WHEN did Drishti come about?
In Krishnamacharya's book Yoga Makaranda 1936, drishti isn't really an issue, it wouldn't be, the chin is down, a light jalandhara bandha perhaps, in almost every posture. Interestingly this is also how Ramaswami teachers, chin down, also reflecting Krishnamacharya's later teaching.
Jois's Yoga mala ( late 50's) still has the chin down pretty much throughout so again he hardly mentions drishti ( chins mostly down in his pictures, up in Sharath's).
David Williams, taught by Jois in the 70's, again chin down.
Sometime since then drishti has become one of the 'essential elements' of the Ashtanga system, 'Tristana- breath, movement, gaze'. Of course it has, once you lift the chin and no longer have that light jalandhara banddha engaged you need to dictate where to look or your eyes and head are wandering all over the shala.
So chin down, drishti not an issue as the gaze is naturally down, chin up, drishti required.
I've no problem with this. I happen to follow Ramaswami's teaching and have my chin down most of the time but would switch to the required drishti points ( assuming I could remember them) if I was in a shala, no big deal.
I'm just curious when it actually changed and why.
It's been bugging me this week because in conference last Sunday Sharath seems to have again been stressing Moola bandha to be held throughout the practice (and even your day) as well as Uddiyana.
Here's the thing, isn't one of the points of Moola and Uddiyana bandha supposed to be that they are locks, stopping the energy escaping one way and then with jalandhara engaged, escaping the other, trapping the energy or prana within.
But if there's no jalandhara........bye bye prana
I'll be honest, I don't really buy the whole energy thing and that aspect of the bandhas, I just don't... as yet. I engage them because practice feels tighter, more focused, more....meditative when I use them, especially jalandhara as in yesterdays primary ( see the pictures on yesterday post).
UPDATE:
I should mention here that there seems to be a distinction between lightly and fully engaged bandhas. Taking jalendhara bandha as an example, the chin firmly lodged in the jugular notch, between the clavicles, during pranayama, is clearly different than the...door ajar chin down we find in the asana of Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda. Does it still count as a lock? A semi lock perhaps?
I personally tend to lightly engage moola and uddiyana bandha throughout my practice, the bandhas kind of ticking over, on the back burner if you will, but in certain postures I'll crank them up a bit to medium or fully engaged depending on the posture or my inclination that practice. Here's Krishnamacharya writing about janusirsasan in his Yoga Makaranada,
'While practicing this asana, however much the stomach is pulled in, there will be that much increase in the benefits received. While practicing this, after exhaling the breath, hold the breath firmly. Without worrying about why this is difficult, pull in the stomach beginning with the navel, keep the attention focused on the nadis in and near the rectal and genital areas and pull these upwards...' p80
I take him to be talking about engaging the bandhas here and that it's an option how fully we choose to engage them during asana.
but anyway
In Vinyasa krama the chin happens to be down
In Ashtanga, currently, it's up and we have the drishti points,
Not saying one is right the other wrong.
For me It's just one of those unsolved riddles, the missing word of a crossword puzzle, that come back and bug you every now and again.
See what happens when I take a rest day
8 comments:
hhhhmmmmm chin down does seem to make sense energetically with the other bandhas. sharath was also saying mula bandha is contracting the anus...which i've always been led to believe is a different mudra...an spent a long time accessing my perineal body....confused on many points....gonna try chin down, and see how that feels, personal experimentation is the only way really eh.
I've heard that in pranayama, jalandhara bandha is used to prevent too much prana from shooting up into the brain and makin' ya CRAZY.
As far as I'm aware, this bandha is only employed in the first part of Viranchyasana B, in Astanga. I'd previously just tucked my chin. John told me to do the bandha and said, "That's probably the only place it's used" in asana. So I guess that would the one place up to about mid way through 4th, which is where he stopped.
Interesting, the question of when driste became such a thing.
The anus thing is curious, I always assumed that with Jois' limited English or teaching beginners it was just easier to explain it that way. Whatever for me it's more subtle, more of a gentle lifting around the area of my perineum than how Jois and now Sharath describes it, works for me.
Love that Boodie, chin down to stop you going crazy : )
What about Chris and Grieg they studied with Manju yes? I'd have thought he ( Manju) would lean towards jalendhara more given that he was perhaps taught the old way.
This is just a theory, but think about seated forward folds for a minute. Doesn't matter which -- pasci, janu sirsasana, marichy, etc. Anyway, if one is really stiff and can't reach toes with flat back, that doesn't stop a person from trying. So this reach happens by curving the back and reaching with the hands. The chin also tucks and it looks a lot like jalandhara bandha. I see this ALL the time with beginning students! They watch all the flexible folks yoga hooking their toes and they want to touch their toes too, any way they can!
So one way to get a person to focus on stretching the hamstrings instead of the lower back is to lift their gaze, to big toes in the case of forward folds. This is also a convenient way to introduce the notion of focus, by giving them something to stare at instead of looking all around.
Again, this is just my theory. But I could see how it might evolve as a teaching method.
I don't have much to contribute since I'm still so green at the art of Ashtanga. But I must say this yoga history thing that you discuss is really interesting to me!
The three locks are used together only in pranayama. When you use all of them in asana (except for Maha Bandha, which is a mudra) it can cause problems. I'm not sure where David Williams gets his info (actually I do - from an old book by Krishnamacharya). Why is he considered the authority?
SKPJ said, repeatedly, and on record, there is no jalandara bandha in asana (except of course where it occurs spontaneously due to dristi or the pose itself, such as shoulderstand).
He also said, "Only one guru taking." When one has many gurus, there is much confusion in the mind.
And that defeats the purpose of yoga - to settle the mind into silence.
Those who are new to this debate (and whose mind are confused) may click here for my article on jalandhara bandha.
Not sure why your mentioning David Williams here CK, I'm not quoting him anywhere, I only mention that he was taught chin down back in the 70's which relates to the timeline I'm laying out.
'except of course where it occurs spontaneously due to dristi or the pose itself, such as shoulderstand'
Exactly my point!
If the chin is down, as it seems used to be, there will be a natural, spontanious jalendhara lock.
Which begs the question why the change....and when.
Thanks for putting up the link to your article
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