Having become so absorbed with practicing Simon Borg-Olivier's approach to Yoga of late, it seemed a good idea to look more closely at his sources. BKS Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, Shandor Remete I'm familiar with of course but recently I've been curious about the man Simon credit's as his main teacher for the last ten years or so, Zhen Hua Yang. Practicing Simons Spinal sequence before my regular practice I'm reminded of Qi Gong, Tai Chi, my own martial Art training in Aikido and Iaido, perhaps by exploring Zhen Hua Yang's Calligraphy Yoga I will better understand Simon's teaching and my attempt to bring it into my own practice.

The master plan was/is to, at some point, apply all that I've been exploring with Simon and now with Zhen Hua Yang and see how it informs my Vinyasa Krama, to finally go through again all Ramaswami/Krishnamacharya's asana, subroutines and sequences and see how they present themselves...., but perhaps it will go the other way, my Ashtanga/Vinyasa Krama practice informing my Qi Gong yoga.

Was this what Krishnamacharya did perhaps, explore Burmese, Buddhist, Tibetan Yoga to see how they played out with hatha and raja.

I have a post in the works about how really there is no yoga tradition but rather a hodge podge of jumbled up techniques and methodologies, asana with mixed up names and representations often drawn, painted, sculpted, reported by non practitioners and written down in a great game of Chinese whispers.

In the end it probably doesn't matter, against an horizon of yama/niyama we practice our physical exercises, our breathing practice to better allow us to focus on our contemplation of self.

Below I've included some videos and a post of Simon introducing his teacher as well as a demonstration by Zhen Hua Yang on one of Simon and Bianca's YogaSynergy courses. That's followed by Zen Hua Yang's own introduction to his Calligraphy health approach.

A nice introduction to the practice is with Master Yang's 'Wake up' program, I've included videos of him demonstrating as well as a demonstration with instruction by one of his students.

I was asked about the DVDs by a reader of the blog so contacted the website, I received no reply so just went ahead and bought the complete set and downloaded them. I've been exploring them this week.

The six DVDs follow the same format. Zhen Hua Yang teaches four exercise on each of the six DVDs with one of his students demonstrating (Sasha below) ,then he will demonstrate himself, first from the frount and then from the side. At the end of the DVD Master Yang demonstrates the four together as a complete form.

My approach to the exercises has been to add some of them on/build them into Simon's Spinal sequence.

Just as Indian yoga as hundreds of asana and perhaps thousands of variations, Qi Gong has hundreds, possibly thousands of exercises. We start perhaps with a core practice, some simple exercises/asana (Morning Wake up program perhaps) which we then build upon (see the 30 minute practice videos just before the appendix at the end of the post ), or more challenging (or not) variations that we encounter and seem more appropriate to include in our practice. Ashtanga, Vinyasa Krama seem to me not unlike a Qi Gong practice. Just as a Qi Gong practice, if grounded upon the yama/niyama and followed by breathing exercises and a Sit is surely Ashtanga.

Note: I believe the argument of Qi Gong is that the practice includes breathing exercises and is basically a moving meditation with focus on the breath......., now where have I heard that before.

You can see how some of these exercises have flowed through Simon's teaching although practiced in Simon's own manor, there seems to be a lot of freedom in this approach. Some exercises I'll probably end up including in my own practice, others I'm not sure of yet.

 November 2017 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--माया māyā (Illusion)

I am planning to go to India end November and stay there for about 4 months. I am scheduled to teach two programs at Yoga Vahini in Chennai-- a 20 hr Samkhyakarika program in January 2018 and a 100 hr Advanced Vinyasakrama TT program in Vinyasakrama Yoga in February. Then a 50 hr  ten day program on Bhagavatgita at Omyoga in New Delhi in March 2018 . Then the same Bhagavatgita in Hyderabad, @ Yogavahini (March 20 to 29th  yoagavahini@gmail.com 9948312492) You may get the details of the programs in my website www.vinyasakrama.com/Events

I am also likely to do a few other programs in 2018, . I may teach a weekend workshop in Germany in May, a week long programs in Austin TX in June, a week long program on the twin subjects of Samkhyakarika and yogasutras at Loyola Marymount University ( July 28 to August 4), Yogayagnyavalkya a weekend program in Chicago in September and possibly a week long Core vinyasakrama yoga program at Yogakanda, Santiago in Chile in October 2018 (contacto@yogakanda.com). Once the details are confirmed I will have  them  listed in the Events page of my website.

माया māyā (Illusion)

Disciple: Guruji. I have been hearing that there are a few philosophers who say that the universes is not real but only an illusion.
Guruji: Yes they do
D: How can they say that this universe of bricks and mortar and me made of bones and muscles is an illusion?
G: Are you sure that what you see and feel is real.
D: Most certainly, it is obvious. Can there be any doubt?
G: Those philosophers are sure that the universe is merely an illusion just as you are sure that it is all real.
D: How can this be an illusion? It is real, can't they see that it is all real. Won't they feel the pain if hurt?
G: Just as we see they also see this universe, still they assert that it can only be an illusion. They are reasonable thinkers,truth seekers and sincere people: that is why they are called rishis. Since they also have the same experience as we have but still come to a different conclusion we must spare  some time to find out why they say so--try to find what they see that we do not seem to see.

D: What is the Sanskrit word for this illusion we are talking about?
G: There are a few but the most well known one is माया māyā

D; I find that this word is interpreted differently
G: True. It could be different due to the context but it could also depend upon how the word is broken down, analyzed. Usually this samasa (compound word) is split (vigraha) into mA plus yA. Let us restrict the interpretation to the present context which is about the universe. It is "yA mA sA mAya". It is easy to find the meaning of the word 'yA' and it would mean 'the one' in feminine gender.

