Despite this being my favourite book of Ramaswami's and probably the best book on yoga I've come across, I don't seem to have given the book a standalone review on the blog. Time to make amends, so coming soon a full review with all or at least many of my favourite bits....
This first post is more of an introduction to a series of posts that I'm considering for each chapter, a 'Look Inside' preview if you like, based on Ramaswami's own introduction on fb this week. I've come back to this book so many times over the last ten years, discovering something I'd missed completely each time that has frankly rocked my thinking and approach to my own practice of Ashtanga. The book reminds me of practicing to Richard Freeman's dvd's (Who's new book is called the 'Art of Vinyasa' btw) or attending his workshops, the first few times (make that twenty) most of it goes over your head but at some point you find that it perhaps seeded anyway and the next time or the next a little more makes sense or starts to bear fruit in some aspect of your practice.
Sharath Jois has, of late, has begun to refer to the Ashtanga Vinyasa he teaches as a 'Vinyasa Krama', this is also the name of the approach to asana presented by Ramaswami. This should not be surprising, Pattabhi Jois, Sharath's grandfather, studied with Krishnmacharya for twenty-five years, Ramaswami for around thrirty-three.
There was the suggestion when I first started practicing Ashtanga ten years ago that there was an early Krishnamacharya and a late Krishnamacharya, perhaps it suited students, teachers and indeed the family to perpetuate that, I hope in this blog I've gone some way to question that assumption.
On the evidence of many of the glossy self promotional videos of a few Ashtanga teachers and practitioners, of led classes perhaps, Ashtanga vinyasa can appear fast paced, flashy, dynamic, obsessed with asana and with appearance. The less glossy videos hidden away on YouTube however, show something different. If we look at videos of actual Mysore rooms, both shala and home, we see practitioners, teachers, moving through their practice at their own pace, their attention focussed on the breath, we see an honesty, a humbleness even, a dedication to developing a daily discipline through the practice of asana.
If we look to Krishnamacharya's early work, Yoga Makaranda (Mysore 1934) and Yogasanagalu Mysore 1941), written when the young Pattabhi Jois was his student and occasional assistant we find, the slowness of the breath emphasised '...like the pouring of oil', Kumbhaka ( retaining the breath in or out) indicated for almost every asana presented and, in the 1938 Mysore documentary footage, the young BKS Iyengar (also Krishnamacharya) running through a demonstration of advanced asana that were it in colour, in a fancy location and with a euromix soundtrack would garner tens of thousands of followers on Instagram today.
There are differences between the teaching of Pattabhi Jois and Ramaswami but these tend to be pedagogic, related more to the teaching environment the student and teacher found themselves. Pattabhi Jois was a young boy when he was Krishnamacharya's student, his peers were boys, his students when he first started teaching were college students. Ramaswami practiced with Krishnamacharya from his teens to middle age when Krishnamacharya was mostly teaching on a one to one basis, people of all ages, just as he did in the side rooms of the Mysore palace. As well as asana and pranayama Ramaswami studied yoga philosophy, endless chanting, the close study of yoga texts, he studied yoga for the three stages of life.
Srivatsa Ramaswami's Yoga for the Three stages of Life is a marvellous book. If the final third of the book focusses on a seemingly different approach to asana than that which you may practice yourself or are familiar with it is still worthy of exploration, injuries happen, whether a result of asana practice or just of life generally. Ramaswami's book presents variations of asana that can be of benefit when injuries arise, or to better help us in moving towards more challenging asana, or as options for our students new to asana practice, just as Manju Jois mentions his father, like Krishnamacharya before him, would offer variations of an asana to struggling students.
As we get older we may choose to let go of the more challenging asana and look to variations and alternatives to those asana we love, as we mature mentally in our practice, not just physically, many of those fancy 'demonstration' asana may start to seem faintly ridiculous, or at least unnecessary, even a hindrance to practice. We may indeed, finally, be in a place, situation, frame of mind to look to the other limbs and adapt our physical practice accordingly.
But, if for now, we are quite happy merely exploring asana. If building that discipline through our asana practice seems quite enough thank you very much and we find ourselves somewhat irritated/frustrated by the comments on the likes of the fb Ashtanga discussion page, that what we are doing is NOT yoga, Ramaswami's Yoga for the three stages of life comes to our defence, an asana dominated practice may well be perfectly appropriate, in the mid stage of life less asana and more pranayama may be more appropriate and at a still late stage, more philosophy and the later limbs.
