Like many I've often wondered why the Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois approach to asana are so different given that they both studied with the same teacher T. Krishnamacharya and at the same period. We do have the video of Iyengar practicing Ashtanga, jumping from one posture to the next in a demonstration for the camera in 1938 but why the parting of ways?
My understanding is that when Iyengar went to Pune and was asked to write a 'manual' he wasn't able to explain, in words rather than through demonstration, how to perform an asana. It was in the act of writing out instructions for each asana that he began to focus so closely on the alignment to be explored in each posture. On giving attention to each and every aspect of an individual asana the length of stay in an asana would become longer to allow for exploring these different aspects.
Ramaswami has mentioned that Krishnamacharya did talk about how certain asana required longer stays for the benefits to be experienced, paschimottanasana comes to mind, sarvangasana (shoulder stand), sirsasana (headstand), maha mudra in the mudras, most full body mudras would tend to involve longer stays to maximise the .
But we find it also in Krishnamacharya's early writing, way back in 1934 in Mysore when Pattabhi Jois was his student we find in Krishnamacharya's first book, Yoga Makaranda, instruction and recommendation for extended stays.
Pattabhi Jois too (see below), in Interview talks about extended stays in certain asana.
"You long time you sitting, kurmasana is long time, 3 hours is possible. One asana is perfect, taken 3 hours."
Below then are some of the extended stays that I tend to explore in my own classes and workshops, you will be relieved to know that we tend to only stay five breaths in Chaturanga rather than fifteen minutes, likewise with trikonasana, we usually stay ten breaths each side and in downward facing dog just ten breaths, enough to get the point of exploring longer stays in the privacy of ones own home practice.
Talking of home practice we have another Typhoon hitting osaka, an excuse to skip the shala for a couple of days and practice at home, Pranayama this morning before and after practicing along to The Pattabhi Jois Led Intermediate from 1989 that I posted yesterday as well as a sit. Half way through the Led I stopped at the leg behind head postures to stay for ten-twenty breaths in each and explore puraka kumbhaka (retention after the inhalation) in line with Krishnamacharya's instruction in yoga Makaranda. I also stopped it at Karandavasana to check Jessica Walden's excellent tutorial again and give it five to seven goes, seems to be coming back but slowly.
What constitutes an extended stay?
It can be confusing, when considering an extended stay in an asana should we count just one expression of the asana or several. Krishnamacharya presents several examples of paschimottanasana (see below), different hand positions and different head positions, the forehead on the knee, face on the knee and chin on the knee.
In Pattabhi Jois' Ashtanga, going by the 1973 Syllabus given to Nancy and David, we find Paschimottanasana A, B, C, D, E.... at 5 breaths each, with 5 seconds for inhalation and the same for exhalation, that gives us approx. 5 minutes in paschimottanasana. If we were to take the old count of eight breaths and go by Pattabhi Jois' mention in Interviews of 10 (even 15) seconds for inhalation and the same for exhalation as the ideal, then we have just under fourteen minutes.
Maha Mudra is another posture where an extended stay may be expected. Janu Sirsasana is a vinyasa of Mahamudra and we still have three versions of this in the Ashtanga Primary series.
Sharat I seem to remember in past conference notes mentioned very long stays in sirsasana as being beneficial ".. but at home, not in the shala, too busy".
Here's Krishnamacharya's extended stays from Yoga Makaranda (1934 Mysore).
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ALSO
Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois on extended stays in asana
Question: Yassin is asking if he should stay longer in kurmasana or in back bendings. You give some timing like 10 breaths for kurmasana. You give 3 times five breaths for urdhva dhanurasana. Yassin is asking if he should stay longer. He wants to stay longer sometimes.
Answer: "I telling: all the asanas you take practice how long your strength is so there, you take. Long time he is doing, 100 asanas you do - 1 asana is perfect. Long time sitting all the asanas he is doing time, you 1 take 10 breath or 15 breathing. You count it. Practice, that is all. You long time you sitting, kurmasana is long time, 3 hours is possible. One asana is perfect, taken 3 hours. Now practice how much your strength is there, you take. That is no problem. Your strength is 10 breathing is doing possible, you do 10 breathing, 15 breathing you possible, you do 15 breathing. One hundred possible, 100 you do. 5 you do, 5 is possible, 5 you do. Take practice, that is all. I am telling only for practice. Fix completely perfect. Asana, one asana siddhi, you do hundred asanas, one asana is coming, one asana perfectly is coming. That is real".
