I received a letter last night asking if I would be prepared to teach some Vinyasa Krama, over a month or two, here in Japan, to a visiting Ashtanga practitioner (who practices Ashtanga Primary series). Below is my response, I thought it might be useful for others interested in Vinyasa Krama as I (currently) understand/view it.
Mtyresponse in Courier font, additions in Times.
Dear XXXX
Thank you for your mail and your interest but I'm really not a yoga teacher, though I may have taught a few workshops in the past.
Given that you live in the States I believe it would be so much more beneficial to spend a week or ten days with Ramaswami on one of his workshop/intensives (Ramaswami's schedule). You are so lucky to have him there in the US.
Perhaps if he was no longer with us I might consider teaching more.
I don't live in Osaka but in a small country village and travel into Osaka to my job as an English teacher.
'VINYASA KRAMA ASANA'
Note: In Vinyasa Krama we don't tend to practice the Ashtanga Suryanamaskar so much, perhaps the mantra version, or possibly with the 2 hour surya namaskar chant on Sundays.
I though, still practice my Ashtanga sun salutations out of habit and for general fitness given the fewer jump back and throughs in Viyasa Krama
We generally begin practice with some simple movements in tadasana. I tend to include a few of these before my sun salutations. Below a video of a ten minute version, I may do a few less movements, five minutes worth say. On my Youtube channel there is the full fifty minute Vinyasa Krama Tadasana sequence https://youtu.be/EEHx32PUfdY.
One of the things I've tried to communicate in my book and on my blog is that if you are practicing Ashtanga then you are already practicing Vinyasa Krama. The Ashtanga Primary series is made up of Vinyasa Krama subroutines.
For it to 'look' more like Vinyasa Krama all you need to do is cut out most of the jump backs and through ( perhaps just between each subroutine) and breathe much more slowly (around 8-10 seconds for both inhalation and exhalation, perhaps take three breaths if required to enter a posture rather than folding straight in. Stay for longer in certain key postures, paschimottanasana, maha mudra, sarvangasana, sirsasana. There are some movements/variations options in head and shoulder stand that are a little different from Primary but otherwise Primary series makes for an ideal Vinyasa Krama practice, except that breathing more slowly and occasionally staying longer in a posture will likely mean you will have to divide a Primary series over two or even three days.
On another day you might practice those first few back stretching postures from Ashtanga 2nd series, Salambhasana,Urdhva dhanurasana, ustrasana, which is also a Vinyasa krama subroutine.
The sequences Ramaswami presents in his workshop and book are for teaching and training purpose only, once you have an idea of how the asana relate to each other, build up to, and then extend beyond the key asana you would then just choose the appropriate asana and subroutines for you each morning. Pattabhi Jois (perhaps Krishnamacharya) has already done that for us with Primary and Second Ashtanga series.
For me, with the occasional modifications, and perhaps partly due to familiarity and affection, I find the Ashtanga series appropriate. They of course closely match the order the asana as placed in Krishnamacharya table of asana in yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941).
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An integrated practice
Perhaps the biggest difference is that Vinyasa Krama is more of an integrated practice.
Although some more experienced Ashtanga practitioners do include Pranyama, Sitting etc. Actually many beginner Ashtanga practitioners already have a Sitting practice from another tradition, Zen, vipassana etc. I have a Zen monk friend Hyon Gak Sunim who has only recently come to Ashtanga
Mirror of Zen /// A Day in the Moment of a Modern Zen Monk from Christine Schmitthenner on Vimeo.
So after your slower, modified, half Primary and perhaps 36 or 108 rounds of kapalabhati breathing, practice, 6, 12, 20 rounds of nadi shodhana with the pranayama mantra on the kumbhaka ( see my pranayma page for the mantra), sit for five minutes in Shanmukhi Mudra turning the senses inwards and then sit and meditated on a mantra, say Om hrim namashivaya, for 10, 20, 30, 40 minutes.
Of course if you haven't practiced pranayama before you will need to build up to it, 3-6 months of nadi shodhana without kumbhaka just as Sharath suggests, then (perhaps after discussing it with your doctor)start to introduce a kumbhaka after the inhalation - checking your pulse for any dramatic increase in heart rate.
'VINYASA KRAMA' PRANAYAMA
So start with
nadi shodhana
4s inhalation, 8s exhalation
then
5s, inhalation 10 exhalation
finally after a few months or when twelve rounds of that is comfortable, introduce kumbhaka
4s inhalation, 4s kumbhaka, 8s exhalation
5s, inhalation 5s kumbhaka, 10 exhalation
5s, inhalation 10s kumbhaka, 10 exhalation
at this point, if the pranayama mantra interests you you could split the mantra into three, spread over each stage
5s, inhalation 15s kumbhaka, 10 exhalation
mantra chanted quickly on the kumbhaka
finally
5s, inhalation 20s kumbhaka, 10 exhalation
which is the standard pranayama Ramaswami teaches.