Photo: Three stages of life
![]()
Below I've merely slipped in a page from each chapter to illustrate Ramaswami's comments from his fb post. In coming blogs I will look more closely at each section, perhaps chapter by chapter, sharing some of the gems I continue to discover in the text.
I wrote a book "Yoga for three stages of Life"--An Art, A Therapy, A Philosophy. I thought it was a comprehensive book of Yoga with some depth, all inspired by my studies with Sri Krishnamacharya. I followed the thought sequence of Patanjali in this book.
![]()
The first chapter was on "My studies with Sri Krishnamacharya" wherein I attempted to bring the various subjects Sri Krishnamacharya taught.
![]()
Then there is the story of Patanjali based on the work "Patanjali Carita" written by a Sanskrit scholar Ramabhadra Dikshitar from South India.
![]()
The third chapter is "What is Yoga". It is based on the introduction my Guru gave when he started teaching the Yogasutras.
![]()
Advanced Yoga contains discussion beyond Hatayoga.
![]()
There is then a chapter on Mantra Yoga.
![]()
Introduction to Ashtanga Yoga and the yamaniyamas is then.
![]()
The next several chapters deal with asanas following Vinyasakrama--
the standing poses,
![]()
Supine,
![]()
Inversions,
![]()
prone poses,
![]()
paschimatanasana,
![]()
Padmasana.
![]()
Then there are yogic breathing exercises and health benefits,
![]()
then there is one section on Yoga for Women,
![]()
then reference to Yoga texts,
![]()
followed by Internal yoga practices (antaranga sadhana--meditation)
![]()
and finally Freedom or Kaivalya,
![]()
in all 17 chapters.
I enjoyed writing this book.
The book also contains some stories and graphic illustrations like siva's dance.
This is still available from Amazon. Here is the link
https://www.amazon.com/…/…/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-1755689-4479843…
I understand the publishers, Inner Traditions, have also a Spanish edition of this book
This first post is more of an introduction to a series of posts that I'm considering for each chapter, a 'Look Inside' preview if you like, based on Ramaswami's own introduction on fb this week. I've come back to this book so many times over the last ten years, discovering something I'd missed completely each time that has frankly rocked my thinking and approach to my own practice of Ashtanga. The book reminds me of practicing to Richard Freeman's dvd's (Who's new book is called the 'Art of Vinyasa' btw) or attending his workshops, the first few times (make that twenty) most of it goes over your head but at some point you find that it perhaps seeded anyway and the next time or the next a little more makes sense or starts to bear fruit in some aspect of your practice.
 |
| Amazon Link |
Sharath Jois has, of late, has begun to refer to the Ashtanga Vinyasa he teaches as a 'Vinyasa Krama', this is also the name of the approach to asana presented by Ramaswami. This should not be surprising, Pattabhi Jois, Sharath's grandfather, studied with Krishnmacharya for twenty-five years, Ramaswami for around thrirty-three.
There was the suggestion when I first started practicing Ashtanga ten years ago that there was an early Krishnamacharya and a late Krishnamacharya, perhaps it suited students, teachers and indeed the family to perpetuate that, I hope in this blog I've gone some way to question that assumption.
On the evidence of many of the glossy self promotional videos of a few Ashtanga teachers and practitioners, of led classes perhaps, Ashtanga vinyasa can appear fast paced, flashy, dynamic, obsessed with asana and with appearance. The less glossy videos hidden away on YouTube however, show something different. If we look at videos of actual Mysore rooms, both shala and home, we see practitioners, teachers, moving through their practice at their own pace, their attention focussed on the breath, we see an honesty, a humbleness even, a dedication to developing a daily discipline through the practice of asana.
If we look to Krishnamacharya's early work, Yoga Makaranda (Mysore 1934) and Yogasanagalu Mysore 1941), written when the young Pattabhi Jois was his student and occasional assistant we find, the slowness of the breath emphasised '...like the pouring of oil', Kumbhaka ( retaining the breath in or out) indicated for almost every asana presented and, in the 1938 Mysore documentary footage, the young BKS Iyengar (also Krishnamacharya) running through a demonstration of advanced asana that were it in colour, in a fancy location and with a euromix soundtrack would garner tens of thousands of followers on Instagram today.
