About Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga

Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga commonly referred to as Ashtanga yoga is one of the most popular forms of yoga practiced in the western world today.

The main teacher of ashtanga yoga is the late Sri Pattabhi Jois (1915 - 2009) who passed away a few months ago.

His teacher was Krishnamacharya (1988 - 1989) who was a very formidable yoga teacher and yogi who practiced and taught yoga in southern India.

Krishnamacharya was very influential and also taught yoga to Iyengar and T.K.V. Desikachar who both went on to develop their own styles; Iyengar and Viniyoga.

Krishnamacharya was initially taught yoga by his father from the age of 6 and later studied with yogis in the Himalayas and in Tibet. He returned to India and the Maharaja of Mysore was so impressed with him that he asked him to help cure his many ailments through yoga and also to open a yoga school.

As many of Krishnamacharya's students were young boys, he developed a strong form of yoga known as Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga which was very good for developing strength and building up the bodies and stamina of these young boys.

Both Pattabhi Jois and Iyengar were young boys (Pattabhi at age 12) when they began learning under Krishnamacharya in the 1930's. He was known as a very strict and intimidating teacher, and was very strict and dedicated with his own yoga practice.

He was also very learned, speaking a number of languages and able to recite from heart many of the great yoga teachings, and was also a scholar of Ayurveda and an ability to cure many people with ailments through the practice of yoga. He had huge training in asana, pranayama and other aspects of yoga and was considered to be one of the most influential yogis of the last century.

From age of 12 Pattabhi Jois practiced yoga every day with Krishnamacharya for the next 2 years and finally ran away from home at age 14 to study Sanscrit. At 16 he again met up with Krishnamacharya and stayed studying with him in Mysore in southern India until 21 years of age.

27 years later in 1964 a westerner spent two months studying yoga with him and that began the steady trickle of westerners who went to study Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga with Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. Over the years this steady trickle has become a huge number of people, and in the past 15 years his yoga shala has been expanded to hold about 80 students most of whom are Westerners.

Ashtanga Vinyasa consists of a flowing series of postures which are practiced synchronized with the breath. A particular type of breath know as Ujjai breath is used, which produces a sound from the back of the throat, and also produced heat within the body. This breath also lowers the blood pressure slightly, so that although one is practiced very strong vigorous dynamic yoga, one's heart beat does not rise too high, and one's breathing does not speed up too much (with practice).

Ashtanga is normally practiced in warm (but not hot like Bikram) surroundings, and the Ujjai breath further works to increase the heat within the body. This heat is said to burn impurities, and in general it is considered that the path of Ashtanga yoga is a strong form of yoga designed to burn and remove and impurities from within us.

Ashtanga primarily works on very strong physical level, but in order to practice and maintain this high level of physical effort, it also works to increase our will-power, resilience, stamina, steadfastness, determination and in time acceptance over many things in life.

The eyes are focused on particular points during each posture, and this eye focus is known as the drishties. This practice also helps to steady the mind, withdrawn our thoughts from external distractions, and brings us closer to a more meditative state during our practice.

Similarly to learning and practicing Ujjai breath, this takes time and one should allow at least a number of weeks or months or daily practice in order to get in touch with the inner benefits of these practices.

There are further internal practices know as uddiyana bandha and moolabandha, which work to retain energy within the body and also to increase the energy within the body.... namely within the sushumna channel. This also works to increase internal heat to burn impurities, and also works to lighten the body and help it 'fly' through the postures. Uddiyana bandha also helps protect the lower back and strengthen the internal core muscles of the body.

Ashtanga Vinyasa consists of about 5 series of practices. Typically a beginner practices the first series until their teacher considers they are ready to move on to the second series... and so on. Generally this takes about 2 years of serious daily practice by someone reasonably young and fit before one is ready to move onto the second series.

Many people practice the first series the whole of the lives, or I should say, endeavor to complete the full primary series. The Primary or first series lasts approx 2 hours to 2.5 hours depending on the speed one practices. It is a set series of movements which begin the flowing sequences known as the Sun Salutations.

The practitioner practices 5 Sun Salutation A's and then 5 Sun Salutation B's.

Photos of these can be seen at Surya Namaskara A Ashtanga and Surya Namaskara B Ashtanga

These are then followed by a set sequence of postures for about the next 2 hours.

The Ashtanga courses we teach here at the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre introduce you to the primary series of ashtanga in a gentle and clear and precise way.

The sequence of sun salutations is explained, demonstrated and your postures are corrected as you gain more experience over the weekend or over the whole week.

Gradually the rest of the postures are introduced and you begin to practice the series as far as you are able to... leaving out the postures which are not appropriate for your level of practice at that time.

In general ashtanga Vinyasa attracts people in their teens up to about the 40's.

After one's 40's the vast majority of everyday people, tend to opt for a more gentle practice than ashtanga, and one can tone down slightly with Vinyasa flow, or other forms of yoga.

However, some people especially more flexible, lighter build people do continue to practice ashtanga into their 50's and 60's.

Vinyasa flow is a derivative of ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, and in general uses the same or similar sun salutations and then changes the sequence of the other postures performed, often leaving out the more challenging ones and including more accessible variations of postures.

Power yoga is also a derivative of ashtanga yoga, and sometimes increases the number of rounds of postures, or increases the speed to make the practice stronger. Unfortunately many power yoga teachers are really fitness teachers who have not properly trained in yoga, and are teaching power yoga more as a fitness regime rather than a genuine yoga practice.

There is more information and photos of Ashtanga yoga classes on the website at Ashtanga yoga

The next Ashtanga yoga weekend is February 5th - 7th, and details are at Ashtanga Meditation with Ciara Cronin February 5th

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