Krishnamacharya's Pre-Jois Mysore 'Ashtanga' Primary Group Practice.

Just as I no longer wish to have a photo of Pattabhi Jois in my practice room I find that I no longer wish to practice my Ashtanga as Pattabhi Jois presented it. And yet Jois' presentation of Ashtanga is the practice I started with, how I  practiced for a decade, it's a practice I always seem to gravitate back towards.

Help is at hand.

Below is a photo representation of Krishnamacharya's Primary group asana, based on the asana table in his second book Yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941).


Krishnamacharya doesn't seem to have been in favour of a fixed sequence, however there does seem to be an internal logic to how the asana were actually listed, unlike the middle group which strikes me as supplemental and the proficient group which strikes me as asana thrown down as and when Krishnamacharya was reminded of them, .

I've been practicing Krishnamacharya's Primary group as a fixed series, it works, it's a joy to practice and doesn't come with Jois' baggage.

Best of all we don't need to argue for taking a flexible approach, Krishnamacharya always seems to have taken a flexible approach. In his texts we find option after option, chin, face or head down in forward folds, kumbhaka options. We can choose to practice full vinyasa, half vinyasa or a mixture of the two. pranayama and a meditative practice are strongly recommended, yama/niyama, a code of behaviour, is a prerequisite rather than something that we may or may not get around to later.

In my own practice of the 'sequence' below (basically made up of Primary group asana and Vinyasa krama subroutines) I tend to warm up with some of Simon Borg-Olivier's Spinal movements. I tend to follow Krishnamacharya's instruction for the asana but also tend to use Simon Borg-Olivier as a guide to how I approach the asana I practice (see his 84 Key asana video course). In the inversions I tend to bring in a couple of the vinyasas we see Krishnamacharya perform in his 1938 demo footage, just for fun.

These days I also tend to take Simon's approach to pranayama, my yama/niyama and meditative practice tends to be guided by the Stoics.

This is not a new sequence, it's not MY sequence or methodology, there is no 'authority' here but rather, merely, a going back to Krishnamacharya's own Mysore texts.

The photos below mostly come from around 2009, they are merely a guide, a visual representation of Krishnamacharya's table of asana that I made up years ago for the Yogasanagalu translation project. I tend to practice many of these asana slightly differently these days. Practice them yourself, if at all, in the manner that feels most appropriate to you, introduce variations perhaps that lead you gently towards an asana seen here or skip the asana altogether,  again I refer you to Simon Borg-Olivier's excellent online courses that help us, I believe, to practice more safely.

Alternatively, swim, go for a walk, breathe calmly, stare at a lake or at the stars or a painting that moves you, take a moment or better still a series of moments then do it again tomorrow and the next day and the next.