Exploring Kumbhaka ( breath retention) in Krishnamacharya's Intermediate 'series' inc. Practice Sheets primary- 2nd series

For much of last year I found myself exploring Krishnamacharya's asana descriptions in Yoga Makaranda, culminating in a reordering of the asana from that text into Ashtanga Primary series order. That allowed me to follow, in my own practice,  the regular sequence with which I'm so familiar and yet bring in other elements of Krishnamacharya's approach, the longer stays, slower breathing and in particular his employment of kumbhaka (breath retention).

For the coming year the plan is to take a similar approach to Ashtanga 2nd series. So what we have below is a slight reordering of the table from Krishnamacharya's 1941 book Yogasanaglau to bring it into line with current Intermediate series. ( I've also included the reordered table for Standing primary and Finishing sequences).

Looking forward to exploring second series again, have missed it. I've often included in my practice this year the backbend section from 2nd series whether in an Ashtanga context or Vinyasa Krama but pretty much abandoned everything after that. My lotus comes down in Karandavasana still but is reluctant to go back up.

I added most of this post to the previous one as an update but want to make it available as a separate post so anyone else wants to play can.

The beauty of this approach I think is that you can introduce as much or as little of Krishnamacharya's approach into your own practice as you wish. Explore the kumbhaka option perhaps in one or more asana, or better, explore the kumbhaka option in, say, a different group of five postures each practice. Choose perhaps a similar group of five postures and explore slowing the breathing right down, we do something anyway with our standing and finishing postures where the breathing is often slower. And we can choose to explore longer stays in certain postures, choose a different posture or two and stay for ten full breaths rather than the usual five. All options to explore and approaches that Krishnamacharya chose to present in what was essentially a manual


For me, approaching my whole practice this way, it'll be a case of splitting the series into two allowing me to take it slower and include the longer stays and kumbhaka's, perhaps with a longer full 2nd on Tuesdays and full Primary on Sunday.

In the rediscovered Pattabhi Jois Yoga Therapy article Vamana's use of Vinyasa is translated as 'inhalation and exhalation' in keeping with the current presentation of Ashtanga in which no Kumbhaka is employed.

Pattabhi Jois also states in the article

'This method can be learnt only from an experienced yogi well versed in Yoga Shastra'.

Breath in the arms come up, 

breath out the arms go down, 

breathe in - come up, 

breath out - bend forward....

It's actually quite intuitive, how about the breath

'equal but otherwise, free breathing'.

Why do we need an 'experienced guru well versed in the shastras' to teach us something that appears so intuitive?

I have theory (what, another one)....

This year I've been exploring, through practice, Krishnamacharya's approach to asana, in particular, his employment of kumbhaka. I've slightly reordered the Primary Group asana from the table found in Krishnamacharya's Yogasanagalu (1941) to bring it more in line with the current Ashtanga primary series sequence. I'm presently doing something similar for the middle group also, bringing the Yogasangalu table order in line with current Ashtanga Intermediate series. The plan is to explore this approach to 2nd series in my practice this coming year. 

Krishnamacharya doesn't seem to have followed a fixed series although clearly there are sequences and subroutines that closely follow sections within the current practice of Ashtanga, that's to be expected of course much of it is intuitive, one asana often logically follows another. The Primary group asana table in Yogasanagalu is almost exactly the same as we find in the current Ashtanga Primary series, the Middle group is close, very close, however the Proficient group is more 'lumped together'. 

The story goes that when Pattabhi Jois was invited to teach at the Sanskrit college he came to Krishnamacharya with the asana he had been taught by Krishnamacharya grouped into Primary, Intermediate, Advanced A and Advanced B. Krishnamacharya is said to have given his approval.

I'm familiar with the Ashtanga series having practice Primary to Advanced series for a number of years, it makes sense to me to practice Krishnamacharya's instructions for asana in an order I'm familiar with as well as allowing me to offer it to others as an option to explore in their own practice.

Looking at this section of the 2nd series table that I'm currently working on, with it's employment of different kumbhaka depending on the asana, we can probably agree that this is significantly more complex. 

Actually it's even more complicated than the table suggests. In Yoga Makaranda Krishnamacharya gives instructions for different kumbhaka at different stages of the vinyasa of a single asana. We can see perhaps why the assistance of a guru well versed in the shastras ( here I read those related to pranayama practice) is advised particularly as there is an intimate relationship between kumbhakam and the employment of the different bandhas. I have been fortunate in that my teacher, Srivatsa Ramaswami, Krishnamacharya's student of 30 years still teaches, to some extent, the use of  kumbhaka in certain asana vinyasas, within the Jois Ashtanga lineage however this element of the tradition seems to have been misplaced. Manju Jois went so far as to tell me recently that Krishnamacharya was mistaken in his use of kumbhaka in asana, perhaps he is right. However we are not talking about one reference in passing to kumbhaka. Yoga Makaranda is all about the breath, each individual element of the breath, we find kumbhaka's described in almost every asana. 

Perhaps the employment of kumbhaka is something that Krishnamacharya didn't teach to his student Pattabhi Jois, and yet we find it detailed in Yoga Makaranda (1934) written while Patabhi Jois was Krishnamacharya's student and even in some cases teaching assistant (It is thought Pattabhi Jois, being a senior student, would have led the Mysore boys in their classes while Krishnamacharya would, on occasion, teach a more Vinyasa krama approach on a one-to-one basis in another room). Perhaps kumbhaka was not intended for the young boys of the palace or beginners.

Yet kumbhaka is everywhere in Yoga Makaranda (1934), in almost every asana description detailed instructions are given, likewise in Yogasanagalu (1941) and its presentation within the form of a  table. These were texts Krishnamacharya was instructed to write as pedagogic manuals for schools and elsewhere. Krishnamacharya wanted to share this approach to asana, he wanted us to practice asana this way.

Section of the 2nd series table I'm presently working on 

Krishnamacharya Yogasanagalu (19410 table in Ashtanga 2nd series order

Number in                                                                                        Asana

yogasanaglu        Asana                                      Vinyasas            position                       Breathing notes

table                                           

1.            Pasasana                            14             7-8              Bhaya kumbhaka

2.            Krounchasana                     22        7-8-14-15        Bhaya Kumbhaka

6.            Shalabasana A and B          10            5-6              Antah Kumbhaka

10.          Bhekasana                            9               5                Antah Kumbhaka

3.            Dhanurasana                        9               5               Antah Kumbhaka

4.            Parshva Dhanurasana         12           6-7-8            Antah Kumbhaka

9.            Ushtrasana                          15           7-8-9            Antah Kumbhaka

12.          Lagu Vajrasana                    15           7-8-9           Ubhaya Kumbhaka

15.          Kapotasana A and B            15              8               Antah Kumbhaka

11.          Supta vajrasana                   18            9-11            Ubhya Kumbhaka

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FIRST DRAFT

Note - Length of Kumbhaka's
Extend the natural/automatic mini kumbhaka between the inhalation and exhalation or between the exhalation and inhalation to 2-5 seconds in the postures indicated, certain more 'meditative' postures the kumbhaka might be extended to those employed in regular pranayama.

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See previous post for a look back over my posts this year, favourite posts as well as new resource pages on Ashtanga History, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Manju Jois and Srivatsa Ramaswami.

2013 A year in posts - New Ashtanga Vinyasa resource Pages, favourite posts of the year