Krishnamacharya’s early Ashtanga Vinyasa Krama Yoga...at home : January 2014

Thursday 23 January 2014

Mark Singleton's Krishnamacharya - Gurus of Modern Yoga (2014)

I just came across a chapter on Krishnamacharya written by Mark Singleton and Tara Frazer in Gurus of Modern yoga, so far I think it's only out on Kindle, the hardback and paperback to follow later this month. An interesting read as ever from Mark but I have some questions/concerns. After my rant there are some more details on the book from the publishers including the full contents.

Part Two: The Lineages of Krishnamacharya

Chapter 4: T. Krishnamacharya, Father of Modern yoga

Mark Singleton and Tara Frazer

The Krishnamacharya section of the book begins by looking at the areas listed below and I'd like to take a closer look at them perhaps coming back to the later topics in another post. Throughout I've referred to Mark Singleton as 'Singleton' and for some reason that seems a little abrupt, curiously more so than referring to Krishnamacharya as Krishnamacharya however, using 'Mark' throughout felt a little too familiar. I've also used Singleton out of convenience rather than Singleton and Frazer as I'm not sure of the contribution from Tara, at several point's Mark refers to her contribution in the context of field research ( It was actually Tara Frazer's Ashtanga book, found in the library that first got me started with yoga and with Ashtanga in particular). It might seem that I take exception to a lot of what Mark has to say about Krishnamacharya in this chapter, just as I have with many of his conclusions in Yoga Body however I appreciate both his book and this one and the dialogue he engenders.

Lets look at the first few topics.

Introduction

Life

Teaching principles

Krishnamacharya on the Guru

Rammohan Brahmacari, The "Yoga Guru"

Mark Singleton states that Krishnamacharya's reputation is "...largely due to the enormous influence of several of his students at the global level as well as the energetic proportion of his teachings by family members and the organisations founded in his name". He lists, BKS Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, Indra Devi but focuses for much of the article on Krishnamacharya's son, TKV Desikachar, and grandson, Kausthub Desikachar.

"TKV Desikachar along with his son, Kausthub Desikachar, founded the Krishnamacharya Yoga and Healing Foundation (KYHF), specifically to provide training and regulation of teacher and therapists working in the Krishnamacharya tradition. In recent years TKV Desikachar's involvement in the KYM and KYHF has become minimal, apparently due to health issues. the management of these organisations largely fell to Kausthub Desikachar, who has enthusisatically promulgated the legend and teachings of his grandfather. The establishment of the KHYF with it's bold mission statement and international ambitions heralded a major shift in pace and style that gained many new recruits but also saw established devotees, teachers, and students distancing themselves from the organisation. On October 2012, Kausthub Desikachar stepped down from the KYM and KHYF due to allegations of sexual abuse (see my blog post Varying allegations of sexual, mental and emotional abuse against Dr. Kaustaub Desikachar). Some months later, however two new organisations emerged out of Chennai: the Sannidhi of krishnamacharya yoga and Yoga Makaranda, The essence of yoga, which promotes the teaching of Kausthub Desikachar."

Singleton argues that Krishnamacharya's later teaching are indistinguishable from the interpretation and meditation on those teaching by Desikachar

It is this continuation of the idea of Krishnamacharya's early and late teaching that I find so problematic. In several places Singleton refers to Krishnamacharya's Chennai years as his 'mature teaching', was Mysore his immature teaching: However, Krishnamacharya was 50 when the famous 1938 documentary was shot in Mysore, being 50 myself this year I'm pleased to hear that I'm not so 'mature' after all.

In the section on Krishnamacharya's Life Singleton makes the claim that Krishnamacharya was complicit in the creation of his own 'myth', he refers to it as 'mischievousness'. I have had my own suspicious with regard to how long Krishnamacharya actually spent with his guru in Tibet, seven and a half years seems almost too much of a cliche. There is much that doesn't add up and I've discussed it in this earlier post. Singleton quotes a story where TKV Desikachar is supposed to have said that he continued the seven years in Tibet story to honour his father.

Singleton goes even further and questions whether Krishnamacharya ever studied with Yogeshwara Ramamohana Brahmachari in Tibet presenting the argument that perhaps he studied with his guru, if at all, in Southern India rather than Tibet.

