Krishnamacharya on Headstand and Shoulder stand from Salutations to the teacher and the Eternal one

Krishnamacharya Yoga Makaranda 1934

" In Shirshasana, normally no kumbakam (breath retention) need be done, though two seconds UNTHER (after inhalation) and BAHYA (after exhalation) kumbakam automatically result when we change from deep inhalation to deep exhalation and vice versa. During the automatic pause kumbhakam takes place. When after practice has advanced and kumbhakam is deliberately practiced, Unther kumbakam can be done up to 5 seconds during each round and Bhya kumbakam up to 10 seconds" 

Krishnamacharya. Salutations to the Teacher and the Eternal one p17. (My explanations in brackets)

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Here's Krishnamacharya introducing the headstand and it's approach as well as exploring it's variations and it's relation to the shoulderstand. Particularly interesting to look at his use of breath in these postures.

But first my Introduction to the text from first post in this series....

I was passed this document recently called Salutations to the Teacher and the Eternal One purportedly by T. Krishnamacharya. I received it from two sources. one asked me to only share it with somebody who asked directly and I've respected that. I've since received the text from another source with no conditions attached and so have decided to share it.

Peter Sterios mentions the text in a Yoga Journal article, For beginners, Balasana

In "Salutation to the Teacher and the Eternal One," a paper written by T. Krishnamacharya and distributed to students at the Yoga Mandiram in Madras, he says: "One important thing to be constantly kept in mind when doing asanas is the regulation of the breath. It should be slow, thin, long, and steady: breathing through both nostrils with a rubbing sensation at the throat and through the esophagus, inhaling when coming to the straight posture, and exhaling when bending the body." 

and Shandor Remete mentions it in his book Shadow Yoga

“… During this time, I also had the good fortune to receive some of the early writings of Sri T. Krishnamarcharya of Madras. Among these, one short work has influenced me profoundly: Salutation to the Teacher and the Eternal One. It has been this book more than any other that has helped me to decipher and understand the ancient hatha yogic texts in their fullness…”

However, since receiving the text I haven't been able to confirm to what extent, if at all, it was written by Krishnamacharya. At times there seems to be a mixture of styles, was it perhaps a series of notes by Krishnamacharya for a book project that never materialised and ended up being passed around among students of KYM, who in turn added notes to the text. Or perhaps it was lecture notes written by Krishnamacharya for a course at KYM presented by someone else who then responded to questions from students.

Either way it's a fascinating document.

Enjoy

Here are a couple of sample pages, the full 41 page text can be downloaded from my Googledocs page.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7JXC_g3qGlWemJSRVhtLXFlSVU

Yogasanagalu 1970's edition

Yogasanagalu 1970's edition

See also the earlier post on Krishnamacharya's Pranayama section from the same text

For more on Krishnamacharya see my previous post on the 1936 French medical journal article on the heart stopping/slowing experiments.