Saturday, 9 February 2019

Krishnamacharya's Mysore Yoga students 1941 Yoga demonstration photos

Reposting this from this Feb. last year as Dr. TRS Sharma will be giving a lecture today (one of three) on the Mysore yoga retreat https://www.mysoreyogatraditions.com/mysore-retreat

If you are currently in Mysore I believe it might be possible to attend.
See

TRS SHARMA

In 1941 Life magazine featured a demonstration of Yoga in Mysore by Krishnamacharya's students. photos by Wallace Kirkland.


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This is Real Yoga

from Life Magazine 22nd February 1941




Speaking of Pictures
...This is Real Yoga

"These pictures present a catalogue of 20 of the countless contorted postures by which the soul of an Indian yogi seeks to escape from the mortal imprisonment of it's human body. They show yoga not in the side-show of a bearded street fakir, but as practiced in it's pure form  by lithe young devotees of an ancient and honourable religion. This is the second set of pictures to be published from the hundreds taken by LIFE Photographer Wallace Kirkland on a sixth-month expedition into the strange museum of human achievement and eccentricity that is India ( The first set was Photographer Kirkland's call on the Viceroy of India Life January 27.)

   Yoga via Aryan family connections, is the present word for the English word "Yoga" and means just that. Yoga seeks to yoke the soul of the individual to the all-pervading soul of the universe. This beatitude is achieved only after death by one who during life has thoroughly extinguished the esential will to live. It may be tasted before death in the ecstatic trance which a practiced yogi can achieve by a lifetime of physical and mental discipline. Unlike other Hindu cults, yoga postulates no mere ascetic subjugation of the body to the yearning of the soul. It's catalogue of contortions is best understood as exercises which seek to make the body healthy, serene and free from disease and disorder that distract the soul with carnal concerns.

    The yogi shown here were photographed at the school in Mysore which received liberal support of the Sri Krishnaraja Narasimharaja Wodeyar Bahuder Maharaja of Mysore and india's greatest prince. Demonstrated are advanced postures, such as few yogi today take the time to master. They are assumed in calm, deliberate fashion, held for long intervals. Each pose is thought to bestow it's own special benefit, but the general result is a physique as well toned as any US athlete's. They give also the most extraordinary control over both the voluntary and involuntary musculature. A typical example is the control of the diaphragm, by which a yogi can reduce respiration from about 1,100 an hour to 70 and, with the help of mental discipline, attain blissful trance union with the soul of the universe." Life Magazine (22nd February 1941).

*Notice the reference to the long stays in asana and the slowing of the breath, here in 1941 just as indicated in Krishnamacharya's Yoga Karandavasana text of 1934. Long slow breathing, kumbhaka, long stays were not a shift in Krishnamacharya's later teaching, they were there from the very beginning, back when Pattabhi Jois was a boy and Krishnamacharya's student.


Original cover

1941 was also the year Krishnamacharya published his 'original' Ashtanga vinyasa book Yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941) which includes the table of asana divided into three groups, Primary, Middle and Proficient.

Page 1 of the Table of asana - see HERE for the full table


The translation of the book is now complete and is available from my Free Downloads page.

See also the full text on the Yogasangalu translation project page



Photos from the Life Magazine article

Set 1







Set 2







Set 3
T R S Sharma

Note: TRS Sharma is interviewed in the upcoming documentary 
'The Mysore Yoga Tradition', see at 1:48 in the movie's trailer 
at the end of post.








Set 4





Set 5













Set 7






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below, from Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda (Mysore 1934)

The Yoga shala



....and Mysore today

Mysore Yoga Traditions Official Trailer from Dallos Paz on Vimeo.

"Mysore Yoga Traditions is an inquiry into the cultural background of yoga in Mysore, how it has evolved, and the philosophy upon which this global practice rests. The film will be an intimate glimpse into the yoga of Mysore as the elders, scholars, philosophers, yogis and spiritual leaders of the community express their views on what yoga is, its original intention, and how they feel about the way it is being taught and practiced around the world. Much has been said about yoga in Mysore by western scholars. Now it is time for the people who are the keepers of this vibrant yoga tradition to speak about how they see their own legacy." http://www.mysoreyogatraditions.com/

Wednesday, 23 January 2019

Krishnamacharya's Pre-Jois Mysore 'Ashtanga' Primary Group Practice. UPDATED with Middle and proficient groups

Update

See perhaps this related article... Did KP Jois Invent Ashtanga Yoga? By Gregor Maehle -June 29 2019

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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.

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.





followed by

SAVASANA



Note: in the final page above, Finishing, I've added in Sirsasana (headstand) from Krishnamacharya's 'middle' group table. Sarvangasana (shoulderstand) is a pratkriya (counterpose) to sirsasana for Krishnamachraya. 


See this post for the actual table of asana from Yogasanagalu.


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APPENDIX 1.


