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अध्यात्मविद्या — adhyātmavidyā (science/knowledge pertaining to the Self within) Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami February 2016

January 31, 2016, 4:53 pm
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During January I went to Dubai to teach a 5 day 30 hr yoga program at Yash Saran's beautiful facility called 136.1 yoga. I taught core vinyasas for about 20 hrs and the balance 10 hrs were on Pranayama and Yoga for internal organs. It was a small number of  participants but they all participated fully

Then from January 14 to 29th I was in New Delhi to teach a 100 hr Advanced vinyasakrama TT yoga program. There were more than 30 participants about a third of whom were from outside India. The program had a large chunk (60hrs) of asana vinyasas. Several hundred vinyasas in scores of asana subroutines encapsulated in ten major sequences were taught and practised. Vinyasas done with proper breathing help to stretch the entire skeletal system. All the major skeletal muscles can be accessed by a proper selection of vinyasas on a daily regular basis. Additionally they help to stretch and create a little more intra-articular  space helping the mobility of major joints and the spine. The participants also did a few important asanas that require a considerable time of stay like the Sirshasana, sarvangasana, paschimatanasana and others. Since all were long time yoga practitioners and teachers the level of participation was quite deep and intense. Many managed to stay in major postures like sirsasana, sarvangasana, paschimatanasana, mahamudra and bhagiratasana for even upto 10 minutes. One Sunday many performed 32 suryanamaskara to the chanting of Aruna or suryanamaskara mantras from yajur Veda.




Then there was the 20 hour abhyasa of pranayama, something which is not given its due by contemporary yogis. Considering hatayoga  (union of prana and apana) means pranayama, many paid considerable attention to the study and practice of pranayama. It was heartening to find that many were able to consistently do 80 times viloma ujjayi over a continuous period of 40 to 45 minutes. The program also included a lengthy study of the effect of several yoga techniques towards improving the health of important internal kosas or vital organs. The study included the effect of yoga on heart (hrudaya kosa) and the circulatory system (rakta sanchara), the lungs (svasa kosa) and the respiratory system (prana sanchara), stomach (anna kosa) and the digestive system, intestines (mala losa), kidneys/bladder (mutra kosa) and the urinary system and uterus (garbha kosa) and the reproductive system. Then the nervous system and the spine, the brain as a piece of organ and also the functioning of the brain also known as citta vrittis were also part of the study. Yoga has a few limited but very powerful techniques as vinyasas, asanas, kriyas, pranayama, various mudras and bandhas and meditation all backed by a very strong yoga philosophy. It has a very wide range of applications for physical and mental health.

Then there was the 20 hour portion of study of yogasutras. We went through all the sutras in the four chapters and many paid very close attention to the entire treatment of Rajayoga or yoga of enlightenment by Patanjali.

I had taught the same program in Chennai  at Saraswathy Vasudevan’s Yoga Vahini during November/ December  2015 which was attended by about 35 people. There was some disruption due to the unprecedented rains and unfortunate flooding in Chennai, but still many people managed to attend all the sessions despite enormous difficulties. Again the participation was excellent and it was a great joy to work with such committed  yogis and yoginis.

I intend to repeat this program in a few other places during 2016. Between April 16th and May 1st I will be teaching this program at my friend Ryan Leier's Oneyoga studio in Saskatoon in Canada. 

Then later on between August 23rd and September 8th, I will b teaching this program at Loyola Marymount University where I have been teaching the 200 hour TT program for the last almost 10 years. 

Then between September 24th to October 8th or so, I will be teaching this program in Madrid, Spain at Blanca San Roman’s   studio. Blanca attended the 100 hr program in New Delhi recently and had also earlier attended a shorter program in London.

I am also doing shorter programs at Yogashala Connecticut (May 2016) Blue Point Yoga in Raleigh, North Carolina (May 2016), Chicago Yoga center in Chicago (Sep 2016) and my friend Sriram's place in Germany in Aug 2016. Please refer to the Events page of my website www.vinyasakrama.com/Events for more details as and when they become ready and posted


 अध्यात्मविद्या
adhyātmavidyā

Bhagavan Sri Krishna in the bhagavatgita refers to vidyas or bodies of knowledge. There are hundreds of vidyas that teach us about the various aspects of the universe, its function and those that make our lives happier. However there is very little that is done to systematically study about our own selves. This vidya is called adhyatma vidya and the Lord considers that of all the vidyas he is adhyatma vidya or we may say that the Lord considers this knowledge about the self is the highest or the most important. Many vedic philosophies especially samkhya, yoga and vedanta are said to concentrate on this. Vidya. While there are differences in the ultimate analysis about the nature of the self like if the self is one or many, they all say that the common understanding of the nature of self, an acceptance without any thought or reflection  about the nature of our self as nothing other than our body/mind complex is erroneous, popularly expressed by the term 'avidya'. Samkhya, yoga and vedanta attempt to remove the avidya about oneself and help realize the real nature of oneself. This vidya or knowledge is Adhyatma vidya.

While vedanta and samkhya generally explain the correct nature of the Self, the step by step approach starting from where one's understanding/misunderstanding about the Self is, is undertaken meticulously by Yoga. The body/mind complex which is considered to be the Self by default by everybody however itself is the means by which one has to understand the self. Thus Patanjali before starting his detailed presentation of the classic, 'Ashtangayoga', describes the body/mind system as drisya or the  'seen self'
which is the starting point of analysis of the self. The drisya is made of many prakritic tatvas. It is made of three gunas, satva, rajas and tamas. It is also made of the five bhutas or the gross elements of nature, viz., solid, liquid, gaseous matter apart from heat or fire and occupies space (prithvi, ap, tejas, vayu and akasa). Then it has 13 indriyas .
प्रकाश क्रिया स्थिति शीलं भूतेन्द्रितात्मकं भोगापवर्गार्थं दृश्यम्।
prakāśa kriyā sthiti śīlaṁ bhūtendritātmakaṁ bhogāpavargārthaṁ dṛśyam|
 
prakāśa kriyā sthiti śīlaṁ bhūtendritātmakaṁ bhogāpavargārthaṁ dṛśyam|

 The overwhelming majority of the populace use this drisya atma or the 'seen self' for various experiences , happy and unhappy by doing varying activities or karma some good, some bad and many mixed (three types of karmas). But the yogi first does yogic karma which is said to be non-binding as it has no prakritic or bhoga motivation and is directed towards first reducing/removing the non yogic gunas as Rajas and tamas through a proper mix of yamaniyamas on one hand and asana, pranayama and pratyahara on the other. Only a satvic mind can really remain focused and in a state of samadhi to directly experience the self, This yogic procedure of rolling back the involvement with the outside to derive worldly and other worldly experiences is termed as 'apavarga' by Patanjali. Thus Patanjali stressed the importance of maintaining the drisya atma or the pseudo self in good condition so that it can be refined and put to yogic use.
 

The real self, the observer, also known as Atma, purusha, chit, pratygaatma, drashta, drikshakti is pure unwavering consciousness that observes everything presented to it by citta as cittavrittis. Patanjali brilliantly describes the state and nature of the adhyatma as
द्रष्टा दृशि मात्रः शुद्धोपि प्रत्ययानुपश्यः।
draṣṭā dṛśi mātraḥ śuddhopi pratyayānupaśyaḥ|

The seer/self is only seer or awareness, pure (uncontaminated by any of the prakritic gunas as satva, rajas or tamas). Even so it is required to observe all that is presented by citta as a cittavritti. And the Self never undergoes any change as it is pure awareness;  the cittavrittis are always known to the self , still unchanging and hence immortal
सदा ज्ञाताः चित्तवृत्तयः तत्प्रभोः पुरुषस्य अपरिणामित्वात्।
sadā jñātāḥ cittavṛttayaḥ tatprabhoḥ puruṣasya apariṇāmitvāt |

All these sastras, the nivritti sastras strive hard to show how our perception of what constitutes the self is flawed and by logical step by step approach show what is the real nature of oneself. Once the mind is able to overcome  this erroneous but very common perception of oneself is removed, then one sees oneself and the world clearly as they are and is said to attain freedom or kaivalya or moksha. This vidya or the knowledge of the self, the Lord says, is the most important from his perspective. And yoga is the system that goes about methodically to lead one to this understanding and subsequent realization

Sincerely
Srivatsa Ramaswami
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Asana (and pranayama) as preparation for the third stage of a yoga life. ALSO Avidya. Solace in the kalama sutra. Antharanga_Sadhana (Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi).

February 2, 2016, 5:15 pm
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T. Krishnamacharya
Asana (and pranayama) as preparation for the third stage of a yoga life

Yesterday I posted a page to fb from TKV Desikachar's (Krishnamacharya's eldest son) excellent book Religiousness in Yoga: Lectures on Theory and practice. In this page from the book, Desikachar looked at two lesser know meanings of the word Yoga.

Yoga as 'reaching a point we have not reached before'

and

yoga as 'focused action'.

These may be a comfort next time somebody suggests our two hour focused asana practice isn't yoga. Krishnamacharya wrote of Yoga for the three stages of life (see appendix), in the first and second stage of life a lot of asana and pranayama is expected, in fact Krishnamacharya goes further and suggests we shouldn't perhaps be thinking of Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) until we reach sixty and the third stage of life.

In this second stage of life then, in our asana and pranayama practice, we can perhaps focus on the two meanings of yoga below and begin to prepare ourselves for the third stage of life to come and the practice that stage offers us?


The second stage of life may be considered preparation for the third stage, when the focus shifts to intense meditation and the study of and reflection upon Yoga Philosophy.


Srivatsa Ramaswami Yoga for the Three Stages of Life Amazon


But what kind of preparation can we embark on during this second stage of a Yoga life.

T. Krishnamacharya

Krishnamacharya responded to a question that pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) along with antaranga sadhana (Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi) should be begun after we are sixty


see question number 32 from this post, Questions to Krishnamacharya from his students

32. Is it possible to learn pratyahara and antaranga sadhana from a teacher?

"Practices like pratyahara can be learnt from a teacher. However, this should be after the age of sixty. Until then pranayama is adequate to give healthy long life. there is no doubt about this". Krishnamacharya.

So it's our sixtieth birthday, we fish out our Patanjali and think, right, Pratyahara (sense withdrawal), Antaranga sadhana (Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi)- see Ramaswami's article at the end of this post), lets begin.

But how prepared are we?

Better perhaps than many who criticise our focus on asana may think.

The two meanings of yoga that Desikachar considers could perhaps, through our asana (think one to two hours of asana with attention fixed on the breath, or internal or external drishti), develop several facilities that may be useful for the third stage.

Yoga as 'reaching a point we have not reached before' may develop...

discipline, 
commitment, 
will power, 
belief that almost anything may be possible

Yoga as 'focused action' may develop...

attention, 
focus, 
concentration, 
attention.

All of the above will no doubt be enhanced by including a pranayama practice following our practice of asana.

Pranayama is a practice, it's something we work at, the more we practice the more steady our breathing becomes, our kumbhaka's (breath retention), the number of rounds we can comfortably employ while remaining focused.

But surely we also need to think about developing skill in adapting our asana practice, skilful practice.

We need to take into consideration that this is a long term project, the asana and pranayama may be improving our health and fitness but we need to know when and how to adapt our asana practice as our body begins to age. Srivatsa Ramaswami's studied with Krishnamacharya from when he was a fifteen year old until he was nearing fifty, his asana practice with his teacher changed over that period.

Ramaswami continues to teach and practice asana and pranayama into his 70s.

Krishnamacharya himself was practicing hundreds of asana into his 80s and 90s., he even managed to practice in his hospital bed to recover from a serious hip injury

T. Krishnamacharya at 84
See this earlier picture heavy post What does practice look like after 70 years?

Over time we may drop Advanced series and most if not all the advanced asana and take a more subtle (proficient?) approach to the asana we do continue to practice, less dynamic perhaps, less floaty but more energy efficient. Our stays may be longer, our breathing slower, our drishti turned inward, finding ever new ways to refine our practice., even should we retain he frame work of the Ashtanga series we are most familiar with.

So now you're sixty, what about this pratyahara I'm supposed to start practicing?

Pratyahara is sense withdrawal, in the classic presentation we may sit in Shanmukha mudra with our fingers gently (symbolically) closing our ears, eyes, nose and lips and turn from external to internal sound, presence.

I used shanmukha mudra for the original cover of my practice book.


....and then we leave our mat, go outside and are assaulted by sights and sounds, tastes and smells, the sensual temptations of life. Krishnamacharya seems to think it gets easier once we reach sixty, I'm not convinced, this too then is a practice to work at, to prepare for.

Yama/Niyama

The guidance of the yama and niyamas might be considered training in pratyahara, in discernment, in reducing the complexities of life that we so often become entangled in, they can help to simplify our life, create some peace.

"Yoga should not be practised in a country where there is no faith in yogab- hyasa, or in a dangerous forest where you cannot look after your person, or in overcrowded cities, or in houses where there is no peace". Krishnamacharya Yoga Makaranda

The yamas and niyamas can help with avidya, (wrong knowledge), they can lead to developing ongoing, ever vigilant discernment.

2.5 (antiya ashuchi duhkha anatmasu nitya shuchi sukha atman khyatih avidya)
Ignorance (avidya) is of four types: 1) regarding that which is transient as eternal, 2) mistaking the impure for pure, 3) thinking that which brings misery to bring happiness, and 4) taking that which is not-self to be self.  Patanjali Yoga Sutras

The tapas of our asana and pranayama practice along with our ongoing study of and reflection upon the yama and niyamas may reduce some of our attachments to thingness, worldly things and may give us a fighting chance when, at sixty, we sit on our mat and get serious with our antaranga sadhana (Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi).

Meditation limbs (Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi)

And what of 'Sitting'.

It's said that our ashtanga asana practice is in itself a meditation practice, this is said of pranayama also but in both these cases something (a lot) is 'going on', the body is moving in and through space, when in asana the stay is relatively short, in pranayama we are switching perhaps from one nostril to the other, engaging bandhas, employing kumbhaka...., we're busy.

When we Sit (meditatively) we just sit, this is another discipline altogether and one to cultivate. We bring the concentration, attention, focus we have developed in our asana and pranayama practices and practice these while merely sitting. We learn to sit for ten minutes, then twenty, thirty, forty, get up, walk for ten minutes and sit again and then do it once more at midday, at dusk, before bed, clearly a discipline to begin working towards, a work in progress.

And while we sit we work on shifting and maintaining our attention for ever extended periods, and ever more refined or abstract focuses of attention, the breath, a light, a sound, later perhaps an idea, a perception, on letting go one after another of these. These later examples are the focus of our third stage of life practice but perhaps we might begin now to learn to sit, to focus on the breath, make a beginning, prepare.

The first and second stages of yoga life are long, The first stage stretches from Childhood to mid-life, 30 perhaps, the second from mid-life until around 60. We might be tempted to put off this preparation and just enjoy our asana and pranayama but these... preparations can be rewarding in themselves, reducing avidya (wrong knowledge), stating some peace of mind.

Why do all this

Whether we look to move on to the third stage of Yoga life, wish to seek liberation, moksha, nirvana, Samadhi, unification with the divine..... or not, Yoga of course can be it's own reward, see the Buddha's Four assurances/Solaces in the Kalama sutra (see appendix below).

"'Suppose there is a hereafter and there is a fruit, result, of deeds done well or ill. Then it is possible that at the dissolution of the body after death, I shall arise in the heavenly world, which is possessed of the state of bliss.' This is the first solace found by him.

'Suppose there is no hereafter and there is no fruit, no result, of deeds done well or ill. Yet in this world, here and now, free from hatred, free from malice, safe and sound, and happy, I keep myself.' This is the second solace found by him.

'Suppose evil (results) befall an evil-doer. I, however, think of doing evil to no one. Then, how can ill (results) affect me who do no evil deed?' This is the third solace found by him.

'Suppose evil (results) do not befall an evil-doer. Then I see myself purified in any case.' This is the fourth solace found by him". Kalama Sutra

T. Krishnamacharya

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APPENDIX


Some extra material from old posts on some of the topics above.




1. My fb post yesterday, two alternative or complementary meanings of Yoga


2. A post from a couple of years back on Yoga for the Three Stages of Life.

3. THE KALAMA SUTRA

4. AVIDYA (wrong Knowledge)

5. On_Antharanga_Sadhana  (Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi)



1. My fb post yesterday, two alternative or complementary meanings of Yoga

Yuj, the root of yoga supposedly has a hundred or so interpretations, there's the two most common, the yoke/ union meaning found in the Gita, the samadhi/converging the movements of the mind reading we find in Patanjali's Yoga sutras and these two below provided by Krishnamacharya's son TKV Desikachar in his excellent Religiousness in Yoga ( once again, don't let the title put you off, get a hold of a copy). Below then, Yoga as 'reaching a point we have not reached before' and yoga as 'focussed action'.

These may be a comfort next time somebody suggests your two hour focused asana practice isn't yoga. Krishnamacharya wrote of yoga for the three stages of life, in the first and second stage a lot of asana and pranayama is expected, in fact Krishnamacharya goes further and suggests we shouldn't perhaps be thinking of Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) until we reach sixty.

In this second stage of life then, in our asana and pranayama practice, we can perhaps focus on the two meanings of yoga below and begin to prepare ourselves for the third stage of life to come and the practice that stage offers us.



Amazon.com


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2. A post from a couple of years back on Yoga for the Three Stages of Life.

below from http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2013/10/ashtanga-vinyasa-and-age-yoga-for-three.html

Beatrice Addressing Dante (by William Blake) - Beatrice ( Dante's beloved) as guide in Dante's Paradiso.
In his excellent first book Ramaswami presents the three different stages of life when different approaches to yoga may be considered appropriate.

Srivatsa Ramaswami Yoga for the Three Stages of Life Amazon

Amazon

Notice that in youth a focus on asana is considered appropriate. Worth bearing in mind perhaps whenever your tempted to claim that practicing asana is NOT yoga. And, if you become criticised for not exploring pranayama or meditation or dipping into yoga philosophy but rather just focusing on your asana practice then you are in fact following the program, so just smile politely.

Mid-life we may want to reign the asana practice in somewhat, throw in some pranayama, an overall practice that preserves our health and well being. We know this of course, advanced asana practice five days a week (Primary on Fridays) is likely to take it's toll on our bodies, little injuries can come up with more regularity, makes sense to reign it in a little. Of course fifty is the new forty, when does 'mid-life' begin. Also, what constitutes Advanced asana? If you've been practising asana for some time your body may well haveopened up and developed a degree of flexibility such that what many may consider an advanced posture is merely, for you, a natural progression of a more basic asana. And as we all no doubt out realise sooner or later, all asana are advanced asana, it just depends on what we bring to the posture and it's vinyasa, whether we bring out it's innateadvancenessness. Manju mentioned ( one of his world-shattering throw away lines) that all asana are mudras ( or may be considered so if approached that way).

But here's the thing, youth can apply to age but perhaps also to our stage upon our yoga path ( Jois uses the Yoga as Path metaphor, so I'm not being unnecessarily cheesy here ), when we first begin to explore Yoga then we may be considered to be youthful in regards to the practice, young in the practice as it were and so a strong asana focus may well still be appropriate. The practice of asana can form discipline, focus, attention, preliminaries perhaps for the other stages of the 'yogic life'.

That first stage can go on a long time too, from childhood to mid-life, you get to focus on asana and just asana ( actually including breathing practices) for thirty odd years perhaps before your 'required' to worry about anything else. Of course you can still dip into some good books, the shastras, explore some pranayama and some meditative practices, nothing wrong with that, in fact it may well inform your asana practice somewhat, deepen it, but your not necessarily obliged to go there (but then why wouldn't you). Focusing on your asana only, on 'just asana' is considered appropriate, it is yoga.

For me personally at fifty with many years of hard travel and labour behind me ( those odd, physically demanding, jobs  picked up while travelling and later working my way through Uni, building walls, roads, houses etc.) my body carries a lot of old nagging injuries, makes sense to reign my practice in a little. I'm more than happy with my Ashtanga Primary and 2nd series with the odd Advanced posture thrown in for seasoning (Manju's approach). Besides, less feels more.

And I relish pranayama and what a joy to look ahead to decades (with luck) of study, reflection and contemplation, the more mediative practices to accompany my beloved asana practice....

And yet, perhaps those stages ebb and flow, I was feeling I was in a mid-life stage of practice and yet, just recently, there's been a freshness to my asana practice as if that mid-life stage is feeding back into the more youthful stage, revitalising it.... perhaps the stages don't follow each other but are layered one on top of the other, nutrients filtering down, revitalising, giving new growth....

Notes: 
Of course 'Nathamuni's Yoga Rahasya' was actually written by Krishnamacharya who clearly retained a profound love of asana pretty much to the day he died (aged 100), but then he also had a great love of study and pranayama from an early age. And do we really need anyjustification for our asana practice.




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3. THE KALAMA SUTRA

The Kalama sutra, my favourite Buddhist sutra obviously, for the spirit of self enquiry but also for the four assurances which perhaps makes one think of Pascal's wager. 

The Four Assurances 
"The disciple of the Noble Ones, Kalamas, who has such a hate-free mind, such a malice-free mind, such an undefiled mind, and such a purified mind, is one by whom four solaces are found here and now.

'Suppose there is a hereafter and there is a fruit, result, of deeds done well or ill. Then it is possible that at the dissolution of the body after death, I shall arise in the heavenly world, which is possessed of the state of bliss.' This is the first solace found by him.

'Suppose there is no hereafter and there is no fruit, no result, of deeds done well or ill. Yet in this world, here and now, free from hatred, free from malice, safe and sound, and happy, I keep myself.' This is the second solace found by him.

'Suppose evil (results) befall an evil-doer. I, however, think of doing evil to no one. Then, how can ill (results) affect me who do no evil deed?' This is the third solace found by him.

'Suppose evil (results) do not befall an evil-doer. Then I see myself purified in any case.' This is the fourth solace found by him.

The disciple of the Noble Ones, Kalamas, who has such a hate-free mind, such a malice-free mind, such an undefiled mind, and such a purified mind, is one by whom, here and now, these four solaces are found."



I'm not sure the voices work here so you might want to just look at the pretty pictures and read it here http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/soma/wheel008.html


The Kalama sutra reminds me to of yoga sutra 1.7

(pratyaksha anumana agamah pramanani)

"Of these five, there are three ways of gaining correct knowledge (pramana): 1) perception, 2) inference, and 3) testimony or verbal communication from others who have knowledge".
The suggestion seems to be that both 2. Inference and 3. testimony still have to stand the test of 1. Our own perception (experience).

If the voices get two much you can turn the sound off, enjoy the illustrations and read the sutra itself.



4. AVIDYA (wrong Knowledge)

An argument for a constant, consistent, unflinching practice (asana, pranayama, ongoing reflection on yama/niyama,dhyana)..

Re reading TKV Desikachar's Religiousness in Yoga (don't let the title put you off) on the long ride to and from work, quite wonderful. This on Avidya (wrong knowledge) from p35
http://www.amazon.com/Religiousness-Yoga-Lectures-Theory-Practice/dp/0819109673

and from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras (http://www.swamij.com/yoga-sutras-20109.htm#2.5)

2.5 Ignorance (avidya) is of four types: 1) regarding that which is transient as eternal, 2) mistaking the impure for pure, 3) thinking that which brings misery to bring happiness, and 4) taking that which is not-self to be self.
(antiya ashuchi duhkha anatmasu nitya shuchi sukha atman khyatih avidya)
antiya = non-eternal, impermanent, ephemeral
ashuchi = impure
duhkha = misery, painful, sorrowful, suffering
anatmasu = non-self, non-atman
nitya = eternal, everlasting
shuchi = pure
sukha = happiness, pleasurable, pleasant
atman = Self, soul
khyatih = taking to be, supposing to be, seeing as if
avidya = spiritual forgetting, ignorance, veiling, nescience





5. On_Antharanga_Sadhana
http://www.yogastudies.org/wp-content/uploads/Ramaswami_22_On_Antharanga_Sadhana.pdf






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A Krishnamacharya Reading list (inc. Pdf Links).

February 3, 2016, 9:50 pm
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T. Krishnamacharya


Following on from my earlier 

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois' READING LIST from from the 'original' Ashtanga diploma syllabus list given to Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams in 1974

I thought it might be useful to make a similar post of a Krishnamacharya reading list.
Below are Krishnamacharya's own works as well as texts (Upanishads, sutras, samhitas etc.) mentioned by Krishnamacharya in his Bibliographies as well as texts Krishnamacharya taught to his student Srivatsa Ramaswami over a thirty year period.
Where possible I've linked to a free downloadable pdf version of the text.


Contents.

1. Main texts by Krishnamacharya

2. Complete list of Books/texts by T. Krishnamacharya


3. Bibliography from from Yogasanagaly 

4. Bibliography from from Yoga Makaranda 

5. A course of study with Krishnamacharya

Appendix

Thirty Minor Upanishads

I'm adding this post to my Krishnamacharya Resource page and will add any other relevant texts mentioned by his students as I come across them.





1. Main texts by Krishnamacharya



Yoga Makaranda (Mysore 1934)pdf

Yogasanagalu translation (Mysore 1941) (link)

Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranada Part II pdf

Krishnamacharya's Salutations to the teacher and Eternal one pdf

Yoga Rahasya 

Selections from chapter 1

Selections from chapter 2

Selections from chapter 3

Selections from chapter 4 


Rare photograph of Krishnamacharya assisting.



2. Complete list of Books/texts by T. Krishnamacharya:
from http://krishnamacharya.net/works
unfortunately most of the articles mentioned have not been released


Yoga Makaranda (Mysore 1934)pdf
Yogasanagalu translation (Mysore 1941) (link)
Yoga Rahasya 
Yogavalli

Other works (essays and poetic compositions):
“Yogaanjalisaaram”
“Disciplines of Yoga”
“Effect of Yoga Practice”
“Importance of Food and Yoga in Maintaining Health”
“Verses on Methods of Yoga Practice”
“Essay on Asana and Pranayama”
“Madhumeha (Diabetes)”
“Why Yoga as a Therapy Is Not Rising”
“Bhagavad Gita as a Health Science”
“Ayurveda and Yoga: An Introduction”
“Questions and Answers on Yoga” (with students in July 1973)
“Yoga: The Best Way to Remove Laziness”
“Dhyana (Meditation) in Verses”
“What Is a Sutra?”
“Kundalini: Essay on What Kundalini Is and Kundalini Arousal (sakti calana) Based on Texts Like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita, and Yoga Yajnavalkya”
“Extracts from Raja Yoga Ratnakara”
“Need for a Teacher”
“Satvika Marga” (“The Sattvic Way”; philosophy/spiritual/yoga)
“Reference in Vedas to Support Vedic Chanting for Women” (philosophy/technical)
“Fourteen Important Dharmas” (philosophy)
“Cit Acit Tatva Mimamsa” (philosophy)
“Sandhya-saaram” (ritual)
“Catushloki” (four verses on Sankaracharya)
“Kumbhakonam Address” (catalog)
“Sixteen Samskaras” (rituals)
“Mantra Padartha Tatva Nirnaya” (rituals)
“Ahnika Bhaskaram” (rituals)
“Shastreeya Yajnam” (rituals)
“Vivaaha” (marriage rituals)
“Asparsha Pariharam” (rituals)
“Videsavaasi Upakarma Nirnaya” (rituals)
“Sudarshana Dundubhi” (devotional)
“Bhagavat Prasadam” (devotional)
“Narayana Paratva” (devotional)
“About Madras” (miscellaneous)





3. Bibliography from from Yogasanagaly 
T. Krishnamacharya (Mysore 1941)


I did not attempt a detailed review of all ancient yoga treatises since it will make this book very long and perhaps cause boredom to the readers.  Please forgive.  This writing is mainly based on the following texts:

Patanjalayogasutra

Hathayogapradipika

Rajayogaratnakara
see  also http://www.saujanyabooks.com/details.aspx?id=14489

Yogakuranti (Yoga Korunta- lost?).

Upanishads related to yoga

Learning’s from my Guru and self-experience





4. Bibliography from from Yoga Makaranda 
T. Krishnamacharya (Mysore 1934)



"This text contains the essential concepts from many texts of antiquity listed below.
I have studied the texts listed below under the blessing of a great teacher and have explained the truths contained in them that I have personally experienced. I request that the Lord of the auspicious Karnataka throne, the great Lord and Emperor, the fourth Sri Krishna Rajendra, accept this work and allow my
humble self to fulfil my endeavor and bless me.
More than this, I have nothing to say in this preface.


Bibliography
1. Rajayoga Ratnakaram pdf (in Telugu)
2. Hathayoga Pradipika pdf
3. Yoga Saravalli pdf
4. Yoga Balaprathipikai (?)
5. Ravana Nadi  (Article)
6. Bhairava Kalpam pdf
7. Sri Tattvanidhi (wikipedia- see also Normon Sjoman's Yoga tradition of the Mysore palace)
8. Yoga Ratnakarandam (?)
9. Mano Narayaneeyam Pdf
10. Rudrayameelam (Rudrayamalam) PDF
11. Brahmayameelam Pdf
12. Atharvana Rahasyam (?)
13. Patanjala Yogadarshanam (0nline)
14. Kapilasutram
15. Yogayajnavalkyam
16. Gheranda Samhita pdf
17. Narada Pancharatra Samhita
18. Satvata Samhita
19. Siva Samhita pdf
20. Dhyana Bindu Upanishad pdf
21. Chandilya Upanishad pdf
22. Yoga Shika Upanishad
23. Yoga Kundalya Upanishad pdf
24. Ahir Buddhniya Samhita
25. Nada Bindu Upanishad pdf
26. Amrita Bindu Upanishad pdf
27. Garbha Upanishad pdf


Srivatsa Ramaswami chanting with T. Krishnamacharya

5. A course of study with Krishnamacharya



from My studies with Krishnamacharya - Srivatsa Ramaswami (Namarupa article)
http://www.dailycupofyoga.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/studies_with_tk_ramaswami2.pdf

Ramaswami studied with Krishnamacharya for over thirty years, in this article he relates his studies of asana, chanting as well as some of the many he texts he studied with his teacher


"Normally, I had two to three sessions per week, but there were occasions when I had the privilege of going to him twice a day, for ásana practice in the morning and for chanting or the study of texts in the evening". 