And finally we have the Rishi series that supposedly comes after Advanced A and B that I posted on again only yesterday, where we stay in ten postures for fifty breaths.
See THIS post
BKS Iyengar
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In his later years, in his regular personal practice BKS Iyengar would tend to stay for three to five minutes for most postures, longer for certain seated postures, 7-15 minutes perhaps (example baddha konasana 15 minutes) and an extended period for shoulder stand and headstand 15-30 minutes. I also have him, in a regular practice staying 20 minutes in Vajrasana and the same in Raja kapotsasana and even 10 minutes in Hanumanasana.
3-5 minutes minimum in an asana seems perfectly reasonable to me.... except perhaps navasana where I'm happy to go with a minute and a half.
And in case your reaction, like my own, is that three hours in mayurasana is impossible.... perhaps not, here's plank held for four hours and 26 minutes ( his wifes birthday is 26th April i.e. 4:26), notice how composed he is at the end unlike the previous record holder shown at the end of the clip.
My understanding is that when Iyengar went to Pune and was asked to write a 'manual' he wasn't able to explain, in words rather than through demonstration, how to perform an asana. It was in the act of writing out instructions for each asana that he began to focus so closely on the alignment to be explored in each posture. On giving attention to each and every aspect of an individual asana the length of stay in an asana would become longer to allow for exploring these different aspects.
Ramaswami has mentioned that Krishnamacharya did talk about how certain asana required longer stays for the benefits to be experienced, paschimottanasana comes to mind, sarvangasana (shoulder stand), sirsasana (headstand), maha mudra in the mudras, most full body mudras would tend to involve longer stays to maximise the .
But we find it also in Krishnamacharya's early writing, way back in 1934 in Mysore when Pattabhi Jois was his student we find in Krishnamacharya's first book, Yoga Makaranda, instruction and recommendation for extended stays.
Pattabhi Jois too (see below), in Interview talks about extended stays in certain asana.
"You long time you sitting, kurmasana is long time, 3 hours is possible. One asana is perfect, taken 3 hours."
Below then are some of the extended stays that I tend to explore in my own classes and workshops, you will be relieved to know that we tend to only stay five breaths in Chaturanga rather than fifteen minutes, likewise with trikonasana, we usually stay ten breaths each side and in downward facing dog just ten breaths, enough to get the point of exploring longer stays in the privacy of ones own home practice.
Talking of home practice we have another Typhoon hitting osaka, an excuse to skip the shala for a couple of days and practice at home, Pranayama this morning before and after practicing along to The Pattabhi Jois Led Intermediate from 1989 that I posted yesterday as well as a sit. Half way through the Led I stopped at the leg behind head postures to stay for ten-twenty breaths in each and explore puraka kumbhaka (retention after the inhalation) in line with Krishnamacharya's instruction in yoga Makaranda. I also stopped it at Karandavasana to check Jessica Walden's excellent tutorial again and give it five to seven goes, seems to be coming back but slowly.
What constitutes an extended stay?
It can be confusing, when considering an extended stay in an asana should we count just one expression of the asana or several. Krishnamacharya presents several examples of paschimottanasana (see below), different hand positions and different head positions, the forehead on the knee, face on the knee and chin on the knee.
In Pattabhi Jois' Ashtanga, going by the 1973 Syllabus given to Nancy and David, we find Paschimottanasana A, B, C, D, E.... at 5 breaths each, with 5 seconds for inhalation and the same for exhalation, that gives us approx. 5 minutes in paschimottanasana. If we were to take the old count of eight breaths and go by Pattabhi Jois' mention in Interviews of 10 (even 15) seconds for inhalation and the same for exhalation as the ideal, then we have just under fourteen minutes.
Maha Mudra is another posture where an extended stay may be expected. Janu Sirsasana is a vinyasa of Mahamudra and we still have three versions of this in the Ashtanga Primary series.
Sharat I seem to remember in past conference notes mentioned very long stays in sirsasana as being beneficial ".. but at home, not in the shala, too busy".
Here's Krishnamacharya's extended stays from Yoga Makaranda (1934 Mysore).