D: Why feminine gender?
G: It is a peculiarity with Sanskrit . All nouns are masculine, feminine or neuter gender. One reason why the word yA is used is because it is associated with creation.. mother
D: Oh
GL Let us get to the part 'mA' now.

D: 'Yes I see now, 'mA' is mother in many Indian languages and maybe an abbreviation of maatru or mother.
G: Yes one interpretation of the word is mother, here the creatrix or universal mother, She is goddess, sakti one main form of worship, it is one of the six mathas. The word mAyA then would be the one who is the universal mother. MayA, prakriti are used to describle the creative power.

D:Yes we find mAyA a popular name given to girls. Gautama Buddha's mother's name is said to be mAyA. So Maya is the universal sakti or power of creation. But coming to our discussion how does Maya mean illusion?
G: There is another interpretation of the word mA. mA is measure or to measure. In the context of vedanta the created universe is that which is measured or limited or the one that is limited (mA). It should be so understood in the context of vedanta. In vedanta the source of the universe is Brahman which is consciousness unlimited (ananta). In comparison to it the created universe or prakriti is limited. In fact the purusha sukta, a  vivid vedic description of creation from the purusha or brahman, the purusha is said to extend beyond the universe by ten digits indicating that the brahman is unlimited and unbounded whereas the created prakriti is limited. There are references to this in a number of vedic and puranic narrations of creation. The created universe is one part or amsa of the Supreme. Even according to scientists the universe in unbounded but limited-it is limited to an immensely dense  singularity maybe the size of a dime in its origin. The Samkhyas also appear to suggest the prakriti is atomic in its mula or root stage.

D: So mAyA would represent the mammoth creation but finite. Or mAyA would mean the finite one in the context of the source Brahman which is infinite.
G: Now the other interpretation of 'mA'. It  is 'not' or an injunction  'do not' or don't

D: Then it also means who is not, am I right?
G: First let us take the interpretation of 'do not'.  Lord Krishna in the Gita tells Arjuna 'mA sochi (sucha) meaning do not worry. MAyA would mean something that one, the spiritual aspirant is advised not to get involved. Why so? Because it is full of duhkha or pain and sorrow or because it repeatedly enslaves one birth after birth with incessant karmas. This is the main theme of samkhya, yoga and vedanta and a few other Eastern philosophies. They all say that the the outside universe is productive of predominantly duhkha, of course sugar quoted with some pleasures which all creatures love and thus captivated and enslaved. Because it is full of duhkha and makes one do karmas both good and bad the consequences of which are repeated duhkha dominated universe in which one takes repeated birhts. So Patanjali says "This repeated misery-- birth after birth-- should be ended (heyam duhkham anagatam)". Fully agree the Samkhyas and vedantins. renunciates, yogis, sanyasins, vivekis bairagis who lead a completely detached life.

D; So you say Maya could indicate that which should be renounced?  Yes Maya binds everyone offering  some little pleasure for a disproportionate amount of pain and sorrow.
G: Then we have mA meaning 'not' or 'not really existing' whereby we get the interpretation that mAyA is illusion. So mAyA would mean that which does not (really) exist, though it may appear to exist.

D: Who are the scholars that say that the universe is but an illusion or mAyA
G; The most well known of this group are the vednatins who subscribe to the theory of advaita. Other non advaitic vedantins even as they agree that Brahman is the source of everything, that Brahman is 'sat' or real, also imply that the creation also is real, this would be sat vada and satkarya vada. It would mean that the source of the universe Brahman is the reality and then the creation also is a real activity. There are of course a few other non vedic philosophies which imply that the creation is not really real even as they do not subscribe to a real source as Brahman

D: What reasoning these mayavadins put forward to substantiate the assertion that it is all an illusion?
G: Several arguments-- many examples like the rope and snake and others. But one has to reason out step by step.

D: Can we go through the steps you consider helpful?
G: We have done this up to a point  in some of our earlier discussions. Ok let us start. First answer the question about how you are able to experience the universe around you. How does science explain this?

D: We experience the outside world through our senses, even though the senses do not directly experience the objects. They are experienced through sight, hearing, taste smell and the touch. According to science these sensations are transmitted by the sense organs like eyes ears etc., to different parts of the brain where they are processed, collated  analyzed, compared, emotions added and finally the picture is seen by the brain in the brain. They emphasize that the eyes do not see but only the brain sees.
G. But the universe also consists of you, the subject

D: Some scientists also indicate that there is the awareness of one's own body through the nervous system, the afferent nerves. The impulses sent to the brain by the network of nerves are also felt by the brain. Thus we have a composite picture of what we experience-- the outside world and the subject also as part of the universe. The total experience consists of “I seeing the universe”
G: Ok let us say the brain sees everything. But the brain space is limited but what we see is in front of us, say, like you sitting in front of me outside the brain even as   all are within the brain space. Further in the brain the information as processed is in the form of neurons floating around the brain. The whole information may have to be reconverted into some form like what we see.

D I see
G: So the brain after the complete processing in a split second will have to project the whole information exactly as we see, as we experience. And that projection even as it can be assumed to take place in the brain space has to take place in virtual space.

D; Ok like the dream experience taking place in our head during dream state.
G: Now this raises two conclusions. One is that what we see are only the projections of the mind even if we admit that the outside world is real.

D: So the brain  receives information as impulses through the senses then projects them in the virtual space. We see only the projection and not the object per say.
G: Yes without the brain recreating what is received through the senses it is not possible to explain how the objects are seen because the brain cells and neurons are not what is seen. The brain itself receives the information through the senses only as electrical impulses.