Later however Singleton focuses on the Guru idea, this is after all the remit for the book. He brings out something interesting, the suggestion that the Guru plants the seed which germinates within the student eventually perhaps bearing fruit. The argument is that for all Krishnamacharya's innovations they all go back to the seed planted in him by his teacher Ramamohana Brahmachari. If we follow this argument then all Pattabhi Jois' modifications are a result of the seed planted in him by Krishnamacharya, the same I imagine goes for Manju Jois, Sharath, Nancy Gilgoff, David Williams, David Swenson, Kino and perhaps even Beryl Bender Birch (power yoga). Perhaps it comes down to how long you actually spend with the guru.

Singleton also of course questions the fabled Yoga Korunta as I too have done here, suggesting that Yoga Korunta actually just stands for 'Yoga Book', he suggests that this may well be another of Krishnamacharya's own compositions like the Yoga Rhyassa, where the story goes that Krishnamacharya was somewhat divinely inspired to write it after a dream, back when he was 16. Yoga Rahasya was published in the 1980's by KYM.

Singleton characterises Krishnamacharya's Mysore years by reference to the 'dynamic jumping style' he taught, familiar to us now as Pattabhi Jois' Ashtanga Vinyasa, this fits in with the image painted in Singleton's earlier book Yoga Body, presenting Ashtanga as being influenced by the fitness craze of the time.

For me this is a misrepresentation of Krishnamacharya's teaching in Mysore. On this blog ( see my Krishnamacharya resource page )I've shown how Krishnamacharya's teaching of this period, as presented in his own book Yoga Makaranda, instructed long slow breathing, long stays, kumbhaka (breath retention), a linking of movement to the slow, not fast, breathing... there is even a focus on the chakra's all within the practice of asana.

Singleton refers to dynamic sequences and yet I have also shown on this blog how Krishnamacharya preferred related groups of postures (Yogasanagalu 1941) rather than fixed sequences. Singleton continues to focus on the jump into and out of a posture but this is merely one element of a transition from standing to the posture and back to standing where each movement is linked to an element of the breath and where at the end of most inhalations and exhalations there is the suggestion of the appropriate breath retention. The jump through and back, is often performed slowly and gracefully and this seems more in keeping with Krishnamacharya's presentation of other aspects of his approach to asana. Krishnamacharya's asana is closer to pranayama and/or meditation, limbs which he also encouraged in the Mysore years, rather than to the fitness craze of the time.

That said Modern day Ashtanga is often but not always practiced at a faster pace than Krishnamacharya seems to have indicated in Yoga Makaranda, the stays in the postures are shorter, kumbhaka has been dropped altogether and the jumps in and out of the postures do often seem to be performed with the focus on athleticism. This perhaps has more to do with the temperament of the western students perhaps and the longer fixed sequence that Pattabhi Jois introduced based on Krishnamacharya's asana groups than Krishnamacharya's own methodology.

But perhaps Pattabhi Jois did take his cue from the lessons Krishnamacharya taught to the boys of the Mysore palace where perhaps a faster pace was taken to keep the attention of the young boys. However Krishnamacharya was also said to keep the boys in a postures while having them chant also 'the boys' were not Krishnamacharya's only students. Indra Devi, mentioned by Singleton, can hardly be said to have a dynamic style of practice and yet she was a student of Krishnamacharya at this time as were the patients who would come to see the Maharajah's influential Yoga teacher for consultations, surely he was not teaching them the 'dynamic style' but rather perhaps his slower version of his methodology.

from the notes to this chapter

The Krishnamacharya section continues with a treatment of the topics

The "Krishnamacharya lineage", Sri Vaisn avism and the Spriritual Master

Relogious Universalism

Reading and Writing tradition.

Bhakti

In the Conclusion Singleton focuses on the suggestion that Krishnamacharya is taking on an almost saint like status, that Krishnamacharya is considered the creator of modern yoga, 'the man who in the 1920's and 30s turned yoga into what it is today', he seems troubled by this. Personally I think he has nothing to worry about, in my own writing on this blog I've noticed my stats go down on the Krishnamacharya posts, but up on those mentioning Sharath, Pattabhi Jois or anything to do with back bending , I imagine that stats on the blogs in the Iyengar tradition do much the same. There is some interest in the 'teacher's teacher but not perhaps as much as Singleton seems to suggest, despite perhaps the best efforts of the Desikachar family and the KYM.