Some texts Ramaswami studied with Krishnamacharya

BrahmaSutras PDF
Samkhya kalika-Kapila pdf

Sad-Vidyá (?)Chándogya Upanishad pdf
Mándukya Upanishad pdf
Taittiriya Upanishad pdf
Prasna Upanishad pdf
Mundaka Upanishad pdf
Isvásya Upanishad pdf
Brhadáraóyaka Upanishad pdf
Svetavatara Upanishad pdf
Kausitaki Bráhmana Upanishad pdf

Bhagavad Gitá, pdf

The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali (Online ) was the centrepiece of our yoga studies.
(Note:I recommend the Bryant and/or Aranya editions)

Another philosophy he was keen to teach was Nyáya and the later version, Tarka. He started teaching..

TarkaSamgraha, pdf a compact text on Vedic logic.

Hathayogapradipika pdf in detail, except portions of the last chapter and some of the third, which he said contained obnoxious practices inconsistent with the teachings of sáttvika yoga and the Yoga Sâtras.

Yogayajnavalkyam pdf in detail.

Some of the other texts that he referred to and taught in portions included

Gheranda Samhita pdf
Siva Samhita. pdf
Yoga Rahasya (Amazon) was not published, but he frequently quoted from the text and after a while taught a few chapters from it.


Link to article pdf



Appendix (with links)




Thirty Minor Upanishads

tr. by K. Narayanasvami Aiyar

[1914]


Title Page



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Yoga Korunta found? A Hatha yoga project proposal and Is yoga even necessary here in the Lakeland of Japan.

February 8, 2016, 5:45 pm
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Part I : Yoga Korunta found? A Hatha yoga project proposal
See my earlier Yoga korunta post HERE

Worth following the link in the post to James Mallinson's original detailed project proposal.



Alternative there is the more brief introduction to the project on


Or briefer still on The Luminescent fb page https://www.facebook.com/YOGA.TheLuminescent/?fref=photo

Turns out that the commercialism surrounding so called 'modern trans-national postural yoga' may be making projects like this one viable, such that the few remaining copies of certain, possibly important, hatha texts, threatened by decay, are being rediscovered, examined, studied and preserved, in one form or another (four projected monographs in this project).

And look, they may have come up with a headline grabbing scan of the fabled Yoga korunta that Ashtanga's Pattabhi Jois claimed to be the source of his teacher Krishnamacharya's original Ashtanga vinyasa.

I do wonder at this though, if it does turn out to be the very same Yoga Korunta will everybody change their current practice to bring it in line with the text or will elements that don't fit in with the current presentation be ignored or dismissed along with Krishnamacharya's own works which may have been based upon the text.


Part of the asana table from krishnamacharya's Yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941).
Translation project HERE

Would I give up my exploration of kumbhaka (breath retention) in asana as outlined in Krishnamacharya's works if the Korunta argued against it, probably not. I continue to practice Ashtanga vinyasa not because I think it has any historical validity or authenticity of any kind but merely because I've become accustomed to it, it seems to work for me personally ( in the sense of giving me discipline, focus and attention for a couple of hours, which is a start)  as well as anything else.

The korunta is perhaps only really interesting to Ashtanga practitioners if it justifies and authorises current practice, if it doesn't it will most likely soon be forgotten and lost once more in favour of the concepts of tradition and lineage themselves rather than what perhaps is/was intended to be transmitted, passed along via said lineage and tradition.

And Yoga Korunta is of course just one of many texts, why should the Korunta have any more authority or be of more interest than any of the others, than the Yogatārāvalī say, the text included in the project that I'm most curious about personally, the first text the team have found where raja and hatha yoga are supposedly brought together. Why was this felt necessary, Raja had got along nicely for a thousand years perhaps without hatha...... or had it.

Thank you to the HYP team for all their work thus far as well as to come, I'm looking forward to it.

*



Part II : Is Yoga even necessary here in the lakeland?

Pranayama I
I've been wondering about this recently, here in rural Japan, between the mountains and Lake Biwa.
I look out my window and see the elderly still fit and sprightly digging their allotments and growing all kinds of vegetables, almost self sufficient here it seems. 

The air is as pure as it gets perhaps, people here are leading active lives in a place of such peace and beauty...... as soon as I arrive back from the city I feel any stress accumulated drop quietly away as I walk home along the beach.

Life is simple here, nobody seems to need two hours of practice each morning to be reminded of that. 

There doesn't seem the need of a physical practice, am I continuing with mine out of habit? Whatever version of the yama and niyamas they have here seems to be working well enough, people are living long peaceful lives, my time might be better spent finding ways to support them in this, at some point age is a burden that can be eased somewhat.

The local Shrines and temples are seemingly well enough attended, I would happily be reborn here again and again if I believed in Karma.

I still have the philosophical curiosity of course, for me spirituality, the spiritual path if I'm on one, is an enquiry into consciousness, awareness, what is it to be aware and what if it were possible to drop away all content of awareness would Patanjali and his predecessors be right, would all that is left be awareness of awareness? As with my years of Academic philosophy and the continued intellectual investigation that followed before this more.... experiential path, it seems a luxury, a hobby almost rather than an existential necessity.


Pranayama II

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No, yoga is not (just) about flexibility.....

February 13, 2016, 1:39 pm
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"For gods sake, hold thy tongue and let me love (practice)."
The Canonization. John Donne

In ancient texts such as theShvetashvatara Upanishad, the term (Bhakti) simply means participation in, devotion, and love for any endeavor, 
Wikipedia

"Love is Bhakti for them". 
Krishnamachara


*

No, yoga is not just about flexibility but rather the discipline that develops that flexibility. That discipline is an aspect of yoga whether on the yoga mat or carpet whether with the gymnast or the contortionist or no doubt any other discipline we dedicate ourselves to. It's tapas, one aspect of yoga that marries with other aspects, perhaps yoga marries better than most, gymnastics can become distracted by competition, contortion by the demands of the show....

"Without the breath its just gymnastics, contortion, circus skills", what nonsense!

Prayer.

Give me the dedication of the gymnast, the devotion to the art of the contortionist but allow me with the yogi to take no interest in achievement, in how my asana looks, how I look, to see no difference between asana, to practice diligently for no reward, to teach for no reward, no thanks, no appreciation, no respect but merely to share.. because I have this, that is no more or less worthy perhaos than anything else and you asked.

And with this hard earned discipline, diligence, beginnings of focus and attention may it marry with other aspects of yoga, allow me to live ever more consciously within the yamas and niyamas, may I refine it in my pranayama, may it guide me inwards through pratyahara and may dhyana arise within me honed to keeness for the task to come.


Appendix.

The Canonization

BY JOHN DONNE
For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love,
         Or chide my palsy, or my gout,
My five gray hairs, or ruined fortune flout,
         With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,
                Take you a course, get you a place,
                Observe his honor, or his grace,
Or the king's real, or his stampèd face
         Contemplate; what you will, approve,
         So you will let me love.

Alas, alas, who's injured by my love?
         What merchant's ships have my sighs drowned?
Who says my tears have overflowed his ground?
         When did my colds a forward spring remove?
                When did the heats which my veins fill
                Add one more to the plaguy bill?
Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still
         Litigious men, which quarrels move,
         Though she and I do love.

Call us what you will, we are made such by love;
         Call her one, me another fly,
We're tapers too, and at our own cost die,
         And we in us find the eagle and the dove.
                The phœnix riddle hath more wit
                By us; we two being one, are it.
So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit.
         We die and rise the same, and prove
         Mysterious by this love.

We can die by it, if not live by love,
         And if unfit for tombs and hearse
Our legend be, it will be fit for verse;
         And if no piece of chronicle we prove,
                We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms;
                As well a well-wrought urn becomes
The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,
         And by these hymns, all shall approve
         Us canonized for Love.

And thus invoke us: "You, whom reverend love
         Made one another's hermitage;
You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage;
         Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove
                Into the glasses of your eyes
                (So made such mirrors, and such spies,
That they did all to you epitomize)
         Countries, towns, courts: beg from above
         A pattern of your love!"
↧
↧

New Book and Downloadable video course on Inversions (headstand, preparation and variations) from David Garrigues

February 15, 2016, 3:51 pm
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I was delighted the to see this video this morning (below) of David Garrigues, one of my favourite yoga teachers ( right around the top of my list of teachers I would like to spend more time with personally or strongly recommend to the home Ashtangi), demonstrating headstand variations. It turns out David has a new book coming out along with a downloadable Video course. Details below the video. Below these are a few links to some of my earlier headstand posts as well as an earlier post in full on Krishnamacharya's headstand variations

David Garrigues

AG Mohan mentioned that Krishnamacharya rarely demonstrated asana, however he tells this story about an exception

"A rare exception that I recall was a class in which Krishnamacharya mentioned there were thirty-two variations of headstand. Thi seemed excessive to me, and I must have looked doubtful. He considered my expression for a few moment and then said, "What? It looks like you don't believe me"...... Krishnamacharya gestured toward the middle of the room. "Fold the carpet and place it here", he said. Then he proceeded to demonstrat all thirty-two headstand variations. At the time he was about eighty-four years old". Krishnamacharya His life and teaching AG Mohan


Krishnamacharya at 84 Link to post




Some stills from David's YouTube video






If you like the headstand variations you see in David's video, Krishnamacharya 30 year + Student Srivatsa Ramaswami offers us many more, forty minutes worth in his Vinyasa Krama Inverted sequence in his Complete Book of Vinyasa yoga - See early post at the end of this one on Krishnamacharya's inversions.



David has also overhauled his website, it's looking good, a lot of material here....


LINK TO WEBSITE https://davidgarrigues.com/


BOOK: King of Asanas: Mastering Head Balance and Inversion Principles 


"I am so pleased to share my new book King of Asanas: Mastering Head Balance and Inversion Principles, with an associated video series. In the past I have had some students express fear, sometimes dread, towards this challenging upside-down posture. So it may seem like an unlikely choice that I use Head Balance as a foundational posture, as well as a gateway through which something magical and potent can happen in your yoga practice. Studying the book and practicing the King of Asanas master series will take you on a journey—a journey where you acquire many skills and the strength needed to properly learn and execute Sirsasana. And, what is truly amazing, this work on Head Balance helps us to uncover the essential asana principles upon which all yoga postures are based. 

It is worth defining what I mean by inversion. It is really simple—any posture where your belly is higher than your head is an inversion. One reason I point this out is to be clear that there are many basic postures that you already do that are inversions, but maybe you have not thought of them as such. Inversions include Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Posture), Padangusthasana (Both Big Toe Posture), Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend Posture), Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow Posture) and others. My aim is for you to see these postures, and all inversions, differently, as more potent, worthy, fun and beneficial than you might have previously thought. Thus we must widen our idea of what constitutes an inversion. 

Working with this material will improve, possibly even transform, your entire approach to yoga practice.  I have taught this material to students for over two decades. I consider these instructions to be essential for a daily yoga practice. My aim with this book is for you to place more value on the inversion portion of your practice. In doing so, you will become more skilled at extracting the nectar of yoga knowledge from all your postures, whether you are upside down or right side up. Enjoy!" 
David Garrigues



Update more details about the book

"About the companion book King of Asanas: A Master Series on Head Balance and Inversion Principles

The companion book is a stand-alone text that includes commentary and explanations associated with inversion practices.

The yogis and sages of the past have often written about how inversions lead towards gaining siddhis, or accomplishment. Siddhis are a kind of power achieved through one’s sadhana (spiritual practice). There are many siddhis that come from practicing inversions in general and Sirsasana in particular, and I will write about these in the first part of the book. I include my own decades-long research into this subject and offer a 21st century perspective on the attainment of siddhis. I cover six, specific siddhis, including:

Siddhi One: Inversions plunge you into the present moment 
Siddhi Two: Inversions bring incredible arm and upper body strength 
Siddhi Three: Inversions grant you access to learn bandhas (energetic locks) 
Siddhi Four: Inversions force you to encounter your fears 
Siddhi Five: Being upside-down compliments perfectly a seated meditation posture 
Siddhi Six: Inversions offer positions of rest and sanctuary

The second part of the book gives explanation of the preparatory postures to practice that offer the strength, balance, poise, and mental fortitude needed for inversion practices. And, there is great detail in the book about all aspects of Sirsasana, from creating a safe and strong foundation, to abiding in meditation equipoise that the King of Asana offers.
I conclude the book with some final words of encouragement.

Working with this material, in the videos and the book, will improve, possibly even transform, your entire approach to yoga practice. I have taught this material to students for over two decades. I consider these instructions to be essential for a daily yoga practice. My aim is for you to place more value on the inversion portion of your practice. In doing so, you will become more skilled at extracting the nectar of yoga knowledge from all your postures, whether you are upside down or right side up!"



DOWLOADABLE VIDEO COURSE: KING OF ASANAS: A MASTER COURSE ON HEAD BALANCE AND INVERSION PRINCIPLES

"I am pleased to share King of Asanas: A Master Series on Head Balance and Inversion Principles! King of Asanas includes seven challenging and fun instructional videos, each 15 to 30 minutes in length. The practices and teachings in the videos represent what I see as the most critical elements to extracting the essence of inversion positions in general, and specifically, the King of Asanas, Sirsasana, the Head Balance posture. And, there is a companion book, a text that can be used for study for years to come".  DAvid Garrigues




To buy the course there is a little button in the top left of the video.
Note: in the shop it says the course is $30 but the link in the video says $50


UPDATE
I found a more detailed outline of the course buried away on David's paysite

I was struggling with how to actually buy the course on the website, Turns out you need to go to the Video download page in the Learning tools drop down menu and click on the video (I've added that video above).

This is a great service, once purchased you can watch the videos online whenever you want from wherever you are and on whatever device you have, PC, Mac, laptop, ipad.... smartphone. you can download the videos in several different formats and file sizes, full HD for you mac perhaps, something smaller for your phone.


UPDATE 2
Review to come of the course but having looked through the seven videos I should point out that the course seems to be mostly about preparing for and stabilizing your headstand. In the black and white YouTube introduction to the course at the top of the blog we see many of the sirsasana variations that Krishnamacharya would teach and practice but the only one of these variations that David looks at in the course is padmasana. Right at the end of the last video with the credits there is a brief demonstration of some of the possible variations (including some of the 2nd series Ashtanga headstand lasting just a minute or so.

You'll receive  140 Minutes of video

"I am pleased to share King of Asanas: A Master Course on Head Balance and Inversion Principles! King of Asanas includes seven challenging and fun instructional videos, each 15 to 30 minutes in length. The practices and teachings in the videos represent what I see as the most critical elements to extracting the essence of inversion positions in general, and specifically, the King of Asanas, Sirsasana, the Head Balance posture. And, there is a companion book, a text that can be used for study for years to come.

In the past I have had many students express fear, sometimes dread, towards inversions, especially Sirsasana the most challenging upside-down posture. So it may seem like an unlikely choice that I use Head Balance as a foundational posture, as well as a gateway through which something magical and potent can happen in your yoga practice. Studying and practicing The King of Asanas master series will take you on a journey—a journey where you acquire a many skills and strength needed to properly learn and execute Sirsasana. And, what is truly amazing, this work not only offers instruction and demonstration on proper Head Balance—it helps us to uncover the essential asana principles upon which all yoga postures are based.

About the videos in King of Asanas: A Master Series on Head Balance and Inversion Principles.

Day 1 introduces the basic postures and the overarching themes of this course. You will look at two of the most basic standing postures Samasthiti, (Equal Standing) and Vrkshasana (Tree Posture) to gain skills that will help you achieve Head Balance. I offer a working definition of inversion as: any posture where your abdomen is higher than your head. You will take a look at the benefits of understanding that even common postures, such as standing forward bends, are inversions and learn to extract their benefits. There are exercises that teach how you can come to an edge of imbalance in order to find a position of maximum enjoyment and stability. Day 1 also sets the template for daily strength work that will help you gain the necessary strength to come up and stay up in Sirsasana (Head Balance). This includes using Downward Dog and Forearm Balance variations as excellent preparatory postures to Head Balance. Lastly, you will make a detailed study of setting up a safe and effective arm foundation for Sirsasana and learn an excellent Head Balance preparation position. 

Summary of Day 1 exercises:

1) Samasthiti (Equal Standing Posture) 
2) Vrkshtasana (Tree Posture) plus variations 
3) Padangusthasana (Big Toe Posture) and Padahastasana (Hands Under Feet Posture) with wall 
4) Plank 
5) Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Posture) 
6) Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm Balance Posture) preparation 
7) Sirsasana (Head Balance Posture) foundation focus on upper back

Day 2 begins with utilizing the basic standing positions Samasthiti (Equal Standing), Vrshasana and Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana (Half Bound Lotus Standing Forward Bend) to solve postural puzzles that requires your skill in balance, preparing you for the greater challenge of balancing in Sirsasasna. You’ll do targeted arm and upper-body work in order to safely and incrementally develop balance and strength for Sirsasana. Part of the focus of this session is to create a feeling for the accurate arrangement of the whole line of your joints along the vertical axis—from the pelvic floor through the crown of the head. Finding this line becomes extra challenging when you are upside down, and you learn how to work intelligently to solve common problems. You’ll develop safe and supportive foundation for your Sirsasana and work to craft a set of Head Stand preparatory exercises that are not only fun and challenging, but build the skills you need to effectively come up into a vertical, upside down position. Lastly you’ll learn the thrilling and important crouch and spring exercise that teaches you the beginning stages of coming up into Sirsasasna. 

Summary of Day 2 exercises:

1) Samasthiti 
2) Vrkshtasana plus variations 
3) Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana (Half Bound Lotus Standing Forward Bend Posture) 
4) Plank 
5) Adho Mukha Svanasana plus variations 
6) Sirsasana foundation 
7) Sirsasana foundation focus on upper back 
8) Crouch and Spring entrance into Sirsasana using wall 
9) Crouch and Spring entrance into Sirsasana without wall

Day 3 you are introduced to the imagery of the Nine Spotlights for aligning your body accurately along the vertical axis in Samasthiti and Sirsasana You’ll learn to see Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide Angle Forward Bend) not only as a forward bend but also as a preparation for Sirsasana. You’ll take an in-depth look at how doing preparatory exercises for Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm Balance) serves as a safe, fun and challenging means of skill building for Head Balance. You’ll learn that as a beginner in Sirsasana, the proper distribution weight is having at least 50% of your weight should be borne by your arms. Lastly, you’ll work at wall and gain the skill to create a dynamic crouch and spring entrance into Sirsasana. 

Summary of Day 3 exercises:

1) Samasthtii 
2) Prasarita Padottanasana 
3) Pincha Mayurasana set up 
4) Sirsasana set up 
5) Crouch and Spring entrance to Sirsasana with wall

Day 4 begins looking how to use dynamism to create a powerful stance in Samasthiti, and variations are added. You’ll do Vrshasana using a wall, which helps you generate skill in balance by illuminating the central axis from the crown of the head to the arches of the feet. You’ll also work on a standing forward bend exercises at the wall, which offers a thrill in finding the balance and stability when you vertically align your hips, knees and ankles. You’ll do in depth work on Head Balance preparatory exercises that emphasize strength building, and learn to enjoy in remaining upside down. Lastly, you’ll work progressively in ordered steps that lead you to skillfully, and with control, go up and come down in Sirsasana. Up to this point, you have worked with at the wall, and now you’ll have the opportunity to try Sirsasana away from the wall. 

Summary of Day 4 exercises:

1) Samasthiti 
2) Vrksasana with wall 
3) Padangusthasana and Padahastasana with wall 
4) Sirsasana set up and variations 
5) Crouch and Spring to Sirsasana entrance and variations

Day 5 you will learn a wall variation of Prasarita Padottanasana, the inverted wide-legged standing forward bend. By grounding your legs into a wall you can find an immovable position and tune in to the meditative rest that inverted positions offer. Another main reason that inversions are such an important category of asanas is going upside down automatically gives you a feeling for engaging your bandhas, (energetic locks) especially the first, easiest bandha that is called uddhyana, which means ‘flying up’. You’ll experiment with a hollowing action of the abdomen in several different positions. Day 5 will give you the final step in the learning progression of going up and coming down in Sirsasana. It’s done with straight legs, without kicking up. You will attempt a seamless transition into your vertical position with one smooth gesture that is synchronized with an inhalation, and then you reverse the process by gesturing all the way down to your set up position with a controlled exhalation. First you learn to do it near a wall and eventually you gain the skill to do it without a wall. I also take you incrementally through steps that teach you how to fall out of Head Balance with control by doing a forward somersault. 

Summary of Day 5 exercises:

1) Samasthiti 
2) Prasarita Padottanasana with wall 
3) Uddiyana (Flying Up) Bandha (Energetic Lock) Kriya (Cleansing) 
4) Adho Mukha Svanasana) focus on Uddiyana Bandha 
5) Sirsasana set up and variations with wall 
6) Sirsasana set up and variations

Day 6 you will explore how passive inversions bring restorative and meditative possibilities to your practice. One of my goals for offering this course is to give you different glimpses into the versatility of inversions. I aim to show you that they offer many, many contrasting benefits from total rest and rejuvenation, to dynamism and hard-won strength, to clear inward absorption. While staying for longer periods of time in these passive positions, you’ll work with foundational pranayama breathing techniques. You’ll also learn an easy way to do Head Balance without putting any weight on your head. This weightless version of Sirsasana can come in handy when you are injured or tired. 

Summary of Day 6 exercises:

1) Samasthiti 
2) Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall Posture) 
3) Sirsasana with blocks under shoulders

Day 7 will review the list of postures that support Sirsasana, which include asanas of strengthening, gaining balance, activating bandhas, and bring meditative awareness. You will work with preparation in Bhujapidasana (Arm Pressure Posture), and also Bakasana (Crane Posture), to build upper body strength, and improve your balance. You’ll contemplate the inherent contradictory and paradoxical nature of Sirsasana—how, on the one hand it is a position of danger, dynamism, and risk, and on the other hand, it is a posture of stillness, quiet, sanctuary, peace and receptivity. You’ll learn an intense and fun, super dynamic exercise for working on the transition of going up and coming down in Sirsasana. You’ll work on the technique of taking Padmasana (Full Lotus Posture) while inverted. Finally, you’ll go up in Headstand and stay up for some time (1 minute), receiving instructions for how to maintain a safe, aligned position that comes from awakening prana, the energetic circuitry throughout the body. 

Summary of Day 7 exercises:

1) Samasthiti 
2) Bhujapidasana (Arm Pressure Posture) 
3) Bakasana (Crane Posture) 
4) Sirsasana entrance 
5) Sirsasana variations 
6) Sirsasana complete version

About the companion book King of Asanas: A Master Series on Head Balance and Inversion Principles

The companion book is a stand-alone text that includes commentary and explanations associated with inversion practices.

The yogis and sages of the past have often written about how inversions lead towards gaining siddhis, or accomplishment. Siddhis are a kind of power achieved through one’s sadhana (spiritual practice). There are many siddhis that come from practicing inversions in general and Sirsasana in particular, and I will write about these in the first part of the book. I include my own decades-long research into this subject and offer a 21st century perspective on the attainment of siddhis. I cover six, specific siddhis, including:

Siddhi One: Inversions plunge you into the present moment 
Siddhi Two: Inversions bring incredible arm and upper body strength 
Siddhi Three: Inversions grant you access to learn bandhas (energetic locks) 
Siddhi Four: Inversions force you to encounter your fears 
Siddhi Five: Being upside-down compliments perfectly a seated meditation posture 
Siddhi Six: Inversions offer positions of rest and sanctuary

The second part of the book gives explanation of the preparatory postures to practice that offer the strength, balance, poise, and mental fortitude needed for inversion practices. And, there is great detail in the book about all aspects of Sirsasana, from creating a safe and strong foundation, to abiding in meditation equipoise that the King of Asana offers.
I conclude the book with some final words of encouragement.
Working with this material, in the videos and the book, will improve, possibly even transform, your entire approach to yoga practice. I have taught this material to students for over two decades. I consider these instructions to be essential for a daily yoga practice. My aim is for you to place more value on the inversion portion of your practice. In doing so, you will become more skilled at extracting the nectar of yoga knowledge from all your postures, whether you are upside down or right side up!

Hari Om! David"



Below is my Earlier post on Krishnamacharya's headstands variations in full

see also perhaps







and this newsletter from Ramaswami outlining the benefits of practicing these asana variations.




And also this article from Ramaswami on Sirsasana and variations



*

Krishnamacharya's 1930's Mysore headstand variations
http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2014/11/krishnamacharyas-1930s-mysore-headstand.html

Krishnamacharya Yoga Makranda 1934, Mysore
"Sarvangasana 
This has 12 vinyasas. The 8th vinyasa is the asana sthiti. There are many variations in this asana. These can be divided into two main types of variations: salamba and niralamba.
This asana and the next asana (sirsasana) that will be described must be practised very carefully and with great caution, remembering the earlier warnings. Before practising these asanas, we first determine that the body is in good healthy condition. Only then can one begin practising. There might be many problems if one starts practising in a hurry. It is much better that these asanas are first learned properly under the guidance of a guru.
While describing these two asanas, the yoga sastras and experts say that in the same way that the head and the heart are the vital parts of our body, similarly, among all the asanas, these two asanas are like the head and the heart. It is said with much authority that if these two asanas are practised regularly and properly, the practitioner will experience the awakening and rise of kundalini. Due to this, they will experience the blessings of isvara and will be swallowed in the sea of eternal bliss. So say the great.  
End of First Part" from Yoga Makaranda 1934, Mysore

Krishnamacharya was teaching headstand variations back in the 1930s, in Mysore at the time he was teaching the young Pattabhi Jois, unfortunately they haven't made it into our Ashtanga practice, despite the fact that the variations were something that Krishnamacharya seems to encourage and continued to teach throughout his life.

I've taken the screenshots below from the 1938 Mysore film footage and also spliced together the headstand clips from the movie.

Pattabhi Jois' grandson Sharat, mentioned recently that longer stays in headstand can be beneficial (but not in the shala as it was too busy). I seem to remember he recommended we explore forty minute or so in headstand. This would be a good time to try out some of Krishnamacharya's variations. An evening practice perhaps, or Saturday, moondays...

Below we have the screenshots from the 1938 Mysore movie followed by clips from the movie.

This is followed by the outline and instructions for headstands from Yoga Makaranda Part II.

At the end of the post I've included my video of Ramaswamis' Inverted sequence a link to his head and shoulder stand benefits newsletter and the practice sheet from my Vinyasa yoga home practice book and sister blog.

I'm working on a companion post following a similar format for Shoulderstands in the next day or two. Krishnamacharya's 1938 Shoulderstand variations.
Krishnamacharya sirsasana ( headstand) variations. Mysore 1938

The Headstand sections from the old 1938 Mysore footage  Unfortunately KYM seem to have a full version version of this with chanted yoga sutras with advertisements  causing Youtube to override my own add free settings here's a link ad free silent version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML9yZd7bIvY



From Krishnamacharya's 

Salutations to the teacher the Eternal one 
or 
Yoga Makaranda part II


Add caption


INTRODUCTION 

Whatever be the walk of life one occupies, he will not be able fully to discharge his duties or enjoy its benefits unless he ensures a healthy body, bold and clear mind and long life. For the attainment of these essential pre-requisite conditions, no system can equal the practice of YOGA which has been laid down in such meticulous detail by our ancient rishis.

Numerous asanas have been mentioned in the treatises on YOGA. Each has its own special benefits. But of all these asanas, the SIRSHASANA and the SARVANGASANA hold the top place as they give the greatest benefit, and sastras extol their benefit.



In the normal erect posture, the main organs of perception, eyes, ears, etc., and the brain do not get a copious supply of blood as they are situated above the heart, and the blood to flow to these organs has to work against gravity. Again when we breathe in, and retain the air in the lungs, there is an increase of thoracic pressure with the consequence that there is a tendency to press down on the intestines, liver, kidneys diaphragm etc., that these organs get displaced. Their proper functioning is impaired and a host of diseases, like constipation, rheumatism, varicose veins, ungainly figure etc. follow.

In designing the SIRSHASANA and SARVANGASANA the rishis have automatically removed the above difficulties by adopting the topsy-turvy posture by which gravity will now aid in the free flow of blood to the organs of perception and also aid in restoring the organs in the lower part of the body to their normal places. These two asanas are both preventive and curative. In the case of those, however, who are unduly fatty, it is imperative that the body should first acquire some suppleness in the movement of the limbs by practicing mudras and pranayamas, before attempting these asanas.
Sayanacharya in his commentary on Patanjali’s YOGASUTRAS has given a lot of practical details to be observed in the practice of asanas. The main objective of SIRSHASANA and SARVANGASANA are not merely to arrange for a copious supply of blood to the head and upper part of the body but also to slow down the respiratory rate.

When SIRSHASANA has been sufficiently mastered, the breathing rate which normally is about 15-18 a minute, automatically comes down to four a minute. The aim should be to reduce it to, two per minute. Thus at this rate, 24 rounds of breathing in SIRSHASANA will take 12 minutes.

It is laid down that SIRSHASANA should be done only in the mornings. This should always be followed by SARVANGASANA. The proper procedure is to do SIRSHASANA with 24 deep inhalations and exhalations. Take two minutes rest. Then do SARVANGASANA with 24 rounds of deep breathing. Take two minutes rest. Follow with some sitting asana. In SIRSHASANA the organs in the head and the brain get a copious supply of blood, the internal organs in the body get displaced upwards. The two minutes rest normalizes. In SARVANGASANA the blood supply to the head is restricted by resting the body on the neck and making the chin lock. The thyroid and the upper part of the internal organs of the body get displaced upwards. The two minutes rest normalizes. When a sitting asana is now done the internal organs regain their proper positions. This is the reason behind doing the asanas in this particular order.

Sayanacharya has mentioned six specific asanas for daily practice. He however prescribes that along with these some other asanas (this may vary each day) should be done.

