What is Ashtanga Yoga?
What is Ashtanga Yoga? And how is it practiced today? Here's the breakdown.
Classical Ashtanga Yoga
Ashtanga Yoga is often called
Classical Yoga. The sage Patańjali defined Ashtanga Yoga in an ancient text he wrote called the Yoga Sutras.
Patańjali codified and taught these practices from the existing yogic knowledge of his time.
In the Yoga Sutras, Patańjali gives the classical definition of yoga and then defines the
Yogic Practices or the 8 Limbs
necessary to achieve the goal of Yoga.
So, Patańjali was the first Guru of "Ashtanga Yoga"; daily he is given thanks for the practices in the opening chant or prayer.
Modern day Ashtanga Yoga
Patańjali's third limb or Āsana is the
basis of the modern practice as taught by
Sri K. Pattabhi Jois
. This practice traces its more recent origins back to Pattabhi Jois' very gifted and influential teacher Sri Tirumali Krishnamacharya.
When Krishnamacharya studied with his Guru, Rama Mohan Brahmachari, he learned many ancient yogic practices, and memorized many yoga texts, including an ancient manuscript called the Yoga Korunta.**
This knowledge from the Yoga Korunta was then passed to Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and he has taught this yoga practice for over 65 years.
This practice as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois is sometimes also referred to as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. It emphasizes āsana as the starting point into the rest of Patańjali's 8 Limbs.
Modern Ashtanga Yoga Practices
What is Ashtanga Yoga practice today? The two teaching methods.
Led Classes are a worldwide phenomenon and this is often a wonderful introduction to yoga. However, many people are participating in vinyasa-flow style led yoga classes and believing this to be Ashtanga Yoga. Although led classes or guided classes are a part of the current teaching in Mysore - led primary series on fridays, led primary or intermediate series on sundays - the traditional method of teaching has always been affectionately called the Mysore Style.
Mysore Style is the traditional teaching method used by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, South India. This Mysore Method teaches students to develop an independent Yoga Practice.
Students learn one posture at a time and only after a student has established proficiency in the āsana(s) given to them by their teacher - the necessary strength or flexibility of body and/or mind - are they advanced further into a series and their own personal practice.
Mysore Class or Mysore Method are simply interchangeable terms used to describe the traditional delivery of the practice. This student- teacher relationship is the heart of all true Yoga teaching and the
Yoga Paramparā.
**End Note on the Yoga Korunta
The teachings of the Yoga Korunta, are attributed to the sage Vamana. Little is actually known about this text, but it is said to have contained detailed instruction on both āsana and prāṇāyāma practices, describing the method of vinyasa (a breath and movement system), ḍṛiṣṭhi (specific gazing points) and bandhas (energetic locks found in the subtle body). Accordingly, the particular sequence of postures that comprise the modern Ashtanga Yoga practice of Pattabhi Jois, is thought to have originated from this source.
Sri Pattabhi Jois is often heard quoting the Yoga Korunta, “Vina vinyasa yogena āsanadin na karayet,” which, when translated says, “O yogi, do not do āsana without vinyasa.” Consequently, the system of Vinyasa is an essential component of the Ashtanga Yoga practice. |
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