and yet......
it's something, it's oh quite something,
this practice of ours.
Perhaps it did come about by chance, an accident of time and circumstance....
but oh what a thing it is,
this practice of mine
returning to a straight, by the book (pretty much), Ashtanga Practice
.... again, ever again
Hot , sweaty, intense...
full on (sometimes it's captured best in the colloquial).
'all steam ahead'.
Steam-heat-tapas
steam-heat-fire....offering?
Is it an act of devotion, surrender?
Or a statement.
Devotion, surrender.... that's for the rishi's
When the Asura king, Vrittasura stood on one toe in the snow for years, countless Promethean years, was it out of devotion, a surrendering to the gods or a challenge?
No, not a challenge,
a statement then.
of
here I am!
"The Asura king was Vrittasura....He decided to approach the Lord. The
procedure to get the vision of the Lord and get a boon granted was to
do Tapas or severe penance. He was adamant and obstinate and was game
for that arduous penance. He would do anything to get what he wanted.
So he went to a lonely spot and did intense Tapas. After a long time,
the Lord appeared before him, praised his Tapasya and asked him what
Recognise ME,
don't ignore me,
I wont allow you to ignore me
I'll stand on one toe, here in the Himalayan snows until you see me, acknowledge me as yours too
....and offer me my boon.
Is there something of that, in the sweat and the Ujjayi?
I will sweat and breath until you recognise me as yours
and this is the only boon I'll request
see me,
embrace me,
take me back into you
annihilate me.....
di-solve me.
28 comments:
Where did THAT come from.
From love....:)
Love this. Wow.
brilliant Anthony (although you absolutely must let us know what it is you drink/eat/assume before practice)
What is it about SKPJ Ashtanga Yoga that draws us back again and again? Even though I have been working my practice closer to the Krishnamacharya tradition of long holds, retention etc... I'm drawn back to Ashtanga - but I'm trying to figure out why? It could be the structure, it could be the heat, it could be the familiarity or it could be the fact my waistline and body shape has changed now that I haven't practiced a primary or intermediate in SKPJ tradition in quite a few months now. :-)
... or it could just be the samskara ingrained by repetitive practicing it... and the new samskara is still comparatively weak.
Or it could be that some days a good primary series is just what we need.
It's a balancing act dtw. I'm currently keeping the familiar Ashtanga sequence but with a slower breath, nt as slow as when I was doing straight yoga makaranda but slower than when i first practiced Ashtanga. When in the actual asana I slow it even further, 8 seconds inhalation 8 seconds exhalation with the appropriate kumbhaka but only three breaths which takes about the same time as Ashtangi's quicker five. I'm choosing one, two, three at most asana to indulge in a longer stay. It's working out nicely so far, enjoying it. I include a little pranayama before and after the practice. in the evening I'm practicing a couple of Vinyasa Krama subroutines that I tend to miss out or forget about with longer pranayama.
Just a nespresso espresso chiara : ), a strong one
Yes!
Let's give Guruji and Sharath their due. Guruji learned from his teacher and Sharath from his, and both paid attention to the research of thousands of bodies and minds of practitioners passing through their institute. Out of it evolved some pretty awesome series -- I can only speak to primary and intermediate, but come on: their design is astonishing!
But it's pretty much all there in the table of Krishnamacharya's 1941 Yogasanagalu (as well as Yoga Makaranda 1934) Karen, the, breath the drishti, the bandhas, what would you say, 90% of the order of the sequence from Standing through Primary ,Intermediate and finishing. I think they have tweaked it well, preserved much of it (but unfortunately, I would argue, allowed much to be lost too). I think their work rate and dedication, devotion even, 'astonishing' but not 'their design'.
Yogasanagalu table 1941 with my picture sheets
http://grimmly2007.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/complete-asana-table-from.html
Ahhh, Karen I've just realised your perhaps picking up on the line
"Perhaps it did come about by chance, an accident of time and circumstance...."
This relates to the previous post where the question of the origin of the practice in the form we have it is questioned along with the Yoga Kounta. We don't know for sure if it ever existed as described or if K did indeed ever see a copy let alone transcribe it. Or for that matter the kind of text it was, or if he did study it orally with his teacher. Desikachar suggests it was a book on yoga philosophy, Jois a practice manual.
And we don't know what K. studied exactly with his teacher. What we do know are the particular circumstances K. found himself in in Mysore, the need to present a group practice to young boys at a period when physical education was in vogue. This perhaps allowed K. to present the practice in a particular manner, to bring in a vinyasa count, a rough order of groups of postures. With his patrons interest in traditional practice he was also able to present traditional asana and pranayama in this environment. Patabhi Jois being offered a teaching position and without the breadth of knowledge and experience that Krishnamacharya had available to him wanted perhaps a pedagogically more communicable and structured ( read fixed) practice.