BLOG NOTE: Krishnamacharya may well be here referring to these asana which he has indicated as as ideally practiced everyday 1. Paschimottanasana, 2. mayarasana 3. mahamudra 4. baddha konasana 5. sarvangasana 4. sirsasana

Kumbhaka 

In SIRSHASANA, normally no kumbhakam need be done (in the beginning), though about two seconds ANTHAR and BAHYA kumbhakam automatically result when we change over from deep inhalation to deep exhalation and vice versa. During the automatic pause, kumbhakam takes place. 

When after practice has advanced and kumbhakam is deliberately practised, ANTHAR kumbhakam can be done up to 5 seconds during each round and BAHYA kumbhakam up to 10 seconds.
In SARVANGASANA, there should be no deliberate practice of ANTHAR kumbhakam, 
but BAHYA kumbhakam can be practiced up to 5 seconds in each round.

These deep breathings along with the asana help in slowing down the breathing rate with a consequent elongation of life. Sayanacharya prescribes that the number of deep breaths one should practice per day should not be less than 320. This number could be spread out during the day-some may be done along with asana in the morning and evening, some along with pranayama, morning, noon, evening and at midnight, or whenever some spare time isfound.


SIRSHASANA--HEAD STAND


Sisshasana, Yoga Makaranda Mysore, 1934

This asana is so called because the head supports the whole body. This is also variously called KAPHALASANA, BRAHMASANA. These three, however, differ to some extent both in the technique and in the benefits derived. These differences have to be learnt under personal instructions form a Guru. This asana is beneficial in a large number of diseases and is rightly termed the ‘king of all the asanas’.

Technique:


1. Place something soft, like a cushion, folded blanket or carpet on the floor touching the wall.

2.Kneel on the ground facing the wall.

3.Lock the fingers together, thumbs upright, and place them about four inches from the wall. Let the elbows rest on the cushion, the elbows being not more than a foot apart.


4. Bend the neck and place the top of the head firmly on the cushion inside the knitted fingers. The thumbs should press behind the ears.

5.Eyes are to be kept closed.

6.Raise the hips, so that the knees are straightened and bring the feet as near the head
as possible. The toes, the feet and knees are to be kept together. The back will now rest
against the wall.

7.Take long breaths twice.

8.Lift both the feet simultaneously to an upright position. Toes together, knees
together. The back will rest on the wall. Straighten the back so that the whole body may rest solely on the top of the head without the support of the wall.


Note: For beginners to raise the legs upright without bending the knees will be difficult and the help of another person may be taken. If necessary the knees may be bent, brought closer to the body, the back still kept in contact with the wall and with a slight jump the legs taken above the head, and the knees still bent. The legs are then straightened slowly, the knees together, the toes together and the toes pointed.

9.Toes should be pointed and the thigh and calf muscles should be stretched.

10.Slowly inhale and exhale deeply with rubbing sensation in the throat. When exhalation is complete the abdomen should be well drawn in (UDDIYANA BANDHAM).

Note:
For proper benefit of the asana it is essential that the breathing should be regulated i.e., as long and as thin as possible,
Normal shallow breathing does not give any benefit. (Concentration on Lord Ananthapadmabanabha gives added benefit.) (a combination of asana, pranayama and dhyana gives proper benefit.) (See in this connection Sutra 47 Chapter II of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Vaschaspati Misra’s and Bala Ramodasin’s commentaries.

For the first week do not exceed six inhalations and exhalations. There should be no retention of breath. Uddiyana bandha, in the beginning should be done only once a day.
Every week the number of inhalations and exhalations may be increased by four, so that the duration of the asana is slowly brought up.

11. After the number of rounds of breathing is over, slowly bring down the legs. In the beginning the knees may have to be bent, but as practice advances, the knee can be kept straight.


12. Lie on the back relaxed and take rest for at least for three minutes.
Note: 1. For people who are overweight over 190 lbs. Sirshasana should be begun only after the weight has been reduced.


SIRSHASANA-VIPARITAKONASANA (according to the Hatha Yoga)



Technique:
 

1. Place something soft, a folded blanket, cushion, or carpet on the floor. Kneel on the ground. Bend the neck and place the top of the head firmly on the folded blanket. Stretch the arms in front of the body, with the palms upward, fingers together and pointed, and the palms not more than 21⁄2 feet apart.


2. Raise the hips, so that the knees are straightened, and bring the feet as near the head as possible. The toes of the feet and the knees are kept together.


3. While inhaling, lift both the legs together to the upright position. The legs are spread apart, toes should be pointed, and the thigh and calf muscles kept stretched.


4. Spread the legs apart while exhaling, and the thigh and calf muscles kept stretched. (toes should be pointed).

5.Stay in this position for 6 deep breaths.

6.Bring the legs together, while inhaling.

7.While exhaling, lower the legs to the ground by bending the body at the hips. Bend
the knees and get to the kneeling position, and rest.

SIRSHASANA-EKAPADA-VIPARITAKARANI - (Hatha Yoga)



Technique:

1.The first three steps are the same as for the last asana.

2.While exhaling, slowly lower right leg to the ground so that the right foot will rest
on the right palm. The left leg is kept upright. The thigh and calf muscles of both the legs
are kept stretched.

3.Stay in this position for 6 breaths.

4.While inhaling, raise the leg back to the upright position.

5.Repeat with the left leg.

6.The next steps are the same as in step 7 of the previous asana.

SIRSHASANA-DVIPADA-VIPARITAKARANI - (Hatha Yoga)

Technique:

1.The first three steps are the same as for the last asana.

2.While exhaling, both the legs are lowered so that the feet may rest on the respective
palms. The knees should not be bent. The thigh and calf muscles should be kept stretched.

3.Stay for six deep breaths.

4.While inhaling raise both legs together to the upright position.

5.While exhaling bend knees and return to the floor and rest.
When Sirshasana has been sufficiently mastered so that one can stand steady without support, for at least 15 minutes, the following variations may be practised.


VIPARITA KONASANA:

Technique

1.The first eight steps are the same as for Sirshasana.

2.Exhaling, the legs are spread apart, and the thigh and calf muscles kept stretched,
toes should be pointed.

3.Do six deep breathing.

4.Inhaling, bring the legs together.

The next steps are the same as 11 and 12 given under Sirshasana.

DVIPADA VIPARITAKARANI


Technique:


1. The first step is the same as Sirshasana.

2. While exhaling both the legs are lowered to the ground without bending the knees and keeping the thigh and calf muscles stretched.

3.Do six deep breathing.

4.While inhaling raise both the legs together to the upright position.

5.While exhaling bend knees and return to the floor and rest.

6.     Exhale, bend knees, so that they approach the throat, lower the hips so that the back rests on the ground and then stretch the legs, so that the whole forms a rolling movement.


7. Take rest at least for a minute.


Benefits:
The thyroid gets special benefits. The waist line is reduced. This tones up the liver. This helps in preventing piles, and helps in curing gastric troubles.
(Note: The above three variations are according to Hatha Yoga).


Note:

In the beginning it may be difficult to bring the body to an upright position without bending the knees. 

So the knees may be bent and the thighs bent over the body. 
The hips are raised from the ground and the back supported by the palms. 
The legs are now stretched. 

If there is still difficulty, then help of somebody should be taken. 


If the body is fat and no help is available, the help of the wall may be sought so that it can support the heels at gradually increasing levels. 

This is done by lying on the ground facing the wall perpendicular to it. 
After some time the hips can also be raised by having a bedroll near the wall. 
When some strength is gained the heels are removed from the wall and the legs brought upright. 

(As breathing exercises are done in these positions the abdominal muscles get toned up and the stomach becomes more and more pliable and soft.
 

The chin should be locked in the neck pit. This ensures that the head is placed symmetrical with the body so that the neck muscles may not be strained. The neck pit is the depression in front of the thyroid between the collar bones.
Note: The chin lock will not be possible in the beginning stages, but it should be kept in mind that the head is kept symmetrical with the body and the neck muscles are not strained.

The full chin lock will become possible when the body is fully upright and the palms have reached a position in the back as low as possible.


Slowly inhale and exhale with even, long breaths through both nostrils, with rubbing sensation in the throat, not more than six times at the beginning. There should be no retention of breath. The number of inhalations and exhalations may be slowly increased at the rate of two each week.


Note: 
The final duration of this asana can be 5 to 10 minutes when it is done by itself. If on the other hand other asanas are also being done the duration may be suitably reduced.

--------------------

Krishnamacharya continued to teach sirsasana variations throughout his life as we can see from the pictures in 4th edition of Yogasanagalu where krishnamacharya is still practicing them in his 80's. 

Ramaswami tells the story that when he told krishnamacharya that his flexible dance school students had learned all the asana he had been taught and were there any more, Krishnamacharya asked him if he had taught them the 64 headstands. Krishnamacharya noticed that Ramaswami looked skeptical so got on the floor and demonstrated them.

Ramaswami perhaps gives the most comprehensive treatment  of the head and shoulder stand variations he was taught in his book the Complete book of Vinyasa yoga. Here is a video of the headstand or Inverted sequence. Notice that the variations are in groups, subroutines, it's not necessary to practice the full sequence every day but including different subroutines on different days or even parts of subroutines may be beneficial.


from my sister blog
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/vinyasa-krama-announce/ThMiXYbSPgk/aPkoPUKH_7IJ
Practice sheets from my book Complete Vinyasa Yoga Home Practice book which includes hints, tips and cautions for each subroutine. (available from Free Downloads at the top of the blog or from Amazon).

It was pointed out to me that the pictures in previous sheet full sequence sheet were too small so here are the individual Shoulder stand   subroutines that make up the sarvangasana sequence, the second part of the supine sequence shown in the video above. Click to enlarge












See companion, post

Krishnamacharya's 1938 Shoulderstand variations.

also

INVERSIONS: Krishnamacharya's head and shoulderstand variations 1934-1980s




and this newsletter from Ramaswami outlining the benefits of practicing these asana variations.




And also this article from Ramaswami on Sirsasana and variations



*

"By that time—after twenty years of studying with my guru—I was teaching yoga at Kalakshetra, a well-known Indian arts college, teaching South Indian Bharatanatyam dance and Carnatic music, boutique painting, dance, drama, etc. The students were young, in their teens and early twenties. They were highly talented, and a challenging group to teach. Each student was required to study yoga twice a week for two years. In about six months I realized that I had taught them virtually everything I had learned, some 200 to 300 vinyásas and several breathing exercises! I turned to my teacher and explained my predicament to him. Is there anything more I can teach? I had read in his book Yoga Makaraóõa that he had learned about 700 ásanas. With infectious enthusiasm he started teaching me more vinyásas and ásanas. “Have you taught this ásana, this vinyása?” he would ask. Over a long period thereafter, he taught me more and more vinyásas. I would practice them, then go and teach them in the class. It was wonderful to learn and teach at the same time. In the course of the next few years I learned about 700 vinyásas in about ten major sequences. This formed the basis of my teaching Vinyása Krama". 


"In the summer of 1958 or so, I went with my parents to Sri Krishnamacharya’s house in Gopalapuram. My guru’s family had just moved to Madras from Mysore. We met his gracious wife, his eldest son, Srinivasan, his younger son Sribhashyam, and the last daughter, Shobha. His second son, Sri Desikachar, had come for summer holidays from Mysore, where he was doing undergraduate study in engineering. His father introduced me to him. My father developed a particular liking for Srinivasan. One day, in his father’s presence and at his request, Srinivasan showed us sirsásana. He stood in the pose for well over fifteen minutes, absolutely motionless, with exceptionally slow breathing. It was perhaps two breaths per minute for the entire duration, instead of the normal fifteen to sixteen breaths per minute. My father used to like talking to Srinivasan; one day, after conversing with him, my father mentioned that he was a worthy son of the great Yogi Sri Krishnamacharya".


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Sirsasana (headstand ) Variations Video Library.

February 16, 2016, 6:28 pm
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Not recommended - To approach it safely you'll want to have been working on regular headstands for sometime especially Middle group niralumba sirsasana ( headstand with less and without support, see below). When this picture was taken I had been spending the previous year practicing long stays in headstand including the full 40 minute Vinyasa Krama inverted sequence once a week.

I posted this excellent video from David Garrigues yesterday which introduces his new King of Asana (sirsasana) downloadable video course. Mostly the course gives preparation for headstand employing several Primary series postures, it also looks at stabalizing your headstand. At one point in the course David looks at a padmasana variation but otherwise he doesn't look closely at all the different variations we see demonstrated in the video below.



David's new website https://www.davidgarrigues.com/

When I saw the above video yesterday I was reminded of all the variations that Krishnamacharya would practice and teach in Mysore in the 1930s back when Pattabhi Jois was his student, only a few of these variations were unfortunately carried over into Ashtanga series. However ,Krishnamacharya continued to teach them, to his long time student Srivatsa Ramaswami for example who taught them to us on the five week TT that I attended in 2010.


Here's Krishnamacharya in 1938 demonstrating some of these variations.




The next two videos are the full sequence that Ramaswami taught us containing the Sirsasana variations that can be found in his Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga as well as my own practice book. The first video is a speeded up presentation.




Practice sheets for these variations/subroutines can be found at the end of this post.


*

One of the tricky variations from Krishnamacharya's 1938 demonstration video


Some variations that did get carried over to Ashtanga are found in the Ashtanga 2nd series, the seven headstands lovingly known as the seven deadlies.


Vinyasa Krama version of these less supported headstands.



I have a soft spot for this padmasana to sirsasana variation that I saw Ricky Tran practicing on Ramaswami's TT



Krishnamacharya and Ramaswami recommended long stays in a well supported headstand where almost no weight is actually on the head but rather on the forearms. We would practice a few key shoulderstand preparation asana, a five minute sarvangasana (shoulderstand) then a counterposture followed by a a five to ten minute well supported headstand then five to ten minutes of sirsasana variations before employing sarvangasana (shoulderstand) variations and finally a counterposture.


More sirsasana variations in the second half of this video.


The sirsasana mandala found in the later Ashtanga series, not recommended due to the risk of neck injury.


This next video was part of the Rishi project staying in all the asana from primary and second series Ashtanga for 25 to 50 breaths each. However, while possible long stays in less and unsupported headstands is not recommend as too much weight is placed on the head and neck, we weren't designed for it.



Some Tutorials although I recommend David Garrigues king of Asana course. First a rare talkie followed by the headstand lead in from Vinyasa Krama.





Info on the Vinyasa krama sequences can be found on my Vinyasa Krama blog



LINKS to Related posts


Below is my Earlier post on Krishnamacharya's headstands variations in full

see also perhaps






and this newsletter from Ramaswami outlining the benefits of practicing these asana variations.




And also this article from Ramaswami on Sirsasana and variations



Krishnamacharya t 84

Krishnamacharya at 50 in 1938 Mysore.

*

Practice sheets below from my practice book

Link to Lulu.com
Also available on Amazon but Lulu allow me to discount.
There's a kindle version with hyperlinks to the videos
but it only really works well on the Kindle Ipad app
where you can enlarge pictures easily,
the pictures are too small on the actual kindle.

Inverted/Sirsasana variation sub-rountines










see  THIS page from the top of this blog for more practice sheets


Why do inversions?

from Aug 2009 newsletter from Ramaswami- Head and shoulders above the rest

"Some contemporary yogis may read these metaphorical narrations with a 
wry smile. However these inversions should be considered as unique 
contributions of Yoga, for health. Within the first few minutes of 
Sirsasana practice, the leg and thigh muscles, the gluteal muscles, 
relax. The chest, back, shoulders and neck muscles also relax as all 
these are not required to maintain the postural tone as in the upright 
position. It has been found that due to the relaxation of the leg 
muscles, the blood pressure in the legs drop to about 30mm.There is no 
great rush of blood to the head among the adept yogis due to auto 
regulation; yet the gravity helps to open up many capillaries in the 
brain, head and face which may otherwise remain partially closed. 
People with high blood pressure and retinal problems will have to be 
careful. However persons with mild hypertension and under control with 
diet, life style change and even medication could benefit from this 
posture if they had learnt it from early life. It appears to increase 
pressure on the shoulders which would result in the brain trying to 
reduce the blood pressure. Therefore if one would practice Sirshasana 
regularly for a sufficient duration, one’s pulse rate tends to reduce, 
thereby reducing the strain on the heart. Gradually there is a 
reduction in the blood pressure. 

What is equally important is that Sirsasana helps improve circulation 
of the cerebro spinal fluid, which is helpful to the brain and also 
for the spinal nerve bundles—the chakras. Because of the increased 
pressure in the brain due to this fluid, the pituitary secretions 
increase helping the better functioning of the sympathetic nervous 
system which will help in many ways including the dilatation of the 
bronchial tubes giving great relief to asthmatics. There is draining 
of the bronchial tubes, giving some welcome relief for those with 
chronic chest congestion.  Many feel increased memory power and 
general better brain capacity. There are cases of even some correction 
of the eyesight. The vinyasas like the twists, Akunchanasana, the 
backbends like Viparitadandasana in Sirsasana and Uttanamayurasana in 
Sarvangasana help the spine considerably, by not only maintaining the 
flexibility of this structure but also nourish the nadis and chakras 
or nerve fibers and nerve bundles in the spinal chord. 

In the inversions, as mentioned in earlier articles, the internal 
organs get positional correction. Pregnant yoginis may find the 
inversions help relieve pelvic congestion, oedema of the legs, 
conditions that are prevalent during pregnancy. Practising the 
inverted poses with the variety of vinyasas gives a complete massage 
to all the muscles, organs and considerably increases the blood 
circulation. Perhaps equally important is the effect of the twin poses 
on the major joints-- the ankles, the knees, the hips and the spine. 
The intra-articular space within the joints improves and hence the 
joint movements when one does the various vinyasas also will improve. 
Dorsal and plantar flexions performed in the ankle joints while in 
these asanas help the ankles significantly. Asanas like Akunchanasana 
in inversions give good relief to the knees, while  inversions  help 
to open the hips by dragging the big pelvic girdle down a bit and 
giving more space for the femur to move and rotate nicely within the 
hip socket(pl refer to Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga for headstand and 
shoulder stand vinyasas). Perhaps the most benefit accrues to the 
entire spine. The inter-vertebral space is enhanced and person who 
practises these inversions and the vinyasas like akunchanasana and 
backbends will find the spine stretching nicely and becoming more 
flexible. The narrowing of the inter-vertebral space can be tackled 
positively and the low back pain reduces significantly. I would say 
that the inversions are the best yoga postures to alleviate low back 
pain. Overall these inversions and the vinyasas in them help to keep 
the spine supple and strong. It is said one is as old as the condition 
of the spine. Further, because of the relaxation of the lower 
extremities Sarvangasana is a good pose to help overcome insomnia. 
These twin poses are very good for health". 

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Lineage, Tradition, Prampara: Constraint or licence

February 17, 2016, 6:54 pm
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"The learning context is built from each student finding loyalty towards and respect for those who came before combined with care and discernment in forging a new path into the unknown."


l love the Photo Lineage slideshow on David Garrigues newly designed website

website https://davidgarrigues.com/lineage/photographic-lineage

"The photos show the continuity within the teaching methodology as you can see in several series of photos there are as many as 3 and/or 4 generations of yogis doing a personal version of the same posture. The photos give you glimpses of what you will learn by studying Ashtanga yoga. The learning context is built from each student finding loyalty towards and respect for those who came before combined with care and discernment in forging a new path into the unknown" David Garrigues .

I hope David will expand it further with more slides in the future, perhaps including some of his own students, if this idea of lineage is to make any sense at all then it passes through us rather than ending with us.

Note: I heard from David that was and is his intention actually.

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Thinking out loud: Lineage, tradition, parampara...... these all make me uncomfortable.... as readers know. So often they seem to be employed to give/assume authority, to restrict, constrain, limit.... give rise to dogma. This is the negative side. 


It's David Garrigues sincere exploration of his practice that interests me, not that he was certified by Pattabhi Jois,

Actually I love that Jois seems to have chosen those he certified so well, he seems to have chosen those who would explore their practice non dogmatically, I hope Sharath does the same.

I like what David is doing, what many/most if not all of the early Certified Ashtanga teachers are doing, continuing to explore the practice, to make sense of it through their lives of practice and teaching. David seems to take license from the lineage to seek to explore with care and discernment.

I like how David travels from one place to another, teaches regular students a workshop and then leaves them to get on and explore their practice  for another three, six months, a year.

Sometimes it feels as if lineage stops at Mysore, with Sharath.... as if all the teachers Pattabhi Jois authorised and Certified are somehow sidelined. At most it seems that only those directly authorised by Pattabhi Jois or Sharath carry the lineage, as if it doesn't pass on to their students and in turn their students students.

For Lineage to make any sense to me there is a continuous passing along of study, Krishnamacharya continued his study and exploration of Yoga and passed it along to Pattabhi Jois who passed it along to Manju and Saraswati and all those other early students who explored the practice and passed it along in turn to their students who continue to pass it along.

Why should somebody who has studied for years with Richard Freeman, Tim Miller, Nancy Gilgoff, David Garrigues.... Manju to name a handful be expected to go to Mysore for their practice to be more authentic.

Or for that matter, somebody who practiced for years with a teacher who never went to Mysore either but had studied with Richard in Boulder. Is a practice in Mysore somehow more authentic than a practice in Boulder, a mat is a mat, Yoga has nothing to do with India other than inspiration or rather it has noting more to do with India than anywhere else. Surely yoga is about the dropping away of India, of Mysore, Chennai, Boulder..... Encinitas, your home practice room.

Pattabhi Jois passed his studies and exploration, his research along to Sharath too in his later years. Perhaps because it was so late in his life that Pattabhi Jois taught his grandson, Sharath seemed more concerned with preserving his grandfather's teaching as was rather than continuing to explore and pass on that exploration of practice. Perhaps that's beginning to change now, from a distance Sharath seems to be becoming more his own person, still preserving his grandfather's legacy as he saw it but also stressing those aspects of yoga that seem most relevant to him personally, the emphasis on parampara for example, not surprising perhaps given how important that concept was to him in his relationship with his grandfather. I'm guessing, those who visit Mysore regularly and attend Sharaths's conference will know if this is the case far better than I.

Is it a good thing. For me personally this focus on preserving legacy, the emphasis on parampara, the list of authorised teachers is... confusing, such an emphasis passes along to the students Sharath himself has now and authorises, there's a turning inward the danger perhaps is the practice becomes fosselized.

What are we afraid of. Why do we need authorised teachers. What did Pattabhi Jois teach really, a few sequences of asana practiced six days a week with a focus on breathing, bandhas and drishti. You can put the whole practice on a couple of laminated cards and yet your whole life wont contain it. There's your list of asana, get on and practice, explore each asana for yourself, stop depending on others.

Ashtangi's are the laziest of yoga students ( I say this lovingly), we want a list of asana so we don't have to think about what to practice, we want help to get on the mat to actually practice and somebody to put us into the asana. We don't want to stay in any asana longer than the minimum and we can't bare the thought of pranayama other than a simplified unthreatening variant, or a Sit of more than fifteen breaths. We want just a handful of books, ideally selections and clear simple commentaries of these texts so we don't have to think about them ourselves.... we want our Yoga done for us, farmed out.

OK, I exaggerate but I bet you winced at a couple of those clauses, I did writing them.

There are no correct versions of asana, look at David's slideshow linked to above. Krishnamacharya didn't have the authentic, correct asana, originally there were no pictures just changing descriptions, changing names for the same asana. There are no correct asana but perhaps incorrect asana, asana practiced dangerously.

I would rather learn my asana from a Simon Borg-Oliver, a David Keil, Leslie Kaminoff or anyone else who has focussed closely on Anatomy and Physiology rather than say Sharath.....or Pattabhi Jois back in the day cranking bodies in and out of asana ( see the Advanced Led class with Pattabhi Jois on YouTube) or Krishnamacharya himself who famously told Iyengar to get into hanumanasana even though Iyengar had never attempted it before and ended up tearing his hamstrings. The same goes for any of the other senior teachers who are going purely by their own experience of adjusting and being adjusted and have never picked up Grey's anatomy in their life.

Ideally I'd like both, somebody who's studied anatomy and has experience, who has also practiced and taught for years. I remember being adjusted once by a newly authorised teacher, terrified the hell out of me ( a senior teacher terrified me also). It's great that Sharath brings in people more qualified to teach philosophy and chanting but perhaps a resident anatomist might be a good idea also, not to obsess over anatomy (another distraction) but to avoid breaking anyone.

Pattabhi Jois gave us a nice selection of asana to practice every day, he told us how to begin to practice them, he gave us a way in but we only have to look to his teacher to get further guidance in how to go deeper into those asana, enough guidance perhaps to then leave it up to us.

We know by now what this practice is, the job of this practice, we just have to do the work rather than keep putting it off by looking to the next asana, the next series rather than truly practicing the asana we have have or moving beyond asana.

I've always liked the idea of a room holder, somebody who holds a Mysore room but keeps out of the way of somebodies practice as much as possible, who reduces dependency rather than feeds it. Must be a hard skill to acquire, good parenting.

Why do we want to be yoga teachers rather than.... yogis, put one more thing in the way of our practice rather than take more obstacles away. Just when we start to get a grasp of the practice we seek to teach our half formed practice because we feel we should share it, share what, we haven't done anything worth sharing yet other than notice there is door to open, we end up forcing our own practice into the background, rush through it before the shala doors open.

We should perhaps be finding work that allows us to deepen our practice more not less.

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That said, I can't wait for Richard's book.... there's another certified teacher who inspires one to go deeper into ones practice.

LINK Amazon.com out in Nov 2016


ALSO

I loved Tim Miller's blog today, quoting Krishnamacrya and an idea he stressed to Ramasswami, Yoga for the three stages of Life. Tim will be 65 on Saturday, Happy Birthday and many happy returns.

"Krishnamacharya said that one’s yoga practice should change with the seasons, both with the seasons of the year and the seasons of one’s life. It’s not appropriate to practice the same way in winter as one does in summer. In the springtime of our life we are young, filled with energy and enthusiasm, and our practice should reflect that kind of energy. The summer is a time of the ripening of our practice, and finds us at our physical peak in terms of our asana practice. With the coming of the autumn of our life the natural evolution of our practice is for it to become more introspective—to devote more time to pranayama, mantra, devotional practices, meditation and philosophical study—and to begin to back off a little on the intensity of our asana practice. As the winter of our life begins—that’s me right now—our practice becomes even more introspective. It is important to continue to do enough asana to remain healthy and reasonably supple, but it is unrealistic to think we can practice the same way at 65 as we did at 35. Even though I have a few more aches and pains now, am a bit thicker in the middle, and don’t have quite the strength or flexibility I used to, I still love the practice and continue to do the first and second series regularly. On some days I do my special “Ashtanga for Senoirs” practice, which contains parts of first and second series, done with fewer vinyasas in the space of an hour or so. The one great gift of the aging practice in regards to asana practice is this: the longer you practice, the better the quality of attention that you bring to the practice. Isn’t this what it’s all about anyway?" Tim Miller


See my page perhaps on flexibility within Ashtanga

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Chinese medicine / Acupuncture and Ashtanga: A study

February 18, 2016, 6:14 pm
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Before coming to Japan I closed up the house in the UK, sold 700 odd books (kept only around twenty to ship/bring over), boxing them up and shipping them all off (straining my back in the process) and went to Crete for three months while waiting for my Japanese visa to come through.
I practiced Ashtanga each morning at Kristina Karitinou Rethymno Shala and attended Manju's Teacher training for a second year running. I say I practiced Ashtanga each morning but there were some morning's when my back was playing up so much (from packing up all those books) that I stayed in my room and practiced a lighter Vinyasa Krama sequence instead. One morning sticks out in my memory actually. I had begun my Surya namaskaras but it was clear my back wasn't up to it so I, discreetly I thought, rolled up my mat and headed to the back of the shala to slip out and go and do my lighter practice at home. Kristina Asked me where I was going, I explained and she said, "This is Chikitsa, Healing, go back and do your krama" and so I did, practicing my Vinyasa Krama in that room full of hot sweaty Ashtangi's.

One of these Hot Sweaty Ashtangi's ( intermediate series I  believe)was a student of Kristina's Dr. Ioannis P. Dimitriou, A regular doctor as well as a  Chinese medicine practitioner. Kristina sent me along to him to get some treatment. I'd never been for acupuncture before, I'm a skeptical guy, skeptical concerning all alternative medicines and therapies (and that includes the benefits claimed for yoga), veins and arteries I can see, meridians?

I remember mentioning to Dr Dimitriou that my back was particularly painful when putting my leg behind my head in Eka pada Sirsasana, the obvious response would be to say well DON'T do it then. Dr Dimitriou gave me treatment put some pins in my ear and then mentioned if I felt any pain in my back while my leg was behind my head just worry the little pin under the plaster on my ear until the pain passed. I have to say it worked. I felt less pain in my back after treatment and if I did feel a twinge during practice the worrying the pin in the ear trick seemed to work.



I'm still skeptical, perhaps it's all psychological but have to say that in my own personal experience I received relief from the pain i was experiencing. Thank you again Dr Dimitriou.

Kristina recently sent me this paper by  Dr.Dimitriou, a study of Acupuncture and Ashtanga, it's a small study group but interesting , an area to be explored further perhaps in a larger study. the full paper can be found on my google docs page, here I've included the Abstract, Discussion and conclusion


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A Study on the Relationship Between Health Issues and Advanced Ashtanga Yoga Practice. Report on the Effectiveness of a Combined “Fire Needling” and “Distant Needling” Acupuncture Treatment Method for Pain in Ashtanga Yoga Practitioners
Ioannis P. Dimitriou MD MSc. PhD  
(info@yinyang.gr)   
full paper here 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7JXC_g3qGlWRXZnYnVyY0pWdUE/view?usp=sharing   

Abstract

Background
Yoga is frequently recommended by healthcare practitioners for the improvement of physical and mental, or emotional wellbeing. However there is limited published data on potential risks. Furthermore, there is an absence of published data on the treatment of musculoskeletal problems with the use of protocols that include “fire needling” and “distant needling” acupuncture.