6/12/20 rounds of that after asana each morning
or twenty rounds four times a day if committed and traditional.
'Vinyasa Krama' Pratyahara (5 to 10 minutes)
Shanmukhi Mudra is pretty much automatic, once you engage the mudra the mind automatically turns inwards, to internal sounds for example.
'VINYASA KRAMA' MEDITATION
As for Sitting. Ramaswami teaches Japa, with the mantra
Om hrim namashivaya
But you could use any Samatha (calm abiding) approach, sitting with the breath, Zen....
If and when Samadhi ever arises THEN, it gets tricky and you have to start applying your samadhi to different objects. See Patanjali.
That's basically Vinyasa Krama, it tends to be practiced at home rather than in a studio or with a teacher, no need to stress about fancy techniques to attain postures, visualisations, and/or be obsessed with alignment, just let the breath align you, choose an easier variation of an asana from Ramaswami ( or my) book if required.
YAMA/NIYAMA
Reflect on the yama/niyama as much as possible or the cultural moral/ethical codes of your own upbringing and perhaps each evening before falling asleep, with compassion, reflect on how far your day fell within them.
This is Patanjali Ashtanga Yoga, Hatha is something else altogether with different goals and objectives, hatha deals with bindu and/or kundalini and/or prana, Patanjali is concerned with developing focussed concentration that can then be applied to gain knowledge of the self.
VINYASA KRAMA RESOURCES
Hope that helps, I really hope you manage to make it to Ramaswami at some point, all of the above will make a little more sense but if you practice Primary, have seen my book, have read closely Ramaswami's book(s) and or seen some of my videos or those with Ramaswami teaching I would suggest you have all you need, the rest is practice.
Ramaswami's Yoga Beneath the Surface answers any questions you might possibly have,
his book
Yoga for the three stages of Life is an absolute treasure,
his Complete book of Vinyasa Yoga is excellent as a reference for choosing modified postures to Primary.
Best wishes for you practice and travels
Sincerely
Anthony
PS. As this reply has become longer and more detailed than I expected when I started, I think I might turn it into a blog post. Hope that's OK
Mtyresponse in Courier font, additions in Times.
Dear XXXX
Thank you for your mail and your interest but I'm really not a yoga teacher, though I may have taught a few workshops in the past.
Given that you live in the States I believe it would be so much more beneficial to spend a week or ten days with Ramaswami on one of his workshop/intensives (Ramaswami's schedule). You are so lucky to have him there in the US.
Perhaps if he was no longer with us I might consider teaching more.
I don't live in Osaka but in a small country village and travel into Osaka to my job as an English teacher.
'VINYASA KRAMA ASANA'
Note: In Vinyasa Krama we don't tend to practice the Ashtanga Suryanamaskar so much, perhaps the mantra version, or possibly with the 2 hour surya namaskar chant on Sundays.
I though, still practice my Ashtanga sun salutations out of habit and for general fitness given the fewer jump back and throughs in Viyasa Krama
We generally begin practice with some simple movements in tadasana. I tend to include a few of these before my sun salutations. Below a video of a ten minute version, I may do a few less movements, five minutes worth say. On my Youtube channel there is the full fifty minute Vinyasa Krama Tadasana sequence https://youtu.be/EEHx32PUfdY.
 |
| Example of subroutines in Ashtanga primary Series. |
For it to 'look' more like Vinyasa Krama all you need to do is cut out most of the jump backs and through ( perhaps just between each subroutine) and breathe much more slowly (around 8-10 seconds for both inhalation and exhalation, perhaps take three breaths if required to enter a posture rather than folding straight in. Stay for longer in certain key postures, paschimottanasana, maha mudra, sarvangasana, sirsasana. There are some movements/variations options in head and shoulder stand that are a little different from Primary but otherwise Primary series makes for an ideal Vinyasa Krama practice, except that breathing more slowly and occasionally staying longer in a posture will likely mean you will have to divide a Primary series over two or even three days.
On another day you might practice those first few back stretching postures from Ashtanga 2nd series, Salambhasana,Urdhva dhanurasana, ustrasana, which is also a Vinyasa krama subroutine.
 |
| Vinyasa Krama Bow sequence subroutines, similar to the first half of Ashtanga Intermediate series |
The sequences Ramaswami presents in his workshop and book are for teaching and training purpose only, once you have an idea of how the asana relate to each other, build up to, and then extend beyond the key asana you would then just choose the appropriate asana and subroutines for you each morning. Pattabhi Jois (perhaps Krishnamacharya) has already done that for us with Primary and Second Ashtanga series.