For me Krishnamacharya is , for now, as far back as we can go directly in the Ashtanga vinyasa tradition ( the methodI practice myself). If a text turned up written by Ramamohana Brahmachari then I would probably focus on a close reading of that text and see what it offered me to explore in my practice. As it is, the first texts in the Ashtanga Vinyasa tradition we have are Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda (1934) and his Yogasanagalu (1941). In these I find all the elements, although many have been neglected, of Pattabhi Jois' Ashtanga Vinyasa just as I do those of Desikachar. Mohan and Ramaswami.

It bothers me not the least that the Yoga Korunta might never have existed or was just one 'Yoga Book' among many nor am I that concerned whether Krishnamacharya studied in Tibet for seven and a half years with his guru or with several yoga teachers in different parts of India. I love the stories of him stopping his heart but suspect that it was merely impressively slowed. But I do trust my teacher Ramaswami and the love and devotion he still bares for Krishnamacharya and that counts for a lot.

What I most care about though is the raising of my arms slowly and with the breath and the idea that in the suspension of the breath at the end of the inhalation I might just see God...or the absence of God.

Tomorrow I'm off to Valencia to present a workshop on Krishnamacharya

I believe there are still some places available.

Here are more details on the rest of the book from the publishers.

Gurus of Modern Yoga Paperback

by Mark Singleton (Editor) , Ellen Goldberg (Editor)

http://www.amazon.com/Gurus-Modern-Yoga-Mark-Singleton/dp/0199938725

Amazon.com

Hardcover $89.10

Paperback $23.96

Kindle $28.19

416 pages

The first collection of cutting-edge essays on the phenomenon of gurus in modern yoga.
Each essay represents an important facet of the modern yoga guru phenomenon.
Within most pre-modern, Indian traditions of yoga, the role of the guru is absolutely central. Indeed, it was often understood that yoga would simply not work without the grace of the guru. The modern period saw the dawn of new, democratic, scientific modes of yoga practice and teaching. While teachings and gurus have always adapted to the times and circumstances, the sheer pace of cultural change ushered in by modernity has led to some unprecedented innovations in the way gurus present themselves and their teachings, and the way they are received by their students.

Gurus of Modern Yoga explores the contributions of individual gurus to the formation of the practices and discourses of yoga today. The focus is not limited to India, but also extends to the teachings of yoga gurus in the modern, transnational world, and within the Hindu diaspora. Each section deals with a different aspect of the guru within modern yoga. Included are extensive considerations of the transnational tantric guru; the teachings of modern yoga's best-known guru, T. Krishnamacharya, and those of his principal disciples; the place of technology, business and politics in the work of global yoga gurus; and the role of science and medicine. As a whole, the book represents an extensive and diverse picture of the place of the guru, both past and present, in contemporary yoga practice.

Readership: Scholars and students of South Asian studies and yoga.

Table of contents
Note on Transliteration
Introduction - Mark Singleton and Ellen Goldberg
Part One: Key Figures in Early Twentieth-Century Yoga
Chapter 1: Manufacturing Yogis: Swami Vivekananda as a Yoga Teacher - Dermot Killingley
Chapter 2: Remembering Sri Aurobindo and the Mother: The Forgotten Lineage of Integral Yoga - Ann Gleig and Charles I. Flores
Chapter 3: Shri Yogendra: Magic, Modernity and the Burden of the Middle-Class Yogi - Joseph S. Alter
Part Two: The Lineages of T. Krishnamacharya
Chapter 4: T. Krishnamacharya, ''Father of Modern Yoga'' - Mark Singleton and Tara Fraser
Chapter 5: ''Authorized by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois'': The Role of Parampara and Lineage in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga - Jean Byrne
Chapter 6: B.K.S. Iyengar as a Yoga Teacher and Yoga Guru - Frederick M. Smith and Joan White
Chapter 7: The Institutionalization of the Yoga Tradition: ''Gurus'' B. K. S. Iyengar and Yogini Sunita in Britain - Suzanne Newcombe
Part Three: Tantra Based Gurus
Chapter 8: Swami Krpalvananda: The Man Behind Kripalu Yoga - Ellen Goldberg
Chapter 9: Muktananda: Entrepreneurial Godman, Tantric Hero - Andrea R. Jain
Chapter 10: Stretching toward the Sacred: John Friend and Anusara Yoga - Lola Williamson
Part Four: Bhaktiyoga
Chapter 11: Svaminarayana: Bhaktiyoga and the Aksarabhraman Guru - Hanna H. Kim
Chapter 12: Sathya Sai Baba and the Repertoire of Yoga - Smriti Srinivas
Part Five: Technology
Chapter 13: Engineering an Artful Practice: On Jaggi Vasudev's ISHA Yoga and Sri Sri Ravi Shakar's Art of Living - Joanne Punzo Waghorne
Chapter 14: Online Bhakti in a Modern Guru Organization - Maya Warrier
Part Six: Nation-Builders
Chapter 15: Eknath Ranade, Gurus and Jivanvratis (life-workers): Vivekananda Kendra's Promotion of the ''Yoga Way of Life'' - Gwilym Beckerlegge
Chapter 16: Swami Ramdev: Modern Yoga Revolutionary - Stuart Sarbacker
Index
The specification in this catalogue, including with