Aim
Investigate the correlation between knee, cervical and hamstring pain, sleep problems and advanced Ashtanga Yoga practice. Report the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) acupuncture treatment protocols that includes both fire needling and distal needling methods.

Method
A group of Advanced Yoga practitioners (N=28) was clinically examined, those with knee, cervical, and hamstring pain (N=23) were treated by “fire needling” and “distal needling”.  The control group (N=28) was recruited by email and responded to a survey or interview. The Mc Nemar test was used for data analysis. 

Results
Hamstring pain: yoga vs control p-value=0.070; knee pain: yoga vs control p-value=0.388; cervical pain yoga vs control p-value=0.791; Sleep problems: yoga vs control p-value=0.180

Conclusions 
There is no association between cervical, knee, hamstring pain and sleep problems with AY practice in the population of interest. However, in the population with hamstring pain vs control group with p-value=0.070 it is possible that with a larger sample size there would be a statistically significant correlation between the two variables of interest. The combined treatment method, brought positive results short term, however, it is important to investigate long-term outcomes.

Keywords: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ashtanga Yoga, Acupuncture, Pain 
Table of Contents


Background
Yoga is an ancient Hindu philosophy that literally means "union". This union is described as the union of the self with the universal spirit. This philosophy includes systems of movement to attain physical, mental control and well-being and amongst its suggested benefits is that it can lead to an improved quality of life (Leslie Kaminoff, 2007). Yoga has different systems of practice one of which is Ashtanga Yoga (AY). The roots of AY are in Yoga Korunta, a manuscript discovered in the 1930’s by Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and his disciple K. Pattabhi Jois, at one of Calcutta’s university libraries. This manuscript dates back to 500 to 1,500 AD (Larry Schultz, 2000). 
Ashtanga practitioners practice a series of postures (asanas). These can be simple to do or very demanding physically. Postures are formed through continuous transitional movement and are synchronized with the breath. At the same time, there is a focus on the contraction (bandha) of specific muscle groups to direct energy; this also protects practitioners from injury by redistributing mechanical stress.  The main physical benefits of AY are an increased range of movement of most of the joints, increased flexibility of the soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system and increased muscle strength. Though these benefits can be achieved through other forms of physical exercise such as gymnastics, there is a key element that distinguishes yoga practice. This is the intentional integration of breath, posture, movement and the basic principle that practice should promote a healthy mind-body. Yoga theory stipulates that the integration of all of the above is fundamental to wellbeing as it seeks to benefit holistically, by assisting the development of mind, body and spirit. There is significant support (Lee M, Moon W, Kim J, 2014) with concerns to the benefits of yoga for both physical and other ailments. However, researchers (Uebelacker LA, Weinstock LM, Kraines MA, 2014) report that the most common side effect of yoga is physical injury and pain. For this reason, it is important to establish potential risks, in order for general practitioners to give sound advice to their patients with concerns to the practice of AY, as well as raise practitioner and tutor awareness in ensuring safe practice.
This study took place in Crete, Greece, during a six day AY workshop designed for AY teachers and advanced students. The purpose of the workshop was for practitioners to improve familiar poses and to learn new ones. The organizers facilitated this process with hands on adjustments, passive movements of specific anatomical regions, and by reminding practitioners to breathe consciously and to stay focused in their practice. 

Twenty eight practitioners were examined. Clinical examination by means of conventional and Chinese medicine (CM) revealed an increased ratio of practitioners suffering from knee pain, cervical pain and hamstring regional pain in comparison to the control group. It identified two pain categories; one group reported pain present only when in particular AY postures not common to daily life and extreme joint positions. For example, one of the practitioners complained of right side lower back pain that occurred only when in a posture that involves placing both lower limbs behind the head. Another example of this category involved knee pain that was not present during daily activities such as walking, or going up and down stairs, but only during yoga postures such as in lotus, where the knee is in flexion and passive internal rotation. The second pain category involves the presence of pain and discomfort throughout most of the day, during ordinary physical movement or while resting. For example this group of practitioners reported that thigh, hamstring pain was often present when walking and during other daily life movements, this was aggravated when the hamstrings were stretched during AY practice. Cervical pain is also included in this category; felt throughout most of the day, it was either partially or fully alleviated during AY practice. 

The respective correlation between alleviation, or aggravation of hamstring and cervical pain and the practice of AY is mainly related to the cause of the pain and the postures practiced. Studies on exercise such as intense isometric, aerobic, or dynamic resistance report that they can reduce pain perception in experimentally induced pain in healthy individuals, with effects ranging from small to large depending on pain induction method and exercise protocol (Kelly M. Naugle, Roger B. Fillingim, Joseph L. Riley,2012). The same studies report that exercise has a reductive perception effect on chronic pain, even though the effect varies between aerobic and isometric exercise. AY is a combination of isometric and isotonic exercise.  Studies report that yoga reduces pain such as lower back pain, migraine, knee osteoarthritis etc.( Lee M, Moon W, Kim J, 2014). The above support the experience of AY practitioners which says that during AY there is a amelioration of cervical pain and an initial amelioration hamstring pain, which then decreases if the hamstrings are stretched.

Conventional medicine defines pain as the sensation resulting from a stimulus which is intense enough to threaten injury. The stimulus can be thermal, chemical, mechanical or a combination of these. This stimulus excites nociceptors, which transmit the pain signal to the central nervous system (CNS) through either myelinated Aδ fibers or unmyelinated C fibers. Myelinated Aδ fibers are responsible for perception of fast pain which is well localized and unmyelinated C fibers for slow pain which is not easily defined and localized. Studies support that Aδ and C fibers play an important role in acupuncture pain relief (Christopher M. Norris, 2001), when it isn’t due to healing; according to these, acupuncture stimuli trigger mechanoreceptors, which transmit their signal through Aδ fibers to the CNS where opioids are released that inhibit the transmission of C fibers. In addition acupuncture stimuli travels through Aα fibers to the cerebral cortex and facilitates the release of endorphins which will cause pain reduction through opioid release into the dorsal horn of the spinal cord (Christopher M. Norris, 2001).  

Pain in CM is a symptom that may be categorized into an excess and deficient type. Excess pain (e.g. sharp, acute or burning) can be caused due to obstruction, stagnation, climatic influence (e.g. cold), or through the influence of a pathogen which will lead to interruption of the flow of the qi, Blood or both.  Deficient pain (such as dull chronic ache) may be due to qi, Blood, Fluids, yin or yang deficiency that may also lead to stagnation and so forth. Commonly pain in the musculoskeletal system is related to injury but could also be related to emotional, pathogenic invasion, any kind of deficiency and organic dysfunction. From the Chinese medical examination of the practitioners, the most common reason that practitioners of AY suffered from pain in the cervical, knee or hamstring area, was injury that led to Blood and qi stagnation. Although, in CM, the reason for the particular weakness that lead to injuries in the particular region in the individual is also examined, such as constitutional, or lifestyle patterns (e.g. anatomical structure, impatience/overachieving tendencies leading to overexertion). CM reports that exercise such as AY moves Blood and qi, thus movement results in pain reduction, especially in cases where pain is due to stagnation and obstruction as the oxygen and nutrient stagnated area becomes nourished by xue Blood) and qi.

Acupuncture therapy has different application methods. Fire needling is one of them. During this procedure a purpose designed needle is warmed by an ignited cotton ball and rapidly inserted into soft tissue (Liu En Ming, 2011). Distal needling is the method in which acupuncture points are selected based on CM diagnosis and used distally to the site of pathology. For example if there is pain in the wrist joint, meridians and points may be used that are located at the ankle joint.  This is based either on balancing regions and meridian pathway relationships, as well as an understanding of the cause of weakness and type of condition and which zang-fu can help adjust the movement of qi (upward, downward, free-flow etc.), or creation of qi and xue, reminding the body how to heal itself and move. Pain may be a symptom of the body’s attempt to establish balance, homeostasis when it has been affected by the aforementioned pathophysiological changes.


Aim
The aim of this paper is dual, firstly, to investigate whether there is a correlation between musculoskeletal pain, sleeping problems and the practice of AY. Secondly, to report the effectiveness of two acupuncture treatment methods, “fire needling and “distant needling” on these particular musculoskeletal issues on advanced AY practitioners. 
Currently, there is no reference that compare the effect of “fire needling” and “distant needling” on musculoskeletal pain of yoga practitioners. Furthermore, there are no known studies on musculoskeletal complications associated to advanced AY practitioners and as AY is quite popular in the West, this study wished to contribute to this field. 
   

For the main body of the paper containing...

Methodology.
Results.
    Posterior Thigh Pain.
    Knee Pain..
    Cervical Pain.
     Sleeping Problems.
References

Follow this link to dview the full paper on my google docs page
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7JXC_g3qGlWRXZnYnVyY0pWdUE/view?usp=sharing



Discussion

It is important to highlight that within the AY group 64% reported pain. Of those, those who reported hamstring pain (25%) may correlate to AY practice, especially within a larger group however, it is possible that yoga merely brings it to their attention during warm up as those muscles engage more. For those who report pain in poses that require significant joint extension as there is no pain at other times, it may only be attributed to yoga. 
From the medical history it is evident that these forms of pain began while an AY practitioner and in particular in the years that their practice became more advanced, suggesting a potential correlation, although other lifestyle factors may be the cause, the statistical findings suggest no correlation. Yoga, is a practice that aims towards the development of a person at every level. One of the constant challenges and by extension lessons, is to become conscious in such a way to recognize when the ego obstructs the practice, a fundamental aspect of yoga is to learn to have patience with the body, to give space mentally and physically for change to happen and to accept physical limitations. This is different to remaining present in a challenging posture to create ‘openess’, part of the learning requires understanding limitations and knowing how much one’s body can achieve without leading to injury before moving to the next level of a posture. As aforementioned, from the AY group 64% reported pain, so when it comes to healthcare advice it seems advisable that healthcare workers should advise their patients of potential risks, the importance of choosing instructors that are registered and have trained with well-established schools of practice and the importance of listening to the body.
Although there was no significant correlation between those who reported cervical, or knee pain that occurred only when in specific poses that hyper extend the joints, the fact that they do report pain on those occasions cannot be dismissed, as pain is a signal of an aggravation/ distress at the joint. This study did not evaluate whether these practitioners, avoid this postures, or use variations, how they respond to that pain, or whether they ignore the discomfort and maintain the posture through it.



Conclusion
For the hamstring pain yoga vs control group the resulting p-value=0,070 is not statistically significant, nevertheless it is indicative of a potential correlation.  A future study with a larger sample size may result in a statistically significant association between the above two variables of interest. There is no association between the variables knee pain and advanced yoga practice in the population of interest. There is no association between the variables cervical pain and advanced yoga practice in the population of interest. There is no association between the variables sleeping disorders and advanced yoga practice in the population of interest. A further area of interest would be to evaluate the frequency of dull pain vs acute (sharp) pain.
From the study, although overall there is no association between AY practice and injury, it nevertheless seems important to raise awareness with concerns to how people approach yoga, to understand that it can cause injury without appropriate guidance and when spirituality and breath is separated from movement.
The acupuncture protocol that combines “fire needling” and “distal needling” is effective short term. However, it will be of importance in a future study to compare this treatment method against other treatments, such as massage, tissue manipulation, herbs, pharmaceutical medication, though such a study removes an aspect of the holistic approach of Chinese Medicine. Furthermore, long term follow up is necessary in order to find out if it is clinically effective long term signifying healing, rather than pain relief.


Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Ashtanga yoga teacher Kristina Karitinou for her permission to attend the “Ashtanga Teacher Training Workshop” and Christina Maniavou Msc. for the data collection. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Alexandros Griparis for the conduction of the statistical analysis. 



CV 

Websites (in greek) www.yinyang.gr. and Www.hccm.gr.

Dr. Ioannis Dimitriou MD PT CCH MSc PhD in TCM, has graduated from Medical Schools in Athens Greece, Tianjin China, Prague Czech Republic. He is the president of the Hellenic Association of Chinese Medicine, the Hellenic Corporation of Chinese Medicine, the International Chinese Medicine Congress in Athens and a founding member of the Filiform Fire Needle Medical Company in Hong Kong. He has more than 16 years of clinical experience in Chinese Medicine, Physiotherapy, Homeopathy and Conventional Medicine and has spent the better part of the past 13 years in China pursuing the mastery and refinement of Chinese Medicine. Furthermore he has been a well-sought after lecturer and tutor since 2005 and is presently giving various Chinese Medicine lectures internationally and manages his own clinic in Athens. Most recently he is participating in the well-esteemed Doctor of Osteopathy Program for Medical Doctors in London.


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Blog Housekeeping: New permanant page, Beginning Yoga / Ashtanga / Vinyasa krama

February 21, 2016, 7:53 pm
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I received mail this week.....




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It's a good point, if this was a website it might be better organised but as a blog it's a godawful mess. There is label list at the bottom of the blog but that has grown too large, there's a search button over on the right but more often than not I just go to google type grimmly and a topic and leave it to google to find an old post. I've tried to put some key posts/resources at the top of the blog as permanent pages but again not ideal, dropdown menu's would be nice.


In response to the writer of the email above I've added two more pages to the top of the blog



and



The later is work in progress but so far contains theses links and introductions...


Beginning Yoga / Ashtanga / Vinyasa

Key posts/pages ( in progress)


Beginning Yoga / Ashtanga / Vinyasa Krama



Background yoga Philosophy

A little background philosophy at the beginning or early on in practice can be a good thing, it's something to keep coming back to.


Summary of the Yoga sutras - simplified into plain English

http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2015/03/summery-of-yoga-sutras-in-plain-english.html


Yama and Niyama

The yama and niyama are the mental and behavioural guidance. One reason they are there is to help provide a calmer more peaceful, less complicated environment for practice to take place, they can also be a support of practice. Reflecting for a few minutes at the end of the day before sleep on to what degree our day passed in accordance with one or more yama niyama can be a useful practice, not in the sense of self-judgement, but merely noting, this can be enough.



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Asana

If new to yoga, Vinyasa Krama can be a gentle introduction. Start with the arm movements following the breath in the first 'on your feet' sequence. Moving on, the first few postures in each of the subroutines that make up the different sequences tend to be preparatory or basic postures, take some of these easier postures from some of the different sequences to construct your practice. In each subroutines in the different sequences the postures lead from preparatory to key asana to more challenging variations.


VINYASA KRAMA


How to practice Vinyasa Krama



How to practice early Ashtanga



Slow Ashtanga





ASHTANGA

A good, experienced Ashtanga Mysore teacher is invaluable however if you do choose to learn at home (as I did) see the resource section and some of the book and dvd reviews ( I will be adding a beginner section). There is a tendency to rush on to the next asana and even the next series, forcing ourselves into new asana or finding ever new 'tricks7 for getting into the posture. Over time our bodies WILL become more flexible and more challenging postures more available to us, patience and common sense can't be over stressed. Even a minor pulled hamstring will either put a halt to your practice or make it unpleasant for months.

On Ashtanga practice



Learning the Sanskrit Count

At some point ( the earlier the better) the count can tighten up our practice and bring focus, learn it, internalise it, forget it.

http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2014/02/one-approach-to-learning-ashtanga.html#uds-search-results


Ashtanga and Ageing

This should really be titled Ashtanga and maturity, at some point we may wish to slow our practice down and explore longer slower breath and even some extended stays, this is most likely in keeping with Krishnamacharya's original intention. As we age this may be a physically necessity or advisable but it may be that after five years or so of dynamic, acrobatic asana madness we may wish to look for something else in our practice, we don't have to wait until we are over 50 to do so.

http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/p/ashtanga-for-three-stages-of-life.html




Advanced/proficient Asana practice

Before gained enlightenment I carried water from the well
After gaining enlightenment.... I carried water from the well

The most advanced asana practice may well be the very practice you began with, those first slow movements following the breath in the vinyasa krama 'on your feet' sequence, Your first Sun salutation or standing postures, Paschimattanasana, a straightforward shoulderstand and/or headstand, all practiced with steady breath and unwavering attention. longer stays with slower breathing may well be an area to explore at some point.


The Rishi approach




Asana lists



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Pranayama and Pratyahara

Pranayama is taught to children but there is a whole industry surrounding the topic. 
The most proficient pranayama practice can be no more than 

inhale through the left nostril
hold
exhale through the right nostril
inhale through the right nostil
hold
exhale through the left nostril
repeat.

In the beginning we might inhale to a count of four, hold for a count of two and exhale to a count of eight.
me might repeat, 3, 6 or 12 times

My own practice after several years (recommended by Ramaswami/Krishnamacharya) is merely the above but with a hold after the exhalation included.
I  inhale for 5, hold for 20 while chanting a mantra, exhale for 10, hold for 5 while engaging bandhas and repeat for 12 times or 24 or 48.

Pranayama doesn't need to be a big drama or too intense, if the pranayama is steady and comfortable it is suitable, if it becomes uncomfortable then perhaps we are not ready for that long a hold or that slow an exhalation, reduce the ratio until it is comfortable again.




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MEDITATION

Concentration, a meditative aspect arises naturally in the practice as we slow the breath and fix our attention however we are still engaged in the intricacies of asana and the details of the breath in pranayama, a more formal seated 'meditation' practice strips everything else us away and leaves us with nothing but our attention to work with. 

How to meditate



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Appendix




Yoga Philosophy


Summary of the Yoga sutras - simplified into plain English



Chanting the Yoga Sutras





Ashtanga Vinyasa History 




The Surya namaskara Key

http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/p/the-ashtanga-key-surya-namaskar-pdf.html



*


Resources


Krishnamacharya Resource


Pattabhi Jois Resource


Manju Jois Resource



Srivatsa Ramaswami Resource


↧

Yoga Reading list - A personal selection for Beginners in the Ashtanga and/or Vinyasa Krama approach. Plus intermediate / proficient reading list and reviews.

February 22, 2016, 4:58 pm
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In this post

1. Yoga beginners Reading list

2. Book/DVD Reviews

3. Sri K Pattabhi Jois' Reading List


4. Krishnamacharya's Reading List


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I received mail



"Hello Anthony

I've been practicing yoga for 2-3 years and I decide to practice at home. I have several reasons similar to you.I want to begin by practicing ashtanga and vinyasa krama. I have your book and Ramaswami's.

In your web there is too much info and I'm a little lost.

What books I have to read by areas (asthanga, vinyasa krama, pranayama, anatomy, etc.)? I need a list of essentials books to read about yoga.

Thank You.



1. Yoga Beginners Reading list
(now a permanent Yoga Reading list page at the top of the blog
Yoga Reading List )


A personal selection - others will have different suggestions (add them to the comments section perhaps) but these have worked for me. This post is in progress and will no doubt be added to with more links and suggestions.


For Beginners in the Ashtanga and/or Vinyasa Krama approach
With the home practitioner in mind

( I've added links to Amazon for a look inside)


ASANA



ASHTANGA


 Ashtanga Manual : David Swenson

Includes simplified variations for every asana and Shorter (progressively more challenging) versions of the Ashtanga series as well as the full primary and Second series

Amazon link


or

 Ashtanga Yoga : John Scott

Amazon link

Also

Ashtanga Yoga As It IS (Revised Third Edition) Spiral-bound – 2006
by Matthew Sweeney

Matthew's book has been indispensable for me as a blogger for it's ease of reference (asana names), it's also excellent as a mat book while learning the sequence due to it's clear layout and straight forward introduction.

Amazon link



Follow up suggestions


Yoga Mala : Pattabhi Jois

Amazon link



Yoga Makaranda  : T Krishnamacharya

My free Downloads page

My own
Krishnamacharya's Original Ashtanga

In this book I tried to make Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda more accessible


(See my Review resource page for more suggestions - I've added them to the end of this post)



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VINYASA KRAMA



Emergence of Yoga : Sri Sribhashyam
Krishnamacharya's 3rd son has an excellent short introduction to yoga 
and a gentle development of practice. It's perhaps a little more accessible than Ramaswami's book

Amazon link


Yoga for the Three Stages of Life : Srivatsa Ramaswami
(First part is excellent concerning all aspects of Yoga. PART II deals with asana)

Amazon link


or

Complete book of Vinyasa yoga : Srivatsa Ramaswami

Amazon link

My own Vinyasa Practice Book

intended as a companion to Ramaswami's book
Lulu Link

Vinyasa Krama practice manual
Steve brandon

Link




Follow up suggestions


Religiousness in Yoga : TKV Desikachar

Amazon link


Yoga beneath the Surface : Srivatsa Ramaswami and David Hurwitz

(A Question and Answer format between teacher and student covering a wide range of questions concerning yoga)


Amazon link



*


YOGA PHILOSOPHY

(Several free Online editions of Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads and key Hatha yoga texts)


The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, 2009
by Edwin F. Bryant 
 ( includes all the classic commentaries which is why I'm putting it first)


or 

Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali: Containing His Yoga Aphorisms with Vyasa's Commentary in Sanskrit and a Translation with Annotations 
by Swami Hariharananda Aranya

My personal favourite




Follow up Suggestions


Yoga Yajnavalkya: Trans: AG Mohan  
( My preference over Hatha Yoga Pradipka)


Amazon Link


Bhagavad Gita : Trans. Juan Mascaro ( my personal favourite translation)

Amazon link


The Upanishads Trans. Juan Mascaro

See my Pattabhi Jois Reading list for further suggestions/recommendations.
Also my Krishnamacharya reading list.

Amazon link


Learning Sanskrit

Yogavataranam: The Translation of Yoga: A New Approach to Sanskrit, Integrating Traditional and Academic Methods and Based on Classic Yoga Texts, for University Courses, Yoga Programs, and Self Study Paperback – August 4, 2015
by Zoë Slatoff-Ponté

Quick, pre-review note - I LOVE this beautiful, fascinating book, my current 'If I had to take one book to a desert Island...' choice, if only for the translations at the back of all the glorious passages from myriad of ancient texts. And what vocabulary, we're not learning 'How to order a taxi' Sanskrit here of course but how to talk about truth and beauty, the sacred and churning and doubt and devotion and the collyrium pencil of knowledge. Whether you intend to actually learn Sanskrit or just to just be able to write the characters or have it on your coffee table to get lost in for hours what a joy this book is. Full review to come.

Amazon link



*


ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY

Functional Anatomy of Yoga: A Guide for Practitioners and Teachers 2014
by David Keil 



David's book is tied closely to the Ashtanga asana.

Applied Anatomy & Physiology of Yoga Paperback – January 1, 2011
by Simon Borg-Olivier and Bianca Machliss 

Link



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DVD's


Ashtanga yoga Short forms : David Swenson


Ashtanga Primary : Mark Darby and Nicole Bordeleau

Link


Ashtanga Primary : Sharath ( only the count )

Sharath hurtles through the practice in just under an hour, I practiced with this dvd for three months or so and it was useful for tightening up my practice and allowing me to do the full primary before work. Personally I now prefer to take it more slowly but Sharath's practice is the perfect antidote for all the flashy, floaty, alignment obsessed videos flooding the net, he just gets on and practices with efficiency focus and attention.

Link


Ashtanga Primary series  Richard Freeman

However many times you practice with this and over however many years your sure to take something new away each time you practice with it.





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APP
Richard freeman



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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix

Reviews and Intermediate and Proficient reading list


2. Book/DVD Reviews

3. Sri K Pattabhi Jois' reading List

4. Krishnamacharya's Reading List



*


2. Other suggestions from my Review page


This is a page in progress as I try to bring about all the...., I hesitate to call them reviews, posts on different Books, DVD's, Mats and what have you that I've put up since 2007

Once I've added all the titles and links I'll see about organising them into categories and perhaps adding Cover shots of the books dvd's etc..

Within the categories I've kept them in the order in which they were posted on the blog.






Tuesday, 4 June 2013




Tuesday, 23 April 2013




Thursday, 27 June 2013
Book(let) Review : Ashtanga yoga Anusthana - R. Sharath Jois


Wednesday, 6 February 2013


Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Sunday, 3 February 2013


Thursday, 27 December 2012

Thursday, 1 November 2012

Monday, 24 September 2012


Sunday, 23 September 2012


Monday, 20 August 2012


Wednesday, 8 August 2012


Tuesday, 7 August 2012


Monday, 16 July 2012


Saturday, 26 May 2012


Thursday, 17 May 2012



Wednesday, 2 November 2011


Tuesday, 18 October 2011

Tuesday, 13 September 2011


Monday, 5 September 2011


Tuesday, 8 March 2011


Sunday, 18 April 2010


Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Tuesday, 9 June 2009

Tuesday, 15 September 2009




Friday, 30 January 2009


Friday, 24 April 2009


Thursday, 23 April 2009


Thursday, 25 September 2008

Friday, 19 September 2008



--------------------------------------------

DVD's

Sunday, 19 May 2013

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

Friday, 15 February 2013

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

Tuesday, 12 February 2013

Monday, 11 February 2013

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Friday, 19 October 2012

Thursday, 16 August 2012

Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Sunday, 29 January 2012

Sunday, 22 January 2012

Monday, 19 December 2011

Monday, 31 October 2011

Wednesday, 20 April 2011

Thursday, 24 March 2011

Saturday, 6 November 2010

Friday, 21 May 2010

Tuesday, 16 March 2010

Tuesday, 1 December 2009

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Friday, 9 October 2009

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

Sunday, 12 July 2009

Sunday, 12 July 2009

Monday, 13 April 2009

Friday, 2 January 2009

Sunday, 26 April 2009

Friday, 24 April 2009


Sunday, 26 April 2009

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

Wednesday, 1 October 2008



WORKSHOPS


Friday, 7 September 2012

Thursday, 6 September 2012

Tuesday, 4 September 2012


MATS, TOWELS etc.

Sunday, 8 July 2012

Thursday, 3 March 2011

Sunday, 16 May 2010

Thursday, 11 February 2010

Sunday, 8 November 2009

Wednesday, 22 July 2009

Tuesday, 2 September 2008

Wednesday, 13 August 2008



MISC.


Sunday, 14 October 2012


Friday, 21 September 2012

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Tuesday, 28 December 2010

Monday, 13 December 2010

Thursday, 15 April 2010

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Thursday, 1 January 2009






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Tuesday, 26 January 2016


3. Sri K. Pattabhi Jois' READING LIST from from the 'original' Ashtanga diploma syllabus list given to Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams in 1974

I was looking at the original Ashtanga (diploma) syllabus given to Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams in 1974 yesterday (I have a poster of it in my practice room) and focussed in on the theory section mentioned at the end of each year, it makes up an interesting reading list. the original post on the syllabus including the full syllabus can be found at the end of the post.

As far as I can tell the Serial Samakritha Shikshaka mentioned in the first and 2nd year seems to be a Sanskrit course

Here's the reading list and below that the same list with links to editions either free pdf an/or perhaps on Amazon.

1st year

Serial Samakritha Shikshaka Part I, II and III
Yoga Mala part I

2nd year

Serial Samakritha Part IV, V, VI
Hatha yoga pradipka

3rd year

Gheranda Samhita
Yoga Tharavalli
Yoga Yajnavalkya

4th year

(siva?) Sutra Samhita
Aparokahanubhuti
Patanjali Yogasutras
Yogapanishad
Srimed Bhagavadgeeta 
(by Brahmanandagiri


We can see that Pattabhi Jois begins the course by introducing his students to Sanskrit in the first and 2nd year but also in the first year we see he includes the first part of his Book Yoga Mala, this section of his text outlines the Yama and Niyama, the moral guidelines of Patanjali's Ashtanga.
In the second and third year Pattabhi Jois covers the classic Hatha yoga texts, The hatha yoga pradipka in the second year, the Gheranda in the third and Siva Samihita in the fourth as well as Yogasanagalu in the third year from which much of the hatha material is said to be originally taken and is a full treatment of the Ashtanga 8 limb methodology. The fourth year gets deeper into yoga philosophy with the yoga upanishads the bhagavad gita and at last Patanjali's actual yoga sutras, perhaps following the sanskrit course in the first two years read in the original sanskrit. Adi Sankara's text Aparokahanubhuti is also included in the fourth year. Pattabhi Jois belonged to the Hoysala Brahmin caste, a subset of the popular Smarta Brahmins whose root teacher was Adi Shankara.

Ashtanga was always a spiritual/philosophical practice/enquiry, the classic yoga texts taught alongside the asana just as Krishnamacharya would lecture on yoga philosophy while his students presented their asana demonstrations. We lose focus perhaps when we approach our asana practice in isolation. However it was the yama and niyama that was taught right from the beginning the principles of the practice in the hatha texts and the philosophy grounding the practice taught in later years.



1st year

Serial Samakritha Shikshaka Part I, II and III

( learning Sanskrit see this online guide perhaps http://www.learnsanskrit.org/  )

or this recent Sanskrit course from Zoë Slatoff-Ponté who is also an Ashtanga teacher. 
I haven't seen a copy but have heard good things about it
UPDATE: Full Review of this text coming in a couple of weeks.

Yoga Mala part I

Interesting that Yoga Mala gets mentioned in the list. Pattabhi Jois supposedly designed this course (or an earlier version of it ) in 1937 (?) at the request of the Maharaja of Mysore to teach a four year course at the Sanskrit college. Yoga Mala was originally written around 1954 indicating this is a later ediition of the syllabus.
Part I is concerned Yama and niyama the 'moral' guidelines of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras

Pattabhi Jois' original text, still the ONLY* Ashtanga vinyasa 'method' book you really need


2nd year

Serial Samakritha Part IV, V, VI

See the sanskrit course mentioned above ( anyone have any other suggestions for Sanskrit course that have worked for them?



Hatha Yoga Pradipka

Amazon.com

A free pdf version of Hatha Yoga Pradipka HERE


3rd year

Gheranda Samhita

Amazon.com
A free pdf version of Gheranda Samhita HERE


Yoga Tharavalli

See this previous post on the text with the full 29 verses as well as links to other editions.