D: So according to science it amounts to saying that the brain projects the processed information in the virtual/mental space and it also sees what it projects.
G: But then we have a couple of issues with this. One is, if the brain projects what one sees it will amount to saying that since the brain projects also the subject that experiences the outside world, it would imply this.-- that the brain projects itself because the brain is part of the subject. Can the brain project itself and also see that. Then the question the brain the subject has, what is it, is it the organ brain or the projection? It also has another question to answer: can the brain project itself and also see

D: It also raises another question if the brain has got consciousness which is awareness as we experience is not changing, it is unwavering and experiences everything that we experience everything the brain itself is said to process and project.
G: Also the brain is made of matter, just organic matter created from the food matter taken from the outside world. How does the non-conscious matter produce a non changing consciousness. So we could say that that the view held by science that brain is the one that experiences and also is the one which processes and projects the information received through the senses may not be conclusive.

D So what does it mean I am confused
G: It amounts to saying that we do not see the objects of the outside world and can see only the projection a virtual image in virtual space. The view that the brain processes and projects the sensations received and also sees is not really convincing, tenable. So the  first conclusion we can make is that one can not ascertain that the outside universe really exists which is the default  belief because what we experience can only be virtual.  So many philosophers conclude that one cannot prove that the universe exists, and say it is anirvacaniya or indeterminate.

D: Can we say that it is just an illusion? It appears that it is equally difficult to prove that the universe is real.
G: We have to determine two things here. Since we see the universe of which the physical observer the subject also is a part, is just a projection which is all one can say. It is not the result of real objects that are processed and then reprojected as we have just seen. They can only be objectless projections which can be considered or called as an illusion . There is no creation but only a projection.

D: Yes since according to this line of approach, my world that includes me- your disciple -that I perceive is only a projection. And the brain is not the projector of this world I see because since the brain also is a part of the universe it can not project itself.. Further my brain is not the observer. It is funny, that the common belief that the brain experiences and acts itself is an illusion. Looks as though it is difficult to prove that the world is real. In that case from where this world of mine that I experience--even if it is an illusion-- comes and also who is the observer, because the brain can not see, it has no consciousness.
G: Even among those who view that the individual world is but an illusion, an appearance, differ in their answers to your question. According to a well known Indian philosophy very popular in South East Asia, this question is irrelevant. Once you know the whole thing is but an appearance, there is no purpose served in trying to find more answers using the brain. It is known now that it is but an illusion and that it is also full of misery. The only thing one has to do is to overcome this miserable illusion by proper meditation and remove all thoughts the absence of which will remove all pain and sorrow for ever. The search for the self, the observer, subject or whatever is irrelevant, unnecessary or even counterproductive they would advice.

D: It is tough
G: The other view that can be gleaned from the Bhagavat gita is also interesting. Krishna says inter alia, that He or God  (Maayin) created the universe by the power of his Maya. Maya now can be considered as real but limited creation as we have considered earlier or it can be considered as an illusion. In fact the Lord is called a Mayavi which expression is usually associated with a magician. This will amount to saying that the Lord created the universe but it is just an illusion not material. Again the subject is the Lord/Brahman Himself  which is pure unvarying consciousness who indwells in every body as the atman observing the illusion of each one individually. Ofcourse   one should understand the nature of the self, the Lord and the nature of Maya and attain salvation.

D: Are  there other views which indicate the universe is not as real as we commonly believe
G; There is another religion/philosophy which implies that God created the universe as succession of momentary impulses. Every moment He creates this universe anew-it is continuous creation-- and the individual creatures are caught up in this mammoth illusion. He is the beacon light to get out of this enslaving creation.

D: Thank you.
G: Think about this line of discussion and understand the texts like the Gita the upanishads and the advaita literature of sankara and others to know more about this mAyA. They all aver that our default understanding of the universe and our own selves are defective.

D: It is not difficult to understand why the mayavadins assert that it is all an illusion or mAyA, but it is yet another to 'feel' that it is so. The sages like Suka,  son of Vyasa is  believed  to have remained   completely oblivious to the surroundings and his own body in a state of sahaja samadhi. Gaudapada says to the effect that nobody is ever born  really(na kascit jayate jivaha) or anything is ever created really. All creatures are just organic robots activated by their karma/samskaras, like the dream self that runs around with a illusory body and appears to think with a non existing mind. All creatures appear  confused about the universe and about themselves life after life.
G: Yes

D: What about Advaita which is associated with Mayavada or the theory of Illusion?
G: It is of the vedantic school. In vedanta the source is Brahman which  is unwavering consciousness. This can be immediately identified as the individual consciousness in the subject. In us the body- brain complex, there is consciousness, distinct and uncarying. The vedantins observe that  this body/ mind that constantly changes is known due to the consciousness that as we have seen is independent and not part of the brain that is organic matter and is for ever changing. The consciousness  in us is ever aware of  whatever that goes on as a cittavritti during our childhood then adulthood then old age and according to Lord Krishana into the future lives. It is the same consciousness that is aware of the experiences during waking, dream and deep sleep stages and remains unaffected even in the yogic state of kaivalya or turiya. So all that is experienced is in this atomic brahman whose essence is pure consciousness unaffected by time or space. Everything that is experienced takes place within it ( so is unaffected by space) as a mayavritti or an illusion but appears without it and appears real. That is why in the initial stages one meditates within oneself to locate the atman. So the whole, ever changing experience I have is my world which is an illusion stream is taking place within me within the consciousness Brahman/Atman

D: One more question. Even to experience an illusion one needs eyes and ears, like watching a magic show
G: Not necessarily. Take the case of your dream experience. Dream is an illusion that appears to take place within you. At that time according to science, most motor activities are paralyzed, you forget yourself. Dream experience takes place  without the senses coming into play. The dream self sees illusory dream objects with illusory senses and thinks with a brain which is an illusion.  Similarly the whole life experience takes place within the Self, the non changing pure consciousness

D: So Brahman the source of my illusory world is the consciousness that should be called as  I
G: Yes . Ok be calm, study the texts, think deeply,internalize and  clear  all  doubts.