Tadasana
"Stand as seen in the picture for fifteen minutes daily. Make this a habit. It will create new energy in the body and a vigour in the walk and will increase the digestive power. Not only that, it cleans the rudra nadi and increases the life-span. While doing this asana, follow sama svasam (equal breath)".
Caturanga Dandasana
"(caturanga Dandasana) ...Remain in this stithi for at least ten minutes..."
Urdhvamukhasvanasana
"(Urdhvamukhasvanasana)...make the effort to practice until it becomes possible to stay in this asana for fifteen minutes."
Ardhomukhasvanasana
"(Ardhomukhasvanasana)... As a result of the strength of practice, one learns to hold this posture for fifteen minutes."
Trikonasana
"(Trikonasana)... This asana must be practiced for a minimum of ten minutes. However slowly and patiently we practice this this, there is that much corresponding benefit."
Mayurasana
"(Mayurasana)...This asana stithi should be held from 1 minute to 3 hours according to the practitioner's capability... If we make it a habit to practise this asana every day for at least fifteen minutes, we will attain tremendous benefits."
Paschimottanasana
"If this (paschimottanasana) is practised every day without fail for 15 minutes, all the bad diseases of the stomach will be removed".
Quotes from Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda
ALSO
Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois on extended stays in asana
Question: Yassin is asking if he should stay longer in kurmasana or in back bendings. You give some timing like 10 breaths for kurmasana. You give 3 times five breaths for urdhva dhanurasana. Yassin is asking if he should stay longer. He wants to stay longer sometimes.
Answer: "I telling: all the asanas you take practice how long your strength is so there, you take. Long time he is doing, 100 asanas you do - 1 asana is perfect. Long time sitting all the asanas he is doing time, you 1 take 10 breath or 15 breathing. You count it. Practice, that is all. You long time you sitting, kurmasana is long time, 3 hours is possible. One asana is perfect, taken 3 hours. Now practice how much your strength is there, you take. That is no problem. Your strength is 10 breathing is doing possible, you do 10 breathing, 15 breathing you possible, you do 15 breathing. One hundred possible, 100 you do. 5 you do, 5 is possible, 5 you do. Take practice, that is all. I am telling only for practice. Fix completely perfect. Asana, one asana siddhi, you do hundred asanas, one asana is coming, one asana perfectly is coming. That is real".
And finally we have the Rishi series that supposedly comes after Advanced A and B that I posted on again only yesterday, where we stay in ten postures for fifty breaths.
See THIS post
'Originally there were five series: Primary, Intermediate, Advanced A, Advanced B, and the fifth was the “rishi” series'.
Ashtanga Rishi Approach
'...Doing a practice of 10 postures for up to 50 breaths is a method of preparing for "advanced series" after one has learned 1st and 2nd. It can be done once or twice a week. One does the "salutations" and then starts going thru the series, holding each posture for as long as comfortably possible. Notice which postures could be held for 50 breaths. The next time you practice this way, the postures which you could hold for 50 are omitted and new ones are added at the end. One gradually works thru the series, dropping and adding asanas, still doing 10 asanas per session. I have gone all the way thru 1st and 2nd this way several times over the years and have found it beneficiall'.
Ashtanga Rishi Series
'Then, once one has mastered all of the asanas, one can practice "the rishi series", the most advanced practice. One does the 10 postures that one intuits will be the most beneficial and appropriate for that day, holding each posture for up to 50 comfortable breaths'.
BKS Iyengar
In his later years, in his regular personal practice BKS Iyengar would tend to stay for three to five minutes for most postures, longer for certain seated postures, 7-15 minutes perhaps (example baddha konasana 15 minutes) and an extended period for shoulder stand and headstand 15-30 minutes. I also have him, in a regular practice staying 20 minutes in Vajrasana and the same in Raja kapotsasana and even 10 minutes in Hanumanasana.
3-5 minutes minimum in an asana seems perfectly reasonable to me.... except perhaps navasana where I'm happy to go with a minute and a half.
***
And in case your reaction, like my own, is that three hours in mayurasana is impossible.... perhaps not, here's plank held for four hours and 26 minutes ( his wifes birthday is 26th April i.e. 4:26), notice how composed he is at the end unlike the previous record holder shown at the end of the clip.