But we also see Krishnamacharya himself, moving through head and shoulderstand variations that aren't to be found in Pattabhi Jois' Ashtanga Vinyasa method perhaps but are presented in the books of Srivatsa Ramaswami, Krishnamacharya's student from just after he left Mysore up until Krishnamacharya's passing thirty plus years later.
There are differences between the teaching of Pattabhi Jois and Ramaswami but these tend to be pedagogic, related more to the teaching environment the student and teacher found themselves. Pattabhi Jois was a young boy when he was Krishnamacharya's student, his peers were boys, his students when he first started teaching were college students. Ramaswami practiced with Krishnamacharya from his teens to middle age when Krishnamacharya was mostly teaching on a one to one basis, people of all ages, just as he did in the side rooms of the Mysore palace. As well as asana and pranayama Ramaswami studied yoga philosophy, endless chanting, the close study of yoga texts, he studied yoga for the three stages of life.
Srivatsa Ramaswami's Yoga for the Three stages of Life is a marvellous book. If the final third of the book focusses on a seemingly different approach to asana than that which you may practice yourself or are familiar with it is still worthy of exploration, injuries happen, whether a result of asana practice or just of life generally. Ramaswami's book presents variations of asana that can be of benefit when injuries arise, or to better help us in moving towards more challenging asana, or as options for our students new to asana practice, just as Manju Jois mentions his father, like Krishnamacharya before him, would offer variations of an asana to struggling students.
As we get older we may choose to let go of the more challenging asana and look to variations and alternatives to those asana we love, as we mature mentally in our practice, not just physically, many of those fancy 'demonstration' asana may start to seem faintly ridiculous, or at least unnecessary, even a hindrance to practice. We may indeed, finally, be in a place, situation, frame of mind to look to the other limbs and adapt our physical practice accordingly.
But, if for now, we are quite happy merely exploring asana. If building that discipline through our asana practice seems quite enough thank you very much and we find ourselves somewhat irritated/frustrated by the comments on the likes of the fb Ashtanga discussion page, that what we are doing is NOT yoga, Ramaswami's Yoga for the three stages of life comes to our defence, an asana dominated practice may well be perfectly appropriate, in the mid stage of life less asana and more pranayama may be more appropriate and at a still late stage, more philosophy and the later limbs.
Photo: Three stages of life
Below I've merely slipped in a page from each chapter to illustrate Ramaswami's comments from his fb post. In coming blogs I will look more closely at each section, perhaps chapter by chapter, sharing some of the gems I continue to discover in the text.
*
I wrote a book "Yoga for three stages of Life"--An Art, A Therapy, A Philosophy. I thought it was a comprehensive book of Yoga with some depth, all inspired by my studies with Sri Krishnamacharya. I followed the thought sequence of Patanjali in this book.
The first chapter was on "My studies with Sri Krishnamacharya" wherein I attempted to bring the various subjects Sri Krishnamacharya taught.
Then there is the story of Patanjali based on the work "Patanjali Carita" written by a Sanskrit scholar Ramabhadra Dikshitar from South India.
The third chapter is "What is Yoga". It is based on the introduction my Guru gave when he started teaching the Yogasutras.
Advanced Yoga contains discussion beyond Hatayoga.
There is then a chapter on Mantra Yoga.
Introduction to Ashtanga Yoga and the yamaniyamas is then.
The next several chapters deal with asanas following Vinyasakrama--
the standing poses,
Supine,
Inversions,
prone poses,
paschimatanasana,
Padmasana.
Then there are yogic breathing exercises and health benefits,
then there is one section on Yoga for Women,
then reference to Yoga texts,
followed by Internal yoga practices (antaranga sadhana--meditation)
and finally Freedom or Kaivalya,
in all 17 chapters.
I enjoyed writing this book.
The book also contains some stories and graphic illustrations like siva's dance.
This is still available from Amazon. Here is the link
https://www.amazon.com/…/…/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-1755689-4479843…
I understand the publishers, Inner Traditions, have also a Spanish edition of this book
*
See also my Srivatsa Ramaswami resource page for a look at Ramaswami7s other books and more besides.