"Karana Krama as part of the practice of hatha yoga has nothing to do with the aesthetics of Indian dance and the practice of martial arts, but the basic movements are borrowed from preparatory techniques of Indian dancers, Kalaripayattu and contemporary Australian teachers of hatha yoga Sandor Remete (Shadow Yoga) and Simon Borg-Olivier (Yoga Synergy), which over the years developed their practice of yoga asanas and pranayama, using elements of the martial arts of India and China, as well as the experience of the traditional Ayurvedic and modern knowledge of anatomy and physiology."
Mikhail Baranov: "Karana-Krama as a Standard of Movement in Hatha-Yoga"

From this Wildyogi article
http://wildyogi.info/en/issue/mikhail-baranov-karana-krama-standard-movement-hatha-yoga


Enjoyed watching this video from Mikhail Baranov as well as reading the article but I'm starting to wonder how complimentary Chinese Qi Gong and the postural yoga that tends to be associated with India are.

Here's Mikhail again, a particularly interesting section of the article

Main features:

1. Promoting “active flexibility” – the main range of movements (bends forward and backward, twists,  rotations, lunges and others) are done without “arms”, for example, in a standing position we move one leg aside and put it back without support of the arms (a sequence Utthita-padangushthasana 1 – Utthita-padangushthasana 2 – Ardha-chandrasana). Backbends, bends forward in twists are also done without help of the arms, the main movements of the spine are fulfilled due to more active work of the body muscles.
    
2. Warming up and redistribution of the muscular tone are fulfilled using special techniques inherent to hatha-yoga and yoga-therapy.
    
3. Developing standard of the movement – gradual awareness and optimization of habitual movement stereotypes. All movements of arms and legs purposely include work of torso muscles and the spine as well.
    
4. Developing skills of concentration and volumetric attention through coordination of breathing and movement.
    
5. Stimulating movement of the prana and taking control over prana-vajyu (subtle vital force) – application of bandhas (special means of muscular tone redistribution) and kumbhakas (breath detention) in a context of dynamic practices.

1. Using the force of gravity (inverted positions)
2. Regulation of heart rate (techniques activating the parasympathetic tone of the ANS)
3. Purposeful work of respiratory muscles (ujjayi, uddiyana-bandha, tadagi-mudra)
4. Active involvement of muscular micropumps
5. Joint bandhas
6. Asanas are fulfilled in a certain sequence when configuration of elongated and strained muscles creates conditions that cause the circulation of blood from high pressure zone to low pressure zone.
7. Relocation of attention

I can see why we might want to appropriate Qi Gong to compliment our asana practice but how complimentary are they really? Are they not perhaps mutually exclusive? After moving the energy around the body nicely to clear any 'blockages' we then BIND in a posture??? Does binding make any sense in Qi Gong?

Perhaps, I'm still too ignorant and on a steep learning curve but the breathing seems different, contradictory even, movement rather than postures and what of my beloved inversions? And yet it all seems to make more sense somehow and best of all it's almost impossible to make Qi Gong look cool..


....unless you're Mikhail or Simon or practicing in you eighties perhaps.


Qi Gong is delightfully uninstagramable.


It started off for me as a preparatory practice, taking the place of my pre Ashtanga ten minute tadasana Vinyasa Krama, now it's becoming the main event.

How unexpected and unlooked for, the turns in the path. "Oh, OK, this way then".

below, from an earlier post.

'...the Yoga Korunta, which was written on palm leaves'

Conceit?

Asana selfies used to to be about the work....., didn't they?

Am I fooling myself, were they always about ego?

My memory of the Cybershala was that we were all working together on postures in our different parts of the world, occasionally bouncing off each other and our blog posts, a little push or encouragement occasionally in comments.

Asana selfies tended to be so we at home could take a look at the posture, from the outside as it were, a record of progress.

Once we pretty much had the posture that tended to be it, there was no need to take a photo or video of it anymore. There were some exceptions perhaps, kapotasana, eka pada sirsasna as we sought to get a little deeper into the posture, to a more comfortable place, a nice grip on the ankles, leg nicely over the shoulder rather than the neck.

I'm sure conceit came into it occasionally, I wince at an occasional photo of mine, I might not be able to see my face but I can tell...


Mostly we weren't promoting ourselves, we weren't teaching, there was no need for a marketing selfie. I hated it when I finally did start giving a few workshops and was asked for flyer photos, it's one of the reasons I stopped or at least resist teaching...., the worst was when I was asked to give out a certificate with a photo FOR A TWO DAY WORKSHOP!

Note: to be fair it was so attendees could reclaim some of the attendance fee, but really, god help somebody who doesn't give a certificate on their workshop these days.

If I ever walk into a shala with a sixteen hour certificate anywhere on the wall, I swear I'm walking straight back out again.

I find facebook..., Instagram increasingly unbearable, grinning photos of self proclaimed yogi's in intricate pretzel postures, it's clearly not about the work anymore, not about the asana, just ego..

the work

Krishnamacharya aged 84

A good friend was telling me about her upcoming yoga class and how she hadn't yet thought of a theme for the class.

I mentioned how alien this concept of 'theme' was to me, coming from Ashtanga.

But Ashtanga does have a theme she argued. If you go to an Ashtanga workshops, there's clearly a theme - backbend, arm balance...., floating. Primary series is basically forward bending.. Secondary series is backbends, Third series is Arm balance.......
No, I argued, that's imposing a theme upon it (often to flog a workshop or book). Primary series is nothing to do with forward bending, nor 2nd series backbending, nor are the Advanced series about arm balances although these series might be dominated by such postures.

It's a complete misunderstanding.

Ashtangi's don't give a damn about WHAT they are practicing just that they ARE practicing, they have no concern at all about whether one posture is having X effect and another Y effect.  It would be like suggesting that Christians pray to work on their kneeling or that the theme of a Monk's Zazen that morning was hip openers.

