Preview / Review : David Garrigues' Vayu Siddhi, Pranayama DVD/book set

Link to buy a copy of Vayu Siddhi

I'm never sure if I'm previewing or reviewing in these posts, perhaps a little of both. When a new book or DVD comes out the first thing I want to know is what's inside, I want to pick it up, check the bibliography, the index, the copyright page and Acknowledgements, then the contents, work how many pages have been devoted to certain sections and then finally have a flick through the book and read a couple of passages, decide if I like the style of how it's written, decide if I'm actually going to read it, if I'll want to read it. I miss that when buying online

If  I still haven't decided to buy it by then (which is usually a deal breaker right there) I might check with somebody I trust who I know has read it already and if I can't find anyone then I might check newspaper or online reviews.

There was a brief discussion here on an older post when we first heard David Garrigues' was planning on releasing a pranayama DVD, lots of excitement in fact. We're familiar with David's tutorials on Vimeo, always fresh, gritty full on explanations of how to work on postures or techniques related to Ashtanga. He's always passionate, undogmatic, I remember him using a boogie board under the shoulders for shoulderstand and dropping back to giant blocks. Loved the last one because I'd received stick for working on my drop back to the sofa and tic tacking to stacked cushions, here was a Certified Ashtanga teacher taking a similar if a little more refined approach.

David Garrigues teaching pranayama, exciting.

When a release date, more details ( it was to be a double DVD and Book set) and price, $110 dollars, was set there was even more discussion. That's quite a bit of money though to somebody forking out daily shala fees and saving up for trips to Mysore, for somebody still not sure if they should be exploring pranayama in the first place, it's a financial commitment and several friends have mentioned it's caused them to hesitate in ordering it.

At the time I decided that it was no more, in fact less, than a weekend workshop and if it gave you the beginnings of an established pranayama practice then it was worth every penny.

I decided against getting it myself though, partly because of the cost but mainly because I already have an established pranayama practice ( Ramaswami taught me pranayama on his TT course at LMU in 2010). I couldn't justify the cost when I was already practicing it daily. However, I am interested in Ashtanga pranayama Sequence, I explored it a little with Tim Millers outline and Derek Irelands Ashtanga pranayama sequence CD, I've also practiced with Richard Freeman's Breathing CD and his online Pranayama course. So I was tempted and couldn't wait to hear what people had to say about it.

I was very excited then when Elizabeth, one of David's assistants, got in touch and asked me if I would be interested in reviewing David's Pranayama series here on the blog, the bytes of her email were probably still warm when I sent off my my own.

Thank you again Elizabeth and David too of course.

David's Pranayama set on the right

and a letter from David himself outlining the themes of the set

Here's what I wrote of my first impressions when it arrived last week.

"Just practiced the Ashtanga pranayama sequence with David, it's quite a bit lighter than the Derek Ireland CD (although the same sequence), the breath faster than I'm used to but that wont be a bad thing for somebody just starting pranayama and they can slow it down a bit once they've learned the sequence. 
Nicely broken down VERY accessible. 
On the one hand I think it is over priced, the book is quite light (content), nicely cloth bound hardback but only 100 pages (actually more like 75 of quite large print) mostly just prep,  instructions, exercises and the minimum expansion ( not necessarily a bad thing). The video is just a camera in a room tracking over a guy ( David of course) breathing or talking to the camera, kind of YouTube like. It's broken up into sections though. There's a little prep and set up, some exercises and then your down to the sequence which also can be broken down into different sections so you can work on it bit by bit and build up to the full sequence. there's also a kind of Q&A.

But then on the other hand it's so accessible, clear and simple, very Ashtanga, just what you need to get on the mat. It will give anyone who buys it an established, basic Ashtanga pranayama practice. How do you put a price on that and besides, forking out that amount of dollars will make you damn sure you do actually read the book and practice along to the videos.

No longer any excuse for not having a pranayama practice.

The book was hand made and designed by two of David's students I hear".

The cost of the set is something I want to address right away as several of you have asked already

Is it worth it?

Yes, I think it is, very much so but I want to qualify that.

The Book

On the one hand it is light.
If we compare it to Gregor Maehle Pranayama book, say which is $20 and goes into so much detail on the subject of pranayama and for 330 pages, then David's 105 pages ( actually more like 75 of actual text) are going to make you ask if it's worth the money.

And yet it's easy to get bogged down in Gregor's book, get lost, be put off and not end up actually practicing pranayama. Claudia's 10 part+ review will help you work through it however .

I would argue that David's book IS lighter and yet that's because it's stripped down (but not dumbed down) to the essentials. It's VERY Ashtanga, just what you need to get on the mat and begin your practice. It's more of a support to the DVD, expanding on some of the areas David introduces and demonstrates there. So there's expansion on sitting well, on prana and apana, on the bandhas, the mudra for alternating the airflow through either side of the nose, the kumbhaka, finally it lists the full Ashtanga primary sequence. It's simple straight forward yet also characterised by David's enthusiastic, passionate style of delivery, you want to try this, you can try this, you should try this.

Another point about the cost, the book is hand made and designed by a couple of David's Ashtanga students, Bridget Morris and  Bella Forte of Book Binding Letterpress it's a really nice cloth bound hardback, reminds me a little of Lino's Ashtanga book, simple but something you want to keep and keep going back to.

Yes, David could have put the information in a small pamphlet and kept the costs down, I thought that for a moment but then decided that this is Pranayama, it's special, this profound practice, it' should be well presented and not in something that's going to get lost around the house somewhere but in a beautiful book that takes pride of place in your practice space.

Here's a closer a look.







"DG: To me the breathing is the most important part of the practice, just period, that's all.

 PM: How come I've never learned it before? How come nobody has ever introduced me, REALLY to a practice, taught me to breathe? Ujjayi breath, breath with sound, whatever, in my asana practice but never separate from my asana practice.

 DG: Well it's like…asana, pranayama, limbs three and four….. so your supposed to be establishing the asana practice first but I also think there's a lot of value in doing a separate breathing practice , even as your establishing yourself in your asana practice. Or in fact in your case, you've been practicing for so long, your established in asana practice but then somehow you never got to a pranayama practice".

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