LINK to pdf on post



Yoga Yajnavalkya

Highly recommended by Krishnamacharya
I prefer this AG Mohan edition to the one from KYM


Amazon.com




4th year

Sutra Samhita

LINK
Free PDF translation HERE



Aparokahanubhuti (self realization by Adi Sankara)



Amazon.com
free PDF edition HERE



Patanjali Yogasutras

I'm currently recommending Edwin F. Bryant's excellent edition because it includes selections from the major commentarys

Amazon.com

I also have a soft spot for Aranya's excellent commentary HERE

Also Swamiji's online edition, an excellent resource HERE

Yogapanishad
see below

Thirty Minor Upanishads

tr. by K. Narayanasvami Aiyar

[1914]


Title Page




Srimed Bhagavadgeeta 
(by Brahmanandagiri )

below a link to the respected Annie Besant edition recommended by Srivatsa Ramaswami, Krishnamacharya's student of 30+ years.

Free pdf LINK


---------------------------------------------------------------------


4. A Krishnamacharya Reading list (inc. Pdf Links).

from interviews with Pattabhi Jois

Namarupa Magazine, fall 2004. http://tinyurl.com/o9fz3j9

1.What did Krishnamacharya teach you?

"What my teacher taught me is exactly the same method I am teaching today. It was an examination course of primary, intermediate, and advanced asanas. He also taught me philosophy. For five years, we studied the great texts. He would call us to his house and we would stand outside and wait to be called in. Sometimes, we would wait the whole day. He would usually teach us for one or two hours every day: asanas early in the morning and, around 12 o’clock, philosophy class. He also taught us pranayama, pratyahara [sensory withdrawal], dharana [concentration], and dhyana [meditation]. And, in addition to the Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita, he also taught Yoga Vasishta, Yoga Yajnavalkya, and Samhita. And all in Sanskrit". Pattabhi Jois

T. Krishnamacharya


Following on from my earlier 

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois' READING LIST from from the 'original' Ashtanga diploma syllabus list given to Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams in 1974

I thought it might be useful to make a similar post of a Krishnamacharya reading list.
Below are Krishnamacharya's own works as well as texts (Upanishads, sutras, samhitas etc.) mentioned by Krishnamacharya in his Bibliographies as well as texts Krishnamacharya taught to his student Srivatsa Ramaswami over a thirty year period.
Where possible I've linked to a free downloadable pdf version of the text.

Contents.

1. Main texts by Krishnamacharya

2. Complete list of Books/texts by T. Krishnamacharya

3. Bibliography from from Yogasanagaly 

4. Bibliography from from Yoga Makaranda 

5. A course of study with Krishnamacharya

Appendix

Thirty Minor Upanishads

I'm adding this post to my Krishnamacharya Resource page and will add any other relevant texts mentioned by his students as I come across them.







1. Main texts by Krishnamacharya



Yoga Makaranda (Mysore 1934)pdf

Yogasanagalu translation (Mysore 1941) (link)

Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranada Part II pdf

Krishnamacharya's Salutations to the teacher and Eternal one pdf

Yoga Rahasya 


Selections from chapter 1

Selections from chapter 2

Selections from chapter 3

Selections from chapter 4 



Rare photograph of Krishnamacharya assisting.



2. Complete list of Books/texts by T. Krishnamacharya:
from http://krishnamacharya.net/works
unfortunately most of the articles mentioned have not been released


Yoga Makaranda (Mysore 1934)pdf
Yogasanagalu translation (Mysore 1941) (link)
Yoga Rahasya 
Yogavalli

Other works (essays and poetic compositions):
“Yogaanjalisaaram”
“Disciplines of Yoga”
“Effect of Yoga Practice”
“Importance of Food and Yoga in Maintaining Health”
“Verses on Methods of Yoga Practice”
“Essay on Asana and Pranayama”
“Madhumeha (Diabetes)”
“Why Yoga as a Therapy Is Not Rising”
“Bhagavad Gita as a Health Science”
“Ayurveda and Yoga: An Introduction”
“Questions and Answers on Yoga” (with students in July 1973)
“Yoga: The Best Way to Remove Laziness”
“Dhyana (Meditation) in Verses”
“What Is a Sutra?”
“Kundalini: Essay on What Kundalini Is and Kundalini Arousal (sakti calana) Based on Texts Like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita, and Yoga Yajnavalkya”
“Extracts from Raja Yoga Ratnakara”
“Need for a Teacher”
“Satvika Marga” (“The Sattvic Way”; philosophy/spiritual/yoga)
“Reference in Vedas to Support Vedic Chanting for Women” (philosophy/technical)
“Fourteen Important Dharmas” (philosophy)
“Cit Acit Tatva Mimamsa” (philosophy)
“Sandhya-saaram” (ritual)
“Catushloki” (four verses on Sankaracharya)
“Kumbhakonam Address” (catalog)
“Sixteen Samskaras” (rituals)
“Mantra Padartha Tatva Nirnaya” (rituals)
“Ahnika Bhaskaram” (rituals)
“Shastreeya Yajnam” (rituals)
“Vivaaha” (marriage rituals)
“Asparsha Pariharam” (rituals)
“Videsavaasi Upakarma Nirnaya” (rituals)
“Sudarshana Dundubhi” (devotional)
“Bhagavat Prasadam” (devotional)
“Narayana Paratva” (devotional)
“About Madras” (miscellaneous)





3. Bibliography from from Yogasanagaly 
T. Krishnamacharya (Mysore 1941)


I did not attempt a detailed review of all ancient yoga treatises since it will make this book very long and perhaps cause boredom to the readers.  Please forgive.  This writing is mainly based on the following texts:

Patanjalayogasutra

Hathayogapradipika

Rajayogaratnakara
see  also http://www.saujanyabooks.com/details.aspx?id=14489

Yogakuranti (Yoga Korunta- lost?).

Upanishads related to yoga

Learning’s from my Guru and self-experience







4. Bibliography from from Yoga Makaranda 
T. Krishnamacharya (Mysore 1934)



"This text contains the essential concepts from many texts of antiquity listed below.
I have studied the texts listed below under the blessing of a great teacher and have explained the truths contained in them that I have personally experienced. I request that the Lord of the auspicious Karnataka throne, the great Lord and Emperor, the fourth Sri Krishna Rajendra, accept this work and allow my
humble self to fulfil my endeavor and bless me.
More than this, I have nothing to say in this preface.


Bibliography
1. Rajayoga Ratnakaram pdf (in Telugu)
2. Hathayoga Pradipika pdf
3. Yoga Saravalli pdf
4. Yoga Balaprathipikai (?)
5. Ravana Nadi  (Article)
6. Bhairava Kalpam pdf
7. Sri Tattvanidhi (wikipedia- see also Normon Sjoman's Yoga tradition of the Mysore palace)
8. Yoga Ratnakarandam (?)
9. Mano Narayaneeyam Pdf
10. Rudrayameelam (Rudrayamalam) PDF
11. Brahmayameelam Pdf
12. Atharvana Rahasyam (?)
13. Patanjala Yogadarshanam (0nline)
14. Kapilasutram
15. Yogayajnavalkyam
16. Gheranda Samhita pdf
17. Narada Pancharatra Samhita
18. Satvata Samhita
19. Siva Samhita pdf
20. Dhyana Bindu Upanishad pdf
21. Chandilya Upanishad pdf
22. Yoga Shika Upanishad
23. Yoga Kundalya Upanishad pdf
24. Ahir Buddhniya Samhita
25. Nada Bindu Upanishad pdf
26. Amrita Bindu Upanishad pdf
27. Garbha Upanishad pdf



Srivatsa Ramaswami chanting with T. Krishnamacharya


5. A course of study with Krishnamacharya


from My studies with Krishnamacharya - Srivatsa Ramaswami (Namarupa article)
http://www.dailycupofyoga.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/studies_with_tk_ramaswami2.pdf

Ramaswami studied with Krishnamacharya for over thirty years, in this article he relates his studies of asana, chanting as well as some of the many he texts he studied with his teacher


"Normally, I had two to three sessions per week, but there were occasions when I had the privilege of going to him twice a day, for ásana practice in the morning and for chanting or the study of texts in the evening". 

Some texts Ramaswami studied with Krishnamacharya

BrahmaSutras PDF
Samkhya kalika-Kapila pdf

Sad-Vidyá (?)Chándogya Upanishad pdf
Mándukya Upanishad pdf
Taittiriya Upanishad pdf
Prasna Upanishad pdf
Mundaka Upanishad pdf
Isvásya Upanishad pdf
Brhadáraóyaka Upanishad pdf
Svetavatara Upanishad pdf
Kausitaki Bráhmana Upanishad pdf

Bhagavad Gitá, pdf

The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali (Online ) was the centrepiece of our yoga studies.
(Note:I recommend the Bryant and/or Aranya editions)

Another philosophy he was keen to teach was Nyáya and the later version, Tarka. He started teaching..

TarkaSamgraha, pdf a compact text on Vedic logic.

Hathayogapradipika pdf in detail, except portions of the last chapter and some of the third, which he said contained obnoxious practices inconsistent with the teachings of sáttvika yoga and the Yoga Sâtras.

Yogayajnavalkyam pdf in detail.

Some of the other texts that he referred to and taught in portions included

Gheranda Samhita pdf
Siva Samhita. pdf
Yoga Rahasya (Amazon) was not published, but he frequently quoted from the text and after a while taught a few chapters from it.

Ramaswami also mentions elsewhere that Krishnamacharya would teach the Ramayana extensively.


Link to article pdf


Appendix (with links)





Thirty Minor Upanishads

tr. by K. Narayanasvami Aiyar

[1914]


Title Page


↧

The Rubbish question regarding Ashtanga authorisation,certification, ownership of yoga, lineage holders, the source and parampara.

February 23, 2016, 6:15 pm
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 "...namely at home is spirit / not at the commencement, not at the source."
Holderlin The Ister


It's like the good old days when several blogs would pick up on a topic and run with it, each with a different perspective. On the whole I think we were respectful of each other, less so some of the comments perhaps but then some of us could be wilfully provocative, blogging with a hammer.

For a time the term Cybershala was in vogue, where does such terminology come from, who first coins it, how do such terms come in and out of fashion.

Where did The Source come from, to refer to Mysore.

or worse....

Lineage Holder (reminds me of an old fantasy novel I read as a kid 'White gold wielder')

When did Parampara gain such dominance and import.

Such terms make me wince and glaze over whenever I read them, I look forward to their passing.

Note: While I might not like such terminology personally  many of course find such ideas profound, enriching and supportive of their practice. It was Saharth's relationship with his Grandfather for that has no doubt brought about his focus on parampara a term/concept employed much less in the past. 'The Source' seems to have taken on the role the Yoga Korunta once held and Lineage seems perhaps to be taking the place of 'the tradition'.

*

Years ago M. and I started making walking trips upriver looking for the source of the Thames.

River Thames

We found some beautiful stretches of river....



At some point we googled Source of the Thames and it turned out to be here, Thames Head, there's a stone marking it and everything. Hmmmmmm...


needless to say we didn't bother making the trip.

*

Here in Lakeland, Shiga, Japan living on the banks of the four million year old Biwa lake I often find myself reflecting on the source of all-this-water. Walking around here we are constantly crossing little streams, rivulets, brooks, becks, burns, creeks, cricks, ghylls....., kills, licks, mills....rills, , sykes, runs and runnels.... all leading down to this mighty lake. Water is everywhere here, feeding the Lake..... which is THE source, where lies the source?

Omi-takashima, Lake Biwa, Shiga, Japan. Up a little way from us.

Great movie The Ister


Lineage holder. What is this Lineage of which we speak, a line stretching from Krishnamacharya's teacher and teacher's teacher down through him and Pattabhi Jois and on where..... to Sharath and the teachers he authorises, certifies or also the teachers that Pattabhi Jois authorised and certified or even perhaps, merely those he taught for a significant period of time... and on through those students that they taught in turn and who they are currently passing on this approach to practice.

What is a lineage holder? Where did this come from, when did the term arise, who first coined it. I often hear that Sharath is the Lineage holder, in other writing I hear the Jois family referred to as lineage holders. What is it to hold this lineage, has the terminology been thought out, thought through. Does Sharath too wince when he hears it.

Perhaps it merely means that this approach to practice is being held in trust, preserved intact. I didn't vote for Sharath to take on the post, nobody got to vote, this is old school hereditary. How Ironic that those coming from a Republic seem keenest of all to embrace the divine right of kings to rule, perhaps there is a little bit of Game of Thrones thrown into the mix too with a little bit of political Maneuvering, sons and grandsons. Sharath, Pattabhi Jois' grandson took on the name of Jois, what was that all about.

The British Royal family is German you know

The House of Windsor is the royal house of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V by royal proclamation on 17 July 1917, when he changed the name of the British Royal Family from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (a branch of the House of Wettin) to the English Windsor, due primarily to the anti-German sentiment in the British Empire during World War I.



I didn't get to vote for the queen either.

Still, I'm fine personally with Sharath over there in Mysore keeping it honest. I practiced with his DVD for three months or so about eight years ago. It made it possible in the early days, before I slowed my practice right down, to switch from a forty minute David Swenson short form Ashtanga to the full series that Sharath hurtled through in just under an hour on his DVD. His practice, with it's seemingly complete lack of flourish or concern for alignment, strikes me as a perfect antidote to the current pretty presentations of the practice in evocative locations. Don't you kind of miss Richard Freeman and David Swenson with their vests tucked into their pants rather than all the pumped up, straining muscles shot with lots of contrast that we're constantly exposed to... and what is it with the soundtracks, when was the breath no longer enough.


Anyway, the reason I'm writing this post is a recent message I got sent "fight, fight, fight" concerning an ongoing discussion on the Ashtanga Yoga Discussion group.


SIDE NOTE: before the blogs I hear there were, the message boards, YUKU for example for Ashtanga, some of the early commenters on this blog honed their vitriol on those message boards. And now the blogs are passing away and the FB discussion groups seem to be taking over, it's going full circle.

Anyway in this discussion somebody asked an innocent question ( I think - you never know with this group) concerning the difference between Authorised and Certified Ashtanga Teachers. It's actually a good question. Years ago I heard that authorisation could be taken away but Certification was some how connected with the Indian government and couldn't be withdrawn, tenure if you like. I have no idea if any of that is true, you can't believe much you read on the Internet.

Somebody with a name beginning with Yogi (On principle I never accept FB friend requests  from anybody who puts Yogi in their name.... I don't tend to accept friend requests from any one with an Indian name either unless, well, they happen to be Indian. Somebody called Srivatsa Ramaswami sent me a friend request once and I had to check they weren't given the name by a Yoga teacher in New Jearsy authorised to hand out 'Indian names').

Anyway, Yogi XXXX somebody responded to the innocent Authorised/Certified question with "RUBBISH" (my dramatic capitals) and then another follow up comment exclaiming that "NOBODY owned yoga (again my provocative capitals).

Now lets face it the guy was being a bit of an arse, sorry Yogi XXX but you kinda were and somebody, taking umbrage, called him on it and I thought he was quite right to do so, it was an unnecessary, tacky response to an innocent ( I think) question, he wasn't being smart or clever but here's the thing, he was actually kind of right.


Because when you start to try and point out the difference between authorisation and certification you have to pause for a minute to ask what are they actually and where do they come from.

But who is to question all this, the authorised teachers themselves, those seeking authorisation or secretly hoping... perhaps one day, all are perhaps too invested in the system, and those on the edges or slightly outside, more often the not, seem to want to be want to be inside, included, not left out and don't want to rock the boat or see their stats go down. Interestingly in the Ashtanga group we find people joining from Ashtanga vinyasa and those who are interested in Ashtanga/Raja yoga so you end up with this mix of practitioners who are talking completely different language games, no wonder there is frustration, we are all so protective of our idea of what yoga is or isn't, myself included of course.

Who authorises, certifies and why do they have the right to do so.

Sharath has said again and again, going by conference notes ( he(s currently banned them), that nobody owns yoga..... but what about Ashtanga.

And here we pick up the Lineage holder terminology. Somehow or other Sharath and only Sharath possess the right to authorise and certify teachers. Manju Jois, Pattabhi Jois' Son and rightful heir too supposedly (see what I did there, went all Game of Thrones) but those he authorises and certifies don't seem to end up on the official list.

Can Saraswati authorise anybody?

It's the list isn't it.

The KPJAYI list is of approved teacher, those approved to teach Ashtanga ( as Authorised by the Institute to teach Half primary, full primary up to half Intermediate or Full Intermediate ) by KPJAYI, the approval coming from Pattabhi Jois in the past and now, currently Sharath.

Sharath doesn't own Yoga but I guess in some form or other he owns or is head of the institute. The KPJAYI, The Krishna Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute. The Institute authorises and I assume Certifies teachers to teach Ashtanga in accordance with the method they present. All authorisation seems to mean is that these teachers are approved by the institute.

Somebody with more legalise could do a better job at this, I'm trying

In theory Sharath might seek to sue anyone who teaches Ashtanga without that authority and approval. he might try to lay claim to the series, to the methodology in the name of his grandfather but the Bikram case has shown how difficult if not impossible that would be. Sharath and the institute might feel they and only they posses ( look it up, it means owns) the authority to authorise but they are smart enough not to try and push it.

And besides all Pattabhi Jois did was simplify/codify Krishnamacharya's teaching. We have one of Krishnamacharya's original lists of asana. All Pattabhi Jois did was call Krishnamacharya's Primary, Intermediate and proficient Asana groups Primary, Intermediate and Advanced series with a slight tweak in the order here and there and allow it to be called Ashtanga. I say 'all' but what he really did was teach that practice with rigour, compassion and great good humour for years.

And then Madonna put her leg behind her head while in sequins and the rest is history (minor league to big league).




So, while Sharath and the institute can't legally claim to own Ashtanga they do have control of the list. If you want to be approved to teach by the institute you have to keep visiting Mysore (recently three times may well be enough). Once on the list you have to keep coming to Mysore regularly or you will be taken off. Do anything the institute, Sharath, doesn't approve off and you'll be taken off, offering training for example, you'll be taken off. Allow your name to be put on another list thus diminishing the exclusivity of the Institutes list and you can be taken off.

In this way, Sharath and or the institute manage to maintain some control, some degree of ownership over how Ashtanga is taught.

It may not be a bad thing.

I'm surprisingly traditional, you'll be shocked to hear. Many of my criticisms here have been to do with what I have seen as an oversimplification, a dumbing down of Krishnamacharya's original practice...., the speeding up of the breath, shorter stays, the rigidity of the system/sequences, the lack of attention to pranayama, and most importantly to the loss of kumbhaka, the soul of Krishnamacharya's practice. It's enough for me to post/rant about these occasionally. Sharath presents a nice straightforward presentation of Ashtanga, at some point somebody will, if they are interested, look to Krishnamacharya's original teaching.... or not.

But here's where I'm traditional ( for want of a better word), I expect my Ashtanga teacher to have studied Ashtanga for years. There is something about the discipline of Ashtanga, the getting on the mat and working your way through the practice morning after morning, day in day out and for years that for me constitutes the most important aspect of the practice. You may have studied Hatha or Iyengar for years, taught them for years but if you then take up Ashtanga and after a year or six months start to teach it then I'm like Topel and his third Daughter, no, NO..... NO, TRADITION!

The going to Mysore a bunch of times shows to some extent that you have been practicing for years and it's that I feel Sharath is recognising.... and after being Authorised you continue to practice and are perhaps ultimately Certified, a worthy representative of this approach to practice.

I really don't care if an Ashtanga teacher has ever been to Mysore only that they have practiced for years even if they've only ever practice with a dogeared copy of Yoga Mala... Of course you can learn this practice from books and DVD, hell you can put the whole practice on one laminated card, practicing it daily will teach it.

The more years you've practiced the more I'm interested, there are teacher's who've been practicing twenty years or more longer than Sharath and it's for that reason they interest me more. I was asked recently if I would go to Sharath's Tour in Tokyo, I said no and perhaps that seemed a little disrespectful but heredity means nothing to me, lineage nothing, parampara nothing I couldn't care less about them. I respect Sharath's practice, it's lack of fuss, his focus, I respect how hard he works to share the practice and that he does it with such good humour but I have no interest in basking in his presence, showering him devotion..... I respect the discipline of the practice, and though it perhaps respect Sharath, his grandfather and Krishnamacharya also.

Personally I feel that if you are Certified then you should be able to Authorise in turn, surely that's what lineage means or should mean. I don't see any difference between somebody who has been to Mysore a few times and has been granted their piece of paper and somebody who has been practicing with Nancy Gilgoff or Tim Miller or David Garrigues or Richard Freeman for years, piece of paper or not, I'm probably more interested in the latter. There are good teachers, excellent teachers and practitioners coming out of all these sources.

"...Yet the river almost seems
To flow backwards, and I
Think it must come
From the East.
Much could
Be said further. But why does
It hang so straight from the mountain? That other river,
The Rhine, has gone away
Sideways. Not for nothing rivers
Flow in dryness". 

Holderlin from The Ister

And then there is the money which I haven't touched on because it doesn't really interest me that much and somebody else can work it out. But by making Mysore the only place you can be authorised you ensure that people go back year after year which influences others, you doff the cap, bend the knee, use the terminology of lineage and parampara, the source, creating a whole narrative to be embraced while the money rolls in, and the lucrative led counted tours take place, year after year... let alone the money for authorisation and certification, has anybody tried working out how much the Institute is worth yearly, a million, more? Yoga is big business.

Sharath probably works too hard to care about the money that much, he likes his cars I hear and his cameras but that's about it, the institute seems in safe enough hands for now but what about the future, will Sharath's son be groomed.... more heredity.

Actually as much as it irritates me that we have a Royal family I'm loath to put anything else in it7s place, better the devil you have.

I've ranged far and wide here, top of my head blogging stuff but there is enough perhaps to show there are questions here surrounding Authorisation and Certification.

What's the difference between Authorisation and Certification?

Authorisation recognises that you've been practicing the discipline for a long time, Certification that you've been practicing the discipline for a really really long time.

I like to think of certified Ashtanga teachers as Princes of the Church (denoting male and female here like actors), having tenure and free to be creative in their exploration of the practice to be inspiring, perhaps it's a blessing that they don't have to worry about the authorisation side of things and can just get on and share their experience of the practice.



 "Yet what that one does, that river, / No one knows."

Holderlin The Ister

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Krishnamacharya's 32 sirsasana ( headstand ) Variations ?

February 24, 2016, 6:45 pm
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"One day Krishanamacharya was conducting a “rare” demonstration-class where he mentioned that there are thirty-two variations of headstands.  The class was silent.  A.G.Mohan doubted him but did not say anything, however, the muscles in his face betrayed him and showed his feelings. Krishnamacharya looks at him and says:

“What? It looks like you don’t believe me.  Fold that mat and place it here“. He then demonstrated the 32 variations of headstand.  He was 85 years-old."

Krishnamacharya His Life and Teachings by A.G.Mohan.


As well as the headstand variations that Krishnamacharya taught his long time student Srivatsa Ramaswami I have a large number of photos from the later edition of Yogasanagaliu of Krishnamacharya demonstrating headstand variations aged 84, I also have screenshots of Krishnamachary's headstand variation in the 1938 documentary footage. I thought it would be interesting to see if I could come up with 32 variations, these may not have been the ones Krishnamacharya demonstrated to AG Mohan, referred to in the quote above but perhaps not so far off.

Going by the 1938 Mysore documentary many if not most of these variations seem to have been floating around back in the 1930s when Pattabhi jois was a student of Krishnamacharya's at the Mysore palace.



1. Sirsasana



2. Akunchanasana left and right




3. Akunchanasana




4. Ardha padma Akunchanasana




5.




6. Viparita garundasna



7. Urdva konasana


8.



9. Urdva badha konasana




10.  Urdva padmasana



11.



12. Akunchita Urdva padmasana




13.



14.



15.


16.


17.


18.


19.



20.


21.


22.



23. Salamba and Niralumba variations making up the seven headstands in the Ashtanga intemediate series


24.


25.


26.


27. In this variation the hands are place on the shoulders



28.Variations from Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda part II






29.



30. Viparita dandasana




31. BKS Iyengar 1938 Documentary



32. Sirsasana Mandala (Left BKS Iynegar 1938)






ALSO


BKS Iyengar. Leg behind head sirsasana variation





RELATED POSTS


Sirsasana Video Library

http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2016/02/sirsasana-headstand-variations-library.html


Krishnamacharya's trickly Eka pada Sirsasana variations from Yoga makaranda Part II

http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2015/03/krishnamacharyas-tricky-ekapada.html


Krishnamacharya's Mysore headstand variations

http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2014/11/krishnamacharyas-1930s-mysore-headstand.html


David Garrigues new book and Video course on headstands
http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2016/02/new-book-and-downloadable-video-course.html


Lotus to headstand
http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2010/08/lotus-to-headstand-from-vinyasa-krama.html


ALSO

Krishnamacharya's alternatives to headstands

http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2014/10/krishnamacharyas-alternatives-to.html
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गुरुकृपा (gurukṛpā) - March 2016 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami

February 29, 2016, 6:28 pm
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 February was quiet. My auditor wanted to study the sutras. You do not say no to your accountant, lawyer or doctor. It was very rewarding going  throuht all the sutras. He himself has abundant knowledge about Indian traditional texts and philosophies. It was a nice experience. I went for a short visit to the shrine of Sri Sai Baba at Shiridi in India, fulfilling a long time longing. Good feel, a very good feel indeed.



 My next program will be in April at my friend Ryan Leier’s studio  at Saskatoon in Canada. The studio is One Yoga. It will be 100 hr Vinyasakrama TT program consisting of about 60 hrs of Asanas and vinyaasas, 20 hrs of Pranayama and yoga for Internal Organs and a 20 hour slot for the Yoga Sutras. I understand there are still a few spots available, Here is the link

 I am reproducing a message I received from Steve Brandon in UK. He first attended a five day program in Chicago almost ten years back. Then he followed it up by coming to New Delhi, India  to attend a weeklong program organized by Loyola Marymount University. Then he was one of the earliest participants to complete my five week  200 hr Vinyasakrama yoga program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, He then arranged for me to come to UK, to teach in London and Wells. I did several programs like core vinyasakrama program a few times and also a number textual studies as complete hatayogapradipika, Yoga Sutras, Samkhya Karika, the Bhagavadgita… He is a very experienced but very modest yoga teacher and has been instrumental in making vinyasakrama known to some extent  in Europe. I am much beholden to him for all the great opportunities he gave  me. Thank you Steve. Here is Steve’s message

Dear Ramaswami
I hope that you are well
I taught a weekend on Vinyasa Krama in London on 20th/21st February and I had full attendance with very keen students. Some of them had attended the Core Vinyasa last year.
This was very encouraging and they have asked me to give more workshops. I plan to get a regular group going in London.
Saba and two of my teacher training graduates, Roxana and Kathi who were at core vinyasa last year are starting to teach some classes in London. And will meet to give support to each other. Some of the seeds are growing into plants. I am giving a class every Sunday called ‘Sadhana Sunday’ to teach VKY in a systematic way. I have attached a picture of one of the classes at Wells Museum.
Thank you for all the efforts to share your knowledge with us.
Please give our best wishes to Uma
Kind Regards
Steve




गुरुकृपा (gurukṛpā)

When Sri Desikachar started  Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram I joined the Mandiram as a founder trustee along with a classmate of Desikachar Mr Kuppuswamy as another trustee with Desikachar remaining the Managing Trustee. One of the first activities was to  start a training program running for about 2 years I guess. I was part of the team with Desikachar to select the participants and also taught a few first  classes. Then there was a suggestion that someone from the Mandiram could write a series of articles on Yoga and a 100 year old journal Indian Review was willing to publish that. Desikachar with the concurrence of his father asked me write a few articles for the monthly. I used to write the article with  some asana photographs of me and give it Desikachar. He would then read it to Sri  Krishnamacharya. With his consent we used to have it published. He gave a few suggestions for the first few articles. After a few months I left the Mandiram but continued to write to the journal for more than two years. I was happy that I could start writing with the consent and encouragement from my Guru. Actually these articles formed the basis of my book “Yoga for the Three Stages of life.”. My friend Paul Harvey from UK had taken the trouble to scan them all and made it available in his famous website. Paul was a long time and a principal student of Desikachar having spent a long time in Madras to study in depth with Desikachar. 

Here is the link. There are about 28 articles. 


I was learning asanas vinyasas and pranayama with my Guru for a number of years. Then one day he decided to stop teaching and asked some of his long standing students to study with his sons. I went to study with Desikachar and my father would study with his brother. Desikachar was a wonderful teacher and I learnt a lot  from share your teachings with us. him. One day  Desikachar told me that he was going to start study of the Sutras with his father and asked me if I would like to join. I said yes and we studied together the sutras, the first reading. Sri Krishnamacharya at that time opined that I should not have two yoga teachers and asked me to come back to him to study both asanas and other subjects. 

It was before the Mandiram was started and Desikachar was teaching full time and I had not even thought of teaching . He used to arrange lectures by experts from different disciplines like ayurveda, A&P and several subjects for the benefit of his students mostly from overseas. One day at the end of the YS class he casually mentioned if I would like to give a talk on Avidya to his students at his studio in his house. One question in my mind was if I should start teaching with ’avidya’ I said a nervous yes and promptly told about it to my Guru the next morning at the start of my individual asana class . He immediately talked about Avidya-- about what I should say. He started by saying that there was considerable “avidya”  or misunderstanding about the term “Avidya”. But after a minute of animated advice he suddenly stopped and said “ No I do not want to tell you anything, You say whatever you consider right and appropriate”. He sensed some hesitation in me and told me in a calm assuring tone “Don’t worry, you explain the way you have understood avidya. If some one disagrees with your exposition, I will come and argue and convince him what you said was right.”  I silently thanked him for his solid support and interest in me… and for his unique way of encouraging.

I think it was late 60s or early 70s. My guru was living with his family in Mandavelli, Madras. It was before he and his family moved into their own house in R K Puram later on. After a morning class I came out. I had with me my camera which I had taken with me as I was planning to go to a function and take pictures. As I came out I requested my guru if he would pose for a picture. His wife was just coming out from the kitchen. I requested her also if I could take a picture of both of them. Both agreed immediately and posed for this picture. I am sorry the print got spoilt somewhat. It is one of the rare pictures where you would see him with a suggestion of a smile. His wife, an extremely gracious lady, had a smile.