I honestly don't believe in any of the benefits Krishnamacharya mentioned in relation to any of the postures he presented (Update: Ok perhaps a few), to be honest I can't remember any of them because I have zero interest and I suspect most Ashtangi's tend to feel the same most of the time, although we probably all go through a brief period of looking at the proposed benefits to help justify our practice. Looking to justify practice, the time we spend on our mats and how we often construct our lives (and indeed relationships god help us) around our practice is something we all seem to descend into occasionally...., periodically.

No doubt we all tend believe it's probably good for us overall (except for those who make a career of telling us it isn't), that we mostly feel better for having practiced but I suspect we would continue to practice if it had no perceivable physical, mental or emotional.....(spiritual?) benefits.

It's Ashtanga for Ashtanga's sake, an end in itself, discipline for disciplines sake, practice for the sake of practice.... , for no other reason perhaps than that it grounds our lives, opens up a space, a clearing where light can, on a good day, stream through the trees.

Ramaswami stresses that there is a clear purpose to the limbs of Ashtanga, Asana reduces Rajas, pranayama, Tapas leaving us in a more Satvic state for the meditative limbs.

I suspect that is another theory imposed upon practice however old a theory it might be, another justification.

This practice we do is tapas (austerity/discipline), it's a commitment, a discipline. Practice too little and it doesn't work as discipline anymore, make our practice too short, too gentle...., too easy, and it doesn't work as tapas. To be a discipline practice needs to be a burden, at least to some degree, we may go skipping to the mat some mornings but when it's four, six,... seven days a week, at some point we're dead man walking.... but we step on the mat anyway.

Note: It's relative, to a beginner or working mum, getting on the mat for twenty minutes for some surys and a few seated postures, three or four times a week, may be just as much tapas as practicing Primary to Advanced series twice a day, seven days a week, was to me when I had nothing else going on in my life and all the time in the world to practice.

It's this discipline, I suspect, that grounds our lives. Devotion to practice, for those who have it (to teachers, a deity - or turning our teacher into a semi-deity for that matter) is, an optional extra, it's beside the point (and Patanjali I would argue may agree in this context). Dedication to practice, to constructing and maintaining the discipline is what is key. Practice and all is... well you know the rest.

The yama/niyama are a support for this discipline, for our practice. If we can simplify our lives ( effectively the role of yama/niyamas), stepping on the mat can be a little easier but it goes both ways. If my practice is disrupted, I notice I can so easily slip in the yama/niyama department, slide into old patterns, my life becomes somewhat more chaotic, disturbed, more of a distraction. Practice and the yama/niyamas go hand in hand, they support each other, support our discipline.

With the yama/niyamas observed more rather than less, the practice of asana steady and settled, pranayama consistent, I may indeed be in a more Satvic frame of mind and can settle into lesser or greater degrees of serenity, and this as Topol would say is the "greatest gift of all" but who looks to that in the morning when we shuffle towards the mat. We wash our face, we practice, we brush our teeth.

This is not to say that I'm suggesting there is anything wrong with a yoga class having a theme. Ashtanga as a discipline is not for everyone (it may indeed be a curse and "ruin your life") and no doubt postures, the practice of them, done well, mindfully, skilfully, can have great benefits for our lives. Pedagogically, having a theme for a class can be beneficial, Ramaswami takes a similar approach in his presentation of Vinyasa krama, we learn the relationships between asana via a theme before settling into daily practice. It wouldn't be a bad idea for Ashtangi's to learn to practice their asana more skilfully, make our practice safer for the long term as well as the short, more effective. I look to Simon Borg-Olivier for exactly this in his upcoming online Ashtanga course.

I hesitate to suggest that general Yoga classes and Ashtanga vinyasa Yoga are two different language games, it's like trying to introduce the rules of chess into snakes and ladders ( Ashtanga Vinyasa is snakes and ladders).

And of course this commitment to practice to daily practice can make Ashtangi's a little full of themselves, they/we can at times be judgemental, dismissive of other styles that we so often suspect as being either derivative, random or lacking in commitment...., as being less traditional. As if there is anything traditional about Ashtanga vinyasa, there isn't of course, not really but we too often impose our view on others (as I'm doing her of course), imposing ideas of tradition and lineage, parampara and paramagurus upon the practice like pretty paper and ribbons, all to help us get on the mat, to explain, justify, the practice to ourselves....., as if the practice needs any of these things, any explaining, it justifies itself.

We might just as well get up every morning and run ( or swim like a friend of mine, 365 mornings a year off the coast of Ireland), the marathon runner I suspect understands just as much about yoga as the Ashtangi, perhaps more so as they don't tend to resort to metaphysics or fairy tales, surely there must be a book, Zen and the long distance runner.

When our practice becomes the most significant part of our day, whether Running or Ashtanga, when despite those who seek to promote themselves through workshops and merchandise we realise that we are most at peace moving back and forth on a length of old rubber or cotton.... or tarmac and in our oldest, tattiest, most threadbare, much loved, favourite practice pants/shorts......, that during those one to two hours we feel at our most peaceful, serene, sufficient, then our attachments to things at hand are reduced. Then, if it has one, practice has done it's job.



NOTE: There's a little section in Yogasanagalu just before the table of asana, made up of three groups, upon which Jois tweaked his four series. It's interesting but I don't take it too seriously, imposed later no doubt.

"Classification
This yoganga sadhana has been divided into three series: power (strength) series, treatment series and the spiritual series.
The power series is further classified into mind and body
The treatment series is divided into kosha (sheath) and Nadi (pulse)

Essential
First series requires many yogasanas and some pranayama
Second series needs some easy asanas and three pranayamas
Third series requires pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi
Later a table is shown that includes these.”

Excerpt From: Krishnamacharya's Yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941).

