I managed to upload the HD version of the video I posted yesterday, I'm posting it again because it's been playing on my mind, I was a little shocked watching it back. Oscar mentioned in a comment that in the speeded up x4 version I posted yesterday he's moving quickly but it looks as if I'm practicing at regular speed. I am practicing excruciatingly slowly, if not for Oscar the video would be unwatchable, like watching grass grow or paint dry.....
And yet it doesn't feel that slow when I'm practicing, I mean, I know it's slow but I'm stunned watching this back how slow it actually is. It makes Oscar's Vinyasa Krama look brisk. I thought it would have been nice to have one of Oscar's Ashtangi's practicing along with us in the middle.
Why is it so slow?
Krishnamacharya writes about long slow breathing, like the pouring of oil, he writes about full breathing, my inhalations are around 8-10 seconds, I try to keep my exhalations the same.
Krishnamacharya includes 2-5 second Kumbhaka (breath retention) in his asana descriptions, if the head is up in a posture or perhaps before going into a posture then more often than not there's puraka kumbhaka, if the head is down then rechaka kumbhaka. In the second version of dandasana with which the video opens I'm employing puraka kumbhaka, holding the breath in for around five seconds. In the book krishnamacharya seems to include coming up out of forward bending postures for the full inhalations.
Krishnamacharya's asana practice becomes a pranayama practice.
Krishnamacharya describes full vinyasa in the Yoga Makaranda descriptions, so there's a coming back to standing, that makes sense to me in such a slow practice, I want to stretch the posture out with the vinyasa after staying so long. It's intense, the kumbhaka certainly keeps you warm
What to make of this, who would want to practice this slowly, it's limiting. If you only have an hour you won't get through many asana (not necessarily a bad thing, practice half a series). The full practice took around two and a half hours and I had to cut back on my pranayama but then perhaps there had been enough pranayama in the asana practice already, perhaps half an hour of nadi shodana, rounds it off nicely. Krishnamacharya includes a chakra focus in asana in Yoga makaranda that I'm only just beginning to explore so perhaps a little Japa meditation to close and I'm good to go. Three hours? Cut back a few asana to bring it down to two?
Watching this I wonder if anyone else would want to practice this way and yet I feel strongly somebody at least should. I've been exploring it off and on ( more and more on recently) for a year and a half, I'm settling in to it. This is such an intense practice and shouldn't be buried away in an old text, a museum piece, it should be a living tradition.
Did Krishnamacharya actually practice like this himself, we know he only had an hour lesson with the boys of the Mysore palace, it's unlikely it was this slow, Vinyasa Krama as we can see is faster, again perhaps because of the time limitations of a lesson. In the 1938 demonstration the asana flow into one another but then that was a demonstration.
But surely he must have practiced this slowly, at least for a time, otherwise why write Yoga Makaranda in this way, why want to share the practice in this way. Yoga Makaranda was Krishnamacharya's first book, as far as he knew it might have been the only book he would publish and there is at times a non compromising attitude to the text.
Watching this back I feel ever more strongly that Mark Singleton is mistaken regarding the influence of western gymnastics on Krishnamacharya's practice. It's not the international fitness movement influencing Krishnamacharya here but traditional pranayama practice brought into asana, surely it's that which most characterises this approach to practice.
Below is the Youtube description.
Video Description
Oscar and I practicing alone in his studio Yoga Centro Victoria in Leon, Spain, recorded on my Krishnamacharya workshop last weekend. Oscar is on the left practicing Vinyasa Krama along the lines of that taught to Ramaswami in the 1950's-80's. I'm on the right practicing excruciatingly slowly employing kumbhaka's (breath retention) following the asana instructions found for the Primary group of asana in Krishnamacharya's 1934-38 'Mysore book' Yoga Makaranda, written while Krishnamacharya was teaching the young Pattabhi Jois. The Video is of part of the seated section of our practice.
And yet it doesn't feel that slow when I'm practicing, I mean, I know it's slow but I'm stunned watching this back how slow it actually is. It makes Oscar's Vinyasa Krama look brisk. I thought it would have been nice to have one of Oscar's Ashtangi's practicing along with us in the middle.
Why is it so slow?
Krishnamacharya writes about long slow breathing, like the pouring of oil, he writes about full breathing, my inhalations are around 8-10 seconds, I try to keep my exhalations the same.