When the young American's came Pattabhi Jois was perhaps able to present the practice in a manner similar to how he learned it along with the other Mysore boys, perhaps he had been unable to teach this way to his indian Householder students.
And then of course the practice took off in US and Europe, it was the 70's the time just right perhaps. With the growing popularity and not able to teach every student personally the order changed slightly, pranayama dropped, circumstances seemed to demand led classes and so on. Then finally with Sharath taking over we have the form of the practice as his grandfather taught in just before he died frozen in time somewhat, the 'official' Mysore form of the practice.
That doesn't ignore the skill of Krishnamacharya developing the original form of the practice or Pattabhi Jois' and Sharath's skill in teaching it but rather suggests that they were responding to those accidents of time and circumstance rather than perhaps the practice existing as in in some ancient palm leaf text.
Skilled response to the accidents of time and circumstance.
Better? not as poetic perhaps.
And this post should be read poetically, not suggesting it's a poem but rather a voice I'm no necessarily claiming 100%my own, perhaps I was channeling somewhat.
And there is the question of how skilled they ( Krishnamacharya, Jois, Sharath) actually were, was the practice preserved, is it perhaps a distortion. Should such a form of practice be taught to anyone over thirty let along forty or fifty ( different thing perhaps if one began the practice earlier and continued to practice into one thirties and forties). The guidelines seem clear, as we age our practice changes (or perhaps should), shifting from an asana focus ( or a t least a different approach to asana) to one of pranayama and finally a more meditative practice. I'm glad I practice it still as I move into my fifties but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be questioned. Perhaps there is an irresponsibility here rather than skill.
Ha! I was just saying it's a lovely practice. No deep thoughts. I don't keep up with the historical discussions -- sorry.
: )
It is a lovely practice and I'm wondering tonight if, this time around, I shouldn't stop reading about it let alone writing about it and just enjoy it.....whatever it is.
I did an interesting experiment with a heart monitor, comparing surya namaskar with krishnamacharya style breath and SKPJ Ashtanga breath. If I'm honest, I thought the results would have be further apart. I would be keen to see my average heart rate with Sharaths CD.
Oh, my subconscious seems to have renamed the blog to ashtangayogajournal. Like I said above, the practice pulls you back in. Not sure if it was because I missed it. I think that sometimes I just need to roll out the mat, practice and switch off sometimes to all the questions that bounce around in my head - less thinking more practice now that I'm getting more time back. Ashtanga allows me to do that.
Yes.
Did you gain any weight during the recent spell without Ashtanga?
No Steve, in fact I lost a little (lost some muscle perhaps, especially upper body, can feel it coming back) but then it did correspond with a period when I've been particularly disciplined with eating, no junk whatsoever. And it was still Ashtanga, just Yoga Makaranda style so slower with longer holds.
Always hoped to get a heart monitor watch for a birthday or christmas present, try it through practice, pranayama etc. I think I've been doing this long enough that my heart stays pretty steady, breathing too. I think a lot of it is learning to use your body well, shifting weight, timing, technique etc.
I did a couple of practices with a heart rate monitor not long ago. Primary was surprisingly non-aerobic. There are long forward-bend-y type poses right after any heart-rate-elevating-sections that counter the elevated heart rate at once, keeping it pretty even. I was surprised, I mean, it feels like I'm working so hard! But not my heart, apparently. That was 3 years in, so I guess my heart has gotten used to Primary more than I thought. I did a blog post on it (with charts, haha, I'm OCD like that)...
Grimmly,
Very nice. I keep coming back to a very traditional practice as well, no matter how much / what else I work on, or how much I question it.
Will hunt for your heart monitor post....why am I not surprised you made charts : )
Hi Kristen. There is something about the rhythm of KPJ Ashtanga, I was practicing Krishnamacharya's version of Primary, nice with the long stays and ever so slow breath but there is something intoxicating about the rhythm and the sweat of Ashtanga. I'm lucky in that I get to practice twice a day not sure what I'd do if I ever had to really choose between them.
That said I've really felt it this week ( having a room with walls and doors makes a hell of a difference in keeping the heat in, funny that) might even take Saturday off, hows that for by the book....don't suppose we have any of those moon days coming up?
.... and you shouldn't shave on a Tuesday.
WD40 is fine for the Sat oil bath right
If I remember rightly, that's a water repellant; perfect until you get out of the UK.
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