Over the last couple of weeks I've gone about deleting my fb timeline. Fb doesn't like this it seems, they don't make it easy and you have to go back through the years deleting every photo, every post, every tag, one by one. I think it's this, this making it so difficult to do, that inspired me to keep at it.

Why make it so difficult, why do you want to keep hold of all those old posts, all that information about me, hmmmm we can guess perhaps.

I left up this note.

And so it went on, month by month, year by year, a time machine of sorts.

I came across photos of kidney stones and a little further back a photo of my drenched in sweat yoga towel, hindsight is truly 20/20. And before that another kidney stones photo and a little before that photo after photo of green smoothies and posts on my excitement at discovering them. Turns out raw spinach ( present in most of those green smoothies I was knocking back twice daily) was likely the main cause of the kidney stones, that and sweating so much that all the liquid I was drinking around practice, never got to pass through my kidneys, passing straight through my skin into my yoga towel.

It was around this time I slowed my practice right down and practiced in a cooler room - sans sweat, sans smoothie sans kidney stones.


Deleting post after post....., seen as a letting go of attachments, there's some yoga in it perhaps. I do feel somewhat lighter.

There were several



posts on visiting Mysore.

It was never likely, mostly a brief consideration once a year that perhaps I SHOULD rather than that I ever particularly wanted to. Striking was my growing indifference to India in relation to yoga. For yoga to be of any value whatsoever it stuck me that it should be universal, in which case place and time are mostly irrelevant. Yoga is everywhere in some form or other, not Hatha perhaps ( which I tend to dismiss - a distraction?) but the inspiration for yoga. 'We may as well chant in Latin or Greek as Sanskrit or just sing something, anything affecting' (Krishnamacharya/Ramaswami), a good swim in the lake or walk in the hills as well as jumping about on a posh rubber mat, breathing calmly, naturally as well as endless ratios and combinations of breath, as well stand and pause as Sit, tread softly as well as memorising yama/niyamas.

I may not see God in the kumbhakas taken in asana that Krishnamacharya indicated, but often there is indeed a... serenity, a sufficiency perhaps in those short kumbhakas that remind me somewhat of standing beside the lake when it's at it's calmest. Samadhi has been described as 'sufficiency', perhaps the old yogi was indeed on to something.

For you you of course it may well BE India that speaks to you, for me it's an old (really really old actually) lake.

Lake Biwa, Shiga, Japan.

A friend caught a cold recently and mentioned comfort food, a toasted cheese sandwich for her.

It's rice gruel for M. and tended to be bread and milk for me although of late I lean towards M.'s Udon. For you it might be Chicken soup....

After coming across (and deleting) all my old Ashtanga posts from fb, I became all nostalgic and practiced a pretty straight, by the book'ish ( for me), half Primary /Half Second series Ashtanga with M. one weekend.

It struck me that Ashtanga was, is, my comfort food.

That might surprise those who are still new to Primary and struggling or those who maintain the struggle into 2nd, 3rd...., 4th and so on.

But for those who never bought into the aggressive approach, let go of the struggle and just savoured the damn thing, practicing where they are (physically rather than locationally) that morning, a meditative practice rather than bootcamp...., practice can indeed be comforting.... perhaps boot camp can be too, I was pretty hardcore for a while, was it comforting? It was meditative and then it wasn't and then it was again.

What struck me most through, going back through my timeline and deleting post after post, were the comments from friends. How at one point I knew everyone in my friends list and felt I had a relationship of sorts, however long distance and electronic it may have been, with everyone who commented. And sad to see that some names no longer appeared in comments, how many I must have alienated in my trying to come to terms with the practice. How one or two I had seen as.... troublesome had earlier written the friendliest, sweetest, kindest comments that I had sadly long forgotten.


A friend mentioned recently how she was grateful to the blogosphere, the cybershala of Ashtanga bloggers and commenters who connected for a few years back there before blogging was overcome somewhat by fb and Instagram, just as blogging had taken over from the online Yoga and yahoo groups and pages. I too am grateful, for the friends I made (one of whom I'm meeting for lunch for the first time today) through my own blog and those I followed and somewhat remorseful to think of those I pushed away with my writing, through being an arse and at some point taking myself and what I thought I was doing (too) seriously. I should have read more Marcus (Aurelius), now there's some yama/niyamas for ya.

I recommend this quite wonderful, newish, translation https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Marcus-Aurelius/dp/0812968255

I just have time for practice before heading off to meet my old Cybershala friend. I'll wave my arms around for a bit (Simon's spinal movements) before settling into a comforting half Primary Ashtanga.

Is it the best practice?
Probably not.

Is it that old?
Unlikely.

Was it designed?
The evidence suggests not.

Is it comforting?
After all these years, yes, it's certainly that. Practiced sincerely...., with commitment, it's of value perhaps.

And practiced kindly, mostly harmless

It may as well be a Krishnamacharya, Manju Jois and Richard Freeman inspired, Simon Borg-Olivier informed, slightly Vinyasa Krama modified, soft, slow, half Primary/half Second Series Ashtanga Yoga practice.....at home, as anything else.

It's a little saddening, depressing in fact, how quiet so many teachers and long term Ashtanga practitioners are being with regard to the latest revelations regarding Pattabhi Jois and his 'inappropriate adjustments' (abuse). Pictures and videos have been floating around for several years that may or may not have been photoshopped to some degree or at least taken out of context but Mary Taylor's article indicates that this was recurring, addictive, behaviour that Pattabhi Jois was aware he was committing and that he as well as his family tried but failed to stop on several occasions. 

Pattabhi Jois it appears had a compulsion to touch students inappropriately, to sexually assault his students in the shala and practice spaces, and that this was something he or his family were unable to control.

I do call upon the Jois family to apologies publicly, unreservedly and without making excuses for his behaviour, Pattabhi Jois' actions were just plain wrong.

