UPDATED. BOOK REVIEW: Petri Räisänen's 'Definitive Primary Series Practice Manual'

I should point out right from the outset that this was a review copy, I didn't buy this book.

Does not buying it make a difference, probably. These days, buying online, we're a little in the dark as to what we're going to get. Amazon helps with it's preview but it's not like going into a bookshop picking a book up and flicking through before we buy. I've had books arrive that have been a real disappointment and others that have been a delight.

With a free copy in your area of interest your hardly going to be disappointed, however it turns out.

That said I would happily have paid full price for this book, it's a beautifully produced, glossy, hardback and a great deal of thought has gone into the design. The publishers are Yogawords and these are the people behind Donna Holleman's excellent Dancing the flame of Life and the John Scott DVD. So thank you to Zoe for sending me a copy.

Two other things we should perhaps consider at the outset (both of which I was asked when I first mentioned the book on fb)...

1. Do we NEED another Ashtanga manual?

2. Definitive primary series manual?

So we have David's and Lino's and John Scott's, Gregor's Primary AND Intermediate. Kino is bring a manual out in July, Sharath has just released his and we're still waiting for Lino to have his Primary to Advanced B book translated into English. 

Who have I left out? Thank you for the reminder, I'd forgotten Manju's training manual of course and Matthew Sweeney's unique Ashtanga as it is, both of which I have.

To be fair, Petri's book was first published in Swedish in 2005, Gregor Maehle's Primary book came out the following year and there had been quite a gap between these and David Swenson's and John Scott's books. As we know, the practice had changed slightly over the years, an up to date version was perhaps due.

This brings us to Question two and to why Petri (or the publishers) refer to it as definitive. It's also perhaps the main reason you might want to buy it and also, interestingly, why you might not.

NOTE:  Just been pointed out that definitive is not on the cover of the Swedish or Finnish versions.

"To verify that the information in the book is correct, follows the Indian tradition in it's entirety, and is in accordance with Pattabhi Jois and his grandson Sharath Jois (formally known as Sharath Rangaswamy), I was fortunate enough to meet with them both every afternoon for two months in 2003 and 2004 at the office of the Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Mysore. I asked an endless number of questions and wrote fervently as they gave their time generously. I would present the more detailed questions to Sharath, who would then translate them into kannada to for pattabhi Jois, whom I sat beside. pattabhi Jois would think for a moment, and then reply citing whole passages in Sanskrit and Kannada to Sharath, who then translated them back into English. We went through the vinyasa technique and alignment for each posture extremely carefully; so carefully indeed, that pattabhi jois and Sharath laughed at my pedantic "Western" nature".

That's the first reason why it might be considered definitive, the second is this, which explains perhaps why 'research' is no longer in the title of the Ashtanga institute in Mysore ( the Institute used to be called AYRI - Ashtanga yoga research institute,it's now KPJAYI - the K. Patabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute)

"In 2006, Guruji announced that his research had been completed and that the practice was ready to be taught in it's essential form".

I didn't know that.

NB: Typing out those quotes made me think that although I do like the design, the print is a little small for a manual.

So Petri's book has been verified in detail and done so just before the system became fixed in stone, definitive? OK, fair enough.

So perhaps another reason for why we might need another Ashtanga manual, it's supposedly authoritative and up to date.

However, I also suggested that might be a reason for NOT buying the book. Sometimes you can follow the current party line too closely ( I think Petri does follow/present current practice but he also mentions a lot of qualifications which is interesting, this is quite a subtle book in many ways). 

UPDATE: I would argue though that there are several lines of 'lineage' and I'm not sure that Sharath or even Pattabhi Jois' 2006 Ashtanga necessarily best represents the Ashtanga of Krishnamacharya as found in Yoga Makaranda. However, Sharath does of course continue to provide a form of the practice that everyone can learn and give them something to walk into any Shala around the world with, as well as Mysore itself and that strikes me as important. It's a very, clean stripped down, form of the practice. I have a great deal of respect for Sharath, for anyone who has practiced for twenty years plus, despite my challenging/questioning titles like Head of the lineage (which I doubt Sharath has ever used personally). My question of the 'party line' in this post is to suggest that there are many Ashtanga's, Krishnamacharya's 'original' Ashtanga (which I'm exploring here), the home Ashtanga tradition, Manju's, which is quite different. Hawaii Ashtanga, West coast, Boulder, European ( Southern, Central, Eastern and Northern), Australian,  the British tradition....the Russian, all seem to have their own characteristics. Perhaps there's a slightly (or greatly) different Ashtanga for everyone who practices and maybe that's as it should be, surely Yoga Is the most personal, individual, of practices, not in the sense of Self expression but rather in mind to discover mind, self to discover, and ultimately overcome, the self. See follow up post.

Is it possible to produce a book though that reflects that?

OK pictures we need pictures. 

What's in it, what are we getting?

Contents

The problem with an Ashtanga Primary manual is that there is a lot of series to cover, not leaving much space for anything else. Petri does well and manages to cover a wide area, each section, whether on Ashtanga History or Prana and chakras, Mantra and Drishti, is short enough not to overwhelm the beginner and yet there's some depth there too for anyone who has been practicing for a while. 

This is an overview of the book but there are a lot of little details I'm going to want to pick up on over the next couple of weeks. As it happens this book has come out at just the right time as I've just returned to a relatively straight Ashtanga practice in the mornings (although with some Krishnamacharya Yoga Makaranda and Ramaswami Vinyasa Krama baggage - both Krishnamacharya and Ramaswami are of course mentioned in the books bibliography).

