Learning the 'Original' Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga

This has been sitting in draft for some time, finally finished it off.

To reclaim the 'original' Ashtanga vinyasa yoga we need just two texts, published and provided freely by the Mysore Palace (free downloads of both texts on my free download page above)

Yoga Makaranda (Mysore 1934)

Yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941)

Both texts were written by Pattabhi Jois' teacher T. Krishnamacharya

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I say 'original' but really we have no idea if Krishnamacharya invented his approach to asana or carried it on from his teacher who possibly received it from his own teacher turn indeed or from an old text, the 'Yoga Korunta'. Krishnamacharya said he received it from his teacher and going by reports ( by Pattabhi Jois 1924) of an early demonstration Krishnamacharya was supposedly jumping from asana to asana shortly after he says he left his teacher. Anyone who 'jumps through' will tell you it takes a couple of years perhaps to become accomplished at it. It seems likely to me that Krishnamacharya received much if not all of his approach to asana from his teacher. However Krishnamacharya's texts are our earliest Primary sources other than possibly the texts he refers to in his bibliographies.

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Yoga Makaranda provides us with instruction on how to practice asana. It's basically how we already practice them in Ashtanga, Pattabhi Jois replicated the instruction format in his book Yoga Mala.

There are three significant differences however.

- Yoga Makaranda contains full vinyasa as does Yoga Mala, these days we tend to practice half vinyasa, jumping straight through between asana and sides of an asana rather than coming back to standing each time.

- Kumbhaka: Yoga Makaranda tends to indicate holding the breath in after the inhalation or out after the exhalation depending on the asana. This might be considered optional. We can skip it altogether and continue to practice without it as most do now, employ it on certain asana, employ it while taking less breaths in an asana or employ it on every asana but practice less asana, perhaps half a series.

- Yoga Makaranda contains a selection of asana, Primary Intermediate and Advanced asana and not in any particular order. See the second text Yogasanagalu.

Yogasanagalu includes a table of asana, three groups of asana, Primary Middle and Proficient. The asana in the table corresponds to lesser and greater degrees to Pattabhi Jois' Primary, Intermediate and Advanced Ashtanga series. Jois' Primary series follows quite closely the order the asana are presented in Krishnamacharya's Yogasanagalu table, the Middle group in  the Yogasangalu will be quite familiar to those who practice Jois' Intermediate series, the Proficient group is completely different, just a collection of advanced asana although we can see from the 1938 Mysore demonstration video that Krishnamacharya was teaching the asana found in Jois' later advanced series.

- It appears that Krishnamacharya didn't tend to follow a strict sequence and took a more flexible approach

- Krishnamacharya did include surynamaskara before moving on to standing asana.

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As ashtanga grew in popularity Pattabhi Jois' presentation of his teacher's teaching become more strictly codified. It's a convenient approach.

However, we can reclaim Krishnamacharya's Original Ashtanga whenever we wish by freely downloading the original texts.

If we want to look to authority then we have only to look to those texts, we have no need to go to India, to Mysore or to practice with any members of the Jois family, the original, texts, the practice, is freely available.

On looking for a teacher.

Teacher's authorised by the Jois family have tended to practice the method daily for a number of years, as such they can be an excellent resource, they can occasionally however  be perhaps too strictly aligned with the approach as they were taught it at a particular time.

Update: Sharath has taken control of the KPJAYI list and is authorising and de-authorising, certifying and decertifying as he sees fit on shifting criteria. Teachers who have spent thousands of dollars going to Mysore again and again, paying thousands more for the actual authorisation certificate as well promising to return regularly and continue paying fees for a month or more as well as perhaps 'offering' to assist for free in the shala are having their authorisation revoked resulting in a possible loss of livelihood as they return their authorisation certificate. Likewise several teachers who have gone on to pay shala fees in Mysore over twenty years or more, as well as thousands more to be certified on top of their authorisation are also having their certification revoked for not showing loyalty. As all authorised and certified teachers are asked to sign yet another Authorisation Code, many have no idea if they will remain on the list one month to the next.