I would hope more teachers and practitioners would come out and say the same, the Authorised teachers list is back on the KPJAYI website, students can of course discuss this with their teachers and ask them to explain their position however uncomfortable. Because however awkward they may find this, given perhaps their personal affection for Pattabhi Jois, their relationship with the family and the practice, it is I suspect nowhere near as uncomfortable as that felt by those who were abused by Pattabhi Jois (whose photo is no doubt in a place of honour in their shala).





Extended quotes below from

Panic and Emptiness

http://www.ashtangayoganorthampton.com/blog/panic-and-emptiness

Background

Can Difficulties Give Us Insight? 
http://www.richardfreemanyoga.com/…/imsgnih1igya0m8ajzmx4n6…

Response from Karen Rain (Nee Haberman)
 http://www.decolonizingyoga.com/karen-rain-responds-mary-t…/




This post from Mary Taylor and Richard Freemen, while timely, feels long overdue. I was always hoping that somebody who was actually there would write about this, one reason I've held off on it for so long. After two thousand blog posts on Ashtanga I don't see how I can justify not sharing these articles.

On fb this week I saw a video of my friend Simon Borg-Olivier (http://simonborgolivier.com/) practicing his Spinal movements sequence underwater....


Living as I do on the shore of Japan's four million year old Lake Biwa, I couldn't resist trying it myself.

The trick here is exhale fully, which allows you to sink to the bottom where you can then attempt the sequence on bahya kumbhaka (ceasing of breath when the exhalation/Rechak is complete). This ties in nicely with the work I've been doing recently on Simon's Introduction to breath control (pranayama) course See THIS LINK to my review of  course ( and this to the course itself http://simonborgolivier.com/breath-training-for-health-and-longevity/).

In the course Simon has you emphasise different aspects of the breath, so in one exercise you are inhaling for thirty seconds or longer





Simon takes this further and has a wonderful video and post on underwater yoga on his blog. Simon's father was a free diver, he could swim a length below the surface before he could swim the same on the surface, probably before he could walk.


Below a couple of shots from the video, Simon in Ardha Baddha Padma Paschimattanasana



I've just been down to the lake to try this out and had the best time. It's a beautiful day here in Shiga, the rainy season is yet to start and I have the beach to myself as usual, the lake is a little cold though, I'm looking forward to July.

Simon talks of practicing thirty asana in thirty minutes underwater...

Krishnamacharya aged 84

A good friend was telling me about her upcoming yoga class and how she hadn't yet thought of a theme for the class.

I mentioned how alien this concept of 'theme' was to me, coming from Ashtanga.

But Ashtanga does have a theme she argued. If you go to an Ashtanga workshops, there's clearly a theme - backbend, arm balance...., floating. Primary series is basically forward bending.. Secondary series is backbends, Third series is Arm balance.......
No, I argued, that's imposing a theme upon it (often to flog a workshop or book). Primary series is nothing to do with forward bending, nor 2nd series backbending, nor are the Advanced series about arm balances although these series might be dominated by such postures.

It's a complete misunderstanding.

Ashtangi's don't give a damn about WHAT they are practicing just that they ARE practicing, they have no concern at all about whether one posture is having X effect and another Y effect.  It would be like suggesting that Christians pray to work on their kneeling or that the theme of a Monk's Zazen that morning was hip openers.

I honestly don't believe in any of the benefits Krishnamacharya mentioned in relation to any of the postures he presented (Update: Ok perhaps a few), to be honest I can't remember any of them because I have zero interest and I suspect most Ashtangi's tend to feel the same most of the time, although we probably all go through a brief period of looking at the proposed benefits to help justify our practice. Looking to justify practice, the time we spend on our mats and how we often construct our lives (and indeed relationships god help us) around our practice is something we all seem to descend into occasionally...., periodically.

No doubt we all tend believe it's probably good for us overall (except for those who make a career of telling us it isn't), that we mostly feel better for having practiced but I suspect we would continue to practice if it had no perceivable physical, mental or emotional.....(spiritual?) benefits.

It's Ashtanga for Ashtanga's sake, an end in itself, discipline for disciplines sake, practice for the sake of practice.... , for no other reason perhaps than that it grounds our lives, opens up a space, a clearing where light can, on a good day, stream through the trees.

Ramaswami stresses that there is a clear purpose to the limbs of Ashtanga, Asana reduces Rajas, pranayama, Tapas leaving us in a more Satvic state for the meditative limbs.

I suspect that is another theory imposed upon practice however old a theory it might be, another justification.

This practice we do is tapas (austerity/discipline), it's a commitment, a discipline. Practice too little and it doesn't work as discipline anymore, make our practice too short, too gentle...., too easy, and it doesn't work as tapas. To be a discipline practice needs to be a burden, at least to some degree, we may go skipping to the mat some mornings but when it's four, six,... seven days a week, at some point we're dead man walking.... but we step on the mat anyway.

Note: It's relative, to a beginner or working mum, getting on the mat for twenty minutes for some surys and a few seated postures, three or four times a week, may be just as much tapas as practicing Primary to Advanced series twice a day, seven days a week, was to me when I had nothing else going on in my life and all the time in the world to practice.

It's this discipline, I suspect, that grounds our lives. Devotion to practice, for those who have it (to teachers, a deity - or turning our teacher into a semi-deity for that matter) is, an optional extra, it's beside the point (and Patanjali I would argue may agree in this context). Dedication to practice, to constructing and maintaining the discipline is what is key. Practice and all is... well you know the rest.

The yama/niyama are a support for this discipline, for our practice. If we can simplify our lives ( effectively the role of yama/niyamas), stepping on the mat can be a little easier but it goes both ways. If my practice is disrupted, I notice I can so easily slip in the yama/niyama department, slide into old patterns, my life becomes somewhat more chaotic, disturbed, more of a distraction. Practice and the yama/niyamas go hand in hand, they support each other, support our discipline.