I graduated from college in 1960. I got a job in a termal power plant about 150 miles from Madras. I was reluctant to go. Sri Krishnamacharya was then coming to our house to teach my brother and others in the family. At the end of the class I told my Guru that I was going away to work in the thermal plant in Neiveli. Without a moment’s hesitation he turnd to my father and asked him why he could not find a job for me in Madras itself. I had not asked my father nor my father had offered to help me find a job in Madras. Then my father talked to a friend who was owning a motorcycle factory in the outskirts of the city and got me a job as a  trainee. They were manufacturing Enfield motorcycles. Without my guru’sgrace and intervention I would have lost the opportunity to study under him for long.

One day I did not attend the class in my house because of some  stomach ache. My Guru, as he was coming out of the class attended by others in my family, stopped and asked me how I was feeling and I mentioned to him that I was having stomach ache and that I could not attend the class. He asked me to lie down . He dug his firm fingers gently but deeply around the stomach muscles (rectus abdominus?) and gently pulled up the muscles a couple of times. Like magic the pain was gone, as perhaps because his procedure released the stomach cramps.

However it posed another problem.. I had to be at the factory at 7 AM which meant I had to  be at the bus stand by 6 AM. I could not go to classes in the evening as I would be home only by 7 PM and Sri Krishnamacharya was not teaching at that time after sunset. So I put the problem before my teacher and he gave a solution. He asked me and my father to be at his house at 5AM, and study for one hour so that I could get to the bus stand in time which was close by. I used to get up sufficiently early in the morning have my shower and be at his house with my father a 5AM. By that time he would have completed all his practice puja and everything and be ready to receive his first students for the day. He was so accommodative. This went on for one full year when I quit the job and attended his classes at more convenient hours. 


Paul Harvey was in Madras at that time for an extended stay (more than one year?) studying with Desikachar. Before leaving for UK, (I think with the tacit approval of Desikachar) he asked me if I would like to write briefly a booklet on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. I had just then completed writing in Indian Review a series of about 28 articles mostly on asanas. I wrote the booklet titled it as Basic tenets of Patanjala Yoga and sent it to Paul. After some time he  printed/published  it under “Cambridge Yoga Society” and sent a few copies. At that time I had taken a short break of a few weeks of my studies with my Guru as I had some compelling other works. The book arrived during that break. One summer afternoon as I was at home, my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya came to my house with Desikachar. He sat down on a straw mat and told me that he was very happy that I published a book and that he would like to me to write more books and that I would have his blessings. He looked genuinely pleased and I was overwhelmed with gratitude at this unexpected blessing. He left very soon but this episode would come to my mind very often. I do not know if he read the book or anyone read it to him. How many teachers would be pleased and show their happiness at the little steps taken by the students?



Krishnamacharya was teaching Hatayogapradiika. He was teaching the kumbhaka chapter  wherein mention of 80 times  (asiti) pranayama is mentioned. He explained that. Later I casually mentioned to Desikachar that doing 80 times pranayama was not possible and it was an exaggerated statement of Svatmarama. I used to do about 10 or 20 pranayamas in the class. Next class, my Guru said that we would spend the entire hour for doing 80 times pranayama. He sat with me and did 80 rounds of pranayama.  He sat with me and encouraged me to do the full limit of pranayama. Nowadays I teach pranayama and encourage interested participants to experience an extended practice of pranayama occasionally. An 85 year old man sitting in a yogic posture and doing 80 times of pranayama for one full hour would stimulate anyone to try to do the same. He was absolutely dedicated to teaching yoga.



Once the renowned Mahesh Yogi came to Madras and  gave a hugely popular talk on TM at Rajaji Hall in Madras. There was a very large crowd. My father took me for the program. Next morning when I met Desikachar I mentioned to him about what Mahesh Yogi talked. He quietly listened to me. Next morning when I went for my individual class with Krishnamacharya, he started the class as usual with a prayer. Then he looked at me and said to this effect. He indicated that he (Krishnamacharya) knows what I need and he would be willing to give/teach it to me. For my part(Ramaswami) I should not shop around and get confused in the process. It is an unnecessary effort on the part of the teacher to remove these confusions. I was touched by the concern he had for the student. He minced no words and I am grateful for his straight talk and a very valuable advice.

I was about ten when  my grandfather, by chanting the gayaatri mantra into my right ear, initiated me to the study of Vedas during my upanayanam. Sometime later I joined my father to study chanting of some portions of the Vedas ( yajur veda ) from a young teacher . He would come everyday at 5 AM (except the anadhyayana days like new moon day). He taught us to chant Arunam, rudram camakam the taittiriya Upanishad, the suktas. It went on for a few years. Later on when I was 15,  I started studying with Sri Krishnamacharya    mainly asanas. After several years one day Desikachar mentioned that he was going to learn Vedic chanting from his father and wanted to know  if I would like to join him in the chanting classes. I said yes but I was not sure how a Yoga teacher would teach Vedic chanting because all the yoga teachers I had known were physical instructors and Vedic chanting is usually taught by Sanskrit pandits who have learnt chanting. Sri Krishnamacharya with a booming voice and correct accent of the Sanskrit syllables and as per prescribed intonation taught several chapters of the Krishna Yajur veda. It went on for several years. After Arunam, taittiriya upanishad and the suktas, he taught almost the entire taittiriya aranyakam, the pravargya, pravargya brahmana, citti sruk, svadhyaya prakarana mahanarayana Upanishad, then the three chapters of taiitiriya kataka which forms the basis of the famous katopanishad,. Meanwhile I had learnt to chant the yoga sutras as part of the detailed study of YS with Sri Krishnamacharya.

I used to sit at home in our puja room and chant several of the chants I had learnt from my Guru. One day when I was chanting, a famous musician and her husband had come to my house to meet my father and as they were waiting they heard my chanting. Later they told my father that my chanting was very pleasant to hear (sraavya). I was encouraged by this and then bought my first tape recorder and recorded the YS. Once Desikachar had several students from the west and they wanted to meet my Guru. Sri Desikachar arranged a program wherein He and Krishnamacharya would do some Vedic chanting. Sri Krishnamacharya I guess suggested that I too should join and all the three of us could chant some Vedic passages together, I felt very honored and thought it was great way of my Guru to encourage me. All these made me  record the chant of the sutras in my new tape recorder. I thought since Yoga was getting popular I would chant this. I played it to a few of my father’s friends and they all seemed to like the voice and delivery. Then I approached a class mate of mine whose father was a famous film director and producer. I asked him if he would help me to have my chanting recorded by a recording company. He introduced me to HMV. The person in charge listened to the chant for an extended time and said it was good, very good, but the marketing people said that since I was an unknown entity it would be difficult to sell. Music is saleable but chanting, they were not sure. So the producer advised me to try to get some publicity like doing a few programs over All India Radio, the only radio network in India at that time.

The editor of the journal that  published my series of articles had known the director of All India Radio or Akashvani in Madras. I met him and he directed me to the program director of the Sanskrit program. The studio was broadcasting a 15 minute Sanskrit program every Tuesday night between 9;15 PM and 9:30 PM considered prime time immediately after the national news. TV in B&W was just then introduced and had not taken roots and owning an expensive TV set was a luxury. So people normally tuned to the radio for news entertainment concerts, talks etc. 

The program executive asked me to prepare a program and give the manuscript to him so that he would go through that and decide. I recorded the talk in my tape recorder which also contained the chanting of the first chapter of Yoga Sutras. I also gave a hard copy. He took his own sweet time and finally agreed to give just one program. The program was recorded in the studio and as I was coming out he asked me if I would like to do another program. I gleefully agreed and told my Guru about it. He blessed me and suggested a few topics for the next talk. Then I went on doing several programs for a few years and for every talk I would prepare and show it to my guru. The talks I gave included Story of Patanjali, Hatayoga pradipika, Vivaha mantras (wedding vows), Upanishad Kavyas and a number of others. For the Upanishad Kavyas my guru dictated a beautiful passage in Sanskrit which I included in the talk. He was completely supportive of these endeavors. His chanting was authentic. He gave importance to the six parameters of chanting, viz., varna (letter pronunciation), svara ( note), matra (time duration of each syllable) balam (right effort), sama (flow), Santana ( conjunction of words). Thanks to his teachings and blessings I was able to record about 20 titles of sanskrits chants between 1980 and 1995. These are made available as downloads (quite inexpensive) by the recording company ”Sangeetha Music” and about 35 hrs of chanting I reckon. These can be found in the following page of the catalogue of the company
http://www.sangeethamusic.com/shop/page/35/

The titles include Sundara Kandam of Ramayana (10hrs), Mukapanchasati (3hrs), Aswamedha (3 hrs), Devi Mahatmyam (3hrs), Anjaneya Sahasranama, Hariharaputra sahasranama, Raghavendra sahasranama, Vedasara Siva Sahasranama, Lalitha Sahasranama, Sandhyavandanam, Adityahrudayam and vedic chanting (Swadhyaya prakarana), Indrakshi sivakavacham with Vedic chanting (citti sruk), Taittiriya Upanishad, Mahanarayanopanishad, Bala Ramayana, Vishnu Sahasranama, Sri Ganesa Sahasranama, Sri Subrahmanya Sahasranama, Suryanamaskara and Yoga of Patanjali and Adi Sankara.

In addition another recording company released two more cds Durga Sahasranama and Gayatri Sahasranama.

I have written about some of these in my book. Well since many have not read my book some repetition may be pardoned. 

One afternoon when I went to see him for a class, he mentioned that J Krishnamurti who had come to Madras for his annual talks came to see him. He said that Krishnamurty was a complete Nasthika (atheist). Still he wanted my Guru to pour all the traditional yogic knowledge and experience to his principal student. My Guru said, “I am willing, I am willing to teach all my students, give without any reservation. But they should be able and willing to take (absorb) what I teach. There was a genuine interest in his voice about his personal commitment to teach the traditional wisdom and his own experience to the next generation so that they could transmit the knowledge to the next generation as per their ability and understanding. There was intense desire to teach and part with the vast traditional knowledge and experience he had acquired through hard and painstaking study and work. His krupa was always there for his students.


Srivatsa Ramaswami - Vinyasa krama

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There is no 'official' Ashtanga (sequence).

March 2, 2016, 7:29 pm
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I have never been to Mysore and the KPJAYI (Krishna Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute) and only occasionally, and briefly at that, considered going to Mysore in the past. Having begun ( March 2007) and developed my Ashtanga vinyasa practice alone at home, with the books and videos of senior teachers of the practice, I've never been that attracted or inclined to practise in a room shared by 80 other pairs of lungs. This is perhaps also why KPJAYI carries no more import to me than Boulder, Encintas, Hawaii or my wherever I happen to place my mat for my mornings practice. 

That said I do in fact respect the institution and the dedication to teaching and practice it represents and consider it a bulwark and perhaps antidote to much of how yoga is being practiced and taught in the west.

One may still question the institution however...




The current head of KPJAYI, Sharath, has an oft repeated 'sutra',


"Nobody owns Yoga"

Actually he seems to have an endless supply of them...

"No pain, no gain"

"No fear, no fun"

but it's the Nobody owns Yoga 'sutra' I'm interested in for this post.


Not only does nobody own yoga but I'm assuming he also means...

Nobody owns Ashtanga 

and

Nobody owns the Vinyasa Krama... 

commonly called Ashtanga Vinyasa or just Ashtanga as taught by Sharath's grandfather Pattabhi Jois.

Early Posters

If nobody owns Ashtanga Vinyasa then nobody has any proprietary rights over it, there can be no official version that can be authorised (lawyers feel free to help me out here).

What we do have is association, an approach to practice associated with the personage Sri K. Pattabhi Jois who taught a particular Vinyasa Krama methodology referred to here as Ashtanga Vinyasa.

The Ashtanga Vinyasa of Pattabhi Jois as taught at the Krishna Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga (research*) Institute KPJAY(R)I

* 'Research' was later dropped

The institute approves teachers through Authorisation certificates, baring the name of the institute, to teach one or more sequences in a manner approved by the Institute.

R. Sharath Jois is the current head of the institute and decides who is and isn't approved for authorisation by the institute and who's name remains on (or is removed from) the official list of the institutes approved teachers.



David Williams Comple Ashtanga poster



So, an 'Authorised' or 'Certified' Ashtanga teacher is somebody approved by the institute to teach in association with their name.


But nobody owns Yoga or Ashtanga Vinyasa as Sharath reminds us.


Nobody can prevent you then from teaching Ashtanga Vinyasa as approved by any other institute or body.

Nor can anyone prevent you from claiming to teach Ashtanga Vinyasa as taught to you by Pattabhi Jois directly if you were indeed taught by Pattabhi Jois and teach a practice he taught you

Nor can anyone prevent you from claiming to teach Ashtanga Vinyasa as taught to you by a student of Pattabhi Jois if you teach in the manner in which they taught you.

Indeed, Sharath was a student of his Grandfather and teaches as he was taught by his Grandfather

Saraswati teaches as she was taught by her father

Manju Jois also teaches as he was taught by his father.

Pattabhi Jois taught the sequence and approach to the sequence slightly differently throughout his life (and it is questionable to what extent Pattabhi Jois practiced any or all of these sequences himself as he presented them in his teaching - see THIS post).

There are slight differences between how he first taught in the 40s 

...how he taught his son Manju and Saraswati in the 50s

....how he taught the early Western students who came to Mysore in the 70s and 80s, Norman Allan, David Williams, Nancy Gilgoff, Tim Miller, Richard Freeman, David Swenson.... and so on and so on in that wonderful list of early students who, in turn,  became (and continue to be) teachers of the practice in the manner in which they were taught and explored the practice.

And also of course how he taught his grandson Sharath in the 90s as well as the later direct students.

Original Syllabus


We can see evidence perhaps of the slight differences in Pattabhi Jois' teaching, the original list of asana perhaps from the 50s, the slight differences in how Manju communicates the practice, the full Vinyasa of the early students now teachers themselves, the number of breaths taken in asana, the changes in the number of drishti points, we can see much of this in the early practice sheets and outlined in the interviews collected for the Guruji book.

Link

Likewise we can see minor differences in how Sharath has taught over the last few years.

The differences are slight*, mostly minor perhaps, it's the same practice, key elements remain, a difference in detail only.

*I would argue that only significant difference was in Pattabhi Jois' failure to carry over the kumbhaka indicated by his teacher Krishnamacharya.

The sequence and how it is taught, if it does indeed differ slightly reflecting the period in which it was taught, is no less or for that matter more official, more authorised, if taught by Sharath in Mysore, by Tim Miller in Encinitas or Richard Freeman in Boulder, by Nancy Gilgoff or David Williams or Noman Allan in Hawaii or by Manju wherever he happens to be teaching around the world.

Remember, Ashtanga Authorisation as we currently understand it is only through association with the institute and the esteem in which it is held. Before Pattabhi Jois was encouraged to introduce authorisation it was more a case of him giving a personal blessing to teach an approach to practice in association with his name.

*

The practice is not rocket science, it's painting by numbers, the asana methodology Pattabhi Jois presented can fit on a poster, on a double sided laminated A4 card along with perhaps a handful of guidelines, it is I would argue the dedicated practise of that practice over a long period of time that is significant.

Early Posters

The methodology consists of a basic practice consisting of Sun salutations, some Standing asana, a Primary sequence of mostly seated postures and a finishing sequence consisting of inversions and lotus postures. An Intermediate or advanced sequences can be substituted for the Primary sequence (Pattabhi Jois supposedly stressed that the Primary series was for everybody, the Intermediate sequence for teachers and the Advanced series, merely for demonstration).

"To begin the practice of yoga, an aspirant should first do the Surya Namaskara [Sun Salutations], and then proceed to the asanas. The Surya Namaskara and asanas must be practiced in the correct sequence and follow the method of vinyasa". Pattabhi Jois - Yoga Mala

These sequences of asana, postures were linked together by a vinyasa, a linking of the movements to and from a posture to inhalations and exhalations. Basically, in most instances,  you inhale as you move up and exhale as you move down.

The inhalation and exhalation are directed to be of the same duration.

Focal points called drishti are indicated, Pattabhi Jois' original instructions following his teacher was to look between the eyebrows when inhaling and look to the tip of the nose when exhaling, latter a few other focal points were introduced especially for beginners. Pattabhi Jois' son Manju mentioned that you might also close your eyes while practicing.

"This is the method for the first Surya Namaskara, which is often practiced while chanting mantras. For this, meditation is very important, as are the drishti, or gazing places, which include: nasagra drishti [the gaze on the tip of the nose] for samasthiti; broomadhya drishti [the gaze between the eyebrows] for the 1st vinyasa; nasagra dristri for the 2nd vinyasa; the gaze between the eyebrows for the 3rd vinyasa—in other words, for the odd-numbered vinyasas, the gaze should be focused between the eyebrows and, for the even-numbered ones, the gaze should be on the tip of the nose. In addition, for the even- numbered vinyasas, rechaka should be performed and, for the odd, one should do puraka. On the whole, the method for doing rechaka and puraka is the same for all the vinyasas and asanas ahead. A sadhaka [spiritual aspirant] should learn it with patience". Pattabhi Jois - Yoga mala

There are also bandhas to be engaged, rarely described the same by two teachers twice  

"Mula bandha [mula root : bandha lock] means lifting the anus up toward the navel; uddiyana bandha [uddiyana flying up : bandha lock], also known as the stomach lock, means lifting the core muscles four inches below the navel; jalandhara bandha means the throat lock". Pattabhi Jois Yoga Mala

Because of the internal nature of this activation of bandhas it can't perhaps be taught but rather, discovered through practice.

And that is basically it.

The practice is learned one posture at a time, each posture added on to the next as the body becomes stronger and more flexible. Occasionally a teacher my help you work towards a posture, demonstrate it perhaps but mostly you're left to your own devices and a laminated card or poser on the wall.

We aren't so much taught the practice as we discover it for ourselves whether in the shala, studio or at home alone.

A teacher is advised, encouraged even especially in the beginning but ultimately unnecessary, once exposed to the sequence in whatever manner, a teacher, a video, book, laminated cards or a list of postures, we appropriate the practice, internalise it through practising it.

The practice (and perhaps Yoga) arises within us through dedicated practise.

Early Posters


The authorisation process of the KPJAYI is useful, it lays out a current standardised version of the sequence(s) Pattabhi Jois first codified from his teacher Krishnamacharya's list of groups of asana; Primary, Middle and Proficient as well as the teaching methodology or guidelines. It gives you something that you can walk into most Led classes around the world and no become too confused or lost.

The current presentation of the sequence is however not any more or less right than the one taught to you by a student of a teacher who studied with Pattabhi Jois decades before.

For that matter there there were many old and ancient descriptions and pictorial/sculptural depictions of a posture as well as names for the same asana - there are no CORRECT asana - although perhaps incorrect (unsafe) approaches to them.

The KPJAYI authorisation indicates that your authorised teacher has been practising, internalising, this practice for a number of years. It doesn't insure that they are necessarily a good or competent teacher or communicator of the practice (although they may well be) or that they have ever opened an anatomy book for more than the odd glance, it doesn't insure that they are competent at adjusting or assisting or indeed that they carry insurance should something go amiss.

Word of mouth reputation still carries more value perhaps than a certificate on a wall. An unauthorised teacher of Ashtanga vinyasa who has never been to Mysore or come into contact with Pattabhi Jois, Manju or Sharath or indeed any of their students may well be more competent to pass on the practice through their own internalisation and exploration of the practice, they may be a better communicator, more aware anatomically, more skilful in their adjustments or assists (should you feel you require or would like them.... rather than waiting for your body to become naturally more flexible) they also may be more inspiring to you to explore other aspects (limbs) of yoga, to go more deeply into your practice.

The institute only gets to say who can teach in their name, who can offer training (currently only Sharath) in their name and that anyone else offering training in Ashtanga is not approved by the institute. The Institute, because it doesn't own the practice and have any proprietary rights can't stop anyone from offering Ashtanga vinyasa training and there are many teachers and schools who can offer excellent training to those who wish to teach the practice. 

All the institute can do is control it's own list of approved teachers and remove anyone going against the wishes of the institute from their approval list.

Any authority the institute has comes from it's reputation, association, convention and control of the list of teacher sit approves.

There is no official Ashtanga, just hermeneutics.

Ultimately all there is, is practice.

My favourite photo of Pattabhi Jois in the old shala,
I would have come Mysore to practice here in this samll room.


"Practice alone is the path to atma labhah [gaining the Self]".
Pattabhi Jois - Yoga Mala



*

See also perhaps this related post on 

Authorisation and the tyranny of terminology

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Appendix

Should you wish to begin a home practice of Ashtanga I personally recommend.
Most strongly recommended in bold.

*

Ashtanga Practice Manual - David Swenson
Contains preparatory variations for all postures

*

Ashtanga short forms DVD - David Swenson
Contains shorter versions of the practice

*
Ashtanga Primary Series - Mark Darby
A nice focus on safe practice plus some beginner options.

*

Ashtanga Primary Series - Sharath
Full practice without fuss or flourish

*

Yoga Mala - Pattabhi Jois


*

Primary and Intermediate series book and DVD (primary series only) - Manju Jois
Names of asana and count call and response throughout also chanting peace chants

*

Ashtanga Primary series with Drums - David Robson

The only dvd that practices slowly, five seconds each for every inhalation and exhalation on the beat of a drum.

*

Yoga Makaranda pdf -Krishnamacharya
Pattabhi Jois' teacher.





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A KPJAYI Authorised Ashtanga teacher's response to my recent posts on Authorisation, Parampara, Lineage, The Source etc. Also Sharath's full conference in Stockholm

March 7, 2016, 4:06 pm
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It was nice to get a measured response this week to my recent posts on Ashtanga Authorisation, lineage, parampara and The Source from a recently Authorised KPJAYI teacher. The reader of my posts provides up to date information and perspective on The institute, Lineage, Authorisation, Parampara, Conference notes, Rigidityand the growing numbers of visitors to the institute

If my perspective is from the outside then this response is perhaps from 'the inside'...and up to date.

Relates to these posts.



I've also added the recent video of one of Sharath's conferences presented in Stockholm last year. 


Sharath's Stockholm conference 2015 http://www.yogashalastockholm.se/
full video below.

Hi Anthony

Like you, I feel  that the value of authorisation / certification is a worthy subject for debate. I've seen it being discussed before. Full disclosure: I am authorised in the KPJAYI sense of the word. I love my job. I help other students with their asana practice, and that help is guided by my experience assisting and practicing at KPJAYI. Personally I think this is what authorisation means. You're a student in direct and regular contact with KPJAYI. It implies a certain approach to teaching. Is it a better approach than that of Richard Freeman or John Scott? I doubt it. Is it a better approach than a crash course in "ashtanga" so that you can add it to your multi discipline portfolio? I'd like to think so.

I think that what gets most people into a tizzy about authorisation is the idea that you can't teach without it. You obviously can, loads of people do. Two of the biggest Mysore program's outside AYL in London are run by non authorised teachers.  I don't think Sharath is bothered by non authorised teaching. I don't think KPJAYI will ever chase after a non authorised teacher with lawsuits alla Bikram Choudhury.

Then there are the rules, and the risk of having it all taken away. It seems to be a rare event. So far a couple of people have lost authorisation because they ran teacher training courses. I'd argue: If you're so famous (and so sure of yourself ) that you want to run TT and if people come to you for TT, and you make a good living from TT, why are you bothered about being authorised by KPJAYI anymore? It's like saying "I believe in one kind of teaching method but I'm going to pretend I adhere to another one just to cover all my bases". It's weird.

I've assisted Sharath in Mysore in the past a wonderful, hilarious experience (he has, as you note, a great sense of humour). When I read your post I thought you might like to read my take on some of what you raised, based on my most recent contact with the Shala.

Conference notes :
These are not banned. Last winter Sharath asked people not to take notes or videos on their devices during conference. He asked people to wait until their time in Mysore was over before disseminating what they were seeing / hearing. He believes taking notes means you're not present. He believes you should digest information slowly  like a good meal before sharing it. The conferences are not lectures or seminars, they are a conversation. That said, conference notes are reappearing again this year. Maybe he hasn't said anything for a while. Maybe people forget or (more likely) are ignoring him.




The institute and the lineage:
Sharath still refers to the Shala as a research institute despite the name change, which was made to honour Guruji after his death.  I don't know why they dropped the R from the new name...maybe they thought it was too long winded.

I've never heard Sharath call himself the lineage holder. He's director of the research institute. That's not a hereditary title, he earned it over 23 years of assisting Guruji. Every day. At 43 years old He's well aware there are people who've been practicing longer than him.

He wants people to visit no matter how long they've been practicing, to continue taking part in the research. I think it disappoints him that some older students have chosen to stop going, for that reason alone.

Tradition/Parampara:
The Shala is not some great altar of tradition. I think a lot of people want it to be that way.  Little tweaks and changes to the asana system happen all the time, and if you're one of his authorised or certified people you're supposed to show up as and when you can to experience all this. That's the Parampara, in as much as I understand it. The asanas change, the yoga doesn't...people can't change yoga,  yoga changes people.

He has said, possibly in jest, that he doesn't want his children to end up teaching. He wants them to find their own path.  In the past two years the foreign and local students alike  are being encouraged to assist. You can write to the Shala and ask to assist when you get a place there. Last time he was in London he said assisting is the best form of research.

Rigidity :
The sequences we call primary, intermediate etc are not rigid. There is of course an average type of body - mind that can learn (and greatly benefit from) the standardised primary and / or intermediate series without too many obstacles but I got to see first hand how many variations there are, especially when he's working with someone local who he can help all year round. And, increasingly, he gets authorised students to work with him on such projects....it breaks a whole bunch of what most people would call "the rules".

Pranayama:
is being added earlier than it used to. Students of primary series are introduced to nadi shodan first.

The Madonna effect:
I think Madge putting her leg behind her head had a negligible impact on the popularity of astanga compared to, say, the recent phenomenon of Kino MacGregor online. Madonna, as far as I'm aware, referenced astanga but never spoke about Mysore. Kino exhorts her followers to head for "the source".

The recent swell in numbers trying to get to "the source" is probably going to bring about more big changes. At the moment the Shala is caught between a rock and a hard place. To continue with Guruji's open door policy or to formalise it into a system more like Iyengar's with wait lists etc? To take the heat off Sharath by letting some certified teachers train and possibly authorise ? Who knows....

Cheers

-----------------------------


I was going to add my long 'chatty' response to the mail above but decided I have rambled on enough in the posts this mail responds to. However here is a nice extended comment/response to the original post from a non authorised but experienced Ashtanga teacher  from the comments section of that post.

---------------------------

"Such a great discussion/overview of this subject, Anthony. Thanks for this.

It's my belief that a good teacher of this practice does something that goes beyond accurately sharing the series as it has been codified, or providing good physical assists, or great technical pointers.

There are teachers, and then there are TEACHERS.

There's that lovely saying in the Ashtanga world - I first read it on Angela Jamison's blog - "Holding the space." I feel strongly that the key to good teaching lies in this concept. Holding the space means the teacher is fully present, grounded in their own practice, and yet, egoless in the way they share the practice with students. They share the practice - the one they have done for a long time - as it has been taught to them by their teacher, with an intent to meet each student where they are that day, and serve that student, kindly and wisely.

With this intention, I teach. And I am not authorized. But, I think of myself as a facilitator, or even, servant of the student. My first Ashtanga teacher, Beryl Bender Birch, and in fact, all of the teachers I have studied with who have really resonated with me as TEACHERS (Nancy, Tim) share this quality. They serve, without ego, but with wisdom and kindness.

Teaching as an act of service to those who chose to study the practice with my help brings my own ego into check. I become a clearer conduit for the knowledge that has been shared with me, and facilitate the student's exploration and self-discovery of pramana - right knowledge.

And, speaking of right knowledge, there's that great sutra - 1.7 - which applies here, methinks -

प्रत्यक्षानुमानाअगमाः प्रमाणानि ॥७॥

pratyakṣa-anumāna-āgamāḥ pramāṇāni ॥7॥

"Of these five, there are three ways of gaining correct knowledge (pramana): 1) perception, 2) inference, and 3) testimony or verbal communication from others who have knowledge.
(pratyaksha anumana agamah pramanani)

pratyaksha = direct perception or cognition
anumana = inference, reasoning, deduction
agamah = authority, testimony, validation, competent evidence
pramanani = valid means of knowing, proofs, sources of correct knowing

I think of this Sutra when I read or hear "words of authority", coming on down from on high (although, ofttimes, these words have been filtered - I think that's why Sharath has said lately, "No more conference notes." It's like the telephone game!)

Note, that the best form of pramana/right knowledge has all three elements: our own experience or perception, logic, and the direct words of a figure of authority.

Still, the best of these three is the first: our OWN experience, OUR perceptions! (Patanjali tended to put the most important or crucial element first in his tendency to list things in the Sutras.) Logic may erroneously be based on false assumptions. And figures of authority may not turn out to be figures of authority, but the misinformed - or worse, charlatans (for more on this, we can all google, "guru, sex scandal"

I've always been a bit of a rebel or outlier, so I believe respectfully questioning authority, when your own experience tells you otherwise, is a sign of a healthy and active mind and spirit. The Ashtanga practice fosters this trait, as it produces a healthy and active mind and spirit, too, when done for a long time".



***


A note on the above conference video.

I happen to find the video frustrating at times, Sharath is clearly referring to Mark Singleton's book Yoga Body at the beginning of the conference, he dismisses the book by saying that anybody can write a book (Mark's book was based on his Phd thesis) and is dismissive of 'some University' (Mark discipline is Philology and Ethnography , his PHD is from the ancient Department of Divinity at Cambridge). Sharath stresses the importance of actual practice (not realizing perhaps that Mark has practised Ashtanga for many years).  