Below an outline of Part Two the Krishnamacharya Linage section of the Book

A taste of the chapter on Pattabhi Jois and parampara

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Introducing advanced asana into our Primary and Intermediate Series, suggestions for each asana in the Advanced A and B series in the original 1974 Ashtanga syllabus,

''...these days I seem to be less and less interested in exploring the Advanced postures preferring to explore Krishnamacharya's approach to the breath, particularly his use of kumbhaka, in postures mostly from his Primary group".

In an earlier post this month I posed the question 'Did Pattabhi Jois' teacher Krishnamacharya have an Advanced series and if so where was it'. I had shown that the Primary and Middle groups from the asana table in his 1941 book Yogasanagalu corresponded closely with the Ashtanga Primary and Intermediate series we have now, but what about the table of advanced postures, it appeared to be more of a 'lumping together' of asana rather than suggesting any sequence.

Krishnamacharya doesn't seem to have followed fixed sequences. Although there appears to have been intuitive progressions of primary and middle asana subroutines that most likely corresponded to our current practice it was unlikely they were fixed in stone. It was Pattabhi Jois who seems to have formalised the different levels of asana in to, originally, four sequences, Primary, Intermediate, Advanced A and Advanced B and this seems to have been necessitated by his being invited to teach a four year yoga course at the Sanskrit college. Had the course been three or two years the practice we have today would most likely have been significantly different.

So if Krishnamacharya had no Advanced A and B series how would he have approached these more challenging asana?

Manju Jois mentioned on a recent workshop I attended in Rethymno, Crete that he practices some of Primary, some of 2nd series and a couple of postures from Advanced series.

It seems likely to me that this would have been how Krishnamacharya would have approached the practice of his more proficient students.

There is an often intuitive development of asana in Krishnamacharya's approach, we can see this in the layout of asana in the Primary and Intermediate groups. We find Marchiasana A B and C following each other in the Primary group, but the more challenging Marchiasana D appears in the Intermediate group, Marichiasana E, F, G and H, more challenging still, turn up the proficient group. It seems likely that as the student progressed they were given more advanced variants of the Marchi posture. This is similar to Pattabhi Jois' early approach to parivritta trikonasana, the reverse triangle posture we all practice in the standing sequence. On visiting the USA in the early 80's Pattabhi Jois was supposedly shocked to find beginner students practicing the posture, he had listed it under the fourth year (Advanced B in the 1974 asana list he gave to Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams). A compromise was found and for a time one would wait until they had learnt all of primary series before being taught the twisting posture when it would then be reintroduced in it's 'rightful' place in the standing sequence.

Below is the list of proficient asana from the Advanced A and B sequences, the 3rd and 4th years in the 1974 original Ashtanga list. The pictures are mostly my own often take around the time I first gained some semblance of the posture, they are in no way to be taken as indications of how the posture should be performed, some of these I practice with more facility now, others I have lost completely as I have focused on other aspects of Krishnamacharya's practice, his use of kumbhaka for example..

I've tried to indicate how we might introduce more advanced postures into our Primary and Intermediate series practice as we become more proficient. We do this already of course, we introduce the full finishing sequence once we've learnt Primary series up to Marichasana B, we introduce drop backs after completing full Primary, bakasana as an exit in Primary once we have gained more strength, the dwi pada sirsaasana entry to supta kurmasana once we have learnt that posture in 2nd series.