With the yama/niyamas observed more rather than less, the practice of asana steady and settled, pranayama consistent, I may indeed be in a more Satvic frame of mind and can settle into lesser or greater degrees of serenity, and this as Topol would say is the "greatest gift of all" but who looks to that in the morning when we shuffle towards the mat. We wash our face, we practice, we brush our teeth.

This is not to say that I'm suggesting there is anything wrong with a yoga class having a theme. Ashtanga as a discipline is not for everyone (it may indeed be a curse and "ruin your life") and no doubt postures, the practice of them, done well, mindfully, skilfully, can have great benefits for our lives. Pedagogically, having a theme for a class can be beneficial, Ramaswami takes a similar approach in his presentation of Vinyasa krama, we learn the relationships between asana via a theme before settling into daily practice. It wouldn't be a bad idea for Ashtangi's to learn to practice their asana more skilfully, make our practice safer for the long term as well as the short, more effective. I look to Simon Borg-Olivier for exactly this in his upcoming online Ashtanga course.

I hesitate to suggest that general Yoga classes and Ashtanga vinyasa Yoga are two different language games, it's like trying to introduce the rules of chess into snakes and ladders ( Ashtanga Vinyasa is snakes and ladders).

And of course this commitment to practice to daily practice can make Ashtangi's a little full of themselves, they/we can at times be judgemental, dismissive of other styles that we so often suspect as being either derivative, random or lacking in commitment...., as being less traditional. As if there is anything traditional about Ashtanga vinyasa, there isn't of course, not really but we too often impose our view on others (as I'm doing her of course), imposing ideas of tradition and lineage, parampara and paramagurus upon the practice like pretty paper and ribbons, all to help us get on the mat, to explain, justify, the practice to ourselves....., as if the practice needs any of these things, any explaining, it justifies itself.

We might just as well get up every morning and run ( or swim like a friend of mine, 365 mornings a year off the coast of Ireland), the marathon runner I suspect understands just as much about yoga as the Ashtangi, perhaps more so as they don't tend to resort to metaphysics or fairy tales, surely there must be a book, Zen and the long distance runner.

When our practice becomes the most significant part of our day, whether Running or Ashtanga, when despite those who seek to promote themselves through workshops and merchandise we realise that we are most at peace moving back and forth on a length of old rubber or cotton.... or tarmac and in our oldest, tattiest, most threadbare, much loved, favourite practice pants/shorts......, that during those one to two hours we feel at our most peaceful, serene, sufficient, then our attachments to things at hand are reduced. Then, if it has one, practice has done it's job.



NOTE: There's a little section in Yogasanagalu just before the table of asana, made up of three groups, upon which Jois tweaked his four series. It's interesting but I don't take it too seriously, imposed later no doubt.

"Classification
This yoganga sadhana has been divided into three series: power (strength) series, treatment series and the spiritual series.
The power series is further classified into mind and body
The treatment series is divided into kosha (sheath) and Nadi (pulse)

Essential
First series requires many yogasanas and some pranayama
Second series needs some easy asanas and three pranayamas
Third series requires pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi
Later a table is shown that includes these.”

Excerpt From: Krishnamacharya's Yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941).

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'.








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





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


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.

This has been sitting in draft for some time, finally finished it off.



To reclaim the 'original' Ashtanga vinyasa yoga we need just two texts, published and provided freely by the Mysore Palace (free downloads of both texts on my free download page above)

Yoga Makaranda (Mysore 1934)

Yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941)

Both texts were written by Pattabhi Jois' teacher T. Krishnamacharya

I say 'original' but really we have no idea if Krishnamacharya invented his approach to asana or carried it on from his teacher who possibly received it from his own teacher turn indeed or from an old text, the 'Yoga Korunta'. Krishnamacharya said he received it from his teacher and going by reports ( by Pattabhi Jois 1924) of an early demonstration Krishnamacharya was supposedly jumping from asana to asana shortly after he says he left his teacher. Anyone who 'jumps through' will tell you it takes a couple of years perhaps to become accomplished at it. It seems likely to me that Krishnamacharya received much if not all of his approach to asana from his teacher. However Krishnamacharya's texts are our earliest Primary sources other than possibly the texts he refers to in his bibliographies.

Yoga Makaranda provides us with instruction on how to practice asana. It's basically how we already practice them in Ashtanga, Pattabhi Jois replicated the instruction format in his book Yoga Mala.

There are three significant differences however.

- Yoga Makaranda contains full vinyasa as does Yoga Mala, these days we tend to practice half vinyasa, jumping straight through between asana and sides of an asana rather than coming back to standing each time.

- Kumbhaka: Yoga Makaranda tends to indicate holding the breath in after the inhalation or out after the exhalation depending on the asana. This might be considered optional. We can skip it altogether and continue to practice without it as most do now, employ it on certain asana, employ it while taking less breaths in an asana or employ it on every asana but practice less asana, perhaps half a series.

- Yoga Makaranda contains a selection of asana, Primary Intermediate and Advanced asana and not in any particular order. See the second text Yogasanagalu.

Yogasanagalu includes a table of asana, three groups of asana, Primary Middle and Proficient. The asana in the table corresponds to lesser and greater degrees to Pattabhi Jois' Primary, Intermediate and Advanced Ashtanga series. Jois' Primary series follows quite closely the order the asana are presented in Krishnamacharya's Yogasanagalu table, the Middle group in  the Yogasangalu will be quite familiar to those who practice Jois' Intermediate series, the Proficient group is completely different, just a collection of advanced asana although we can see from the 1938 Mysore demonstration video that Krishnamacharya was teaching the asana found in Jois' later advanced series.

- It appears that Krishnamacharya didn't tend to follow a strict sequence and took a more flexible approach

- Krishnamacharya did include surynamaskara before moving on to standing asana.