As it happens, I'm not convinced by some of Mark's arguments in Yoga Body either, however I value the contribution he and his colleagues are making in moving towards a better understanding of yoga's past and present, how the theory and practice of yoga has been and is currently being transmitted. We can see perhaps in my recent posts and the response above the constant, ongoing, layering and rewriting of interpretation by teachers, students, scholars and the media.

It's unholy mess and can be a distraction, informed practice with discernment is best, which is I think what Sharath really wants to say.

The conference gets better after this shaky beginning.
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Ashtanga Authorisation 1980 - Present. Includes first ONLINE teaching list (Ashtanga.com 2004) and first AYRI teachers list (2008).

March 9, 2016, 5:49 pm
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This post will become a permanent page at the top of the blog, a work in progress attempt to chart the development of the Ashtanga Authorisation process alongside my other pages on Ashtanga Vinyasa History.

1980
"Guruji gathered us together for one final meeting.  At this gathering he told us which westerners he felt were qualified to teach.  It was a fairly short list—David, Brad, Nancy, Gary, and a few others.  Since Brad had decided to move to Maui, he wanted me to take over his school in Encinitas.  He asked Guruji, “What about Tim?”  Guruji looked perplexed and said, “Who?” “Tim,” Brad repeated,  and pointed at me.  “Oh, that man,” Guruji replied, and studied me for a moment.  “Yes, that man is some better, okay.” 

And so, on the magical island of Maui in December of 1980, Guruji reluctantly granted me permission to teach.  One stipulation was that I was to send him Guru Dakshina (one tenth of my earnings as a yoga teacher) every month.  It seemed a small price to pay for his blessing". 
Tim Miller 'Dust'.




2016

"This past Sunday during the final panel discussion of the 2016 Ashtanga Yoga Confluence, a question was asked about the concept of Parampara and how it is interpreted in the Ashtanga tradition. David Swenson reminded all of us that Guruji’s own eldest son, Manju, was present in the room, and if anyone could be considered the true lineage holder it would be him. Everyone in the room stood up and gave Manju an ovation. It was a very moving moment. I looked over at Dena and saw her eyes welling up with tears just like mine. Manju was very gracious and said that as far as he was concerned, all of us sharing the stage with him and countless other teachers throughout the world are all part of the Parampara.

He explained that his father was very generous with his teachings—that his primary concern was with the practice spreading throughout the world because of his firm conviction that Ashtanga Yoga is the very best thing one can do to insure physical, mental, and spiritual health." 
Tuesdays with Timji


*


This from KPJAYI Certified Ashtanga teacher Mark Robberds on fb today addressed to the Yoga community

"Dear yoga community, 

This is my Certification from KPJAYI or AYRI as it was called back then. I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but this is the only institute in the world that can 'Certify' Ashtanga teachers in the lineage of Sri K Pattabhi Jois. I am writing this because I've noticed that there are a lot of people selling Ashtanga Teacher Trainings to unknowing students out there. I have devoted the greater part of the last 20 years to this practice and tradition, for more than 15 years almost every dollar that I have earned I have put into my continuing education and study with my teachers. I am not alone in this: I have seen thousands of dedicated practitioners pouring their heart and soul into this practice day after day and year after year. 

     I am by no means a perfect human being, so I cannot throw the first stone - but I feel a need to voice my opinion about this since I've noticed that there are students going to Mysore and practicing with Sharath, and then going and running these Ashtanga Teacher Trainings. First of all, there are so many long time students that I know who could not get into the shala this year because it was too full - so those people are taking the place of others that are actually students of Sharath, and not just going to Mysore to get their photo taken outside of the shala, and then claiming to be Ashtanga teachers. Secondly, by 'Certifying' students you are making the word 'Certified' a joke, and you are lying to the students who are paying you. 

     Call it something else - Hatha, Vinyasa, Power, or clarify that you are teaching Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga philosophy, but don't mislead people by calling it an Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training. 

     I know there is a want and need for people to deepen their studies, so I would recommend you to go to the teachers who have been teaching for 20 years or more, like Richard Freeman, Tim Miller, Dena Kingsberg to name just a few. Don't go to these opportunists who are running a business out of the trainings - because no one can teach you to be an Ashtanga teacher overnight. It takes more than that. You need to be a student first and practice at the source or with teachers connected the lineage".


If you are a friend of Mark's on fb he includes a very cool photo of his certification that looks more 1970 than 2010. 


I am very much in agreement with Mark's last paragraph but while I too feel that what characterises our practice of Ashtanga vinyasa is a dedicated daily practice over a period of years I do not feel that KPJAYI should have sole authority to Authorise teachers on behalf of the Ashtanga community ,which is the subject of my post below.



*

In the next few days/weeks I intend to include quotes by the early teachers, from different sources, relating to how they first received blessing to teach directly from Pattabhi Jois (beginning with the quote at the top of the post from Tim Miller).

Around the time of Pattabhi Jois' passing all teachers of Ashtanga were requested to send in their Authorisation letters or those letters by Pattabhi Jois giving his blessing to teach to have them replaced with new Authorisation letters on the new letterhead

"All authorised teachers are requested to send their original authorisation letters to AYRI in exchange for official authorisation letters on AYRI letterhead. AYRI will then notify Ashtanga.com of the teachers' names that can be re-listed on Ashtanga.com". 

This was perhaps the first souring of the Ashtanga teacher authorisation process. It may go back further however, to the move from a general letter of blessing from Pattabhi Jois to a more formal Authorisation  from the institute in the late 90s


"In addition to receiving certification or authorisation to teach, you are required to teach Ashtanga Yoga in the TRADITIONAL FORMAT. The traditional format consists of daily classes in the Mysore style in correct sequential order and without deviation from the traditional form of the asanas as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, South India. The traditional format includes the practices outlined in the Yoga Mala, Astanga Yoga by Lino Miele, and Ashtanga Yoga by John Scott. Explicitly indicate on your website and brochures that such traditional Ashtanga Yoga is offered". 2004


Currently I'm hearing unofficially that Authorisation follows a minimum of three extended visits to Mysore and a cost of more than a $1000 dollars paid to the institute for an authorisation letter which will expire after 2 years? I've heard Certification costs between $2000 and $4000. 


( I'm hoping that under a promise of anonymity some recently authorised teachers may get in touch with me to reveal the ACTUAL cost of authorisation and certification to give a more up-to-date accurate figure).



There seems to be a growing consensus of opinion among many that there needs to be a reevaluation of the Ashtanga Authorisation process.


The first AYRI ONLINE teachers list has 133 teachers mentioned

The current (2016) KPJAYI  list has 547 teachers mentioned
(Africa -2, Asia-113, Australia and NZ- 40, Central and South America-26, Europe-131, North America-235)


My personal feeling is that the KPJAYI can no longer claim that only authorisation by the institute is valid.

"The list on this website constitutes the official record of teachers approved by the KPJAYI, which is the only authority able to authorise or certify individuals to teach the ashtanga yoga method as taught by Shri K. Pattabhi Jois and R. Sharath. There are no teacher training programs approved by this Institute under any name (e.g., Ashtanga Teacher Intensive); teachers that are listed on this website are experienced practitioners and dedicated students who have shown a considerable degree of proficiency and appreciation of ashtanga yoga in its traditional form and who continue to study regularly at the KPJAYI."


KPJAYI's authorisation should be recognised as a letter of approval by THAT institute to teach on THEIR behalf rather than the only authority to grant authorisation, similar institutes, schools and programs of excellence around the world, led by senior teachers should perhaps be instigating their own programs of teacher training, mentoring and teacher development leading to approval to teach in their name that carries equal standing ( in many ways this is happening already).


I lean towards returning to the criteria and values represented by the Ashtanga.com referral teachers listing this was the list originally employed by AYRI until around 2007 


"To obtain a teacher directory listing on Ashtanga.com, you must be referred by a senior Ashtanga yoga teacher who is listed on Ashtanga.com.

The determination of whether a person may be considered a "senior Ashtanga yoga teacher," for the limited purpose of referring junior teachers to the Ashtanga.com teacher list, is based on multiple factors, including: the number of years of consistent Ashtanga yoga practice and study with a teacher; which teacher (e.g., Sri K. Pattabhi Jois); special certifications within the lineage; number of years teaching Ashtanga yoga; works created (e.g., articles, books, videos, CDs and other instructional aids, yoga schools); and general standing within the yoga community. - full criteria HERE

The current Ashtanga.com list can be found here http://ashtanga.com/html/classes.html



But perhaps David Swenson had a better idea. At this years (2016) Ashtanga Yoga Confluence he (perhaps only half jokingly) suggested that rather, all students should be sent on a certification course to recognise good teachers rather than trusting in a piece of paper of authorisation.


*

One suggestion

Bring together all the members of the Ashtanga Yoga Confluence panel from the last few years, forming a panel of trustees for a nonprofit International Ashtanga Federation. Approval to teach is given by the federation (for a nominal administration fee) to those who have practiced Ashtanga for a significant period and shown, perhaps through assisting, mentorship, or apprenticeship programs or course or past teaching experience that that they can pass on the practice safely and with integrity.  
Other senior teachers will be encouraged to join the federation recommending perhaps students of their own who have already been through such a period of apprenticeship of have perhaps already been teaching.


*

NOTE: I'm just a home practitioner  (9 yrs this month) and blogger living in rural Japan with no particular desire or intention to formally teach Ashtanga vinyasa, either now or in the future. I look forward however to more informed debate and discussion on the topic from others more qualified than I to do so.


“I get it. Working this system is like counting dog years. 7 years of human practice = 1 ashtanga year.” Stanka Kordic

So my nine years is like a year and a bit in Ashtanga years, which puts it in perspective.


*





*



APPENDIX


1. First ONLINE mention of the cost of studying at AYRI - Dec 2001

2. First mention ONLINE of Authorisation process - Ashtanga.com - Jan 2004
Includes request for all teachers to sent in their Authorization letters to be replaced/renewed

"Starting in January 2003, the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute will issue NEW official authorization letters to authorized Ashtanga Yoga teachers. All authorized teachers are requested to send their original authorization letters to AYRI in exchange for official authorization letters on AYRI letterhead. AYRI will then notify Ashtanga.com of the teachers' names that can be re-listed on Ashtanga.com. Failure to turn in your original authorization letter may result in removal from the teachers' list."

3. First ONLINE List of teachers - Ashtanga.com Jan 2004
(basis of the AYRI list)


4. First AYRI Authorisation details mentioned on AYRI website - May 2007


5. First AYRI ONLINE Authorised/Certified List - 22 Aug 08 


*


1. Ashtanga Yoga Nilayam 15 dec 01

If you'd like to attend classes at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore please write to:
Sri K. Pattabhi Jois
876/1 First Cross
Laxmipuram, 570004 Mysore
 Karnataka, India
Please include your full name, home address, arrival date, and duration of your stay.
The class fees are $350 US per month, with a $200 registration fee the first month. Please allow for a minimum stay of one month, however three months are recommended in order to have time to learn the practice properly. Food and lodging are not provided, but there are good hotels and restaurants nearby.



***


2. Authorized Teachers 
Teachers' Listings on Ashtanga.com updated January  2004

The procedure for obtaining a teacher's listing on Ashtanga.com is outlined below. Only Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Rangaswamy of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute (AYRI) can issue teaching authorizations and certifications for Ashtanga Yoga. Inquiries about teachers' qualifications should be directed to the individual teachers. Teachers are responsible for verifying the accuracy of the information in their listings. Ashtanga.com and its creators, producers, and deliverers assume no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the class listings on this site. The teachers' listings on the Classes pages are approved by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.

1. Starting in January 2003, the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute will issue NEW official authorization letters to authorized Ashtanga Yoga teachers. All authorized teachers are requested to send their original authorization letters to AYRI in exchange for official authorization letters on AYRI letterhead. AYRI will then notify Ashtanga.com of the teachers' names that can be re-listed on Ashtanga.com. Failure to turn in your original authorization letter may result in removal from the teachers' list.

2. "Certified" Teachers: Contact betty@ashtanga.com to send a photocopy of the official government certificate via email (scanned image of certificate), fax, or post in order to be listed on Ashtanga.com.

3. Verbally Authorized Teachers should write to AYRI to request the new official authorization letter. Please enclose a photograph of yourself with your correspondence.

4. Class Schedule Requirement: In addition to receiving certification or authorization to teach, you are required to teach Ashtanga Yoga in the TRADITIONAL FORMAT. The traditional format consists of daily classes in the Mysore style in correct sequential order and without deviation from the traditional form of the asanas as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, South India. The traditional format includes the practices outlined in the Yoga Mala, Astanga Yoga by Lino Miele, and Ashtanga Yoga by John Scott. Explicitly indicate on your website and brochures that such traditional Ashtanga Yoga is offered.

5. Omissions from the List: Teachers' names may be omitted from the list if they are on hiatus or are not currently offering classes in the style or quantity required for a listing.

Please send all AYRI correspondence regarding authorization letters to:

R. Sharath
Gokulam, Mysore 570002
Karnataka, India


***



3. Teachers LIST Jan 2004 Ashtanga.com 
( this list was clearly used as the basis for the later AYRI list)
Note: 87 teachers mentioned on this list

United States | Africa | Asia | Australia & NZ | Canada | Europe | South America | Traveling Teachers

United States



California


Louise Ellis Certified

Ashtanga Yoga Center

Fayetteville, AR 


Northern California



John Berlinsky

Lea Watkins 
YogaStudio - Mill Valley, CA 

Leigha Nicole 
YogaStudio - Larkspur Landing CA 

Vance Selover

Zoe Slatoff

7th Heaven Yoga
Berkeley, CA 

Clayton Horton

Greenpath Yoga Studio
San Francisco, 



Manju Jois Certified

(son of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois)

Leucadia, CA 92024


Tim Miller Certified

Astanga Yoga Center
Encinitas, CA 

Mary Jo Mulligan

San Diego, CA


Maty Ezraty

Chuck Miller Certified

Yoga Works Montana

Santa Monica, 


Kimberly Flynn Williams

Noah Williams Certified

Ashtanga Yoga Shala

Los Angeles, 


Jorgen Christiansson

LA Yoga Center
Los Angeles, CA 



Steve Dwelley

Ashtanga Yoga Shala

Santa Barbara, CA 


David Miliotis

Andrea Werner Miliotis

Santa Barbara Yoga Center





Colorado

Richard Freeman Certified

The Yoga Workshop
Boulder, CO 


Annie (Grover) Pace Certified

Crestone, CO 

Gary Damsky

Telluride, CO





Wisconsin

David Ingalls

Ashtanga Yoga Center

Wisconsin Washington, D.C.


Florida

Keith Moore
Florida



Wayne Krassner

Miami Beach, FL


Hawaii



Nancy Gilgoff

House of Yoga and Zen
Makawao, Maui, HI 

Bhavani Maki

Ashtanga Yoga Kaua'i


Cathy Louise Broda

Purple Yoga Hawaii
Honolulu, HI 

Nicki Doane

Eddie Modestini

Maya Yoga
Paia, HI 

Norman Allen

Kona, HI



David Williams

Maui Fitness Plus 
Kihei, Maui, Hawaii



Illinois


Amy Beth Treciokas

YogaNow
Chicago, 


Louisiana

Melanie Fawer Certified
The Yoga Room
New Orleans, LA 


Michigan


Matthew Darling


New York




Guy Donahaye

Ashtanga Yoga Shala


New York, NY 

Govinda Kai

New York, NY 

James Butkevich



Texas



David Swenson

Ashtanga Yoga Productions

Houston, TX 


Seattle



David Garrigues Certified
 
Catherine Garrigues Certified

The Ashtanga Yoga School
Seattle, WA 98122


Carola Schmid

The Practice Space

Seattle WA 



Africa - Authorized Teachers

Egypt

Charlie Taylor-Rugman

Ashtanga Yoga Cairo
 
Zamalek, Cairo






Australia & New Zealand - Authorized Teachers

Australia


Eileen Hall Certified

Paul Frechtling

Ashtanga Yoga Moves
Paddington, NSW




Dena Kingsberg Certified

Centre of Balance
 Byron Bay 2481 NSW



Iain Clark Certified

Ashtanga Yoga Shala




Monica Gauci

Gregor Maehle

8 Limbs Ashtanga Yoga 
Leederville, Western Australia


Graeme Northfield Certified

Leonie Northfield

Absolute Astanga 
Yoga
 Cooroy  QLD



David Roche Certified

St. Peters, South Australia 5069



New Zealand

Peter Nilsson
Jude Hynes




Mike Berghan

Victoria Grouden
Te Aro Astanga Yoga

Wellington, Aotearoa
 


Canada - Authorized Teachers

Ron Reid

Downward Dog Yoga Centre

Toronto, Ontario 



Mark Darby Certified

Joanne Darby Certified

Ashtanga Yoga Studio

Montreal, Quebec 

Fiona Stang

City Yoga
Vancouver, BC 



Europe - Authorized Teachers

Denmark | Finland | France | Greece | Italy | Spain | Sweden | United Kingdom

Denmark

Gwendoline Hunt

Astanga Yoga Skole 
København
Copenhagen



Finland

Juha Javanainen

Petri Räisänen

Monna Gronlund

Astanga Yoga School of Helsinki 

Helsinki, Finland


Anne Nuotio

Helsinki, Finland

France

Caroline Boulinguez


Ana Maria Magalhaes
 
Paris 


Brigitte Deroses Certified

Calais

Philippe Mons Certified

St. Andre



Odile Morcrette Certified
 
Lille


Greece


Radha Warrell

Pierre Seghir

Yoga Plus
Crete


Kristina Karitinos Ireland

Yoga Practice in Mani Greece

Maria Papaioannou

Aerodromio Mykonos 


Italy

Lino Miele Certified

Tina Pizzimenti 
Certified
 Ashtanga Yoga School Roma


Spain

Tomas Zorzo Certified

Astanga Yoga
 Oviedo, Spain


Camino Diez
 
Lanzarote, Spain



Sweden

Charlotte Lindstrom


United Kingdom

Michael Taylor

Elisabeth Wilson

Astanga Vinyasa Yoga in the North

Todmorden,Lancs, 


John Scott Certified

Lucy Crawford Scott

The Yoga Studio

Newlyn, Penzance, Cornwall 





Hamish Hendry Certified

Anna Wise 

Astanga Yoga London 
 NW1 London



R. Alexander Medin 
Certified
Yoga Place E2
Bethnal Green Road, London 

Tracy West

Birmingham 

South America - Authorized Teachers

Chile

Gustavo Ponce

Yogashala

M. Sanchez 
Las Condes, Santiago, Chile



*

Traveling Teachers - Authorized

Ashtanga Yoga teachers who are always on-the-go. See Workshops for individual workshop locations and details.

Joseph Dunham


Anthony Carlisi


Rolf Naujokat (Certified)


Kirsten Berg


Dominic Corigliano (Certified)

Saisha Stephanie Petersen


Michael Gannon



Randy Parrish




The current Ashtanga.com list can be found here

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



4. AYRI.org
Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, Mysore, India
(Now KPJAYI)


May 2007

1. How do I become an authorized/certified Ashtanga Yoga teacher?

You must receive an official Authorization Letter or Certification Certificate through the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute (AYRI) located at #235, 8th Cross, 3rd Stage, Gokulam, Mysore 570002, Karnataka, India. Only the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute issues valid teaching authorizations and certifications for Ashtanga Yoga. Participation in the Sri K. Pattabhi Jois workshop tours and trips to AYRI locations outside of Mysore do not count towards authorization or certification.

NOTE: A student should by no means visit AYRI in Mysore for the sole purpose of getting authorized. Their visit should primarily be for their own education of the lineage to further their own practice under correct guidance of Pattabhi Jois.

2. What is the difference between Authorization and Certification?

There are two categories of teachers, "authorized" and "certified." Both types of teachers receive documents from the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute indicating their teaching status. Authorized teachers generally are permitted to teach only the Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series and generally have made at least four trips to AYRI Mysore of 3+ months. The student must also demonstrate appropriate attitude, devotion to the practice, and proficiency in the Primary Series (and usually at least half of the Second Series) as determined by the directors of AYRI. Certified teachers have completed at least the first three series of Ashtanga Yoga and must demonstrate an appropriate level of proficiency in these series as determined by the directors of AYRI. These students generally have made 8 or more annual trips to AYRI Mysore and have at least 8-10 years of daily Ashtanga Yoga practice.

NOTE: AUTHORIZATION SHOULD NOT BE REQUESTED BUT GIVEN. The decision to give authorization or certification to teach is by no means solely dependent on the number of times a student has visited Mysore. It is based upon Guruji and Sharath’s evaluation of the person, his/her commitment and full respect of the lineage of the practice. Authorization is given with the trust that an AYRI student will teach as he/she has been taught in Mysore by Guruji and Sharath.

These guidelines are subject to change and do not constitute an official published policy of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India. Please use these guidelines for your personal information only.





5. First AYRI ONLINE Authorised/Certified List
22 Aug 08 


Asia | Australia & New Zealand | Central & South America Europe | North America (Canada & USA 
* Certified


ASIA


India


Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, Director
K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute, Mysore
www.kpjayi.org

Shri R. Sharath, Assistant Director
K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute, Mysore


Saraswathi Rangaswamy *
K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute, Mysore
www.saraswathiashtanga.com



Sharmila Mahesh
K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute, Bangalore

Rolf Naujokat *
Goa, India

Louise Ellis *
Rishikesh, India

Maya Rao
Mumbai

Monica Marinoni
Ashtanga Yoga Auroville

Gabriella Pascoli
Ashtanga Goa


China


R. Alexander Medin *
The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Hong Kong

Hortario Perez
Oriental Spa, Hong Kong


Japan


Govinda Kai * 
Mae Yoshikawa
Fukuoka

Ken Harakuma
Ashtanga Yoga Japan, Tokyo

Barry Silver
Ashtanga Yoyogi, Tokyo

Kranti
Under the Light, Tokyo


Singapore

James Figueira
The Yoga Shala, Singapore


Taiwan


Russell Altice Case 
Sally Evans
Ashanga Sangha, Taipei


Huang Chih Jo (Gladys Huang)
Space Yoga, Taipei


Thailand

Kirsten Berg  
S Mitchell Gold
Ashtanga Yoga Koh Phangan
Koh Phangan, Thailand




 Australia & New Zealand 


Aus - New South Wales

Eileen Hall *
YogaMoves, Bondi Junction

Dena Kingsberg *
Centre of Balance, Byron Bay

Nikki Fulford
Yogamat, Bondi Junction


Aus - Queensland

Iain Clark *
Ashtanga Yoga Shala, Paddington

Graeme Northfield *
Absolute Astanga Yoga, Cooroy


Aus - South Australia

David Roche *
Have Yoga - Will Travel, St. Peters


Aus - Victoria


Karyn Grenfell
Melbourne - Western Australia

Rob Schütze  
Jean Byrne
The Yoga Space, West Perth


New Zealand

John Scott *
Stillpoint Yoga, Nelson

Michael Norman Berghan
Te Aro Astanga Yoga, Wellington


Central & South America 


Brazil

Praça Santos Dumont,
 Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

Fábio Sayão
Ashtanga Yoga São Paulo

Ana Maria Magalhaes
Via Corpo, Salvador-Bahia

Sara Dubois
Ashtanga Yoga Atibaia


Chile


M. Sanchez Fontecilla,  S
antiago, Chile


Loreto Cortés
Ashtanga Yoga Chile, Santiago


Costa Rica


Mariela Cruz
Namasté Ashtanga Yoga Studio, San José



Europe

Austria

Horst Rinnerberger
Pure Yoga - Ashtanga Yoga Vienna


Belgium


Anne Pinette Meadows 
Brussels


Denmark

Susanna Finocchi & Jens Bache
Astanga Yoga School of Copenhagen


Finland


Juha Javanainen
Astanga Yoga School Helsinki


France

Brigitte Deroses *
Calais

Odile Morcette *
Lille

Germany

Bettina Anner
Köln, Germany


Heike Katharina Schmidt
Dvipada Studio, Cologne

Greece


Limni Evias 
Greece


Italy

Lino Miele * 
Tina Pizzimenti *
Scuola di Ashtanga Yoga, Roma


Norway

Taran Bhattal
Puro Yoga, Oslo


Poland

Basia j Lipska
 Wroclaw, Poland


Portugal

Casa Vinyasa,
  Lisbon, Portugal


Russia

Mikhail Konstantinov
Ashtanga Yoga Center, Moscow

Spain

Tomas Zorzo *
Centro de Yoga Ashtanga, Oviedo

Katia Garcia
Ashtanga Yoga Sadhana, Oviedo

Camino Diez
Centro de Yoga Ashtanga, Lanzarote

C Juanelo  
Madrid, Spain

Paseo Isabel 
Barcelona, Spain

Calle Pelayo 
Barcelona, Spain

Nick Evans
Yoga Studio, Barcelona

Eva Oller Ribosa
Estudio de Yoga, Barcelona


Sweden

Charlotte Lindstrom
Ashtangayoga.nu, Stockholm

Maria Boox
Yogashala Stockholm

Bill Brundell
Planet Ashtanga Yoga, Stockholm

Switzerland

Brett Prozio
Zurich


United Kingdom


Hamish Hendry * 
Anna Wise
Astanga Yoga London

Roberta Giannotti
Astanga Yoga London

Katie Heller
Astanga Yoga London

Lynne Pinette
West London Ashtanga Yoga, London

Cary Perkins
Yoga Place, London

Sarai Harvey-Smith
London

Beverley Sowerby
Ashtanga Yoga Bath

Simon Chandler
Ashtanga Yoga Bath


 North America (Canada & USA )
* Certified

Canada

Mark Darby *
Joanne Darby *
Sattva Yoga Shala, Montreal

Paul Gold 
Rachelle Gold
Ashtanga Yoga Shala, Toronto

David Robson
Ashtanga Yoga Centre of Toronto

Jeff Lichty
Harmony Lichty
Living Breathing Yoga


USA 


Arizona

Lisa Schrempp
Tucson, 

JB Linsky
USA - Northern California

Vance Selover
Ashtanga Yoga Berkeley

Heidi Lender & John Wilhelm
Ashtanga Yoga San Francisco

Adarsh Williams
Ashtanga Yoga Palo Alto



USA - Southern California

Manju Jois *
Leucadia

Tim Miller *
The Ashtanga Yoga Center, Carlsbad

Maia C. Heiss *
Ashtanga Yoga Malibu

James Butkevich
Ashtanga Yoga Los Angeles

Diana Christinson
Pacific Ashtanga Yoga Shala, Dana Point

Steve Dwelley
Ashtanga Yoga Shala, Santa Barbara


USA - Colorado

Richard Freeman *
The Yoga Workshop, Boulder

Annie Pace *
Shakti Sharanam, Crestone

Leigha Nicole
Splendid Yoga, Crestone

USA - District of Columbia

Keith Moore
Ashtanga Yoga Center DC

Faith Scimecca
Woodley Park Yoga, Washington DC



USA - Florida


Kino MacGregor *
Miami Life Center, Miami Beach

Tim Feldmann
Miami Life Center, Miami Beach

Greg Nardi
Miami Life Center, Miami Beach



USA - Hawaii

Noah Williams *
Pahoa, Hawaii

Anthony "Prem" Carlisi *

Chuck Miller *
Honokaa, Hawaii

Pamela Luther
Simply Ashtanga, Maui

Kimberly Flynn
Pahoa

Eagle
Pineapple Yoga, Kauai



USA - Illinois

Amy Ananda, 
Chicago



USA - Kentucky

Laura Spaulding
Yoga East, Inc., Louisville


USA - Louisiana

Melanie Fawer *
Asthanga Yoga Room, New Orleans

Jessica Blanchard
Balance Yoga & Wellness, New Orleans

Jill Ainsworth
Mysore New Orleans



USA - Massachusetts

Dominic Corigliano *

George Whiteside & Jean Cho
Cambridge, MA 



USA - New Mexico

Mary Jo Mulligan
Santa Fe, New Mexico



USA - New York

Eddie Stern *
Broome Street  New York NY

Sarah Plumer
Broome Street #2 New York NY 10013 

Karri Jinkins
Broome Street #2 New York NY 

Barbara Verrochi
The Shala Yoga House, New York

Matt Corigliano
New York

Stacey Platt
Tapovana, Sag Harbor


USA - Oregon

Olaf Kalfas *
Portland, OR 97214

Anne Finstad
 Portland

Kevin Kimple
Eugene, OR

David Miliotis 
Andrea Werner Miliotis
Bend, OR 

Stacey Lee
Bend, OR 97701



USA - Pennsylvania

Mary Flinn
Yoga Sutra School, Philadelphia



USA - Texas

Shelley Washington
Austin



USA - Vermont

Christine Hoar
Bristol Yoga, Bristol



USA - Washington

David Garrigues *
Catherine Garrigues *
Ashtanga Yoga School, Seattle


The current KPJAYI Authorisation list can be found here



↧
↧

The method, a reminder - Pattabhi Jois

March 10, 2016, 8:24 pm
↧

300+ Drafts that never made it into a blog post

March 13, 2016, 6:46 pm
$
0
0
I noticed that I had quite a few posts in Draft recently, turns out that from when I started the blog in 2008 until today there are around three hundred posts sitting around unposted. Some of these are just a couple of notes, an idea for a post, others are posts I never got around to putting up because I was writing several posts the same day or in the same week. Some seemed too controversial or I perhaps felt I'd been too controversial for a while and decided to hold off on the post. In a lot of cases I never got around to finishing or editing or perhaps I just forgot about it altogether, a few were turned into a post under another title.

So I made a list, mainly because I wanted to have a look myself but then thought it might make a nice post in and of itself, If anybody sees something they particularly like the sound off then mention it in a comment here or on fb and I'll try and resurrect the post(s) The drafts run from most recent back to 2009

*

LIST: Ashtanga Vinyasa Krama Yoga Research....... at Home   ·  Posts  ›  Draft  (313)

Learn Sanskrit with Zoë Slatoff-Ponté's Yogavataranam - The Translation of yoga

Can you learn Ashtanga Vinyasa from books and YouTube, of course you can.

