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Traditional Ashtanga YogaAshtanga Yoga As It Is Taught By Sri K. Pattabhi Jois In Mysore
Ashtanga Yoga became trendy around the world when several celebrities claimed to be practicing this system of yoga. True Ashtanga Yoga is much more than a fitness regime.
The roots of Ashtanga yoga are in an ancient text called Yoga Korunta, written by Vamana Rishi. Its teachings were passed on to the famous yoga teacher T. Krishnamacharya in the early 1900s by his own teacher, Guru Rama Mohan Brahmachari. A student of Krishnamacharya, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, founded the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in the Southern Indian city of Mysore in 1948. Pattabhi Jois - or Guruji as his students call him – is now 92 years old. Until last year, he was still teaching every day in his yoga shala, assisted by his daughter Saraswati and his grandson R. Sharath. The Practice Of Ashtanga YogaA central part of the Ashtanga Yoga practice is Vinyasa, breath synchronized movement. For each movement there is one breath: an inhalation or an exhalation. Another key element is Tristhana, the combination of the breathing system (Ujjayi Pranayama), postures (asanas), and gazing point (dristi). A part of the breathing system are bandhas or “seals”: the mula bandha or anal lock, and the uddiyana bandha or abdominal lock, which are used to seal energy and make the practice strong and light. Together these elements produce heat, and sweat is a visible part of an Ashtanga practice. The heat purifies the body, the nervous system and finally also the mind from six poisons: desire, anger, delusion, greed, envy and sloth. The Eight Limbs Of Ashtanga YogaAshtanga Yoga has a reputation for being a very physical form of yoga. However, physical postures are only one of the "eight limbs" of Ashtanga Yoga, which are described in the Yoga Sutras written by the Indian sage Patanjali approximately 2000 years ago. There are four external limbs:
The practice of the external limbs slowly develops the internal limbs:
In the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, students start by practicing the third limb, asana. Other limbs will develop step by step, over time. Ashtanga Yoga has six series of postures, which are always done in the same order. The Primary Series (Yoga Chikitsa or yoga therapy) purifies the physical body, and the Intermediate Series (Nadi Shodhana) cleanses the nervous system. The Advanced Series A, B, C and D (Sthira Bhaga) are progressively more and more challenging. Practicing Ashtanga Yoga Mysore StyleThe traditional method of studying Ashtanga Yoga is self-practice or “Mysore style”. When studying Ashtanga Yoga in the AYRI in Mysore, students practice at their own pace and within their own limits. Postures are taught one by one, and new postures are added to the practice only when a student can do the previous ones and remember the sequence. “Led classes” are taught only on Fridays and Sundays, when Guruji, Sharath or Saraswati leads the students through the series by counting each breath in Sanskrit. How To Find An Authorized Ashtanga TeacherAshtanga teachers are authorized or certified only by the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute. The website ashtanga.com publishes a world-wide list of authorized and certified teachers. Authorization and certification mean that the teacher is a regular student in the AYRI and teaches according to the lineage, as the system of Ashtanga Yoga has been taught to them by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.
The copyright of the article Traditional Ashtanga Yoga in Ashtanga Yoga is owned by Satu Susanna Rommi. Permission to republish Traditional Ashtanga Yoga in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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