For me, with the occasional modifications, and perhaps partly due to familiarity and affection, I find the Ashtanga series appropriate. They of course closely match the order the asana as placed in Krishnamacharya table of asana in yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941).
An integrated practice
Perhaps the biggest difference is that Vinyasa Krama is more of an integrated practice.
Although some more experienced Ashtanga practitioners do include Pranyama, Sitting etc. Actually many beginner Ashtanga practitioners already have a Sitting practice from another tradition, Zen, vipassana etc. I have a Zen monk friend Hyon Gak Sunim who has only recently come to Ashtanga
Mirror of Zen /// A Day in the Moment of a Modern Zen Monk from Christine Schmitthenner on Vimeo.
So after your slower, modified, half Primary and perhaps 36 or 108 rounds of kapalabhati breathing, practice, 6, 12, 20 rounds of nadi shodhana with the pranayama mantra on the kumbhaka ( see my pranayma page for the mantra), sit for five minutes in Shanmukhi Mudra turning the senses inwards and then sit and meditated on a mantra, say Om hrim namashivaya, for 10, 20, 30, 40 minutes.
Of course if you haven't practiced pranayama before you will need to build up to it, 3-6 months of nadi shodhana without kumbhaka just as Sharath suggests, then (perhaps after discussing it with your doctor)start to introduce a kumbhaka after the inhalation - checking your pulse for any dramatic increase in heart rate.
'VINYASA KRAMA' PRANAYAMA
So start with
nadi shodhana
4s inhalation, 8s exhalation
then
5s, inhalation 10 exhalation
finally after a few months or when twelve rounds of that is comfortable, introduce kumbhaka
4s inhalation, 4s kumbhaka, 8s exhalation
5s, inhalation 5s kumbhaka, 10 exhalation
5s, inhalation 10s kumbhaka, 10 exhalation
at this point, if the pranayama mantra interests you you could split the mantra into three, spread over each stage
5s, inhalation 15s kumbhaka, 10 exhalation
mantra chanted quickly on the kumbhaka
finally
5s, inhalation 20s kumbhaka, 10 exhalation
which is the standard pranayama Ramaswami teaches.
6/12/20 rounds of that after asana each morning
or twenty rounds four times a day if committed and traditional.
'Vinyasa Krama' Pratyahara (5 to 10 minutes)
Shanmukhi Mudra is pretty much automatic, once you engage the mudra the mind automatically turns inwards, to internal sounds for example.
 |
| I chose Shanmukhi Mudra for the cover of my book rather than a fancy asana |
'VINYASA KRAMA' MEDITATION
As for Sitting. Ramaswami teaches Japa, with the mantra
Om hrim namashivaya
But you could use any Samatha (calm abiding) approach, sitting with the breath, Zen....
If and when Samadhi ever arises THEN, it gets tricky and you have to start applying your samadhi to different objects. See Patanjali.
That's basically Vinyasa Krama, it tends to be practiced at home rather than in a studio or with a teacher, no need to stress about fancy techniques to attain postures, visualisations, and/or be obsessed with alignment, just let the breath align you, choose an easier variation of an asana from Ramaswami ( or my) book if required.
YAMA/NIYAMA
Reflect on the yama/niyama as much as possible or the cultural moral/ethical codes of your own upbringing and perhaps each evening before falling asleep, with compassion, reflect on how far your day fell within them.
This is Patanjali Ashtanga Yoga, Hatha is something else altogether with different goals and objectives, hatha deals with bindu and/or kundalini and/or prana, Patanjali is concerned with developing focussed concentration that can then be applied to gain knowledge of the self.
VINYASA KRAMA RESOURCES
Hope that helps, I really hope you manage to make it to Ramaswami at some point, all of the above will make a little more sense but if you practice Primary, have seen my book, have read closely Ramaswami's book(s) and or seen some of my videos or those with Ramaswami teaching I would suggest you have all you need, the rest is practice.
Ramaswami's Yoga Beneath the Surface answers any questions you might possibly have,
his book
Yoga for the three stages of Life is an absolute treasure,
his Complete book of Vinyasa Yoga is excellent as a reference for choosing modified postures to Primary.
Best wishes for you practice and travels
Sincerely
Anthony
PS. As this reply has become longer and more detailed than I expected when I started, I think I might turn it into a blog post. Hope that's OK