Questions concerning tradition and lineage: Did Pattabhi Jois 'invent' the Ashtanga Vinyasa Krama?

Ashtanga Vinyasa is painting by numbers

There seems to have been in the past and continues to be the perception that I am, on this blog,  in some way Anti-Sharath.

There are so many opinions out there these days that sometimes it can be hard to know which one to take.

Patanjali and Sankhya Philosophy

Ashtanga teacher list.

Hi Anthony, I hope you are well....

Yoga as 'reaching a point we have not reached before' and Yoga as 'focused action' - meaning of yoga. Religiousness in yoga, T. K.V. Desikachar

There seem to be two (at least) completely different conceptions of yoga,

But wasn't it perhaps always a circus.

Bhujapidasana instruction from Krishnamacharya's

The spiritual aspect is missing (Sharath Jois)

Why does Krishnamacharya instruct those who are married to gaze to the tip of the nose (Nasaagra) while those who are single to look between the eyebrows (Bruhmadhya

Internal Drishti abdominal breathing

In an earlier post I referred to an article by Ty Landrum

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays

Soft Ashtanga: Bandhas. Jessica Walden's Ashtanga dispatch PodcastBandhas, Jessica Walden

Parampara

Mysore dream.

Ashtangi's are defensive about monotony, however......

What is Yoga - My take....... this week.

For Krishnamacharya this is a posture that we can stay in for a significant period,

Can Ashtanga learn/take something from this, the evolution of the Iyengar approach to teacher training?

Sharath's hour long Conference video plus interview,

Ashtanga and Gymnastics

Devastated 2nd series, one brick at a timeback to 2nd

Śāṇḍilya Upanishad Śāṇḍilya:

Returning to Ashtanga 2nd series - looking ahead to long stays in Intermediate asana but with slower breathingAshtanga intermediate, returning to 2nd series, rishi series

The tale/tail of lineage

Haiku on Advanced and Primary Asana: "In my province grass blooms too cherry blossoms" Issa

"I know I’ve done my job when my students stop coming to my classes—it means I’ve taught them well.”

This post from my 'Krishnamacharya's original Ashtanga project

Om - AUM - A-un : A-un no kokyū A. represents exhaling and un. represents inhaling.

Lino Miele: What Primary Series looks like after 25 yearsLino Miele

Eric Shaw lecture on Krishnamacharya

'Once you have taken the time to internalise the practice'.... t

"Ashtanga yoga is the name of the dynamic style of yoga popularised by Srî K. Pattabhi Jois.

Saraswati

I was just sent this article by the author,

Christopher is a.... "STOP PRESS" kind of a guy

Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series DVD with Ken Harakuma

Home practice I let's go back and forth a bit.

The practice everyone is doing above is based on a practiced called the  'Common Yoga Protocol',

Sharath Conference notes: Why the (Krishnamacharya's) teaching was changed; 10 ways Pattabhi Jois changed Krishnamacharya's

practice and stoicism

NOW we begin - yoga sutras 1.1

Maty Ezraty and the beginning of Yoga works

We might think of it as two ends of the spectrum with myriad colours and shades in between

Uttana mayurasana video full supine regular speed current uttana mayurasana version krishnamacharya's move krishnmamacharya's shoulderstand video

Tīrthaṅkara: Jain 'Superheros' .1. Rishabha

Excellent post on asana from the Dispatch but damn those capes.

Funny how posts come to our heads,

Yoga and Jainism

Can you sweat toxins out of your body?

Labels

Sheshedri

Bikram's brother in Japan PLUS Bikram yoga started in Tokyo also the return of Kausthub Desikachar.

having to choose.

taking a break from blogging here.....however

democratisation of yoga from saktism to hatha

I was asked what is Yoga.

Perhaps a bloggy  post for a change.

Smug Yoga

NiyamaIn yoganga sadhana we don’t see these (above mentioned) irregularities and with regular practice all organs will become strong.

But Ashtanga is Krishnamacharya,

Fixed sequences are a pedagogic tool, drop them as soon as possible

Why five breaths in downward dog

A friend referred to Sharath this week as "...the world's most advanced practitioner of Ashtanga Yoga and the preeminent authority of its traditional practice".

How many asana are there? 84? Really?

Did the king ask you to dance?

Morning prayer/appreciation and Home practice home practice osaka, opening prayer, thanking teachers

Yoga as a category mistake

"Why are there so many injuries in ashtanga?"

Following some nasty jet lag (30 hour flight)

Bhakti yoga and devotion to practice

Parampara

The Kriyas, Tapasya and the preparation and justification of Ashtanga yoga

Kumbhaka in asana came from Surya namaskar with mantra

fulfulfil

Selections from chapter 1

Lineage and the theatre of Ashtanga practice

"I totally understand how you might feel in a Shala that dedicates to the Sri K. Patthabhi Jois lineage."

Protest: But I don't have time to include pranayama in my practice!

kraunchasana

Yoga Nidrasana - two approaches?

Why my monthly Mysore pass is sitting there unused

Whit Hornsberger

Parampara

Hi Anthony what are seeing here is an expression of ha-mula bandha,

Shala practice / Home practice last week of the form plus reflections on adjustments/assists

Limbo: Tomorrow is my last shala practice back to Home practice

2nd series state of play
Recently I was talking with a long long term practitioner

Practice us written on the body : Asana kitchen, third series with joy y

Ashtanga Yoga Practice During Pregnancy By Betty Lai

Yoga photo's of oneself

'The Room'. New Video from the Mysore ShalaMaysor shala

My Krishnamacharya and Vinyasa Krama workshop in Ulm, Germany last weekend

YOGA MAKARANDA OF SRI T KRISHNAMACHARYA by Srivatsa Ramaswami Also Advaita (May 2011)Advaita, Krishnamacharya, Yoga Makaranda

Krishnamacharya Posters

Exploring Krishnamacharya with Anthony 'Grimmly' Hall in Ulm, Germany

Should you add preparation postures.

It seems I'm more traditionalist than I thought, more of a purist... who knew. I

Ashtanga. So, what....I'm a purist now, a traditionalist?

Handstandgate and is it still Yoga with all the Yoga taken out.

Heather Morton backbends in Surynamaskara.

JANU

Paschimottanasana: Presentation of Vinyasa Count comparison. Krishnamacharya, Pattabhi Jois, Manju Jois, Lino Miele, John Scott, Sharath.

On when to teach/share what you have been taught,received

Sanskrit count

Ashtanga: Pattabhi Jois' Missing Utkatasana

You really think this is history, that I'm a historian????

2.46 Āsanam is steady and pleasant. h
Dr. Norman Sjoman's workshop in Coventry last weekend

Norman Sjoman workshop notes

Introducing Advanced B Asana , from original 1974 Ashtanga syllabus, into Primary and Intermediate Series

The Yoga Tārāvalī - full text and TKV Desikachar audio file from Paul Harvey of the Centre for yoga Studies

Teaching, workshop, books are fun but........

Why I no don't practice Ashtanga 4th series

Sharath Confrence notes 2011-2013

Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda (1934) approach to asana of sun salutation

We spend too much time on the Internet,

Krishnamacharya backbend EKAPADA UTTHANA MAYURASANA

Krish YM 2nd series

Pammachion" or "Pankration", Ancient Greek breathing technique

Krishnamacharya 'original' Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga at Home

The Twelve Sury Namaskara mantras

SETUBANDHASANA The same asana is called UTTANA MAYURASANA in Yoga Kurantam.

Krishnamacharya .Krishnamacharya, Yoga kurantum, Yoga Makaranda Part II

Krishnamacharya on excessive weight and combatting it with janu Sirsasana

Poem by Srivatsa Ramaswami

gabor

Derek Ireland's 'The Practice Place'

What is it to master an asana? Five Minute Utkatasana

The breath

from RONALD STEINER & TEAM

Breathing bandhas and jump back class.

In his excellent Yoga for the Three Stages of Life Ramaswami presents the three different stages of life

The 84 asanas of Yoga Hatharatnavali by Srinivasa

OPEN - Ashtanga and Vinyasa Krama Yoga Maidenhead

rough

Ramaswami's Vinyasa Krama slideshows

Questions to Krishnamacharya

UPDATE-  The way back (to practice)

Cad Goddeu - The Battle of the Trees (poetry) by Tlachtga W

The Way Back (to practice) - 3

In 1937 "Guruji was teaching a 4 year course in yoga... the same course outline (1974)

Thank-you Ramaswami

I'd like to raise issue with the motivational strategy

Ashtanga Yoga approach to yoga therapy: Call for links, papers, articles, blog posts, experiences

Particularly liked the section on yoga meditation.

What did I learn from Ramaswami's five week 200 hour TT course

That's what I was trying to get over here

Developing a Home Practice part 32 - ' That which can not be said...should be danced with instead'

Ashtanga, more than the sum of it's tristana

Ashtanga, more than the sum of it's tristana

Gregor MaehleMonica’s teacher training manual is now available:

Crete

Guest Posts.

Ramaswami would tell such tales.

Ashtanga took advantage of me

Where they (Krishnamacharya, Jois, Sharath) skilled or irresponsible in their presentation of Ashtanga VInyasa yoga.

This one I get. This one, not so much.JoisYoga

Ideas to live by

Developing a home practice part....

Sandhyavandana is a structured meditation ritual centered on the profound gayatri mantra by Ramaswami and namarupa

Mostly I think it's that you just turn up everyday and practice, with honesty and commitment... and remember to breathe.

Happiness and having fun.

Krishnamacharya's 5th practice

A note on the change of my blog title.

Krishnamacharya 4th Practice

5 confusions surrounding Ashtanga yoga practice that I come across a lot.

Krishnamacharya's 3rd practice.

Krishnamacharya's 2nd practice

Interview with AG Mohan

The count.

Intervew with K. Pattabi Jois: Practice Makes Perfect By Sandra Anderson

Manju Jois Q and A. On teaching, just practice, Breath and Bandhas etc.manju jois

Q: How do I switch from a faster paced Ashtanga practice to a slower more methodical Vinyasa Krama self-practice at home?

Asana reduces rajas, Pranayama reduces tamas

Label selected postsPublishDelete selected posts100

More Current practice lists Sat 1/12/12

Gregor Maehle : "Hatha Yoga or The Physical Dimension of MeditationGregor Maehle

Chuck Miller: Practice Makes Permanent

4 years ago 3 years ago2 years ago1 year ago10 months ago6 months ago

You don't get to have it both ways,

Krishnamacharya's Legacy by Fernando Pagés Ruiz from YogaJournal

Picking your Battles

Translation of Thérèse BROSSE's medical journal article on Krishnamacharya 'stopping his heart' in 1936

matthieu bonetti

Dr. Kausthub Desikachar removed from KHYF and KYM

A Catholic view of Meditation and Contemplation

Time lapse photography. 4 Days of Ramaswami's Vinyasa Krama TT course 2012

Update to Ashtanga Mysore rooms post

Yoga and contraception article by Srivatsa RamaswamiSrivatsa Ramaswami, Yoga and contraception

curious feeling around practice all week, can't quite put my finger on it but cohabitation come to mind, living alongside.

I've been thinking recently

Srivatsa Ramaswami

Thirty minor Upanishads, Yoga Upanishads

http://www.swarayoga.org/SwaraChange.htm

Bibi said... Hey Grimmly, while you're on the subject of Pranayama

Shift of focus in practice from asana to pranayama

Post Santorini practice

Vinyasa in K's context is surely correct method

Krishnamacharya / Jois

Ramaswami's question.

Aikido/Iaido, form and application

What constitutes a proficient practice?

(Untitled post)

All asana's are not the same

Clarity, Peace of mind, Freedom, the goal of Yoga

The Qualities of a Yoga Teacher : Gregor Maehle

What am I missing?Jois, Jois Yoga, Sharath Greenwich, word tour

Jois Yoga Greenwich ' What a nice place to practice' (?) shala or studio

Teaching M. Primary series.

WeekendsMy weekend

WeekdayMy day

Alt new confluence video post

Why do you practice....?

Labels

I've never been to Mysore....

Five years practicing Ashtanga...some early 2008 Videos

Richard Freeman Studio talks plus Is everything we've read about Yoga irredeemably tainted?

on practice....practice is...

A week can be a long time in Yoga

It's not about the siddhis Toby Streams the Universe

A week off, practice

Nancy Gilgoff' Intro to Ashtanga at AYC

Holiday practice

blah blah blah

Ashtanga Jumped the shark...or not

Asana cover shoot

'...end of the age of the guru'. Richard Freeman guru, Kiri Miller

Moving forward, a modern yoga practice, yoga for the 21st century

Practicing Yoga Safely at home

How does the Ashtanga 'Rishi Approach' differ from the Vinyasa Krama 'Rishi approach'

Full Vinyasa with the Lino Miele DVD

Angulamana post never to late, impermenance

Influences

"My yoga's better than your yoga"!

Why practice notes for My Vinyasa Krama practice book.

How many Vinyasa Krama Subroutines can you spot in the Ashtanga primary?

The grip in Padangustha Dhanurasana, Natajarasana and Eka pada raja kapotasana

Yoga Teachers...what do you teach?

Vinyasa Krama Practice Book Sequence Practice cards to accompany Srivatsa Ramaswami's '

Heather morton backbending

Yoga Meditation ManualYoga Meditation Manual

Is this teaching or is it sharing and should it be done over the internet.Yoga over the internet.

Ramaswami's Newsletter collections Volume 1 ( 2009 ) and 2 (2010 ). Ramaswam's newsletters vol 1 and vol 2

Hit by the 2nd series truck.

Week off

Why I still practice Ashtanga

Interview with A.G. Mohan

Laruga always makes me want to refine my practice…

Postures to work on.

108 dropbacks t-shirt

Noah Maze : Karandavasana penny dropB

Srivatsa Ramaswami, who studied with Krishnamacharya for over 30 years....

Srivatsa Ramaswami's teaching in LA from 6th June

Questioning....

Blogging from phone test

Ahmisa

Pressing pauses

Preserving Krishanamacharya's teaching

for my money, THE best book on yoga. Srivatsa Ramaswami's Yoga for the three stages of life

Ravi Shankar's Chants of India lyrics

and what of practice...

Ashtanga Workshops ?

Metta/loving kindness chant

A settled practice.

What How why

An understated practice

Ashtanga Yoga - Understanding the Method : Interview with Maju Jois

Ashtanga Yoga blog list

What I missed about Ashtanga

Regaining the Discipline. K.I.S.S.discipline

Macrobiotic 10 day detox

Macrobiotics : Three month Macrobiotic experiment macrobiotic

Developing a home practice Part 28a Vinyasa krama TT course developing a Home practice

How to practice Vinyasa Krama

RAMAYANAThe Ramayana

PRAMAYANA

Asana madness given way to asana allure

Asana Madness : Yoga Sutra III-37Ashtanga Vinyasa Krama

closure

Developing a home practice Part 27 Sept 09

Boodiba's Venkatesh drop back exercise.

Ashtanga and age

10 favourite new poses from Vinyasa Krama

Struggling with Supta urdhva pada vajrasanamisc intermediate

Developing a Home practice 11c Motivation developing a Home practice

*
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But wasn't it always a circus. Distractions and the rise of the Ashtanga Video tutorial and Ashtanga workshop.

March 14, 2016, 6:58 pm
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If this blog is about anything it's about the changing/shifting relationship to the practice and all it's aspects. Sometimes it's viewed in a positive light at other times less so while all the time continuing to practice.  On the pages above you'll find a page devoted to reviews of workshop, this post questions them.

I put up some titles of posts in draft yesterday that stretched back years and asked if anyone wanted to see any of them turned into post, here's the first



Pattabhi Jois' letter to Yoga Journal is doing the rounds again, warning about Ashtanga being turned into a circus.

"I was disappointed to find that so many novice students have taken Ashtanga yoga and have turned it into a circus for their own fame and profit (Power Yoga, Jan/Feb 1995). The title 'Power Yoga' itself degrades the depth, purpose and method of the yoga system that I received from my guru, Sri. T. Krishnamacharya. Power is the property of God. It is not something to be collected for one's ego. Partial yoga methods out of line with their internal purpose can build up the 'six enemies' (desire, anger, greed, illusion, infatuation and envy) around the heart. The full ashtanga system practiced with devotion leads to freedom within one's heart. The Yoga Sutra II.28 confirms this 'Yogaanganusthanat asuddiksaye jnanadiptih avivekakhyateh', which means 'practicing all the aspects of yoga destroys the impurities so that the light of knowledge and discrimination shines'. It is unfortunate that students who have not yet matured in their own practice have changed the method and have cut out the essence of an ancient lineage to accommodate their own limitations.
The Ashtanga yoga system should never be confused with 'power yoga' or any whimsical creation which goes against the tradition of the many types of yoga shastras (scriptures). It would be a shame to lose the precious jewel of liberation in the mud of ignorant body building."
-K. Pattabhi Jois, Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, Mysore, South India


Krishnamacharya was turning the young boys into asana demonstrators in his school in the Mysore Palace, thus the strictness no doubt, the reports of beatings. The better demonstrators, Pattabhi Jois among them would perform asana while Krishnamacharya would give his Yoga philosophy lectures, perhaps his irritability at this time stemmed from knowing everyone was only interested in the circus and not the philosophy or what he found buried within asana. Pattabhi Jois took that circus aspect, the demonstration training and turned Krishnamacharya's flexible groups of asana into fixed sequences. We've been focused on demonstration ever since, it was what drew the early Ashtangi's to Mysore and no doubt continues to do so, perhaps it's the circus that draws us to the practice more than we care to admit. 


Occasionally the practice, the asana, does it's/their job and we find ourselves in an asana, a group of asana and the world drops away, this happens even more in many pranayama find, attachment is loosened a little.... unfortunately it's no doubt around then that we get given (or choose) another asana and another sequence or another technique for achieving an asana beckons, or the possibility of teaching or giving a workshop or making a video, the bright lights of the circus moving from one town to another town and another and another.

Pattabhi Jois warned of it in his letter but it was built into or a trap hidden within the very system he was presenting, he got off the merry-go-round himself supposedly (to shift metaphors ) and focused, in his own practice, on the long stays, on the breath that his teacher no doubt stressed, why didn't he think we were ready for that. Perhaps he knew us too well and that if he made us stay in paschimattanasana for ten minutes or had us go to finishing after navasana and do 80 rounds of pranayama we wouldn't have come back, not stayed the course. 

But how long are we going to work on our circus skills? Gymnast, Contortionists, Circus performers are all just as focussed, just as disciplined, just as devoted and dedicated to their art, how do we differ from them if not in purpose. Why are we practicing, why getting up every morning... why putting ourselves through this, we know there is something more, something deeper, why do we keep putting it off, finding ever more distractions. One asana is enough, one asana was no doubt always enough.

It was the same in Zen of course and in Vipassana too in the early days I hear, "...those westerners are not ready for meditation" and yet of course we were.... are. Aren't we?

Distractions

Thank god, I thought I broke Ashtanga ......


I was worried....., I had this theory that I played a part in ruining Ashtanga, spoiling it, compromising the practice somewhat, how conceited.

The theory went something like this.

When I started blogging nobody was really posting videos, YouTube was still pretty new, there were a couple of Videos on there, a clip from Lino's DVD Video. There were a couple of jump through videos ( a straight leg jump through I watched over and over), the odd Karandavasana (Russel Case I think), Pattabhi Jois' 80s led might have been on there and this iconic Ashtanga demo in the temple was uploaded in 2006, oh and a demo by David Swenson but not so much.



The main reason I started the blog was to put up videos of working on/towards jumping back, videos that were less than perfect but perhaps signposts along the way. Lino's was awe inspiring but ultimately unhelpful. I wanted to catch on video my very first jump back and through, I thought that might help others to see the missing piece.

As it happens we all start on the jigsaw at a different place, my final piece might not be yours.

So I started posting videos, lots of them, working towards this, working towards that and all in black and white to cut down on the flesh-tone so as not to put you off your breakfast.

Around this time Tara Stiles started posting some videos with that perfect healthy looking skin of hers and a light, infectious 'hey lets do some yoga... anywhere'. It was appealing it took off, led to more and more videos, a studio of her own, books, DVDs.......

I know Kino occasionally looked at my blog, well at least once. I imagined she had seen my god awful videos of trying to get into asana and then looked at Tara Stiles, looked at my videos again and thought why not and started putting up some videos of her own. That same infectious, light "lets do (but this time) Ashtanga".

If Tara had that healthy natural look, Kino had primary colours. She also had good technique and quick, snappy explanations of how to get into an asana.

Here's the most popular from two years ago with over 19 million views.



You can go to Kino youtube channel and check out which are her most popular, how those receiving several million hits drove up the profile of Ashtanga. I'd tended to think it was Madonna who raised Ashtanga's profile others argue it was Kino, they may be right.

My theory continues that as Kino's videos took off so did her workshops, she started doing workshops EVERYWHERE, other Ashtanga teachers saw what Kino was doing and started posting their own videos, tutorials, and offering more and more workshops internationally.

I remember when a workshop seemed unusual, mostly students used to stick with their own teacher and there was discussion after discussion in the blogosphere about whether workshops were a good idea, if the new postures a certified teacher gave you on a workshop meant you could keep them in your own shala with your regular authorised teacher.

According to archived Ashtang.com pages...


There were 75 workshops offered by 14 teacher in 2003.

22 teachers offering 140 workshops in 2004


I thought perhaps I was partly to blame but as it happens, it wasn't me, wasn't Kino either.


In the year I started the blog 71 teachers were offering 340 workshops

This year (2016) 61 teachers are offering 371 workshops,


So around the same number of teachers offering workshops and a similar number of workshops offered from when I started the blog eight years ago as now.

Phew, not my fault, nothing to do with me.

Some teachers of course do a lot though, Arjuna, Manju, Kino, David Garrigues they probably account for around a quarter of all those offered.

But of course there are also all the workshops that aren't listed on Ashtanga.com and the retreats and the teacher trainings

It seems more likely that the increase in workshops is related to the jump in the number of Authorised teachers in the same period see this post Ashtanga Authorisation 1990-Present


So I didn't break Ashtanga but why am I suggesting that it's broken in the first place, and that it's workshops that broke it.

I've been to a few workshops myself, a fascinating Intensive with Richard Freeman, a weekend with John Scott, two TT's with Manju and another workshop with Norman Sjoman. All interesting, I learned a lot I'm sure.

.....and then pretty much forgot everything within a week and just got on with my practice. Perhaps some of what I picked up became internalised fed into the ongoing research on the mat but honestly I'm not convinced, A little more body awareness from Richard perhaps, a lighter attitude to my practice from Manju, I don't teach so have no need of the adjustments I learned from him.

But really.... what are we doing?

In the beginning there was a spreading of the practice ( I hope that was the intention behind my own on Krishnamacharya and Vinyasa Krama), if those early teachers hadn't gone out from their shalas and studios and spread the word through their workshop I'd never have heard about Ashtanga, I owe my practice to them and those early books and videos, many of us do.

But at what point did the workshop become less about the students and more about the person giving it, promoting a name. Workshops have become a norm, we've become convinced we NEED to attend them. We don't of course, a few are interesting perhaps, I'd love to go to Chuck Miller's workshop on Samastithi but mostly I'll pass, we can probably do without them.

All these workshops, all these youtube videos, Instagram and now something called Periscope, the fancy videos in pretty locations, muscles and bronzed skin and cinematic music.... is it just me but does anyone else miss those videos of David Swenson and Richard Freeman with their vests tucked in their pants. There seems to be a lot of reenforcing of self in the ashtanga community, carving out ones niche in the Ashtanga world.

Isn't it all a distraction.

All this money we spend on workshops and trainings and retreats we don't need any of it surely.

We know what the practice is, stand at the top of our mat, focus our attention,

ekam inhale,
dve exhale.

and so on and so on.....

And we can actually do without the ekam and dve also, the count was only there to draw attention to the relationship between the breath and movement, it was never something we needed to worship as sacrosanct. All it did was show the minimum number of movements from standing to the posture and back again to standing.

All we have to do is move through our practice on the breath, keep bringing our attention back to whatever drishti we're employing, let the breath take care of our alignment and do our best with each asana without getting hung up on them too much.

Go as far as is comfortable in the time we have, eventually more asana will become available to our bodies, we don't need fancy tricks, we just need to listen to our practice.

And then do it again tomorrow and then the next day and the next....

...rather than look for shortcuts that probably lead us away from our practice instead of deeper into it.

We really don't need to think about it that much or (note to self) write 2000 posts about it.

I came across a workshop video recently  It was standard fare and I could have chosen most any other workshop video but as  I was watching the teacher I was thinking, what are you doing, leave everyone alone, was anything you did in this video really necessary, perhaps in the whole workshop?

It's not just workshops but in Mysore rooms generally, most of the time, why is the teacher even there (NB: Home practitioner perspective). Turn on the heating, open up the room and come back in a couple of hours to close up and just allow everyone to get on with their practice.

or just take a seat and hold the room.

OK, perhaps the beginners need a little help in the beginning but really not so much.

This for me is the main justification for going to Manju wherever he's teaching, some of the senior teachers (elders I've heard them referred to recently) or to Sharath in Mysore, an antidote to some of the fixations of Ashtanga in the West, not for parampara, not for lineage but just a reminder that it's really only about getting on with our practice. If Sharath didn't exist we may have had to invent him.

How do shala teachers feel about all the workshops, do they consider them a distraction from day to day practice?

And it's circular of course, we do our demonstrations, either live or in videos and photos and impress people such that they come to the practice. But then they want to do what they saw in the video, in the photo, they're in a rush not seeing the years of practice that lay behind it. They want the next asana, the fancy advanced one and shortcuts to get it and we go ahead and offer it to them and then the next and the next perhaps hoping that at some point along the way they will find something a little deeper.

There's a story about a man who comes to a monk and asks if it's true that if he attains enlightenment through meditation he'll get to make love to a thousand celestial virgins, the monk smiles enigmatically. So the man becomes a student and sits and every few months he asks again about the virgins and the monk continues to smile, and then it becomes years before he asks again until eventually he no longer asks and the monk, still smiling.

Rule of thumb

Is the workshop I'm considering concerned with the essentials of practice?

Is it about cake 
or 
 icing?


https://ashtangayogasarajevo.wordpress.com/tag/sarajevo/
(Note: Happy to take this photo down if anybody in ti doesn't want it on here).

M. and I practice together now. I gave her David Swenson's short form to work on in the beginning, mentioned a couple of things regarding safe practice, a couple of hints here and there occasionally, otherwise I just leave her to find her practice just as I did and get on with my own.


This practice isn't rocket science, it's painting by numbers.


If you want to understand it better, do research there on the mat, explore the breath in different asana, there's no need to attend a conference, all we need to know about the practice is right here on our mat in our breath in our attention and in how we step out into the world for the first hour or two after practice.

We don't need a blog, home shala teacher,Youtube, Instagram, periscope, Celebrity teacher...
or Sharath to tell us that, we just need to listen to our practice.

Manju probably says enough,

 "Enjoy your practice"

Pattabhi Jois said it best of all

"Just practice"

Mostly we all (certainly myself included) probably just need to keep out the way of everyone else's practice and stop convincing ourselves we are helping anyone, we're a distraction, a circus sideshow.




*


Appendix 

Workshop lists from Ashtanga.c0m


2003

14 teachers offering 75 workshops.

1Rolf Naujokat
2Sharath Rangaswamy
3Dena Kingsberg
4Kirsten Berg
7Tomas Zorzo & Camino Diez
8Anthony Carlisi
9David Garrigues
10Louise Ellis
11Govinda Kaile, Tina Pizzimenti, Gwendoline Hunt: 
13Paul Dallaghan
14David Swenson
15Darby
16Radha Warrell & Pierre Seghir
17Michael Gannon

2004

22 teachers offering 140 workshops

Paul Dallaghan: 
Rolf Naujokat
Michael Gannon
Nancy Gilgoff: 
John Scott
Petri Raisanen
Tim Miller
John Berlinsky
John Scott
David Williams
David Garrigues
Radha Warrell & Pierre Seghir
Govinda Kai
Juha Javanainen & Petri Raisanen
Anthony Carlisi
Radha Warrell & Pierre Seghir
Ken Harakuma: 
Dena Kingsberg
Sharath Rangaswamy
Manju Jois
Annie Pace
Mike Berghan & Victoria Grouden


2008

71 teachers offering 340 workshops

Dena & Jack
Govinda Kai
Graeme & Leonie Northfield
Nicholas Evans 
Louise Ellis
Philippa Gabrielle Asher
Hojung Audenaerde
Basia Lipska
Taran Bhattal
Matt Corigliano
Leigha Nicole
Annie Pace
Clayton Horton
Christopher Hildebrandt
Guy Donahaye
John Scott: 
Peter Sanson
Lori Brungard
Petri Raisanen
Anthony "Prem" Carlisi
Michael Hamilton: 
Nancy Gilgoff
David Swenson
Bhavani Maki
Lino Miele
Kino MacGregor
Stacy Plaske
David Williams
Tim Miller
Richard Freeman
David Keil
Manju Jois
Russell Case and Sally Evans
Ken Harakuma and Basia Lipska
Christine Hoar
Monica Marinoni
Hanne Sydanmaa
Paul Dallaghan
Michael Gannon
Charlotte Lindstrom
Monica Marinoni
Susanna Finocchi and Jens Bache
Tarik Thami
Greg Nardi
Heather Duplex
Camino Diez
Rameen Peyrow
Tim Miller
Radha Warrell and Pierre Seghir
Maria Boox
David Garrigues: 
Rameen Peyrow
Adarsh Williams
Karyn Grenfell
Melanie Fawer
Kristina Karitinos Ireland
Ananda Zorzo Diez
Stacey Platt
Sharath Rangaswamy: 
Joanne and Mark Darby
Lino Miele
Cathy Louise Broda: 
Eileen Hall
Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty
Horst Rinnerberger
Louise Ellis
Tarik van Prehn
Borja Romero Valdespino
Gabriele Severini
Tim Feldmann
David Robson
Kim Roberts
Jean Byrne and Rob Schutze


2016
61 teachers offering 371 workshops






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