See my post Authorisation 1980s to present.

Many of those de-authorised and decertified teachers are still on the 'other 'list of Ashtanga teachers held by Ashtanga.com. These teachers have gone onto the list at the written recommendation of senior teachers, a fairer system perhaps that holds in trust the lineage of the practice in a meaningful way.

There are other Ashtanga teachers who have never been to Mysore, are not authorised by the family and not on either list but have nevertheless practiced daily for a number of years, as long perhaps as some of those certified by the Jois family. They often, but not always, can have a more flexible approach to the practice.

There are other yoga teacher who also happen to teach Ashtanga, they may have practiced several styles and have less commitment to Ashtanga, they can still be an excellent resource for learning the series however.

The ideal perhaps is a teacher who has practiced the Ashtanga method for a large number of years but is also flexible to the needs of the student rather than preserving a shifting ideal of the practice. More important than any of the above is perhaps a teacher with good anatomy and physiological awareness who is unlikely to harm you or bring you to harm yourself in anyway. There is no evidence as far as I can tell that that Sharath, Saraswati, Manju, Pattabhi Jois or Krishnamacharya ever opened an anatomy book in their lives, Iyengar however surely did, to what degree he took it into account is another matter.

Personally I mostly learned my Ashtanga from books, videos, dvds, YouTube and finally a close reading of Krishnamacharya's texts. (I did however, later attend Srivatsa Ramaswami's TT as well as workshops and trainings with Manju and Richard Freeman as well as spend three months at Kristina Karitinou's wonderful shala in Rethymno Crete).

There is then no need of authorisation, of traveling to Mysore, of lineage and parampara. We have the original texts that explain the practice, stage of breath by stage of breath (Yoga Makaranada and Yogasangalu see above). Learn the Primary asana where we will, in a sequence if we wish (It's a convenient approach) but deepen our understanding through exploring the texts. But all that is really required to deepen the practice is to actually practice it, daily if possible, that is where the learning and any transformation actually takes place.

Krishnamacharya was clear, we look to our own traditions, our own texts, pray in our our holy tongues, for me I take that to  imply looking to Greece and Rome, to Greek and Latin.

Patanjali and the Gita will do us no harm however, they all say the same thing after all.

Krishnamacharya was clear on one point, the practice goes hand in hand with a moral code of behaviour, they support each other. For Krishnamacharya that was the Yama/Niyama, we can look to our own tradition, mostly it involves treading kindly and lightly and looking inwards to look outwards.

• See - Inappropriate adjustments.

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Should we learn the count?

It can be beneficial, it gives us something to focus on rather than myriad distractions that float through the mind. However the tyranny of the count probably can be blamed for many an ashtanga injury as we try to throw ourselves into an asana on the count.

It's important to remember that the count can be paused anywhere we wish and then taken up again. So, for example, in Marichiyasana D we might pause the count at the bind and take extra breaths while we  take as much time as we require to bind safely before taking the count back up again, likewise when unbinding.

It can be useful to learn the count in your native tongue first. Just count the stages of the breath, start with the sun salutation A then later count through B and so on adding on asana until you can count through the whole practice. By counting in your own tongue you will quickly see the patterns, how similar movements happen on the same count.

At some point you will see that there are a couple of inconsistency in the ashtanga system, an extra uncounted inhalation seems to be taken occasionally, this doesn't happen often but can be confusing, most can't agree on why this happens, a quirk of the system.

If you wish to learn the sanskrit count, start with Sury A then with Sury B, that will give you most of the sanskrit numbers you need for most of the asana. I have a post on learning the Sanskrit count here.

One approach to learning the Ashtanga Sanskrit Vinyasa Count..... Sanskrit Numbers and Vinyasa chart with states of asana indicated plus 'meaning of asana'

The Ashtanga Vinyasa Count: How it actually works - A Love Letter

Once you've learned the count and practiced that way for a time forget it and just worry about the breath..... and then forget that too.