 LAYOUT

There is a lot going on in this book!

Lets take a page, here's the section on Kukkutasana.

M's first thought was that the book was more about Petri than about Ashtanga. There are full page pictures of Petri in the asana on every spread, a smaller picture would have allowed for a larger print. And yetKkrishnamacharya did the same thing, Pattabhi Jois too in Yoga Mala. Krishnamacharya says in Yoga makaranda to look carefully at the pictures.

An interesting aside to Kukutasana above ( and a bit of a taster of the descriptions), the sort of thing I hope to pick up on some future posts on the book, is this....

"Note : According to yoga mala, one does naulie here, one technique of the purification actions known as kriyas, which is done by creating a wave-like motion in the stomach. This should be learned directly from a guru or an experienced teacher. Performing nauli with full force is not recommended for women, as it can damage the womb."p134

That's a little worrying.

I asked Ramaswami earlier today about this as in his book Yoga beneath the surface he mentions Krishnamacharya teaching nauli but preferring kapalabhati as a kriya, he was kind enough to get back to me on this right away.

"In Yoga the belief is that just as the skeletal muscles need exercise, the internal muscles and organs also need exercise. In Kapalabhati and mulabandha, the moderate thrust comes from below to exercise the uterus. In Uddiyana bandha especially in Tatakamudra the thrust is anterior pressing the uterus from the front on to the spine working on the anterior and posterior muscles. In Nauli, the rectus abdominis muscles on either side of the navel are made to relax alternately so that the uterus is pushed side to side enabling massaging the sides or the lateral muscles of the uterus. Thus all these exercises may be practiced to massage the uterus. As you mention excessive force used in nauli (and to some extent the other procedures) could harm the organ and sometimes lead to excessive bleeding during periods (menorrhagia)or twisting the supporting muscles leading to hernia or prolapse of the uterus". Srivatsa Ramaswami.

Looking at the full page spread above ( and we tend to get a full page spread for every asana ) on the left there is a vinyasa table. this is supposed to be for quick reference although it is small. I thought at first it was ridiculously small but then i realised it's supposed to fit on the outside column of the page for reference purposes.

The column has a key illustrating which bandha and which drishti.

Bandha key

Drishti key

To be honest I'm not sure how well it works, too small perhaps and there's generally really only mula and uddiyana bandha in the series, Petri states the current party line here that there is no Jalandhara bandha in the series.

This is an area where I question the book slightly. Petri does point out early on that the system has changed slightly over the years but for me this is crucial. (Warning: my hangup alert).

In Krishnamacharya 1934 Yoga Makaranda ( back when K. was teaching the young Pattabhi Jois) and even later in Ramaswami (reflecting Krishnamacharya's teaching in the 50'-80's), the head tends to be down in most of the forward bends. There is a light Jalandhara bandha that can be engaged more fully to allow for the kumbhaka Krishnamacharya indicates in these postures. In the hidden asana before the bend the head is up with kumbhaka after the inhalation and so we have a balance through the vinyasa. The kumbhaka after the inhalation as the head goes up before folding into the asana then the head goes down, head to knee, kumbhaka after  exhalation while in the asana. Head comes up again as we come out, kumbhaka after inhalation...wonderful wonderful breath work, quite subtle and yet profound, but all this is lost in the current representation of the system. Obviously that's fine for the beginner but I think Petri here is wanting to present the Primary system for the experienced practitioner as well as the beginner, a definitive guide, I would have liked more on this. What we get in the current presentation and Petri is of course only reflecting that is head up, head up, head up, look towards the feet (in most forward bends). 

Another area where Petri follows the part line is Pranayama. He mentions it but says he can't go into details because it must be learned from a teacher. The problem is that just as Pattabhi Jois presented a fixed sequence of asana ( it seems to have been more flexible when he learned it from Krishnamacharya) he also presented an apparently fixed Pranayama routine. It's a little intense but even Sharath has begun to introduce a little nadi shodanha (alternate nostril breathing) admittedly without kumbhakas but if your inhalations and exhalations are long and slow enough there will be natural kumbhakas anyway as one changes from inhalation to exhalation, these can quite comfortably be extended by a couple of seconds just as Krishnamacharya indicated. Pranayama can be practiced sensibly, just as we approach Primary, gently does it. No doubt we are finally moving in that direction but that wasn't the case in 2003-5 when this book was originally being developed and published.

More pictures.

Here's a nice example of the layout for Kurmasana and Supta Kurmasana.

As I said I will be coming back to this book over the coming weeks with some posts looking at several of the details found within. Overall I think it's an excellent book, beautifully produced ( although larger print would have been nicer for my old eyes). Lots going on, detailed instructions, vinyasa tables,  current vinyasa, drishti and bandhas for every vinyasa, tips for beginners and short but interesting treatments of many of the areas surrounding the practice.

That's something to be going on with, more to come no doubt.

Oh and there's a book (Finnish edition below) on the Intermediate series hopefully to come.

Thank you to Linda for this image from her blog http://meandmyyoga.wordpress.com/

Follow up post

The differences and distinctions that emerged in Ashtanga : More on/from Petri Räisänen's Ashtanga Yoga Primary series manual 

Petri's website

http://www.petriraisanen.com/home.asp

See also my previous GUEST POST: Sahaj Marg Meditation : Evolution of an Ashtangi from Physical to Spiritual Realm by Satya whose been translating Krishnamacharya's yogasanagalu for us. Sahaj Marg Meditation is said to be a 'Raja yoga based system of practice' with echoes of Patanjali.