Middle Group

Krishnamacharya ‘s Middle group asana in the order he listed them in his Yogasanagula (Mysore 1941) Table of asana. Plus Standing and Finishing. See my post from a couple of days ago for the Primary group. Krishnamachraya doesn’t seem to have favoured fixed sequences. However, while I think it’s possible and even perhaps logical to practice Krishnamachray’s Standing Primary and Finishing list of asana as listed a sequence, and I now do (to disassociate myself from Jois entirely by reaching back before Jois), I’m not so sure that goes for the Middle group. I no longer bother practicing most of these so somebody else might like to give it a try and report back. It’s probably better to practice half the Primary group and then slip some of these asana and subroutines in to our regular practice.




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APPENDIX 2.

Proficient group








NOTE: We can see from the 1938 demonstration by Iyengar that krishnamacharya was teaching many more proficient/advanced asana than are included on the list.






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APPENDIX 3

Yogasanagalu Asana table








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Notes

Kumbhaka
Antah kumbhaka (purakha kumbhaka) = retention of the breath after inhalation
Bahya kumbhaka (recaka kumbhaka= retention of the breath after exhalation
Ubhya kumbhaka = retention of the breath after both inhalation and exhalation

*In the Primary group above kumbhaka is indicated explicitly in only three postures, baddha padmasana, uttanasana and sethubandasana. In the earlier Yoga Makaranda (1934) however, kumbhaka is indicated other primary postures. This may be that while learning the Primary asana we may forgo kumbhaka in most of the primary postures until gaining familiarity and a degree of proficiency with those asana when we would then begin to work in the kumbhaka. this may be made clearer as the translation continues.

Kumbhaka (mentioned explicitly) in the Yoga Makaranda Primary asana
Tadasana (here implies samasthiti )- purakha kumbhaka
Uttanasana -purakha kumbhaka (we can perhaps presume that all the uttanasana variations would also include antha kumbhaka EG. padahastasana, parsvauttanasa
na, prasaritapadauttanasana.
Ardha baddha padma uttanasana - recaka kumbhaka
Urdhavamukhssvanasana - puraka kumbhaka
Adhomukhssvandasana - recaka kumbhaka
Paschimottanasana - purkha kumbhaka (recaka kumbhaka implied ?)
janusirsasana - purka kumbhaka & Rechaka kumbhaka
Upavistakonasana "recaka kumbhaka is the central principle for this posture"
badhakonasana - recaka kumbhaka
Suptapaddangusthasana- recaka kumbhaka
utthitahastapadangusthasana - recaka kumbhaka
Bhujapidasana - recaka kumbhaka
marichiyasana - recaka kumbhaka ?




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APPENDIX 4

Krishnamacharya Mysore Inversions


As well as the 1941 table of asana and the additional proficient/advanced asana we can see BKS Iyenga demonstrating in the 1938 documentary footage of Krishnamacharya, his family and students, we can also see these Inversion variations in the 1938 documentary footage. These are very similar to those Krishnamacharya taught to his later student, of thirty years Srivatsa Ramaswami, and show, I believe, a consistency in Krishnamacharya's teaching. Krishnamacharya may well have been teaching a dynamic practice to the boys of the palace but he also appears to have been teaching endless variations as well as a slower, mudra like, practice (as can be seen from the kumbhaka focus in Yoga Makaranda Mysore 1934) perhaps to his private students in the side rooms of the palace.









Krishnamachray had a variation of Supta Padangushtasana where he would put his arm behind his head while still holding the big toe thus placing the foot on the chest. In Yoga Makaranda ( Mysore 1941) he includes both as two separate asana while in the 1938 Mysore film footage he practiced them together and enters from Niralamba Sarvangasana ( unsupported shoulderstand). I tend to practice the latter, returning to niralamba sarvangasana between sides. 

“Suptapada Parsvangushtasana

This has 23 vinyasas. Up to the 8th vinyasa, this follows the method for supta padangushthasana. In the 9th vinyasa, without breaking any of the rules described earlier, pull the raised right leg down towards the ground on the same side (right side) and slowly lay it down on the ground while still clasping the right big toe. In this sthiti the head is facing upward and the other extended leg is kept straight and remains pressed against the floor. Stay in this 9th vinyasa for at least ten minutes and then do the 10th vinyasa. In the 10th vinyasa, bring the foot that is being held against the ground back to the position in the 8th vinyasa and remain here. Without letting go of the foot, move it such that the leg (or calf) sits on the chest beneath the neck and such that the elbow of the arm holding the foot is behind the neck. Remain here. In this sthiti, the head must be raised slightly. That is, there should be 6 angulas of space between the ground and the head. Inside the matham, this is called sammukha parivrtasana. Repeat this on the other side. To first practise this with the right leg and then with the left leg is characteristic of a superior yogi. The 11th vinyasa is like the 8th and the 12th is like the 7th. Do the 13th vinyasa like the 8th and then do the 14th and 15th vinyasas like the 9th and 10th. The 16th is like the 8th and the 17th must be done like the 7th. The six remaining vinyasas of this posture must be practised like the last 6 vinyasas of pascimottanasana. After this, return to samasthiti.” Krishnamacharya-Yoga Makaranda (Mysore 1934).



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