What becomes interesting as we introduce postures this way is that we start to see the Vinyasa Krama sequences that Ramaswami presents corresponding to how he was taught by Krishnamacharya in the 1950s-80s.

In Vinyasa Krama, in the Asymmetric sequence for example, we find a similar progression through subroutines that we have in our Ashtanga Primary series. We find the Triang Mukha eka pada paschimottansana and janu sirsasana's, ardha badha parma paschimottanasana followed by the marichiasana subroutine, we then move into the leg behind head posture, eka pada sirsasana found in Ashtanga 2nd series but then move on to the more advanced series leg behind head options, Durvasana for example.

In Vinyasa Krama we would add the more advanced extensions as we gained proficiency with a previous variation of a posture, each posture can be seen as a preparation for the one that follows or an extension of one that proceeds it.

It is suggested then that occasionally introducing progressively more advanced variations of postures into a core practice most likely characterised the approach taken to asana practice by Krishnamacharya in the Mysore years 1920s-1950 when he was teaching small and large groups of students but that it was also the method he employed in his later small group and one to one teaching. The construction of fixed series, particularly Advanced A and B by Pattabhi Jois, in response to the demands of a four year course structure, was a departure from Krishnamacharya's approach. Both approaches to advanced asana have their benefits as well as their drawbacks

Obviously caution is advised as is common sense, we do not just practice an advanced posture because it's there, we have to consider where we are with a proceeding posture before introducing a more advanced variation. There are benefits though. In Ashtanga Intermediate series there is a nice build up of backbends leading to kapotasana but no preparation for the first leg behind head posture. In the Krishnamacharya Krama there would be plenty of preparation through the less challenging asymmetric postures before taking our leg behind our head into the more advanced hip opener. This follows through each of the Vinyasa Krama sequences

Below I've suggested where the advanced posture might follow on from postures in the primary and Intermediate series but often in Vinyasa Krama there would be even more preparatory postures in between. This is how I've included these postures in my own practice although these days I seem to be less and less interested in exploring the Advanced postures preferring to explore Krishnamacharya's approach to the breath, particularly his use of kumbhaka, in postures mostly from his Primary group.

Many Ashtanga practitioners have no interest in progressing to 3rd second series, it was supposedly only for demonstration after all, some have no ambition perhaps for second series either however they may well have gained proficiency in certain areas within the Primary sequence. This approach allows as to add more challenging asana where we feel confident and comfortable and appears to be in line with Krishnamacharya's original teaching way back when he was teaching the young Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, it is an approach in line with 'the tradition'.

NB: The intention of this post is not to encourage anyone to run off and practice advanced postures before they are ready to do so. The argument is that there are certain areas in our practice in which we are stronger than others, more proficient than others, and these can be explored further, should we see benefit in doing so, by introducing asana from Krishnamacharya's proficient group. This seems to have been Krishnamacharya's original practice back when he was teaching pattabhi Jois in Mysore as well as that he taught throughout his life and the approach taught to me by Krishnamacharya's student of over thirty years, Srivatsa Ramaswami.

The numbering system below is the same as that found on the 'original' Ashtanga syllabus given to Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams in 1974 and supposedly the same as that formalised by Pattabhi Jois when he began teaching a four year course of Yoga at the sanskrit college in the early 1940s.

Introducing Advanced A asana into Primary and Intermediate Ashtanga Series

Postures 1 and 2 come up early in the Vinyasa Krama asymmetric series corresponding to the first few postures of primary series, Vishwamitra is a nice preparation for the leg behind head postures

The following leg behind head postures 3-7 can be considered extensions of the Asymmetric postures early in the Primary series, i tend to rotate them rather than include all in one practice.

I will occasionally include urdhava kukutasana as an alternative to utpluthi at the end of the practice, most of the arm balanced 8-12 can be slipped into your practice at any point, this is nice in winter when you want to keep the heat up.

I tended to include Viranchyasana after Marichiyasa D in Primary series, often including Mari E,F,G and H although perhaps not all in the same practice

I still tend to include Viranchyasana B after Janu Sirsasana C whenever I practice Primary

Purna Masyendrasana is of course an extension of the 2nd series ardha matsyendrasana and can be included immediately afterwards, I sometimes include these in place of marichiyasana D

The two backbends 16-17 found in 3rd series are natural extensions of the 2nd series kapottasana, it's particularly appropriate to include them here given the preparatory postures that begin 2nd series.

