As my friend Rachel has asked: what is it about this ashtanga that just, well...works? We know that it is a system of set postures. We know that you learn progressively. We know that you need a teacher. We know that it is a tradition that has been passed on from teacher to student. But why is the sequencing put together the way it is, and why is it so effective?
A Brief History of Time:
Back in the day--maybe turn of the centuryish--there was this sanskrit scholar named Krishnamacharya. Apparently he had a dream where he met a long deceased Guru who transmitted the information of a long lost text called the Yoga Korunta. The Yoga Korunta was pretty much the only vedic text that mentioned asana (yoga pose) practice. And according to the ashtanga yoga of the Yoga Sutras, doing yoga poses was one of the 8 steps to enlightenment. So apparently the Yoga Korunta had lists of postures which became the 6 series of ashtanga yoga.
So Krishmacharya teaches and debates and gets pretty famous in India because until then, yoga was for Saddhus. If you weren't in a cave with dreadlocks, you weren't doing yoga. But for Krishnamacharya, yoga was a catalyst for enlightenment as it made the body healthy and the mind happy so he got everyone into it (eventually even girls gasp).
He had many students over the years like BKS Iyengar, Indra Devi, Desikachar, and of course, Pattabhi Jois. Technically they all were teaching ashtanga yoga in subsequent years as ashtanga yoga refers to the 8 fold path in the Yoga Sutras, however, they weren't all teaching the precise sequencing laid out in the Yoga Korunta. Well, all except Pattabhi Jois.
When you look on a yoga schedule today, you'll find names of classes like Iyengar, power, hatha, jivamukti, bikram, etc. But when you see Ashtanga, you know it is referring to the physical practice still taught by the family of Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India.
As legend has it, the text of the Yoga Korunta was possibly seen by Jois, possibly disintegrated, possibly eaten by ants. Did Jois and Krisnmacharya make up the sequences? Maybe. But hey, they work! The question is: why?
Case Study:
Growing up in a US suburb, I attended your average middle America public school, complete with traumatizing Phys Ed experiences. Every few years was the "President's Challenge" or something like that, where we had to take a series of physical fitness tests. How far could you reach over your toes? How many sit ups? How many push ups? Girls should run a mile under 10
minuets, boys--7. How many bench presses? How many pull ups? The girls had to do one--just one and I couldn't do it. I was even in Gymnastics and everything. So for us losers, we had to hang there for a certain amount of time while everyone made fun of us. It sucked.
Flash forward a decade or so and I'm in the backyard of a friend having a going away to India brunch. There's a bar and I'm hanging saying I've never done a pull up and then I begin to magically levitate. I was shocked. I did it again. 2 pull ups! And I'm older and heavier and apparently in the best shape of my life. What is it about this ashtanga that makes it work?
A Brief History of Time:
Back in the day--maybe turn of the centuryish--there was this sanskrit scholar named Krishnamacharya. Apparently he had a dream where he met a long deceased Guru who transmitted the information of a long lost text called the Yoga Korunta. The Yoga Korunta was pretty much the only vedic text that mentioned asana (yoga pose) practice. And according to the ashtanga yoga of the Yoga Sutras, doing yoga poses was one of the 8 steps to enlightenment. So apparently the Yoga Korunta had lists of postures which became the 6 series of ashtanga yoga.
So Krishmacharya teaches and debates and gets pretty famous in India because until then, yoga was for Saddhus. If you weren't in a cave with dreadlocks, you weren't doing yoga. But for Krishnamacharya, yoga was a catalyst for enlightenment as it made the body healthy and the mind happy so he got everyone into it (eventually even girls gasp).
He had many students over the years like BKS Iyengar, Indra Devi, Desikachar, and of course, Pattabhi Jois. Technically they all were teaching ashtanga yoga in subsequent years as ashtanga yoga refers to the 8 fold path in the Yoga Sutras, however, they weren't all teaching the precise sequencing laid out in the Yoga Korunta. Well, all except Pattabhi Jois.
When you look on a yoga schedule today, you'll find names of classes like Iyengar, power, hatha, jivamukti, bikram, etc. But when you see Ashtanga, you know it is referring to the physical practice still taught by the family of Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India.
As legend has it, the text of the Yoga Korunta was possibly seen by Jois, possibly disintegrated, possibly eaten by ants. Did Jois and Krisnmacharya make up the sequences? Maybe. But hey, they work! The question is: why?
Case Study:
Growing up in a US suburb, I attended your average middle America public school, complete with traumatizing Phys Ed experiences. Every few years was the "President's Challenge" or something like that, where we had to take a series of physical fitness tests. How far could you reach over your toes? How many sit ups? How many push ups? Girls should run a mile under 10
minuets, boys--7. How many bench presses? How many pull ups? The girls had to do one--just one and I couldn't do it. I was even in Gymnastics and everything. So for us losers, we had to hang there for a certain amount of time while everyone made fun of us. It sucked.Flash forward a decade or so and I'm in the backyard of a friend having a going away to India brunch. There's a bar and I'm hanging saying I've never done a pull up and then I begin to magically levitate. I was shocked. I did it again. 2 pull ups! And I'm older and heavier and apparently in the best shape of my life. What is it about this ashtanga that makes it work?
It's no secret, just science.
ReplyDeleteBandhas = core = levitation.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oyuJ3T0sQ88
;-)
Doug
Well, this is another one of your fab posts, where I get to learn a lot... not only about the history of Yoga (and Ashtanga) but about how far it can get me, if I continue to be disciplined about it...!!!!
ReplyDeleteCould I ask for your opinion on whether it is a good idea to combine one's daily Ashtanga practice with other kinds of Yoga? I'd love to hear your views on this.
Nairam
omg doug is that you?
ReplyDeletethanks nairam. i really don't know the best answer to that. i feel like the days that you don't want to practice are often the best days of practice. but then again, i've learned a lot from other classes. i didn't start with strict ashtanga yoga. in the past i've gone to yoga classes that support the practice or you know to be social because i wanted a job somewhere or a friend was teaching, etc. you always learn something! but should you combine with other styles? i don't know but sometimes it is fun/helpful/inspiring if you are in a plateau. ashtanga takes your body to a whole other level so when i go to another class i'm always surprised :)
> omg doug is that you?
ReplyDeleteLol !!! No... The guy's massive arms must surely be a give away!! I'm a "skinny ashtanga bloke" (according to one guy at a gym I sometimes use for practise when I can't make it to the shala). But given what Sjoman says about the connection between Gymnastics and Ashtanga (see "The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace") it's hard not to make a connection between bakasana A/B -> nakrasana and tuck planches -> planche pressups. Lol also on the hugging..!!
doug
gymnastics connection: fair enough.
ReplyDeletebut you know what sharath says about skinny arms, right? "Big arms means no bandhas!"