in particular give us tools to change long standing mind sets, which hold us back from experiencing our full potential.

4. Therapeutic Posture Work
Many yoga practitioners will be aware of the therapeutic benefits of asanas or postures, especially when combined to breath, chakra activation and conscious intention as in Dru Yoga.

5. The Art of Deep Relaxation
In Dru Yoga, relaxation sessions are given plenty of time in order to allow the energy which has been activated to settle in the right way and place, so that maximum healing takes place. We know the body is designed to heal and repair itself given the right conditions. This time of relaxation is the perfect opportunity.

6. Concentration and Visualisation
Concentration and visualisation are a prelude to meditation and a useful tool when learning to discipline the mind. The end product we are aiming for in Dru Yoga is a focussed, still and creative mind.

7. Meditation
The heightened awareness and clarity gained from meditation allows you to unfold your personal power. But so often, when we try to sit for meditation, we find our mind and bodies too unsettled. After practising the first 6 steps you will find meditation so much easier and effortless, because we have cleared away all those internal agitations and discomforts.

Subtle body work
We are essentially beings of light or energy according to quantum physicists –a fact well known to the ancient yogis who studied the universe many thousands of years ago. Masters of the Far East have shown immense control over their bodies and their control of energy. So what is this force or chi or pranic energy? It is our life force - our prana and it can be measured, directed and transformed at will given the correct training. There is no need to try to become a Jedi knight or yogi with special powers (called sidhis) but Dru Yoga can teach you how to direct our life force to heal parts of our body that may be unwell. We can also choose to use our prana or energy to help us focus our mind to achieve our goals and dreams.

Unfortunately, when we carry negative or disempowering thoughts about ourselves and others, we lose our power and potential to tap into this unlimited resource. Kirlian photography shows the aura or energy field radiating from the body, and an adapt's aura can often project many miles, often suffusing the area with positive light energy.

Dru Yoga focuses on energy flow, awakening our proprioception and directing our awareness. The ability to physically perfect a posture or mudra (hand gesture) is not all important in Dru Yoga. All the sequences can be modified to suit the old, the infirm, an excitable child or someone with disabilities. We can all experience that graceful flowing feeling and find progress at any stage in our Dru Yoga practice.

Soft flowing sequences
Sequences are one of the hallmarks of Dru Yoga. They are beneficial in many ways, because anyone can do them and partly because they focus on building and directing energy flow. Each Dru Yoga sequence has a powerful focus aimed at helping to alleviate physical conditions and to change old habit patterns –(those unhealthy mind sets we tend to hold on to and act out every day).

For information on Dru Yoga classes, events and seminars plus information on our 2 and 4 year Dru Yoga Teacher Training Courses please visit our website www.druexperience.org

Further reading, viewing and listening

Dru Yoga –Stillness in Motion –the definitive Dru Yoga book by Chris Barrington, Anita Goswami, Annie Jones, foreword by Mansukh Patel. It’s modern presentation with crystal clear descriptions, photos and diagrammes bring you body-mind yoga at its best, with chapters giving potent techniques for: easing back pain, building confidence, overcoming depression, gaining fitness, building vitality, meditation, relaxation, pranayama and so much more. More than 30 bonus 10-minute techniques for todays busy lifestyle.
The Dance Between Joy and Pain, by Mansukh Patel and Rita Goswami (RGN), £6.50 is a handbook filled with techniques to transform emotions such as fear and anger into courage and creativity. It also contains Dru Yoga sequences and hand gestures.
Yoga in a Nutshell by Annie Jones £4.99, is suitable to the beginner wishing to explore yoga for the first time.
Your Personal Peace Formula by Mansukh Patel
SOS Caring for Your Soul by Mansukh Patel
Turning Point by Mansukh Patel and Anita Goswami
Awakening Soulforce by Mansukh Patel
Flame that Transforms by Mansukh Patel and Savitri MacCuish
Imagine World Peace by Mansukh Patel
Face to Face with Life by John Jones and Mansukh Patel
Believe in Yourself by Mansukh Patel
Secret Power of Light by Mansukh Patel
Crisis and the Miracle of Love by Mansukh Patel

For those who prefer to watch TV,
Try the new Dru Yoga DVD, with Mansukh Patel and Coby Langford –2hrs 30mins with 9 Dru Yoga programmes to suit every stage of the day, every level of experience.
Or the Body Heart Mind Video by Mansukh Patel and Paulette Agnew £12.95 contains a daily programme and many beautiful Dru Yoga sequences filmed in Kenya.
Bhagavad Gita DVD series, presented by Mansukh Patel
Living and Dying video by Mansukh Patel
Mansukh Patel in Dialogue with Young People (video)
Mansukh Patel on Relationships

If you prefer CD, highly recommended introductions to the power of Dru Yoga are:
Easing Back Pain by Mansukh Patel and Coby Langford.
Health and Harmony - Energy Block Release 1 –Padma McIntyre
Total Health - Energy Block Release 2 –Louise Rowan
Awakening the Heart - Energy Block Release 3 –Anita Goswami
Energy and Flow - Energy Block Release 4 –Susan Kulas
Clarity and Creativity –Energy Block Release 5 –Lalita Doerstel
Energy Block Release 6 –Ruth Boaler

UK: Dru UK, Snowdonia National Park, Nant Ffrancon Valley, Bethesda, Gwynedd, North Wales, LL57 3LX, tel: 01248 602900 and Maristowe House, Dover Street, Wolverhampton WV14 6AL tel: 01902 409164;
gita@druexperience.org, www.drugita.org

Australia: Dru Australia, 4 Pandanus St, Fisher, ACT 2611,
Tel 02 6161 1462, sales@druyoga.com.au; www.dru.com.au