Krishnamacharya includes 2-5 second Kumbhaka (breath retention) in his asana descriptions, if the head is up in a posture or perhaps before going into a posture then more often than not there's puraka kumbhaka, if the head is down then rechaka kumbhaka. In the second version of dandasana with which the video opens I'm employing puraka kumbhaka, holding the breath in for around five seconds. In the book krishnamacharya seems to include coming up out of forward bending postures for the full inhalations.
Krishnamacharya's asana practice becomes a pranayama practice.
Krishnamacharya describes full vinyasa in the Yoga Makaranda descriptions, so there's a coming back to standing, that makes sense to me in such a slow practice, I want to stretch the posture out with the vinyasa after staying so long. It's intense, the kumbhaka certainly keeps you warm
What to make of this, who would want to practice this slowly, it's limiting. If you only have an hour you won't get through many asana (not necessarily a bad thing, practice half a series). The full practice took around two and a half hours and I had to cut back on my pranayama but then perhaps there had been enough pranayama in the asana practice already, perhaps half an hour of nadi shodana, rounds it off nicely. Krishnamacharya includes a chakra focus in asana in Yoga makaranda that I'm only just beginning to explore so perhaps a little Japa meditation to close and I'm good to go. Three hours? Cut back a few asana to bring it down to two?
Watching this I wonder if anyone else would want to practice this way and yet I feel strongly somebody at least should. I've been exploring it off and on ( more and more on recently) for a year and a half, I'm settling in to it. This is such an intense practice and shouldn't be buried away in an old text, a museum piece, it should be a living tradition.
Did Krishnamacharya actually practice like this himself, we know he only had an hour lesson with the boys of the Mysore palace, it's unlikely it was this slow, Vinyasa Krama as we can see is faster, again perhaps because of the time limitations of a lesson. In the 1938 demonstration the asana flow into one another but then that was a demonstration.
But surely he must have practiced this slowly, at least for a time, otherwise why write Yoga Makaranda in this way, why want to share the practice in this way. Yoga Makaranda was Krishnamacharya's first book, as far as he knew it might have been the only book he would publish and there is at times a non compromising attitude to the text.
Watching this back I feel ever more strongly that Mark Singleton is mistaken regarding the influence of western gymnastics on Krishnamacharya's practice. It's not the international fitness movement influencing Krishnamacharya here but traditional pranayama practice brought into asana, surely it's that which most characterises this approach to practice.
Below is the Youtube description.
Video Description
Oscar and I practicing alone in his studio Yoga Centro Victoria in Leon, Spain, recorded on my Krishnamacharya workshop last weekend. Oscar is on the left practicing Vinyasa Krama along the lines of that taught to Ramaswami in the 1950's-80's. I'm on the right practicing excruciatingly slowly employing kumbhaka's (breath retention) following the asana instructions found for the Primary group of asana in Krishnamacharya's 1934-38 'Mysore book' Yoga Makaranda, written while Krishnamacharya was teaching the young Pattabhi Jois. The Video is of part of the seated section of our practice.
13 comments:
Hi G. Im an ashtanga teacher who stopped ashtanga as my own practice a while back. I now prefer to practice some VK sub-routines (mainly one leg, lotus, bow, meditative and inverted) and also some of Krishnamacharya's earlier work. I love "Yoga Makaranda" and "Salutations to the Teacher". I find ashtanga is evolving into a faster practice and everyone is getting hooked up on the next asana. Lots of people travel to mysore to practice at "the source". I now prefer to practice from the source - Krishnmacharya's Teachings.
"Lots of people travel to mysore to practice at "the source". I now prefer to practice from the source - Krishnmacharya's Teachings."
I love that line, thank you for commenting.
Me too... when I was there Sharath just told me one day: you have to do it faster, if not your no gonna get flexible. Maybe he´s right. But my mind was on breath, mind control, not flexible... After nine years, I still asking about his quote
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=441479725973674&set=a.439471036174543.1073741828.439225986199048&type=1&relevant_count=1
card looks krishnamacharia presentation of non Indians
so you should base yourself for yours, it would really cool vintage style
Faster for flexibility makes no sense to me but your the sports scientist, you'll know better than me..... because of body heat perhaps but this was Mysore right, pretty warm already.
I think kumbhaka overcomes the problem re body heat but of course no kumbhaka in Jois Ashtanga.
Lots of pedagogic problems with such a slow practice perhaps but god, if I was Sharat and somebody turned up practicing slowly, I'd give them the best spot in my shala and an early time so they could practice all morning if they wished.