Because of the long slow breathing approach I take to practice I will often tend to practice only half a series, if it happens to be the first half of 2nd series then I will often extend the backbend work bringing in the next two backbends as well as the preceding two after kapotasana.

Alternatively I will introduce more back bending to counter all the forward bends in Primary including 19 as a variation and extension of urdhva dhanurasana and 18 as a headstand variation.

Yet another arm balance that can be included anywhere and in any series

A variation we can include before or after the regular dhanurasana in 2nd series

I like to include 22-23 in primary series before the dwi pada a sirsasana entry I take to supta kurmasana in primary series. in Vinyasa Krama they come after Janu sirsasana and before the eka pada sirsasana, the first leg behind head posture.

More dhanurasana variations that can be included as extensions to regular dhanurasana early in 2nd series especially if you feel you require more preparation leading up to your kapotasana.

Viparita salabhasana appears in the vinyasa krama bow series as an extension of the shalabhasanas we find early in 2nd series, this can be extend even further in 25, utthana shalabhasana and perhaps with 26 although I tend to include 26 after pincha mayurasana either in place of or proceeding karandavasana.

The advanced hip openers 27 and 28 strike me as the culmination of all the hip opening work we find in primary series and I continue to work on developing them there.

A natural extension of the leg behind head work found in second series. As we become proficient in eka pada sirsasana we can extend the posture into 29, buddhasana as well as into the forward bending version kapliasana.

Two more extensions of kapotasana, more challenging because of the reduced stability, explore them after your regular kapotasana.

An extension to Supta hasta padangusthasana found at the end of primary series, it's natural to explore it here. Kino MacGregorhas an excellent youtube video on this posture.

An extension of pinch mayurasana

CAUTION: This mandala is a highly challenging posture, an extension of all the twisting postures you have practiced, exception proficiency in twisting postures is advised to reduce risk to straining the neck.

One leg squats appear in Vinyasa krama in the on one leg sequence this is an extension of vrikasana, in Ashtanga we might explore it after Ardha badha padmottanasana, the strength it brings to play in the quads pays dividends in working towards kapotasana. Before beginning one leg squats be sure you have a good deep utkatasana and perhaps try the posture holding onto the wall or a chair to protect the knees.

In Derek Ireland's Primary series CD he includes work on hanumanasana as well as samakonasana after the prasarita subroutine in the standing sequence, this practice does not seem uncommon, it's where I've begun exploring my own hanumanasana again.

Introducing Advanced B asana into Primary and Intermediate Ashtanga Series

Simhasana was supposedly a favourite posture of Krishnamacharya I often include it after pindasana as an alternative to matsyasana

It's not uncommon to practice handstands in the surynamaskaras, although often frowned upon, we can take this further to extend the legs further over our heads into vrikasana. Handstands can be practiced anywhere inside and outside of our regular practice, once we have a lotus we can explore folding into lotus in handstand just as we do in the 2nd series karanadvasana but in forearm stand

Tic tocks or tacs are commonly introduced after we are able to drop back and come up to standing from Urdhva Dhanurasana as well as have a comfortable and stable handstand, as long as those elements are in place what series we are on seems less relevant.

Extensions to the Marichiyasana from primary series, G and H presuppose facility with the leg behind head postures I'll occasionally slip one in after Marchi D or as a substitution.

I tend to include yogasana in place of garbha pindasan on less sweaty days, the arms fold around the knees rather than going through the legs

The picture below is of a long stay in badhakonasana, Bhadrasana is similar but without the feet turned out and could be included in place of baddha konasana C

Siddhasana is my pranayama and meditation posture of choice

There is some confusion here as to which posture is referred to, I believe it is that in the first of the pictures and can be practiced whenever you have a comfortable lotus, as your back bending progresses in 2nd series so will your adhomukha padmasana. Some care with padma mayurasana needs to be taken as without the legs stretched out in regular mayurasana there is less of a counterbalance and there is the danger of a face plant. The approach here in the advanced series version is to lower down on to the arms from handstand, it's actually easier to do this in the padmasana version that regular mayurasana. lowering into parma mayurasan I can manage on a good day, into regular mayurasana, not so much.

Include bhujangasana after your shalabhasana in 2nd series or as Ramaswami recommends between shoulder stand and headstand. David Williams has said he takes five breaths in upward facing dog to balance out all the forward bending, bhujangasana might be an alternative.

An advanced 'hip opener', explore it after baddha konasana or perhaps janu sirsasana C

Derek Ireland includes Trivikramasana in the on one leg sequence in standing on his primary CD, he includes samakonasana along with hanumanasana after the prasarita subroutine, again on his primary CD, I've started to do the same.

16-18 are wonderful postures and we shouldn't have to wait until the advanced series to practice them, use them as alternative pranayama or meditation postures or bring them in and around your kapotasana. parivrttasana A and B can be employed just before kapotasana as extra preparation, 16 can be brought in after kapotasana as a resting pose while we bring the breath back to steadiness after such a challenging posture.

18-19 can be brought into our standing sequence as extensions. In Vinyasa Krama there is a one leg squat version of Dighasana which is excellent preparation for kapotasana.

Introduce Natajarasana into your standing sequence after Utthita ska padasana once your backbends have started to developed, the foot can be held up with a towel in the beginning.

An extension of your drop back into urdhva dhanurasana, this posture is found in Advanced B but is practiced in Mysore once you have begun 2nd series.

An extension of hanumanasana that you may have been working on in your standing sequence after prasarita. Here the back leg is bent bringing the foot up as we reach back to take hold of it. We need a stable hanumanasana and to have progressed in our back bending postures.

Once our back bending has developed in 2nd series we can explore this headstand variation.

An arm balance that can be introduced anywhere and in any series once we have a comfortable lotus.

Krishnamacharya would recommend we spend 15 mites each day in tadasana at the beginning of our practice

An extension of the mayurasana found in 2nd series and can of course be included there.

Another extension of our 2nd series backbend postures that can be included as an extension or substitution.

This reflects Pattabhi Jois' early approach to parivritta trikonasana, the reverse triangle posture we all practice in the standing sequence. On visiting the USA in the early 80's Pattabhi Jois was supposedly shocked to find beginner students practicing the posture, he had listed it under the fourth year (Advanced B in the 1974 asana list he gave to Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams). A compromise was found and for a time one would wait until they had learnt all of primary series before being taught the twisting posture when it would then be reintroduced in it's 'rightful' place in the standing sequence.

Advanced hip opener, makes sense to practice it in primary series following all the hip opening work but perhaps after we have also included some of the more proficient leg behind head postures. I've never actually tried this posture, only the single leg seated version hog dandasana.

This is curious, we jump through or rather around lifting one arm to go under the arm rather than between the arms. I'd forgotten all about this 'asana', it could be practiced anywhere I imagine assuming you have a strong jump through but why you would want to is beyond me.

Again, handstands can be introduced anywhere, especially on those cooler winter months when we want to increase our body heat, the picture shows both legs bent but here one leg should be straight.

This is a deep backbend that I've never worked out the best way to approach, my best attempts have been at a padmasana version of udhava dhaurasana then try to bring the hands down to the toes, Iyengar seems to do a drop back version from up on the knees in padmasana.

These headstands, listed by Pattabhi Jois in the Advanced series, are now found at the end of 2nd series but could of course be included at the end of your primary series once your headstand has become stable enough.

The last posture of Advanced B, Manju Jois introduces this at the end of his primary series along with the forward bending version.

For more on Advanced version of shavasana see this link to Eddie Stern's AYNY http://ayny.org/perfect-shavasana.html Ramaswami recommends taking mini shavasana's whenever our heart or breath rate increase too much.

APPENDIX

See this page for the original 1974 Syllabus given to Nancy Gilgoff and David Williamas

http://grimmly2007.blogspot.co.uk/p/original-1974-ashtanga-yoga-syllabus.html

'Original' 1974 Ashtanga yoga Syllabus

The 'Original' Ashtanga yoga Syllabus given to Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams by Sri K Pattabhi Jois in 1974 Mysore

"In fact, David and I had no idea that there were two separate series until the end of that first four-month trip, when we were leaving, at which point Guruji gave us a sheet of paper with a list of the postures, which were listed as Primary, Intermediate, Advanced A, and Advanced B. At this point he told us to practice one series a day, and only once a day".
from Ashtanga Yoga as it was (The long and the short of it ) Nancy Gilgoff