Perhaps things are changing a little, Sharath is saying some interesting things recently regarding practice. perhaps as he gets older and his own practice changes he'll stress different aspects of practice more. Doesn't matter, sooner or later we all discover the breath, it's a breathing practice.
I saw this Anon, nice picture, thank you for the reminder and yes, love the vintage look.
As you are noting the slowness of your practice, can you speak to why and when you decide to transition to a new posture? As meditation, the breath is calm andcthe body motionless. Why the bother with the novelty of many advanced postures? What do the advanced postures do for the breath that the basic postures do not?
"What do the advanced postures do for the breath that the basic postures do not"?
I guess, Anon, that is the exact questions I'm asking Krishnamacharya through exploring his approach to practice, what did he find practicing this way, why in writing his book did he choose to present the practice in this manner.
But yes, if you practice this slowly and it becomes ever more meditative then why not just sit and be done with the postures altogether.
I have had a straight sitting practice, I still do but it's shorter, my asana practice is preparatory. I could of course practice faster Ashtanga, get my asana out of the way in an hour for fitness and then have more time to just sit but this current approach seems to be working well for me.
I approach my asana as a mostly fixed sequence (Krishnamacharya's Ashtanga primary ), and tend to stay for three - five long breaths in most postures (except for the longer stays in finishing, paschimottanasana and maha mudra ) so the practice pretty much runs itself, the move from one posture to another is kind of automatic, I don't even bother to count anymore, sometimes the body moves to the next posture after three, sometimes after five breaths.. So there is a drawing back of engagement with the practice, I know the postures ( as far as one can know a posture) don't consider them that advanced. Perhaps it'd becoming more akin to Walking Zen.
It's intuition, I feel drawn to practice this way, it sets me up nicely for my meditation practice, Ramaswami would say It's got rid of the rajas and tamas and put me in a more satvic state but then I've always thought one is probably pretty satvic at 4 or 5 am anyway so why not just sit.
I feel this approach to practice throughout my day, there's a calmness, I don't know, my intuition tells me that this is a good approach to practice for me now.
Perhaps I've not answered your question.
Cheers for the notes above
Are you clear whether Krishnamacharya actually practiced that way, or whether the book's description is purely aspirational? I ask because Jois in Yoga Mala also refers to holding the postures for a long time right, in terms of the length of the breath? Whereas his actual practice as per various videos, is much faster. Looking at those very old B&W films of Iyengar and Krishnamacharya they don't seem to be practicing slowly. I wonder whether the book represents some kind of ideal?
Anyway, my own practice is somewhere between the standard Ashtanga (1.5 hours to finish primary) and yours - I usually clock about 2 hours all in. This seems to suit me - Friday led practice feels a bit quick, wouldn't want it every day, but is good for a workout once a week. Then there's the Derek Ireland do it all in 30 mins demo style - never tried it, but guess it probably feels truly aerobic, which may not be a bad thing from a pure health perspective.
Yes, it's a good question. We have to separate out I think how Krishnamacharya and Jois taught and how they practiced. Jois taught quite a quick pace yet in interviews would talk about a breath taking 10, 15, 20 seconds and Manju refers to his father taking long stays in asana. The 1938 movie is a demonstration of course and it's on film not a memory stick so not much chance of a long stay. My guess is that Krishnamacharya himself did practice something like this, but taught taking account of time constraints, his classes were an hour. Supposedly Krishnamacharya would often have one of his senior students take the large classes of kids a lot of the time while he would teach in another room on a one to one basis, perhaps he taught more slowly then.
But even if it is an ideal it's interesting to explore...although perhaps not the three hour mayurasana ( although I'm working towards fifteen minutes).
re Derek Ireland, I have his primary series cd, running time is i hour forty-five minutes.
I don't know anon, practicing this way, it feels quite profound and intense, happy to explore it for a year and then see where i am.
Thanks - was referring to the Derek Ireland demos he used to do on the beach (in legend anyway) where he'd do primary in half an hour.
I agree that mentally longer feels better, whereas quick feels a bit stressful sometimes. Only downside is temperature though - especially at this time of year, unless your practice room is nice and hot, it can start to feel a bit nippy doing a slow practice.
true re the cold weather. Full vinyasa helps as does holding chatuaranga for a couple of breaths, kumbhkas sreem to keep the heat ip too. I still include regular Ashtanga surynamaskara, just wouldn't seem like christmas without em.
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